Moorside worsted spinning mill built 1875 now Bradford Industrial Museum © Adèle Emm

Good news, this latest addition to my ‘oeuvres’ will be published in the near future by the Society of Genealogists.  I’m currently revising, proof reading and indexing – indexing is not a job I particularly like but someone has to do it.  Another of  my skillsets….

The book covers the history behind England’s wealth – in the Middle Ages…  I’m sure you’ve guessed by now…  wool!  Even today, the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords sits on a woolsack – its weight three times more than me.    My book explains the process of cloth production from pre-industrialisation through the industrial revolution and on.   If your ancestors lived in the North West, Yorkshire or Scotland from the 18th Century, I bet one of them worked in the textile industry.  My great great grandfather was an Oxfordshire baker who migrated northwards to Ashton under Lyne.  He never worked in the cotton mills – but all his children did.

Read about working conditions, what mill-workers actually did and how much they were paid.  Found great auntie Aggie working as a lapper or frame tenter and wondered exactly what she did?  Easy.  Read my book…    It’s due out towards the end of this year, perhaps the beginning of 2020.  I’ll keep you updated.   In the meantime, whet your appetite by reading Tracing your Trade and Craftsman Ancestors and Tracing your Female Ancestors,   both available now….