Publications by John P H Frearson
The following publications are available from John P H Frearson. Contact and payment details at bottom of page.
Booklets about Rugby
The Bucknill Family – Doctors and Surgeons of Rugby, Nuneaton and Market Bosworth – and their notable descendants.
The story of three generations of doctor/surgeons in Rugby and some of their descendants over three centuries. The founder of the Bucknill family line was involved with the post-mortem for the Boughton murder. Many of the Bucknills attended Rugby School. The four sons all became doctor/surgeons, some providing medical services to Rugby and district and to Rugby School and its famous headmaster, Thomas Arnold, and attending at his death. They were friends with actor, Macready, after whom the Macready Theatre was named and which was built on former Bucknill land. Two descendant Bucknills became judges; three became clergymen; one was an eminent psychiatrist, founded the Devon Volunteers and was Lord of the Manor of Hillmorton; one was a colonel in the Royal Engineers, wrote books and was a yachtsman; and three were knighted. The story of a fascinating local family, whose story has not been told before.
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-6-8 – A5 stapled booklet, 80 pages, many B&W and colour illustrations. Price per copy: UK Pounds 10.99 – or direct from the publisher at UK Pounds 9.00, including UK postage and packing.
The Speights of Rugby * – Photographers [* and at Market Harborough, Nuneaton, Kettering, Leamington Spa, Redditch and Sutton Coldfield]
Edward Hall Speight, headmaster turned photographer, worked in Rugby from the early 1870s. His subjects ranged from town scenes to family groups, from the workhouse poor to local worthies, including the Brooke family and their son who was the famous Poet, Rupert Brooke. Edward Hall Speight had eight children: his six sons and elder daughter all became photographers, as did one of his grand-daughters. The sons were sent out “with five pounds, a bible and a tin trunk” and set up studios in Market Harborough, Exmouth, Nuneaton, Kettering, Leamington Spa, Redditch and Sutton Coldfield.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-1-2 – A5 stapled booklet, 68 pages, with over 160 photographs and illustrations, most previously unpublished and many in colour. Price per copy: UK Pounds 7.99 – or direct from the publisher at UK Pounds 8.00, including UK postage and packing.
Early Photographers in Rugby – 2nd Edition
This book started as an introduction to the author’s ‘The Speights of Rugby, Photographers’ which gave information on some of the other early photographers in Rugby. Although none were as prolific, long lasting or technically competent as E H Speight and his family, they had interesting stories to tell. Hopefully this booklet will provide an insight into those many other photographic businesses in Victorian and Edwardian Rugby.
ISBN: 978-0- 9935910-2-0 – A5, card cover, stapled, 72 pages with 87 colour and 44 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 8.49. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 8.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
Early Lime Works in the Rugby Area
This booklet deals with some 20 early lime works in the Rugby area, including Stretton on Dunsmore, and the forerunners of the Rugby and Newbold cement works. The many early lime works in the Rugby area utilised the Blue Lias limestone, but none lasted as long as the works that became the Rugby Portland Cement Works. However, they all had interesting stories to tell. Hopefully this booklet will provide an insight into the development of this important industry between the 18th Century and the early 20th Century.
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-5-1 – A5, stapled, 52 pages with 27 colour and 16 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 9.99. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 8.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
Jonathan Dumbleton Pinfold and the Brick Makers of Rugby
[This includes details of the Collins, Haddon, Haswell, Parnell, Rathbone, Satchell, and Wakefield Families]
A history of brickmaking in Rugby, with details of some 20 brickworks in the Rugby area, and the story of Jonathan Dumbleton Pinfold, a metal founder and engineer, who made brickmaking machinery, and then became a brickmaker himself, and also branched out into property speculation.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-4-3 – A5, card cover, stapled, 80 pages with 27 colour and 22 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 9.99. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 8.50 incl. UK postage and packing.
The Coal Merchants of Rugby, A History and Family History
[including the Babbedge, Beasley, Hands, Jeayes, Jones and Jeffery Families]
The story of the many early coal merchants in Rugby, several of the families being related. Based on documents in the Rugby Cement Archive, and the Warwickshire County Record Office, and many other sources.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-5-0 – A5, stapled, 83 pages with 25 colour and 39 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 9.49. – Price direct from publisher UK Pounds 8.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
The Rugby Morris Men – A Brief History
The Rugby Morris Men were formed in 1946 for a one night show by members of a Country Dance Class at the Percival Guildhouse. They decided to use their new skills and the Rugby Morris Men were a feature of the Rugby scene for the next ten years, until work moves, two tragically early deaths and changing circumstances led to their demise. This history is based on their Logbook, archive material and reminiscences. It provides a glimpse of Rugby leisure time in the later 1940s and early 1950s, in the days before television.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-2-9 – A5 stapled booklet, 51 pages, with over 45 photographs and illustrations, many previously unpublished and several colour. Price per copy: UK Pounds, 6.99, or direct from the publisher at UK Pounds, 6.00 including UK postage and packing.
Charles Edser Davis and the Davis family from Thurlaston, Dunchurch, Rugby and Nuneaton
Charles Edser Davis’s family were basket makers in Thurlaston, and later carpenters in Dunchurch. Charles became a carpenter, married, and joined up for the First World War, being gassed and wounded. A collection of photographs and documents led to research into his ancestors, his military career and recuperation in hospital, and his descendant family in Nuneaton. [With Joe Oldaker]
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-7-5 – A5 stapled, 40 pages, many B&W and colour illustrations. Price per copy: UK Pounds, 7.99, or direct from the publisher at UK Pounds, 7.00 including UK postage and packing.
The Burbury Family of Rugby
This book started with the identification of some local photographs, and led to the ‘rescue’ from an Executor, of two cases of ephemera which told the story of the Burbury family: one of whom served in WWI becoming a PoW; one who served in the VAD with the Navy in Malta just after WWII; and one who emigrated to USA and whose son became a Minister there; another was a butcher and bookmaker in Rugby. ‘An ordinary family with a fascinating life’ – and a plethora of photographs and illustrative material, much of which is now housed in a national museum, county archives, and the Rugby Museum. [With Christine Howling]
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-3-7 – A5, stapled, 76 pages with 42 colour and 62 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 12.99. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 11.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
Brownsover Hall Hotel – Its History, Characters, Stories and Surroundings
The Brownsover Hall Hotel, with the nearby church and the surrounding hamlet have a fascinating history, and the Hall’s former owners, the Boughton and Ward-Boughton-Leigh families, have been connected with the Hall for centuries and are connected with both interesting characters and national events. This booklet tells some of those connected stories. [with Alan J Allcott]
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-9-8 – A5, card cover, 40 pages with 17 colour and 12 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 6.49 – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 6.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
Other booklets.
Kayes Lime and Cement Works, Long Itchington, Southam – A Brief History
The Oldham and later Kaye Lime and Cement Company at Long Itchington, was one of the most successful works in the Southam and Stockton area, and was active from the 1840s until 1934, when it went bankrupt and was bought by Rugby Cement and became their Southam works. The quarry still supplies clay material to the present CEMEX Rugby cement plant. This booklet draws on material from the Rugby Cement archive to tell the story of the works and some of its personnel.
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-0-6 – A5, card cover, stapled, 76 pages with 17 colour and 22 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 10.49. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 9.50 incl. UK postage and packing.
Charles Nelson and Co., Lime and Cement Works, Stockton. A Brief History
The Charles Nelson Cement Co works at Stockton, nr. Southam, was one of the larger works in the area, and was active from the 1850s until about 1945, when it was taken over by Rugby Cement, and closed except in name. The area is now owned by Willow Wren Training who are reopening the canal arm and restoring the site. This booklet draws on material from the Rugby Cement archive to tell the story of the works and some of its personnel.
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-1-3 – A5, card cover, stapled, 64 pages with 27 colour and 25 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 10.49. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 9.50 incl. UK postage and packing. Now back in stock
John Frearson of Manchester and Birmingham – the forgotten socialist c.1811-1888
John Frearson was born in Leicestershire, a chartist bookseller in Manchester, and buried in a Birmingham guinea grave. A cutler and political speaker, he worked with Robert Owen in the 1830s and fled to America to avoid arrest in 1840. Returning to Birmingham, making fastenings, he exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition; patented the cross-head [now Phillips] screw and introduced the Saturday half-holiday to Birmingham. A radical socialist, he wrote for the Co-operator in the 1860s and wrote advising William Morris in the 1880s. He also ran a temperance hotel and managed a French giant!
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-8-1 – A5, card cover, stapled, 64 pages with 8 colour and 21 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 7.99. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 7.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
The Green Room Plaque – A Memorial to Twelve Actors of the First World War
This book summarises the careers of twelve actors members of London’s Green Room Club. They appeared on stage in UK, USA, South Africa and Australia, in light musicals and comedy and plays from Shakespeare to contemporary works. They then served, and gave their lives, in the many different theatres of the First World War. The memorial plaque was designed by Ferdinand Victor Blundstone who designed war and other memorials in Stalybridge, Folkestone, Manchester and London, as well as the sculptures at the Tyne Cot cemetery in Belgium.
The Actors – Lionel MACKINDER – Frank SAKER – Arthur HOLMES-GORE – Arthur CURTIS – Basil HALLAM – Guy RATHBONE – Charles BIBBY – Marcus DRAPER – Leopold PROFEIT – Charles TREVOR-ROPER – Charles BLACKALL – Henry HARGREAVES.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-4-3 – A5, card cover, stapled, 72 pages with 41 colour and 24 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 8.49. – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 7.50 incl. UK postage and packing.
The Emberton Morris Men and the Abbott and Ginn Families – A Brief History
The Emberton Morris Men were one of the earliest revival Morris sides. Active in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire from the mid-1920s, these prizewinning Morris dancers, were formed and led by Wilfrid Abbott, who had served in WWI and been gassed and captured, before going up to Oxford, and then teaching locally. The side faded in the 1930s when Wilfred Abbott moved to teach in London, where he remained active, dancing in the EFDSS demonstration team until his very early death. He married Freda Ginn, a well known Bedford and Bedfordshire folk dance teacher, dancer and musician. When widowed in 1936, Freda Ginn, now Abbott, returned to Bedford, where she taught music and folk dance for the EFDSS and then Ickwell, where she led the Ickwell May dancing for many years.
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-8-2, – A5 stapled, 72 pages, many colour and B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 9.99 – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 8.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
Family Histories
The Loake Family of Wilcote and Witney
A family history of the descendents of the Desborough Loakes and the Hillyards from Northampton, and the Lists and Joslins from Devon
The Loake (Lawke) family can be traced back to Desborough in the mid 1300s, and remained there for centuries. In the mid-1800s, some migrated to London, Essex and later Oxfordshire. They married with the Hillyard family, known for non-conformist ministers from Northamptonshire; and later with the List and Joslin families, paper-makers and farmers from Devonshire who migrated to Oxfordshire in the 1880s.
This brief history was inspired by a family gathering in 2012, of the descendents of the Loake family of Wilcote and Witney. It draws upon family reminiscences, documents and photographs, and material deposited in County Record Offices and Archives.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-4-3 – A4, card cover, stapled, 80 pages with 71 colour and 78 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 16.99 – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 16.00 incl. UK postage and packing. Currently out of print
The Loake Family of Desborough and Rothwell
A family history of the descendants of the Great Oxendon Loakes and their progress to Desborough, Rothwell and Kettering [with Peter Loake]
The Loake (Lawke) family can be traced back to Desborough in the mid 1300s. In the late 16th century some migrated to Great Oxendon, and in the 18th century onwards to Desborough, Rothwell and Kettering. The family included two groups of sibling shoemakers, including the famous ‘Loakes of Kettering’. This brief history was commissioned by co-author, Peter Loake, and draws upon family reminiscences, documents and photographs and archival sources.
ISBN: 978-0-9935910-9-9 – A4, card cover, stapled, 56 pages with 38 colour and 28 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 19.99 – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 19.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
The Tayler Family of Northleach, Gloucestershire – A Brief Histor
(together with the related Walker, Dyer, Minchin, Acock, Garne and Frearson Families)
The author’s grandmother was a Tayler from Northleach. Whilst there were many Tayler families in the Cotswolds, the family of main interest lived mainly in and around Northleach, Cold Aston (Aston Blank), Compton Abdale and Turkdean from at least the mid 1700s. In Northleach they farmed, were auctioneers and ran the Cotswold Brewery. They served and some lost their lives in the World Wars. Thanks to the generous assistance of members of the Tayler family and other researchers, and of libraries, archives and record offices, the story of the Taylers of Northleach can be told.
ISBN: 978-0-9563350-7-4 – A4, card cover, stapled, 68 pages with 95 colour and 43 B&W illustrations. Price per copy UK Pounds 19.99 – Price direct: from publisher UK Pounds 18.00 incl. UK postage and packing.
Publishers contact details are given below. Payment by cheque to John Frearson at the address below, or contact John Frearson by email for bank details; alternatively pay by PayPal to the Email address, adding 50p per book to cover their fees.