Saturday 5th March 2005
Irish Ancestry Group Mini Conference at The Resource
Centre, 2 The Straits, Oswaldtwistle
10.30am to 4.30pm. Payment £5.
Details and application forms are available at the back
of the room.
Enquiries: email mpurcell@redbankmp.fsnet.co.uk.
Tuesday 15 March 2005
Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston
- User Consultation Open meeting.
All users are invited, especially those who consider
that they have a disability, to discuss all aspects of the service and in
particular, to discuss how easy you find it to access the Record Office,
both services and archives, and how they may be improved.
Sunday 20th March 2005
Cumbria Family History Society
To conclude this series on the availability of
Rossendale Census Indexes I will now deal with the 1901 census. Although
this census can be accessed online at
www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ the branch decided to go
ahead and index 1901 in the same format as previous censuses i.e. "Head of
Household" etc. So, if you are having trouble finding the name you want,
you may have a second chance with us. They are not yet published but it is
hoped this will be rectified in the next few months.
In 1894 there had been a major local government
reorganisation, which involved the final break up of the old established
Townships and their division into newly formed Boroughs.
The census sub-districts are:
Rawtenstall RG13/ 3846 - RG13/3849 Crawshaw Booth,
Goodshaw, Love Clough, Rawtenstall (part). Newchurch Cloughfold, Townsend
Fold; Waterfoot. Newchurch, Waterfoot; Rawtenstall .
Bacup RG13/3851- RG13/3853 - Bacup, Britannia,
Stacksteads, Hugh Mill, Weir.
Haslingden RG13/3854 - RG3855 Haslingden, Helmshore,
Ewood Bridge, Grane, Henheads, Rising Bridge.
Edenfield RG13-3633 - In 1894 Edenfield became part
of Ramsbottom UDC and has not been indexed by us.
Elijah Hargreaves had a dream. One day in 1873 as he
walked along the sand dunes on Lytham Common, he saw the scene before him
transformed into a new clean town, far away from the grime and smoke of
his native Rossendale. He took this vision to Thomas Fair, the Land Agent
for the Clifton Estates. owners of most of Lytham. Thomas Fair had had a
similar dream, indeed he had already drawn up a plan for a new town, so
Elijah had no trouble in convincing him, and through him, the Clifton
family of the feasibility of his idea.
At this time Elijah was aged 40. In 1871 he was living
at Union St. Rawtenstall, a mill manager with a wife and 5 children.
Clearly, he was very persuasive as he was able to enrol some very wealthy
business men into his enterprise. They were as follows:
Joseph Wood Whitehead, of Alder Grange, Rawtenstall.
In 1871, aged 48, he described himself as a Magistrate
Landowner and Cotton Manufacturer employing 200 hands,
James Taylor, of Warth House, Waterfoot. In 1871 aged
68, he was a Woollen Manufacturer. employing 90 hands.
Henry Hardman Ashworth, of Lea Bank, Rawtenstall the
son of Richard Ashworth, Magistrate and Cotton Manufacturer. In 1871 he
was aged 22.
John Warburton, junior, of Greenfield, Haslingden born
Edenfield, was in 1871, aged 38, a Cotton Manufacturer employing 127
operatives.
Thomas Barrowclough, of Bacup. In 1871, aged 36 was
living at Clover Hill, Cotton Spinner and Manufacturer employing 80
operatives.
William Greaves, Spring Field House, Bacup in 1871 aged
34, Cotton warp sizer employing 22 men.
James Crabtree, Bacup, Cotton Spinner. (Not positively
identified in 1871).
These seven men together with Elijah Hargreaves became
the first directors of a company named the St. Anne’s-on-the-Sea Land and
Building Company. Woodcock and Sons of Haslingden were appointed
solicitors and Maxwell and Tuke of Bury became the Architects and
Surveyors. It was to be a public company with shares advertised on the
stock exchange. They were to develop 600 acres of land, roughly 1 square
mile at a total rent of £3,127 per annum. with 999 year leases. The
company’s architects were to prepare plans for the layout of the new town
with many wide streets. Separate portions of land would be let out to
individuals who would pay a ground rent to the company.
It was an enormous undertaking, public utilities
(water, sanitation, gas etc.) had to be provided and a train and road
network had to be set up. Hotels, churches and schools had to be built and
health care provided. It was not all plain sailing, the company had many
set backs, at one point bankruptcy seemed inevitable. The directors were
forced to give personal guarantees without any security. Joseph Wood
Whitehead the first chairman of the company, died in 1879. This same year
the directors had to cut their fees by half to economise. Elijah
Hargreaves, himself, in 1881 was threatened with court action when he was
unable to pay his ground rent.
William John Porritt became chairman in 1881. Porritt
was born in 1828, into a prominent textile family based at Stubbins Vale
mill. In 1853, his father had moved to Helmshore, where he founded Joseph
Porritt and Sons. A forceful man, he was largely responsible for putting
the Land and Building Company onto a firm footing. He remained chairman
until his death in 1896.
It took many years of perseverance before the company
became profitable. St. Anne’s became the place were Lancastrians came to
holiday, to convalesce and to spend their final days.
Elijah Hargreaves died at St. Anne’s in 1904.He was
described as a "retired publican" in the 1901 census. In spite of all the
difficulties he had seen his dream fulfilled.
In 1962 the St. Anne’s-on-the-Sea Land and Building
Company was acquired "Lock Stock and Pier" by the Amalgamated Investment
and Property Company Ltd. The Chairman and Managing Director of both the
companies, Mr. Gabriel Harrison, took possession of all the documents
relating to the history of St. Anne’s. He became so fascinated by the
story that in 1971 he published a book entitled "Rage of Sand: the
story of the men who built their own seaside town"
Harrison mentions the names of some of the early
settlers; the pioneers, - Ramsbottom, Duckworth, Ogden, Rawstron, Heap,
Shepherd, Walmsley, Smith, Hamilton, Lord, Porritt, Rhodes, Pennington,
England, Cookson, and many more. He says these names are still to be found
in the current electoral list and on the gravestones in St. Anne’s
churchyard. A church that had been built in 1873 (just before Elijah
Hargreaves had his dream) by Lady Eleanor Clifton. "It faced the sea,
nestling in the sand dunes, and its parishioners were mainly rabbits".
