Sacrifice in the Trenches: WWI Ancestors

This blog post is a tribute to two relatives who died in the Great War long before I was born. They made the ultimate sacrifice for King and Country.

Two of my great-uncles, Herbert and Harry (Henry) Dickman from Pendlebury, were killed in France in 1916.

Herbert Dickman (service number 15647) born c.1899, served as a private in the 8th battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, and his date of death is given by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website as 7 March 1916, aged twenty-five. He was a POW, and died of his wounds.

His brother Harry Dickman (service number 15080), who was two years younger, was a private in the 16th battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers (2nd Salford Pals); his date of death is given as 30 July 1916, during the battle of the Somme. I believe that the battalion was at Haillicourt around that time. Both soldiers are commemorated on the Loos memorial.

Brothers Harry and Herbert worked at Agecroft Colliery before the Great War, and their names can be seen on its war memorial, along with the names of many others from the pit who died in the ‘war to end all wars’. 
If you have a Lancashire ancestor who served in the armed forces, some sources for military history are included in my new book Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors, which has just been released.
Update May 2014: If you have an ancestor who served in WW1, you may like to visit the Lives of the First World War website.

Images: Agecroft Colliery War Memorial. © Sue Wilkes.
Private Harry Dickman, from an undated, unattributed news cutting in the author’s collection.

Postcards in the author’s collection, date circa 1919:
Lens (near Loos) before and after the war, Boulevard des Ecoles.
Lens before and after the war, Pit No.5.
Ypres Cloth Hall before the Great War.

Find My Past Series 2 - Gunpowder Plot

On next week's episode of Find My Past, which airs at 9pm on 6 November 2012 on the Yesterday channel , three people find out how their ancestors were involved in the infamous gunpowder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Miranda Barran discovers that her ancestor, Robert Catesby, was actually the mastermind behind the gunpowder plot – not Guy Fawkes.

Cordelia Mayfield, a descendant of King James I's spymaster Sir Robert Cecil, discovers how her ancestor uncovered the plot and hunted down the conspirators, including Everard Digby.   The Gunpowder Plot conspirators came to a very nasty end - being hanged, drawn and quartered. Looks like this will be a very exciting episode!

Compassion for the Poor: Thomas Bernard

Compassion is one of Austen heroine Emma Woodhouse’s nicer character traits. Society expected the upper classes to help the poor: it was their moral and Christian duty. In Austen’s day, Sir Thomas Bernard (1750–1818) was famous for his philanthropy, and he devoted much of his life to charitable causes. He was an active member of the Foundling Hospital committee. In 1796 Bernard founded the ‘Society for Bettering the Condition, and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor’.  

The Society reported on practical schemes around the country for helping the poor. Thomas disapproved of workhouses, and was keen to improve life for workhouse inmates, especially children.

Many of his ideas for reforming poor relief were ahead of their time. You can find out more about Bernard’s life and work in my latest feature in the November issue of Jane Austen's Regency World.

Images from the author’s collection: Portrait of Sir Thomas Bernard, 3rd baronet. Engraving by E. Scriven from the painting by J. Opie, The Life of Sir Thomas Bernard (John Murray, 1819).

The Foundlings. An allegory of the work of the Foundling Hospital.  Engraving by William Hogarth. John Ireland and John Nichols, Hogarth’s Works, 3rd Series, Chatto & Windus, c.1880.

Interior of the Chapel of the Foundling Hospital. Thomas Bernard was buried here. Old and New London Vol. V, (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, c. 1895).

Sheffield City Giants

Last weekend we visited the Kelham Island Museum, where we were lucky enough to see the Sheffield City Giants perform a folk dance at the Kelham Island Museum. The Giants represent War and Peace, and you can read about their amazing history and the folk tradition behind them on their website.

Radio Interview and Lancashire Ancestors update

It was lovely to meet everyone at BBC Radio Lancashire this morning.  If you missed my interview with Ted Robbins, you can listen to it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zhkkq, about 1 hour 33 minutes in.  I talked about my forthcoming book Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors, which will be published very soon, and gave some tips on how to research your family tree.

Blackburn's town centre is dominated by its glitzy shopping mall, but you can still explore some of the town's history.  The BBC Radio Lancashire studios are on the site of the Plug Plot riots of 1842.  The Free Library and Museum, which opened on 11 June 1874, and is now the Museum and Art Gallery,  has some very interesting sculpture friezes depicting the arts, sciences and industry.

Update 5.11.12: I've just heard that Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors has now been released, and you can order it from the Pen & Sword website.
Images:  The BBC Radio Lancashire studios.
Ornamental frieze of iron workers, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery.

© Sue Wilkes

Visit to BBC Radio Blackburn

Just a quick update to say I've been invited to speak on the Ted Robbins show on BBC Radio Blackburn next Wednesday - 24 October. I'll be talking about my new book, Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors, and if time permits, exploring some of my own ancestors' stories, and giving listeners tips on how to explore their own family tree.

It will be very interesting to visit Blackburn, which was famous for its 'greys' (fustians), and was also the original home of the famous Peel family of cotton manufacturers, who began the art of calico printing by rollers in Lancashire. I am really looking forward to exploring the town.



Image:
Fish Lane, Blackburn, traditional birthplace of Sir Robert Peel, first baronet (1750–1830).  Engraving by Evans from a drawing by Cardwell.  Pictorial History of the County of Lancashire, 1844.

Exploring Chawton

Very recently Chawton House Library held a heritage open day, and luckily I was in the area that weekend, as it’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for ages. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for exploring the House and gardens.

The House was the former home of Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen-Knight, and it has some wonderful collections in The Library. It was a real privilege to explore inside. Sadly photography was not permitted the House, but you can see some photos of the interior and the fabulous library here. After visiting the gardens we peeked inside the church of St Nicholas – Jane Austen’s sister and mother are buried in the graveyard.

On the next day we returned to Chawton so that we could visit Chawton Cottage (Jane Austen's House Museum), where Jane lived for eight years. The weather was not as kind that day, but I didn’t mind. It has been many years since I last went inside the Cottage and it was so lovely to see it again.

As always when following in Jane’s footsteps, I have to resist the temptation to shriek ‘Jane Austen was here!’ and just hug myself inside, if you know what I mean. I stood next to Jane’s writing table and hoped that some of her incredible genius might somehow magically waft across to me, like the scent of the flowers in her garden. The museum has personal relics of the family, including the famous topaz crosses bought for Jane and Cassandra by their sailor brother Charles Austen.

It goes without saying that there is a wonderful gift shop, too, where you can stock up on goodies and books related to Austen and her works.

And in breaking news: Janeites will know that 2013 is the bicentenary of the publication of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. A new, beautifully illustrated book by Hazel Jones and Maggie Lane, Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane’s Darling Child will be published by Lansdown Media this autumn.