Next year will see a major celebration of the work of local historians in Wolverhampton. Peter Rhodes reports on the enduring fascination of the past.
Alone, we may commit a few words to paper. Together, we can change the way people feel about this city.
That’s the thinking behind the Wolverhampton Local History Symposium, a unique event planned for February next year which will bring together amateur historians with a common interest in the city.
“There is still a huge amount left to be uncovered,” says Jefny Ashcroft, a specialist on 19th Century education and one of the experts planning the event.
Her own research shows the sort of surprises lurking in dusty archives or even in personal memories. Today, for example, we may imagine our Victorian forbears were great fans of corporal punishment.
Not necessarily so. In her research Dr Ashcroft came across this letter, from a 1880s Black Country mother: “I would rather have my son become the worst man in the world than he be hit,” protested one mother at the prospect of her little angel being caned.”
How many more gems are there for the finding?
The possibilities seem endless. The current Blackcountryman magazine, produced by the Black Country Society, is packed with yet another quarterly selection of memories.
The subjects are as diverse as memories of Dudley Grammar School, old cinemas, the Walsall anarchist bombers of 1892, memories from 1941 of a Smethwick evacuee, Major Nichols’s celebrated cycles and the life and times of the 1950s generation of local-paper district reporters.
If the enduring success of the Blackcountryman is any guide, the Black Country must have more amateur historians per square yard than anywhere else in Britain.
Dr Ashcroft talks enthusiastically about Wolverhampton’s place in the story of Great Britain and wonders how many Wulfrunians grasp their own city’s importance.
“The layers of history run deep,” she says. “A growing mediaeval prosperity based on wool and the early lockmaking trade was followed, in the succeeding centuries, by several waves of important, often groundbreaking, industrial development.
“Canals arrived very early in the town and prompted the beginnings of an impressive population growth. Immigrants from all over Britain but especially the North, Wales and Ireland arrived, in the 19th Century in particular, to chase jobs.
“In both World Wars, the town became of vital national importance. Men and women worked furiously to make the planes, tanks and everything else the war effort desperately needed.
“Later more people arrived to work in the foundries and factories, and the hospitals and buses, this time from overseas. This bustling history of the people, the things they made, and the institutions they supported deserves documenting.”
The first step is for anyone working on local-history research (but not individual family histories) to submit a brief summary of work they have contemplated, started or finished.
A planning group comprising Dr Ashcroft, local historian Ned Williams, city archivist David Bishop and Dr Paul Henderson, head of history at Wolverhampton University will examine the summaries and decide which work best fits into the symposium, which is organised by City Archives in conjunction with the University of Wolverhampton and is supported by the Express & Star.
On the day itself, the various works will be presented and discussed and local historians will be able to meet an discuss their work, which could lead to collaborations on future projects.
The organisers stress that this is not intended to be a gathering of PhDs and professors.
“It is for anyone who is serious in their research work, not just academics,” says Dr Ashcroft. “It is all about expanding what we know about this energetic city of ours.
“It is for any serious researcher who is exploring an aspect of Wolverhampton’s history. All we ask is that the work must be about Wolverhampton itself or figure the city in a significant way.
“For instance, a comparative study on the lives of 19th Century metal workers in Sheffield and Wolverhampton would be acceptable.”
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