[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

You really mustn’t be so bombastic in your opinions, Retlaw. It’s one thing to be confident in your own accuracy but to claim everyone else is wrong and you are the only one that’s right is nowt less than sheer arrogance. I am aware of the many hours of research you have put in and even as one who is only just starting out, I can and do appreciate your endeavours. I do, however, think it is not just sheer selfishness but downright criminal that your findings should remain under lock and key.

I can do as I please with my research, if the criminality is in preventing so called upstart local historians from acquiring it, and using it as if it was there own work, then so be it, if its so important to you, then do as I did look for it.

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

What on earth is the point of all your research if all you want to do with the findings is to lock it away where no future generations can benefit from all your hard work. I am aware that you have been a tremendous assistance to folks who have been researching their family tree. And respect for your reputation as a historian, particularly in the field of the Accrington Pals is of proven repute, as cantankerous as you can be. I just wish you would get down off your high horse for a minute and don’t just read what I am saying but rationalise the evidence with some common sense.

I have reviewed it with common sense, if as you go on to say that the Hargreaves’ s were reburied in Christ Church, why did it take 35 years to implement. The facts are there is no record of such an event 1874, there were 69 burials in Christ Church that year, not one of them was a Hargreaves, out of all those, why should they not be recorded.

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

You insist in saying there is no relationship with the Hargreaves at Christchurch but the evidence is there in the stain glass windows. See attached photo. The dedication reads ‘In affectionate remembrance of my father & mother Robert & Louisa Hargreaves of Bank House Accrington – who are buried in this churchyard this window is dedicated by their only surviving daughter Louisa Grace Robertson Aikman’.

I have never disputed the fact that they had strong connections with Christ Church.

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

R S Crossley’s ‘Accrington Captains of Industry’ is as accurate an account you’ll find anywhere on Accrington’s history. He was respected by and worked closely with Richard Ainsworth, another highly esteemed Accrington historian.

That’s a laugh no one has ever found proof of his ramblings

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

Excerpts from Crossley’s book were reproduced in The Observer in 1988. See attached entry about Thomas Hargreaves. Look closely and you will see in the third column a reference to Robert Hargreaves who married Louisa. Now look at the ‘Hargreaves Pedigree’ attachment and you can see under ‘TAB III’ a Robert Hargreaves of Bank House who married Louisa and their third child was ‘Louisa Grace’ who married ‘Colonel Francis Robertson Aikman’. How much more evidence do you need as unequivocal proof of the Hargreaves’ connection with Christchurch?

I have never questioned the family tree of those Hargreaves’ s

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

When it comes to the newspaper article about the re-internments of members of the Hargreaves family in Christchurch, which you refuse to accept as fact, I am left with the quandary of trying to imagine why on earth would the press publish such an article that not only gave accurate names and dates of Hargreaves family members, as you can check against the attached ‘Hargreaves Pedigree’, what sense would such an account make. Are you seriously suggesting they invented the entire episode? I know you have been through the Christchurch records but to imagine they never made errors or omissions is to be more naïve than I can be, and you’ve been at this historical research business for more years than I could ever hope to match. You suggest that Christchurch wasn’t opened until 1841 meaning the contract to reserve grave sites would have to have been made 2 years earlier in 1839. I see no problem with that. When looking for funding of the church building, that is, before building commenced, such contracts would be commonplace by benefactors with the church. And whilst the church may not have opened its doors until 1841, work on building it may well have started two years earlier. It was a huge project and without the machinery available to today’s builders. I will look into this more thoroughly and report back to you, Retlaw. Unlike you, I believe that history belongs to everyone and our findings should be shared. Not everyone who has a deep interest in our local history has the time, perhaps not even the wisdom, to carry out the research that you have been privileged to successfully do.

I am not in any way privileged, I have a job to do, and I will do it no matter what, the only person I need to satisfy is me. Not you, or any one else, and if you don’t like it, tough.

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

I am currently preparing to interview a couple of Accrington’s senior citizens. One is 96 and the other is just 76. Both are absolute treasure chests of memories about Accrington and I am looking forward to the amazing privilege of recording their reminiscences on DVD so that future generations can learn about the life and times of Accrington folks in times gone by. You would be an ideal candidate for such a project, Retlaw, if it weren’t for the fact that you would rather selfishly keep your knowledge to yourself

We already had a woman doing that some years ago, all her tapes are now supposedly in the sound archives.
I have all my father’s reminiscences on tape, & in writing, he was born in 1904. Plus my own memories of what it was like to grow up in the 1930’s, knowing some of the survivors of WW1, growing up with their children, talking to them about their experiences, which they would never divulge to their kin. I just wish tape recorders had been available in those days.
Before you launch yourself into your projects, I would suggest you spend some time in the library, and check that it’s not already been done.

Retlaw