BARLICK, A SMALL TOWNS CONTRIBUTION TO CONFLICT

[Thomo]

With the book now at page 200, I have decided it was time to try and revitalise the old topic. At page 200 I am at the 25th, of April 1918, of the 319 names for WW1 that will be on the War memorial, 251 have been documented, leaving 68 still to research, a further 12 died after 1918 and will be included in the next chapter.

Each individual is recorded as follows:-

Rank and Full Name.

Service No and Regiment/Service.

When and where born. including address and exact date if known. Who their Parents were, and Brothers and Sisters, and if married, who their wives and children were, and where they were living at the time of the individuals death, When they died and how, where they are buried or commemorated and any reasonable press coverage of the event.

There are just a few where only the basic details are available, and even less where printing all would not be considered beneficial to the readers sensibilities. Only someone with no heart at all could fail to be moved by the stories that some of this research portrays, there was one yesterday, where a Mother living on Raikes Beck having just watched her eldest Daughter pass away was a few hours later notified of the death of her 18 year old Son in France, and we think that we live in hard times!

[Thomo]

This is another topic that has suffered due to family troubles, but two days ago, I tried again. Now at only twenty names away from the end of WW1 it is back on track at page 234, at this point a name came up that I am sure many will remember, the youngest Sister of a Soldier who died, Doris Riding. My wife remembers her as the Head Teacher at the Church School on York St, when she was there, many years ago.

[Nolic]

Thomo, Doris Riding was head of Rainhall Road school, not York Street. She was head for years before I went there and for many years afterwards. She also became a Pendle councillor and was Mayor in about 1989. Nolic

[Thomo]

My mistake Nolic, I misheard the wife. Doris was after my time at Rainhall Rd School. 1944-1947, the head then was Miss Ogden.

[Nolic]

Miss Ogden was still there when I attended and had also taught my dad who was there in the 1920's. I think she retired about 1961 though I still saw her around Earby for years afterwards. She was a good teacher and very well respected. Nolic

[Thomo]

Finally I have arrived at the 1st of November 1918, only 4 to go before armistice day. However there will be a further 6 Men and 1 Woman to die before the end of that year, and followed by more in 1919,1920 and 1921.

[Thomo]

Arriving at the last man to be killed before the armistice I hit a major problem with the mans surname. He appears on the towns War Memorial as J. Reddihough, there are several variations in the spelling of this surname:- Riddihough, Riddiough, Reddihough and Reddiough, in order to find the information required, I had to use all four. The man was actually John Edward Reddihough, service No. 15709 of the Duke of Wellingtons West Riding regiment, killed on the 4th of November 1918. Census returns, birth and marriage records show up all of the possibilities.

[Thomo]

This morning saw the end of the details of those who died in WW1, the last being Sergeant Abraham Golding, MM, Croix de Guerre and MID, now added to the War Memorial. The heavier part is behind me now, but the rather more difficult is yet to come, WW2. I reckon that I have about 8 months left to get this project airborne.

[Thomo]

Much progress has been made in the past week, and I am now at 1939. I did have to do a bit of shifting around yesterday as I had forgotten the new Drill Hall in 1925, an extra page added and the remainder moved on sorted it, I now have the interesting task of making a recent pic of the building look like the original. Over the past week I found the full story of Laycocks Buses, and thanks to Mr Malcolm Nuttall the remainder of the Fire Brigade history. Of the 76 who died in WW2 I now only have 18 without even the basic details other than Initials and surname, that's the next job after the pic.

[Thomo]

The Drill Hall as it is at present:-



And after a bit of tweaking, how I remember it:-



It is probable that the building was originally Red Brick, as is the Stewards house at the rear, but this will have to do!

[Thomo]

Today, arriving in the last quarter of 1941 in the book , I finally had a thorough read of the stuff sent to me a year ago by the Rolls Royce Heritage Trust, this concerns the arrival of the Rover Company in Barnoldswick, later to become Rolls Royce. The part that concerns Calf Hall Mill is a damn good read, this I will pass to Stanley in due course. Another good read was gleaned from tinternet, the story of Ezra Laycocks Bus Company, it even names the drivers in the 40s period, many of which I knew as a boy.

[Thomo]

In wake of the recent disaster in which a great deal of stuff was lost, I have now arrived once more at the end of 1938. This is where the graft truly begins again, but I have already increased the number of pages and included new material, also the new WW2 database is far superior to the old one, onwards and upwards.

[Thomo]

I have almost caught up now, having just finished 1940, one more year to re-do and I will be back on track.

[Thomo]

The book is now once again at the end of 1941, and after a lot of hard work is probably better than the original 1918-1941 section. All is saved to a flash drive, "D" drive and DVD. Chapter 13 now begins at page 293 (1942) a year in which many changes came to Barnoldswick, and the year in which the town was no longer at the bottom of the Luftwaffe's hit list, hence several of the changes!

[PanBiker]

Glad to hear you are back on track Peter.

[Thomo]

Now not just back on track, but at the start of 1944. Work over the past week has turned up a lot of new material that will add extra impact to what is written about the Towns WW2 losses, in particular in the case of they who were in the RAF, An example here is Sergeant Flight Engineer Edmund Magson in 1943 with a detailed account of what happened to him, in what aircraft, where it happened plus a photograph of him with the rest of his crew. All of this is coming from websites specific to a certain event. Finding this material is mostly good luck and careful wording of search items, the stuff is out there, it just takes a bit of finding. The first Man to die in 1944 was an Air Gunner in a Lancaster Bomber, I haven't filled this one out yet, but I now Know who shot the Aircraft down and where.

[Thomo]

Now at September 1944, the impact of the Normandy Landings, and the air assault on Germany have seen the number of casualties from Barnoldswick rise sharply, the attempt to take the port of Caen being the main cause. Now that the centenary year of WW1 is with us, there may well be a new topic:- "On this day in WW1" mainly from a local point of view. The larger part of the info required is already in place, I just need to work out how best to display it.

[Thomo]

1944 finished at page 300, only 9 more names to research for WW2 and 2 post War. More information has come to light about WW2 than I ever dreamed of, the families are harder to deal with, but what happened to the Service Personnel from Barlick makes up for it. Much better than I expected, but the run to the finish is not over yet.

[Thomo]

I have just finished 1945, there is one name to research from 1946 and two later additions in the 60s.. By the end of this month it should all be over barring the clean up, and I will be able to unsubscribe from the various websites that have been in regular use for over two years, for both Memorial and Book, costly but worthwhile. I may now be able to include the names of men and women who served and survived, and the statistics in relation to Barnoldswick that have amassed as the work progressed. If nothing goes wrong again, I hope to have this work ready for sale before the middle of 2014.

[David Whipp]

Good work Peter.

[Cathy]

Looking forward to it Thomo, great work.

[Thomo]

Another Chapter finished today at the end of 1950. I plan to go on to the present day but now have the option of stopping it whenever I choose.

[Thomo]

Whilst I realised long ago that this topic is only of local interest, and cannot compete with such things as politics, local or otherwise or what we eat etc., I am going to make one last effort, and ask again for any ideas about a number of issues concerning this project. Number one is the title, and number two is about making this work attractive, given that a fair part of it is a catalogue of events of a sombre nature. What the book contains is this:- A brief look at how Barnoldswick came to be here and how it developed from 1800 onwards. At the appropriate place in the timeline, every one of the Men and Women from the Town who died have their own place, with details of when and where they were born, including the address if available. The names of their Parents and Siblings, and if married, to whom, where and when, plus the names of their offspring if they had any. Service Numbers and Service details are included, where they died and how, where they are buried or commemorated and the local press coverage of the event, there are photographs of many of these people, from WW1 in particular. The story of how industry changed to meet the demands of conflict, and the input of local Civilian bodies at the time. There is much more to it than just a reminder of the bad times that this Town has seen, and as far as I am aware, no other work has carried as much detail. The title needs to have some impact, as does the book cover itself, is it to be about Barnoldswick , or Barlick? In short, I need some help as this is my first and possibly last attempt at anything of this nature. And I am not too proud to listen to good advice. I have friends in other places who would gladly help, but I would prefer that this come from here, for this is what it is all about.

[PanBiker]

Barlick is a colloquialism so I would suggest using the towns full Sunday name. The timespan that the work refers to does not tie it down to any particular single conflict so titles including Great War, WWI, WWII or any other particular war would be of no use. I think the original title of the thread with the towns Sunday name more or less sums up what is inside, maybe with a sub-title showing the date range, (years) it covers. Back cover could have a synopsis to greater depth similar to what you have in your post above.

Have you any thoughts on how you are going to publish the work Peter?

Self publish (Lulu or similar), lots of experience available no doubt from Stanley and others or put it out to a printer?

[plaques]

Period map of Barlick. Regimental badges to which they belonged.