At 19 years of age, William Cowell is one of the youngest of the 25 parishioners killed in the war. His military service lasted for little more than 8 months and like many young men, he was killed in his first encounter with the enemy on the Western Front battlefields. William Cowell, born on 8th [...]
In the two years before the war there were hundreds of sightings of what people believed were airships in the skies from across Britain. This caused panic with many people believing that Germany was spying on England, or worse, planning to invade! However, there was little or no hard evidence that any Zeppelin airships were [...]
Work Many of the men and women who remained behind supported the war effort in lots of ways. Because many men were away on the front line women stepped into their roles, some of which had never been opened up to women before. Many of these jobs were in industries and on the farms, essential [...]
John James Ashworth, the oldest child of St James the Less parishioners John Ormerod and Mary Ashworth, was born at the family home in Double Street, Rawtenstall on 29th July 1891. John Ormerod was a Rawtenstall man, born and bred, but Mary, like many parishioners at that time, had settled in the area from County [...]
