Totley History Group
Thomas Glossop
Thomas Glossop holding the Abbeydale Amateur Gardening Society Cup
We are grateful to Gordon Wainwright for drawing our attention to this newspaper article about his great grandfather that appeared in 1958. Gordon asks "Whatever happened to the cup?"
Friday 5 September 1958 Sheffield Telegraph and Star
A Blind Man's Cup is Prize
A cup won by a man who continued gardening, though blind for at least 35 years, is a new trophy which will be offered in Sheffield Corporation Housing Estate Gardens Competition.
It is the "Thomas Glossop Memorial Cup," a tribute to a man who not only liked his garden but was also well known in cricket circles. The cup, nearly 50 years old, is of sterling silver, weights 14oz. and with its plinth is contained in a plush lined case.
Only Man
It was offered to the Corporation by Mr. Arthur H. Glossop [Arthur Austin Glossop], the oldest surviving member of the family. It was presented when the Rev. J. Jokerfoot [Rev. J. A. Kerfoot], Vicar
of St. John's Abbeydale, started the Abbeydale Amateur Gardening Society and Mr. Ebenezer Hall, of Abbeydale Hall, gave the cup for the most points scored.
When the 1914-18 war broke out, Mr. Glossop was the only man who had ever won the cup. At the time of his death in 1940 he had been gardening the same piece of land at Abbeydale for 69 years, and for the last 35 years of his life was blind.
Sense of Touch
Yet he did all his own gardening, raising from seed, pricking off, and bedding out, his rows were always straight, and he could keep his garden free from weeds by sense of touch. Now it is suggested
that the cup he treasured should be for the runner-up to the the winner of The Kemsley Cup, presented by The Star.
"My father always had a lot of sympathy for the man who was 'just pipped at the post,' and I am delighted to think that his cup would be a consolation to such a
competitor," said Mr. Arthur Glossop.
If the Corporation Gardens Competition is ever dropped, it is suggested, the cup should be passed over to the Sheffield and District Allotments Federation.
Who Was Thomas Glossop?
Thomas Glossop was born on 23 February 1853 in what was then called Bright Street and is now the lower end of Fitzwilliam Street, Sheffield. He was the youngest of three children born to Albert Glossop and his first wife Elizabeth Senior who had married on 6 September 1846 at the Cathedral Church of St Peter & St Paul. Thomas's sister, Sarah Elizabeth, was born in 1849 and his brother, George, in 1851. Sadly George died of the brain condition hydrocephalus at the age of 5 and was buried at St. Mary's Church, Bramall Lane, on 6 August 1856.
Thomas went to St. Mary's Road School but left at the age of 11 and for a while he worked at Samuel Sanderson's hatters shop in Fargate during the heyday of the silk top hat which was worn by working men as well as the more affluent. The shops employed young boys, dressed in Eton suits, as "cash lads". Their job, when a purchase was made, was to rush with the money from the shop assistant to the cash desk and return with the change.
Albert Glossop was a razor scale presser and Thomas was soon drawn into the family business which had been started by Thomas's grandfather Joseph Glossop in 1829. Having a passion for cricket from an early age, Thomas would get up in the summer months at 3 a.m. so that he could finish his day's work in time to get to nearby Bramall Lane for the start of play. An enthusiastic supporter of Yorkshire cricket, Thomas's first encounter with an Australian touring team was in 1868 when the Australian Aborigines toured England and played at Bramall Lane.
In 1870 Thomas's older sister Sarah Elizabeth married Joseph Ash, cutlery manufacturer, so that by the time of the census the following year there was just Thomas and his parents living at 15 Pear Street, Sharrow.
Thomas's mother died on 14 July 1873 at the age of 46. His father married Mary Ann Glossop at the Cathedral Church on 30 July 1874. She was the daughter of John Glossop, another cutler and possibly a relative. The marriage had lasted a little over three years when Mary Ann died on 7 December 1877 at the age of 43.
The 1881 Census shows Albert now living at 43 Pear Street with his third wife Sarah Ann although it would appear that the couple didn't actually marry until 25 December 1884 at St. Mary's Church. Sarah Ann was a widow, the daughter of Charles Andrew, a silversmith. She had married her first husband, Joseph Belk a cutler, at the Cathedral Church on 28 February 1846.
Sheffield's New Midland Station which opened in 1870.
The manufacturing side of the family business was in Harmer Lane, off Pond Street. With the opening of Sheffield's new Midland Station in 1870 and Dore & Totley Station two years later, it became an easy and relatively cheap journey from our area into the city. Thomas Glossop was clearly a man who planned ahead. When the Duke of Devonshire decided to sell land at Bushey Wood, Thomas Glossop went to the first meeting of the Abbeydale Freehold Land Society and became a member of the committee. In 1875, he bought a large plot of land, working it initially as an allotment whilst it was being paid for in instalments.
On 4 October the following year Thomas married Martha Walton Rodgers at Hanover Chapel and the couple set up home in St. Mary's Road. Martha was the daughter of Barnett Rodgers, a Sheffield tailor, and his wife Martha (nee Walton). A daughter, Annie Elizabeth, was born in 1878 and a son, William Walton ("Willie") on 25 August 1880. Thomas was now working on his own account and he was shown in the 1881 Census as an employer of 5 men and 2 boys. A second son, Thomas Albert, was born on 28 July 1882. A third son George Harry was born on 14 December 1886 but he died aged 13 months on 16 January 1888 and was buried in the General Cemetery. The family were still living at 71 St. Mary's Road in the 1891 Census and a fourth son, Arthur Austin, was born on 24 May 1894.
By around 1897 all the roads, footpaths, curbs and sewers on the Abbeydale Freehold Land Estate had been built, the roads metalled and the estate connected to the town's water supply. After working his large plot of land as an allotment for more than 20 years, Thomas set about building a house. The family moved from St. Mary's Road soon after the 1901 Census to what became known as Pattysbrooke, 3 Brinkburn Vale Road. The house might well have been built earlier had Thomas not taken over paying the instalments on a second plot of land that his father had acquired but been unable to afford.
In 1903 Thomas's daughter Annie married Frank Gliddon, a clerk for the Midland Railway Company, and the couple made their home at Woodland Villas, on (Queen) Victoria Avenue.
Norfolk Market Hall, Haymarket, Sheffield
The Norfolk Market Hall had been built by the 13th Duke of Norfolk on the site of the former Tontine Inn and opened on Christmas Eve 1851. This photograph shows the west end of the market hall which was rebuilt in 1904-05 with shops fronting on to the Haymarket. It is not known when the firm of Thomas Glossop and Sons first occupied stalls in the market hall but the firm were there in 1899 when they were first visited by three members of the touring Australian cricket team: Hugh Trumble, Monty Noble and Victor Trumper. Even more members of the 1902 and 1905 Australian touring teams visited the stall, taking supplies of razors back with them to the antipodes.
An article in the Sheffield Independent on 21 November 1905 mentions that the Aussies had presented Thomas Glossop with a large autographed team photograph. The article comments on the well-ordered display of cutlery of almost every conceivable type valued at around £4,000. Some were ingenious devices with over twenty blades and instruments whilst others were novelty items.
"Kno Kut" Safety Razor advertisement.
Various newspaper articles commented favourably too on a new invention which Thomas had patented called the "Kno Kut" Safety Razor, which had an electro-plated guard, which fitted into the hollow ground blade, making it virtually impossible for the user to cut himself, without being cumbersome to use.
So safe indeed, that one Australian cricketer, Bert Hopkins, became the butt of his team mates' jokes when he couldn't fathom out how to open the safety razor, and opted for another type instead. Hopkins had not paid for the razor in cash but had exchanged a pair of his cricket flannels for it. The trousers in question were in a poor state of repair and had been autographed by various members of the 1909 Australian cricket team in indelible ink as a means of preventing Hopkins from ever wearing them again. Amongst the signatories were Monty Noble, Roger Hartigan, Warren Bardsley, Bill Ferguson, and Frank Laver.
"Hopkins' Trousers" were greatly treasured and were just one of many cricket memorabilia that were to be seen on display at the market stall for many years. Other items included a bat presented by Victor Trumper in 1905 and a ball used in a 1909 England v Australia Test Match. You can listen to Bill Glossop, Thomas's grandson, explaining how the bat came into the family's possession at Victor Trumper's Bat.
Nan and Charlie Macartney, autographed 30 May 1928
The association with the Australian tourists would last for at least 35 years passing down from Thomas to his sons who were keen cricketers themselves. Many of the Australians stayed at the Glossops' home in Brinkburn Vale Road at one time or another, sometimes when on private visits to this country. The photograph above is of Charles George Macartney (1886-1958) who toured England with the Aussies in 1909, 1912, 1921 and 1926. It is autographed in 1928 when he stayed with the Glossop Family whilst on a private visit to this country with his wife Anna.
The caricature of Charlie Macartney below is dedicated to Thomas's son Arthur and was drawn by fellow Australian cricketer Arthur Alfred Mailey (1886-1967) who played in 21 Test Matches between 1920 and 1928. Mailey became quite well known for his drawings of sporting personalities which were published in several collections.
Charlie Macartney, drawn by Arthur Mailey, 1927
After the war, the cutlery business of Thomas Glossop and Sons was run by Thomas's sons. Thomas Albert Glossop had married Sarah ("Sallie") Beckett at the Friends Meetinghouse, Hartshead, Sheffield on 6 June 1907. Willie Glossop had married Gertrude Elizabeth ("Gertie") England at the first wedding to take place at the Dore & Totley Union Church, Totley Brook Road, in May 1910. Elsewhere on our website you can read about William Walton Glossop's wartime training in the northeast of England and Arthur Austin Glossop's essay about the wounded Belgian servicemen cared for at St. John's V.A.D.
Youngest son Arthur married Dorothy Nellie Crighton in Leytonstone, Essex in 1922. The couple had met whilst Arthur, who was excused military service because of defective eysesight, was working as a chemist at a munitions factory at Cliffe at Hoo, Kent, where Dorothy had been born. Sadly, later that year, Thomas's daughter Annie died on 14 November aged 44. She was buried on 17 November at Dore Christ Church.
In the 1930s, Norfolk Market Hall was decorated in the lead up to Christmas and the Sheffield newspapers carried full page articles describing the scene and the various wares on sale during an Annual Shopping Festival. Thomas Glossop and Sons, as one of the oldest and most respected of traders, were always heavily featured. Picture Sheffield has a photograph of Thomas Arthur standing by one their stalls. For a while, Willie Glossop was the treasurer and secretary of the Norfolk Market Hall Traders' Association.
The photograph below was taken on 18 November 1932 when the third annual festival was opened by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Ernest Wilson, seen here with his wife the Lady Mayoress, Sir Arthur Shirley Benn (M.P. for the Park Division of Sheffield), Councillor W. J. Hunter and Mr C. G. Thompson (general secretary of the Norfolk Markets Tenants' Association). A bouquet of pink roses, pink carnations, white chrysanthemums and asparagus fern, tied with blue ribbon, was presented to the Lady Mayoress by Jean Margaret Glossop (aged 5 years 10 months), daughter of Arthur and Dorothy Glossop, and Gordon Wainwright's mother.
Jean M. Glossop presenting a bouquet to the Lady Mayoress, 18 November 1932.
The newspaper article that we quoted at the top of this page suggests Thomas Glossop went blind in the early 1900s but perhaps his eyesight merely deteriorated over many years like his father's had done. No mention of his blindness is made on the 1911 Census and in 1913 Thomas wrote a letter to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph in which he described how he was closely following the nesting experiences of a family of thrushes in his garden at Pattysbrooke. The following year he became a subscriber to, and director of, the newly formed Bushey Wood Bowling Club Ltd.
In an interview with Thomas published in the Sheffield Independent on 4 September 1929 it was said that Thomas had been blind for ten years but that he still enjoyed cricket matches at Bramall Lane. His wife Martha would tell him who was batting and bowling and where the fielders were positioned and keep him abreast of the scores. In his later years he liked to listen to the "wireless" in the evenings, following the news and, of course, the cricket scores. He said the wireless placed him on the same level as others.
When Martha died on 8 December 1934 at the age of 79, Thomas described her passing as like losing his "second sight". Even so, he continued to visit Bramall Lane. He said he could still get a good idea of how the game was progressing and recognise off side hits from the sound of the ball on the bat but found football easier to follow from the varying roar of the crowd. There was never any doubt in Thomas's mind as to who had scored a goal.
In January 1939, Thomas recalled his memories of old Sheffield to Margaret Simpson who wrote a column for the Sheffield Daily Telegraph called A Sheffield Woman's Diary. She said Thomas had 'a brilliant memory' of days when Sheffield was visited by the likes of Blondin, the tight-rope walker, who thrilled crowds at the Botanical Gardens and by past Royalty. Thomas was in the procession in 1875 when Firth Park was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales. He could remember accurately the names and positions of all the shops on the main streets of Sheffield. He spoke about the days at Bramall Lane when a part of the ground was used for keeping pigs and he remembered seeing W. G. Grace and George Ullyott hit huge sixes right out of the ground, breaking windows in the houses on Bramall Lane.
Glossop Family memorial stone, Dore Christ Church
Thomas Glossop died on 25 May 1940 and was buried 3 days later in the same grave as his wife Martha and daughter Annie at Dore Christ Church. He was aged 87 and a quite remarkable man. Now if only one of our readers can tell us what happened to the silver cup...
Our thanks go to Anne Rafferty, Thomas Glossop's great granddaughter, for her help with this article.
November 2017
The following books on Charlie Macartney and Victory Trumper are available to borrow for members of Totley History Group:
My Cricketing Days by C.G. Macartney, published by William Heineman Ltd. London. Hardback. 240 pages.
The Immortal Victor Trumper by J. H. Fingleton, published by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd., London and Sydney. Reprinted August 1978. Hardback. 208 pages. Victor Trumper died in a private hosital at St. Vincent's, Paddington, Sydney at the age of 37 on 28 June 1915. On pages 164-167 of Jack Fingleton's book a letter from his widow Annie to the Glossop Family is reproduced in full.
Victor Trumper and the 1902 Australians by Lionel H. Brown, published by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd., London, 1981. Hardback. 208 pages.
Stroke of Genius: Victor Trumper and the Shot that Changed Cricket by Gideon Haigh. published by Simon and Schuster, London, 2016. Hardback. 315 pages.
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Unless stated otherwise our meetings are held in Totley Library on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm.
Pauline Burnett's book The Rise of Totley Rise has been revised and updated. It tells the story of this small piece of land from 1875 when there was only a rolling mill and chemical yard alongside the river a mile from Totley, through Victorian and Edwardian times, two world wars and up to the present day. It has 94 pages including a useful index and many illustrations from private collections. The book is available now from Totley Rise Post Office priced at £5, or through our website when an additional charge will be made to cover packing and postage.
A few copies are still available of Sally Goldsmith's book Thirteen Acres: John Ruskin and the Totley Communists. Totley was the site of a utopian scheme funded by art critic and social reformer John Ruskin. In 1877 he bought 13-acre St. George’s Farm so that nine Sheffield working men and their families could work the land and, to keep themselves busy, make boots and shoes. Sally tells an engaging story from our history with a quirky cast of characters including Ruskin himself, the poet and gay rights activist Edward Carpenter and Henry Swan, a cycling, vegetarian artist and Quaker. The book is available to order online from the The Guild of St. George by following this link.
A recently discovered box of WWII correspondence reveals the story of how a small group of ladies from Dore and Totley recruited knitters from the west of Sheffield and how their efforts made them the country's greatest provider of Comforts for the Minesweeping crews of the Royal Navy. The story is told in Knit For Victory, a new book from Totley History Group. Written by Pauline Burnett, it has 82 pages and many illustrations. It is on sale in local shops and via our website. Further information about the correspondence is in this inside page of our website: Dore & Totley Minesweeping Trawlers Comforts Fund.
The story is told in Totley War Memorial WW1 of the ten men from our village who gave their lives in the Great War. Written by Pauline Burnett, Jim Martin and Dorothy Prosser, a chapter is devoted to each of the soldiers with a family tree followed by as much information as could be discovered about the men and their families. There is also information about their military careers and the actions in which they lost their lives. The book has 64 pages and is illustrated throughout with photographs of the men, their families and the houses where they lived.
Totley All Saints' Church Parish Magazines for the years 1985-2006 with notices of baptisms, marriages and funerals and accounts of spiritual, educational, charitable and social matters in the village. Scanned in full, including advertisements from local traders.
In 1893 during the building of the Totley Tunnel there was an outbreak of smallpox amongst the navvies which spread to some of the local population. 17 people were buried in communal graves in Dore Churchyard, 6 from "Green Oak" (Lemont Road). The severity of the outbreak was principally caused by overcrowding and insanitary conditions in lodging houses .
Kathleen Grayson was a 39 year old housewife when WW2 broke out. She volunteered for the ARP and became an ambulance driver. During an air raid on Sheffield in July 1941, and despite her own injuries, she managed to get a seriously injured casualty to hospital. For this she was awarded a commendation from King George VI. Together with her friend Hilda Duffy, Kathleen also assembled a team of knitters to provide essential warm clothing for the men serving on the minesweepers patrolling the North Sea.
We have recently bought at auction the WW2 memorabilia of Douglas Platts whose family home was at Hillside, 98 Queen Victoria Road. After the war Douglas returned to his civilian occupation working in the family scissors manufacturing business. He lived in our area for the rest of his life.
We are very grateful to Mrs Valerie Taylor of Dore for lending us the title deeds to Lower Bents Farmhouse which is reputed to be the oldest surviving building in the area with a proven history back to 1621. We have now scanned and transcribed the deeds which could be particularly interesting to anyone with a connection to the local Fisher, Dalton and Marshall Families.
Until 1844, when Dore Christ Church parish was created, Totley township was part of Dronfield parish. We have now transcribed the burial records for former Totley residents at St. John the Baptist, Dronfield for the period 1678-1870 and at St. Swithin, Holmesfield for the period 1766-1901.
Whilst researching the history of the Dalton Family we found it useful to transcribe a number of early Wills and Inventories. These and those of many other Totley, Dore and Holmesfield people dating from between 1594 and 1856 have now been added to our website.
St. Swithin's Church, Holmesfield pre-dates Dore Christ Church and was the place where many of the people from Totley worshipped and were baptised, married and buried. Read the inscriptions on more than 750 gravestones in the churchyard including those of Mr. and Mrs. William Aldam Milner of Totley Hall, Jessie Matilda Tyzack (nee Fisher) of Avenue Farm, and Rev. J. A. Kerfoot of St. John's, Abbeydale.
Thomas Youdan was a music hall proprietor and benefactor who was living at Grove House, Totley in 1867 when he sponsored the first football knockout competition in the world for The Youdan Cup.
The words Millhouses Cricket Club can be seen in the background of team photos which are likely to date from between 1905 and the early 1920s, very probably pre-war. They were lent to us by Garth Inman who can identify his great uncle, Cecil Inman, in some of the photos and would like to know when they were taken and, if possible, the names of others present. Please take a look to see whether you can put names to any of the faces.
Josiah Hibberd was seriously injured whilst working on the construction of the Totley Tunnel in 1892. He died on 9 May 1897 at the age of 38 having apparently spent most of previous five years in hospital.
Bradway House was built around 1832 by Henry Greaves, a farmer, together with two adjacent cottages. We have traced most of the occupants of the property from these early days up to the start of World War Two.
We have transcribed the baptisms records at St. John the Evangelist, Abbeydale from when the church was consecrated in 1876 until just after the start of World War 1. The records are arranged in alphabetical order based upon the child's name and show the date of baptism, the names of the parents, their home location and occupation.
Nick Kuhn bought an original 1920s poster which had this owners' blind stamp in one corner. The stamp almost certainly refers to a house named Wigmore that was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The first occupiers that we can trace are John Howarth Caine, a district mineral agent for the LNER, his wife Florence Jane (nee Prince) and daughter Doris Mary. The Caine family lived at Wigmore until 1936 by which time the house would have been known simply as 12 The Quandrant.
George Griffiths died on 13 December 1888 following an explosion during the sinking of number 3 airshaft at Totley Bents. His widow Florence died shortly afterwards and his two daughters Maud and Annie were adopted separately. Whilst Annie lived the rest of her life in Yorkshire, Maud emigrated to Australia in 1923 with her husband, John Burrows, daughter Margaret and son Jack, pictured above.
George Wainwright was said to have been born in Bamford, Derbyshire in 1714. He learned the trade of linen weaving and moved to Totley after his marriage on 1744. He became an ardent follower of John Wesley who paid many visits to Sheffield and who would have passed through or close to Totley. Preaching was at first conducted out of doors and when Wesley's preachers became harassed by a mob of Totley ruffians in 1760, George offered them safety of his own home. He remained a Methodist for all of his long life, dying in Dore in 1821 at the reputed age of 107.
Oakwood School was started by Mrs Phoebe Holroyd in 1925 initially as the Firth Park Kindergarten and, by 1927, as the Firth Park Preparatory School. Phoebe was still working at the school almost fifty years later when she was well into her seventies. We would like to hear from anyone with memories of the school.
James Curtis was born at sea aboard HMS Chichester in 1790. He enlisted as a Private in the 1st Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards in Sheffield in 1812 and served in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War. He later fought in France and Belgium taking part in the Battle of Waterloo. In later life James lived at the Cricket Inn where his son-in-law William Anthony was the licensed victualler. He died in Heeley in 1882 aged about 91.
Charles Paul lived in Totley in later life. He was a local historian and archaeologist who was an authority on the history of Sheffield, especially the two areas he knew best: Attercliffe and Ecclesall. His books and letters to local newspapers were published under the Latin form of his name Carolus Paulus.
Towards the end of the 19th century Totley Hall gardens became a well known beauty spot that attracted many hundreds of visitors from Sheffield on open days and the rock gardens became one of its most popular features. Mrs Annie Charlesworth sent us six glass transparencies of the rock gardens taken, we believe, in the early years following the Great War.
Anton Rodgers send us photographs of three water-colours that had been bought by his grandfather at a sale of the contents of Abbeydale Hall in 1919. One was of a scene said to be in York by A. Wilson. A second was of a seated child with a dog believed to be pianted by Juliana Russell (1841-1898). The third was of Lake Como, by Ainslie Hodson Bean (1851-1918) who lived for much of his life on the Riviera and in North Italy.
A Canadian correspondent sent us photographs of a set of silver spoons that were bought in a small town in British Columbia. The case contained a note signed by Ebenezer Hall indicating that they were a wedding gift to Maurice and Fanny Housley. We think we may have traced how they got to Canada and where they might have been since.
Green Oak Park was opened on 23 March 1929 on land that had been bought by Norton District Council from John Thomas Carr, a farmer and smallholder of Mona Villas. In later years, the buildings were used by the Bowling Club (the green having been built in 1956) and by the park keeper. However, the buildings appear to have been constructed in several phases, the oldest of which predates the park to the time when the land was used for pasture.
We believe the old Totley Police Station at 331 Baslow Road was built around 1882. Two lock-up cells were excavated just below floor level in the summer of 1890. We have traced the Derbyshire Constabulary police officers who lived there from John Burford in 1886 to George Thomas Wood who was there when Totley was absorbed into Sheffield in 1934.
David Stanley lived in Totley Rise in the later years of his life. Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, he joined the 17th Lancers when he was 19 and rode in the Charge of The Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava where he was seriously wounded. For the first reunion of veterans in 1875, he told his story to a reporter from the Buxton Herald.
This picture postcard was addressed to Miss Abell, Holly Dene, Totley Brook Road and posted in Rotherham on 10 December 1907. Edith Annie Abell was born on 4 February 1887 in Sheffield and her family came to live in our area in the 1900s, staying for the rest of their lives.
Charles Herbert Nunn enlisted in the British Army on 23 August 1915 and was sent to France on 18 December 1915 to served with the British Expeditionary Force. In March 1916 it was discovered that he was underage and he was returned home. Shortly after his 18th birthday he re-enlisted and was again posted abroad where, in addition to this trio of medals, he was awarded the Military Medal.
This certificate was awarded jointly by the Red Cross and St. John's Ambulance to Isaac Henry Williams, of Lemont Road, for his services during WW1 as a stretcher bearer. We are seeking anyone who can help us pass it on to a living relative.
In 1832 Samuel Dean pleaded guilty to stealing a quantity of lead from the Totley Rolling Mill and was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. He sailed on the Mangles and upon arrival in New South Wales he was sent to work for William Cox, the famous English explorer and pioneer. After receiving his Certificate of Freedom in 1840, Samuel became a farmer and went on to have a very large family. Samuel was born in Whitechapel around 1811 to parents Samuel Dean Snr. and Susannah Duck. His descendant Sarah Dean would like help in tracing his ancestry.
Ellen Topham was born in 1889 in Nottingham. Her parents had been living together since 1862 but had never married so it was most unusual that, after their deaths, Ellen was accepted into Cherrytree Orphanage. Even more so since her father, Snowden Topham, had been acquitted somewhat unexpectedly in a widely reported manslaughter trial. Ellen remained at Cherrytree until her death from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 15.
Mabel Wilkes was a resident in Cherrytree Orphanage between 1897 and 1905. Her granddaughter Sally Knights sent us these images of a book presented to Mabel as a prize for her writing. Sally also sent us some personal memories of her grandmother and a photograph of a locket which contains portraits of Mabel and her husband Septimus Gale.
John Henry Manby Keighley was living at Avenue Farm when he enlisted in 1916. He fought in France with the Cheshire Regiment but after home leave in early 1918 he went missing. The Army were unable to determine whether he had deserted or returned to the front and been either killed or captured by the enemy. In August 1919 he was formally presumed killed in action but it appears he did not die but returned home to his family.
Horace Ford was admitted to Cherrytree Orphanage on 26 October 1888 at the age of six. He left at the age of 14 to become an apprentice blacksmith and farrier. Soon after his 18th birthday Horace enlisted in the Imperial Yeomanry to serve his country in the war in South Africa. His letter home to his Orphanage mentor tells of the lucky escape he had in battle.
Pat Skidmore (née Sampy) lived on Totley Brook Road from 1932 to 1948 before her family moved to Main Avenue. In this short article she remembers her time at Totley All Saints School where she was a contemporary of Eric Renshaw and Bob Carr.
As we have nowhere to exhibit memorabilia and artifacts, we have created a Virtual Museum instead. The latest addition to our collection is this double-sided Totley Rise Post Office oval illuminated sign which was on the wall of 67 Baslow Road before the Post Office business transferred to number 71. Please contact us by email if you have things that you own and would like to see added to the virtual museum.
Conway Plumbe was a man of many talents who came to live in Totley Rise around 1912. As a young man he had poems published by Punch magazine and is remembered in modern collections of WW1 poetry. A number of his paintings were accepted by the Royal Academy. An engineering graduate of London University, he joined the Civil Service where he rose to a high level as a factory inspector, publishing two books on the subject and giving a series of talks on workplace health and safety on BBC radio during WW2. In retirement he wrote a philosophical-spiritual work called Release From Time.
Inside Totley Rise Methodist Church there is a Roll of Honour commemorating the soldiers from its congregation who served their king and country during the Great War. For all but one of the 28 names the soldier's regiment is recorded in the next column. The exception is David Cockshott for whom 'killed in action' is written alongside yet he appears on no war memorial in our area and no record of a mortally wounded soldier of that name is to be found. We think we have solved the mystery.
Mrs. Kate Plumbe moved from Mansfield to Totley Rise with a number of her family in 1913 and became closely involved with the Totley Union Church. Her daughter Winifred became a missionary and headmistress in Calcutta for over 38 years following which she returned home to live with her sister Hilda on Furniss Avenue. Hilda had also been a teacher, missionary and, like her mother, a volunteer at St. John's VAD during WW1.
Thomas Glossop was a cutler and razor manufacturer who was well known amongst cricketing and gardening circles. Despite going blind, he was able to continue his hobbies with remarkable success
The Totley Union Cycling Society Prize Giving and Fete was held on the fields near Abbeydale Hall on 18 July 1914. Anne Rafferty and Gordon Wainwright have named some of the people in two wonderful photographs of the event. Can you identify any more for us?
The Tyzack family are well known in our area for owning iron and steel trades at Walk Mill, Abbeydale Works, Totley Rolling Mill and Totley Forge. This article covers the history of the family from the late 18th century when William Tyzack the founder of the company was born until the early 20th century when Joshua Tyzack farmed at Avenue Farm, Dore.
Walter Waller Marrison moved to Totley around 1897 with his wife and their two young sons. He was a house builder who constructed properties around Totley Brook and Greenoak before ill health forced him to take up less physically demanding work. In 1904 he took over the tenancy of the grocers and off licence at number 71 Baslow Road. After his death in 1908, his widow Kate and later their eldest son Jack continued to run the business until it was sold in 1934.
Ron Wijk of Nieuw-Vennep in the Netherlands has sent us two scanned images of drawings of old cottages made by the celebrated Dutch painter, Anton Pieck (1895-1987) simply annotated "Totley", and wondered whether we could identify their locations.
We would like to thank Christopher Rodgers for bringing to our attention this fascinating log of the 85th Sheffield (St. John's and Totley Orphanage) Wolf Cub Pack for 1927-45. The log is published jointly by Sheffield Scout Archives and Totley History Group as a free PDF download. It is illustrated by no fewer than 92 photographs and is supported by a comprehensive index and biographies of some of the main participants.
Following our Open Meeting event on School Days, Roger Hart, Howard Adams and John Timperley have each written to us with their memories of Norwood School, which was located in the rooms attached to the Dore & Totley United Reformed Church on Totley Brook Road.
On 22nd July 1909 the children of Dore and Totley Schools celebrated by a pageant the union of England under King Ecgbert which took place at Dore in AD 827. The pageant was devised and written by Mrs Sarah Milner and her daughter Marjorie and performed in a field close to Avenue Farm in front of a large audience. Photographs of the event survive together with a fragment of the script.
John Edward Greenwood Pinder had lived all 46 years of his life in Totley but on census night, Sunday 2 April 1911, he was not at home; he was in Derby Gaol serving a sentence of three months hard labour. From the age of 20, John had been in and out of local courts for a series of minor offences including drunkenness, assault, wilful damage and night poaching. Finally he was sent to gaol for cutting down and stealing 86 small trees which he sold in Sheffield market for Christmas.
We have already transcribed the census returns for Totley, Totley Rise and Dore. Now we have transcribed Census Strays. These are people who were born in Totley but are missing from our earlier transcriptions. They may have been living, working or studying elsewhere or just away from home on the night the census was taken. Two people were in prison. Others were in Union Workhouses, hospitals and asylums. Fully indexed strays from the 1851, 1861, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses are available now.
We wish to thank Gillian Walker for allowing us to digitize an archive of material about the 1st Totley Scout Group. Most of the material was collected by Arthur Percival Birley in the period 1949-51 and there are many interesting documents pertaining to the building of the scout hut on Totley Hall Lane. In addition four Newsletters survive, two from the 1940s and two from 1971.
We are grateful to Angela Waite and All Saints' Parish Church for giving us access to baptismal and kindergarten birthday rolls dating from 1926 to 1941. We have transcribed the names, addresses, birthdates and baptismal dates and created an alphabetical index of entries for you to search.
Edmund Sanderson, a Sheffield estate agent, aquired the land on either side of the old drive to Totley Grove in 1874 and divided it into plots for development. He called it the Totley Brook Estate. But before many houses were built, the estate road was severed in two by the building of the Dore & Chinley Railway line. The eastern end of the road became the cul-de-sac we now call Grove Road.
John Roberts was born in Sheffield in 1798. He became a partner in one of the leading silversmiths firms in the city before moving to Abbeydale Park in 1851 and extending the house in Victorian gothic style. He paid for the building of St. John's Church and was believed to dispense more in charity than any other person in the neighbourhood including his protege Ebenezer Hall.
The Coke Family owned the Totley Hall Estate from 1791 to 1881. With the aid of a family tree to guide us, Josie Dunsmore takes us through the story of their tenure.
When the Rev. D'Ewes Coke inherited the Totley Hall Estate in 1791 it had two farms. Josie Dunsmore tells the story of how the two farms were combined under the tenancy of Peter Flint with the aid of field maps drawn by Flint himself and later by the Fairbanks family.
Do you think you recognize this face? More than sixty photographs of the girls and teachers at Hurlfield Grammar School for Girls in the 1940s were given to Totley History Group by Avril Critchley, who was herself a student at the school. The collection includes fifteen form photographs from June 1949. There would have been a number of girls from the Totley area attending the school in those days.
Christine Weaving tells the story of her 2 x great uncle George Edward Hukin, a Totley razor-grinder, and his life-long friendship with the academic, poet, writer, and free-thinker Edward Carpenter.
Eric Renshaw (pictured here on the right with Bob Carr) grew up and lived in Totley from 1932 to 1960. Many of his memories are of a sporting nature.
We are very grateful to Gordon Grayson for giving us this splendid sale document for the Norton Hall Estates, following the death in 1850 of Samuel Shore. The estates included a large part of Totley and the document has maps and illustrations, plus schedules of land and property with the names of tenants. We have also added a transcription of the entries for Totley and Dore.
Watch this Youtube video of the talk given by Dr. Mark Frost and Sally Goldsmith on Ruskin, Totley and St. George's Farm. The talk was hosted by Totley History Group on 20th May 2015 as part of the Ruskin in Sheffield programme. Also enjoy a video of the outdoor performance Boots, Fresh Air & Ginger Beer written by Sally.
When Jacqueline A. Gibbons became interested in what made her father tick, it began a journey through WW1 archive records and led to her flying from Toronto to visit the house and village where he lived and the countryside that he so much enjoyed. Jacqueline reminds us that in the early 20th century Sheffield was a driving force of industry and that Totley was the place where many of its remarkable people lived and where they formulated their ideas.
Edgar Wood was the designer of The Dingle, 172 Prospect Road, built in 1904 for Rev. William Blackshaw, the founder of the Croft House Settlement. The house, together with its western terrace and boundary walls, has now been awarded Grade II listed building status.
What was probably "the most perfect little garden railway in existence" in 1910 was to be found in the grounds of Brook House, Grove Road, the home of its designer and constructor, Guy Mitchell. Look at some wonderful photographs and read reports in newspapers and a full appreciation in Model Railways magazine.
We have now completed our transcription of Totley School's Admission Records for the period from 1877 to 1914. There is also a useful index to the names of the scholars and to their parents or guardians. We are very grateful to Sheffield Archives and Local Studies Library for allowing us to transcribe and publish these records and for permission to reproduce the photograph of a specimen page of the register.
On 8, 9 and 11 November 2014 Totley History Group held an exhibition at Dore & Totley United Reformed Church to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. Below are additional links to some of the photographs we were lent and stories we researched especially for the exhibition.
Oscar Creswick was a local farmer who served with the Army Service Corps in Salonika and who after the war returned to Totley to become the innkeeper of the Cricket Inn and a member of the village's successful tug of war team.
Walter Evans was a market gardener who also ran a small grocery shop on Hillfoot Road when war broke out. He fought with the Machine Gun Corps at the fourth battle of Ypres. After the war, Walter ran a grocers shop at the top of Main Avenue.
Fred Cartwright was another Totley soldier who survived the Great War. He fought in France and Belgium and although he wasn't wounded he was gassed and was home on sick leave when his daughter was delivered by Nurse Jessop during a snowstorm in January 1917.
Maurice Johnson joined the Yorkshire Dragoons, a territorial unit, on 1 Jan 1914 and so was called up at the very start of the war. He fought throughout the war on the Somme, at Ypres and at Cambrai. After demobilization in 1919 Maurice returned to his old occupation in the steel industry.
Bill Glossop lent us a letter written by his father, William Walton Glossop to his wife describing life in the army during training in the north east of England and asking her to keep him in mind with the children.
The photo above provides a link to an album of photographs taken of WW1 Hospitals at St. John's, Abbeydale and the Longshaw Estate.
Nora Green, of Chapel Lane, was only 14 when war broke out. In 1914 she was ill with diphtheria and was sent to the isolation hospital at Holmley Lane, Dronfield. Nora recovered and wrote a letter of thanks to one of the hospital staff and the reply she received survives.
We have collected together on this page the names of local men who appear on various War Memorials and Rolls of Honour in Totley, Dore, Abbeydale, Norton, Holmesfield and Dronfield.
Unfortunately we were unable to identify all the photographs we were lent of Totley Soldiers. Please take a look at this album to see if you recognize any of the missing names.
This walk visits locations that have strong associations with Totley during the First World War. It includes the homes of the ten soldiers from the village who lost their lives, the auxiliary hospitals, war memorials, and even the rifle range on which the soldiers trained. Take a look at the first draft of a new walk by the authors of "Totley War Memorial WW1 1914-1918"
We wish to thank the Trustees of Cherrytree for giving us permission to publish transcriptions of the Cherrytree Orphanage Admissions Book entries for the years 1866-1929. There is also an alphabetical index for you to look at.
With more people having access to faster broadband and mobile networks, we have uploaded seven full and unedited oral history recordings and also added more short excerpts for you to listen to.
Our transcriptions of local trade directories have been expanded to cover the 95 years from 1837-1932 and have also been indexed. From the days when there were a handful of farmers, stone masons, saw handle makers & scythe grinders to the wonders of the Totley Bridge Garage Company, Betty's Boudoir and The Heatherfield Shopping Centre.
We continue to add to our Totley Newspaper Archive. Recent entries have included several about The Plumbe Family, Thomas Glossop and accidents during the construction of Totley Tunnel.
Totley Church of England Parish Magazines for the years 1922-1939 and 1948-1967 with notices of births, marriages and deaths and accounts of spiritual, educational, charitable and social matters in the village.
Around 90 photographs taken by Stuart Greenhoff for his thesis A Geographical Study of Dore and Totley including several of Totley Moor Brickworks. Superb!
Chronologically ordered snippets of information recorded by Brian Edwards during his many years of research into our local history.
Read the inscriptions on more than 700 gravestones in the churchyard.
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