I set myself the challenge of discussing 52 people who have lived in Springhill or influenced life in the area. It has covered residents, landowners, endowers of charities, non-conformists of various persuasions, a snooker player, WW1 casualties, a C17 philanderer and a plethora of ordinary people.

So who to use as the final entry?

Harold Whitehead, wool buyer and member of a huge local textile family?
RC Turner who married the lady who inherited the Springhill estate (Elizabeth Ann Ashworth) and managed it 'on her behalf'?
John Lord, flour seller?
Harry Taylor, purchaser of Sunset View and one of five generations of his family to live there?
Frank Bell, butcher and member of well known local family?
Vinnie Campbell, who harassed the buyers of his previous house?

But I will sign out of this series with this pair, who moved into the lane this year.




Happy New Year everyone!

Jeffrey Varnom

b Middleton 1937
m 1. Catherine Shaw q4 1959 Saddleworth. Two children, Adam b1964 and Andra b 1966.
m 2 Paulette Goodman q1 1987 Hyndburn
Insurance Broker

Jeffrey and Catherine bought Polefield Cottage in 1962 from the Trustees of Sion Baptist Church who had used it as a manse for their ministers Francis Baldwin (1951-7) and Thomas Morgan (1957-61). The Varnoms moved to Polefield from Manchester.

On 10 Jan 1972 they bought the small cottage 3 Springhill adjacent to Polefield and incorporated it into their own house where the ground floor forms the dining room of the current Polefield cottage. A sizeable room, it would have been a bit pokey for a residence. On the 1910 Valuation it was described as having 2 downstairs and one upstairs room with cold water - 'old house'.

That cleared up a mystery for me. I knew from census and other data that there were four cottages round there at one time but knew the area well and only ever knew about three… So that explains it.

An ordinary chap leading an ordinary life whose decision to extend his house changed the area and led to research confusion.




Sources:
birth 8d 281
marriage 1:2c1383
marriage 2: 40 685
birth Adam: 10c 435
birth Andra: 10c 409
Deeds, Polefield Cottage Oct 1962, Jan 1972. For a variety of reasons it has not been possible to put deeds online.

(Apologies for the photography. Taken in fading light on a phone camera)

One of the longest serving ministers in Sion, James Barton Turner led the church from 1901 to 1929. As a member of the church in the 1980s I recall several of the older members fondly referring to him 50 years later. Indeed he became the standard against whom all future ministers were judged for many years, probably a little unfairly. He was always referred to as the Rev Barton Turner and styled himself James Barton Turner A.T.S. The meaning of the post nominals is unknown.

His ministry wasn't unbroken however, with him resigning his pastorate in 1908 to explore missionary work in India. In the event he stayed at Sion.

He died in1963 aged 90 according to his gravestone. That would have him born 1873 ish. The 1911 census says b USA, British citizen by parentage. It appears from the 1881 census (in which the family were in Heap, Bury) that they travelled to the US sometime between 1871 and 1873 and returned sometime between 1876 and 1879. Mmm, interesting.

He certainly travelled between the UK and USA, sailing from Liverpool to New York on the Baltic (2nd class) on 27th May 1922 i.e.whilst still in post at Sion. He gave his country of intended future residence as 'USA', which it obviously wasn't. His address at that time was 'The Cross, Cloughfold'. An appropriate address for a Baptist Minister.

He was forced to deny saying, in 1916 , that 'it didn't much matter whether we were ruled by King or Kaiser', sharing a disdain for the press in the process. He did however chair a meeting of the 'Peace by Negotiation Movement in 1917. He was also active in the Band of Hope.

He appears to have stood for parliament in the 1923 election for Royton, just north of Oldham and a good 20 miles away from Springhill. He stood for Labour and came last by a good 10,000 votes, polling 2,740. Wonder what the congregation thought about that.




He also translated an Aramaic grammar, 'Manual of the Aramaic Language of the Palestinian Talmud'.
The frontispiece reads :
'Formerly student of Semitic languages in the University of Manchester
Late examiner of Hebrew and Greek in the Baptist College, Manchester.'

Wonder what the congregation thought about that, and whether he found life in Cloughfold a little intellectually dull.

Sources:
Census 1881 RG11/3854/16/26
Census 1911 RG14/24713/471
Passenger lists leaving UK ticket no 2170301 1922
Passenger lists leaving UK 1906
Burnley Gazette 14 Nov 1908 (missionary)
Burnley Express 12 April 1916 (Band of Hope)
Burnley Express 15 April 1916, Burnley News 15 April 1915 (King or Kaiser)
Lancashire Evening Post 25 Jan 1917 (peace by negotiation)
Burnley Express 24 August 1929 (resignation of pastorate)

A distant relative, James Trickett is buried in Sion Baptist burial ground, a church he was associated with for much of his adult life. His grave is marked by a granite edifice, three sides of which bear inscriptions which leave no doubt as to the family's religious sensibilities:




N face
In Loving Memory of
JAMES TRICKETT
OF OVERDALE, RAWTENSTALL
WHO DIED JUNE 28TH 1931, AGED 74 YEARS
MARGARET WIFE OF JAMES TRICKETT OF DALE VIEW, HASLINGDEN RD, RAWTENSTALL
WHO DIED ON APRIL 7TH 1924 – AGED 71 YEARS
THERE REMAINETH THEREFORE A SABBATH REST TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD – HEB IV.9


James was born C 1856 in either Newchurch or Rawtenstall depending on which census you prefer. He married Margaret Lonsdale in the Halsingden reg district in q2 1881, annoyingly just after the census.


S face

In Loving Memory of
FRED LONSDALE TRICKETT OF DALE VIEW, HASLINGDEN ROAD, RAWTENSTALL
WHO DIED OCTOBER 8TH 1907 – AGED 22 YEARS
“YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD – COL III.3’
ALSO THOMAS HENRY, BELOVED HUSBAND OF MAY TRICKETT
WHO DIED MAY 17TH 1941, AGED 51 YEARS

James and Margaret had three children, despite what they put on the 1911 census (two children, two chlldren living and none dead). Perhaps they meant living at home, as Fred by this time had died. Fred and Thomas Henry are the two commemorated on the gravestone. Their daughter Margaret married Robert Waddington 2q 1915.

W face
BERTHA
DAUGHTER OF
HENRY AND MARY
SIMPSON
WHO DIED DEC 28TH 1868
AGED 11 WEEKS

I have yet to link these people with the Trickett family.

James worked as an insurance agent and in 1882 he founded the insurance brokers in Rawtenstall which still bears his name and which is still ran by a family member, albeit not a direct descendant;






James was actively involved in Sion, being a member of the Sunday School committee overseeing the development of the building in which the church now meet. He did not appear to lay a foundation stone in the new building, interesting as there are 14 of them.

He is top row right on this picture of the SS committee.




Sources:
Marriage James Trickett -Margaret Lonsdale: 8e 238
Marriage Robert Waddington - Margaret Trickett 8e 386
census:
1891: RG12/3391/19/32
1901: RG13/3847/101/3
1911: RG14/471/12/1/24706