there would have been little demand for Burials Acts, and many unseemly scenes, and much unhappy bitterness throughout the land, would have been prevented. St John's, Shuttleworth, was consecrated in 1848. The Rev. H. P. Hughes was incumbent from 1845 to 1875. Mr Dyson succeeded in 1875. Glancing from the north-east to the south-west extremity of the district, Holcombe Brook Factory, successively under Mr Boothman, Mr Hutchinson, and others, and the Reddisher Wood Works, have also furnished their quota towards our industrial advancement. And there are other names, some almost forgotten, which claim a place in connection with the industrial progress of the town, such as Alsop, Wallwork, Wolstenholme, Proctor, Horne, Hutchinson, Wallace, Parkinson, Hamer, and others. There should also be mentioned the late Mr Christopher Geldard, who for many years occupied Rose Mill, and Mr William Stead, who, like the Nuttall Manufacturing Company since, did something to revive the vanished vitality of the manufacturing establishment at the old village of Nuttall. For the Company recently formed there, and for the Star Mill Company-for whom the extensive Cobden Mill premises have been enlarged, readjusted, and fully equipped-the community at large will wish a long and prosperous career, in company with their elder brethren, who have long borne the burden and heat of the day, striving loyally, through many trying years, to maintain and advance the wellbeing of Ramsbottom. 1 Now the property of Ramsbottom Industrial and Provident Society, Limited. engraving shop-now the front part of Hope Mill in Nuttall Lane-and Messrs William Rumney & Company, along with their print works at Stubbins, maintain also a large and well-equipped engraving department. We should also note, in connection with the trade of Ramsbottom, the extensive quarrying operations carried on in the immediate vicinity-at Scout Moor, by Messrs Whittaker; at Fletcher Bank, for a long period by the late Mr Richard Wild, and now by his successor, Mr Joseph Ellerbeck; and on the Holcombe range, by Mr Jeoffrey Grime Wild. The Ramsbottom Industrial and Provident Society, Limited, was established in 1858. It has proved, in many respects, an important institution. Its aggregate sales for the past twenty years amount to more than a million and a half sterling-the annual average being over £75,400. The average dividend paid during these years has been 2s. 8d. in the pound. The Society has long maintained a library and reading-room, and in other ways has accomplished valuable educational work, on which it has spent over £5000. The original Co-operative premises in Ramsbottom bore “Cussons, Castle, Warburton, & Compy." As representative of the local building industry, we select the names of the late Mr Thomas Heap, who built the Co-operative Company's premises; and the late Mr James Garnet and his son Robert, the latter of whom, unfortunately, was crushed to death by the fall of an arch, from which the supports had been prematurely removed. Some of the best edifices in the neighbourhood came from the Garnets - Park School, the Wesleyan Chapel, and St Andrew's (Dundee) Presbyterian Church may be taken as The writer cannot close this chapter without a special reference to the venerable nonagenarian friend, Mrs Wilson, whose clear and accurate memory has so often assisted him during recent years in his quest for reliable information about the Ramsbottom of the early part of this century. Mrs Wilson was the daughter of Mr Peter Macfarlane, who served his apprenticeship with the Peels, and afterwards went to the north of Ireland, where, at Carrickfergus, he married a Miss Stirling; and there Eliza was born in 1802. Owing to the unsettled state of Ireland, the father returned to Lancashire, and sometime afterwards he was rejoined at Ramsbottom by his wife and their two daughters. At first they were employed at Messrs Ashton's, but afterwards went to Manchester. There, soon after, Mr William Grant met the father, and induced him to come with his family to Messrs Grant's works at Ramsbottom. Eliza, in the first instance, was engaged in the warehouse, on the Old Ground. There, one day, a young man was brought to her by Mr Grant to be instructed in the craft of "hooking on." She "showed him how to hook on his very first piece." In after years he became manager of the Square works, then in their glory; subsequently he went as a partner to Rosebank Print Works, then became a well-known figure on Manchester Exchange, and eventually purchased an estate under the shadow of the Grampians, where he spent his latter days, and where his son, a few years ago, succeeded him. The youth whom Eliza Macfarlane initiated into the mysteries of "hooking on," about three-quarters of a century ago, was Mr Thomas Greig. Eliza was taken from the warehouse into the service of Mrs Grant at Grant Lodge, and subsequently became the |