The Scrivener

THE SCRIVENER

The Journal of Calderdale Family History Society Incorporating Halifax & District

Number 148 Autumn September2014 CALDERDALE 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 family history in Halifax and the Calder valley. Our area  Covers the modern Calderdale Council established in 1975, which broadly covers 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 personal 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 published in The Scrivener. Contact the Members’ Interests Co-ordinator.  Maintaining an index of “Strays” (Calderdale people who appear in records elsewhere). 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 membership), £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 appropriate 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.

Page 2

CONTENTS

ARTICLES

COVER PICTURE 4 EDITORIAL 5 MAY TALK—”FROM WATER-WHEEL TO E-MAIL” 8 ETHEL BARBER—AN IMPORTANT NURSE IN WW1 15 CLIFTON WAR MEMORIAL 23 ACROSS SIBERIA IN WARTIME—PART 1 31 BAILIFF BRIDGE WAR DEAD—MORE INFORMATION ! 39 JUNE TALK—”IN FLEW ENZA” 42

GENERAL INFORMATION

FAMILY HISTORY FAIRS—SUMMER 2014 49 ANCIENT PARISH OF HALIFAX ~ chapelries & townships 52

CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWS

ABOUT CFHS 2 NEW METHOD OF SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT—S/ORDER 6 OFFICERS WITHIN THE SOCIETY 13 CONSTITUTION CHANGES 20 HELP WANTED 26 LATEST MEMBERS’ INTERESTS 27 VOLUNTEER NEEDED FOR SCRIVENER EDITOR 28 ST. BARTHOLOMEW RIPPONDEN UPDATE 29 BMDs IN HALIFAX NEWSPAPERS 30

RESEARCH ROOM DETAILS 49 CFHS OFFICERS 50

PUBLICATION & SERVICES SUPPLEMENT P1- P4

Page 3 THE SCRIVENER

Publication Dates Deadline Dates for Copy (Monday)

WINTER 2013 (December) NOVEMBER 11TH SPRING 2014 (March) FEBRUARY 17TH SUMMER 2014 (June) MAY 19TH AUTUMN 2014 (September) AUGUST 18TH WINTER 2014 (December) NOVEMBER 10TH

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 contact 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 member over 75 who is concerned about taking part in specific Society activities should contact the Secretary for clarification.

COVER PICTURE

The front cover features a 3 inches high porcelain model of an ancient water bottle with a transfer print of Square Church Halifax dated 1919. Manufactured by Goss, how many were made and how many still exist is anyone’s guess.

Page 4 Editorial

All too soon Summer seems to have past us by and Autumn is here, like it or not.

Many of you will have noticed that our television screens are broadcasting more family history type programmes than ever before. We are currently mid-way through a new series of “Who Do You Think You Are” and then there’s “Secrets of the Asylum”, “Long Lost Family” & “Heir Hunters” just to name a few.

These programmes are known to arouse people’s interest in tracing their own families histories, and this is usually reflected by increased activity in the Socie- ties Research Room and family history in general.

The only small thing I would say against such programmes is that everything seems so easy as they flit from one item of research to another. They don’t reflect how difficult some of the researching can be. I also wonder how many celebrities research end up on the cutting room floor because they are not sufficiently interesting to us the general public.

In July members of the society had the opportunity to visit Lister Lane Cemetery in Halifax. This conducted tour was arranged by two members of our committee, Stuart & Ann Wilkinson and attracted about 20 of our members. O pening in 1841 Lister Lane was Halifax’s first General Cemetery. This cemetery is the resting place of nearly 20,000 people. This visit was enjoyed by everyone who attended, and on reflection it further emphasised the need to preserve our cemeteries for their historical value and valuable family history resource.

I hope you all enjoy this issue of the Scrivener and please keep sending in your articles and pictures.

Clifford Drake [email protected]

—————————————————-

Genealogists are time unravelers. Genealogy is like playing hide and seek: They hide... we seek! Genealogy: Tracing yourself back to better people. Crazy" is a relative term in my family. A pack rat is hard to live with, but makes a fine ancestor. I think my ancestors had several "Bad heir" days. I'm always late. My relatives arrived in America on the JUNE flower.

Page 5 New method of Subscription Payment- Standing Order.

A number of members have been enquiring about being able to pay their subscription to the Society by Standing Order.

You will all be pleased to hear that the Committee have discussed the matter & have decided to offer this method of payment to all members. This item is to explain the thinking behind the change & give you information about how to make such payments to us.

Paying subscriptions of relatively small amounts (typically £10 or £12 every year) is an administrative chore that most could do without having to remember. Although our Membership Secretary does an excellent job in handling renew- als, inevitably there are a significant number of members who have not re- newed their subscriptions by the due date (for all existing members, this is 1st April each year).

This means that she has to send out reminders in May &, inevitably, most people pay, along with many apologies for not having done it sooner. From 1st April 2015, you can now pay your annual subscription to us by Standing Order from your Bank Account to ours. This will mean that you will not have to remember to pay us every year and/or have to receive a reminder if you forget about it.

The details you need about the Society Bank Account are :- - Account Name - Calderdale Family History Society - Bank Sort Code - 30-93-76 (Lloyds Bank) - Account No. - 01670491 - Reference to use - Membership No & Surname. (eg 1234Wilkinson) - Date of payment - 31st March each year. (for members who joined before July 2014) - Amount to pay - the rate for your membership type.

This "Reference to use" allows us to know who it is who has made a payment. Although the membership no. is not essential, it helps to ensure that payment is allocated to the correct member, particularly if you have a common surname (eg Smith). If you are can't remember your number, just E-Mail the Member- ship Secretary [email protected] & she will remind you. Of course, once you have set up your Standing Order, you can happily forget your number again !!

Once set up, the only time you will have to make any changes is if we amend the membership rates, which, at present, we are not planning to do. We did consider using the Direct Debit system, where we can alter the amount involved, but for a number of reasons, including that Lloyds Bank won't offer us that facility, we decided against it.

Page 6 If this method of payment is not for you, you can continue to pay either via www.genfair.co.uk or by cash or cheque to the Treasurer.

Along with this change, from 1st July this year, we are allowing new members to run their annual subscription for a full 12 months from the date they join us, thus giving them a full year's value in their 1st year, rather than just the remain- ing time up to the next 1st April. Of course, this will not affect existing members, whose year with us already runs April to March.

We hope that many of you will find it convenient to pay us in this way, starting from March 2015 for the 2015-16 year. If you have any queries, please contact me at [email protected] or by phone on 01484-718576.

Peter Lord - Acting Treasurer.

—————————————————-

Dear Ancestor Your Gravestone stands among the rest neglected and alone. Your name and date are chiseled out on polished marble stone. It reaches out to all who come tho it's to late to mourn. You did not know that we'd exist, you died and later we were born. Yet each of us are cells of you, In flesh, in blood, in bone Our veins contract and beat a pulse entirely not our own. Dear Ancestor, the place you filled over a hundred years ago Spreads out among the ones you left who would have loved you so. I wonder as you lived and loved, I wonder if you knew, That one day we would find this spot and come and visit you.

Thanks to Sue Martin for this contribution.

Page 7 May 2014 Talk - From Water-wheel to E-Mail - Allan Stuttard

I come from Hebden Bridge which until about a month ago I didn’t realise I was in France. You realise that we are one of the big touring centres of the Tour de France and Hebden Bridge being the queer place that it is getting ready for it in a big way. It says welcome of Hebden Bridge the gateway to Howarth the home of the most famous sisters since the Nolans.

I was born on a street called Geddle Street in Todmorden. My mother worked as a weaver, my dad worked in a clothing factory, but my mum was a weaver and we lived in a little terrace cottage by the side of the factory and it was a completely self-supporting street. My dad said I would have to go and work for the same firm as him and he would find me a job. And that’s what he did – I followed in my father’s footsteps and little did I realise that on that morning in January 1950 when I left Todmorden for Hebden Bridge, the first time I had ever been to Hebden Bridge in my life, that I was the last of a dying breed – a job for life. People today don’t have jobs for life, they move about, they lose their jobs, they get other jobs. I worked for them for 48 years.

In 1950 the cotton trade was going, everybody were losing their jobs and the mills were shutting down and cutting back, but Hebden Bridge was booming. The clothing trade was booming. Because if you think about it, it was not long after the war and people were in need of clothing. They had a little bit more money. I had never been to Hebden Bridge and there were buses every five or ten minutes from Todmorden into Hebden Bridge, because there were lots of jobs.

I want to tell you a little bit about the history of the firm that I worked for, a firm called Redman Brothers, which was formed in 1874 & in 1886 he bought a building named Foster Mill. Now Foster Mill was one of the biggest factories in Hebden Bridge but it had been burnt and was completely burnt out and all that was left of it in 1886 was the shell of a building and ironically the wa- terwheel, the engine house. It was bought derelict and by 1890 he was making 12,000 garments a week in Hebden Bridge. I have never found out how many people he had, but he was making 12,000 garments a week after buy- ing the factory and completing it in 1888. The local Co-operative about ten years later was taken over by the CWS movement and ran in Hebden Bridge and they and the Redman Brothers were the biggest employers in Hebden Bridge for many, many years.

I don’t know whether you know the architecture of Hebden Bridge, but the houses are built into the hillside and if you live at the bottom of the houses your kitchen it right into the hillside. My house, the first one, had one living room with a kitchen built right into the hillside, a bedroom above and above my bedroom was the front room of the house in the street above. In Hebden

Page 8 Bridge in January 1950, it was dark, forbidding and raining. On the right hand side there were factories. The buses from Todmorden turned round in Hebden Bridge, they didn’t like going too far into Yorkshire, the Todmorden buses, and they used to turn around in Hebden Bridge and beggar off home.

There are no manufacturing clothing factories in Hebden Bridge now. But in those days, some were employing 100 people, some only 20 and it’s a fact that in the 1950s one man working from home, having perhaps three outworkers (girls) working in their own homes with machines hired from him, going on the markets on a Friday and a Saturday could make a lot of money and two of them became millionaires. No one had a car who worked at Redman Brothers. My dad told me that when I got to Foster Mill, just follow the crowd because most of the people work there.

It was chucking it down with rain and it was a quarter of a mile or a bit longer and my dad said I was to report to Mr Greenwood, the cutting room manager. Now if I tell this story in Hebden Bridge, everyone rolls about because if you study the census in 1950, you’ll find out that 60% of the population in Hebden Bridge were called Greenwood and the others were married to Sutcliffe’s and they all inter-married and this is why it’s a quirky place today I think. So everyone at the factory was called either Sutcliffe or Greenwood and I’m looking for Mr Greenwood the cutting room manager, so you can imagine, 15 years of age and the people took the Mickey out of me something awful.

When you first go into a clothing factory you are called a mug if you are a lad and in those days not many young people – well young girls went in but not many young lads because it was not particularly well paid and there were other factories and other ways of making money, so I was a bit of a gofer. It had a turbine engine and the dam because of the strange architecture of Hebden Bridge was level with the third floor of Foster Mill Chapel because the actual Foster Mill was built right up to the side of the hill. The water used to run through the turbine but they also worked off electricity off the national grid.

The reason I went working there – I was the only lad of 15-years-of-age working with 250 women. Basically you were a bit of a mug and the reason that young people were not going into the clothing trade, young lads anyway, was because there was another factory which opened in Hebden Bridge which wasn’t a clothing factory. And the money there was nearly double for men than it was for working on the clothing industry. That factory was Cape Asbestos and the people who worked there – it was a terrible thing - and there are people even today still dying of asbestosis who never even worked at Cape Asbestos, they only walked past. If you look in the archives of the Hebden Bridge Times, sometimes you will find little articles where kids used to play making imitation snowballs out of asbestos waste and threw them at one another. But people didn’t know.

What did Redman Brothers make in the 1950s? Well Redman Brothers were not a fashion – well there was no such thing as designer wear, but what they did, they made clothes for the working man.

Page 9

One of the things they were proud of making at Redman Brothers was duffle coats. That was one of the big things they were making in the 1950s, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of duffle coats, working men’s, farmer’s and one thing and another and they were very proud of the fact that during the war they made duffle coats for the military – the Royal Navy and for the Merchant Navy for the Russian convoys – the men who worked on the Russian convoys. Now during the war, I don’t know if you remember, if you can remember the war – I can just about remember a little bit about it – They used to speak names out to confuse the Germans if they ever came and in stations they used to have the signs blocked out and firms couldn’t put on “Made in Hebden Bridge by Redman Brothers” and things like that. It was so secret that the Germans never found out where Foster Mill was – they never bombed it because they couldn’t find it. And it has on it RBFM (Redman Brothers Foster Mill). We used to make duffle coats and I used to sell seconds on Hebden Bridge market for a fiver.

Now I was going to be a trainee cutter and I was going to be a hand cutter. Now you would think, wouldn’t you, that it would be a bit of a skilled job, but I never used them in my life because you couldn’t cut three quarters of a million garments with one of those, would you? But we used band knives and band knives were really in Hebden Bridge different to everywhere else in the country. They were just two wheels, a big wheel over the top and another big wheel with a band of steel going through. Whereas most of the rest of the country had three wheels because it was safer. The reason they were like that in Hebden Bridge, because in Hebden Bridge there was a firm at Mytholm called Pickles who made the best band saws in the country and it was cheaper to buy a band saw and convert it, because that’s all it was, a band knife is a band saw without the saw bit. Now what I am going to ask you now, because Hebden Bridge is completely different to everywhere else – what do you think is the most safe way if you are cutting out bulk and remember they used to lay the cloth up until it was about 6” thick, cut it into manageable lumps and the band knife cutter which was a very skilled. Which way would you have the blade facing you – the sharp bit towards you or the sharp bit facing you, away from you? The blade faced away from you if you worked in Halifax and would if you worked anywhere else, but in two places in the country, Hebden Bridge and Tamworth, the blade faced the cutter. But I never saw person cut his finger off in Hebden Bridge because it’s a lot safer. Why? Well I will show you. It’s dead easy when you think about it, you are working your way on the band knife and you cut yourself. In Hebden Bridge they just had all their fingers but no thumbs. - elsewhere, they had no fingers at all !! It’s true and people used to go working to Hebden Bridge to train and they would say they were not going on there because it’s not safe and within a week they ask why everyone else does this? And I worked in the clothing trade nearly all my life and the only place where the blade faced you was in Hebden Bridge and Tamworth

One day I went home and my dad said that he had a phone call from the cutting

Page 10 room manager and he told my dad that I was all right and a good worker, but he’s the worst trainee band knife cutter we have ever had. My dad asked me what I thought about that and I said that I thought I was doing a good job!

When I had finished working, people had not respect for the bosses but in those days when I started work, they were frightened of them. The pay rate wasn’t particularly good & overtime was time & a quarter - so a quarter of that – they were still working in farthings. Apparently, the factory manager went in one morning and he said to the cutting room manager that he came in last night watching everybody work and it wasn’t so bad but I am afraid you’ll have to get rid of Selwyn – he’ll have to go, you’ll have to fire him The cutting room manager replied, get rid of Selwyn? The manager replied that everybody was working very hard and Selwyn was whistling and I am not paying time and a quarter for somebody to enjoy themselves.

In those days I worked with some real characters, people who, when you look back now and you think that there aren’t any people like that today because they don’t go to work and do silly things. In the Hebden Bridge Times in 1952, it was reprted that a Mr Sam Carter of Marlborough Terrace, Hebden Bridge, retired after 57 years of service at Messrs Redman Brothers at Foster Mill with a re- markable record. He had never once been late or off sick at any time in the whole of his 57 years.

There was an old employee called Clifford Wright & one day his wife told him his niece was getting married the following week and you need a new suit. “What’s wrong with this suit I’ve got? I’ve had it for 20 years, it’ll do”. She told him he was having a new suit whether he liked it or not So he went into Burtons and told them he needed a new suit for a wedding. He was asked what he would like and he told them he would like a suit exactly this colour, the same size, lapels and collar just the same, top pocket, two side pockets and two inside breast pockets. I want trousers with belt loops and buttons just in case I wear braces, and so on, but in the back of the jacket I want a hare pocket

Well we used to make farmer’s tweed jackets and we used to put a pocket, an inside pocket, but it went all the way round the back so the back was one complete big pocket, known as a hare pocket or poacher’s pocket, so that if you were out and about and you saw a grouse and shot it, you would put it in your poacher’s pocket. You’d look to have a big backside, but you would get away with it.

So the guy says, "Mr Wright, this is Burtons, the High Street Tailors and we have shops on every high street in the country. We have the biggest factory in Europe and our head office is on Saville Row. We don’t put hare pockets in people best suits". So Clifford told him he was not having it. The manager came up and asked what the problem was. Clifford told him that he wanted a suit just like this, exactly like it etc. but I want a hare pocket in the back of the suit. The manager

Page 11 was horrified and he said that they did not put hare pockets in people’s best suits at Burtons. Clifford took one look at him and said, “Well it won’t always be my best suit, will it?”

Well in the 1960s we had just had a bit of a change round. Within one week of the Beatles coming on TV we were making 2,000 Beatle jackets a week in Heb- den Bridge and we made wide bottoms, narrow bottoms, loon trousers, flares, coats with hoods on – everything anybody wears today and the only difference between our clothes and modern day clothes was that ours fitted.

Joseph Kagan had this great cloth, the Gannex cloth but there was a great problem with cloth that’s impervious to water. There were no linings in the cloth so it was a bit like duffle cloth and he couldn’t get people to make a waterproof coat. I was working in the Design Department then and we spent quite some time on the problem and we found out that the only way to make a complete waterproof coat was to eliminate as many seams as possible and I don’t know if you remember because you don’t see Gannex coats today, they went out of fashion and never came back. Basically we cut out side seams, back seams – the coats were cut in one piece and a collar, and the sleeves and were cut in one piece as well. It’s a bit like Wonderweb only thicker. Every Gannex coat was made like that afterwards. We did open factories in Scunthorpe, Rother- ham and Sheffield and we have a big factory in Sheffield which today is in a block of flats which was opened by the Queen Mother and that’s another story, but I am just going to tell you that in 1983 when it went into liquidation, there was one little bit of manufacturing that was viable and that was a little firm called Regent Works and it was making about 1500 trousers a week for British Home Stores and some entrepreneurs bought that and took five of our con- tracts over. Within five years they were making 20,000 garments in a purpose- built factory in Mytholmroyd.

In the 1960s there was a bit hoo-hah that the clothing industry was going to go metric. You had only got to make clothes in metric. Harold said, “Metric, it’s a load of rubbish.” He thought the only folk that were metric were the French and he didn’t like the French, so he said, “We’re not going metric here”. (I was his assistant and he was the pattern maker at the time). So the boss had come in and told us we had to do it within three months and we had got to change all the patterns to metric. I think you realise that the clothing industry has never gone metric. We chaps can go and get 34” waist, 29” leg trousers in Marks and Spencer and ladies are the same. You never go in and say you want a conti- nental size, do you? Well Harold didn’t do it, so the boss came in and asked him if he had done the patterns, Harold? And Harold told him he was not going to do them. Well, the boss told him he had brought him some tape measures, metric on one side and imperial on the other and I’ll come back in a month and I want to see all the patterns changed. And as he went through the door, he said to me, “If God had wanted us to go metric, how come he had twelve disciples?”

Page 12 Officers within the Society.

In the June Scrivener, our Secretary wrote about the need to fill a number of Society Officers' posts, and warned that an increasing number of positions were filled from a dangerously small number of families in the Halifax area. (June - Page 33 - "Officers for the Society still required")

Sadly, no-one came forward to offer themselves for either the Research Room Coordinator or the Treasurer posts. This means that the following posts are held, either appointed or temporarily, by the people listed below :-

Drake Family - Chairman - Clifford Drake - Publications Officer - Joan Drake - Fairs Coordination - Clifford & Joan Drake - Yorkshire Group Rep. - Clifford Drake

Lord Family - Research Room Coordinator - Susan Lord - Search Coordinator - Susan Lord - Project Coordinator - Peter Lord - Systems Coordinator - Peter Lord - Treasurer - (temporarily) - Peter Lord - Scrivener Editor - (temporarily) - Peter Lord - Yorkshire Group Rep & Treasurer - Peter Lord

In addition, members of both the families listed above work as volunteers at the Research Room in Brighouse Library.

Whilst, for now, the Drakes are content to carry on with their duties, Susan & Peter Lord have indicated that, whilst they are happy to continue to work within the Society & offer advice where needed, they both want to surrender all their formal responsibilities by the time they reach 75 years old - effectively by the AGM in April 2016.

As our Secretary said in her article last June, support will be offered to anyone who offers themselves for any post, and the tasks are, in themselves, not as arduous or complex as you might initially imagine. All processes have been fully documented to give as much guidance as you need.

No society can continue to operate without the officers that it needs, and, of course, in addition to the people listed above, we have many people who fulfil valuable roles within CFHS, some of whom carry out more than one function.. I would ask you to consider the implications of not having sufficient volunteers to fill these posts on a permanent basis.

There are 5 possible scenarios :-

Page 13 1. We continue to operate with the people we have, with some of those people taking on additional responsibilities for any posts that are vacated. This is only practical in the very short-term.

2. The Society continues, but without anyone in the posts vacated. This could mean :- - Closing the Research Room.- RR Coordinator needed - Discontinuing the Scrivener publication - Scrivener Editor needed. - Having no, or inadequate, accounts kept, monies received or bills paid - Treasurer needed - Discontinuing the Searches that we do as part of our service - Search Coordinator needed - Having no-one to oversee project work, which means that we would significantly reduce a valuable source of income through having far fewer (or no) new publications - Project Coordinator needed. - Having less control over the computer systems that we depend on in the workings of the Society - Systems Coordinator needed.

3. Employ paid officers to do the jobs that volunteers currently do. This is a very dangerous path to follow, as it gets the Society into all sorts of matters (eg Employment Law) that we would otherwise wish to avoid. It also commits the Society to significant expense which could become open-ended &, eventually, be unaffordable.

4. Wind up the Society, because we have insufficient volunteers to run it. This would be an absolute last resort, but is a possible option.

5. Rather than wind up the Society, amalgamate with another, nearby, Family History Society. No discussions on this have taken place, as we are confident that, as a result of our appeals, eventually, enough volunteers will step forward to take up the required jobs.

Before the Society gets anywhere near crisis point, I would ask you all to consider very seriously whether or not you could volunteer to take on one or more of the responsibilities currently held by the Lord family. Happily, both Susan & Peter Lord will give you all the training & help that you need, so that you can "bed in" without too much trauma !!

More detail about the Editor’s post is given in a separate article on page xx

Please will every member give this matter serious consideration & contact either me or our Secretary, Margaret Smith, if you think you can help. Our contact details are :-

Chairman - Clifford Drake - [email protected] - tel : 01484-714311 Secretary - Margaret Smith - [email protected] - tel :01422-345164

Clifford Drake - Chairman

Page 14 Ethel Barber - “An important nurse in WWI”

I had long been fascinated by the phrase “an important nurse in WWI” which I had come across whilst searching the document collections at the Society of Genealogists some twenty years ago. This is a collection of box files containing packages of other people’s family research. I was looking for my Barber ancestors from Southowram near Halifax in Yorkshire when I came across a very interesting packet of paperwork including several rough hand-drawn & typed drop-line charts. The information confirmed much of my own research carried out with the assistance of modern finding aids such as the census returns. The phrase was hand written under the name of Ethel Barber with no further information. As a nurse myself I wanted to know more however I never knew how to find out more about Ethel’s nursing career so that is where it was left until recently.

When the 1911 Census was released I was able to find Ethel and was sur- prised to find her as an army nurse based in Aldershot. So Ethel was not one of the many young girls who answered the call for volunteers after the outbreak of war in 1914, she was a career nurse. My next move was to find her medal card for the First World War which was available on-line from The National Archives (TNA). This yielded a great deal of information. She is listed as a Sister with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) and that she transferred as Acting Matron to the Queen’s Hospital on 1st May 1917. There is a disembarkation date of 8 August 1914 so Ethel was amongst the first wave of nurses to leave for France with the British Expeditionary Force just 4 days after the outbreak of war. She is shown as the recipient of the British War & Victory Medals and the 1914 Star – collectively & colloquially known as Pip, Squeak & Wilfred. The initials RRC after her name prompted further internet research showing that Ethel had also been awarded the Royal Red Cross. This is a medal instituted by Queen Victoria in 1883 and awarded to women members of the nursing services.

So much information just from a document the size of a postcard!

Further research into the Q.A.I.M.N.S. showed that the service was not very extensive, at the outbreak of the First World War there were just 297 nurses in the service.

My next line of research was to visit the National Archives in Kew to view Ethel’s army service file. Unfortunately this file did not contain very much detail of her war service as like many it had been officially “weeded” in the 1930’s. It did give extensive detail of her pre-war service and also pension correspondence following her discharge.

Ethel Barber was born into a well-to-do family in Southowram near Halifax on 28th Feb 1872. Her father Charlton was the 4th of 5 children of William Barber and Ann Taylor. Her mother Emma Farrar was the daughter of a local quarry

Page 15 owner and stone merchant. Charlton was in partnership with his brother William running the family card making business. They manufactured the nailed cards used in the preparation of wool for spinning. The business had been established by their father who in the early 19thC had been one of the wealthiest men in the area. The family played a major role in local life but this changed when on 11th October 1859 William was found hanging in the counting house the verdict of the Coroner was suicide. His wife having died 2 years previously left 5 orphans aged between 20 and 9 years. Charlton was 14 years old. The business continued to be run by his uncle until taken over by Charlton & elder brother William.

Charlton married Emma Farrar on 29th March 1871 it is probable that they then honeymooned in London as that is where they spent the night of April 2nd, census night. They set up home at Holly Royd in Southowram very close to the family home & the mill at Barker Royd. Charlton had inherited Holly Royd from his father in 1859. Ethel’s birth was followed a year later by that of her sister Alice. The girls were educated at home and at Walterclough Hall School in Southowram. Charlton died in 1894.

We do not know what prompted Ethel to train as a nurse, but she commenced her training at Leeds Infirmary on 24th April 1900. At the end of her 3 year training period, in July 1903 as a qualified nurse Ethel applied to join the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service. She was interviewed and accepted as a staff nurse. She was issued with a railway warrant to travel to the Con- naught Hospital in Aldershot on Dec 15th 1903.

Ethel was very annoyed in 1905 when she felt that she had been overlooked for promotion to sister and she wrote a very strong letter to the Matron-in-Chief requesting to know whether her work was not up to scratch. Ethel’s promotion came on 25 Mar 1906 by which time she had already commenced her first tour of overseas duty and was based in the military hospital at Valetta in Malta. She was then transferred to Gibraltar. However life in the subtropical climate did not suit Ethel and at a medical board in Dec 1907 she was declared unfit for service in Gibraltar & returned to home service at The Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot.

Ethel’s transfer home caused some correspondence from her superiors. The original letter informed her that she must make her own arrangements regarding her baggage. However this was followed up by another official letter stating “I am afraid that would not be a sound answer. The lady should be informed that the disembarking officer at Gibraltar will inform her upon arrival about her baggage”

Ethel appears to have spent the next few years working in England. However on the outbreak of war she received orders to disembark for France on August 8th 1914.

The official file contains no detail of her war service. I was however delighted to

Page 16 find on-line a transcript of the very extensive war diary of Miss Emma Maud McCarthy who served as Matron-in-Chief of the QAIMNS in France from 1914 until 1920. The original is in the National Archives. This diary is very thorough and contains many mentions of Ethel & her progress and transfers during war service.

Ethel was initially despatched for duty to No 2 General Hospital but by Novem- ber 1914 was the Sister in Charge of the Officers Hospital with a staff of 6 Sis- ters, 4 Nursing Orderlies, 2 GDO & a woman cook. She administered beds for 28 officers and 6 sick sisters.

In June 1915 Ethel is promoted to Acting Matron and transferred to No 12 Sta- tionary Hospital based near Rouen. Very soon she received a visit from Miss McCarthy who inspected the marquees which housed the sick noting that there were some “fearfully wounded & seriously ill patients” but the hospital was far from full. Around the marquees were beds of flowering plants tended by orderlies and patients.

By September 1915 Miss Barber was relieved in order to be sent to the larger No 2 Stationary Hospital being opened at Headquarters in Abbeville where large numbers of wounded were expected. The hospital had a serious operation ward, operating theatre and x ray room. Soon the hospital was indeed ad- mitting large numbers not just from the battlefields but also following enemy bombing of Abbeville.

In February 1916 Miss McCarthy reports on purchasing tea things, table cloths and afternoon tea cloths for the officers’ wards at No 2 Stationary & writes to Miss Barber asking her to pay particular attention to the way in which officers’ meals are served as she was “anxious that everything should be done as well as possible”.

Ethel’s name featured in the London Gazette for 1 January 1916 when she was Mentioned in Dispatches.

In May 1916 Ethel was back at No 12 Stationary based on the racecourse near St.Pol and she wrote asking for more staff to cope with the numbers of wounded. There are also requests of Ethel for information on disciplinary inci- dents involving her nursing staff. Miss McCarthy made frequent visits & there are many reports of the wards being in first-rate order and excellently run. Her health appears to have improved since her hard time in Gibraltar & Malta as there are no references to her being sick during her service in France.

Ethel was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal in January 1917. She received the medal in an investiture at Buckingham Palace by the King on 25 July 1917. Following the ceremony it was usual for the recipients to be received by Queen Alexandra at Marlborough House where they received a personal gift from the Queen of a book and signed address.

Page 17

In April 1917 Miss McCarthy reported the receipt of a letter recalling Ethel back to the UK. She was to report to the War Office on 1 May. Ethel might have expected a quieter time after serving for nearly 3 years on the front line however her next posting was just as intense – to the Queen’s Hospital in Sidcup as Acting Matron.

The Queen’s Hospital was being built to house a specialist hospital for facial & jaw injuries to be the base for the groundbreaking work of Major, later Sir Harold Gillies. The hospital was the birthplace of plastic surgery in Britain. The first patient was admitted in July 1917 and between then and 1921 when the hospital passed from the military to the Minis- try of Pensions 18,135 patients were treated. 11,752 major operations were performed to rebuild the faces of young men shattered on the battlefields of Europe. Gillies brought together surgeons from around the world, as well as dentists, technicians, radiologists, pho- tographers, artists & rehabilitation supervisors. There is an extensive archive at what is now Queen Mary’s Hos- pital curated by Dr Andrew Bamji. I wrote to Dr Bamji asking if the archives held any information about Ethel. I was told that there is very little information on the nursing staff at the hospital. I was however delighted to receive scans of four photographs of Ethel during her time at the hospital. A lovely vignette of Ethel in her uniform the famous grey dress and scarlet tippet of the QA’s with her medal ribbon and QA silver badge. She is slim with fine, delicate features. A second is a group photograph taken on a visit by the hospital’s patron Queen Mary in November 1917 .

Ethel’s file in TNA contains a letter dated 21 Jan 1920 from Sir Charles Kenderdine to the Ma- tron in Chief of QAIMNS Miss Beardsmore-Smith. He was an- ticipating the transfer of the hospital from the War Office to the Ministry when the nursing staff would be demobilised or rede- ployed. Sir Charles requested that Ethel be seconded to carry on her duties. He says that the Committee are “extremely anxious to retain her services due to her great experience in dealing with the particular types of case treated at the Queen’s Hospital and that the administration of the hospital has been conducted in extreme harmony since its inception.” Permission was granted as Ethel remained on duty until March 1922.

Page 18 Her files do contain details of the final phase of Ethel’s career. Following her discharge from the Queen’s Hospital Ethel was posted to duty aboard one of the many ships carrying the army back and forth to India during the trooping seasons. The ship was the HMT Assaye and Ethel made several voyages between 1922 and 1926. There are letters detailing the journey to her superiors in London. On one voyage when the ship was berthed in Bombay for 5 days she wrote requesting a subsistence allowance to cover accommodation on land as the conditions aboard were unsuitable for ladies. After much procrastination she and her colleague were granted £4.14s to cover their costs.

I was very fortunate to find on-line a diary of Dr F.R. Lucas who sailed aboard to Assaye from East India Dock in London to Bombay in October 1920 a few months before Ethel joined the ship. He was a ships surgeon sailing out to join his own ship. He goes into great detail about the conditions aboard, the crew and the journey taken which paints an excellent picture of the life that Ethel would lead.

At a promotion board of 4th Feb 1924 Ethel was promoted to full Matron in the QAIMNS in recognition of having performed a Matron’s duties efficiently during the War. She was promoted again in March 1926 to serve at the Military Hospi- tal, Devonport.

This final posting was very short-lived as she wrote requesting urgent leave on family matters. It may be assumed that this was to care for her mother Emma who died shortly after. By July Ethel writes to the Matron in Chief requesting retirement on account of “private affairs” and also requesting permission to retain her badge. It was usual for retiring nurses to have to hand in their badges, leave to retain them would only be granted for nurses with twenty or more years of service. Ethel duly received a letter from Matron-in-Chief granting her request in “recognition of your nearly 23 year’s service and good work during the Great War” the word “good” had been scored out by the writer & replaced with the word “excellent” in turquoise ink. After service of 22 years 229 days Ethel retired with a pension of £170 pa to Scarborough to live near her cousin Margaret and her family.

Ethel spent 34 years in retirement living in private hotels in Scarborough- a ha- ven of peace compared to the areas she knew during her years of service. She died at the age of 88 in September 1960.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Dr Andrew Bamji. Gillies Archivist, British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons Scarlet Finders: www.scarletfinders.co.uk F Lucas’ Diary is in the collection of Midlothian Council Archive Queens Hospital Sidcup – www.gilliesarchive.org.uk

Susan Wiseman [email protected]

Page 19 Proposed Changes to the Constitution.

Your Committee have been discussing recently some improvements to the services that we offer our members, some of which involve changes to the Consti- tution.

As you know, any change to the Constitution must be voted on by the membership & have a 2/3rds majority in favour, to be carried.

This article describes the proposed changes and the reasons for them, the methods of voting for those changes and the timetable for the vote & implemen- tation.

There are 4 areas of change that are being proposed :- - Membership Renewal dates. - Standard item on the AGM agenda to cover Computer Security. - An extra level of financial audit by an external auditor. - Secure retention of vital Society documents.

1. Membership Renewal dates. An increasing number of members have requested that we institute an option to allow them to pay their subscriptions by Standing Order. Your Committee has agreed to this, and, whilst looking at the administration behind this change, have concluded that it would be wise to change the period of membership from the current "1st April to 31st March" to "12 months from the date of joining".

This has the added advantage of giving members a full 12 months for their 1st year's subscription instead of the current "part year" as they get at present.

We aim to implement this system on 1st October, along with the ability to pay your subscription by Standing Order. For all current members, the renewal date will remain 1st April each year, but for any new member from 1st October, their year will run from their joining date.

The change in the Constitution is required to regularise this. Of course, if the change is not passed by the members then we would have to revert to the existing method, which would make payment by Standing Order more administra- tively cumbersome.

The change to the Constitution is paragraph 4.8. and the revised wording (in italics) is :-

4.8. The annual subscription shall be determined annually by the Committee and become due on the anniversary date on which the member joined the Society. Mem- bers allowing their subscriptions to remain unpaid for a period of 6 months following their renewal date shall be deemed to have resigned, although the Society benefits & privileges may be withdrawn from 2 months after the anniversary date for members whose current subscription is unpaid.

Page 20

2. Standard item on the AGM Agenda to cover Computer Security. More & more systems within the Society rely on computers & their operation. Consequently, your Committee has approved the creation of a new post within the Society of "Computer Auditor" - the 1st appointee is Committee member Ann Wilkinson.

Her role is to satisfy herself that all computer hardware, software & systems used within the Society are sufficiently robust & secure to maintain the integrity of all data & systems used, and that integrity will continue for the foreseeable future.

To ensure this happens, the Computer Auditor will make a report on her findings at every AGM, with recommendations on any improvements needed. To back this up, an extra item is needed in the Constitution.

The 2 additions into the Constitution are :-

- an addition to item 7.1. - To receive a report from the Society's Computer Auditor on the satisfactory state, or otherwise, of the Society's computer systems and the hardware, software, & processes used to support them (see 10.2. below)

- an additional item 10.2. 10.2. The Society's Computer Auditor (a member appointed by the Committee) will, annually, audit the Society's computer systems, along with the hardware, software & processes needed to support them. The Computer Auditor will make recommendations to the Committee on improvements & impending costs that are needed to maintain their continuing integrity. The results of this audit will be reported to the Society's AGM (see 7.1. above)

3. An extra level of financial audit by an external auditor. Our auditors, who are 2 non-committee members of the Society, have raised an issue that they would be more comfortable if someone external to the Society were, from time to time, to check on the accounts & whether or not they are kept satisfactorily.

This was discussed at the 2014 AGM & your Committee have decided that they will recommend a change to the Constitution to allow an external auditor to ex- amine our accounts every 3 years. They feel that an extra level of check is appropriate & also that it will remove some of the pressure on our own internal auditors.

The additional items in the Constitution are :- 7.4. Every 3 years, the Treasurer will report on the results of the audit done by an Exter- nal Auditor on the latest year's Society accounts. (see 10.1. below)

10.1. Every 3 years, a suitably qualified External Auditor (not a Society member) will ex- amine the Society's most recent year's financial accounts. The Treasurer will report his findings to the next AGM (see 7.4. above)

Page 21 4. Secure retention of vital Society documents. As a result of more & more material being on computer, rather than paper based, the newly appointed Computer Auditor has been looking at how much should be retained & what can be discarded. Additionally, as the Society stays in existence for more & more years, the amount of material that needs to be kept increases in volume, and, where paper-based, occupies more & more space in officers' homes.

Consequently, after taking advice from the Federation of FHSs (FFHS), an officer of the Society will maintain a "Document Retention Register" to ensure that all documents that should be retained are kept securely for the agreed time. Many of those time periods will be "indefinitely".

Further to this, we have agreed with the West Yorkshire Archive Services (WYAS) that they will be the physical holder of our material, so that the respon- sibility of keeping historic documents secure will be removed from the society officers. In addition, it will remove the complexities involved when a post changes hands within the Society.

The additional item in the Constitution is :- 10.3. The Society will maintain a Document Retention Register, and an officer, appointed by the Committee, will ensure that all documents relevant to the Society are kept in a secure manner for at least the period listed in the Document Retention Register.

Voting procedure & timetable. Any change to the Constitution requires a vote in favour of 2/3rds of the votes cast by the membership at an AGM, and postal votes are allowed. (Constitution item 8.1.)

2 months notice of any proposed change is required to allow members to vote. Consequently, this item in the September 2014 Scrivener will serve as the formal notice prior to the AGM in April 2015.

A "flyer" has been included in this Scrivener & a further one will be included in the December 2014 Scrivener. Members who intend to vote in person at the 2015 AGM do not need to complete a voting slip, but anyone who is not able to attend (principally Away members) are asked to vote in the following manner :- - Complete the attached flyer & post it to the Secretary at 4, Rawson Ave., HALIFAX HX3 0JP - Or complete the flyer, scan it & E-Mail it to [email protected] - Or log on to the Members’ Area on the Society website cfhsweb.com and follow the link on the Home Page.

Each Individual Member is allowed 1 vote & Family Members are allowed 2 votes. .

Page 22 So, the timetable is :- - Notification of changes - September 2014 Scrivener (this notice) - Distribution of voting slips for non-AGM-attending members (September 2014 & December 2014 Scriveners) - Return of postal voting slips to Secretary/vote on-line - by Monday am 20th April 2015 - Vote on changes - AGM 23rd April 2015.

Your Committee sincerely hope that you will vote in favour of all the changes, so that we can have improved & more secure facilities within the Society. Margaret Smith - Secretary

———————————

Clifton War Memorial

A stone War Memorial stands in the centre of Clifton. On it are inscribed the names of the 32 villagers, 31 soldiers and a sailor, who lost their lives in the First World War. Each has a different story to tell.

Many of the young men in the district had joined the Duke of Wellington’s Terri- torials and trained together in the local drill halls. When war was declared in 1914 most of them volunteered to go abroad and join the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium.

The people in Clifton, already saddened by the number of casualties in the first two years of the conflict, were shocked almost beyond belief to hear the news that the 1st/4th territorial battalion had suffered devastating losses on September 3rd 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. The only son of the headmaster of the village school was among those ‘missing believed killed’.

John Tomlinson had been appointed Head in January 1883 and in the spring- time had brought his bride, Priscilla to live in the School House on Commonside (now New Street). The house had been built in 1810 as an extension to the old Endowed School. It was built to accommodate the Master, assistants and up to twenty-five boarding pupils. When that school closed in the 1870s the house continued to be used as the home of the headmaster of the new village school.

By the 1891 census the house had been renamed Holly Bank. It was now a busy family home for Mr and Mrs Tomlinson had four daughters- Winifred 7, Mabel 5, Cecily 2 and Dorothy, 10 months. They had two further daughters Agnes, born in 1892, followed by Kathleen in 1894 and finally a son, Charles William, who was born in 1896. Their family was complete.

Charles would have been in a very secure position with six older sisters looking after him! In 1908 he left the village school to attend Rastrick Grammar school. He was there for three years and then continued his education at Huddersfield Technical College. He became a member of Leeds University Officers’ Training

Page 23 Corps and received his commission in September 1915, after which he was made an honorary member of the Huddersfield Engineering Society.

2nd Lieutenant Charles Tomlinson was attached to the 1st/4th battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. After training he was sent to France to join the battalion on May 29th 1916 near Hedauville in the Somme region. As a new junior officer he would soon come to know Horace Shaw from Bailiff Bridge who had recently been promoted to sergeant. They spent the next two months together and were killed in the same attack.

In June the concentration of men and munitions grew and the enormity of the hostilities ahead became apparent. The battalion moved to Aveluy Wood. They had two months in reserve close to the battlefield, moved back a little for two weeks respite and then returned to the assembly trenches near Thiepval on September 2nd 1916. The details of Charles’ final day were found in the battalion’s War Diary and ‘The History of the 1st/4th Battalion’ by Captain Bales MC pub 1920

The September 3rd assault on the part of the line in front of Thiepval Wood was to be led by two battalions from the Duke of Wellington’s- the Duke’s 5th was on the left and the Dukes 4th was on the right. Charles Tomlinson was one of the officers leading the one hundred and twenty-seven men in ‘D’ Company. Everyone was in position by 3.25am and had a long wait before the bombard- ment by the heavy guns began. The men left the trenches at 5.10am. It was a wet and foggy morning so visibility was poor. There were immediate casualty reports but no definite news so at 8.40am four runners were sent out but could not get through. There was a lot of confusion. It was thought that ‘D’ Company did reach its objective, the German communication trench, but the men were exposed to firing from the front and right. In the mayhem Charles was wounded and missing.

After three hours of hard fighting when all the bombs were used and all the messages failed to get across no-man’s land, the men were driven back under heavy machine gun fire. A Second Lieutenant from ‘B’ Company and about thirty men were able to take cover in shell holes until nightfall and returned under cover of darkness. Charles did not return.

The scale of the losses that day was realised when roll calls were taken and it was reported that eleven officers and three hundred and thirty-six other men were dead, wounded or missing.

The battalion was relieved the following day and moved back but only as far as Martinsart Wood. The next day Major Sugden returned from Brighouse, where he had been recovering from an injury received in the Ypres Salient, and re- sumed command of the battalion.

The Tomlinson family received an official telegram on September 8th to give

Page 24 them the news of their son’s death. Other letters of sympathy were sent from the West Riding Regiment by Major Walker, Brigadier General Bereton and Major Chambers but there was a more personal one from an officer in the Royal Field Artillery ‘…He got as far as the German trenches but was killed there by a shell. I can find nobody who saw him fall, but it is certain he was seen by some of the men afterwards and he was dead. Out of the nine officers who went over only two got back, and they were wounded. Only a certain number of officers were allowed to go over, the rest being kept in reserve. The fact Charlie was chosen though he had had so short a time in the line shows he must have been considered a good leader by his CO…being in charge of the first to go over shows he must have been trusted with a good deal of responsi- bility.’

The battlefield could not be cleared until after the German withdrawal in spring 1917.Charles’ body was never recovered but his name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial.

In 1917 John Tomlinson resigned from his post as Headmaster of Clifton School. He had held the position for thirty-four years. His successor was housed in part of Clifton Woodhead so that John and his family could continue living in Holly Bank.

The above narrative was taken from my book ‘Clifton War Memorial’ which has been published by Brighouse and District Historical Society and is available in Brig- house at Harrison Lord’s Gallery and Just Books.

For further information about the book or details of any of the soldiers named on the Memorial please contact me at [email protected]

Margaret Sharp mem. no.3470 .

Page 25 Help Wanted

During the 1914-1918 World War Jacob Blagbrough, more commonly called Jack, was enlisted into the Army. I would like to know from where he would have enlisted.

When a civilian he had a position working for Bairstow & Fielding of Hali- fax. Does any CFHS member or general historian know any more about this company and my great-uncle Jack!.

Carole Blagbrough - Member 2015 - [email protected]

I'm guessing that my John Sykes, cloth draper etc, circa 1782 married Ann Errington who was born in Halifax and whose mother was a McKinnell from the Union Cross Inn. They married in London in 1812. John had a brother William Scholefield Sykes who I thought would be easier to find bn 1800. I do not know where these bros were born they probably had a brother David mill owner in Hunslet and a brother George. I tried to tack them onto William Sykes of Folly Hall but it left big question marks.

It would be nice to find them - please contact me if you have any further information. Marian Craddock - [email protected]

————————

Friends come and go, but relatives tend to accumulate. Gene Police! You! **Out of the pool!** Gene-Allergy - It's a contagious disease, but I love it! Genealogist caught trying to chop down family tree! Genealogists are like monkeys: always in the trees. Genealogists are time unravelers. Genealogists collect dead relatives. Genealogists do it generation after generation. Genealogists do it in the library. Genealogists do it with a computer. Genealogists don't die, they just lose their census. Genealogists live in the past lane. Genealogists never lose their jobs, they just go to another branch! Genealogists: People helping people.....that's what it's all about! Genealogy - a search for the greatest treasures, our ancestors. Genealogy - Better than the best adventure game and as frustrating. Genealogy - it's only an obsession after all! Genealogy - Will I ever find time to mow the lawn again? Genealogy goes on... and on... and on...

Page 26 New Members’ Interests

The following Members’ Interests have been registered over the last 3 months.

To view a full list of Members’ Interests, go on to the Society website www.cfhsweb.com & look under “Members Area/Interests” section. If you have not already done so, you will need to “Register” as a member to access this part of the site.

Surname Location C'nty Kn'wn Kn'wn Wanted Wanted Memb. From To From To No. ANLEY STAINLAND WRY 1759 1819 Start 1900 3617 ANLEY RIPPONDEN WRY 1759 1819 Start 1900 3617 ATKINSON HALIFAX WRY 1793 1860 Start Now 3628 BELL RASTRICK WRY 1797 1894 1700 Now 3630 BENN HALIFAX WRY 1815 1867 Start 1900 3628 CRAVEN HALIVAX WRY 1846 1877 Start Now 3628 ERRINGTON WRY 1812 1837 3631 HX & LN HORSFALL WRY 1823 1891 Start 1823 3633 OV'DEN; MX'DEN; WARLEY; HEP'STALL MCKINNELL HALIFAX WRY 1775 1804 3631 NORCLIFFE STAINLAND WRY 1790 1837 Start 1900 3617 NUTTER HALIFAX WRY 1877 Now Start Now 3628 PAWSON RASTRICK WRY 1736 1911 1700 Now 3630 PAWSON NEWINGTON SRY 1840 1911 1840 Now 3630 SUTCLIFFE OVENDEN; WRY 1881 Now Start 1881 3633 PHILADELPHIA SYKES STAINLAND WRY 1812 1889 Start 1900 3617 SYKES HALIFAX WRY 1812 1840 1782 1790 3631 SYKES LONDON MDX 1812 1847 1800 1804 3631

3617, Mr M, Wood, [email protected] 3628, Mr F, Shelley, [email protected] 3630, Mr J, Burgess, [email protected] 3631, Ms M, Craddock, [email protected] 3633, Mr R, Sutcliffe, [email protected]

Page 27 Volunteer required for post of Scrivener Editor.

You will have read elsewhere in this issue of the Scrivener ("Officers within the Society" - page 13) that we need a number of volunteers to take on the posts of particular officers of the Society.

Rosie Burgess, our current Scrivener Editor, unfortunately has been ill for over 12 months &, as I write this, is still in hospital. We wish her a quick & speedy recovery. However, we have agreed with her that the time has come to try to get a replacement Editor so that we can relieve Clifford Drake & Peter Lord of the extra task of producing the magazine every quarter.

This item explains what is required & tries to allay any fears that it is a difficult & time-consuming job !

Let me start by saying what is & is not required :-

1. There is no requirement to live locally to Halifax. Our last 2 editors have both been Away Members (Coventry & Trowbridge) & have successfully done the job exclusively by E-mail.

2. The main requirement is to compile items & articles into a cohesive publication, but does not require you to write any original material yourself (unless you want to) apart for an Editorial.

3. Apart from receiving items for publication from members of the Society, on a regular basis, there is nothing to do until a couple of weeks before the magazine is sent to the printers. To help you, there is a detailed "timetable" showing exactly what has to be done when, throughout the year. In addition, there are detailed procedures written for how to go about the tasks.

4. In a minority of cases, some submissions may need to be edited or refor- matted to be able to fit into the required space or format of the magazine.

5. The time taken is generally less than an hour a week through the year receiving & acknowledging copy and then 3-4 hours (certainly less than a day) every 3 months compiling the magazine. Of course, the 1st 2 or 3 magazines may take marginally longer until you are familiar with the process.

Page 28 6. The skills required are primarily computer skills, which are :- - ability to send & receive E-Mails using a given E-mail address [email protected] - ability to use a Word Processing system - ideally MSWord. - ability to use the Publishing Software MSPublisher.

This last item may be the most daunting, but the Society will provide you with the necessary software package & also help to instruct you on its use. In fact, most of the actions required are straightforward &, once used a few times, become 2nd nature. It is unlikely that anyone with a MAC (ie not operating under MSWindows operating system) would find this a suitable post.

I hope that this post appeals to one of you & that you feel that you will be able to put yourself forward for the post. If so, please contact me at sec- [email protected] to express your interest.

I look forward to hearing from you. Margaret Smith - Secretary

—————————

St. Bartholomew, Ripponden—Parish Registers

I know that a number of people have been asking “when are these registers going to be published ?”

You will be pleased to hear that, despite it being one of the largest registers we have tackled & that some of them were very difficult to read, Neville Broadbent, our tireless member who has been coordinating the work, has assured me that all the transcriptions will have been validated by the end of August—that is, they should have been completed when you read this !!

All that remains is for some local volunteers to go to Wakefield Archives to look at the original document , to sort out the illegible entries that our transcribers & validators have been unable to read.

Once that has been done, the final data can be collated & put on to CD & a “download file2 prepared & it can then be published. We hope that all this will be done by mid-autumn.

Peter Lord—Project Coordinator.

Page 29 Births Marriages & Deaths in Halifax Newspapers.

Newspapers are a valuable resource when it comes to finding out all those little bits of extra information not covered in formal documents.

Most of you will be aware that Calderdale Libraries are running a long- term project to index the Births, Marriages & Deaths columns of the Hali- fax Guardian (the forerunner of the Halifax Courier) & that we help them by formatting the files for their website & also put the detail on to our databases to allow users of our Research Room to see them. Additionally, the names involved appear on our Name Index on the Society website, which is available to everyone—members & non-members alike.

These are particularly useful, because some of the entries list members of the wider family involved, as well as the main participants.

Recently, as part of their efforts towards the commemoration of World War 1, Calderdale Libraries have been doing similar indexing of the Hali- fax Courier from 1914 to 1918. We are helping on this activity too, & the results will be (probably have been, when you read this !!) on their website. These, too, are available on our Name Index & on the Research Room databases.

Now that the World War 1 activity has been completed, their transcribers will soon resume their activities on the Halifax Guardian—in fact they will soon be releasing these results up to approximately 1895 to be added to the entries already published from 1832 to 1885.

Eventually, these entries will go up to 1920, so there will be plenty of new information available for researchers. Of course, these dovetail nicely with the Parish Registers of the time, but many will not appear in those Registers as they could well be non-conformist or other non C of E entries.

Calderdale Libraries are to be congratulated for carrying out this work ,given the staff & budget restraints that most libraries are under, & so our thanks go to both them & the volunteers who do the bulk of the work—all unpaid !!

Please use these resources, as they are a valuable addition to all the other things we publish. The websites concerned are :- http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/services/local-studies/bmd- records.html http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/sources/themes/world-war-one.html

Peter Lord—Project Coordinator.

Page 30 Across Siberia in Wartime

Readers may recall a short item in March's Scrivener, entitled "An Escape from Russia - 1917", which made the offer of further information concerning Freder- ick & Sarah (nee Culpan) Jagger & their escape from the Russian revolution.

The full article is so fascinating that we have decided to publish this in full over the next few Scrivener issues. Unfortunately, the complete story is too long to relate in one piece, but we hope that you will enjoy the continuing "episodes"

There also exists a compendium of photographs & postcards that accompanies the article, which, in themselves, are an extraordinary narrative of the journey. It is too complex to interweave these with the story, but we have them available for anyone who would like them. Just E-Mail [email protected] & we will send them to you.

We hope that you will find the story interesting - our thanks to Rachel Cryer for providing us with this material.

Moscow, the ancient capital of Russian Europe showed many examples of what passing through a revolution means; bullet holes through almost every shop window; hotels and restaurants demolished; public clocks standing, the result of shells piercing the clock turrets, which in many cases were completely smashed; no money to be had, and banks closed, some of them barricaded; many of the streets being repaired where trenches had been dug and heavy guns mounted.

Under the Kremlin walls were the graves of many men who had lost their lives in the Revolution, and on the walls were suspended wreaths and red banners, the Russian emblem of liberty. People were crying for bread which was sup- plied in rations of one-eighth of a pound per day, namely a bare two ounces at the price of three Roubles, or 6/4d per lb; fresh butter difficult to obtain, at 12 Roubles per Russian pound of 14 oz; sugar also 12 Roubles, or 25s/6d; tea 20 Roubles or £2.2s.6d per lb; milk in bottles containing approximately two tumbler glasses 1.1/2 Roubles, 3s/2d; potatoes 50 Kopeks or 1/- per 14 oz of meat, when obtainable, 4 Roubles, or 8s/6d per lb.

There was neither law nor order anywhere, and we were advised to reach our lodgings before dark, as it was a common occurrence for people to be stopped and stripped of their clothes and sent on their way, while one could hear shots being fired very often after reaching home. We were driving home one evening at dusk, our driver was driving near the causeway when suddenly we were or- dered to drive into the centre of the road, and on looking round found there were four men in soldiers’ overcoats surrounding a woman, whilst the fifth man was searching her, and of course if she was wearing any valuable clothing she

Page 31 would b stripped and robbed, and then turned away. Our driver at once pulled into the middle of the road and drove as fast a his horse would go, otherwise we may have been shot, as these men are all armed with military rifles and fixed bayonets, and as there are no police and no law courts, they are allowed to do just as they choose, which is evidently the Russian idea of freedom, or in other words, might is right.

Our part was to meet at the British Club in Moscow daily, from four to five in the afternoon, there being some difficulty in obtaining passports and railway cars to enable us to leave, however on March 2nd we were informed carriages were available, but that date of departure was not known definitely. Eventually on March 5th the Bolsheviks decided to allow us two fourth class carriages for our party, which numbered sixty-three, and we could depart on March 8th, if we were agreeable to pay 100 Roubles per person, therefore we decided to accept the offer as the best way out of a difficulty.

Mrs Jagger and myself at once began to lay in a stock of provisions for our journey, consisting of tea, sugar, bread, tinned fish, and fortunately we had had sent us from home a home-fed ham and about six pounds of fresh butter from our own farm etc, etc. With these we decided to commence our journey an prior to taking our places in the carriages we took a light supper at the Hotel National, two courses with a cup of coffee for which we paid 19 Roubles 30 Kopeks, £2.0s.4d each. We reached the Yaroslaff Station in Moscow, our starting point, and at once proceeded to our carriage. A Russian fourth class carriage is never described in any of the touring lists, and certainly it is not a palace, the accommodation being very simple, each carriage has 54 places, bare wooden seats, the backs of which are elevated at right angles for the beds of the persons who choose to occupy them. This shelf, as it really is, just clears one’s head, when sitting upright, and anyone who is inclined to be tall must sit in a somewhat cramped position. When these backs are put into position the whole of the carriage is open from end to end, and not the slightest privacy can be obtained. There is no water supply, and the lavatory arrangements were almost nil and lighting is by candles, if one cares to buy them at 6 Roubles, (12s/6d) per pound. If one objects to the price he can either sit in the dark or get to sleep with sunset, and arise with the sun, the choice is optional. A small iron stove is fixed at each end, and if one is sufficiently oblig- ing to light the fire and keep the thing going, with a little management the stove will produce sufficient heat to prevent the other travellers from being frozen.

The windows are very small and few in number and many of them in our carriage being broken, presumably by Russian soldiers in search of freedom. These were boarded up roughly, and as we found the frost penetrated, we made some kind of cement from black bread and water to fill up the bad joints. It was rather better after this, but certainly not an observation car and neither could it by any means be described as comfortable. We were twenty-seven all told, just half the number the carriage was supposed to carry, but even so the space was very limited and we were thankful that we were not fifty-four in number. We had the greatest difficulty in moving about. As a matter of fact one of our party described the thing as

Page 32 a matchbox on wheels. The whole carriage was very filthy, we peppered it out with bug powder at the start, using about five tins to clear out all objectionable company.

This being the only wagon available, we were obliged to accept it, and at the same time offer profuse thanks to the Bolsheviks for allowing us the use of such luxurious carriages to enable us to leave.

We left Moscow at 1.30 am Friday March 8th, the carriage was very cold and of course quite dark because we had not all got candles and economy in that direction was desirable, the route being via Alexandrovak which was reached at 9.30 am March 8th. We left again at 10.30 am and arrived at Vologda (? Jaroslav) (EB) at 7.30 am on March 9th, thus we had slept two nights on the train on bard boards. I made enquiries and found we were her for a long stay and therefore I went into the town foraging. I met a droacki and asked the driver if he would sell me hay for mattresses, be agreed to sell at four Roubles per pood, ie. 40 lbs. We filled some sacks and hurried back to the station where I had some difficulty for a while finding out where to put the hay. How- ever I got the sacks emptied eventually and went back to my driver with an order for another pood of hay for other members of the party, but my driver was not agreeable to sell again at that price, and have to wait for empty sacks, and noting, I suppose, how anxious I was to secure the hay, with true Russian spirit he raised his price to six Roubles for the hay which I had already received, and for any future quantities required. To argue the point meant detaining him and consequently another increase, therefore I clinched the bargain and sent him for another load. He was soon back and I emptied his sack and dismissed him without the customary tip, but he raised some objection to which I paid no attention. I secured sufficient hay to stuff four mattresses, which worked out at three Roubles per mattress, and therefore our seats and beds were a little more comfortable than the boards. Another member of our party bought a large tin pan, kettle, and some raw beef, with the idea of making Irish stew, and at once got all ready and put the thing on the stove, but there were no provisions to be had here, the place is a town of considerable size and a great railway junction. We left Volagda (?Jaroslav ? EB) at 4.30 pm.

We very soon gathered that we were in for roughing it, and decided to take it in the spirit of an adventure, which it certainly turned out to be. Meals had to be taken according to the stops, we did out own scullery work with boiling water obtained at various stations. To secure boiling water requires patience and to be a good runner. Where there are two travelling together it is not advisable to purchase a good sized kettle and one must hop off the train with his kettle and dash off for the hot water place. There is no way of knowing where it is, and so one follows someone else who may be seen running with a kettle or a bucket, and tries one’s best to beat him to the place. Meanwhile by the time one reaches the spot others will have got there in scores, men from all parts of the train, and so all fall into line and take turn, with anxious looks at the train, for fear of being left behind. Anyone with a bucket or an over-sized kettle is told to

Page 33 half-fill it only, and other remarks are passed, for the Russian today salutes you as Comrade, and says just what he chooses, whereas formerly a foreigner was allowed more liberty and treated with more respect. Today that is changed and everyone is a comrade, no matter who he is of what position he holds.

It will be noticed that on these occasions the Hot water Establishment was of far greater importance than the Refreshment Rooms, because with a supply of hot water one can make tea or coffee, etc, and with a provision basket at hand, get a good meal of some kind whilst the train is in motion, finishing in time for the next stop, where the same race must be repeated to obtain hot water for scullery purposes, which are generally completed by the time the next stop is made, when there is no one who can tell when the next hot water place may be reached, and it is not advisable to have the kettle empty on any part of the journey. Again one never knows who soon the engine may get of order (which it does very often) and one may be held up for hours, quite unable to secure a cup of tea or anything else, with an outside temperature of thirty degrees of frost.

The journey so far was certainly far more exciting than I anticipated, and instead of finding it tedious, there were many times when I was too busy to make notes on the journey. We arrived at Jaroslav (?Vologda ? EB) March 9th at 9.45 pm and left at 10.30, passing the huge cotton mills employing 50,000 people, which the Socialists have taken into their own hands. We at once settled down on our hay mattresses for the night, and enjoyed our first good night’s rest. The hay was certainly worth the money. We arrived at Viatka 8.55 am March 11th, 1056 Versts from Moscow. Here again we found little or no food to be had. I secured a box of biscuits containing one pound for six Roubles (12s/9d) and also a pair of Vilenkies or felt Wellington Boots for 20 Roubles. It is interesting to note that these were being sold by an Austrian prisoner of war. These Vilen- kies at this time of the year are really indispensible, because the temperature was 35 degrees of frost and no amount of stoking at our stoves made any difference to the carriage floor. We left Viatka at 12.30 pm. The railway track from here was a single track, and very often we had to wait at the loop until the down train came in, similar to the tramway service. However we arrived at Bereshagin March 12th, 10.55 am and again there was very little food to be had. We were informed that there was no engine to continue our journey, and were just in time to see the black flag hoisted by the anarchists, who had taken over the town, railway etc. They detached our engine for some purpose another and so I went into the town again. I was told there was only one baker in the place and that by going there I might get bread, but the baker told me he would not have bread until five o’clock. I went again at that hour to find scores of people lined up. I joined the line and received eight pounds of black bread at 60 Ko- peks, 1s/2d per lb.

We left Bereshagin at midnight, the Anarchists having dug out an engine from somewhere. We travelled very slowly but that did not matter so long as we got out of the hotbed of Anarchy. From here we found the people very aggressive,

Page 34 and so decided to have a system of guards at each end of our carriage, their duties being to keep the fires going, sweep the floor, get fuel where possible (no matter how) and not to allow any Russian to get into the carriage. These guards were to be relieved every two hours, night and day. We found there were twenty-four able bodied men in our carriage capable to doing duty, therefore, all being agreeable, it worked out two hours on duty and twenty-two hours off, and this we found a very practical way of keeping things in order.

We reached Perm March 13th 5.30am, 1581 versts from Moscow, provisions were again scarce, but I was fortunate in securing butter at seven Roubles per pound, which was considerably cheaper than in Moscow. Cheese was eight Roubles per lb, bread one rouble per lb, and biscuits twelve Roubles per tin.

We left Perm at 1 pm after change of engines. The country from here becomes more mountainous as we approached Ekaterinburgh March 14th, 9.40 pm, 1981 versts from Moscow. As it was rather late, and the town in darkness, we remained in our carriage, and got to bed early, the train leaving at 4.10 am March 15th, arriving at Kamishlof at 11 am. Here we were provided with lunch at 3 Roubles 40 Kopeks, 6s/6d. We left Kamishlof at 12.10 pm, arriving at Polivskoe at 1.45 pm. Here we were disturbed by the Russian Red Guards who came to search the train for firearms, or, I suppose, for anything else of value. There was a slight panic in our carriage when we heard this news, revolvers were at once thrown into the water tank (fortunately it was empty) and ammunition was concealed in almost every odd corner one could think of. These Red Guards are a body of men raised by the Bolsheviks, they are not men of the best character, but are in receipt of good pay, namely 15 Roubles or 31s/6d per day. Their duties are difficult to describe further than to say they cause terror among the people until the civilians are afraid to speak almost. They are armed with loaded magazine rifles and invariably have bayonets fixed, a more uncouth set of men would be hard to find and they strike more fear into the Russians than any body of men under the old regime. In our case, after making enquiries, I was informed they were searching the train to prevent arms or people travelling into Manchuria to assist Simonof, a Russian General who is reported to be or- ganising a counter-revolution in Siberia.

We explained we were a party of refugees returning to England from Moscow with the permission of the Bolsheviks. We produced our certificates to that effect and were allowed to continue our journey without being searched. We left Polivskoe at 3.45 pm and arrived at Tumen at 9.30 pm. Here we were served with a supper at 3 Roubles 75 Kopeks. The temperature here was 36 degrees of frost, with very cold winds. We arrived Isheem at 3.30 am March 16th, purchasing bread at 27 Kopeks (5s/3d) per lb, which was much cheaper than in the Moscow district.

We left Isheem at 3.55am and reached Omsk at 9.30 am March 17th, 2680 versts from Moscow which is a very important town on the River Irtusk, capital of the Siberian Cossacks, with a very fine cathedral. Omsk is the guardian of

Page 35 the sacred relic of Siberia (Ermak’s Standard) and it a great convict settle- ment, Dostievski, the celebrated Russian novelist was imprisoned here for four years, when he wrote his “Letters from a Dead House”.

We were informed we should have great difficulty in getting through because around Irkutsk the Japanese were fighting the Bolsheviks, and had captured the railway line about Lake Baikal, this unpleasant news had a depressing effect on our party, and we decided to dew our money in our clothes as a pre- caution against robbery.

We left Omsk at 1.45 pm after having changed the engine, the new one, an American, appeared very powerful and we expected faster travel. Arriving at Barbarinsk 6.30 am March 18th, we bought white bread at 30 Kopeks (7.1/2d) per lb, and left at 7.10 am. From here habitation practically ends, and our journey continued through a wilderness of snow. It would indeed be hard to find a more desolate part of the country, there was not even a single tree.

We arrived at Chulimskaia at 2.30 pm, a very small place in the centre of Si- beria. We had a good lunch here at four Roubles and there was a plentiful supply of coal and so we were obliged to take in coal for our stoves – we pre- ferred wood, but were not allowed to get it. The cold was most intense, and we could not get above eight degrees above freezing point in our carriage, almost everyone of the party suffered from influenza. We left Chulumskaia at 3.30 pm and arrived at Novo Nicholsaef at 9.10 pm, 3390 versts from Mos- cow. Here again there were rumours of war in the East, and possibly we should be held up by the Bolsheviks, therefore we hauled down out British Flag which was attached to the top of our carriage, the general opinion being that it was better to get through quickly if possible, and what was the use of flying the British flag when the Bolsheviks recognised only the Red Flag, the very thing, to a certain extent, which has obliged us to leave our situations. Whilst seated in the restaurant a man commenced a conversation with me and related how a few days earlier, a private soldier walked in and span into an officer’s plate of soup, whereupon the officer jumped up at once and shot the man, killing him on the spot. We left Novo Nicholaef at 11.20 pm, and reached Taiga at 9.30 am March 19th, after another change of engines, this one more powerful than the last, and the driver told me it had 1000 horse- power. We left Taiga, 3605 versts from Moscow at 10.10 am. On leaving this town at once we are in the Steppes of Siberia again, having left behind the Taiga forests, the scene of so many forest fires, and the Obi River, the most important watercourse of Western Siberia. We have not proceeded far when it was discovered that one man was missing, however at the first stop he turned up, having travelled on the buffers of the last carriage, which was rather a close shave for him. We are travelling at a great speed now, and the forests begin again to be interesting. We reached Sharinsk at 3.30 pm, again the engine driver told me he had been doing 135 versts an hour, and in one part he had done 50 versts in 20 minutes. We had a good lunch here for 4 Roubles 25 Kopeks, leaving at 4.5 pm and reaching Krasnoiarsk at 7.40 am

Page 36 March 20th, 4098 versts from Moscow. This is a town increasing rapidly on account of its situation at the foot of the mountains. It is entered by the train crossing one of the fine bridges which are a feature of the line; this bridge, over 1000 yeards long is supported by very strong masonry.

We left Krasnoiarsk at 8.10 am after another change of engines. We were sorry to lose our last engine and its driver who was a really good fellow. We had not proceeded far when we came to a standstill for over an hour, for engine axle-heating, the driver, of course, pointed out that there had been a heavy fall of snow and gave that out as the reason for the trouble. Later we were held up again for the same trouble. Evidently our driver was a Bolshevik and that being so, neither valued his engine nor took a pride in his work.

We arrived Klockovenno 3.30 pm and bid adieu to our Bolshevik driver and his engine with joy, certainly they were both lazy and very tired, unable to get 8 miles an hour throughout the whole day, on a good track. We left here at 4.10 pm, passing through very dense forests and coal mining districts. We reached Nigneoudinsk at 9.50 am March 21st, 4633 verts from Moscow, finding a town situated at an altitude of over 1200 feet, inhabited by the Bouriats, a tribe of Mongolians. We were again informed that the Japanese had blown up the railway bridge to Harbin, and that we should not get through. The scenery here- abouts is very pretty and it was truly a spring day. About mid-day we were able to open the windows, and even allowed the stoves to go down. We left Nig- neoudinsk 10.15 am and arrived Touloune at 1.45 pm and left at 2.15 pm, another run through pretty scenery and extensive coal beds and we closed the first day of Spring by getting the stoves going again as the evening became very cold. We arrived at Irkutsk 6.50 am March 22nd, 5108 versts from Moscow. Here we found the American, Belgian, French and the first British contingents were waiting also, having arrived some 14 hours before. We were told our time of departure would not be before 6.30 pm, therefore we decided to go into the town. Itkutsk is the capital of Eastern Siberia and is today, like most other centres, in the hands of the Bolsheviks. It lies on the right bank of the River An- garta and is surrounded by hills. Behind these, high mountains are seen covered with snow during the greater part of the year. It is an important part on the commercial life of Itkutsk.

We drove across the River Angara into the town and again found destruction on all sides, the result of the revolution, the National Government Bank being shattered with shells and afterwards burned to the ground; churches with shell holes in them everywhere; the Governor-General’s house also shelled, and gutted with fire. This house was surrounded by a large garden and here we found a number of men at work levelling the ground, which had in places the appear- ance of a disused quarry. I entered into conversation with one of the men and he informed me they had buried there 93 Red Guards, who were killed in the Revolution, and with the approach of spring, they were engaged to make some improvements about the place by laying grass, planting shrubs etc. Here, as around the Kremlin Walls in Moscow, were many beautiful wreaths, crosses,

Page 37 etc suspended on the fences around the house and garden, together with the inevitable Red Flags.

A little to the left is a very nice public park, and mounted on a very massive granite pedestal is a huge bronze statue of the late Alexander III, now damaged with shots, and splintered almost at every corner, quite beyond repair. It was indeed a wicked thing to do, and to proclaim their victory the Bolsheviks had fixed a large red flat in each hand. Poor Alexander III looked far from happy that morning. Those red flags were not put there for decorative purposes, quite the contrary, they were there to strike fear and terror into the more intelligent class of people, which is the sole object of Bolshevism; they have no trouble with the poorer classes, whom it is quite possible to lead in a different direction every day, and who fear to ask questions. They know that he who dares to question Bolshevism runs the risk of being sent to Kingdom Come in very quick time for his trouble. There is no question of police or law courts. There are the Red Guards, who are men of doubtful character, armed to the teeth. These men must do their duty and if some poor fellow does get in the way, out with him, no questions will be asked or explanations required.

We purchased a quantity of provisions which were very reasonable in price, compared with Moscow district, and returned to our carriage feeling very sad and weary, the sights we had seen in Irkutsk had a very depressing effect on us, and there is no doubt the loss of life and damage to property was even greater than in Moscow. We left Irkutsk at 7.30 pm, our carriages being cou- pled to a military train. The line runs along the right bank of the River Angara, through the Chamantia Mountains, then through a row of tunnels along the steep borders of Lake Baikal, a most picturesque mountain railway, with fantas- tical cliffs and a magnificent panorama of the Baikal, the largest lake in the world, almost an inland sea, 380 miles in length and 40 miles in width. Its depth reaches about 3000 feet. The lake is encircled by immense mountains capped with snow for the greater part of the year. We travel very slowly because the curves in the track are very sharp in places, certainly not more than six miles an hour, men with green flags are posted every few miles, and as we enter one tunnel the man at the other end is warned by telephone, and he in turn tele- phones to his next man, all along the line. This continues until we reach Taukoi at 12.55 pm. We were informed that formerly a small church was attached to each train to enable the Russians to have prayers whilst travelling the above part of the journey, but now this practice is discontinued.

Written by Fred Jagger, Brother-in-Law of Florrie Culpan - submitted by Rachel Cryer

Page 38 Bailiff Bridge War Dead 1939 – 1945

Following the articles by Clifford Drake on the Bailiff Bridge War Memorial, I wonder if the attached information on the men from Bailiff Bridge who died in the second World War will be of interest? The information was researched and compiled by Frank Roper of Rastrick as part of a much larger project (you may recall an article in the Brighouse Echo some time ago – 2006 actually!).

Their names may be recorded on memorials somewhere but not on their local one at Bailiff Bridge.

I have a personal interest in two of the men. My uncle, the youngest of three brothers who all served in the RAF, was F/O F G Ingham. His older brother, Norman, married the widow of Captain W G Vivian and as a tribute to him, both their daughters were given Vivian as their middle names. My father was the eldest, Reginald Ingham.

Ian Ingham - Memb No. 2829

Allen, Francis McIvor, Fly, Off., 144928, RAF(VR), 467 (RAF)Sqn., 29th December, 1943, aged 22. Son of Mr & Mrs E F Allen of Shirley, Surrey. Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd. MEM REG. 7, The Runnymede Memorial, Panel 122. Brighouse Echo 14/1/1944 (P. 3)

Ambler, Kenneth,Sgt. (Flt. Eng.),1104327, RAF(VR), 77 Sqn., 1st May 1943, aged 23. CEM Index, GER.1. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany, Grave Loca- tion – 17.E.3. RAF. Brighouse Echo 21/5/1943, (P. 2)

Benn, Arnold, Tpr.7934483, The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards), RAC 2nd March 1943, aged28. Son of James William and Edith Anne Benn; Husband of Jenny Benn of Baliffe Bridge, Brighouse Yorkshire. Worked at TF Firth & Sons Ltd. CEM Index LIB. 4, Tripoli War Cemetery, Libya, C.J. 16.

Bower, Peter, Sgt., RAF 524415, 11th June 1940, aged 23. MEM REG. 10. Alamein Memorial, Column 239. No Echo Ref.

Greaves, William, Pte., 3052685, 1st Bn. The Royal Scots (The Royal Regt.). 26th/27th May, 1940, aged 34. Son of Mr & Mrs T Greaves, Wakefield Road, Bailiffe Bridge – Postman; Hus- band of Marian Greaves of Brighouse. CEM Index FR. 319, “Le Paradis” War Cemetery, Lestrem, France, I. A. 2.

Page 39 Halliwell, Albert Edward, Fly. Offr. (Air Gnr.), 175048, RAF(VR) 195 Sqn. 12th December 1944, aged 22. CEM Index, GER. 1. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany, Grave Loca- tion – 17.G.15. RAF.—No Echo Ref.

Hardy, Kenneth Powell,Capt., EC/1285, RIASL. 1st December, 1944, aged 31. Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd. CEM Index IND. 6. Delhi War Cemetery, India, 2. f. 14. Brighouse Echo 22/12/1944 (P. 11)

Haystead, Leonard, Craftsman, 1659564, Reme.—14th July 1943,aged 32. Son of Herbert and Annie Haystead (Widow of 31 Brook Street, Rastrick); Hus- band of Annie Haystead of 19 Tanner Street, Hightown, Liversedge, Yorkshire. CEM Index TUN. 5. Enfidaville War Cemetery (Tunisia) II. F. 4. Brighouse Echo 6/8/1943 (P. 11)

Hopkins, Eugene Stratton, Craftsman, 10569871, REME 22nd December 1942, aged 32. Son of Frank Wilmot and Mary Reatta Hopkins of Brighouse, Yorkshire; Hus- band of Doris May Hopkins of Brighouse.—Born in Brighouse. CEM Index ALG. 4, La Reunion War Cemetery, Bougie, Algeria, 5.B. 9. Brighouse Echo 8/1/1942 (P. 6)

Ingham, Frederick Gordon, Fly. Offr. (Air Bomber), 133088, RAF(VR) 21st August, aged 25. Son of Randolph and Annie Ingham, Husband of Mary Ingham of Bailiffe Bridge, Brighouse, Yorks. CEM Index, UK.1001. Brighouse Cemetery, Sec E Cons. Grave 32. Brighouse Echo 27/8/1943 (P. 4)

Johnson, Eric Allen John, AB, D/SSX, 19996, RN, HMS Zulu. 24th September 1942, aged 26. Son of Herbert and Mary Johnson of Mirfield, Yorkshire. Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd. CEM Index EG. 6. Alexandria (Hadra) War memorial Cemetery (Egypt), 3. J. 17.

Nettleton, Ernest, Sgt., 1505103, Anti-Tank Regt., Royal Artillery. 14th July, 1944, aged 26. Foster Son of William and Lydia Booth of Brighouse, Yorkshire; Husband of Muriel Nettleton of Brighouse, (Step Parents, 5 West Street, Bailiffe Bridge) Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd. CEM Index IT. 24., Foiano Dels Chiano War Cemetery, Italy, II, G. 6. Brighouse Echo 11/8/1944 (P. 4)

O'Neill, Frank, Sgt., RAF(VR), 458 (RAAF) Sqn. 28th June 1943, aged 22. Cem Index, EG. 22, El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt, XXV, A, 11. Brighouse Echo 9/7/1943 (P.6)

Page 40 Roberts, Thomas Owen, Cpl., 2579810, Royal Corps of Signals, 46 Div. Sigs. 22nd April 1943, aged 23. Son of Herbert and Harriet Roberts of Lightcliffe, Yorkshire. Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd. CEM Index TUN. 6. Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery (Tunisia), 16. D. 13. Brighouse Echo 7/5/1943 (P. 6)

Rushworth, Harry, TPR., 7935224, 2nd Lothian and Border Horse, RAC. 11th April 1943, aged 30. Son of Mr & Mrs George Rushworth, Husband of Hilda Rushworth of Bailiffe Bridge, Brighouse, Yorkshire. Worked at TF Firth & Sons Ltd CEM Index TUN. 5. Enfidaville War Cemetery, Tunisia, VIII, F, 19. Brighouse Echo,7/5/1943 (P.6)

Thornton, Douglas, Sgt, (Pilot), 1955021, RAF(VR), 138 Sqn. 26th July 1942, aged 23. Son of Thomas and Margaret Thornton of Bailiffe Bridge; Husband of Elsie Thornton of Bradford, Yorkshire. CEM Index FR. 1172, Vire New Comminal Cemetery, France, Plot L, Grave 3. No Echo Ref.

Tyas, Harold Empsall, Flt. Sgt. (pilot), 1027584, RAF(VR). 28th May 1943,aged 27. Son of John Empsall and Minnie Tyas, Husband of Hilda May Tyas of Brig- house.Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd, Heckmondwike CEM Index UK. 100. Brighouse Cemetery, Sec D, Cons Grave 578. Brighouse Echo 4/6/1943 (P. 4 & 6), 11/6/1943 (P. 6)

Vivian, William Graham, Capt., 126228, 111 Bty., 30 Field Regt., Royal Artil- lery. 5th May 1943. Worked at TF Firth and Sons Ltd. CEM Index TUN. 6.Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery (Tunisia) 13. B. 20. Brighouse Echo 30/7/1943 (P. 11)

Welford, Joseph, Pte.,4267131, ACC, ATTD. RA. 1st January, 1945, aged 33. Son of Kohn and Mary Welford, Husband of Olive Welford, 19 Field Top, Bailiffe Bridge. CEM Index NL.167, Nederweert War Cemetery, Holland, I. G. 9. Brighouse Echo 12/1/1945 (P. 4)

Ian Ingham

Page 41 Meeting Talk - June 2014 - And in Flew Enza - by Tony Foster

In order to put the talk together, if you are interested in what Spanish ‘Flu was doing in Halifax, then certainly all the sources I have used you will be able to find. The first one this website www.nisra.gov.uk - I don’t know if you have used that but it’s extremely good if you want to look at the Annual Reports that the Registrar General for Births, Marriages and Deaths had to produce to Par- liament, right from 1838 onwards. And for the Spanish ‘Flu was produced a specific report that just concentrated on that and if anyone wants to see it, I have brought a copy along with me. Then of course, newspapers, quite a number of them, as we know, are on line now, but sometimes you still need to go to the local library and work your way through them. The Medical Officer of Health Reports for the individual towns are also extremely useful and you may find Council Minutes available.

One thing important to bear in mind is that at this time 1918 and early 1919, where wasn’t one single department in Central Government responsible for the health of the nation. You had local Medical Officers of Health, the Board of Education that dealt with health of children, the Local Government Board that really concentrated on caring for the poor but it had some involvement with health, the Registrar General producing annual reports, detailing the number of births, deaths.

If you sat at your breakfast table in May 1918 and looking at the copy of your Times you may have noticed a very small report and you may even have missed it, but on February 24th May there was a small report saying that there was a new form of disease in Spain. There was an epidemic in Madrid, it was mild in nature, there were no deaths but people were suffering from high fever, vomiting, pain in the chest and diarrhoea and you might well have thought, that’s Spain for you. and just carried on having your toast and marmalade.

Nothing else appeared in the papers until the following Friday when it said the epidemic was not serious, it was influenza and people just had a bit of stomach upset and, as you can see, the report was even smaller than the previous report. But by the following Monday things had turned seriously because the Times newspaper was reporting that there were over 700 deaths and over 100,000 victims in Spain. It was so severe that the public services were dis- rupted and transport was badly affected and other public services were disor- ganised; the doctors were under pressure; the King of Spain was ill and half the Government was also suffering. So as the ‘flu started in Spain it got the name Spanish ‘Flu.

But as we will see later, Spanish ‘Flu didn’t start in Spain, because Spain in the First World War was neutral, there wasn’t any restrictions on the press, so they went to town reporting upon this influenza.

I put this talk together a few years ago for a family history group that meet in

Page 42 Blackburn and it was a time when we were suffering from this Mexican Swine ‘Flu and if you remember that at that time, the papers were saying that this was going to be as bad as the Spanish ‘Flu and with the second wave that will come, it will knock most of us down, and a lot of us, if that was true, wouldn’t be here tonight.

So I though what it would have been like for our ancestors who were facing this Spanish ‘Flu back in 1918 and in one of the local newspapers this was the first report I saw, it was the editorial – Spanish ‘Flu the latest threat to be held over our heads. So the Editor is more or less saying that it was nothing to worry about, it was all these scaremongers – you know what the press is like, they like to play up a story, and it goes on to say that the name will not stick, it’s not Spanish, it’s not ‘flu, it’s just an influenzic cold and a gastric upset and it was because people were having an unfamiliar diet as because of the war some rationing was taking place so people were unwell because they weren’t eating the same type of food and it certainly wasn’t as bad as the ‘flu we experienced 30 years ago.

Wilfred Owen, the WWI poet was writing to his mother. He was stationed in Scarborough in June 1918 and he starts of his letter, “Stand back and disinfect yourself. A third of the battalion and 30 of the officers are smitten with Spanish ‘Flu”. And he goes on to say that the boys are dropping on parade like flies and fortunately he didn’t suffer from the ‘flu.

If you look at Medical Officer of Health reports, this is one for Rawtenstall that was produced the following year reporting on events taking place in 1918 and he is talking about the ‘flu that came in the Summer and the Autumn and it caused an unwelcome rise in the death rate and it was the first time in the history of Rawtenstall that the death rate was higher than the birth rate.

This gives you an example of how quickly people died with influenza. This is a young girl of 8 years of age. She was a daughter of a private how had just come back on leave from France and the papers were saying possibly he brought back the virus with him. But because she was brought down quite suddenly there was a coroner’s inquest and this is what was reported.

On Saturday she was in normal good health and at 3 pm went to the fairground and had a ride on the motor cars (I think they must have been dodgems or something). She went home at 5 pm, had some bread and butter and some tea and complained of a headache. She stayed in bed and vomited at 8 pm. The following day at 9 am, again she complained of a headache, stayed in bed until 11 am and asked for a drink. Her mother gave her a drink of warm water. She vomited and went to sleep and slept until quarter to three. Her father carried her downstairs and laid her on the sofa. She began to ramble in her talk. They sent for the doctor but because he was ill, the second doctor who came arrived about 6 pm but this girl had died at quarter to 5 and the death was put down as heart failure due to influenza.

Page 43

Spanish ‘flu started in summer 1918 and it went on to late spring 1919. In Brit- ain there were just over a quarter of a million deaths. And depending on what you read, about 20 to 100 million died of it. And as I said, it didn’t start in Spain and we will see that it occurred in Russia and was therefore Russian ‘Flu.

Are you familiar with the cholera epidemic that occurred in 1832/33? Why do you know about the cholera epidemic? Such a lot has been written about it and because there were a large number of deaths. The ‘flu pandemic in 1836/37 killed more people than the cholera epidemic but it just seems to have disap- peared from history. In the past there were several ways that it could be treated, by taking Dobers Powders, James’s Powders. These are just prepara- tions that make you sweat. You take paracetamol and just sweat it out. Some doctors believed that it would help the victim by bleeding them, but unfortunately some patients died of the bleeding treatment. Some doctors were very enthusiastic bleeders.

There were other home remedies. I don’t know if you like treacle. I don’t know what a pint of treacle with half a pint of vinegar with three tablespoons full of opium preparation tasted like but it was very popular with Lady Brooks fund to relieve influenza. She distributed bottles of brandy. I don’t know how many people pretended to have ‘flu to get the treatment and I don’t know how many bottles she actually distributed. And of course just like today bed rest, drink plenty of fluids and take aspirin.

The Russian ‘Flu started un Uzbekistan and at that time the new rail route had been opened up that went to St Petersburg and there were several people who were developing influenza catching the train and therefore the ‘flu virus was transmitted to St Petersburg, and as that was a very big commercial centre, it was then possible for it to be spread throughout the rest of the continent and finally making its way to London and around the rest of the country.

There are two theories of where the Spanish ‘Flu started. One said it started in Port Riley in America in 1918. On 11th March 1918 a private reported sick at 9 am in the morning. He said he had had a bad night of running a fever of 104 and complaining of all those signs and symptoms you know of if you have suffered from ‘flu, shaking, shivering, aching limbs, headache, general feeling of unwell and he is sent off to the sick bay. By 12 noon, 100 other soldiers were suffering from the same complaint and unfortunately for all of us, a large number of military men from Port Riley were being transported over to France, taking the virus with them and therefore it spread.

The Spanish ‘Flu occurred in three waves. The first wave was very mile in June/July, the second wave was the deadly wave in October/November and in the third wave quite a number of people died more than in the first wave but not as many as in the second wave.

Page 44 I have had a look at the annual report for Halifax and in Halifax there were 368 deaths and, as you can see, the second wave was really deadly. What is very unusual is that more people died in the third wave than the second wave. But in other areas where I have done this talk, more deaths occur in the second wave.

One of the important people in the care of people suffering from Spanish ‘Flu was Dr Niven, who was the medical officer of health for Manchester. I think about two years ago, the BBC produced a play based in terms of caring for the Spanish ‘Flu in Manchester. Manchester was lucky in having him as a medical officer because he had already been the medical officer in Oldham during the Russian ‘Flu and learned from experience that the ‘flu would come in three waves and the second wave would be deadly and he managed to persuade Manchester City Council to put steps in place to help to reduce the number of deaths that Manchester suffered from

In the second wave, people had a really tremendous pneumonia, and this is an image of someone in the early stages in the second wave, looking a bit woebe- gone, but because they get this tremendous pneumonia fluid building in their lungs interfering with gas exchange, they get this nasty blue discolouration around their lips and ear lobes and it that happens, the chances of you living for more than 12 hours are very, very slim. There are reports of people developing ‘flu and dropping as they walk down the street. And then of course more fluid collects and they become more blue, may get nose bleeds.

Because the second wave was corresponding to the end of WW1 and therefore people would be collecting together to celebrate and therefore there was a big problem of people collecting in theatres, cinemas and the Darwin town council tried to close the cinemas and theatres because if you don’t want people collecting together in a confined space and the proprietors of the places said, no, if we do this we are going to lose profits. So the Chairman of the Medical Board said that he would compensate you out of his own pocket and offered them some money, but they said, no. He upped his offer and they still said, no. The only thing that Central Government seemed to do was issue these regulations that the entertainment shouldn’t last more than four hours and to have a 30 minute interval during which time the venue had to be thoroughly ventilated and no children admitted.

And again, if you go through your local newspaper you will find that more than likely schools were closed, certainly in November and December. Factories were given instructions on how to combat the epidemic because there was this problem of kissing the shuttle to get the thread through the shuttle and, of course a nice way of passing it on. Books were fumigated and perhaps one thing that people appreciated, any political meetings were cancelled.

Within Darwin cemetery there is a Commonwealth war grave to an Australian soldier who died in Darwin 1st December 1918. He is really interesting is this

Page 45 guy because the age on his gravestone does not correspond to his age on his death certificate. The gravestone says he is 33. His death certificate says he is 38. If you look at his army records in Australia, he’s 43. But he had an interesting life. He was born in Australia, served in the Boer War. At the end of the Boer War he spent some time in South Africa as a bear back rider in a circus, then went back to Australia. He enlists in WW1, serves all his time in France and at the end of the war he got permission to visit his cousins in Darwin and he just happened to arrive at the wrong time when the Spanish ‘Flu was at its highest. He contacted ‘flu and never returned back to Australia.

If you think you may have any ancestors who served in the ANZAC forces, then this mapping for ANZACs is an excellent site because all their military records of individuals are there and you can search free of charge.

If you do that you will find that Private Ward spend some time in this really big army camp in France and here are just some images of the camp. This army camp was surrounded by pig and poultry farms and the breeding ground for the influenza virus is in poultry and sometimes it manages to pass over into pigs and once it’s done that it is easy for it to be transmitted to you and me.

There were some British medical officers working in this camp in 1916 and producing reports on influenza outbreaks that they were experiencing then. When Spanish ‘Flu came along in 1918 the reports appeared in a British medical paper, the Lancet medical journal, saying this ‘flu that we are seeing now is almost identical to the one we saw in 1916 and there is this Professor Oxford in Lon- don who believed that the Spanish ‘Flu started here in France in 1916 and he is trying to find a well-preserved body so he can see if he can extract the DNA from it.

I don’t know if you believe in Venos cough medicine, but here it is in 1918 where Lance Corporal Turner of the 4th Essex Regiment writing, “I was in hospital and lying opposite me was a Sergeant in the RFA who was badly gassed. It was awful to hear him coughing night and day and, knowing Venos as I do, I told him of it and from the first dose all the fellows in the ward noticed a de- crease in his coughing. In six weeks the same man proceeded to a convales- cent hospital in my company. Two men and myself who were affected by Spanish ‘Flu found instantaneous relief from Venos. I think it is good how these newspapers seem to see adverts as more or less news items – if you get ‘flu now, get the Venos out.

Now one important thing to bear in mind, those people who didn’t die, a lot of them became depressed. It’s a big feature of big viral infection, it causes de- pression and some people then went on to commit suicide and if you look at what we have been told today a lot hasn’t really changed. Keep yourself warm, go to bed, drink plenty of fluids, take paracetamol and as we have been told for Swine ‘Flu, catch it, bin it and burn it – burn your handkerchiefs.

So that’s the Spanish ‘Flu for you.

Page 46 HUDDERSFIELD & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY The Root Cellar THE PLACE TO FIND YOUR ANCESTORS 35 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 advice, 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

CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

2014 AUTUMN MEETINGS ~ Thursdays 7:30pm.

At The Shibden Room, North Bridge Leisure Centre

Please note that, due to some speaker illnesses, these talks & titles may differ from those printed in the Society Syllabus.

25th September Donald Burslem – Carriages at Nine

23rd October Reg Le Plan—Murder Most Foul

27th November Lynne K Schofield—The Life & Times of Mrs. Lizzie McParplin

No December 2014 Meeting.

Page 47 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 returns, 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 concerning 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.

Page 48 LOCAL FAMILY HISTORY FAIRS

Forthcoming Fairs of Interest :-

Sat November 8th 2014—Huddersfield Local Family History Fair Cathedral House, St Thomas Rd., Huddersfield HD1 3LG 10am to 4:00pm

Thurs/Sat 16/18th April 2015—Who Do You Think You Are Exhibition NEC Birmingham 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.

Page 49 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 (Acting) 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 (Acting)~ Scrivener (for submission of articles, letters, etc.) Mr. Peter Lord, 288 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2PB e-mail - [email protected] 01484-718576

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]

Page 50

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

Page 51 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.

Page 52