Wharfedale Times or similar August 1906

[mabeljessie]

Hi,
I knew my great grandfather died in 1906 but today I found an article in the "Manchester Courier Lancashire General Advertiser" 22nd August 1906.

It says that Thomas RUDDOCK was found in a field at Otley his throat had been cut and a razor was found near by.

I was wondering if anyone has access to any old local papers that may shed more light on the incident.

His wife had died in the June 1906, I had bought her certificate and found she died of an infection about 6 weeks after the birth of her 5th child. So whether the strain and stresses were just too much for him or whether he met with foul play.

It has been a difficult tree to follow as Thomas changed his name in the 1870's when he joined the Royal Marines and he married and had 3 of the children under the assumed name, then moved back to his home town and reverted to the name Ruddock. After his death the children were farmed out to half cousins etc and my grandfather came to Aust in 1914 at the age of 18 and he died in a car accident 1949. So it is all taking a bit of work.

Cheers
mabeljessie
Melbourne, Australia

[arthurk]

I think the most likely newspaper might be the Wharfedale and Airedale Observer, but the book I have which lists local papers doesn't say which libraries have copies of it. However, this was a weekly, and there would almost certainly have been a mention in one of the dailies in Leeds - or Bradford, which is also close.

It might be worth contacting the Local Studies department of Leeds Central Library - http://www.leeds.gov.uk/leisure/Pages/Local-and-family-history-service.aspx - they have good holdings of local papers, and a good enquiry service. For local government purposes Otley is now part of the City of Leeds, so they will probably be able to tell you if there is anything useful in Otley Library as well.

Arthur