Family Heirlooms

[Gillg]

My grandfather was a "special constable" in the local police force (in the days when Rochdale was a County Borough) during WW1.  He was not able to serve as a soldier because of his poor health, but wanted to serve in some way.  After the war ended these special constables were presented with mahogany truncheons emblazoned with the Rochdale coat of arms and bearing a silver band inscribed with their name.  Along with this I have his lapel button, cap badge and whistle.  Grandfather was a musician and I have his conductor's baton and his metronome.  Sadly I never knew him, but my mother's tales brought him to life for me.

I also have the family Brussels lace wedding veil worn by 4 generations of our family and my other grandfather's draper's yardstick, not flat like a ruler but rounded.  There's a family bible, presented  to my paternal gt-grandfather on his marriage by his sister.  The front page is inscribed with the names and dates of birth of his children - most helpful, as it included one I didn't know about.

On tidying the attic recently I came across an old hard backed exercise book and found that my mother's aunt had written a story in it for her, one of those tales with a moral from Victorian/Edwardian times, and had illustrated it with pictures cut out from magazines.  Mother had filled in the blank pages at the end with more pictures cut out from newspapers and magazines, some showing society beauties she must have admired as a young girl.  This same aunt must have fancied her literary skills, as she also wrote a poem celebrating my mother's 21st birthday.  This is all in Lancashire dialect and I have to read it aloud to understand it!

There's a letter from my grandfather to his parents, when he visited a family member as a young man.  In it he makes a musical joke about the house he was staying in being divided into two flats !  Touchingly there is a list written in beautiful copperplate by my gt-grandfather, his father, in which all his children were listed.  He had 6 boys and 4 girls, but only one of the boys, my grandfather, survived.  Some of the others were stillborn or survived for just a few hours or days - all carefully recorded.

I will make notes about these objects for my children and hope they will find them as interesting as I do, but I have my doubts - perhaps my grandchildren will be a better bet and have some sense of history.

 

[Viktoria]

Oh. Please send the dialect poem, they are charming and so sad that such a rich heritage is fast disappearing.
In my 45 years in Ramsbottom ,and the demise of the older lifelong residents and influx of newcomers plus the influence of TV,the dialect is fast going.
It was the language taken to Manchester when cottage industries were fading away and the huge (Satanic!) mills in towns were the main employers.
How old and what the origins were is a deep study in itself .
I should like to see it,don’t give a modern version and let’s see if it is intelligible to people who may never have encountered a strong Northern accent / dialect.
What lovely souvenirs .
I have a little pot of what was once perfume ,an Arabic one brought back from his service in Mesopotamia in WWl by Mum’s brother.
It was a cream or oily resinous perfume ,not liquid .
She and he used to sing to wounded soldiers convalescing
after the war.
“ I sing you songs of Araby
and takes of old Kashmir! “
“Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar”.
Oh different times different  sentiments.
Viktoria.

[Nic.]

We have 2 cups from my great grandmothers tea set, sadly no more survived.  Also a small brass pig with space to store matches and a strike plate on his tummy.  Sadly the Christening gown from my husbands side was passed onto a member of the family who didn’t have any children.  Hopefully it will stay in the family. But the item which puzzles us most is a silver trophy which was never engraved, as yet searching online newspapers hasn’t given any answers. 

[ThrelfallYorky]

Not really heirlooms, but I have many rather old, even possibly valuable leather bound quite early printed books that were my grandfathers. I also have books of gold leaf that he used in some of his work, and the tools to apply it (He actually taught me how to do it, when I was a young child, and, when in my 20s I tried, I found he must have taught me properly, so perhaps the skill is itself an heirloom?
I've odd items of jewellery from my grandmother, and from a great aunt, and a wooden hallstand that seems to have followed me around for decades, and also originally belonged to that same grandfather.
I wish that I still had his watercolour sketchbooks, mostly architectural studies, and clearly recognisable as real places where he lived - but they seem to have vanished when he died.

[chiddicks]

I have my great-grandfather's wooden tool box from the 1850s. He was a carpenter and it would have been one of the first pieces he made as an apprentice. My Mum used it as a sewing box.

Which reminds me that I have loads of old wooden reels of cotton, buttons etc inherited from various relatives, including some Victorian needles so fine I can barely see them, let alone thread them. Did others of you "play" with button boxes as a child? Have to confess I can still waste time going through them.

Brie

The wooden carpenters box sounds a real treasure and I think you’re right that it was custom and practise for the first item that an apprentice made was his very own tool box

[chiddicks]

Oh Mum’s button box, what a wonderful teaching aid,sorting by colour,shape,size,number of holes etc etc .
Mum could  tell a story of almost all the special ones ,”That  was on a coat I wore at ——“

I have a button box and never throw a garment away without removing buttons .Wartime economies being still practised!
Memories in a tin!
Viktoria.

That made me smile Viktoria, the fact that she remembered where every button originated from

[chiddicks]

My grandfather was a "special constable" in the local police force (in the days when Rochdale was a County Borough) during WW1.  He was not able to serve as a soldier because of his poor health, but wanted to serve in some way.  After the war ended these special constables were presented with mahogany truncheons emblazoned with the Rochdale coat of arms and bearing a silver band inscribed with their name.  Along with this I have his lapel button, cap badge and whistle.  Grandfather was a musician and I have his conductor's baton and his metronome.  Sadly I never knew him, but my mother's tales brought him to life for me.

I also have the family Brussels lace wedding veil worn by 4 generations of our family and my other grandfather's draper's yardstick, not flat like a ruler but rounded.  There's a family bible, presented  to my paternal gt-grandfather on his marriage by his sister.  The front page is inscribed with the names and dates of birth of his children - most helpful, as it included one I didn't know about.

On tidying the attic recently I came across an old hard backed exercise book and found that my mother's aunt had written a story in it for her, one of those tales with a moral from Victorian/Edwardian times, and had illustrated it with pictures cut out from magazines.  Mother had filled in the blank pages at the end with more pictures cut out from newspapers and magazines, some showing society beauties she must have admired as a young girl.  This same aunt must have fancied her literary skills, as she also wrote a poem celebrating my mother's 21st birthday.  This is all in Lancashire dialect and I have to read it aloud to understand it!

There's a letter from my grandfather to his parents, when he visited a family member as a young man.  In it he makes a musical joke about the house he was staying in being divided into two flats !  Touchingly there is a list written in beautiful copperplate by my gt-grandfather, his father, in which all his children were listed.  He had 6 boys and 4 girls, but only one of the boys, my grandfather, survived.  Some of the others were stillborn or survived for just a few hours or days - all carefully recorded.

I will make notes about these objects for my children and hope they will find them as interesting as I do, but I have my doubts - perhaps my grandchildren will be a better bet and have some sense of history.

Oh Gilig so many treasured items you really are so fortunate to have so many things handed down. Sadly not much has survived in my family.

The mahogany truncheons do sound very special though and a very treasured heirloom

[chiddicks]

We have 2 cups from my great grandmothers tea set, sadly no more survived.  Also a small brass pig with space to store matches and a strike plate on his tummy.  Sadly the Christening gown from my husbands side was passed onto a member of the family who didn’t have any children.  Hopefully it will stay in the family. But the item which puzzles us most is a silver trophy which was never engraved, as yet searching online newspapers hasn’t given any answers.

Have you tried posting pictures of the trophy online to see if anybody recognises it??

[chiddicks]

Not really heirlooms, but I have many rather old, even possibly valuable leather bound quite early printed books that were my grandfathers. I also have books of gold leaf that he used in some of his work, and the tools to apply it (He actually taught me how to do it, when I was a young child, and, when in my 20s I tried, I found he must have taught me properly, so perhaps the skill is itself an heirloom?
I've odd items of jewellery from my grandmother, and from a great aunt, and a wooden hallstand that seems to have followed me around for decades, and also originally belonged to that same grandfather.
I wish that I still had his watercolour sketchbooks, mostly architectural studies, and clearly recognisable as real places where he lived - but they seem to have vanished when he died.

If it means something to you then it is indeed an heirloom, the leather bound books sound very special, maybe we should post pictures of all these wonderful treasures