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THE SCRIVENER

The Journal of Calderdale Family History SocietyThe Journal of Calderdale Family History SocietyThe Journal of Calderdale Family History SocietyThe Journal of Calderdale Family History Society

Incorporating Halifax & DistrictIncorporating Halifax & DistrictIncorporating Halifax & DistrictIncorporating Halifax & District

Number 153Number 153Number 153Number 153 Winter Winter Winter Winter December2015 December2015 December2015 December2015

CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETYCALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETYCALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETYCALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Incorporating HALIFAX and DISTRICT

Calderdale Family History Society was founded on the 7th March 1985. We aim

• To encourage interest in, and assist with, research relevant to the study of fam-

ily history in Halifax and the Calder valley. Our area

• Covers the modern Calderdale Council established in 1975, which broadly cov-

ers the same area as the Ancient Parish of Halifax, with the addition to the west of the township of Todmorden and Walsden.

We do this by

• Holding meetings, usually on the 4th Thursday of each month (except August) in

Halifax.

• Publishing The Scrivener, a quarterly journal, in paper form for full members and

on our website for internet members. Contact the Editor.

• Hosting a website www.cfhsweb.com/web/, and a members’ forum. Contact the

Webmaster.

• Running a Research Room at Brighouse Library two half days a week for per-

sonal research. Contact the Research Room co-ordinator.

• Running projects to transcribe records relevant to members’ research. Contact

the Projects Co-ordinator.

• Publishing transcribed records. Contact the Publications Officer.

• Providing an enquiry and search service from our records in the Research

Room. Contact the Enquiry service Co-ordinator.

• Maintaining a list of members’ interests by surname and dates of interest, which

are available to members on the website. Each quarter new additions are pub-

lished in The Scrivener. Contact the Members’ Interests Co-ordinator.

• Maintaining an index of “Strays” (Calderdale people who appear in records else-

where). Contact the Strays Co-ordinator. Membership

• Is open to all family historians who have an interest in the area. Contact the

Membership Secretary.

• Annual subscriptions are £10.00 for UK individuals (£12.00 for family member-

ship), £15/£17 for Overseas

• Internet membership is £5.50/£7.50 which only provides information such as the

journal on the Internet, but not on paper.

• Subscriptions are due on the 1st of the month, on the anniversary of joining the

Society (cheques made payable to CFHS.) and should be sent to the Treasurer.

• Overseas payments must be made in sterling, drawn on a bank with a branch in

the UK, by Sterling Money Order.

• Membership subscriptions may be paid annually by Standing Order.

• Credit Card payments for subscriptions and purchases of our publications may

be made over the Internet via Genfair (www.genfair.co.uk).

Contacting the Society

• All correspondence requiring a reply must be accompanied by a S.A.E. or 2

recent I.R.C.’s [International Reply Coupons]. Contact the Secretary or appropri-ate officer.

• The names, addresses and email contacts of the Society’s officers and co-

ordinators appear inside the back cover of The Scrivener and on the Society’s

website.

CONTENTS ARTICLES COVER PICTURE 4 EDITORIAL 5 HOW I BECAME A TYPER UPPER 6 HELP WANTED Halifax Agricultural Show 7 Swansdown Weaving, Norland 7 Spout’s Mill - Rastrick 33 Family Bible needs a Reunion 39 MARCH TALK - THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I 9 SIDDAL & ST MARK’S CHURCH 15 TRANSCRIBERS’ TIT BITS 23 MY ANCESTORS were ENGINE TENTERS 25 WHAT’S IN A NAME ? 29 CALDERDALE COMPANION 32 GATHERING EVIDENCE 34 MAY TALK - HIGHWAY MEN 41 GENERAL INFORMATION DALESMAN / DOWN YOUR WAY offer 8 MANORIAL DOCUMENTS REGISTER 22 FREE MAGAZINE from FFHS 28 ENGLAND JURISDICTION MAPS 38 USEFUL CONTACTS 48 FAMILY HISTORY FAIRS, etc 49 ANCIENT PARISH OF HALIFAX ~ Chapelries & Townships 52 CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWS ABOUT CFHS 2 HELP WANTED Scrivener & Monthly Meeting Reports 5 We are Looking for an ASSISTANT WEBMASTER! 37 FREE SEARCHES for MEMBERS 26 NEW MEMBERS INTERESTS ADDRESSES 29 MORE ABOUT the FORUM on CFHS WEBSITE 30 PROJECT REPORT - LATEST POSITION 36 IMPROVING MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS 40 SPRING MEETINGS 47 RESEARCH ROOM DETAILS 49 CFHS OFFICERS 50 PUBLICATION & SERVICES SUPPLEMENT P1- P4

THE SCRIVENERTHE SCRIVENERTHE SCRIVENERTHE SCRIVENER Publication Dates Deadline Dates for Copy

SPRING 2016 (March) FEBRUARY 15th SUMMER 2016 (June) MAY 1st AUTUMN 2016 (September) AUGUST 15th WINTER 2916 (December) NOVEMBER 7th

Please note that, due my other commitments, the copy date for the Sum-mer issue is earlier than previously. Editor. Data Protection Act As a “not for profit” organisation, we are not required to notify the Data Protec-tion Authorities in the UK regarding the holding of personal data. However you should know that we hold on the Society’s computer the personal data that you provide us. Furthermore we make this information available to other members for the purposes of following up “Members’ Interests”. As part of this, those details are posted on our Members’ Only website, which, under certain circumstances, can be accessed by non-members. If you either do not want us to hold your details on our computer and/or you do not want your details made available to other members as described above, please con-tact our Membership Secretary by letter, or email at [email protected]. Insurance Exclusions The insurance which we hold for certain activities undertaken by members is limited to cover for members under 75 years of age. Consequently, any mem-ber over 75 who is concerned about taking part in specific Society activities should contact the Secretary for clarification.

FRONT COVER

St Mark’s Church, Siddal

See article by Jacqueline Lumb page 15.

EDITORIALEDITORIALEDITORIALEDITORIAL Thanks to everyone who has already sent me an article! The response to my email has been phenomenal, so if your contribution hasn’t appeared in this is-sue, don’t despair - I’ve now got a little stash ready for next time. Keep them coming! A lot of help is sought in this issue. Please do look and see if you can do any-thing. We are all here to help each other! (If anyone has forgotten to give their contact details, you can reach them via the editor.) And thanks to everyone who has expressed appreciation of the Scrivener! It really does give me a boost to know that you appreciate what I and the con-tributors are doing. Thank you all! Frances Stubbs ([email protected])

HELP WANTED The Scrivener and Monthly Meeting Reports

Reports of the talks given to local members in Halifax appear in copies of the Scrivener and we know they are liked and appreciated by other members. Before this happens various stages are gone through. The talk is recorded, typed up and then must be summarised for the Scrivener. The first two stages are done locally, the typing being done by a local lady who listens carefully to the tape and produces a Word document of the talk. The next stage is where we need some help. We are hoping to build a team of 5 or 6 people willing to summarise this document, to fewer than 3000 words, ready for publication. If you have a computer and a couple of hours to spare two or three times a year, please consider joining the team. We already have a couple of volun-teers, so you will not be alone, the more the merrier, and full guidance can be given. The articles form an integral part of the Scrivener. Currently we are 5 months behind and the Society’s officers are keen to get this task sorted, hence this article. Please think about contributing to this very worthwhile job. If you would like to help, please contact me, [email protected]. Thankyou Margaret Smith (Secretary) (See the article on the next page.)

How I became a Typer Upper My name is Sue, I am a member of C.F.H.S. and this is how I joined the noble ranks of typer uppers. I have been interested in family history for a long time, and shortly after I re-tired a call was put in The Scrivener for help with transcribing records. I thought that would suit me so I rang the P. M. (that’s Project Manager, not prime Minister), and he almost bit my hand off. Now, technology is a bit of a mystery to me but, with the P.M. at the end of the phone, and the support of my technical assistant (husband) I got started and have been transcribing for a few years now. It is so interesting, and the records are endlessly fascinating. The team have transcribed BMD’s for many Churches and Chapels in the area, as you can see from all the publications. Currently we are doing Stoney Royd Cemetery, a huge municipal cemetery overlooking Halifax. It’s good to know that as a team we are helping others with their own family histories. A few months ago another call went out for help in typing up the monthly talks. The lady who has done sterling work typing up over the past years has retired, and help is needed. These talks form part of the monthly meetings in Halifax, and by typing them up it helps members all over the world to keep in touch. So, I sent off an email enquiring what it was all about. Back came a compli-cated explanation of the process, and after some consideration and a holiday visiting our family in Australia, I thought that on this occasion I was unable to help. I emailed the P.M. told him that and put it out of my mind. Next time I opened my email I found a message from the P.M. totally ignoring what I had told him! (He’s really a lovely chap and very helpful to his team.) He explained that a new, simpler way of doing the typing up had been worked out and would I give it a go. In for a penny, in for a pound - I said yes! This is how it works :-- With the speaker’s permission the talk is recorded. It then goes to a local vol-unteer, who does a wonderful job of typing it up word for word. It’s one thing actually listening to a talk, but a different thing to see it written down. The talk then needs summarising, and shortening so that it will fit into the allocated space in the magazine. When the transcription came through by email, the first thing we (hubby & I) did was print and read the hard copy. This is where I had the collywobbles as I was unsure that I could do it without losing the essence of the talk.

After reading it again a couple of times I began to find bits that could be al-tered, left out or changed around. I did the altering, hubby did the proof read-ing and made helpful suggestions. Usually “Shall I put the kettle on”. A few sessions later we thought it sounded OK and it was about the right size for the magazine. Off it went by email to the Editor for her verdict and thankfully she thought it was OK too. I had a real sense of achievement, felt very pleased with my self, and look forward to doing another one. Could you help at all? Not everyone can commit to the regularity of monthly sessions. If we had a pool of people who are willing to type up maybe once or twice a year that would spread the load, and we could help each other. It mat-ters not one bit where you live, we are Scarborough (UK). Overseas Members with email can also join in the fun. Give it a go. It’s gives away members the opportunity to “hear” the talk, and it’s your chance to contribute to your society and it’s magazine.

HELP WANTED Swansdown Weaving, Norland

I would be grateful for any information on Swansdown Weaving in the Norland area in the 1820s and 1830s. A Welch (Member 3660) [email protected]

HELP WANTED

Halifax Agricultural Show I am involved with the running of the Halifax Agricultural Show. Next year's show will be the 70th continuous show, (since 1946). However, the first Halifax Show actually took place in the 1830s and was in the Piece Hall. I am told that it precedes the Great Yorkshire Show! We are intending to do something to commemorate the anniversary at the Show, and a request went out at our last general meeting for any photos, literature, etc from 1946 and earlier shows. I wonder whether any of our members have any memora-bilia from shows long gone by? If you can help please contact me by email. Thank you. Judy Milnes [email protected]

March Talk - The Causes of World War I By Richard Wimpenny

World War I has always been something of a mystery to politicians and histori-ans and I have to tell you that it is a fairly complex situation. It can be summa-rised in this book by Hastings on "Catastrophe". He writes:- "Commandant to the British Army Staff College in 1910, Brigadier General Sir Henry Wilson, who later became Chief of the Imperial Staff, argued that Britain’s only prudent option was to ally herself with France against the Germans. A student ven-tured to argue, saying that only inconceivable stupidity on the part of states-men could precipitate a general war. This provoked Wilson’s derision. “Ha, ha, ha,” he said, “inconceivable stupidity is just what we are going to get.” " And I could go home now because really sums up what I have to say. We remember the First World War, so Hastings said, because it was such a puzzle. Europe was the leader of the world, and to all intents and purposes it committed suicide by war. The story behind the First World War reminds me of an Agatha Christie play. All sorts of people on the stage, and in the end, is it possible to find out who are the guilty parties and who are the villains? Let me introduce you to the players. Starting in the East, we have Tsarist Rus-sia. Most of her trade was shipped out through the Black Sea into the Mediter-ranean and it was supremely important to maintain the open route. The Turkish Empire had been important since the 12th Century but had slowly declined. They had lost of lot of territory in North Africa and Eastern Europe and by the start of the 20th Century they were losing ground in the Balkans. The main little country of the Balkans scrambling for power was Serbia, which wanted to create a single Slavic State. Their main opponent was Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary came into being at the end of the Franco Prussian War when the German State was created. It was a hotchpotch of small nations, Austri-ans, Germans, Checks, Poles and Ukrainians and from the Balkans – Bos-nians, Serbs, and Slovaks. There was much terrorist activity, mini wars etc. There were always likely to be problems between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Further West, Germany had been a group of small German-speaking princi-palities and cities until Bismarck brought them together in a single German State in the 1860s. She was probably the most powerful economic, industrial and military power in Europe at the turn of the century. The French had been defeated in the Franco Prussian War by the Germans

who had taken the border territories of Alsace and Lorraine. The French were waiting for the opportunity to take them back. And then finally, as far West as you can get, there were the British who frankly didn’t really want to be involved in anything in Europe at all. Now I’m going to start at the end of the war when the British General, Sir Douglas Haig stated: “Statesmen should not attempt to humiliate Germany, so to prevent the desire for revenge in years to come.” The politicians took abso-lutely no notice of that. The Treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany, who had been declared responsible for the war. But Germany tried to prove that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and that they hadn’t been responsible for the war and they were simply taking defensive action. Very quickly a lot of historians and politicians started agreeing with this. Then there appeared on the scene one of my all time heroes of the 20th Cen-tury, Fritz Fischer, Professor of History at Hamburg University. For the first time, he and his team were able to get hold of diplomatic docu-ments pertaining to the build-up of the First World War, including the tran-scripts of a meeting in 1912 between the Kaiser and his political leaders. At this meeting the Kaiser stated:- “The great racial struggle between the German and Slavic people must take place within two years, the Slavs are born not to rule but to obey.” The Germans wanted to obtain living space in Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. The Germans were, without any doubt, pre-paring a pre-emptive strike. The question was why? Let’s go back and look at German history. Germany has always tended to be isolated from Western Europe and has tended to look to the East. It has al-ways been the first country where the Huns, people expanding from the East, have arrived. And in the 30 Years War between the Catholic South and the Protestant North, something like 50% of the German population died. Ger-many was completely impoverished . There was one bright light. Up by the North Sea was a small area called Bran-denburg with the small town of Berlin. The King of Brandenburg created a well-paid defence force. Brandenburg grew and by the start of the 19th Century was by far the largest German-speaking state: Prussia. The Prussian people ex-pected their leaders to protect them from outsiders and the leaders expected 100% obedience. In the 1860s German Princedoms and Dukedoms were united. At the end of the Wars of Unification, Bismarck went to war with France, the one major power which could put the kybosh on what Prussia was trying to do. They took Paris and Alsace and Lorraine to prevent the French regaining their power. Bismarck turned to the East to shore up his Eastern frontiers. He made a treaty with his erstwhile enemy Austria, and a non-aggression pact with Russia. Bismarck's foreign policy was there to protect his

country. The old King of Prussia became the first German Emperor, and his grandson was Kaiser Bill (whose mother was one of Queen Victoria’s daughters). Kaiser Bill was a slightly unfortunate and sad figure. He was born with a deformed arm and had very much a complex about this. The Kaiser sacked Bismarck and all the old advisers, and surrounded himself with thrusting young advisers. They believed that Germany, as the most powerful country in Europe, de-served something more when it came to possessions and empires overseas. From 1900 to 1914 is a succession of nasty little diplomatic events. Britain started making peace with its ex-Commonwealth enemies, France and Rus-sia, not through any fear of Germany, but because they needed to bring their economies under control. If it came to war between France and Germany, Germany could put huge numbers of troops in the field, far in excess of what the French could do. Russia, appallingly backward, needed French capital to build roads and railways, so the French and Russians began getting together. About 1903, the German Prime Minister said:- “England is embracing France and Russia, but it’s not because you love each other, it’s because you hate Germany.” The Admiral of the German Fleet, Admiral Von Tirpitz suggested to the Kaiser that they should build up a massive Navy, equal to the British navy in the North Sea, and perhaps beat them. But British Intelligence found out what was go-ing on and they started building a massive Navy of their own, with a new pow-erful class of battleship, the Dreadnaught. This went down very badly with the Germans, and the British saw a country in Europe which was now showing itself to be an enemy. Germany tried to get involved with French affairs in Morocco, hoping that the British would join in on their side but all Germany’s efforts to try and break the alliance between France and Britain failed. Germany found herself in the situa-tion which she dreaded more than anything else, surrounded on both sides by potential enemies – in the West France and Britain and in the East Russia. What was the answer? The only answer, for Germany, was the Schlieffen Plan, which went something like this. If war broke out, the Russians were so behind militarily and economically, that their ability to get troops to any frontier in the West would be slow. Schlieffen calculated that it would take something like sixteen weeks. So Germany planned a massive attack through Belgium, through northern France, running parallel with the North Sea to Paris. This depended on supplies and speed. The reason now becomes clear why, at that meeting in 1912, the Germans said they must have a pre-emptive strike on Russia. The French had started pouring money into Russia, and the sixteen week gap wasn’t going to apply.

The Germans were looking for an excuse to go to war, and that excuse would almost inevitably appear in the Balkans. What happened was the assassina-tion of the Archduke, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. But why was this particular assassination a danger to European peace? To understand that you just need to know a little bit more about what was go-ing on in the Balkans. Turkey was now slowly disappearing from the scene, and Serbia was coming out as top dog. Russia was fearful that Germany and Austria-Hungary would stop their trade through the Black Sea. Serbia was afraid of Austria-Hungary which had taken Bosnia and was now hovering on the Serbian border. Serbia’s ambition was to draw together all the Slavic people in the regions, into one single Slavic republic, which would obviously be a danger to Austria and Hungary. So, for quite some time, the Austrians had been seeking the possi-bility of a war with Serbia. Austria feared that if they attacked Serbia, Serbia’s mentor, Russia would come to its ally’s aid and Russia was quite capable of completely defeating Austria-Hungary. So Austria-Hungary had been seeking a promise of German support. For a long period the Germans had said no, and then the assassination happened. Archduke Ferdinand was extremely friendly with the Kaiser. He had no desire for war with Serbia. He stated in the Austrian Parliament, “I shall never lead a war with Russia. This will end in the overthrow of the Romanoffs and the Hapsbergs, and a Russian attack on Serbia would be fatal. We should stand aloof and watch the Balkan scum bashing each other’s skulls." The assassina-tion of the Archduke removed from the scene the two leaders in Europe who would have been most likely to have been able to avoid a major war. People think that it was the murder of the Archduke that caused the Austrians to want to go to war with Serbia. But the murder of the Archduke simply gave the Austrians the excuse that they had been looking for. It also made the Ger-man Chancellor decide that the time was ripe to support Austria. The Serbians believed that the Russians would help them. The Austrians be-lieved that, particularly if the Germans made it clear that they were going to support Austria, it may frighten the Russians and stop them supporting Serbia. The Austrians believed also, that if the worst came to the worst and the Rus-sians attacked them, with German support, they would almost certainly win. Meanwhile in Germany the hawks had seen an opportunity of a war in which, if they played their cards right, they could be seen as the injured party. The Germans' problems go back to the Schleiffen Plan. They needed to attack quickly because if word leaked out that they intended to go through Belgium, the French would know how to defend their frontiers. They needed to act

quickly, but they didn’t want to be seen as the people who were causing the war, otherwise they wouldn’t get the support of their own people. The Russian Tsar had been advised not to declare war; that it could mean the end of his own empire, the end of the Romanoffs and it could mean defeat and a revolution in Russia, but again Russian hawks came through in the end. Quite a lot of countries in the West, particularly Britain and France were look-ing for some form of peace conference. Why was it that the Austrians and the Germans in particular refused to attend? The answer was that Austria believed that with German support she could win a war against Serbia. Germany be-lieved that she was in a position to win a war against Russia. They believed that if the war was delayed it would be the worst for them in the long term. So there was never any huge desire on the parts of the Germans or the Austrians to call a halt. All sides were waiting to see who would mobilise first so they could point the finger, and the Germans gave themselves until lunchtime on 30th July before they announced mobilisation and by sheer good luck the Russians declared mobilisation two hours earlier. The German press were told that they had al-ready been subject to small attacks from the Russians and they were therefore only defending themselves. The understanding of the First World War is this: There were actually two wars, there was Austria’s small war with Serbia and Germany’s large war with Russia which of course could expand very easily to a World War. Why did Austria get involved in a World War when all it wanted was to get involved in a small war with Serbia? The answer was, because of fear of Russia. They needed German support, and by allowing themselves to obtain it they became a participant in the First World War. The other question was, why did Ger-many go to war purportedly to support Austria against Serbia? The answer to that was Germany was not interested in Serbia, but in the Austrian army help-ing them to defend their Eastern frontiers whilst they went off to defeat France. Now why did Britain need to be involved? Britain’s great fear was that if they fight an enemy across the North Sea in the low countries or Northern France, that enemy is then in a position to either invade this country or to certainly in-terrupt its trade. Britain already had an alliance with France and a neutrality agreement with Belgium. Germany attacked through Belgium, which gave the British politicians an excuse to do something they should do anyway. Who was to blame? Well Serbia went to war because she was attacked by Austria. Russia went to war because the Tsar was attacked. Austria-Hungary went to war because she was fearful that her status as a large multi-cultural nation would be threatened if Serbia built up a Slavic nation in the Balkans. France went to war because she was attacked. Britain went to war because of

Belgium. Germany is an interesting one. Nobody was going to attack Ger-many. Russia mobilised first, but Russia went to war to defend a small country with the same ethnicity. Germany went to war to support an ally who was ac-tually doing the attacking so I think you could say that Germany was support-ing another nation carrying out an almost unprovoked attack. When it came to mobilisation, most countries could state quite categorically that they were mo-bilising defences. The one country that couldn’t do that was Germany be-cause was obvious that the vast majority of her troops were not defending the homeland, they were waiting on the Belgian border to pounce. I therefore submit that the Treaty of Versailles just about had it right. I would also say that Hastings and his comments about the idiocy of the war was ab-solutely spot on. Of all the countries in Europe in 1914, the most powerful economically and militarily was Germany. If she had done just nothing Ger-many would still have become the most powerful nation in Europe. What hap-pened? She lost a war which wrecked her economy and was almost a direct cause of another war 20 years later which completely wrecked the nation. Germany was idiotic - she should never in a thousand years have done it. Let me finish with two final things. I want to take you back to the assassina-tion. The Archduke was on a state visit to Sarajevo. Five students had been smuggled over the border from Serbia into Sarajevo to kill him. As his caval-cade drove past, one of them threw a bomb which hit the back of his car, rolled into the road and exploded. Nothing happened to the Archduke but a couple of outriders were taken to hospital. He went on to the civic reception and after-wards he insisted on going to the hospital to see the wounded. The chauffeur took a wrong turning and as the car didn’t have a reverse gear, the people accompanying him had to start trundling it backwards. Just opposite there was a café and standing outside was the assassin, who couldn’t believe it because here was an open-topped car with the Archduke and his wife sitting as close as I am to you and he aims with a gun and bang, bang, he kills them both. And I would say that that action should have been in the Guinness Book of Records for two reasons. Firstly as being the most successful assassination ever because four-and-a-half years later, at the end of the war, the Austria-Hungarian empire had disappeared, which was what the assassins wanted, and there was the creation of the state of Yugoslavia at the end of the First World War which was, again, exactly what the assassins were trying to do. And secondly, because it had probably been the most disastrous mistake ever made by a motorist. Think of it - as a direct result of that mistake something like 15,000,000 perished in the First World War and without the First World War, there would certainly have been no Second World War during which an-other 75,000,000 perished. And just as a final little oddity, the name of the chauffeur was something like Frederika Opiliosch and the nearest thing to that is Fred Bilk!

SIDDAL and St MARK’S CHURCH

Jacqueline Lumb

“Siddal, where is that”? I am often asked. As you leave Halifax going in a southerly direction towards Elland along Hud-dersfield Road you come to Spring Hall and Halifax Register Office. If you look beyond this across the valley to the hillside on your left, you will see St Mark’s Church, and climbing up the hillside are houses. This is the village of Siddal. As you travel further the stone brick houses change to red brick. This is the start of Exley and Backhold estate and over the top of the hills and out of sight is Southowram.

HISTORY OF SIDDAL In 1497 it was recorded that John Holdsworth , father of vicar Robert Holds-worth of the Parish Church, left by his will all his tenements in “ the Siddal “ and this included the then Siddal Hall, with chapel annexed and forty –six acres of land. Originally the Siddal area was part of the ancient parish of Halifax under the jurisdiction of St John the Baptist, Halifax (now Halifax Minster). The ancient parish of Halifax was one of the largest in the country covering over 100 square miles, and was gradually divided and subdivided as the population grew. Around 1820 twenty seven new parishes and churches had been cre-ated and Siddal had become part of the Parish of St Anne’s Southowram. If the census tells you your family were living in Southowram, Skircoat or Sal-terhebble they may have been living in the Siddal area. Development of the village was slow and in the Siddal area in 1850 there was only a scattering of farms and three halls, Siddal Hall, Exley Hall and Back Hall. There were small communities of terraced houses along the hillside, mainly at Upper and Lower Clipster Hall, Siddal Bottoms by the canal basin and Cinderhills. In total there were 127 families in the area between Exley and Whitegate, but there was no direct road along the hillside from Halifax. The only way was past Holdsworth’s Shaw Lodge Mills and up Whitegate (a very steep hill) to Siddal Hall Lane (now called New Lane), or up Phoebe Lane to the Clipster Hall area. This all changed during the next few years, when the houses at Long Bottom Terrace were constructed and the area from Siddal Street to Moore Street developed. Oxford Lane was also built and became the main road through Siddal from Whitegate. In 1872 there were more than 4,000 people living in Siddal. By 1896 Jubilee Road had been built, followed by the rest of the village. The community had become a large village with numerous manufacturers providing employment for local people. In 1913 New Road was built, which at last gave a through road from Whitegate, passing Stoney Royd Cemetery to Water Lane then to Halifax.

During the 1970’s and 80’s a large amount of the early village from Siddal Street to Cinderhills was demolished including the Methodist Church and the Zion Strict Baptists. New houses have since been built including flats for the elderly and the current population for the whole area now stands at around 7,000.

CHURCHES IN SIDDAL

The Strict Baptised Zion Chapel was the first church built in Siddal in 1859. The Methodist church had a Sunday class in 1827 and a chapel was built in 1877, there was no Church of England presence in the village until 1869. In 1858 All Saints’ Church at Skircoat was built and Siddal became part of that parish. As this was quite a distance from Siddal, a mission Chapel of Ease was built at Whitegate in August 1869. All Saints’ became known as the Mother Church. The chapel was built of metal and was given the name St Marks but it was more commonly known as the Tin Church, the Iron Church or the Tabernacle. The chapel only had room for about 130 people and it soon became too small for the congregation, so open air services were held in dif-ferent parts of the village for the people who could not get in. The boys of the village made up a verse which they used to sing.

In Siddal, there is a church made of tin You are lucky when you can get in When you’re locked out You can go drinking stout and treating the old women to gin.

The Tin Church was staffed by curates who took services and baptisms, but marriages took place at either All Saints or the Halifax Parish Church now the Halifax Minster. Eventually it was decided that Siddal needed a parish church of its own.

MEETINGS FOR A NEW CHURCH It was on 22nd March 1892 when the first recorded meeting for a new church took place, three further meetings were held before a site known as the Tenter Field was chosen for the church and vicarage. This was on 26th January 1894 but it was not until a meeting on 22nd January 1912 at the Halifax Vicarage, with the Archdeacon of Halifax in the chair, was it agreed that the committee form plans for the erection of a permanent church in Siddal. The architects Walsh and Nicholas from Halifax submitted plans for a church with seating for 587 people to be taken as a basis for discussion.

WHERE THE MONEY CAME FROM The initial scheme intended to pay for the cost of the church was based on popular subscription, and money began to come in, chiefly due to the efforts of

Siddal villagers. But other large donors helped with the cost which eventually reached £12,000.Canon Warnford the Vicar of All Saints Church and his suc-cessor the Rev. R F Pechey bequeathed £1.100 towards the building fund. An anonymous lady living in London also donated a generous amount of money towards the building fund. She was a generous patron who had heard about the building project due to her church connections. She did not disclose her name, but became known, to the people of Siddal, as Lady Bountiful. £6,000 was still needed for the building at this point, but it was decided to build half the church and construct a temporary back wall until fundraising could be com-pleted. The building committee therefore appointed, a subcommittee of Siddal members to plan and carry out the ceremony of the cutting the first sod and the laying of the corner stones.

PLANS COME TOGETHER On 27th April 1912 the sod cutting ceremony took place in the presence of a large and enthusiastic gathering. The cornerstone laying followed on 2nd No-vember. amid much rejoicing and thanks giving. “In the Faith of Jesus Christ, In the Name of the Father, and of the Holy Ghost”, and a lead casket was placed underneath ,which contained a book with a list of all money gifts that had been given so far. God prospered the work and the money continued to come in from the people of Siddal. By July 1913 the committee were able to order the completion of the church as originally planned except for the tower. In October 1914 the commit-tee received, from Lady Bountiful, the whole of the £900 still needed to com-plete the tower.

Laying the First Sod

A beautiful stained glass window, after the school of William Morris depicting the Ascension, was later put in the east end of the church in memory of Lady Bountifull, who did so much towards making the building of the church possi-ble. The church was built to the design of Joseph Fredrick Walsh whose imprint is to be seen in the russet coloured stone. His buildings of stone- coloured iron salts were well known in the district. The stones were called “insides” because the natural finish, or self-face had a brownish colour and were normally turned to the inside of the wall, instead of the outside. This coloured stone, sold at half the price of the same stone with a less durable cut, came from the hillside above the village

INSIDE THE CHURCH Mr H P Jackson of Coley, a Gothic specialist in ecclesiastic carving, was re-sponsible for most of the carving in St Marks’. The pew ends are different from each other depicting the national symbols of the Allied countries that fought in the First World War. They are a poignant reminder of what was happening in the wider world at the time the church was built. The lectern has a carving of a lion’s head symbolising St Mark on the front and the pulpit and Lady Chapel are similarly intricately carved. Most of the furniture including the pews, the communion table, lectern, choir stalls, hymn boards the communion plate and many other items were given by individual donors. The marble font was given by the Sunday school teachers and scholars. The new church was completed for a final sum of £12,000. Over time more people gave gifts to the church in memory of loved ones and more things were added.The vicarage, with parish rooms attached, was postponed due to the war and was never built.

1915 TO 2015 On April 24th 2015 St Marks Church, Siddal celebrated 100 years of worship and service to the community of Siddal. A lot has happened in the last 100 years both sad and happy times for the people of Siddal. When the church was opened in 1915 the First World War was in progress. The villagers were still able to celebrate and filled the church to hear the Rt. Rev. Bishop Nelligan, Bishop of Wakefield, consecrate the church amid great rejoicing. Siddal had long suffered from inadequate church provision, but it now had its own parish with Rev. F. O Warman as its first vicar. At the first Harvest festival in 1915 Lady Bountiful, the unknown benefactor, joined the church for the Har-vest service and added greatly to the joy of the occasion, as reported in the Halifax Courier 9th October 1915. Lady Bountiful’s real name was revealed as Lady Lillian Boucher of Blackheath, London.

In 1916 Mr Clement Holdsworth and his son Mr George Bertram Holdsworth gave their magnificent Whitegate School to the Church to use as a Sunday school. The school had been built by Holdsworths to educate their part timers and children of parents who worked at their mill. In 1870 the Education Act was passed so the school was built around 1872 but in1875 Siddal Board school was opened and Whitegate School was eventually closed. During the 1914/1918 war and the 1939/1945 war the Sunday school was also used to house soldiers. On Sunday 18th February 1923, in a violent snowstorm a War Memorial was unveiled by Col. Sir E. N. Whitley. O.B.E., in memory of the men of St Marks Parish, Siddal, who were killed in the 1914/1918 War. At the end of hostilities in 1945, a plaque was added to the memorial which was unveiled by Capt. T. Keighley, R A. in memory of the men killed in 1939/1945 war. All the names of the men from Siddal who gave their lives in the First and second World Wars and subsequent conflicts are recorded in a book which can be seen in the me-morial corner in the north aisle of St Marks. On Sunday, 20th October 1957, a Garden of Remembrance on the south side of the Church was consecrated by the Vicar of Halifax, Archdeacon Tracy, later Bishop of Wakefield.

Harvest Festival

A remembrance corner was made on the North side of the church and a cabi-net holds a book with the names of the people whose ashes are placed in the garden of remembrance. A carved cross over the remembrance table comes from the workshop of Robert Thompson of Kilburn with his mouse trademark in evidence and below the cross is a carved model of the Last Supper. Both of these were gifts in memory of a family member.

CELEBRATIONS In the final year of operation at the Chapel of Ease, 56 Baptisms were cele-brated, with the final two ceremonies taking place on December 24th and 27th 1914, when Alice Peirson, Nelly Helliwell and Lilly Brigs were baptised. A fur-ther seven children were brought for baptism in 1915 with William Rawlins the last child being baptised at the Chapel of Ease on the 1st April 1915. After the new church was opened there were 24 Baptisms in May and by the end of June there had been as many as in the whole year of 1914. The first marriage at St Marks took place on 18th September 1915 between Henry James and Daisy Mabel Bonner On Saturday 24th April 1965 St Marks Church was fifty years old and was cele-brated with a Jubilee service at 2.30pm. The service being conducted by Rev. J Bradberry and the Preacher was the Right Rev. J.A. Ramsbotham, Bishop of Wakefield. On Sunday afternoon there was a procession of witness with the Sunday school children and members of the congregation, which started at Exley and proceeded through the village to the Sunday School at Whitegate.

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE Around 1985/1986 the church council began looking into ways to provide the right setting for the growth of St Marks Church into the twenty first century. In 1986 it was decided to ask the advice of Mr K Rawson the churches architect, It was finally decided to use the west end of the church which would give space for a hall, lounge, a kitchen, and toilets and extra rooms above. The cost of repairs, reordering and fittings was estimated at £34,000. £2,000 was raised from a Diocesan grant, the sale of the Sunday school and congre-gational appeals, so a larger appeal was made for £14,000.The work com-menced but it took much longer than originally planned and another £5000 was needed, so another appeal was made. During the reorganising, services, meetings and youth work took place at the vicarage or in the vestries. The wooden screen which divides the new hall from the worship area of the church was made from the pews which had been removed from the back of the church to make the hall; because of this we lost a lot of the national symbols on the pew ends.

After much prayer, hard work and inconvenience the work was completed, the result is the building you see today.On Sunday April 29th 1990 the Bishop of Wakefield the Right Rev. David Hope officially opened the new church centre; this also coincided with the 75th anniversary of the church’s opening. The Rev. David Hallet, Archdeacon of Halifax was the preacher and the service was conducted by the Rev. Adrian Thorp Vicar of St Marks. Since 2013 St Marks has had no full time vicar. Pastoral and sacramental care is provided by the clergy and lay readers from Halifax Minster.

SUNDAY SCHOOL The Sunday school was a magnificent building and provided lots of room for Sunday school classes and activities during the week for both children and adults. At Whitsuntide we used to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit with a joint procession of witness with the people from the Methodist Church. We walked round the village stopping in different places to sing hymns. After the walk the children went back to their own Churches and had School buns for tea (a type of hot cross bun). The walk then continued to the fields at Exley (now the rugby club ground) for games, donkey rides and races. In the early 1950s the Sunday school was used as a senior day school until Exley Secondary school was opened. This has now been closed and a new one opened called Park Lane Learning Trust. The Sunday school by 1980 needed many repairs, so in 1983 it was sold and later demolished.

100th. ANNIVERSARY Our church records are kept at Wakefield Archives but for our 100 anniversary I was able to borrow some of the older registers for the visitors to see. We also had a display of old photographs both of the church and Siddal as it used to be. On the Sunday we had two special services, in the morning children from the junior school took part and in the afternoon some of our previous vicars joined us with the church wardens from many of the churches in Halifax. I hope this adds to your background about Siddal (Southowram, Salterhebble and Skircoat). Jacqueline Lumb (1116)

Manorial Documents Register. We would like to update you on the Manorial Documents Register (MDR) search within Discovery (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/manor-search), which we launched earlier this summer. The new MDR search replaces the nationalarchives.gov.uk/mdr platform, which will be retired on 30 October 2015. The MDR identifies the nature and location of manorial records. A standard Dis-covery search will show general information about manorial records held at The National Archives and elsewhere; the powerful new manor search tool provides information about manorial records as defined by the Manorial Documents Rules. More and more researchers from across the UK and beyond are using Discovery to find information about records held by other archives. We hope that integrating the MDR into Discovery will increase its visibility and make the service more ac-cessible to all users whether they are familiar with using the MDR or not. Originally a paper-based register, the MDR is gradually being updated and made available online. You can find up to date information about this work on our project page (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/manorial-documents-register.htm). We would like to say thank you to all of those who have contributed to the growth of the Register and to the generosity of the funding bodies who have supported this. The landing page for the manor search retains the title of 'Manorial Documents Register'. This is an acknowledgment of the legal status of the MDR but also dem-onstrates our commitment to its delivery and presentation as a defined entity in Discovery. We have sought extensive user feedback throughout the development process and we have already implemented a number of enhancements to ensure that this resource offers the same high level of service as its predecessor. We continue to welcome feedback on the development of Discovery, which helps inform our on-going programme of documenting, prioritising and developing enhancements. Please email discovery @nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk<mailto:[email protected]> or use the feedback form within Discovery. For more information searching the Register using Discovery visit: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help/accessing-records-of-mdr.htm or read our blog: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/discovering-manorial-documents-register/

Jonathan Cates Collections Knowledge Manager (Finding Archives) | Archives Sector Development. The National Archives +44 (0) 20 8876 3444 Beryl Evans (FFHS Archives Liaison Officer) [email protected]

Transcribers’ Tit-bits

For some years I have been helping CFHS with the transcription projects. Re-cently we have been working on the Stoney Royd cemetery records and I have been saving some of the interesting stories that emerge from these records. Any record in the cemetery records is tinged with some sadness but I found one set of records particularly moving. It concerns the Wellington Mill Fire of Thursday, 4th December, 1873. This mill in Lower Wade Street was owned and occupied by Messrs. S.C. Lister and Co. and was used principally in the manu-facture of silk. On Wednesday (3rd December) the corporation plumbers were acquainted with the fact that there were problems with the gas supply. On the following morning they attended the mill and first endeavoured to turn off the gas supply but as the valve was too stiff they set about repairs with the gas still flowing. A bung (of waste and putty) was inserted to stop the gas flow but the pressure was apparently too great and the plug was blown clear. A very strong smell of gas was noticed and about 10 o’clock there was a violent explosion. Pande-monium ensued with the workers trying to escape down the stairs or out of the windows and a number of serious injuries occurred. The fire brigade together with the appliance from John Crossley & Sons man-aged to prevent the fire from spreading far but the mill itself was very badly damaged. Over the course of the next day or it transpired that 5 girls lost their lives in the fire. It was the record of their burial at Stoney Royd that caught my eye. The girls were:-

Name Age Parents

Mary Lee 18 Thomas and Sarah Lee

Elizabeth Jowett 13 Enoch and Mary Ann Jowett

Elizabeth Stott 13 Edward and Maria Stott

Margaret Ellen

Morton

10 John and Mary Emma Morton

Annie Dawson 8 Thomas and Mary Ann Daw-

son

On 11th December the funeral cortège made its way to Stoney Royd accompa-nied by a procession of factory girls, managers, cashiers, clerks, and overlook-ers employed at the destroyed mill. As reported in the Bradford Observer of 12th December 1872 there were “not less than 20,000 spectators” lining the road to the borough cemetery. The girls were buried in a single grave no. J203a. The figure of 20,000 may be somewhat exaggerated.

Below the gravestone there is an inscription that reads as follows

I hope to bring you a few more tit-bits from the transcription in future editions. Dick Thomas (24th Oct 2015)

THE ABOVE MET THEIR DEATH IN THE CALAMITOUS FIRE

AT WELLINGTON MILLS HALIFAX ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 4TH

1873.

I am the Resurrection and the Life

Oh! tenderly tread as this tomb you pass

Bend not a blade of the Zephyr kiss’d grass

Memory doth mourn o’er its bright green spears

Bedew’d are its roots with sorrows sad tears

Sweetly, and low be the prayers you would say

For the flow’rets fair that beneath it lay

To Heaven, the Angels your thoughts shall bear

Where the mill maids rest from toil and care.

My Ancestors were ENGINE TENTERS I have recently joined the CFHS and enjoyed reading your editorial in the Sept ed of the Scrivener about old occupations. Several of my family have been engine tenters including my own father in Halifax, though he was called a less colourful title of “boilerman”. Some internet descriptions of this occupation are rather vague and talk about “tending an engine”. In the census these men are sometimes given the title “fireman” which is misleading considering our under-standing of the term but one can see why they are so called as it reflects one aspect of the job. As engines were powered by solid fuel the job would entail shovelling the fuel ie coal into the engine and maintaining the engine’s effi-ciency by cleaning and repairing it. As my mother worked in a mill on the evening shift when I was a child I would sometimes be taken to my father’s place of work as he always worked “on nights”. I watched my father working hard to stoke the boiler and he would cook food on the embers in a frying pan with a specially constructed long han-dle. He kept the boiler absolutely spotless – green and shiny. Linda Smith

A Reminder on Free Searches for members

We are often asked what the benefits are for being a member of a Family His-tory Society. As well as the quarterly magazine & access to other members' interests & research, our Society offers free search facilities on most of the information that we hold centrally. This comes in 2 main forms, plus a 3rd service. for which we make a small charge. 1. Free searches on all our Transcribed information. Over the years, the Society Transcription Teams have made over 2 million pieces of information available from old records, ranging from censuses, through Parish Registers to Monumental Inscriptions & Burial Records. An index to every name is freely available to member & non-member alike on our website www.cfhsweb.com. Just click on the item "Research" on the main menu bar on the Home Page & then select "Transcription Index". This will allow you to list all the entries available for any name you choose. If you then find an entry that you are interested in, just click on the item in the last (right-hand) column (heading "Record Details") & a smaller window will appear. This advises anyone who enquires how to purchase the publication in which this item appears. However, if you, as a Calderdale FHS member, have previously logged on to the site with your membership details, this win-dow will also allow you to "click" on the button marked "Send Mail" to have a free search result sent to you, giving the full information that appears in the relevant publication. You will receive a confirmation E-Mail straight away & later (hopefully in a few days) the Search Coordinator will send you an E-Mail with a file attached, showing the full information requested. So, to summarise, the steps are ;- - Go to the website www.cfhsweb.com - Log on with your membership username & password - Go to the menu item "Research/Transcription Index" - Find an entry that you are interested in. - Click on the last (right-hand) column of that item - heading "Record Details" - On the small window displayed, click on the button "Send Mail" A full description of how to do this is contained in an article published in the September Scrivener.

2. Free Searches on Local Burial Records. We have obtained copies of the burial records of some of our local municipal cemeteries, which hold a wealth of information about more recent burials - from the mid-19th century onwards. The main cemetery, Stoney Royd, is being transcribed by the Society's volunteers & is being published in 4 CDs, access to which can be done as described in 1. above. However, we do not currently have the resources to transcribe information from other cemeteries. So, as a further benefit to you, as members, we are offering free searches to you, which will be done manually by the Search Coor-dinator. This service is being offered, to start with, for the 4 cemeteries :- - Brighouse Cemetery - 1874 to 1995 - Elland Cemetery - 1861 to 1996 - Lister Lane, Halifax - 1842 to 1963 - Rastrick Cemetery - 1884 to 1996 The information we need from you is :- - The deceased's forename & surname - The year & quarter of their death (or, better still, the date of death, if you have it) - Which of the 4 cemeteries they are likely to be in. As none of the cemeteries concerned opened before 1837, you should be able to determine the year & quarter of death from GRO or FreeBMD records. Send this information, in an E-mail, to [email protected] & the Search Coordinator will send back an image of the page in the Burial Register on which the deceased appears. 3. Extra, chargeable, service for headstone & gravestone images. Once you have the details of any grave that you are looking for, which includes the 4 graveyards referred to above, plus any grave identified via our transcrip-tions of Stoney Royd, you may wish to see any headstone and/or gravestone associated with the grave concerned. We are offering to photograph these for a charge of £3 per graveyard (up to a maximum of 5 graves in that graveyard). So, once you have determined the grave(s) you are interested in, send your request to the Search Coordinator & we will arrange to photograph the grave(s) & send you photo(s). You can order these in 1 of 2 ways :- - Direct to the Search Coordinator, along with a cheque, payable to Calderdale FHS

The Search Coordinator's postal address is on the inside back- page of this Scrivener. - Via Genfair, under the "Search" section, where you can pay by Credit Card. The information the Search Coordinator will need, for each grave, is :- - Graveyard concerned - Name on the grave - Grave No. (eg J203a) - Your CFHS Membership No. (if ordering via Genfair). If ordering photos from multiple graveyards, via Genfair, please complete a separate request for each graveyard. If all graves requested, within a cemetery, turn out not to have headstone or gravestone inscriptions, then we will tell you & your cheque will not be cashed, or your Credit Card payment, via Genfair, will be cancelled. We very much hope that you will use these facilities to extend the research in your areas of interest. We believe that they are some of the most extensive benefits to members offered by any Family History Society.

Susan Lord - Search Coordinator - [email protected]

Free Magazine - from the Federation of FFHS Some of you may not be aware that the Federation of FHSs issues a maga-zine every 2-3 months, which is absolutely free of charge. It is electronic & is called their E-Zine. Anyone with an interest can subscribe & there are some very interesting items of general concern, as well as specifics to certain Family History Societies. All you have to do is :- - Log on to the Federation website www.ffhs.org.uk - On the home page, click on the link in the top RH corner of the Home Page "Try out our new FFHS E-Zine" - Follow the instructions on the displayed page & you will start to get the E-Zine mailed to you every publication. There is also a further publication ""FFHS News" ( which is the button below the E-Zine link) which you may also be interested in. Again, click on the link & follow the instructions. We hope that this extra information will be of help to you in your research.

New MI Address List

3220 Mr. D. Riley, [email protected] 3674 Mrs. J. Giorgi, [email protected] 3679 Mr. T. Leeming, [email protected] 1262 Mr.J.M. Hardcastle, [email protected] 3688 Mrs. O. Fairhurst, [email protected] 3689 Mr. L. Towers, [email protected] 3691 Mr. C. Ambler, [email protected]

New Members’ Interests

Surname Location County Known

From

Known

To

Wanted

From

Wanted

To Code

MARSHALL EASTWOOD WRY 1826 Now 1826 Now 3689

MARSHALL STANSFEILD WRY 1825 Now 1825 Now 3689

MARSHALL HALIFAX WRY 1796 Now 1796 Now 3689

PICKLES JAMES YOR 1894 1910 1910 1935 3220

THOMPSON BRIGHOUSE AREA WRY 1824 Now Start 1824 3688

MARSHALL EASTWOOD WRY 1827 Now 1827 Now 3689

TOWERS WREY LAN 1796 Now 1796 Now 3689

LEEMING ALL ALL 1500 2000 1500 2000 3679

AMBLER HALIFAX WRY 1776 Now Start 1776 3691

ARMITAGE CLAYTON WRY 1861 1872 Start 1861 1262

HARRINGTON HALIFAX AND CORK COR 1851 1911 1911 Now 3674

MORAN HALIFAX AND SE MAYO MAY 1842 1940 1881 Now 3674

KENYON HALIFAX/ SKIRCOAT WRY 1841 1911 Start Now 3674

WHITEHEAD HALIFAX/ KING CROSS WRY 1841 1881 Start Now 3674

What’s in a Name? by Jeannie Allergist

Great Great Great Great Grandpapa, How I wonder who you are! Your fatherhood is not in doubt, But they left the mother out! Are you the John who married Sue? Sarah? or Sal? Which one are you?!

More about the Forum on the CFHS website.

In the September 2015 Scrivener, on page 28, there was an excellent article from one of our members about how useful he found the "Forum" on the Soci-ety website www.cfhsweb.com A number of our members have expressed interest in this, but have asked for a bit more detail on exactly how to use it - so here goes !! The aim of the exercise is to exchange views & information with other mem-bers of the Society, but starting by putting out some ideas of interest, in gen-eral, in the hope that other members will respond. 1. First of all, you need to be logged on with your CFHS username & pass-

word, so that the "Members' Area" tab is shown on the main Menu Bar. 2. Put your mouse pointer over the "Members' Area" on the Menu Bar & then

click on the entry below it, entitled "Forum". This will display the screen below :-

3. If you click on the downward arrow to the right of the "Go To"" this will allow you to select either the "Top Level" or one of the 3 sub-categories.

4. Alternatively, you can click on the title of any one of the 3 headings, in

blue, General Topics, Research or Feedback. 5. For instance, if you select "Research" you will get a screen looking like the

one below:-

6. You can then click on any item shown there (and, if there are more than 10, you can click on the "more" button at the foot of the screen). On this screen, you can also see how many replies each item has had, plus the number of people who have looked at it.

7. A further facility available is the "Search" option. You may wish to know

if anyone has posted a message on the Forum about a particular subject.. So you can click on the "Search" link (top LH of the screen above) & enter a relevant phrase. You can experiment with this by entering "Lister Lane" & you will get an extract of every item with "Lister Lane" in it. You can then click on one that you want to read & go straight to the message.

8. Finally, if you want to start a new message string, click on the "New Topic"

button (top RH side of the screen above) & you can start off something new that interests you.

We hope that this helps you make better use of the Forum. Your Society is constantly trying to find ways to make your Family History research more com-prehensive & to offer good value to you, as a member. Peter Lord

Calderdale Companion

Over the last year or so, myself, Malcolm Bull and others have been adding a lot of Great War material to Malcolm's Calderdale Companion website. I've been working my way through the Halifax Courier (online at http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/sources/themes/world-war-one.html). For each serviceman whose photo appeared there, I've tried to locate them in the cen-suses to find out about them and their families. I've succeeded for about ninety percent of those I've looked at. To date, I've got as far as December 1916 and have added information about 562 service-men and their families to the Calderdale Companion. According to my maternal grandmother it was during the Great War that nor-mal people began buying newspapers to look for information about friends or family who were serving. There are obviously many sad stories. Several families had to wait a year or more from the time their loved ones were posted as missing till they were con-firmed to have died. That wait must have been pretty awful. One story that comes to mind is that of Tom Womersley. On leave in April 1916 he married Lily Steele. He received a wire the same morning telling him to immediately rejoin the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. He was killed four months later, aged 22, never having seen his wife again. Another sad tale is that of Harry Hoyle. The family of Rifleman Harry Hoyle, of the King's Royal Rifles, were informed that he had been killed on the 17th of August 1916. To the surprise and joy of the family, they then received a letter from him, dated the 29th of August, proving he was still alive. It turned out that the army had confused him with Rifleman Hubert Hoyle, also of the King's Royal Rifles, who had died on 17th.

However this joy soon turned back to sorrow as Harry was killed a few days later, on the 9th of September, aged 25. Quite an emotional rollercoaster for his family. The new information has been added to Malcolm's existing list of local people who died in wars which can be found at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~calderdalecompanion/x2101.html Malcolm has asked for help from members of the society in the following ways:

Filling-in details of the men & women already on the Calderdale Companion

Adding details of people who are not yet recorded there. Sending photos or transcriptions of local War Memorials and Rolls of Honour

– especially those not yet recorded If you can help, please send your information to Malcolm Bull at [email protected] Roger Beasley (3104)

HELP WANTED

Spouts Mill Rastrick The mill itself was destroyed in a fire in 2001. Luckily I had visited it before! I am specifically wanting to find who was employed there, if it had any employ-ment records and where would I find them! On the 1911 Census my Great Grandfather was missing from his home and I found him at a hotel in London with George Helm, owner of Spouts Mill. I think they must have been at a buyers 'drapers' conference or market. My G Grand-father is down as a Designer. This is what I would like to find out more about. George Helm died in 1921 and I'm sure my Great Grandfather was left some money by him or was promoted because he ended up having a house built, which is still there today. He went from modest means and renting to owing his own house. Rachel Senior

Gathering Evidence

I’ve just embarked on writing my fourth murder mystery novel and, returning to this photo of a Warley Christmas, a hundred and ten years after it was taken, it occurs to me that many of the processes I’m currently using to work out and supply evidence for who, where, and when, began to be honed twenty years ago, when it first came into my possession. ‘When’ is the easy bit. For once, Tom Sutcliffe, my paternal great grandfa-ther, wrote the date beneath it: ‘Christmas 1905’. ‘For once’, because, consid-ering his interest in recording history, he really should have made a better job of labelling the photos in this and the three other albums I know to be his. I also know he kept diaries, because he referred to them in an indexed note-book, but they are no longer extant (‘probably destroyed’ according to my fa-ther). In this he recorded the dates of his various house moves, so the ‘where’ of this is Littlemoors, in Warley, where he lived between 1901 and 1908. ‘Who’ took a lot longer. A lot of browsing though photographs. Of tying, com-paring names to wills, letters and postcards. Of asking Tom’s daughter, who told me Sarah’s sister Mary was always known as Polly. (There’s a predomi-nance of Sutcliffes, because Tom married Sarah Sutcliffe; his brother Sam the just-mentioned Polly.) In browsing I was fascinated to realise how accurate – or do I mean astute? – is the ability, with practice, to recognise likenesses, so that after two or three years of poring over some nine albums I’m sure of Emily, who married Pliny, from her air of shyness; of the diminutive Alice, from her slightly hooded eyes. I even better know my grandmother, Dora, and her brothers (although only Harry is in this one); her three Eastwood cousins are distinctive, and even here Connie has her mother’s looks. The Rowley cousins – Edmund the only boy and his sister Muriel – are arrived at by process of elimination since, living in Oldham, they appear far less frequently. The men – with their high foreheads and blessed moustaches! – were harder, but Sam’s eyes are almost always smiling, the tilt of Pliny’s head invariably a trifle arrogant. For years the third man here could have been one of two hus-bands, but eventually I learnt Alice’s husband, John Eastwood, had died in 1901 and so was more confident about it being Brooke Rowley, the husband of Tom’s sister Ann.

The line-up, therefore is as follows:

Back row, standing, Sam, Dora (age 15), Harry (nearly 27), Pliny Summer-skill, Sarah’s widowed sister Alice Eastwood (with Tom’s never-married sis-ter Alice Sutcliffe behind), Sarah, Brook Rowley and Edmund Rowley (nearly 14) Middle row: Polly, Tom's sisters Emily (Summerskill) and Ann (Rowley), Muriel Rowley (age 15) Front: Cissie Eastwood (age 8), Connie Summerskill (age 12), Gladys and Doris Eastwood (age 10 and 12).

There’s a fourth question which needs to be asked – that of ‘how’ – and it is one I haven’t been able to fully deduce. How was it possible for Tom Sutcliffe to take an interior photograph such as this one some twenty-five years before flashbulbs were available for domestic use? It is unlikely there was sufficient sunlight flooding into the room at that time of the year, and it clearly isn’t com-ing from the window at the right hand side, otherwise Edmund’s head would be in silhouette. The alternative of magnesium flash powder can be ruled out by the lack of reflection from Doris and Harry’s’ spectacles. The brightness on the faces of the girls in the front row and strong shadows cast by the seated middle row, and Sam at the end of the back row, suggests that spotlights of some sort, shining from on side to prevent squinting, had been used. If so, an assumption can be made as to where they came from. Until 1897, Tom Sutcliffe worked in his father John Sutcliffe’s warehouse in Dispensary Walk. After finishing there he worked at King Cross Studio, in Hali-fax. Although no clue is given as to what capacity he fulfilled, or even that ‘studio’ denoted photography, the 1905 Directory reference to ‘Jessop’, still connected to photography today is a reasonably strong indicator. The exis-tence of one family photograph, certainly taken earlier than June 1899 sug-gests his interest in photography may have begun then; his notebook re-corded the purchase of a Cyko camera, from Benetfink & Co Cheapside in May 1902. By 1905 he had likely either purchased spotlights or was able to borrow them. The ‘why’, the motive, is easily identified. Without fail, I, we, have taken photos of family on Christmas day, but we never managed as many as the seventeen gathered here. Sandra Davies [2039]

Project Report - Latest Position.

As you probably remember. our current project is to transcribe the burial regis-ters for Calderdale's biggest cemetery, Stoney Royd. We have now completed all the transcriptions and are well on the way with the validation. This means that we should be able to publish the 3rd (of 4) CDs in the early part of 2016 - hopefully, sometime in January. This will cover the period 1914 to 1941, which starts to bring us into the time of living memories. In October, we had a Get Together of our transcription team, which most were able to attend. This took place at the Holiday Inn near Rugby. This was cho-sen, as it is right by junction 18 of the M1 & about as central in the country as we could make it. We spent a lot of time exchanging views on the best way to carry out the tran-scription process, drawing on the extensive experience of our team. It was also the first time that some of the team had seen the end-product of all their work, as we demonstrated both the Research Room database system that handles the Stoney Royd records, and also looked at the relevant CD & how it is made up. I think that it's fair to say that everyone enjoyed themselves (indeed, that was the main objective of the day !!) & it is something that we hope to repeat every few years. Another activity which has come to fruition over the last 3 months is the update of the Lightcliffe St. Matthew CD. We discovered a separate register from the standard church Burial register (which we used for the original transcription), which contained over 2000 extra burial details. Thanks to the efforts of "The Friends of Lightcliffe Graveyard" we have been able to include these extra records in an updated CD So, if you feel that you may have missed a burial (between 1872 & 1976) in Lightcliffe, it is probably worth looking again at the Transcription Index on our website www.cfhsweb.com. This appears under the "Research" item on the main menu bar. And, because you are a member of the Society, you will be able to get the full detail of anything you find, free of charge, from our Search Coordinator. But, remember, you need to be logged on, using your Username & Password, to be able to request this. As always, we are reminding you that a good way to help within the Society is to volunteer to join the Transcription Team. Most (I hope ALL !!) of the team enjoy what they do & you can spend as much or as little time on it as you wish. All you need is a computer & the ability to read & write to MSExcel. You don't need to be local to Halifax - or indeed in this country - as everything is passed

around electronically. Full instructions are always given & I am also usually available at the end of an E-Mail, or telephone line. So, if you would like to join the team, let me know by E-Mailing [email protected] Peter Lord- Project Coordinator.

We are looking for an Assistant Webmaster !!

As I am sure that you are aware, more and more of our members are using electronic methods to further their research. Not least of the tools they have at their disposal is our website. This means that the load on our Webmaster, Keith Pitchforth, is increasing all the time as he strives to keep our Society website top quality and up to date. Your Committee have agreed with Keith that it is appropriate for us to try to get someone to help him out, so we are looking for an Assistant Webmaster. The aim is for the new recruit to take some of the routine stuff off Keith's shoulders, to give him more time to develop the site in ways that will make it even more help to the membership. It will also serve to give us some cover for Keith, for example when he is away, but it is always prudent to have a second person for vital positions within the Society. The tasks that we envisage the Assistant Webmaster being responsible for are :

• Checking, on a regular basis (say weekly), that outofdate stuff is re-moved.

• Updating the main pages, if requested to do so by other Officers of the Society.

• Checking the validity of requests for new accounts for members.

• Resolving any password queries from members.

• Approving Postings on the Forum

• Passing on suggestions for basic site improvements in design to the Webmaster.

Anyone volunteering for this post will get help and support from both Keith as Webmaster and from Peter Lord, as Systems Coordinator. The skills needed are :

• A basic understanding of web design.

• Ideally, but not essential, some experience using Wordpress.

• Most importantly, the time and inclination to do the job !!!

If you would like to volunteer, please contact me, Peter Lord, at the following EMail address [email protected] Anyone who feels that they can help, please give this serious consideration. We anticipate that it is unlikely to take more than an hour or so per week on average, and would be fulfilling a vital service to our Society. Peter Lord Systems Coordinator.

England Jurisdiction Maps The London FamilySearch Centre can be found on the first floor of The Na-tional Archives at Kew. It is extensively used by family historians who consult its large stock of films of parish registers and other resources. The Centre's recently upgraded website now includes a series of interactive maps showing the boundaries of a range of key jurisdictions in England as at 1851. The separate layers available include:

^ Counties ^ Civil registration districts ^ Dioceses ^ Poor Law Unions ^ Hundreds

For each layer, you can zoom in to parish level and confirm the relevant juris-diction. Readers can choose from three different background options:

^ Map: A simple map ^ Satellite: Modern arial view ^ Ordnance Survey: 19th-century Ordnance Survey map

When you find an locality of interest, you can home in on "street view" or follow up a range of options such as compiling a list of parishes within a particular district. Your search can also move on to discover associated material in the Library catalogue and Research Wiki . Navigation is supported by a written introduction. This facility is a major boost for anyone with English ancestry. It is particularly helpful if you do not live in the same area as your forebears and are unfamiliar with the record-keeping organisations that operated there in the past. Francis Howcutt - FFHS Archives Liaison Officer

HELP WANTED

Family Bible needs a Reunion Dear Scrivener, As a volunteer at the Huddersfield & District Family History Society, I was ap-proached last week by a lady who has in her possession a Family Bible. She has no connection to the names in the book, which was apparently abandoned in an old warehouse in London in 2008. I have researched the family names and narrowed down their residence in the mid 1800’s to Todmorden. So, I am hopeful that, through your magazine, I can reunite the Bible with the family. Briefly, the original owners were John and Alice HALSTEAD married in 1866. Their children were James William, Sarah Elizabeth, Ben, Sidney, Lord, Emma and Alice. Ben, their 2nd son, married Deborah FIELDEN in 1893 in Todmorden. Their children were Fred, Frank Fielden, James William, Edith Alice and Ruth. The descendants I have found have the following surnames, as well as HAL-STEAD :- MADDEN, ATHINSON, WILKINSON and HAWKINS all in the same area. I am hoping to find descendants of, in particular, Ben HALSTEAD born 1919, Dorothy M. HALSTEAD born 1922 or Doreen HALSTEAD born 1924. Ben HALSTEAD married Phyllis Robertshaw in 1947. Dorothy M. HALSTEAD married Wallace WINTER in 1939. Their son, Geoffrey WINTER, was born in 1942, again in Todmorden. I do have details of his off-spring. If anyone out there can confirm his or her family connection it would be a great result!! Thank you. I can be contacted at [email protected] Dinah Bentley

Improving Membership Benefits

Many Family History Societies, over recent years, have seen a fall in their membership, or, at the very least, a levelling off of the numbers who retain their membership. As a result, your Committee has been trying to think of more ways in which we can provide help to members in their research, so that they continue to think that membership of Calderdale FHS is worthwhile. To achieve this, we have set up an "Improvements Sub-Committee". Elsewhere in this issue, you can read about the Free Searches that we offer & also see an article about how to get the best out of the Forum on the Mem-bers' Area of our website. To help us arrive at the best possible result, we have recently sent out ques-tionnaires to 2 groups of people :- - Those who have only recently joined the Society. - Those who failed to renew their membership within the last 6 months. We have had a very encouraging response & it has brought home to us areas where we can improve significantly. In the March 2016 issue of the Scrivener, we hope to tell you much more about what we are offering, some of which, we hope, will be new to you. However, we would like to take this opportunity to tell you the kind of areas where we hope to improve. These are :- - Making it clearer what the full benefits are of being a member & how to make

the best of them. - Helping members, not familiar with the Halifax area, to learn more about

where places are. - To provide more specific help for Overseas members. - To continue to develop search, and similar, services on data that we hold as

a Society. - To be more specific about what Non-Conformist records we hold. - To publicise what we do, in a more focused way, so that we can recruit &

retain membership. We will be working very hard over the next few months, in conjunction with advice from the Federation of FHSs, to try to make membership of our Society an even more worthwhile experience than it already is. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on anything that will help us, please send them to [email protected] & they will be considered along with everything else. Improvements Sub-Committee.

May Talk - Highway Men By Tony Morris

Highwaymen seldom worked alone. They enjoyed the prospect of wealth, fine clothes and travel. There was adventure, romance and admiration which brought excitement. At the other end of the scale there was the prospect of comeupance at the end of a rope. James MacLaine, born 1724, second son of a Presbyterian minister from Monaghan in Ireland. Lost father, inherited money and went to Dublin. Frit-tered the money away on fine clothes and gambling within 12 months penni-less. He married a horse dealer’s daughter. With her dowry of £500 set up grocery and chandler business. His wife died and high living was his downfall. A rich young lady would solve his problems and he started frequenting London and Tunbridge Wells. His assets disappearing at a frightening rate he became a highwayman and joined forces with William Plunkett a bankrupt apothecary. They held up a grazier for the sum of £60 and throughout the incident Maclaine remained mute and nigh on useless. Similar fiasco ensued when they attempted to hold up a coach on the road to St Albans. A robbery on Shooters Hill south east London proved successful. They robbed an official of East India Company of a large sum of money. In those days if you wanted to speculate on gathering spices from the Far East you had to pay with a bag of gold, usually sovereigns . Handed that to a messenger or ship's Captain, who was vulnerable until he got on his boat. Another victim was Walpole at Hyde Park, on this occasion he was uncharacteristically reticent on the amount lost. To his credit Maclaine discharged his pistol and raised his arm, walked to Wal-pole apologising for the incident saying if he had mortally wounded him he would have put the pistol to his own head. He offered to return the stolen items if Walpole would meet him at midnight. Of course Walpole did not respond. At 2am on the 26th June 1750 they stopped the Salisbury stage coach at Turn-ers Green there were 5 men and one woman passenger, all were robbed. MacLaine took a shine to a fancy waistcoat worn by one of the men, he took it along with a wig and they rode on. The next victim was the Earl of Egglington in his post chaise. He had an escort of 2 mounted servants and a blunderbuss. MacLaine knew the latter, local intelligence was always good. Plunkett com-manded the Earl to throw out the blunderbuss which he did. On returning to base MacLaine summoned a pawnbroker and did a deal with the clothing. They were advertised as having been stolen, and as soon as the news reached the authorities MacLaine was arrested. He called witnesses to vouch for his good character to no avail, he was convicted without the jury even leav-ing the court room. Preaching was clearly in his blood. The days leading up to his death were spent in confession and appealing to all sinners to repent. On October 3rd 1750 he was taken to Tyburn and hanged.

Robin Hood's name was always synonymous with Sherwood Forest. There are few records for this character although a tax document dated 1226 refers to R. Hood as a fugitive. People warm to him as he gets one over on greedy or corrupt people. If he existed it was probably in the12th/13th century. It is possi-ble his pedigree stems back to Judith niece of William the Conqueror. Another factor is more credible. At the end of the Civil War there were many redundant cavalry officers. They had no skills other than horsemanship and warfare, so, a short step to becoming a highwayman. There was considerable sympathy among the population when their change of lifestyle had to be ex-plained or excused. There was the response, “He was a gentleman and con-siderate to his victims”! Rumoured to donate some of his takings to the dis-trict's most senior citizens. Round about 1552 a Tailor crossing Hounslow Heath was stopped by high-waymen who demanded his valuables. In those days they had single shot pis-tols. The Tailor agreed and requested they put a shot through his hat, this he explained would give him an alibi and proof of the robbery. Then the Tailor produces his own pistol and turns the tables on the attacker. Ladies also got in on the act. Born 1643 Anne Meadows’ specialities were fraud, highway robbery and bigamy. She married 3 men in quick succession. First two failed to come up with the riches she sought, so she made for the continent and whilst travelling around added a long list of lovers to her CV. Her behaviour was a serious impediment to her lifestyle, she was always broke. One night an affluent lover admitted to her that he was carrying £200. She pursued him, robbed him, and threatened to tell his wife if he dared to reveal her actions. She was later arrested for stealing some silver plates. The Old Bailey trial was a sensation as she wore an extremely low cut dress. Her case, like her dress, was falling apart as she fell back on the old rules of claiming to be pregnant. This started a fresh trial but the jury wasn’t impressed and she was hanged at Tyburn at 30 years of age. Margaret Mathew from Suffolk born 1660 robbed her husband. She claimed he was a serial wife beater and that’s why she took to the road. Her object was financial independence, she knew he was carrying a large amount of money. He turned into a whining coward when he found himself at the wrong end of a pistol. Katherine Ferrers, born in 1662 ,her lifestyle formed the basis of two films enti-tled 'The Wicked Lady'. She was married to Sir Ralph Ferrers at the age of 16, he was more interested in his estate than his young bride. Katherine, bored took to the road. Her first victim was her loathed sister in law, robbery and re-venge made a sweet combination. One night she attempted to rob a well-known highwayman Jerry Jackson, he was taken by Katherine’s good looks

and eventually they became lovers. He ended his days at Tyburn. How she ended her career was uncertain, we know she died at the age of 22. Two more were Joan Phillips, and Mary Frith later known as Moll Cutpurse. She was without doubt something special. She was a constant problem to her parents, known as rumpskuttle or a tomboy, her father offered to get her an apprenticeship with a saddler but Mary said no. She was a skilled pickpocket but even better as a fence, she had a shop in Fleet Street which became fa-mous. Many victims would buy back valuables very often within hours of been robbed. Her reputation for integrity was soon won, robbers knew she would give them a good price and victims were never fleeced. She was an excellent shot, skilful wrestler, wore men’s clothing and smoked an evil smelling pipe. During the Commonwealth period her income fell as many valuables were hidden or buried. She heard that General Fairfax was coming to London, rode out to Hounslow Heath and held him up in broad daylight. To effect her escape shot him in the arm and shot the two accompanying servants’ horses. At Turn-ers Green her horse collapsed and she was captured. She secured her free-dom for £2,000. She died of dropsy 26th July 1659 and left £20 for a party to celebrate her execution of the Monarchy. With no long custodial sentences the best deterrent was public execution and transportation. Other punishments were used, public whipping, branding, pressing and those guilty of treason hung drawn and quartered. Newgate prison, originally in Fleet Street, was extensively damaged in 1380 and the great fire of London in 1666. Then in 1780, some 120,000 gallons of gin put in the prison and set alight the flames seen 30 miles away. It was repaired and provided a transit point for those going to Tyburn. Built for 100 prisoners the head count in 1813 was 340 prisoners. Demolished in1902, it became the Old Bailey. A prominent figure was the clergyman known as the Ordinary, a church official. His perks were a house nearby and the chance to sell confes-sions of the condemned. These tended to be fabricated, as they had to be available for sale on the day of the execution. The first execution at Tyburn, was in 1196. The original gallows two poles and a cross beam was inadequate for demand, and in the 16th century it was changed to a triangular arrangement. By 1759 it was a traffic obstacle and removed. Then a new system of 8 hanging days was agreed and the gallows were re-erected. A condemned person required best clothes for the event, and on the way would stop for a drink. This all contributed to theatricality of the event and the crowd loved it. Relatives could claim the body after 30 minutes, making frantic efforts of revival. Air and other functions were injected into vari-ous orifices in attempt at revival. Some prisoners paid in advance for men to swing on their legs to speed their departure. On one occasion a drunken hang-man put the noose around the Ordinaries neck. Based on the assumption that a visible reminder of the penalty for crime would act as a deterrent, bodies were dipped in tar and suspended in a metal cage for all to see.

Tyburn was abandoned in 1783; hanging instead took place outside Newgate. In the provinces executions took place at York, Chester, Manchester, and Maidstone. Events were very popular, and in 1807 2 convicted murderers raised an audience of 40k people, panic broke out and 26 died in the crush. The last public hanging was in 1868 outside Newgate. The Right of Sanction was a problem for felon catching. A fugitive could stay in a church for 40 days but then after confessing his crimes and agreeing to ban-ishment, he had to don a white tunic, and carrying a cross make for the near-est port and board the next boat out. Law enforcement was a shambles, Con-stables were supervised by magistrates but by the 17th century there was seri-ous work overload. They had to maintain the peace. They were concerned with the church attendances. Nightwatchmen went out at night calling out the time. Sawney Bean who was born late in the 16th century, was bone idle, incredibly ugly, and found a lady with similar handicap. They always killed and ate their victims. After 25 years they and their extended family, 8 sons, 6 daughters, 18 grandsons, 14 granddaughters were arrested and taken to Edinburgh and exe-cuted. With over 1,000 victims they were guilty of incest ,murder and cannibal-ism. Similar groups cropped up all over the place. A large gang of 300 in Hampshire rounded up and hung. In Lancashire late 14th century a gang of 500 operated. Jonathan Wild had a national reputation, he went into partnership with Charles Hitchin a corrupt city marshal. His speciality was selling back to victims their pocket books. Invariably containing evidence of their indiscretions they had useful blackmail potential. He became Mr. Big, the Godfather of the day. He kept extensive records and would place one or two ticks against victims names. One tick indicated he knew enough to get them hanged, two ticks indi-cated he was going to dispose of them. This is believed to be the origin of the phrase the double cross. He was not frightened of standing witness of those who got in his way. His reputation of finder of stolen property was so well known that legislation was passed to put him out of business. In May 1725 he was arrested for theft of 50 yards of lace worth £40. He defended himself in court and acquitted, a second charge was successful and he was sentenced to death. Attempts to avoid the hangman by suicide failed. His body disappeared on the way to a school of anatomy. Jack Shepherd 1702 was more famous for escaping from custody than bur-glary and highway robbery. He was introduced to Jonathan Wild. A minor fence called Field did business with these two, Wild found out and applied pressure and for his sins got turned in. He was condemned to death but es-caped 3 times under heavy guard. He got to Tyburn in November 1624 at the age of 22.

Dick Turpin's exploits are extensively covered in the book 'Dick Turpin and the Gregory gang'. He was born 1705 at Hempstead in Essex. He became a butcher and at one point a landlord of a public house. Being a butcher the car-casses of deer poached from Epping Forest passed through his hands. He gave up butchering about 1733 at 28 years of age. Turpin finds himself associating with Sam Gregory ex blacksmith. Their area of operation included the whole of the Home Counties; Turpin went as far north as Cambridge. The gang’s activities included horse and cattle stealing, high-way robbery, breaking into farmhouses, rape and physical abuse. In 1734 ac-counts were appearing in the London Gazette about the gang. A reward of £50 for every one of the criminals caught was issued. John Wheeler betrayed the others and was housed in Newgate for his own safety. Was this the first in-stance of witness protection? 4 were arrested and escorted by 50 military men to Tyburn. After hanging the corpses were removed to the gibbet at Edgware. There was a woman in the gang, she was sentenced to transportation, no un-derstanding why she wasn’t hanged. What happened to the other 4 is a mys-tery. Turpin went to Holland for about a year. In September 1736 John Wheeler is released from prison in Clerkenwell. Turpin surfaces in March the following year. He tries to hold up Matthew King a fellow Highwayman but they team up together in a partnership that lasted 3 years. Most of this period was spent holed up in Epping Forest with forays to plunder and rob. There is an account of an event in the vicinity of the Green Man public house in Leytonstone in April 1737. Here Turpin, King, and Potter robbed a Mr Major of his racehorse and six guineas. 1st May, Mr Bays the landlord of the Green Man discovers that the horse had been left at the Red Lion Inn, Whitechapel, only 3 miles down the road. A trap was set; King fired a shot to warn the others. During the altercation King dies from a gunshot wound, the other two escaped. Four days later Turpin was seen by a servant of Mr Thompson, a forester, who suspected he was going to steal a horse. He went to borrow a gun and got too near to Turpin who shot him. So it was murder. A price of £200 was on his head. This was quickly followed by two further robberies. On the 10th May a single highwayman robbed 4 coaches at different times on Hounslow Heath. It is assumed that this was Turpin. He moved into Lincoln-shire and, crossing the Humber arriving at Brough or Welton round about 6th June 1736/37. In October a year later a John Palmer (alias Turpin) was ar-rested for threatening to shoot a labourer over an argument. Where had he been the previous 14 months? The inn keeper at the fray house in Brough, William Harris, said he had lodged there until his arrest. Turpin attempted to establish a base at either Wilton or North Cave and a Lincolnshire base at North Sutton near the Wash. He stole horses in Lincolnshire and sold them in North Humberside. A side line in sheep stealing led to his arrest. He escaped from custody in Long Sutton but was soon recaptured and taken to York to

wait trial in March 1739. On the 6th February he wrote to his brother in law in Essex. This was refused. At this point James Smith enters the scene. Some say he was at school with Turpin. Smith got a magistrate to intervene on the grounds he recognised the handwriting. He even had several of Turpin’s bills in his possession. Smith travels to York and of course identified Turpin and at his trial gave evidence against him. The trial at York on the 22nd March 1739 was concluded without the jury leaving the court. 16 days later he was taken with another horse thief John Stead to Knavesmire and hanged. His body was removed and taken to a tavern in Castlegate at 3pm. The next morning he was buried in the church yard at St George’s Church Fishergate, in a very deep grave. At 3am grave robbers were seen taking the corpse away. The mob got wind of the action and reclaimed it. This time it was reburied in a coffin with quicklime. William John Nevison, real name John Brace, developed a protection racket. . Those who complied were never robbed. Living in Pontefract he was a stone’s throw from the A1. Herds of 500/600 cattle from Scotland went down to Smith-field market. He married a rich man’s daughter in Holland, then followed a rapid departure for Flanders after being denounced by his father in law. He returned to England in 1659 and continued his nefarious activities. In May 1676 he left Gads Hill in Kent and at 4am following a robbery he went to Gravesend and took the Tilbury ferry. Crossed the Thames headed for Cam-bridge and Huntingdon and arrived in York at 7pm. He is supposed to have rested for one and a half hours covering 200 miles in fifteen hours.

At York Nevison quickly changed clothes and set off for the bowling green where he knew the mayor was playing. He approached him and asked him the time, it was about 8pm, thus establishing an alibi. A few weeks later he was arrested for the robbery in Gads Hill, but at his trial the mayor confirmed his story. Nobody thought it possible to complete the journey in less than a day, and he was acquitted. He was summoned by Charles II; he told the King that he had ridden so furious that Old Nick himself could have not gone faster. There upon the King dubbed him Swift Nick. Clearly there is a connection between Nevison's ride and the fictional ride of Dick Turpin a century later. Nevison's career nearly came to an end in Leicester. He pretended to be ill and arranged for a friend posing as a physician to visit him. The bogus doctor painted a series of blue spots on his face and gave him a powerful sleeping drug. The physician called the gaoler and said he was dead of the plague. Pandemonium ensued. It was agreed that rapid removal in a coffin was the best course of action. So he escaped yet again. He was arrested in 1676 for robbery and horse theft and served 5 years in York castle. His luck gave out and shortly after he was arrested at the Magpie Inn Wakefield he was taken to York assizes and sentenced to death. Executed on May 4th 1684 and buried in an unmarked grave at St Mary Church in York.

CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 2016 SPRING MEETINGS ~ Thursdays 7:30pm. At The Shibden Room, North Bridge Leisure Centre 28th January Richard Wimpenny ~ “All you need to know about making a Will” 25th February David Glover ~ “Piety at a Court” (an 18th Century lady-in-waiting) 24th March Duncan Jagger ~ “One hour with the Ostler” (stories of his life with horses.) 15th April

Annual Dinner at Bradley Hall Golf Club. 28th April Annual General Meeting

HUDDERSFIELD & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

The Root Cellar

THE PLACE TO FIND YOUR ANCESTORS 33A Greens End Road, Meltham, Holmfirth HD9 5NW

We are Open

Morning Afternoon Evening (1st & 3rd Th) Monday: 2 pm to 4.30 pm Tuesday: 2 pm to 4.30 pm Wednesday: 10 am to 12.30 pm 2 pm to 4.30 pm Thursday: 2 pm to 4.30 pm 7.30 pm to 10 pm (alt )

Saturday: 2 pm to 4.30 pm

No appointment necessary, just come along and carry out your research, seek ad-

vice, explore our resources and speak to people with similar interests.

Ring the Root Cellar 01484 859229 for information, or to make a booking. Booking is not essential but is recommended, especially if you are travelling a distance and

USEFUL CONTACTS AND SOURCES FOR RESEARCHING WEST YORKSHIRE ANCESTORS

West Yorkshire Archive Service ~ www.archives.wyjs.org.uk (This can be a good place to start to access the West Yorkshire Archive Catalogue)

Calderdale District Archives, (Registers, BTs, Census, etc. etc.)

Calderdale Central Library, Northgate House, Northgate, Hailfax HXI IUN Tel: +44 (0) 1422 392636 e-mail [email protected]

WYAS Headquarters, Newstead Road, Wakefield WFI 2DE (Registers, WRiding Regis-try of Deeds, Manorial Records etc.)

Tel: +44 (0) 1924 305980 email : [email protected] The Borthwick Institute ~ www.york.ac.uk/inst/bihr/ (Peculiar + PCY wills, BT's etc.)

University of York, Heslington, YORK YO10 5DD Tel: +44 (0) 1904 321166 email ~ link on website

Calderdale Central Reference Library (address as above) Tel: +44 (0) 1422 392631 e-mail [email protected] (local studies collection, newspapers, maps, trade directories, IGI, GRO indexes, census and parish register fiche, on-line

Familysearch and Ancestry; research service offered).

Weaver to Web ~ www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/ The council maintains a website with a miscellany of information from the archives (a wide range of photos, maps, census re-turns, parish registers, poll books, wills , etc., have been digitised to view online).

Malcolm Bull’s Calderdale Companion ~ http://www.calderdalecompanion.co.uk (Large collection of trivia, miscellaneous facts of people and places and other bits of local history about Halifax and Calderdale).

All the Parish records transcribed by the Society are available to search (for a fee) on FindMyPast.co.uk (In addition there are many other records available to search)

West Yorkshire Parish Registers have been put online (for a fee) by the West Yorkshire Archives Service which can be accessed on Ancestry.co.uk. (Again, many other useful

records, for a fee)

www.familysearch.org (Thousands of records for free including the IGI and some census data). LDS Family

History Centres are invaluable for 'distance research'. Check local telephone directories. The National Archives ~ www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (a wealth of data arising from public records, including BMD’s, census and much much more).

Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876

www.direct.gov.uk/gro is the website of the general register office for everything con-cerning civil registration and to order certificates.

Consider subscribing to a periodical such as Family Tree Magazine or BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine. Online sites such as GenesReunited and LostCousins

may help you find relatives researching the same family.

LOCAL FAMILY HISTORY FAIRS etc Forthcoming Events of Interest :- The London Group of Yorkshire Family History Societies

19 March 2016 Myko Clelland The 1939 Register for Yorkshire Research. Society of Genealogists, 14, Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London

EC1M 7BA, starting at 10.30 a.m.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF THE SoG.

The meeting fee is £5.00 (non-members £6.00).

http://yorkslondongroup.tumblr.com/.

There is a useful list of family history fairs around the country at:- http://www.familytreefolk.co.uk/page_10898.html

View our website at www.cfhsweb.com

and visit

Calderdale Family History Society’s

RESEARCH ROOM

Brighouse Library

Rydings Park, Halifax Rd., Brighouse, HD6 2AF

Tuesdays 1:30pm to 4:30pm &

Thursdays 10:00am to 1:00pm

Open to both Members & Non-Members

Facilities include :-

• Searchable information on 4 computers.

• Fiches for all Calderdale C of E churches.

• 6 Internet terminals, with access to Ancestry.com (Note—now increased from original 4 terminals)

• Wide range of books, journals, cuttings, etc.

For more information and bookings ring 07952-211986 during the hours given above.

Calderdale Family History Society Calderdale Family History Society Calderdale Family History Society Calderdale Family History Society Incorporating Halifax and District

Officers and Co-ordinators of the Society Officer and Name, Address and E-mail Tel. No. President Mr. Barrie Crossley, 9, Victoria Terr., Delph Hill Road, Halifax, HX2 7ED e-mail - [email protected] 01422-366931 Chairman Mr. Clifford Drake, 22, Well Grove, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2LT e-mail - [email protected] 01484-714311 Secretary Mrs. Margaret Smith, 4 Rawson Avenue, Halifax, HX3 0JP e-mail - [email protected] 01422 -345164 Treasurer Mr. Peter Lord, 288 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2PB e-mail - [email protected] 01484-718576 Membership Secretary Mrs. Susan Clarke, 33, Cumberland Ave., Fixby, Huddersfield, HD2 2JJ e-mail - [email protected] 01484–304426 Publications Officer (sales of books, CDs, etc.) Mrs. Joan Drake, 22, Well Grove, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2LT e-mail - [email protected] 01484-714311 Editor ~ Scrivener (for submission of articles, letters, etc.) Mrs.Frances Stubbs, Beech Trees, Hollybush Close, Potten End, Berkhamsted, HP4 2SN e-mail - [email protected] 01442-871847 Enquiry Service Co-ordinator (for research queries and search requests) Mrs. Susan Lord 288 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2PB

e-mail - [email protected] 01484 718576

Research Room Co-ordinator (for information about room at The Rydings)

Vacant e-mail [email protected]

[RR Bookings and Information Tues pm/Thurs am 07952-211986]

Officer and Name, Address and E-mail Tel. No.

Projects Co-ordinator

Mr. Peter Lord, 288 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2PB

e-mail - [email protected] 01484 718576

Webmaster

Mr. Keith Pitchforth, 10 Hallam Grange Road, Sheffield, S Yorks, S10 4BJ

e-mail - [email protected] 0114-2307685

Strays Co-ordinator Mrs. Dorothy Hunt, Springfield House, Whitehall Green, Halifax, HX2 9UQ e-mail - [email protected]

Librarian

Mrs. Anne Kirker, 356, Oldham Rd. Sowerby Bridge, Halifax HX6 4QU e-mail - [email protected] 01422 - 823966 Members’ Interests Co-ordinator Mr. Mike Hardcastle, Cedarwood, The Grange, Huddersfield Road, Brighouse, HD6 3RH e-mail - [email protected] 01484 715493

The Society's Home Web Page on the Internet is http://www.cfhsweb.com

CHAPELRIES AND TOWNSHIPS OF THE ANCIENT PARISH OF HALIFAX

CHURCH/CHAPEL Registers begin BAP. MAR.** BUR. 1. COLEY St. John 1735 1745 1734 2. CROSS STONE St. Paul 1678 1837 1678 3. ELLAND St. Mary** 1559 1559 1559 4. HALIFAX St. James (inc St Mary Rhodes St 1953) 1832 1837 nk 5. HALIFAX St. John** 1538 1538 1538 6. HARTSHEAD St. Peter 1612 1612 1612 7. HEPTONSTALL St. Thomas** 1599 1593 1599 8. ILLINGWORTH St. Mary 1695 1697 1695 9. LIGHTCLIFFE St. Matthew 1703 1704 1704 10. LUDDENDEN St. Mary 1653 1661 1653 11. RASTRICK St. Matthew 1719 1839 1798 12. RIPPONDEN St. Bartholomew 1684 1686 1684 13. SCAMMONDEN WITH MILLHEAD St. Bartholomew 1746 1886 1746 14. SOUTHOWRAM St. Anne 1813 1838 1818 15. SOWERBY St. Peter 1668 1711 1643 16. SOWERBY BRIDGE Christ Church 1709 1730 1821 17. STAINLAND St. Andrew 1782 1844 1783 18. TODMORDEN St. Mary/Christ Church 1678 1669 1666 **Following Hardwicke’s Marriages Act of 1754, Banns and Marriages will only be found in the registers

of these churches. After 1837 they lost their monopoly of marriages.