Acknowledgements and Links
Contributions
I had listed some of those who have made valuable contributions on this page, but this list has now grown too long to incorporate here. There are specific credits embodied in this site, and I would add my thanks to all of these and anyone inadvertently omitted.
Contributions not otherwise acknowledged have been made by:-
An anonymous gentleman in Huddersfield Library many years ago who explained the value of joining Family History Societies even as a distant member, and told me of the Society of Genealogists and the Yorkshire group that meets there.
Helpful library and archive staff, especially in Kirklees Libraries and at the Society of Genealogists
Teresa Pask, without whose assistance the struggle of one with limited computer skills to build a website would have been an even longer one!
My family for their support, and in particular Stephen Tomlinson, my younger son, for much help with site-building, and being my troubleshooter for computer glitches
Many books are cited but especially useful publications have included:-
The History of Batley: 1800-1874, Malcolm H.Haigh 1978:
Historical Walks around Batley and Birstall, Malcolm H Haigh 1987:
Historical Snapshots of Batley and Birstall, Malcolm H Haigh, 1994:
Batley Pride, Malcolm H Haigh, 2005:
Records of the Parish of Batley, by my third great uncle Michael Sheard, 1894:
From Village to Town, (published anonymously but by my ancestor Isaac Binns)
The Rise and Progress of Batley, J Willans, 1880
Useful Links
London Group of the Yorkshire Family History Societies
Huddersfield and District Family History Society
Morley and District Family History Group
Yorkshire Archaeological Society Family History Section
Genuki a link to useful Yorkshire pages.
Batley History Group was formed in May 2010 to preserve, document and encourage interest in Batley's history and environment within the local and wider community. Monthly meetings with an interesting range of speakers are held in Batley Town Hall
Batley Community Archive -a valuable collection of images of Batley. (You will spot some of my photos here)
Maggie Blanck's site Maggie, a descendant of Benjamin Law, the inventor of Shoddy cloth, has much information on Batley: her useful collections of Batley images are at Link 1 and Birstall at Link 2
The Cricket History of Calderdale and Kirklees for information about cricketer Louis Hall and a wealth of other material on the sport.
Robinson Riley now finds a mention on my site, but for fuller detail a fascinating book by Kenneth Fedzin explores the lives of Robinson and his family and the often tough conditions in which they lived.
John Hall has information on his Hall descent , with comment on DNA and theories as to earlier origins
Tweddell History has a fascinating account of Cleveland poets George Markham Tweddell and his wife Elizabeth Cole.
Tweddell Poetry is a collection of George Markham Tweddell's poems now on line.
The Blakeley One Name Study includes information on local Blakeleys including the will of William Blakely of Hartshead and a photo of Reuben Blakeley from Batley, a musician and former organist at Zion Chapel who became mayor of Kaiapoi in New Zealand.
Steve Scatchard has an interesting tree about Scatchards/Scatcherds in America including descendants of Thomas Edward Scatcherd and others with Yorkshire origins.
Steve Wakely's website has details of Hudswell descendants in Australia
Ray Turner's site has information on Prestons, Blamires and Inesons in Batley
Ancestry.co.uk. For convenience and in checking much census data has been referenced to Ancestry.co.uk, but a great deal was first discovered in a more laborious way with visits to the Family Records Centre following searches in indices.
Origins Network
Find My Past