Genealogy with George

Batley was changing fast, growing from a small village where everybody knew everybody to a booming town enriched by the industrial revolution in the space of about forty years. However, the wealth didn’t trickle down to everyone, and society split into two distinct classes; the haves and the have nots. Eliza Ann Day was born…

Defined by Collins Dictionary as a friendship between several people doing the same work or sharing the same difficulties or dangers, comradeship is easily created during times of conflict and war. Unquestionably, this allows men from wildly different backgrounds to become as close as brothers in a matter of weeks, as did William and George…

Daniel, from Daniel’s Genealogy and also a Hidden Branch colleague alongside the wonderful Mish Holman, has set the genealogy community a challenge to tell their genealogy story. My genealogy story isn’t that profound nor does it have a particularly impressive backstory. I have always been vaguely interested in my family history but I didn’t really…

Now, to understand the proper context behind this incident, I’d ensure you have read about the 1905 incident. To start, we have to discuss an ending, more specifically the death of Mr. Joseph Brook. Prior to his passing, he resided at 38 Pyrah Street off Carlton Road in Dewsbury and was employed for many years…

A sensational headline was recorded in the Batley Reporter and Guardian on 16 June 1905. But how did this incident happen and what was the true story behind it? John Edward Marsden was an average bloke. Born around 1872 in Dewsbury, he married Rachel Emma Kelsell in 1895 and went on to have three children…

John Thomas, the son of Joshua Joseph Crossley and Margaret Murphy, was born on 7 January 1866, on Bradford Road near Batley Carr. He was born into atypical circumstances as his father was already married with two children to a lady named Emma Parker. However, Joshua had probably left Emma before the birth of John…

Alfred Dale was born in November 1858, most likely at the family home situated on Dennis Street in Walmgate, York. He was the sixth child of William, a composite, and Mary Dale, formerly Stead. Mary undertook the typical but still gruelling domestic work while William Dale worked as a printer compositor, arranging a movable type…

Back about seven years ago, in 2014, Britain marked Remembrance Day alongside the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. I was only nine years old, so I naturally don’t remember a great deal from this time period; however, I do have some strangely distinct memories. We had an assembly on Remembrance Day,…

According to local historian, Thomas William Thompson, the Spen Valley was once inhabited by a “brave, fearless people” who were “small in stature” but made up for that by their physical strength. They were known as the Brigantes and controlled the vast majority of Northern England in pre-Roman times. The Geography of the Spen Valley…