I love a walk around any churchyard and finding the different headstones depicting the names of people who have been buried there over the previous centuries. Perched high at the top of a ridge, St Peter’s can be seen for miles around. It’s tall tower is made of grey ashlar was built in the fourteenth […]
Leicester
A Curious Headstone
I’ve long had a fascination with gravestones. It’s the stories of those who lie there which fascinate me. I always wondered who they were, what were their lives like, what happened to them. It is no wonder then that I became a historian though I view it as a collector of people’s stories. I came […]
7th Leicesters at Dinner April 1915
I love days like today. You look out of the one window and there is a beautiful blue sky and sunshine; you look out of another window and see a dark and stormy sky heading straight for you. When it arrives, it brings torrential downpours, thunder, lightning and even hail and then it’s gone and […]
Richard III
Richard was in Nottingham when he heard Henry Tudor was on his way through Wales. Richard set out to meet him and arrived in Leicester where he stayed at a local inn due to Leicester Castle being in a state of decay. The inn was originally called the White Boar but after Richard’s defeat the […]
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Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook was born in Melbourne, Derbyshire, in 1808, the son of John Cook and Elizabeth Perkins. He was only four years old when his father died in 1812 and later that year, his mother married James Smithard. When his step-father died in 1818, Thomas was taken out of school to supplement the family’s income […]
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Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester
There is something special and atmospheric about cemeteries, especially Victorian ones with their gothic monuments. Towns and cities grew rapidly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with people migrating from the countryside, looking for work in the factories and industries. Overcrowding, dirty drinking water and poor (or non-existent) sewerage systems fuelled epidemics such as Cholera […]
Measures Lumley
I have always loved rummaging around in shops full of old junk and curios so when I came across a shop named ‘Stuff’, it was heaven. Although my house is already crammed with books and curios, it only took a few minutes and 2 medieval stained glasses, 5 painted wood panels and a bunch of […]
Gem in the Parish Register
Every now and then you come across a gem in the parish registers. I came across this entry in the registers of St Paul’s Church, Leicester: Gertrude Vernon Harper ch. 1 Oct 1874; parents – Herbert and Ethel Vernon; Occupation – Gentleman. In the abode column it looks as though ‘deceased’ has been written. Also […]
Overseers Accounts
Overseers Accounts can be full of information. I came across the example below while researching a member of the Gibbs family for someone. Thomas wasn’t a member of their family but the account below gives a fascinating insight into his life. It also gives us a lot of leads to follow up if we were […]