Bit of a long shot this one, but nothing ventured, nothing gained...so, I've been doing the family tree thing for over a year, and learnt that my great grandfather, Robert Belshaw, was at one point the mill manager at Mons Mill, certainly in 1927, possibly in 1924, maybe earlier, leaving maybe in 1931? My guesses from the dates come from Todmorden newspaper articles that I've found so they may be way out. Mentioned about Mons Mill to my uncle this weekend who dug out an ashtray (see photos). Unfortunately my aunt isn't still with us so i can't ask her about its history.
It's made of brass, by a firm that no longer exists but from ebay hits seemed to specialise in commemorative ashtrays and such stuff for companies.
The logo looks like a WWI rifleman, but being brass I'm guessing it wasn't made during WWI (they'd've wanted the brass for the war). But there's no commemorative date. The mill was renamed after the WWI battle, and someone has said that they adopted the soldier as a logo after WWI.
Does anyone know, were these ashtrays generally available or done for a particular event?
And, does anyone know where I could found out about his employment at Mons Mill?
Many thanks for any ideas/tips/help 🙂
