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Weighing the World – John Michell 1724-1793
The story of John Michell, Rector of Thornhill Parish Church near Dewsbury, who was a member of the Royal Society, and who entertained some of the world's most eminent scientists of the18th century at his Rectory. He published ideas in astronomy that were 200 years before his their time and is one of the greatest unsung scientists of his age.
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The Combs Colliery Disaster 4th July 1893
The historic village of Thornhill, near Dewsbury, is situated on a hill on the south side of the River Calder. It’s an important historic site and an area called “The Combs” was named by the ancient Celts, who inhabited the region. Thornhill was mentioned in the Domesday Book and, in the 19th century, it was where many of the author’s ancestors still lived and worked, as miners and quarrymen. Combs Colliery was one of several pits in the area owned by Edward Theodore Ingham, a member of the local gentry who lived at Blake Hall, Mirfield. Of his other pits, Hostingley had closed in 1880 and Ings, situated on adjacent…
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Professor Tom Kilburn CBE FRS – a Personal View of a Remarkable Man
Early years I grew up knowing about Tom Kilburn. He was born at 111 Town Street, Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, on 11th August 1921, just round the corner from where I was brought up. Tom’s father was a clerk at Mark Oldroyd’s woollen mill and later became Company Secretary. An intelligent boy, Tom was educated at the Wheelwright Boys Grammar School (WBGS), but in those early years, nobody could have predicted the enormous role that he would play in the world of wartime and post war technology. In the late 1930’s he was just another football-mad teenage boy who enjoyed stamp collecting, dancing and playing the piano, which he did rather well.…
