Burton Millennium History Group, William E. Wrathall's family, and Burton-in-Lonsdale

[Here is] a little story which may amuse you. [In late September 2000] I went to an exhibition at Burton-in-Lonsdale. The Burton Millennium History Group has produced a book called "Glimpses of Burton's Past" and the exhibition, which lasted for a week, had the same title. I was looking at one of the displays, and picked up an old photograph of the ammunition factory at Morecambe, which blew up in 1917 during WW1. The chap standing next to me said "I remember that, I was three and remember being taken to a neighbour's cellar because people thought it must be an air raid". So I asked him if he remembered the Wrathalls, to which he replied "I am one". He is William E. Wrathall, the son of William Foster Wrathall, a distant cousin of my father. Needless to say, we have exchanged addresses etc. and I will be seeing him again in the not too distant future.

• The family shop in Bentham . L to R - Thomas Yates, William Foster Wrathall, John Wrathall (father of W F W), Arthur Shuttleworth
• John Wrathall leading horse . John is on left of picture.
• William Foster Wrathall & family . L to R - William Foster, Eleanor, William Edward & Marion Wrathall.
• Bentham snooker team . L to R - standing - Jack Vipond, Billy Smith, Bert Hemmings - seated - Fred Smith, Harold Slinger, William Foster Wrathall
• William Edward (Ted) Wrathall - in uniform during WW2.

.... I thought you might be interested in the attached photograph. The stoneware jars were made for William Foster Wrathall at the Bateson pottery in Burton-in-Lonsdale and were given to me by his son William Edward (Ted). I had prepared a family tree document for Ted and I think this was his way of saying thank you. You may just be able to see the prices on them: 9d, 6d, and 4d in the old £ s d currency.

Derek mentioned getting the booklet at the history exhibition the village had in September 2000. Copies are still available, at £3.50 each (collected), £4.00 inc postage, mainland delivery, or £4.75 overseas.

Please apply to:

Burton Millennium History Group
c/o Bleaberry House, Duke Street, Burton-in-Lonsdale, via Carnforth, Lancs., LA6 3LG, England

Just over a week ago I went to an open day at Burton-in-Lonsdale school. They were celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of the school. They still have most of the old school log books and other documents so I had a quick browse through them and found mentions of my parents and all my aunts and uncles - none in the corporal punishment book I'm pleased to say. There were other Wrathalls in some of the earliest records so I asked the headmaster if he would allow me to spend a day at the school extracting all relevant records. He has agreed and I hope to do this between now and Easter. The information is unlikely to be of general interest but it will be of interest to the members of our family. I also met up with Rene Wrathall, the wife of William Wallbank Wrathall, and her son, Paul. Paul's children attend the school so there have been Wrathalls at the school on and off for virtually the whole 150 years.

I have been to see Ted Wrathall ...... . Other friends called whilst I was there, and his daughter, Susan, was helping, so we had a very pleasant and entertaining afternoon listening to some of his reminiscences of his POW days. He was liberated by the Russians and eventually repatriated via Odessa. He also produced a quite large picture of his uncle, Leonard Wrathall, in uniform ...... . It is interesting in that it is a seemingly poor photograph that has been enhanced by an artist to give a very good and clear result. ....... He has lent me a book, "They Were Never Told - The Tragedy of HMS Dasher", this being the ship which blew up in 1943 and on which his brother, John Sandford Wrathall, died.

I have managed to borrow the photo of Leonard Wrathall from William Edward (Ted) Wrathall at Bentham ..... Leonard was born 22 Sep 1879 at Lodge Farm, Hornby, Lancashire, the son of John Wrathall and Eleanor Foster and brother of William Foster Wrathall, Ted's father.

Ted ..... says that Leonard served in the Boer War. The uniform doesn't give much away but the pith helmet seems appropriate. The photograph was taken in London at Harts Victoria Studios, 179 & 181 City Road E.C. and at 275 Leytonstone Road E. In the GRO Indexes there is a marriage of Leonard Wrathall to [Miss] "Williams" registered at Woolwich in the 2nd qtr of 1914 and Ted has told me that Leonard married Elsie Williams. ......