Old George Lord
Opposite Bankside Lane once stood a
low lying house demolished at the
beginning of 1880.The house was
lived in by Old George Lord and his
wife. They were owners of some
dozen ponies otherwise known as "
Galloway's". George and his wife
used the ponies to convey coal and
lime to districts far away. The common
name given to them and people like
them was " Lime Gals". It was nothing
out of the ordinary for George and his
wife to make a trip to Clitheroe
carrying coal and returning with lime.
The journey usually undertaken at
night time with a man and boy in
charge. On the death of old George
the business was then carried on by
William Clarkson.
Mr James Hargreaves.
Familiarly known as " Old Whitehat"
cotton waste dealer James of
Newchurch Road died in 1883. In his
younger days he had been the
proprietor of a marine store, building
up the business until he had three
good going concerns, Marine Stores,
Smallwares and Cotton Waste.
Remarkably Mr Hargreaves could
neither read nor write. Yet had a
wonderful memory and was very
adept at mental arithmetic. It is said
he could reckon the money value of a
large transaction to the fraction of a
penny in his head. James had two
sons George and William who also
helped out in the various businesses.
After the death of James William took
over the Cotton Waste Trade whilst
George ran the other wholesale and
retail smallware business and that of
the marine store.
Was a well known
Bacup figure,
born in
Todmorden
about 1823 he
had several jobs
one of which was
selling oatcakes,
and going from door to
door selling milk. His real name was
Abraham Dewhurst. Originally he started
work as a weaver and was by all accounts
a good and conscientious worker. At some
point Abraham became rather inattentive
and lost his job, it is said that his
eccentricity was due to unrequited love.
He was usually seen chewing on the collar
of his coat or on a piece of sacking and.
Abraham however was very thrifty with his
money and bought very little food, instead
he would wait until the end of various
parties held at the Mechanics Institute or
school and then go in and make a bid for
the left over crusts of bread, sometime
taking away two wicker baskets full of
food. In his latter days Abraham would
pick up anything out of the streets that he
thought useful such as pins, nails bits of
iron or wood and take them home.
He quite often sported a old sack which he
wore slung across his shoulders, his cap
tilted on one side of his head and his
trousers tied up under his knees. Tied
around his waist would be his walking
stick which can still be seen today in the
Bacup Nat. Abraham had relatives living
away from Bacup and when Abraham
became ill in 1892 they were eventually
contacted. Two well to do ladies arrived
with fresh line and food for Abraham and
though he eventually agreed for them to
care for him with the lined and food he
refused to leave his home and go with
them to theirs to be looked after. Abraham
died in the Union Workhouse in
Haslingden in October 1892 and was
buried in Todmorden on undressing him at
the workhouse it was found that he had a
old hearth rug wrapped around his waist
and his shoes were stuffed with feathers.
Mad Ab
Joseph Laycock.
At one time almost everyone knew
Joseph Laycock, Brass and Iron
Founder who's place was at
Waterside. Laycock came to Bacup
from Hunslet in Yorkshire about 1830
and after a time commenced the first
foundry in Bacup. Joseph was well
known for making " Bobbers". A game
that lads used to play back in the old
days and whilst Joseph never
apparently played the game himself
he did play with iron rings known as
"Quoits" at which he was at one time
considered the champion of the world.
Joseph was at one time a great
traveller in the South. In 1859 whilst
planning a return trip home from
Australia something occurred which
Delayed Joseph and saved his life.
For had he not been delayed he
would have met a watery grave
aboard the Royal Charter Steam Ship
which was wrecked off the coats of
Anglesey in April 1859. He was a very
prominent member of the order of
Oddfellows, Freemasons and a
Orangeman. He died rather suddenly
at Lower Rockliffe in June 1883 aged
72 years.
Happy Jack
John Whitehead a rag and bone
dealer of Lane Head Lane, not being
able to shout due to a damaged
voice box he used a football fans
rattle to announce his arrival.In return
for rags and bottles, Happy Jack
offered a variety of rewards ranging
from “spice” and balloons to donkey
stones.
Mickey Luke
A tiny harmless old man with a
swilling brush moustache who
always wore a old raincoat two
sizes too big for him come rain or
shine that reached down to his
ankles. He spent his days in the
centre of Bacup mumbling to
himself and twitching his shoulders
ceaselessly and so earning himself
the nickname of Itchy Mick. No
one ever knew his real name until
he died when the Bacup Times
identified him as Michael
O'Mahoney.
James Ashworth
James Ashworth was more fondly
known as " Jimmy Din"a hawker of
cockles and mussels, which he
packed in bags on a wheelbarrow.
Later he was successful enough to
buy a horse and cart and was said to
own several shared in cotton millsHe
added a Greengrocers shop in South
Street to his successes. One day
while carrying out his business,
crying out his usual " fresh cockles
fresh muscles", a lady coming down
Todmorden Road asked him to leave
a measure of the molluscs at her
house. The lady just happened to be
the wife of one of the cotton
manufacturers; and either through
qualms of conscience or for some
other reason Jimmy put up his hands
to each side of his mouth, and in
whispered accents sent forth the
muffled sound " they're no good
today"
John Greenoff
John was more commonly known
as "John Duos".He was employed
at the Gasworks as a meter
inspector but lit up the lamps for
the Old Lighting Committee before
the formation of the Rossendale
Union Gas Company. He lived
close to the works in Lee Street
almost from the very first of his
employment. John died in May
1883 aged 62.
John Pickup
Known as " Old Baromy" father of
Lord Pickup cashier at the Co-Op,
was of a cheery , genial and
pleasant countenance. John was a
Weaver at Forest Mill. He was a
keen entomologist and was well
known for the dexterity he wielded
with a penknife. Mr Pickup was a
patron of the Walking Stick Club
which had about 30 members.
Each member had to have a
walking stick that was a totally
different shape to that of any other
member, with some peculiar and
awkward looking shapes coming
out of this. ( Some of which can still
be seen today in the Bacup Natural
History Museum). Some of the stick
had heads carved into he shapes
of wild animals, reptiles and other
beasts carved into he handles or
down the stocks of the walking
sticks. John Pickup died in 1868.
Henry Kerr
For many years Mr Kerr was editor of
the Bacup and Rossendale News, and
during his lifetime in Bacup contributed
many articles on bird life to the Newcastle
Chronicle, The Manchester Guardian, and
other newspapers. Mr Kerr was a native of
Dumfries, Scotland. At one time he had a
fine collection of bird eggs, on which
subject and bird life generally he was a
acknowledged expert. Several years
before his death the whole of his time was
devoted to writing and stud of this kind of
subject.
Johnny Ratter
Was a rat catcher along with
his mongrel dog “Lady". His
real name was John Pilling
and he was known to bet for a
pint. On a ratting expedition,
he’d say to his dog “Lady,
doan’t kill” and take the live rat
from the dog and push it
between his belts and his
breeches. When he had
enough rats, he would go into
the beerhouses and bite off a
rat’s head for a pint of beer.
James Ashworth
James Ashworth was more fondly known
as " Jimmy Din"a hawker of cockles and
mussels, which he packed in bags on a
wheelbarrow. Later he was successful
enough to buy a horse and cart and was
said to own several shared in cotton mills.
He added a Greengrocers shop in South
Street to his successes. One day while
carrying out his business, crying out his
usual " fresh cockles fresh muscles", a
lady coming down Todmorden Road
asked him to leave a measure of the
molluscs at her house. The lady just
happened to be the wife of one of the
cotton manufacturers; and either through
qualms of conscience or for some other
reason Jimmy put up his hands to each
side of his mouth, and in whispered
accents sent forth the muffled sound "
they're no good today"
John Hardman
Or " John O' Dolly's to give him is more
familiar name who died while on a trip
to Blackpool in September 1876, was a
descendant of a long line of Hardmans,
of North East Lancashire and the South
West Riding of Yorkshire. He was
apprenticed to a shoemaker at
Todmorden, but afterwards returned to
his parents house in St James Street.
Where his parents kept a grocery and
shoe store, and on the death of his
father " Sam O' Rodgers" and his
mother "Dolly" Hardman, whose real
name was Dorothy, he and his brother
Amos continued for a time the
business. Afterwards he became of the
partners in the Old Clough Mill as well
as being a shareholder in several other
limited concerns, and an owner of
cottage property.He was a keen
politician and often walked in his
younger days to distant towns to listen
to orations by Fergus O'Connor, Frost,
Ernest Jones, and Chartists. He was
fond of company and a good tale. He
left £50 to the Mechanics Institute and
the same sum to Waterside which he
attended.