“The Sketch” warns lady cyclists to beware of giving way to a distressed and fixed expression when learning to ride a bicycle. An exceedingly pretty woman has lost most of her good looks after some time of riding a cycle, because she attained the habit of making grimaces… The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent , June […]
Category: History
“Guernsey…. A thick, knitted, closely-fitting vest or shirt, usually made of blue wool, worn by seamen. 1851.” The Shorter Oxford Dictionary Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in traditional knitting. Ganseys or guernseys are being knitted, worn and enjoyed, by a whole new generation. Ganseys are jumpers knitted from 5 ply, unoiled, worsted-spun […]
“Is it a Memorial about his own history that he is writing, aunt?’ ‘Yes, child,’ said my aunt, rubbing her nose again. ‘He is memorializing the Lord Chancellor, or the Lord Somebody or other—one of those people, at all events, who are paid to be memorialized—about his affairs. I suppose it will go in, one […]
When I went to see ‘War Horse’ recently, I thought of Uncle Jesse, famously a stunt rider in early films and trainer of horses for the Yorkshire Hussars. Last year, a fellow Boothman descendant had sent me some amazing photos of Great Uncle Jesse in WW1, training horses for the Front. The lovely Amanda Carter […]
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Sweet Charity..?
Just a quick heads-up for the knitters and the genealogists. This month’s ‘Family Tree Magazine’ is running one I made earlier; ‘Skills for Life’, an article about our charity school ancestors. This is a fraction of the stuff I stumbled on, but has plenty of interest in it for both knitters and family historians; I […]
Apologies to descendents of George Debnam, who may stumble on this. Not sure how I’d feel if this was my ancestor – yet it is one intriguing aspect to genealogy.You never really know what you’re going to find. I wanted to find out more about the man my ancestor John Fisher was (allegedly) assaulted by, […]
My favourite ancestor, John Fisher, has just done it again, and given me another glimpse into his life, and personality. And what a personality. I thought I had found everything there was to find, on John. After all, few 19thC farm labourers left much of a paper trail. I counted myself lucky to find his […]
A few people have asked where they can find the pattern for the Adderback gloves, that featured in ‘Yarn Forward’, some time back. They’re here. Apologies for the amateur photography – I don’t have the rights to reproduce the professional photo shoot, so rather than seeing lovely models wearing these you can see my favourite […]
“Mary Murray, an Irishwoman, aged 30, was indicted for stealing a woollen frock, and other articles, as books, shoes, a comb, and various small groceries, the property of Jeremiah Long, mariner. Jeremiah Long deposes that he lodges at Mr. Metcher’s, in Westgate-street; on Saturday night the 26th of June he locked up his room and […]
Here’s Lewis Harding’s 1870 (ish) image of two little Polperro girls, Mary Jane Langmaid and Elizabeth Joliff, knitting. This is the iconic photo for people interested in the history of traditional knitting. A couple of people used it in their presentations at Ganseyfest, and folk wondered if the photo was staged. One or two even […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 