Iridag, .Iulg 14Th, 1905
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103 IriDag, .iulg 14th, 1905. NOTES. [90.] HARDMANS OF BROADFIFLD. In the "Mirror" (London) for February 9th, 1828, there is a letter to the editor, signed "Samuel Hardman, late Adjutant of the 10th Royal Hussars, No . 6, Charlotte Place, Ken- nington Lane, Vauxhall, London, January 29, 1828," in which the writer says It was stated in the "Mirror" sonie time back (I do not at this moment recollect what number) that "it was not known who were , the carvers of the. beautiful work in Manche-ster Collegiate Church" [now the, Cathedral]. I beg leave to acquaint you I claim neat as the work of my ancestors, who were formerly the mast cele- brated carvers of wood and of stone in Europe ; and, by that celebrity, they gained more riches than any other family in England, and con . tinued exceedingly rich till the time of James II. ; then their riches nearly all flew away, en consequence of their honest adherence to that monarch ; honest adherence, I say, but far from sensible or wise . When William the Norman conquered England they were residing at, and owners of, Ainsworth Hall, in the parish of Bolton-lc,-Moors, in the county of Lancaster . This estate remained' in the family till the year 1720 . Another estate, called Merecroft-gate, which had been in the family more than six hundred years, was sold in 1820, just one hun- dred years after the sale of the, other estate . The branch of the family to which I belong left Ainsworth Hall about four hundred years ago, and have lived use a farm, called Broadfield, in. the parish of Pilsworth, which is close to Heywaod, about three miles frown Bury, in Lancashire, ever since that time. Ottwedl Hardman, my uncle and half-cousin, lives- on that fare now ; lie is mentioned in i11r . BainesTs "History of Lancashire" ; but they farm now belongs to Lady Grosvenor, or perhaps to her ladyship's son, Earl of Wilton . The last member of my ancestors of any note died in the year 1755 ; he had been member of Parlia- ment fo. Liverpool . Time m,einbers of the branch from which I sprung have all of them, long been labourers ; not a man of then ever went 104 to school in his life. Neverbheless, there are men among the labourers, some, of wham ha,vo not, perhaps, second shirts to their backs, nioro perfect graounaxia,us, astronomeirs, astrologers, and arithmeticians than any other men in England ; all, of course, self-taught. You may perceive by this brief account that there is a superior genius, which time has not extinguished, still running in they blood, though all outward property has long since taken its 4 flight. I shall write a correct account of my own life, to be published some tiuiei or other, and, in the, introduction, I will mention the parishes which formerly belonged to my ancestors, and every other particular . [It f would be i .ntet-esting to know if such a work was ever published.; "Ottiwell" (not Ottwell) Hardman would be t the correct name of ex-Adjutant Hardman's uncle at Broadfield. In Baines's Directory for 1825 the list of Pilsworth farmers includes "Okevill Hardman"-no doubt identical with Ottiwell Hardman . The ancestor at Liverpool would be John Hardman, a merchant, who was elected M .P. for Liverpool in 1754 . An interesting fact in connection with the Herdmans and Broadfield is the association of some of them in the seventeenth century with the famous divine, Oliver Heywood, one of the 2,000 clergymen ejected from their livings in 1662, at which time there had been Hardmans-yeomen-at Broadfield for some generations . In his Diary the Rev . Oliver Heywood tells how in September, 1667, he came on a journey into his native county ; how, after visiting Manchester, Little Lever, Breightmet, Bolton, and Ainsworth, he preached according to appointment "atThornas Livesley's in Bury Parish," a day or two after wards "at James Hardman's, by Heywood Chapel," and in the evening at Chadwick Ha11. James Hardman was then living at Broadfield-the same James Hardman who was elected overseer of the poor for Pilsworth in 1664-and overseer for highways in 1666, and who died in April, 1673, being succeeded at Broadfield by his son James . In the year 1672 a licence was granted to the house of James Hardman, senior, for the use 105 of Nonconformists ; and in 1689-the year after the passing of the Toleration Act-- "James Hardman's of Broadfield's House" ;s mentioned in a list of certified Nonconformist meeting places. LECTOR . [91 .] MAKliANT MILL . Makeant Mill, from what information lever had, was originally a corn mill, and Makeant was the owner's name . The firm of Peel and Yates afterwards made it into a cotton mill . When I was a bov it was worked by th , late John Lord, whose son now lives in' the house where his father lived at Back-o'th'-Moss . The mill was rebuilt by the late Joseph Jameson and the name changed to the Roach Mill Spinning 0 wmpany Limited . Wimbledon . JOHN KAY . ANSWERS. f92 .] MRS . MELLOWS HEROIC DEED. (Feply to Query No,. 80.) From various papers I cull the following in- formation Mrs . Mellor was the fifth daughter of the well known Mr. John Fenton, M .P., of 1 Crimble Hall, near Heywood, and Dutton Manor, Ribehester, and she married in 1867 . Mrs. Mellor possessed a very tender heart, and was an exemplary mother and friend . Children were her especial loving charge, and ~~ she was ever thinking of their welfare . But her good deeds and kind consideration for all, whether her equals, or those others with whom ~~ she had to do in the coursa of daily life, are gratefully remembered, and many hitherto un- known acts of kindness have been revealed since her death . On April 13th, 1875 (on the eve of the date of her death), Mrs . Mellor saw a child bitten by a mad dog, as she was driving out . None around dared take any risk for the child's safety, but she jumped from her carriage, sucked the virus from the wound, thus saving the child's life (sic), and carried it off to the 1 hospital, receiving afterwards not only the 106 general thanks of the community, letters, post- cards, and telegrams of congratulation from all parts of Europe and in several languages, but also the silver medal and certificate of the Humane Society, which she greatly treasured . Mrs. Mellor was buried at Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, Birkenhead, in the family vault. The coffin was adorned with beautiful flowers, while on and around the monumental cross were piled a very large number of wreaths- one of these bore the following : "Frown S.E.R. in grateful remembrance of an act of kindness performed nearly twenty years ago to a little girl ." JOHN SHEPHERD . Free Public Libraries, Birkenhead. There appeared in the "Strand Magazine" fir 1897, vol . 2, p. 668, a portrait of Mrs . W. M. Mellor, together with the following account of her heroic deed : On April 13th, 1875, Mrs . Molar received the Silver Medal and Certificate cf the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society. This was the first time in the history of the society that it had the privilege of conferring this honour upon a lady One morning she was driving in the Oxted Road, Bir'khenhead, and on turning a bend of the road she suddenly beheld an appalling spec- tacle. k little girl-a. poor, dirty little street arab-was beiing worried in a horrible manner by a, big retriever dog, which foamed at the - mrouth and manifested other symptoms of rabies . Close by stood an elderly woman, who fairly writhed in mental agony, but did nothing to save the child . A the carriage rapidly approached the scene, Mrs . Mellow• leaned out and cried to the woman, "Suck the wounds! Snck the woundsi! ' The! womany however, seem ed stupefied, and could do nothing but wring her hands and screaan in helpless despair . Quick as thought, Mr's . Mellor leaped frown her carriage, and dashed up to the child, whose terribly bitten and gory hands she seized and commenced to suck with extraordinary vehemence, so as to extract the virus without delay . This done, she, ran back to the , carriage with the wailing child, and drove, off without a moment's loss to the nearest c'hemist's sihop, .107 where she herself superintended the cauteriza- tien . The woman who stood by turned out co be the girl's grandmother. The lady whose bravery is recorded in the above notes was married to Mr . W. M . Mellor, son of Judge Mellor, on April 10th, 1867, at Bamford Chapel, the Rev . James Browne, B .A., officiating. The wedding was perhap) the most brilliant ever seen in the neighbour- hood of Heywood, and was for long after- wards remembered by those who were preseort . At the entrance to Crimble Lane a large triumphal arch was erected, which was gaily decorated with an abundance of flags, banners, coloured cloth, and numerous ornaments . Along the carriage drives and lanes near Crimble there were displayed a profusion of flags and banners suspended from trees and everything which could be converted into a stand for the occasion. The road from Crimble to the Chapel was similarly decorated, and at the entrance of the chapel yard was placed another large and stately arch . From the gate to the chapel door the ground ivas covered with scarlet cloth . On each side of the path leading from the carriages to the chapel door rows of the school children, in white dresses, stood linked together by wreaths of ivy .