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Wakefield Historical Society UK

@wfdhistsoc.bsky.social
141 followers 151 following 171 posts

Our Society aims to promote knowledge of the past and preservation of local heritage in Wakefield and beyond

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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Twenty-seven years apart, in 1811 Tomlinson considers the possible death of his wife, and himself, and in 1838 looks back on the death of his wife thirty-four years before. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/09/26/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Thoughts about Family Deaths, 1811 and 1838.
1811 29th………. Have frequently felt myself alarm’d this week from what my sober judgment wou’d term a frevilous cause: – My Wife told me early in the week that she had caught…
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Reece Dinsdale @reecedinsdale.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If you could take a minute to read this and, if it takes your fancy, then re-post it… I’d be so grateful. 🙏🏻 I’m doing my utmost to #SaveSquareChapelArts for the good people of Halifax & far beyond, and I need all the help you lovely lot can give me. Thank you! x www.canncomms.co.uk/post/actor-a...
canncomms.co.uk
Actor and long-standing Patron, Reece Dinsdale fronts new campaign to save Halifax’s Square Chapel Arts Centre
Photo credit: Reece Dinsdale in the cinema/studio space at Square Chapel (photo by Ant Robling)Reece Dinsdale leads Square Chapel rescue mission: “It’s time to bring it home”Award-Winning Actor, Write...
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Wakefield Historical Society research group were out and about today looking at the Market Place area for their present project. It was followed by a discussion to update what we have found out so far.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Local and Family History Network at Wakefield Library   Monday 28 September: Discussion about unusual occupations. 1.30-3.00 pm Have you come across a more unusual occupation in your research? All welcome to come and share your research!  Free, no need to book.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Problems at the Market, in the Pub, and with a Dog Owner, 1808 Tomlinson was prepared to lie at the market, to deal with a drunk, but could not get a dog owner to give him recompense. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/09/19/p...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Problems at the market, in the pub, and with a dog owner, 1808
Wakefield cattle market, drawing by Henry Clarke, courtesy Wakefield Local Studies Library 1808 September 18th  Ev’ry returning week varies my date, and I am so much the nearer the time,…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
An excellent talk by Peter Brears for Wakefield Civic Society this evening about Bucklers' Yorkshire Buildings and the background to the publication of his and Michael Rochford's book containing many of the drawings. To buy the book: www.wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk/publications...
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Wakefield Historical Society 5 minutes ago · New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journal blog: matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/.../thoug.../ Tomlinson's thoughts after hearing the well-known preacher Samuel Bradburn speak.
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Meeting of Wakefield Historical Society 9th September. An excellent talk last night by Dr. David Fletcher about Christopher Saxton described what is known about his early life, and his remarkable achievement in mapping the whole of England and Wales. His book with all the maps is now available.
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
🧵NEW BLOG Edmund Murray 20 St. John's Square Here is the eighth & latest blog from the St John's Square, Wakefield #OnePlaceStudy which is about the life of corn merchant, Edmund Murray who lived at 20 St. John's Square in the late 1880's & early 1890's. www.ancestralenquiries.co.uk/post/one-pla...
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rickarobooks.bsky.social @rickarobooks.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Wakefield Historical Society, a talk not to be missed, Dr. David Fletcher to speak to the Society on Christopher Saxton, Elizabethan Mapmaker. Wednesday 9th September, 7-00pm at The History Centre, Wakefield WF1 1JG, all are welcome. @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social @visitwakefield.bsky.social
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Wednesday 9 September 'The Yorkshireman who mapped Elizabeth’s Realm’, talk by Dr. David Fletcher. Dr Fletcher will tell the story of locally-born Christopher Saxton who in just four years, mapped the whole of England and Wales. West Yorkshire History Centre, Wakefield, 7pm.
 All welcome.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Twenty three years after Andrew Meikle, a Scottish engineer invented a threshing machine, Tomlinson escaped injury when he was working on his new 'thrashing machiene': matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/a...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
An Escape from Injury with his new Threshing Machine 1809
Andrew Meikle’s threshing machine 1786 courtesy Pinterest August 1809 27th Am at present very busy in ploting and planing about my new Thrashing Machiene,  it perhaps takes up more …
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Wakefield Museums and Castles @wakefieldmuseums.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Pontefract Museum is now live on Bloomberg Connects! We've launched a new digital guide featuring main gallery and exhibition highlights! It will enrich both on-site and off-site visits, for visitors around the world. Try it and hundreds of other free guides at wmandc.co/bcpm Art UK
A person holding their smartphone up to an oil painting of Pontefract Castle at Pontefract Museum
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Talk at Wakefield and District Family History Society: A SCHOOLBOY IN WARTIME WAKEFIELD Days at the Methodist Day School in Thornhill Street, and Thornes House, and the impact of the 39/45 War Talk by Gerry Southworth, Saturday 5 September Outwood Memorial Hall, Leeds Road / Zoom Sep 5th 10.30
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The Hewitsons and the Wakefield Herald Dr Andrew Hobbs has been researching the diaries written by Anthony Hewitson who bought the Wakefield Herald about 1894. He has now made the diaries available online: www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
openbookpublishers.com
The Diaries of Anthony Hewitson, Provincial Journalist, Volume 2: 1891–1912
Journalist Anthony Hewitson (1836-1912) worked in one of the largest sectors of the periodical press, provincial newspapers. His diaries, written between 1865 and 1912, reveal the people, processes an...
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Reflections on Youth, and the Danger of Fire in Hay Stacks: matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/08/22/r...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Reflections on Youth, and the Danger of Fire in Hay Stacks
Fire in a Hay Stack, Jules Breton 1856, courtesy Wikiart.org 1833 18th Yesterday was my half yearly rent-day, I went to the hall, and paid my Worthy Landlord his rent, afterwards felt myself dispos…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Reflections on Youth, and the Danger of Fire in Hay Stacks: matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/08/22/r...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Reflections on Youth, and the Danger of Fire in Hay Stacks
Fire in a Hay Stack, Jules Breton 1856, courtesy Wikiart.org 1833 18th Yesterday was my half yearly rent-day, I went to the hall, and paid my Worthy Landlord his rent, afterwards felt myself dispos…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Tomlinson struggled to find reapers after his usual gang could not be found - he was not happy with the Irish reapers he employed instead: matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/08/15/p...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Problems with Hiring Reapers, 1836
Reapers Resting in a Wheat Field 1885, John Singer Sargent August 1836 14th Have passed over another week, often fraught with anxiety, – often wide awake, when I shou’d have been s…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
And the electoral corruption didn't stop in Tomlinson's day...
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson blog. He writes of the violence at the hustings on Wood Street in Wakefield during the 1837 West Riding Election. Riot at the Hustings: the 1837 West Riding Election matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/08/06/r...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Riot at the Hustings: the 1837 West Riding Election
Leeds Intelligencer, 5th August 1837, courtesy of British Newspaper Archive/British Library 1837 Augt 6th The West-rideing Election has cloased: – (Lord Morpeth, Sir Geo. Strickland…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog, Tomlinson reflects on the murder of a servant maid, 1807: matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/08/02/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Tomlinson Reflects on the Murder of a Servant Maid, 1807
1807 Aug 2nd ….Have felt my mind considerably engaged, and somtimes agitated by reading a paragraph in our paper of one Robinson in this county, murdering his servant maid who was with child …
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
🧵The former Great Northern Hotel, 97-99 Westgate, Wakefield dates from 1875 & was built on the site of the Coopers Arms pub after John Crosland sent plans off to the Surveyors department of the council for a rebuild. Built over 3 storeys the first floor had 1 bedroom & an indoor WC & the second /1
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
where John etched his name into the dungeon walls while he was a prisoner, a powerful reminder of his captivity during the English Civil War. #PontefractCastle #EnglishCivilWar #historicgraffiti
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Morris seized Pontefract Castle and its artillery in June 1648, John was captured and imprisoned in the castle's dungeon. He may have remained there for months. Records show that his wife was allowed to visit him twice in November 1648. This carving is one of four places
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
🧵More about Pontefract: During the English Civil War, John Grant was the gunner in charge of the parliamentary artillery at Pontefract Castle. He was described as an "expert siege gunner" and commanded a "great iron gunne" at the Battle of Chequerfield in March 1645. When Colonel
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
What a striking picture. Did the photographer ever think that 60 years in the future that the towers would be gone?
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
🧵A blue plaque for civil engineer, John Smeaton, 1724-1792, near Leeds Dock. Smeaton was employed to design & oversee the initial opening up of the Calder from Wakefield up the Calder valley towards Halifax. His journal from 1760-1763 was transcribed for the book, John Smeaton & Calder Navigation /1
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Volunteers, Music and Doleful Thoughts, July 1807 Tomlinson is charged with mustering volunteers, enjoys listening to music, but his mind is always on decline and death. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/07/25/v...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Volunteers, Music and Doleful Thoughts, July 1807
Recruiting Soldiers at Brentford, Thomas Rowlandson 1794 (Artvee) JULY 1807 26th Have had much hurry in my office, and somtimes confusion in my mind thro’ the course of the past week, while adoptin…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Wakefield Historical Publications is delighted to announce this new prestigious publication: 'Bucklers’ Yorkshire Buildings: The Architectural and Topographical Drawings of John Buckler and John Chessell Buckler of 1804-1820' More information: www.wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk/publications...
wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk
Wakefield Historical Publications - Wakefield Historical Society
Wakefield Historical Publications, established in 1977, has published almost 50 titles on all aspects of Wakefield and regional history.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Local and Family History Network at Wakefield Library, Monday 27th July. Free, all welcome, no need to book. "The Rev'd Edward Cragg Haynes - The second black vicar to be trained in the Church of England", talk by Rona Dickinson.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: 'Party Politics, the 1837 Election, 16th July.' Bribery and corruption 'senceless invectives, – scurrilous squibs, and party abuses' even bribing an elector with £40 for his pig! matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/07/18/p...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Party Politics, the 1837 Election, July 16th
Mezzotint of William Lascelles by William Overend Geller, Wikimedia Commons. (Tory winner of the Wakefield constituency against Daniel Gaskell, Tomlinson’s Whig landlord) JULY 1837 16th Some …
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
An absolute treasure! Don’t miss your chance to buy a copy!
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog, new post: "Buying and Selling a Horse - Lies and Deceit, July 1807". Despite his strong moral beliefs, Tomlinson is prepared to deceive and accept deception when he is buying and selling a horse: matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/07/11/b...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Buying and Selling a horse – lies and deceit, July 1807
JULY 1807 Selling a horse, Thomas Rowlandson, 1791 (Artvee) 12th ……  A week ago, purchased a new Mare, I was remarkeably fearful of meeting with one which wou’d be refractory,…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Information from South Leeds Archaeology: As part of the excavations at Temple Newsam, we are having an Open day when members of the general public can join an Archaeological Dig. Sun 26July, two sessions 10am to 12:30pm and 1pm to 3:30pm. booking: www.southleedsarchaeology.org.uk/openday_form/
southleedsarchaeology.org.uk
Open Day Form – South Leeds Archaeology
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
A blue plaque has been unveiled for Wing Commander John Freeborn at Armed Forces Day in Leeds. Born in Leeds he flew Spitfires in WW2 & fought in some of the fiercest fighting at Dunkirk before being forced down over France & avoiding capture by German forces for /1 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
War hero honoured as Leeds show 'respect' on Armed Forces Day
Armed Forces Day is held every June and pays tribute to active service personnel and veterans.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Are you following the Matthew Tomlinson Journal blog? On the 28th June 1838 Tomlinson was considering the waste of public money for Queen Victoria's coronation in the 'nonsense of crowning her'. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/06/27/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
The Coronation of Princess Victoria, 28 June 1838
Coronation of Queen Victoria 28 June 1838 by Sir George Haytercommons/wikimedia/ Royal Collection.org.uk 1838 Thury June 27th This is the Coronation-day of Princes Victoria &c the leg…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Tomlinson Ponder on Adolescence, June 1807. He considers the changes he sees in his servant lad. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/06/20/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Tomlinson Ponders on Adolescence, June 1807
1807 June 21st My passage is tolerable easy, and uninterupted at the present; nothing material thwarts my designs, or crosses my intentions, save a few trivial matters that are inseperable fro…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog, new post: The Death of a Shoemaker, and the Coming of the Railway, June 1837. Tomlinson cares about his neighbours. He finds it hard to see the fields he has ploughed all his life taken for the railway. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/06/13/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
The Death of a Shoemaker and the coming of the Railway, June 1837
The Country Cobbler, Thomas Rowlandson ca 1780 – 1825 June 1837 11th Have gone tolerably well on thro’ another sircling week, – to wit. – My mare is much better, &#8211…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog, new post: The Burial of Tomlinson's Father, June 1807: Tomlinson bemoans the fact that he is unable to bury his father in the same place as his mother, and has to use the 'new' church (St John's): matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/06/05/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
The Burial of Tomlinson’s Father, June 1807
St John’s Church Wakefield 1807 Suny June 7th – I am frequently gloomy, and sad; because filial affection, and regard still lives in my bosom; I do not mourn because his end was either …
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Update on the Elizabethan Gallery (Old Grammar School) The President and Hon. Secretary of the Society were pleased to meet the new owners who will move their business Wool n Stuff to the building next year, following sympathetic restoration: www.wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk/about-us/blog/
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
A new post has been added to the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: 'Tales of Woe, 1838'. Tomlinson ponders on old age, of himself, a neighbour's horse, and the death of a neighbour. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/05/30/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
Tales of Woe, 1838
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) – An Old Horse – NG1484 – National Gallery, Wikimedia Commons MAY 1838 27th The saboth is again returned, and the season continues cold; many poor …
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
It's been quite a week for people finding unusual remembrances of Wakefield.
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Wakefield Libraries @wflibraries.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
This week is the Roman Festival! - 30 May - 10am-4pm - Castleford Precinct, WF10 1BB For more information visit: experiencewakefield.co.uk/event/cas… #RomanFestival #Romans #Castleford #ThingsToDo
A person dressed as a Roman soldier leads a historical walking tour in a busy street filled with onlookers and shops.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
New post on the Matthew Tomlinson Journals blog: Two Noted Bruisers, May 1808. Tomlinson enjoys prize-fighting - this was a famous fight that was reported in the news sheets - I wonder whether prize fights were held in Wakefield. matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/05/23/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
‘Two Noted Bruisers’, May 1808
Fight on 10 May 1808 between John Gully and Bob Gregson. Creative commons: By Unknown author – Public Domain, May 1808 22nd Have felt my thoughts much engaged, in dwelling upon the two n…
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
A lovely piece of ephemera and in very good condition
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Dan Lyndon-Cohen @danlyndon.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Local History has been championed by the Schools History Project since the 1970s! When our pioneering predecessors, SCHP, wrote their seminal book, A New Look at History, in 1976 they talked about a new course for history students to study, which they called History Around Us ...
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Wakefield Historical Society meeting on 13 May: '180 years of Eastmoor, its people and their houses' by Dr Joanne Harrison, architect, consultant and researcher. More information: www.wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk/whs-events/p...
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Borthwick Institute for Archives @uoyborthwick.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Ah, Suckling Spendlove. The man with the longest inventory in our probate archive. He had a shop so it includes all your everyday grocery items such as brandy, raisins, spices, soap, 'Wash balls', coffee powder, 'glaized pypes', Naples 'Biskettes', gunpowder, mercury, and 'one box of Druggs'.
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Wakefield Historical Society UK @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
A new post has been added to the Matthew Tomlinson blog: 'The Trials of being an Overseer of the Poor, 1807'. Trying to cheat the welfare system is nothing new! matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com/2026/05/14/t...
matthewtomlinsonjournals.wordpress.com
The Trials of being an Overseer of the Poor, 1807
Beggar Family at the Road by Robert Wilhelm Ekman 1860 MAY 1807                      &n…
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