The Engineer, the Crook and Eight Men of the Sea by Aurélie Freeman
A remarkable story in three parts.
The first gives a fascinating insight into the life of Thomas Ker, a civil engineer in Rajasthan, India, in the later nineteenth century, as well as that of some of his relatives and sons in India. It traces his work in building railways, railway schools and colonies, the juggling of his family and social life between India and Britain, and his involvement in aid during the famine of 1901. A keen photographer, he left a unique record of his life there and in Shimla and the section is generously illustrated with his photos.
Next, we follow a story of skulduggery and cruelty in the Isle of Man, pieced together from the newspapers of 1834. The author shows how the revelations develop week by week and questions the changes that occur as the story is passed down the generations of an upright Edinburgh family.
In the final section we follow men from one family who worked in maritime jobs on the Hampshire, Sussex and Kent coasts between 1700 and 1900: eight stories of shipbuilders and house carpenters, harbour masters and sailmakers, pilots, privateers and mariners trading in coastal waters and on the high seas.
Well researched and empathically related, this is history from the bottom up.
Reviews of The Engineer, the Crook and Eight Men of the Sea by Aurélie Freeman
Juliet Duff, ‘The Rubies of Rye’, Rye News, 15 March 2024.
A meticulously researched history…spanning several centuries and places across the world. Using family stories and records, photographs …and newspaper articles…, Freeman is able to bring these Ryers to life once again.
A fascinating book with a wealth of sources from both this country and abroad, that would be of interest to historians and those researching family history.’
Adam Streatfield-James, Editor, The Journal of the Families in British India Society, no 51, Spring 2024
It is engagingly presented and is backed up with extensive evidence, a real gem of family history research…
The book is generously illustrated, the Indian photographs in particular are a delight…
She includes an informative section on her sources and methods, making this a valuable resource as well as very readable.
The Railway Town of Ramsbottom
Past and Present
by Nigel Jepson
This book tells the fascinating story of how Ramsbottom became a railway town in the 1840s after a group of local businessmen met in a pub in Bury to set up a company which became known as the East Lancashire Railway.
The various ups and downs in the process of building the line connecting Ramsbottom with Bury and Rawtenstall are described here using a variety of sources, including newspaper reports of an ‘alarming riot’ of railway workers at the Grant Arms.
The arrival of the railway brought immense benefits as far as local industry and the town’s growing population were concerned. However, the ‘Beeching Cuts’ of the 1960s had telling consequences for the existing East Lancashire rail network. The impact on Ramsbottom is gauged by exploring the views and reactions of local people as well as those in Summerseat where police had to be brought in to suppress protest action.
Although the demolition of Ramsbottom Station in the early 70s seemed a nail in the coffin for its railway town status, a brave campaign, spearheaded by the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society (ELRPS) was already underway aimed at re-opening the Bury-Ramsbottom line.
Against the odds, victory for this brave band of rail enthusiasts came about in 1987 and marked by the re-opening of a heritage line between Bury and Ramsbottom. The development was seen as ‘a heaven-sent opportunity’, galvanising the life of the town as a whole.
First-hand accounts are used to highlight the significant impact railways have had on people’s lives up to the present day.
Nigel Jepson lives in Ramsbottom and is a keen supporter and member of Ramsbottom Cricket Club.
He first came to the local area in the mid-1990s when taking up post as Headteacher at nearby Haslingden High School. As far as the broader community was concerned, it didn’t take long to pick up the vibes regarding the longstanding rivalry between Haslingden and Ramsbottom, much of it existing on a cricketing front as traditional close rivals in the Lancashire League.
Nigel’s last UK Head’s post was at Kearsley Academy in Bolton from 2010 to 2014. ‘Retired’, he has though carried out interim Headteacher work in Dubai during 2016 and has also conducted teacher training programmes in New Delhi in 2018.
Although having always been keen on team sports, he developed a passion for long distance running which started with the London Marathon in 1982, moving through other events to New York in 2001. More recently, over 2017 to 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic kicking in, he ran four more marathons in Dubai, Belfast, Manchester and Liverpool.
At the turn of the 19th century, in support of the first animal welfare campaigners, cats told their own stories through a series of best-selling children’s books. They moused in high places but pay was often poor, as revealed by Florence Nightingale in her memo complaining of the meagre rations for cats in the War Office. Many cats worked at home in London - where rats were a scourge – and enjoyed the luxury of a daily fast food service: a slice of horse flesh on a skewer delivered through the letterbox by the Cats-meat man. On the steam railway network, cats had power: the safety of the travelling public was largely dependent on the hunting skills of the signal box ratters.
Crowds flocked to the first cat show held at the Crystal Palace in 1871, when aristocrats and royalty obsessed over their competitive hobby of breeding longhairs.
Published:
April 2019
Paperback:
166 pages
Size:
250 x 250 mm
Price:
£18.50
ISBN:
9-781912-419579
Paperback edition (UK only)
£18.50 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:
Also available from Amazon
Hardback edition (UK only)
£27.50 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:
A spoilt Persian puss scratched the hand of the Prince of Wales and even more spoilt ladies chased the terrified exhibition organizer round the hall for something he had forgotten to do. The National Cat Club was founded along with the first stud book as a guide for ‘points of excellence.’
Technical advances in colour printing raised the profile of cats; their image was everywhere, on greetings cards, valentines, picture post-cards, sheet music and advertisements that sold every kind of product imaginable.
Poor Puss is the story of cats as they bravely clawed their way up the social ladder - out of persecution and superstition - to gain their rightful place as cherished family pets today. With impressive research, over three hundred archival pictures and entertaining anecdotal detail, meaty as a plump mouse.
You may never view your cat in the same way again!
Reviews...
Jilly Cooper Marvellous historical background and all the glorious illustrations
Dear Marilyn, A million congratulations on your wonderful book Poor Puss. A Social History of English Cats, the marvellous historical background and all the glorious illustrations make it the perfect present for any cat lover. Truly well done, Love, Jilly Cooper.
London Metropolitan Archives 'impressive in every way'
Music, Diamonds and Conspiracy
Fowkes and friends in India, 1701-1788
Bob Fowke
This book is based on the correspondence of several generations of the Fowke, Holland and Walsh families during the eighteenth century. Closely related to each other, they were representative of the wider British merchant class in this period, growing in wealth and sophistication but, in general, without much landed property. Their fate was closely intertwined with the East India Company and with Robert Clive when he came on the scene, and this book sets them in that wider context. Much of their correspondance ended up in the British Library as the 'Fowke Papers' and the 'Ormathwaite Collection', two of the largest collections of personal letters surviving from the eighteenth century.
They were a mixed bunch and included gamblers and fraudsters as well as honest merchants both male and female. What united them was their intellect or their intellectual pretensions, and their curiosity about the world, and in this they were perhaps less representative of their class.
Several were passionate music lovers and instrumentalists, several invented things, for instance systems of shorthand, one became a member of the Royal Society. As the century progressed, they came to inhabit a world of wealthy amateurs but it was still a world of early death and bitter quarrels as well as of pleasure. The women’s letters are especially interesting in this respect.
Bob Fowke is a prolific writer of historical non-fiction and children's reference books, published by Hachette, Oxford University Press, Collins and Heinemann. His book, The Real Ancient Mariner, uncovers the identity of the man who shot an albatross and inspired Coleridge's poem, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
Reviews...
Paul Binding, novelist, critic, poet and cultural historian. Bob Fowke generously allows his forebears to speak for themselves so that we readers can get to know them through both their words and their actions, and make our own minds up about the differences between these. At the same time he draws the societies which formed his people and on which they themselves had impact - Britain and India - with admirable informative clarity. A particular feature of the book was its presentation of his characters’ feeling for (and accomplishment at) music.
Toby Green, Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and
Culture at King’s College London. A fascinating family history. Bob Fowke’s focus on the women involved casts the gendered history of empire in an important new light. This is a book which brings a new perspective onto the English imperial venture in India.
Martin Rudwick FBA, Emeritus Professor of History at the
University of California, San Diego. CA fascinating insight into the lives of some of those who worked for the East India Company in the 18th century, their wives and families, and their tangled relations with Indian maharajahs, English politicians, and a host of other characters.
A ground-breaking exploration of the origins, meaning and history of place names in southern Britain, The History of Place Names in England and Worcestershire throws new light on the people who coined the names and those who later modified them in waves of successive migration.
Dr Mike Jenkins’s extensive research is based on an integrated multidisciplinary approach; he collates evidence from: the study of place names, written history, archaeology, anthropology, the evolution of language, genetic population studies, geology and evidence of the environment and natural history of the past. Scenes and settlements are described as if the reader were looking out at them over the centuries from a well known landmark and this brings the research sharply to life.
In Part 3, Worcestershire acts as a paradigm for southern Britain as a whole. This closer detail allows Dr Jenkins to demonstrate the extraordinary potential that the study of the origins and meaning of place names holds for our understanding of the folks who lived in a particular area in the past. He includes guidance or a ‘history tool kit’ that the reader can apply to any county or locality of England, thus bringing relevant local history to your doorstep.
Mike Jenkins is a retired medical doctor and medical educationalist of over thirty years experience in both Primary and Secondary (hospital) Care. He has undertaken original research and published many research papers including leading articles in the British Medical Journal and other peer reviewed journals.
He has wide experience in writing, lecturing and the development of educational programmes. Over the last thirty years he has enjoyed learning, writing and lecturing on history, anthropology, evolutionary biology and genetics, natural history and toponomy. Indeed, this generalist role has been helpful in collating evidence from such diverse disciplines.
Writing on Shakespeare's Walls
The Historic Graffiti in the Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon
Pamela Devine
The historic graffiti in the medieval Guild Chapel in Stratford-upon-Avon gives a wonderful insight into a world where writing on the walls was routine.
Barely visible without a torch, it has remained largely unnoticed and unexplored until now, despite the building’s close association with William Shakespeare and
his family.
The Chapel is unique within Stratford: no other building in the town has such a broad range of historic graffiti. It tells the story of the Chapel and its famous neighbour in a completely new way, shedding light on the innermost thoughts of the people who have come and gone from the building for over five hundred years, some of whom may have been Shakespeare’s family and friends, perhaps even Shakespeare himself.
Published:
Nov 2020
Paperback:
112 pages
Price:
£8.50
ISBN:
978-1-913425-20-3
Images:
60 B/W
£8.50 (+ £3 postage)
Number of copies:
Available soon from Amazon
The Chapel’s medieval graffiti reveals the hopes, fears and beliefs prevalent on the eve of Shakespeare’s birth; later graffiti reveals the changes in the way the Chapel was used during his lifetime, and changes in belief after the Reformation as graffiti gradually became more about recording a visit or remembrance. The absence of more modern graffiti tells its own story, and reflects the different attitude towards graffiti in churches, particularly as the Victorian period progressed. The walls really do talk!
Mary Queen of Scots in Staffordshire
This is a local history with national and international dimensions. It has always been known that Queen Mary was imprisoned in Staffordshire, and other Midlands counties, but the crucial role of this county in the many plots launched around the captive Queen has been underestimated. The times when the Queen was put in Staffordshire always meant that the plots and plotting which followed her had reached crisis proportions. Staffordshire was a highly secure backwater, but her jailers could not isolate herf - until the very end, and then with unexpected consequences.
At first the government of Elizabeth, her cousin, knew she was plotting but not how. In the first year of her captivity she sought a court intrigue to marry a Duke - and was caught up in the Earls revolt. In the final eighteen months in the county the spymaster Francis Walsingham organised a ground-breaking counter plot to find out what was going on. But was his counter plot a trap? This was an illegal captivity - but was Mary making political choices which triggered her downfall? Staffordshire was the crucial stage for the key developments in her English captivity, explored here for the first time in unique detail.
It's Not about Shakespeare
Aspects of ordinary life in Stratford-upon-Avon, 1775-1915
Val Horton
A great deal is known about Stratford-on-Avon’s remarkable Elizabethan history but very little of its more recent past. Beginning in 1775 with an Act of Inclosure through to 1914 and the First World War, this book attempts to redress that imbalance. It is a concise and compelling read, presenting the reader with a rare glimpse of local life during the 140 years concerned. Being a period of remarkable change, it brought great improvement to the town, but there was often a price to be paid. Education, healthcare, suffrage, slavery and housing are just a few of the areas explored. Within its chapters, local dignitaries, benevolent families, unfortunate paupers and brave men and women all have a voice. When George Cope encountered Constable Keeley during the 1832 elections, and feelings were running high, he wanted to ‘split his skull open’. Later, in 1912, Albert Danks was told by a local district judge he had ‘done a foolish thing’ in accepting a stolen duck, and let off. With such well-chosen words, many gleaned from archived copies of the local paper, the reader is presented with an intriguing insight into life in this famous small town.
Robert Booth, Social Affairs Correspondent for The Guardian Bristling with the chaotic energy of riots, strikes and bacchanalia, this elegant, humane and subtly radical social history of Stratford reveals a place unknown to the millions of visitors who come looking only for the trace of Shakespeare. Val Horton is a witty and diligent guide as she charts her home town’s other life: a stuttering journey to modernity from the squalor of the poor house via the struggles for women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery. Suddenly, Shakespeare’s town seems so much more.
Anne Langley, Family & Community Historical Research Society This is an unusual book...The research started out as a history of the author’s Edwardian house, but by including the owners of the land on which the house was built, it’s developed into a record of everyday life in Stratford (1775-1915). The chapters alternate between those about the history of the house and those of more general interest. Thus there are chapters about the workhouse, education, medical provision, women’s suffrage, the Great War and so on.
Anyone writing the history of a house- or indeed their family- might like to consider copying this enterprising approach to publishing their findings.
Dr Sarah Richardson, History department, University of Warwick An impressively researched and fascinating insight into the changing character of a town in transition: Stratford-on-Avon. The lost voices of ordinary men and women from the town echo through the pages, providing a unique interpretation of the town. Valerie Horton has created a brilliant and inspiring social history based on comprehensive and meticulous research.
Michael G. Mattis, retired editor, Davis, California Val Horton’s long residence in Stratford-Upon-Avon and her devotion to the history of its people have given her a clear vision of this special place. More than a story told between neighbors over the back fence, her book gives the bigger picture - of inclosure, slavery, conscription, insurrection, politics, women’s rights, law and order, education, medical care, housing for the poor – but from a local perspective.
A fascinating look at an amazing town. Cyril Bennis, former mayor of Stratford, now the town’s swan keeper Communities are a collection of individuals, connected by streets, and this is the logical starting point for this engrossing social history. We are given a fascinating glimpse into the plans and personal aspirations of the various owners of Mayfield Avenue, and how these involved and were influenced by the social institutions of their time in the town at large. Meticulously researched and well told, it brings to life a non-Shakespearean, but no less engrossing, period of Stratford-upon-Avon life.
When you have produced the final draft of your book, it is always advisable to have the text read and checked by a professional editor or proof reader.
You may have friends that are willing and competent to do this and we can advise you on the type of editing that is required.
We can offer four levels of editing as well as proof-reading.
You choose which, if any, are appropriate in your case: 1. Edit of sample pages and short report (£30)
We will edit a few pages to highlight editorial issues so that you can look for similar problems throughout the book.
This will reduce the amount of further copy-editing required when the book is finished. 2. Broad structural editing and criticism (£5 per thousand words)
A structural review is particularly relevant for works of fiction.
The structural reviewer will address the following main areas and produce a short report for the author ” Read More 3. Copy editing (£10 per thousand words)
A copy-editor takes a close look at your text, line by line, with an eye to grammatical errors, repetition, inconsistency and lack of clarity. The copy editor will make changes to the text, with suggestions for rewriting, grammar, and punctuation. When you receive the edited version, you have the final choice about accepting of rejecting the individual changes. 4. Proof Reading (£8 per thousand words)
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication. Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself. 5. Consistency Scan
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we offer an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies. This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling and inconsistencies of hyphenation and capitalisation.
We can also identify inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names. 6. Cover text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we can work with you to make sure that these are correct and effective.
Copy Edit
Copy-editors get the raw material into shape for publication i.e they edit the copy.
When they have finished, the designer can lay out or typeset the book and produce a proof.
It is quite normal for the author to make additional changes after a book has been copy-edited.
Working through the material, the copy-editor may identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style and usage, but also very long sentences and overuse of italic, bold, capitals and exclamation marks.
They should correct or query doubtful facts, weak arguments, plot holes and gaps in numbering.
In fiction, they should also check that characters haven’t changed their name or hair colour, look for sudden changes from first to third person among other things.
The Copy-editor is not a proof reader and should not be expected to find all of the errors in the text particularly if the text is badly written to start with.
This is the job of the proof reader.
The final proof should be checked by a proof reader or an experienced reader friend before going to print.
It is almost inevitable (and acceptable) to miss a few errors which can be corrected in a later edition.
Proof Reading
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication.
Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself.
If you have decided to complete this stage of the process yourself, we will send a detailed check-list to help you.
We ask you to try and ensure that the book is completely ready before we start the layout.
Once the layout has started, we expect that you might want to to make a small number of amendments but
if there are a significant number, we may need to charge for the extra time it takes to change the layout
so best to discuss this with us first.
Structural Review
In fiction, the main areas that a structural editor will address are:
Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it believable? Is it satisfying or does it leave the reader frustrated? Themes: Are the themes effectively handled? Are there so many that the book lacks focus? Do they interfere with the plot or complement it?
Characterisation: Are your characters well developed and believable? Are they cast in a role that fits their personality? Do they sometimes behave out of character? Point of view/voice: Is the voice consistent or is it sometimes confused? Is the voice authentic? Are you using too many or too few POVs? Pace: Does the plot move forward at an appropriate pace? Should you cut that preface? Should the action happen sooner or should the tension build more slowly? Dialogue: Do your characters sound real when they speak? Is your dialogue cluttered with adverbs and beats? Do you use clunky dialogue to move the plot forward? Flow: Is the narrative interrupted by dead-ends and tangents? Is there so much back story that the main plot is dwarfed? Are there missing plot points that would give the narrative greater integrity?
In non-fiction, the principle is the same, but the specific issues are slightly different:
Thesis: Is your thesis relevant? Is it clearly defined or is it lost among marginal issues? Exposition: Are your arguments clear and cogent? Are they well researched and properly supported? Do they have a clear relationship with your thesis? Content: Are all the necessary topics sufficiently dealt with? Are the chapters weighted correctly? Is there superfluous content? Organisation: Is the information organised logically? Are tables and illustrations used appropriately? How many levels of subheads do you need and how should they be arranged? Tone: Is the tone appropriate for the audience? Do you need to eliminate jargon? Is the text accessible? Pace: Are there passages that are bogged down in detail? Do you spend too long on detail irrelevant to the main thesis? Are there areas that need further exposition lest they be skipped over?
Cover Text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we work with you to make sure that these are as effective as possible.
Consistency check
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we can run an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies.
This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation.
It also checks for consistent formatting of numbers and dates as well as undefined abbreviations.
Full Script Edit
The script that you deliver to us will probably constitute what the industry would classify as the ‘Initial Rough Draft’, i.e. a full screenplay written without any other professional input or advice, and probably without a great deal of rewriting. We work through your draft, line by line, scene by scene, and come back to you with a comprehensive set of notes from which you can then work towards the official ‘1st Draft’. Some of our notes will be broad and general, dealing with such areas as the overall shape and structure, pacing, plot and character development; others will be far more specific, with corrections, clarifications and suggested cuts etc. It is of course entirely up to you whether or not to take these suggestions on board, and to what extent.
Subsequent Script Edit
It is very normal and generally beneficial for the script-editing process to go through at least a couple of cycles
i.e. the rewritten draft to be worked through once again by an experienced script practitioner – though this would be entirely at the discretion and behest of the writer.
Ongoing Support
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