The past is a foreign country

This family photograph probably shows Alfred Robertshaw, my great grandfather, who worked in a Bradford Mill, on a works outing.

Which one is he ? Who knows ? There are no other pictures of him to compare and help identify him.

Easier to identify the charabanc. When I was a kid in the 50s, older people still called them charas. The picture shows a Karrier charabanc, registered in the Bradford area before and March 1922, when the AK prefix denoting Bradford ceased to be used. 

AK 5322 looks like a 1914 model, and was made in Huddersfield by Clayton and Co Ltd. Clayton first produced motor vehicles in 1908.

It's tantalising to think he is there in the picture and that there is no way of knowing which of these characters he was.

The picture is somehow an image of so much family research where you can feel so close but know you are still light years away.

Even with the most assiduous research, the subtle details of lives have gone: did they whistle or sing when working ? What were they like when they first came home after a day at work ? Did they laugh easily ? Were they kind to others ? Were they quick to help ? Were they slow to put their hand in their pocket, or generous to a fault ?

There is a kind of 'thick present' when we might be known, maybe to our grandchildren, and even be a vague but real memory for great-grandchildren. But in three generations we are finally gone: all that remains will be odd dates, a half-remembered name, dubious family legends, and indecipherable electronic data that seemed so modern at the time.

This was my great grandfather too:

J.F RASPIN LIMITED

COMMISSION WOOL COMBERS

TELEPHONE N^os

3900, 3901 BRADFORD

PRIVATE BRANCH EXCHANGE

TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS,

“RASPIN”,

BRADFORD

VALLEY MILLS, BRADFORD

February 23^rd, 1931.

Dear Alf,

I have been going to write to you for some time.

I was so busily employed with other matters at the time you were taken ill, I did not know about it until more than a week later. Since then business outside the routine of my own business has occupied my attention almost exclusively and this last week I have been at home myself.

I was so very sorry to hear that you were ill and trust you are now quite better.

You will be pleased to know that thanks to your splendid efforts we are now perfectly satisfied with our work and production.

I have made careful comparisons with other well known Combers’ work and in every case I consider ours the best.

Will you accept my very grateful thanks for the generous manner in which you have given me your unstinted assistance and for the whole-hearted way in which you tackled our problem. It was indeed very good of you.

Perhaps you will call and see me sometime when you are feeling quite well again.

Yours very sincerely

J F Raspin