OUR ANCESTRY & LOCAL HISTORY ARTICLES
Our Branch and individual research activities can include anything and everything that we can discover about our ancestors, their lives and their stories.
It's been written that there is a novel in all of us, just waiting to be written. Well, I'm not so sure about that! However, I do believe that there is a story in all of us, waiting to be given a 'voice'.
PICTORIAL INDEX
The links below, in our 'Pictorial Index' will take all our visitors to the numerous website pages where you can find stories, galleries and articles about our Oldham & District history and ancestry.
Please note ... some of the links may take you to a .pdf, in which case, it may open in a new tab.
In the 'Miscellany' pages of the website, you can find, to read online / download, .pdfs on a wide variety of transcriptions, statistics and more. in chronological order of upload - most recent first.
Follow the 'Newsletter Snippets' link to a website page listing Articles, Transcriptions and Newsletter Gallery images, in all the Oldham & District Branch Newsletters, from 2019-05 (May)
The Brierly Map : Oldham Market Place, High Street & Yorkshire Street, 1815
Drawn by CP Brierly(sic)
The original is in Oldham Local Studies and Archives on 2 sheets of A4 size paper; in colour. Handwritten notes are on the back.
Ref BR1/1 and BR1/2
"On the rejoicing day they shot old Bony(sic) in effigy. I did dance when I saw his cocked hat and straw fly in the air. I was nearly burning this sketch it is such a botch but it will give you an idea who was living in Market Place at that time."
See the map in detail and read the descriptive notes on the Oldham Historical Research website (opens in a new window).
See more
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The Fossil Forest, considered the 'wonder of Europe' was first discovered in 1879 and then virtually disappeared from history. In 1980, Oldham man, Ken Stanley, resolved to find out exactly where it had been, where the fossils were in 1980 and, if they had been moved, who by?
Read 19th century newspaper reports of its discovery in 1879 and the results of Ken's research.
Wright Whitehead – a case from his career in Manchester Police
From an MLFHS member, Liz, Culley (21653), in response to an Oldham & District Branch monthly meeting ...
"In your latest Journal, vol.59 no.2 2023, in the feedback given on a talk by Joseph O'Neill on 'Crime City: Manchester's Victorian Underworld' there is mention of Jerome Caminada and the scuttlers. My 2x gt. grandfather, Wright WHITEHEAD 1854-1926 was a police sergeant in Ancoats in 1892 when the 'scuttler gangs' were much in evidence".
A Tale of Two Cities – Manchester Revisited
by Julie Schwethelm
The story of a visit to Manchester, in 2023, from her home in Germany.
It is a story of rediscovery, of old memories, and new ones to be made.
It is illustrated with 24 of Julie's photographs and is in the 'Gallery Collections'.
Visit the story page HERE
Oldhamers at the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815
& others (not from Oldham) who were in the 15th Hussars and present at Peterloo in 1819.
Service record and other details.
'Waterloo Medal' ... location or history if known
Names in alphabetical surname order
Information kindly contributed by Edward Butt
Downloadable .pdf copy from Miscellany page, April 2023
1799 ... residents of Oldham town centre who might be considered for the Militia in the case of French Invasion
The 'Annals of Oldham', taken from the diary of William Rowbottom, were edited and published in the Oldham Standard, from 1887 to 1889, by Samuel Andrew. Amongst the diary pages, he found a paper which listed the residents of the central part of Oldham.
Evidently this was the result of a thorough canvass which had been made of the entire population when there were fears that the country would be invaded by the French.
Downloadable .pdf copy from the Miscellany Page, April 2023
Research/Miscellany
This is a collection of lists, transcriptions and articles, of interest to both local and family historians, available as .pdf downloads.
The listing is in chronological order of entry with the most recent being first in the list.
It includes such diverse items as transcripts from manorial records, local soldiers who died in various wars, a 1772 map of Manchester, the 1757 Shudehill Fight, the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers, Shaw St. Paul's Methodist Ministers from 1791 to 2007, Lydia Becker, and the 1895 Register of People eligible to vote in 1895 in St Paul's Ward in Oldham.
Visit the Miscellany page for list of downloads
LYDIA BECKER 1827 -1890
From: 'Women's Suffrage :
A Record Of The Women's Suffrage Movement In The British Isles'
With
Biographical Sketches Of Miss Becker
By Helen Blackburn
Published In 1902
Downloadable .pdf copy from Miscellany page, March 2023
The People Who Built Alexandra Park, Oldham
– A Review of the Minutes of the Parks Committee and Other Sources
created by Gillian McCarthy
18th January 2023
Read it in the Projects Section, HERE
THE REGISTER OF PERSONS ENTITLED TO VOTE :
St. Paul's Ward, Polling District Number 48
* In Parliamentary Elections, in 1895
* Burgess Roll from 1st November 1894 to 31st October 1895
for Municipal and County Borough Elections
* Married Women Electors after the 30th November 1894 (on page 21)
Downloadable .pdf copy from Miscellany page, March 2023
Oldham Education Week - May 1925
A transcription of the 88 pages in the Handbook. It includes 33 photographs and 5 tables.
The book was kindly passed to Linda Richardson, our Branch Chairman, to include on our website pages.
Transcription ... Sheila Goodyear
Part 1 HERE
Part 2 HERE
Gallery HERE
Also linked from the Projects Menu Page
LYDIA BECKER 1827 -1890
Lydia Becker, whose grandfather and family lived at Foxdenton Hall, Chadderton, had been to a lecture in Manchester and heard Barbara Bodichon read a paper on 'Reasons for the Enfranchisement of Women'. Lydia knew that she had found a cause that gave new meaning and purpose to her life.
Read the transcript of 'A Cameo Life-Sketch' by Marion Holmes, 1912, published by The Women's Freedom League
Read it HERE as a downloadable .pdf in 'Research/Miscellany' August 2022
LYDIA BECKER 1827 -1890
WORDS OF A LEADER :
Being Extracts from the Writings of the late Miss Lydia Becker
Published by the Central Society for Women's Suffrage, 2nd edition, 1904
Read the transcript HERE as a downloadable .pdf in 'Research/Miscellany' September 2022
Snippets from the Monthly Oldham & District Newsletter
Links, to a selection of Articles, Transcriptions and Gallery Images,
in the archived 'Owls' newsletters.
Find them on this page and click on the required newsletter.
Projects Menu Page
Find out about the Branch Research Projects both completed and, once more, on-going.
Contact us if you think you might wish to be involved.
List of mills extracted from :
'The Cotton Mills of Oldham' by Duncan Gurr & Julian Hunt. Published in 1998
Links to five .pdfs, each listing all the mills, in columns, with dates, names, locations and some notes. Each file has the data sorted differently, facilitating different search criteria.
Grotton Hall, Saddleworth & the Buckley Family
Transcripts from:
* 'A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain' Vol. 2, written by John Bernard Burke and published in 1853.
* Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society' in Number 1, , Vol. 15, (1985) © Saddleworth Historical Society
*A Genealogical Memorial of the Family of Buckley of Derby and Saddleworth' by Henry Fishwick, published in 1900
'The Court Leet Records of the Manor of Manchester'
'The Court Leet or View of Frank Pledge,15th October, 1819'
Transcription
Family and Local History Articles
A menu of articles, with links, to be found on the Oldham HRG website.
The articles cover a wide variety of subjects, contributed by readers.
OLDHAM NEWSPAPERS
Reprinted from the 'Oldham Express' in 'Local Notes and Gleanings' by Giles Shaw,
Vol.1, 1886 - 1887 p.194 - 195
The Gallery Page
A collection of photos and pictures with links to our local district,
contributed by our website visitors.
WW1 in 1915 ... the GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN in the DARDANELLES.
The 1st/10th Bt of the Manchester Regiment, the Oldham Territorials, were there, and suffered many losses.
Find their names, and those of local men in other regiments, who lost their lives, in Gallipoli, from April to December, 1915.
Read more
The 16th(S) Battalion, Manchester Regiment, in the Second Battle of the Somme, at Manchester Hill, 21st March,1918,
An Account of the Battle; names of local men who died; and the names of all other men in the 16th, who died on the day or from the wounds received.
Although we are always more than happy to receive articles, pictures etc., for the pages, copyright is always a tricky issue so do please make sure that you have the right to use any text or illustrations that you send! It is also helpful if you include a record of the source material that you use.
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The copyright of any contributions that you send will pass to the MLFHS unless you inform us, of your wish to retain copyright yourself, at the time of sending. The Branch Website Editor reserves the right to edit any contributions before publication.
Where to find it ...
Navigate the Branch website pages and see at a glance where you might find what you are looking for, HERE
New content ongoing
The Hidden pages (below) are really pages 'in waiting'; they are waiting for new content to be added. They will then be the subject of a link from the 'Pictorial Index'. At the moment, their only link is to the 'in waiting' page with the Oldham graphic and sometimes partial, in progress content.