Genealogy with George

12/08/2024

Liquid sewage once ran down the surface of Heckmondwike’s footpaths. Dead pigs lay rotting a mere six feet from people’s front doors. The water supply was drying up. Change was needed. How did it happen?

Liquid sewage once ran down the surface of Heckmondwike’s footpaths. Dead pigs lay rotting a mere six feet from people’s front doors. These front doors opened to small and ill-ventilated rooms. Pub…

08/08/2024

Excited to share my new look website! Expect new content very soon!

Visit www.genealogywithgeorge.com or click the link below...

Bringing Local and Family History to life

29/07/2024

I am very pleased to announce that my hiatus is finally over! Starting a week today, I will bring you new content on my blog every fortnight!

06/09/2023

Very excited to announce that I will have three talks as part of the brilliant All About That Place event - two involve Hecmondwike Grammar School, and the other one involves the law!

12/04/2023

Today marks 194 years since the disaster at the Old Wesleyan Chapel in Heckmondwike. 6 were killed, many more injured, and the town was marked by it for generations.

Here are the events of the day, including a list of those killed and seriously injured, but also a brief history of Methodism and its foundations in Heckmondwike.

The First Wesleyan Chapel of Heckmondwike From the great religious conflicts of the 17th century to the present day, Heckmondwike, and the wider Spen Valley, has a proud tradition of dissent and no…

08/03/2023

On this International Womens Day, from the 19th to 21st centuries, I proudly remember all the mums, aunts, sisters, and grandmas that make up my Family History. Ignored by records and denied plenty of opportunities, their stories are still as inspiring and determined as their male counterparts, if not more.

07/03/2023

Revisiting the story of my Great Great Great Uncle, George Alfred Dale, who was born on this day in 1898, near the Walls of York. He died of wounds received in action on 31 March 1918 in Rouen, aged barely 20 years old.

George Alfred Dale I started my family history research on 13 March 2020, just before the first Coronavirus Lockdown. It was somewhat of a false start; the flashy hints that usually end up inaccura…

05/02/2023

F***y Fletcher, my 4 x Great Grandmother, was the granddaughter of a Waterloo veteran and was raised in rural Lincolnshire. In adulthood, she left home for work up North and created a new life, which was certainly anything but ordinary.

F***y Fletcher, later Tasker, with her husband James, circa 1910. My Great Great Great Great Grandparents. F***y Fletcher, later Tasker, was born in the July or August of 1844 in the village of Min…

27/11/2022

Some evening reading on the life of my 5 x Great Grandfather, George Stead, whose fascinating and moving story began in Newcastle in 1787 and ended in York in 1866.
Tomorrow marks 213 years since he was admitted as a Freeman of the City of York.

My name is George. I was named after my Great Grandfather, the lovely George R. Dale, who died many years before I was born. He served during the Second World War, then worked as a Gardner at Batle…

24/08/2022

Been a little while!

Fancy a trip back in time to the West Riding town of Yorkshire in 1881?

Originating from the Local Board’s handbook of 1881-1882, you see a snapshot of Heckmondwike’s History including roadworks, street lighting, religion, education, school boards, the local board, key individuals and the demographic changes Heckmondwike was facing at the time.

Sketched by E. D. Brook in 1874 A simple, modest book, tucked away nice and safely in the corner of Cleckheaton Libary’s excellent local studies section, can give a profound and interesting a…

19/07/2022

It has been two years since my first tidy up, and I thought I would share my experience and why I feel more people should get stuck in volunteering!

When I tell people that I volunteer at Liversedge Cemetery and also Morley, I typically get similar responses – raised eyebrows and a look of confusion. That is not unjustified as it can, at first …

05/07/2022

Mary Jane Fell, my 3 x Great Grandmother, had many ups and downs in her life – every win was paired with an equal loss and vice versa - but she managed to overcome criminal family members, deaths, war and influenza and survive.

My ancestry has many stories of true tragedy, unimaginable loss and difficult and, to some extent, traumatic childhoods. But there are also remarkable stories of love, survival, and unimaginable pe…