Catalogue description The Diaries of Miss Rachel M Irwin

THE COLLECTION CONSISTS OF DIARIES

Irwin, Rachel M, 1859-1951, Quaker

Deposited 19 February, 1953 by R. Irwin, Esq., M.A., F.L.A., University College, Gower Street, London, W.C.1.

RACHEL M. IRWIN (1859 - 1951).

Second daughter of Richard Irwin, of Parkhouse, Stapleton, Cumberland and Manchester. The family was a branch of the Irvings of Bonshaw in Dumfriesshire; they crossed the Border in the 17th Century.

Rachel Irwin left Manchester soon after her father died in 1902, and settled at Shatton Hall, near Cockermouth. About 1919 she moved to Reigate, Surrey. She died at Middlewich, Cheshire, and was buried in the Friends Burial Ground, near Whitley, Cheshire. She was throughout her life a prominent member of the Society of Friends.

Her two brothers, Wilfrid and John Irwin, were chemical engineers. The West Cumberland By-Products Co., Ltd., at Flimby, near Maryport, was established by Wilfrid Irwin. On his death the management passed to his brother John, and later to John Irwin's eldest son, Cuthbert Irwin.

Rachel Irwin was never married.

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