Anyone fancy some detective work?

South Staffordshire Water historian Chris Pattison continues to send me fascinating bits and bobs of local water-related history he finds in the company archives, and every one of them has been an absolute gem.

This one, however, has me flummoxed, because as many of you know, I’m terrible at reading old handwriting. So I’m hoping readers might be able to help…

Chris says of these scans:

Hi Bob

I don’t go into the archives specifically looking for items related to Brownhills, but invariably and I suppose unsuprisingly they do crop up.

This one is an application for water supplies to some premises in the district and interestingly one of the occupiers is named William Roberts. The document is undated but it’s sandwiched between one dated March 1865 and another dated May 1865, so that gives us a clue. I believe the term ‘memorial’ is an old fashioned alternative for memorandum. It would be interesting to see whether anyone can identify the location of the premises.

No doubt Dave Moore will make an announcement soon, but just to let you know Friends of Sandfields is now on a formal footing with a chairman (Dave), a secretary, and a treasurer (me) plus a signed constitution and a small cash deposit (from donations) to open a bank account.

Regards
Chris

So, what can you guys make of these, please? Comment here, or BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.

Thanks to Chris who has donated some wonderful material on South Staffordshire Waterworks and connected matters over the years: he really is most generous and I thank him profusely.

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