The A to Z Blogging Challenge is a friendly annual blogging event. Participants post every day of April except Sundays: 26 times, with a contribution for every letter of the alphabet.

This year, 2024—my eleventh Challenge—I wrote about the parish of Whitmore in Staffordshire, England, as it was in the middle of the nineteenth century. I have a family connection with Whitmore through my 4th great grandfather Rowland Mainwaring (1782–1862), who was squire of Whitmore Hall from 1837 to his death in 1862.

My inspiration was a series of presentations given last September by the Society for One-Place Studies, a history group formed to consider ‘people and families in their physical and social context’ at a particular place and time.

For me in Ballarat, Australia, Whitmore is half a world away. A great many of its records have survived, however, and I can visit—at least virtually—the home of my 4th grandfather as it was two hundred years ago.

In 1952 in a lecture to the University College of Leicester, H. P. R. Finberg (1900-1974), head of the Department of English Local History, pointed out that:

History too is “about chaps,” and local history brings us nearer to the common run of chaps than any other branch of historical study. It gives us, in the language of the films, a close-up of them on their farms and in their workshops and behind their counters. It studies them as social beings, as members of a rural or urban community; but by seeking them at their home address it enables us to see them as flesh and blood, and not just as pawns on the national chessboard. The national historian, dealing with some vast agglomeration which he labels villeins, Puritans, the lower middle-class, or what you will, tends to lose sight of the human person.

By looking at various aspects of the history of the parish of Whitmore I learned a great amount about my ‘chaps’, the people who lived there in the nineteenth century, among them my 4th great grandfather. 

I was pleased to read a report of Rowland Mainwaring’s views on farming. He had been a sailor, but, he said, “he really did attempt to convert himself into a plodding, pains-taking farmer. He rigged himself out in the most approved agricultural costume — ( the shoes of which took more work out of him in six days than if he had been walking the quarter deck of a man-of-war for six weeks) — (laughter) — and commenced in right good earnest.” I was also interested in his views on the police a letter to one of the local newspapers.  He certainly deserved the tribute in his obituary of being remembered as “a kind and considerate landlord, a good neighbour, and an active and upright magistrate”.

I also learned about how very differently things were done in nineteenth century England from the purchase of an advowson—the right to appoint the rector—to how the magistrates system worked, and about local societies for prosecuting felons.

I still have much more to learn about the people who lived in Whitmore and the history of the parish in the nineteenth century. I enjoyed my research and I plan to continue it.

Part of the A to Z challenge is visiting other people’s blogs through the month. I appreciated the visits and comments from other readers, many of whom I have been reading for many years. This last month I followed these blogs especially:

There were a number of other blogs I visited throughout the month and I was also visited by various bloggers who left comments.

My blog was visited by 1740 people with 3761 views. There were 250 comments. Last April I had 1355 visitors, 3281 views, and 246 comments.

See you all again next year.

  – Anne

My 2024 A to Z posts:

Wikitree: Whitmore, Staffordshire One Place Study