Recognition for 19th century Ashton radical

William Aitken was an Ashton Chartist and school teacher who has now been included in the latest online update of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Aitken was arrested for seditious conspiracy in 1839 and went to prison for nine months. On his release he was involved in the general strike and Chartist activity of 1842. When the strike collapsed he felt it safer to leave the country and went to the United States, later writing a book about his travels on the Mississippi. He returned to Ashton and set up a school where Chartists continued to meet. After the collapse of Chartism he remained interested in public life – he campaigned for the ten hour day, was involved in the Oddfellows and the Liberal party. In the late 1860s he was ill and had to give up his school. He started writing his autobiography which appeared in instalments in the Ashton News, but his bad health and depression eventually led him to commit suicide in September 1869.

Aitken’s autobiography in the Ashton News and his book about his travels can be consulted in the Local Studies and Archives Centre at Central Library where copies of the book Writings of a Nineteenth Century Working Man are on sale at £4.50. This book contains Aitken’s autobiography and his poems and is edited with an introduction by Robert Hall, the American academic who has written the entry for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which contains references to nearly thirty notable historic residents of Ashton and Stalybridge, can be consulted in Tameside libraries or by library card holders on their own computers by logging on to www.tameside.gov.uk/libraries and scrolling down to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Contacts:

Local Studies and Archives Centre - Alice Lock (archives@tameside.gov.uk 0161 342 4242)
Tameside Libraries Information Service online services – Karen Heathcote
(information.direct@tameside.gov.uk 0161 342 2031)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Philip Carter (Philip.carter@oup.com 01865 355036) ____________________________________________________________________________

All Sewn Up:
A new source for World War I soldiers from Dukinfield

A book of letters sent to Elizabeth Hannah Kenyon by soldiers serving in the First World War has recently been deposited on loan at Tameside Local Studies and Archives.

Mrs Kenyon, who was Mayor of Dukinfield at the time the letters were sent, was chair of the Dukinfield branch of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild. The Guild sent supplies of socks and shirts to men in the army and navy who were serving abroad. The letters are written from places as far apart as Holland and the Mediterranean and give an interesting insight into life abroad. The letters are all very polite and deferential to the mayoress and particularly interesting when it is considered that they were written in the circumstances of World War I. The gratitude expressed in the letters is very moving because it illustrates the comfort that new, clean clothes could provide to men living in unimaginable circumstances. The writers also express immense gratitude at being remembered by those at home which was another great comfort to them at a difficult time.

The book was kindly deposited by Christopher Kenyon of William Kenyon and Sons Limited of Dukinfield. The Kenyon family have a long association with Dukinfield and have served the town as aldermen and mayors. The firm, founded in 1866, remains a family concern to this day.

An index to the volume is available on the Local Studies website so you can see whether your ancestor from Dukinfield received a letter from Mrs Kenyon. The index lists all the men, who were all from Dukinfield, and includes names, regiment details, the date of the letter along with any other details available from Mike Pavasovic's Men of Dukinfield (1997) and from the War Memorial.

Enquiries to:
Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre
Central Library,
Old Street,
Ashton-under-Lyne,
Tameside
OL6 7SG
Tel: 0161 342 4242
Fax: 0161 342 4245

October, 18 2007

News