The Local Historian Volume 24, Number 1 February 1994

By Craig Young

Bankruptcy records are used relatively infrequently by local historians, although the volume of material they include is substantial and it has an obvious relevance to research into the decline and growth of individual firms, of particular industries and of districts and regions. Scottish sequestration returns (surviving from 1785) are among the sources which are available. The author has analysed those for 166 craft businesses in Perthshire 1856-1913. He explains the sequestration procedure in considerable detail and also indicates how the records may be accessed. The article then considers the types of business information which are recorded, including: i) lists of the creditors with details of name, location, occupation and size of debt; ii) the earnings and turnover of businesses; iii) the level of capital and assets; iv) links with other traders; v) book debts of money owing to the firm for goods acquired on credit; and vi) family evidence and information about the business life, movements and procedures. It is suggested that not only do these records allow the details of the business itself to be investigated, but they also give much insight into the wider financial and economic life of an area, into mobility and migration, and into the process of bankruptcy as a subject in its own right. Problems are discussed, but it is argued that such sources potentially may contribute very valuable new insights into small businesses and the local economy. It is noted finally that they have no English equivalent!

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By Norman G. Alvey

Account of the origins and history of the Royal Hospital and Home, Putney, which was founded in 1854 as a Home for Incurables by Dr Andrew Reed, a Congregational minister who, by the time he died in 1862, had raised over £1 million for charitable causes. The history of the hospital is described, including the development of an 'overspill' hospital at Coulsdon, Surrey. The long arguments over location and the design of buildings are considered, as is the period in the 1870s when, during a period of national agitation against the so-called 'voting charities', the Putney charity itself received much criticism. The condemning of the condition of the hospital by a select committee in 1892 led to minor improvements and the article describes how changes were gradually introduced in the management and operation of the hospital during the early 20th century. Its vicissitudes after 1948, when it fought to stay outside the National Health Service, and the work of its trustees, are described, and there is a detailed account of the present state of the hospital, its activities and its management.

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By Joan Unwin

Detailed report on the findings of a research project, financed by the University Funding Council, and conducted by the Division of Adult Continuing Education of the University of Sheffield. The survey was based on a series of interviews and questionnaires with 90 individuals (of whom 39 were local historians) including full-time and part-time tutors, librarians, archivists and administrators, supported by similar approaches to local history students working in research groups. In all, 27 university departments in 18 subject areas were represented. The findings are analysed under the following main themes: i) the dominance of local history as a research subject; ii) the value of and the methods of such projects; iii) the rationale behind group work; iv) the source material used; v) problems with access to materials and the use of photocopying; vi) the contributions made by students, the use of their specific skills, and the role of the tutor; vii) the organisation of projects and administrative and practical procedures; viii) the outcome in terms of publications, booklets, and other media; and ix) some general principles to be identified from the research project itself. A list of those who responded to the survey is appended to the article.

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By Vernon Thornes

The Rotherham area was one of the centres of the Yorkshire pottery industry in the 19th century, with over 20 of more than 100 works in the county as a whole. The article discusses the Rockingham potteries (as they were called after the 1820s) at Kilnhurst, describing its development from foundation in 1746 and explaining the process whereby the works diversified the range of its products and the complex inter-relationships between ownership of this and other local potteries as a result of successive takeovers in response to changing market conditions. The financial background to the enterprise, its sources of raw materials and its marketing strategies are considered against the background of the different families who owned, or invested in, the works. The high-quality and exclusive products, sold to the aristocracy and royal family, are described and illustrated, and the crisis years of the 1840s, in which financial problems resulting from increased competition, the cholera outbreak, and declining standards are considered. The article suggests that the experience of the Rockingham works was paralleled by that of many other local potteries. It is recorded that the remains of the works have now been conserved and restored as an industrial monument.