Life and Times in Victorian Weardale: The Letters of Francis Vickers - Paperback

by Frank H. Sanderson (Author)

This book has resulted from the author's fascination with his paternal ancestors, hill farmers from Weardale in the far west of County Durham. A family historian for more than thirty years, he came into the possession of a series of letters written by Victorian cousin, Francis Vickers of Stanhope in Weardale to his cousins George and Thomas Vickers who migrated from Stanhope to Ontario in the early Victorian period. These letters provide a real insight into life in late Victorian Weardale and served as the inspiration for writing this book. In the letters, written between 1874 and 1901, Francis keeps his cousins informed about the fortunes of close family members, but he also includes a wealth of information about family friends and acquaintances, many of whom would have been known to his Canadian cousins before they left Weardale. But more than that, he touches on important issues and events of local and national interest: for example, the triumph of the Liberals in South Durham in the 1874 General Election and the effects on tenant farmers of the agricultural depression, and the opening of the Weardale Extension Railway in 1895. And as a tenant farmer, he had a lot to say about the weather, even commenting on newspaper reports he had seen of hurricanes in North America. Using Victorian newspaper sources, the author has breathed life into the characters and events to which Francis made passing reference. He has placed the Vickers family members and their friends and acquaintances recorded in the letters in the local historical context. Many of these people featured in local newspapers for their prize-winning stock at agricultural shows which brought prestige to Weardale, for their service on local public boards, for their political leadership on issues affecting not only tenant farmers but also miners and quarrymen, and their important contributions to the local economy. Typically, they were highly respected pillars of the community, and through these pages their outstanding achievements can be acknowledged and admired. What emerges in the book is a series of snapshots of life in late Victorian Weardale, providing a commentary which will appeal to anyone interested in family and local history.

Author Biography

Frank Sanderson was born in 1946 in Barnard Castle in the North-East of England and was brought up in St Helens Auckland. He attended King James 1 Grammar School, Bishop Auckland before graduating as a teacher in the 1960s. After a brief teaching career, Frank returned to the University of Leeds to complete a Masters degree, followed by a Doctorate in 1974. In 1975, he and colleagues at Liverpool Polytechnic launched the first Sports Science honours degree in Western Europe. He was awarded a professorship in Health Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in 1992. A former county squash player, Frank is an accomplished skier, an optimistic golfer, and a keen gardener. He has been an active family and local history researcher since the 1970s and, after recently retiring, is relishing the opportunity to spend more time on this absorbing interest. His second book "Life in the Northern Dales: Stories from a Farming Family" was published in 2014.