The master worsted spinners – An occupational category from the Census denoting employer viz mill owner (not a skilled operative) and his product – fine yarn.
My story is about five generations of a Yorkshire mill owning family – their rise from cottage industry to wealthy manufacturers and property owners. Their surname was Burnley and they lived in Gomersal, in the West Riding.
Pollard Hall – by one of the ‘surplus’ ladies
Three major figures are James (the pious) from the late 18th century, who founded Grove Chapel; Thomas (the virtuous Victorian businessman) and Thomas-William (the reclusive Edwardian bachelor). Minor characters are a trio of nephews under whose stewardship the mill suffered a calamitous fire in 1913, and a bevy of sisters and nieces – all of them ‘surplus’ (ie unmarried) middle-class women in contemporary parlance. I explore a long-standing mystery of how the family’s wealth apparently evaporated early in the 20th century. Was the mill fire the only cause of their decline and abandonment of Pollard Hall, a fine Jacobean mansion – their home for 150 years? An epilogue takes the story from 1920 to the present.
History was my degree subject at university, many years ago, and it has been so rewarding to get back to it by researching my ancestors’ lives. Writing it up is another matter!
Margaret
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