The text and questions arising from handwriting and interpretation of places and people
Edith always said the Mills's all had a book in them. At her Aunt Martha's funeral in 1978, as the relatives were rooting through her belongings. Martha had died without issue, so the chattels were available. Some-one rummaging through Martha's corsets' drawer, thrust a tatty pile of notepaper into Edith's hands, "Here you are , Edith, That's summat for you. It's her book!" Edith was my mum and the tatty pile of paper came into my hands at my grand-niece Molly's 10th birthday party, a year ago or so.. It had spent 40 years in my sister's garage. It is a story that wants to be told.
Shutups?
Sometimes the handwriting is difficult to read and the context does not help! the text above is a list of items made in the flannel mill of Mr. Kamm: it was read as Blankets, Shutups; Sports Goods. :- what are shutups? maybe a n old name for men's long johns? blinds to pull down when a shop is shut? Help is needed either it is a different word or shutups means something!
"Suggest "shuttups " are shirt tops? Maybe the press on detachable / attachable collars I remember my grandad had ? Fits the bill" Thanks to Jackie Waters of Wardle and Smallbridge History Group(W&SHG)
Research of the lines in worsted produced by Kelsall and Kemp suggests that the word is actually shirtings. Shirting is a fabric used in making men’s shirts and may be cotton or worsted. There would have been high demand for wool-based shirtings during both World wars and K.&K. did make huge amounts for the military, mostly in WW2. Think Denim and Cambray.
The Gentleman's Club:
"The Egerton building at the junction of Louise Street and Wardle Road I think was formerly a gentleman's club with a bowling green at the back still used by Lanctan bowling club." Thanks to Stephen Coggins of Wardle and Smallbridge History Group.
In “Smallbridge a lost village’, Allen Holt identifies two ‘Gentlemen’s Clubs', Egerton is identified as a ‘Conservative’ club; the other club, the Reform Club, ‘Liberal’ was on Halifax Road opposite Buckley Lane. Both Clubs opened in the mid nineteenth century. Prestigious London ‘Gentleman’s clubs would be extremely limited in their membership. The Carlton Club, frequented by senior businessmen, politicians and royalty, famously refused entry to Margaret Thatcher, when she was P.M. and even recently had resignations, when it was suggested they might admit women!
The name ‘ Gentleman’s Club ‘ could be used by any social club and there would be rules about membership. The idea that there was a socially exclusive club in Smallbridge or Rochdale is fairly realistic. The Smallbridge described by Allen Holt: a mining village extending to manufacturing, but with a notable agricultural base, resembles the world of Martha’s book though it does not conform with the gloomy mill-town characterisation, generally applied to Rochdale. Mr. Kamm is at the liberal end of the spectrum and it is worth remembering that George Kemp , of K&K., though he was Viscount Rochdale; was decidedly progressive as was that other famous Rochdale mill owner, John Bright,. They were both great talkers too! The idea of the book, that people of different classes should work together for the good of the place; sounds very like the socially- active Smallbridge with its plethora of churches and chapels and better-off people, living close to genuine poverty, particularly in the depressed years after WW1. The Methodist Schism (W&SHG) suggests that Wesleyan Methodist Church Superintendents like Mr Kamm would quite likely attack the Toryism of Mr. Bouncer. Politics and Religion went hand in hand in Smallbridge.