Crosby and District Historical Society (Chairman)

The first meeting of the Crosby Records Society was held on 29^th November 1945 in Colonsay House, at that time the headquarters of the local Conservative Association and now the headquarters of the Mersey Mission to Seafarers. Harold Brazendale, Crosby Education Officer, was one of the convenors of the meeting and proposed the formation of the society. The other convenors were Charles Lamb, author of ‘The Story of Crosby’, still an important starting point for any Crosby historian, and George Wilkinson, the charter Clerk to the Council, i.e. he was Clerk when the Council received its charter in 1937. Other local personalities who attended were Mr TJP York, Headmaster of Merchant Taylors’ School and Rev M Luft, who succeeded Mr York as Head and wrote the definitive history of the school when it celebrated its 350^th anniversary in 1970.

It was no coincidence that the society was founded just after the end of the Second World War. A lot of records had been lost in the blitz and the country’s traditions and history had been almost obliterated and certainly altered forever, with more change to come. Sir Henry Hancock, the charter Mayor of Crosby, was elected Chairman of the society and told the meeting ‘In these days of change – and we are going through a revolution in a bloodless sort of fashion now – those of us who are getting older [he was 68] do feel a great reverence for the past. Unless you know the past you cannot do anything for the future.’ He retired as Chairman in 1947 because of increased commitments elsewhere. Educated at Liverpool Institute, Sir Henry started his business career as an office boy and went into the fruit trade. For this work he was awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of George I of Greece. He was most distinguished for his services to education as he had been a member of the Lancashire Education Committee since 1922, and was for example Chairman of Governors of the Merchant Taylors’ Schools, and governor of all the senior schools in Crosby: St Mary’s College, Seafield Convent, Waterloo Grammar and Waterloo Park!

The Mayor, Alderman AG Jamieson, was elected President of the Society, as all Mayors have been since. He had lived in the district more than sixty years and admitted that some parts of the district were not exactly as one would wish them to be, and all efforts should be made to change them as quickly as possible. ‘But fifty years from now the people would be interested to see what the place was like before the alterations were made. They would then accord some credit to the very much maligned councillors who got very little credit for what they did.’ Has his prophecy come true?

The name of the Crosby Records Society was soon changed in 1947 to Crosby Historical Society as people were getting quite the wrong impression of the nature of its activities and turned up expecting to hear recitals of gramophone records! The subjects of the talks, or ‘papers’ as they were called, usually given by the learned members, dealt with one part or another of the old Sefton parish and its ten ‘townships’, hence the decision taken in 1950 to change the name to ‘Crosby and District Historical Society’. Frank Tyrer was one of the most distinguished members of the Society. An authority on the Blundell family, he transcribed the whole of their documents including the complete diaries of Nicholas Blundell, and contributed numerous articles of local interest to the Crosby Herald.

In its life the Society has had several homes. In 1948 a move was made from Colonsay to the Waterloo Modern School and members met there until 1950, settling into Alexandra Hall until 1954 when they went to St Luke’s Hall and then the Central Library until 2007. The meetings now take place every fourth Monday of the month from September to May (second Monday in December and May) at 7.30 in the Methodist Church Hall in Moor Lane. There is also an annual dinner usually held in a place of historic interest and outings arranged during the spring and summer months. At one time the Society had a membership of over 200 but has declined to under 100 recently. However, the percentage attendance is good for a society of its kind.

During the last 65 years the society has had only five chairmen. Sir Henry Hancock was chairman for two years, and was then succeeded by Mr FG Blair FSA, Master and Librarian of the Athenaeum for 40 years and retired from the society in 1952. Thomas Williams MA was the next chairman for eighteen years. His lifetime achievement was to transcribe the parish registers of all the local Anglican Churches of the old Sefton boundary and beyond giving Family Historians a wealth of information. He then transcribed the wills and inventories of Sefton, Bootle, Crosby, Thornton, Lunt, Litherland, Aintree, Lydiate and Melling from the earliest date in the 16th century to 1825. This work is still continuing under the auspices of the Society through the generosity of David Leach MA who is finishing the transcriptions of the Altcar, Formby, Ainsdale, Birkdale and North Meols. In 1970 Mr NG Hockenhull DPA took his place until 1985 from when Mrs E J Shannon BSc served for no less than twenty years until Mr H.Hollinghurst MA took her place.

A highly treasured possession of the society is the gavel which was presented by Councillor Edgar H Jackson, a founder member, in 1955. On it are inscribed in silver the names of the chairmen and the words ‘This gavel is made from a limb of the Battle Oak reputed to be 1,000 years old. A silent witness to the decisive battle at Mortimer’s Cross between the houses of Lancaster & York in 1461.’