Category Archives: History
Saltaire’s Heritage: Hockney and Random Reminiscences
The death of David Hockney this week has made many headlines and brought some wonderful tributes to a great artist. I can’t add anything of significance to those but I do just want to acknowledge the joy that so many … Continue reading
Frank Edmund Dobson: Life and Legacy in Industrial England
I noticed it is the anniversary of my paternal great-grandfather’s death today and realised I have little or no understanding of him as a person and scant information beyond censuses and basic records. In part, this is no doubt because … Continue reading
Worst day of the war…
Taking a look at a branch of my husband’s family tree, I had previously noted the death of a 30-year-old man, Private 17400 William J. Horton, of the Gloucestershire Regiment, at Loos, France, on 25 September 1915. He left a … Continue reading
Thank you, Martin Parr.
I was sad to see the news of Martin Parr’s death yesterday. I have come to appreciate and enjoy his work, much of which was documenting the ‘tasteless cheerfulness’ of what he saw. His work has been controversial at times, … Continue reading
Centenary (and a bit)
I discovered this just a few days too late to share it on their 100th anniversary! My great-uncle Willie married his first wife on 9 September 1925. My grandma was a bridesmaid. I don’t have any pictures but there’s quite … Continue reading
Connections…
One of the pleasures of interacting on the web is making connections or re-connections with people you’d probably not otherwise come across. Thanks to t’internet and having shared a few random memories, I now have had contact with three people … Continue reading
Happy Anniversary!
On Monday 16th October 1893, Frank Marsden, 22, married Sarah Helliwell, also aged 22, in Halifax Parish Church (St John the Baptist), now known as Halifax Minster. (The interior had been restored only a few years previously by George Gilbert … Continue reading
140!
I was reminded when logging on to do some transcription work for a family history society that it’s 140 years ago today since my paternal grandfather Frank Milton Dobson was born. As I really need to crack on and finish … Continue reading
Snapshot memories
My much-loved late uncle, Nigel, had this treasured but rather battered photograph that he was rightly proud of and which we were pleased to be able to digitally restore for him some years ago. It shows him at RAF Digby, … Continue reading
‘Doing their bit’
I found this little cutting stashed away in some files I was sorting: I must have seen and labelled it after mum died. It’s probably from the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. A quick search showed that Cllr. Coughlin served in … Continue reading
Random Thoughts 