Here’s a quick one from the wonderfully diligent Peter ‘Pedro’ Cutler on the ongoing research into the Harrison dynasty. Attentive readers will be aware of the continuing discussion about the Harrisons, and their residences at Norton Hall and Aldershaw(e) near Lichfield. Peter found the following clipping in the Lichfield Mercury, of Friday, April 5th 1912. Something about the spectacle and overt, ostentatious boasting in this report puts me in mind of Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, and the decadence of the upper class pre-Great War.
Peter had this to say:
Hi Roberto,
I have put an “e” on the end of Aldershaw and the first thing I came up with was the above. I was quite taken aback.
A quiet Ceremony my arse!
The recent family bereavement was probably the death of WB Harrison in 1912.
Am I reading this correctly? Did they really receive all those presents?
I have now quite a lot of knowledge of how George Kynoch treated his employers, but not yet about the Harrison family. I have a feeling they should be exposed!
Angered of Wolverhampton!
I’m 100% with Peter on this. One of the things forgotten when many people talk of the ‘good old days’ and ‘when Britain was great’ is that it became so on the backs of a subjugated empire and working class. It was great for a rich minority. The rest of the population had to fight for every single concession – education, the vote, equal rights, access to the land, social welfare, the social state, healthcare.
These people held the reigns. They did not let go without a fight. Thanks to Peter for keeping this fact alive in our minds with his exacting and thorough research.
Just a note – the clip is legible, just. Click on it to zoom in. I really hadn’t time to transcribe it, but it bears close study. There are some familiar names there, too, to local history buffs.
