Book - Crime pays in 2012 (Sheffield)

BOMB attacks, uprisings and infanticide in Sheffield?

Eeeh, says Margaret Drinkall, it’s all good fun...

“I was up at 5.30am this morning,” enthuses the 65-year-old historian. “I couldn’t sleep. I’d got to a point researching my latest book where a chap who killed his mistress was facing trial. I wanted to know what happened. So, there I was, cup of tea, dressing gown, going through these 19th century newspapers.”

And what did happen?

“He was hanged,” she nods. “Fascinating. Even if no-one read my books and no publishers wanted them any more, I think I would carry on researching. I love it.”

No-one reading is perhaps not something she need worry about.

For, as Margaret’s 10th tome is released, the former Rotherham Council volunteer co-ordinator is fast establishing her name as South Yorkshire’s premier historical crime writer.

Her latest offering, Yorkshire Villains, Rogues, Rascals And Reprobates, is a whiz through 19th century crime committed in Yorkshire taking in everything from Ecclesall child murder to Chartist uprisings in Waingate, from the outrageous Spence Broughton to the Sheffield Outrages.

And, coming on the back of her previous books – including Sheffield Crimes and Sheffield Workhouse – it looks set to be her best-seller so far.

Perhaps little wonder.

Here the reader can learn about an 1840 armed uprising where a band of Sheffield workers planned to storm the town hall, murder watchmen and establish a Chartist stronghold. Or one can find out how, in 1861, Bridget O’Rourke, of Acorn Street, was woken by a parcel being flung into her bedroom window. It was a bomb - one of the earliest acts of the Sheffield Outrages.

There’s also highway robberies, counterfeiting and treason.

“I have no idea why people enjoy reading about these things,” says mother-of-two Margaret, of Meadow Street, Rotherham. “But I do know I’m one of those people. I suppose we’re attracted to the gruesome – and there’s not many places as gruesome as Victorian England.

“I remember being driven past Armley prison when I was a little girl and my aunt telling me it was where they hanged people. I was intrigued from then on.

“I went back recently to take photos for a book about Leeds crime and I was so excited. I felt like I imagine some women do when they go shopping.”

And for the future? There’s more history for Margaret, who achieved a master’s degree in the subject through the Open University in 2008.

She’s got another four books commissioned for 2012 – including a rather less gruesome Rotherham ‘then and now’ project – and after that she hopes to do more.

“It’s the best job,” she says. “It can be sad, of course, when you’re thinking, for example, of those women who felt they had to kill their babies because they were born out of wedlock but when you stumble on something exciting like that Chartist uprising, it really is a lot of...yes, fun.”

Yorkshire Villains, Rogues, Rascals and Reprobates, published by The History Press, is in bookshops now priced £9.99.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/the-diary/crime_pays_in_2012_1_4118581

 

Book - Destruction of city's past revealed in photographs (Nottingham)

Few people have done more to preserve memories of the changing face of Nottingham than amateur photographer Douglas Whitworth. Andy Smart reviews his latest book...

IT could be said that Douglas Whitworth has a photographic memory.

1. ​

He has been capturing images of the city for more than 60 years and as each decade brings more changes to the cityscape, those photographs become ever more nostalgic.

Such is the depth of his collection, Douglas has been able to share some of these golden memories through a series of books, the latest being Nottingham Then and Now.

Some of the scenes are very familiar to older residents – the Black Boy Hotel, the old Evening Post building, Victoria Station and the old Empire.

But his latest book also brings back less-familiar landmarks which give a whole new perspective on the development of Nottingham, particularly since the war years.

It is especially interesting to look back to the days before Maid Marian Way.

"When rebuilding in the city centre began again in the 1950s, the first major project was the construction of Maid Marian Way from Canal Street to Chapel Bar," says Douglas.

"This was the first part of a proposed ring road which cut a swathe through some of Nottingham's oldest streets and saw the demolition of the Collin's Almhouses on Friar Lane."

Douglas started his photographic hobby during the Second World War with a second-hand Coronet Miniature camera he bought for £5.

"It wasn't like the cameras of today, of course, but I have a picture I took with it on the wall of my garage, blown up to 3ft x 4ft, so it can't have been that bad."

As a teenager, Douglas joined the Nottingham and Notts Photographic Society, where the doyen was Guardian photographer Frank Stevenson.

"But he was very keen on landscapes and I wanted to photograph streets scenes and people. My idols were two famous Fleet Street photographers, Lancelot Vining and James Jarcè," says Douglas.

Now aged 84, Douglas has scaled down his photographic expeditions which, during the years after the war, included regular trips to London and Paris.

But Nottingham remains his favourite stamping ground as the new book vividly illustrates.

A pair of photographs showing the junction of Friar Lane and Spaniel Row are typical.

Douglas writes: "A number of historical buildings were demolished including these buildings on Spaniel Row.

"The replacements were anonymous office blocks which passers-by rarely notice.

"The only reminder of the history of the area is the street name Spaniel Row which, like the nearby Houndsgate, refers to the spaniels kept here by monarchs during the Middle Ages."

Douglas has found an old snap, possibly from the 1920s to compare with his own, modern photograph.

The original image shows a hotpotch of buildings, and outside of one is a Rover 8 motor car with the spare wheel and battery on its running board.

The 1950s and 1960s saw the greatest destruction of Nottingham's past.

Since then, says Douglas, "the city council took heed of public opinion and began a policy of conservation rather than wholesale destruction."

Sadly, as Douglas' nostalgic book plainly illustrates, for some buildings it came too late.

He reckons that his collection runs to more than 10,000 photographs, many of them old glass plates.

"When Marshalls, the Nottingham industrial photographers, were taken over about 30 years ago, I was offered their collection of glass plates.

"Over three or four trips my wife Margaret and I moved about 10,000 plates from their cellar to our home in Carlton. Many of them were no good, having solidified, but there were about 2,500 I could use."

Nottingham Then & Now is published by the History Press, priced £12.99.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Destruction-city-s-past-revealed-photographs/story-14123363-detail/story.html

 

Book - Doncaster: A Brief History by Geoffrey Howse

The city of Doncaster thrived during the Georgian period, and continued to grow as a railway town in the nineteenth century. As a consequence, it boasts a rich architectural history, the influence of which can still be seen and appreciated in the fabric of the Doncaster of the modern day. From St George’s Minster to the history behind the naming of French Gate and the development of Doncaster’s famous traditional market, Doncaster Then & Now is a unique tour through this remarkable city.

Placing his fascinating archive photographs alongside modern photography of the same locations today, Geoffrey Howse captivatingly illustrates the changing face of this historic city, as well as the changes in society, transport and fashions that have taken place over the decades. 

ISBN: 9780752463476

From: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/Doncaster-Then-and-Now.aspx