Catalogue description THE BUTTERWORTH PAPERS (1787 - 1859) of Edwin Butterworth (1812 - 1848) and James Butterworth (1771 - 1837) of Oldham, Lancashire

This record is held by Oldham Local Studies & Archives

Details of D-BUT
Reference: D-BUT
Title: THE BUTTERWORTH PAPERS (1787 - 1859) of Edwin Butterworth (1812 - 1848) and James Butterworth (1771 - 1837) of Oldham, Lancashire
Description:

THE COLLECTION CONSISTS OF NOTEBOOKS PAPERS, ACCOUNTS, CORRESPONDENCE AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

 

The catalogue of Edwin's library (D-BUT/L/A/2), acquired for the Oldham Lyceum after his death, lists nearly five hundred titles. In addition, the cataloguer lists:

 

"An Immense quantity of Manuscripts chiefly relating to Lancashire

 

A Countless heap of Letters & Papers many of which are important

 

A Score or two of Newspaper Scrap Books Literary & Local arranged separately

 

Three or four Hat Boxes full of Newspaper Scraps ready for arranging

 

Number of valuable Maps Local & others some of which are by the hands of the Butterworths

 

A great number of Engravings both portrait & landscape

 

Also a Cart load of Tracts Magazines Periodicals & Newspapers in almost endless variety".

 

The extent to which the original Butterworth Library and Manuscripts have survived to the present day is not known. The present accumulation almost entirely comprises Edwin's papers. A few papers for his father, James, and for Edwin's memorial subscription, are also included.

 

The collection was transferred from the Lyceum to Oldham Free Library after it opened in 1886.

 

At one stage the Butterworth collection seems to have been dispersed, with the books and pamphlets being absorbed into the general collections of Oldham Local Studies Library, disconnected from the manuscripts. A few papers appear to have strayed into, or had connections with, the Library's Whitehead and Higson antiquarian collections.

 

Most recently, the manuscripts have been managed by the new Oldham Archives Service. This catalogue attempts to re-create, as far as is now possible, the original context and relationships of the accumulated Butterworth Papers.

Date: 1787-1859
Arrangement:

Butterworth Papers: Scheme of records' arrangement

 

Edwin Butterworth (1812-1848) [182-] - 1848

 

Accn. 1998-005 2.34n.m

 

A Baines' History of Lancashire 1831 - 1836

 

D-BUT/A/1 Parish field notebooks

 

D-BUT/A/2 Corrections to Baines' printed text

 

D-BUT/A/3 Journal

 

D-BUT/B Other manuscripts and publications [182-] - 1846

 

D-BUT/B/1 Manuscripts

 

D-BUT/B/2 Printed works

 

D-BUT/C Illustrations 1829 - 1836

 

D-BUT/C/1 Maps

 

D-BUT/C/2 Sketches

 

D-BUT/C/3 Published drawings

 

D-BUT/D Bibliographies and lists 1834 - 1838

 

D-BUT/E Scrapbooks 1828 - 1844

 

D-BUT/E/1 Newspaper cuttings relating to Lancashire

 

D-BUT/E/2 Indexes

 

D-BUT/E/3 Literary Miscellany

 

D-BUT/F News Reports 1830 - 1843

 

Registration of Births and Deaths 1838 - 1842

 

D-BUT/H Correspondence 1800 - 1850

 

D-BUT/H/1 Bound volumes

 

D-BUT/H/2 Other letters

 

D-BUT/I Accounts 1827 - 1847

 

D-BUT/IA Household

 

D-BUT/IB News Agency

 

D-BUT/IC Registrar

 

D-BUT/J Miscellaneous 1825 - 1843

 

D-BUT/K James Butterworth (1771-1837) 1787 - c1828

 

D-BUT/KA Post Office

 

D-BUT/KB Publications

 

D-BUT/KC Commonplace Books

 

D-BUT/L Butterworth Memorial 1848 - 1886

 

D-BUT/LA General

 

Appendix 1 Order in which Parish Surveys were made for Baines' History of Lancashire

 

Appendix 2 Index of modern place names mentioned in Butterworth's Parish Surveys for Baines' History of Lancashire

 

Appendix 3 List of correspondence in D-BUT/H/1-2

 

Reconstituting the Papers' context and original order has been easier in some cases than in others, after 150 years of disorder. They have been arranged, as far as possible, to reflect Edwin Butterworth's interests and activities.

 

Those dates given in square brackets are based on internal evidence from the documents themselves.

Related material:

Hollinhead, John "The works of the Butterworths", in Local Notes and Gleanings: Oldham and neighbourhood in bygone times, Vol 1, (1887), pp.204-237. A bibliography of works by both James and Edwin Butterworth.

 

Shaw, Giles "Edwin Butterworth: his life and labours", in Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, Vol.XXII, Manchester, (1904), pp.60-72. Describes the work Edwin Butterworth undertook for Baines' History of Lancashire, and contains a bibliography of his publications.

 

Whitworth, Thomas Robinson A biographical sketch of the late Edwin Butterworth...the Lancashire historian, and reporter for Oldham and neighbourhood to all the Manchester Newspapers. John Hirst, 17 Church Street, Oldham, (1853). The pamphlet was published to induce subscriptions to a memorial to Edwin Butterworth.

 

Winstanley, Michael "News from Oldham: Edwin Butterworth and the Manchester Press, 1829-1848", Manchester Region History Review, Vol. IV, 1, Manchester, (1990), pp.3-9. Explores the relationship between a local reporter and the Manchester Press. Deals in detail with the types of articles that Butterworth was writing and how the newspapers handled the stories, and with the Butterworths' business and income.

 

Winstanley, Michael "Researching a county history: Edwin Butterworth, Edward Baines and the History of Lancashire (1836)", in Northern History, Vol. XXXII, Leeds, (1996), pp.152-172. Uses the Butterworth correspondence (D-BUT/H) and the fair copy parish survey reports (in the Harris Library, Preston) to discuss the creation of a full county history.

 

The Shepherd Collection, The Harris Library, Preston

 

Edward Baines bequeathed to Dr Shepherd's Library, Preston, the papers which he brought together to write his pioneering History of Lancashire between 1833 and 1836. They are now at Preston's Harris Library. They comprise transcripts of documents relating to Lancashire, made by a number of research assistants in London, Manchester and elsewhere. These papers remain substantially unlisted.

 

A separate group, which has been listed, consists of Baines' copies of the field notebooks that Butterworth compiled for each Lancashire parish. All but the earliest reports have been bound into seven volumes. Those for Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton-under-Lyne were written in a different format, and were not recognised as being part of the Butterworth series. They remain unbound.

 

Oldham Local Studies collections

 

Two documents found in the Harris Library, Preston, have been copied to fill gaps in this collection. They have been placed in the Pamphlets section of the Local Studies collections. They are:

 

Butterworth, Edwin: Fair copy field notebook for Baines' History of Lancashire, for parish of Oldham, and also including the Townships of Oldham, Chadderton, Crompton and Royton (Ref: F:FX:FV:FW).

 

Baines, Edward "Instruction to Mr Butterworth. Sent November 1834 and returned by him after having transcribed them." (Ref: GK(BUT)).

 

The Giles Shaw Collection, Manchester City Library

 

Many of the Butterworth Papers were transcribed by Giles Shaw, around 1904, as part of a much fuller collection of transcribed records relating to Oldham. The transcripts are now in the Local Studies Unit of Manchester City Library. A copy of the catalogue is available in the Oldham Local Studies Pamphlets collection (Ref: Tupling, G.H. at F42). An initial examination of the transcripts has shown that Shaw saw some documents that are not in the Oldham accumulation.

Held by: Oldham Local Studies & Archives, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Butterworth family of Oldham, Lancashire

Physical description: 12 SUB FONDS
Physical condition: Paper was a scarce commodity in the early nineteenth century, and was rarely wasted. Many of the surviving Butterworth notebooks were made up from scrap paper, stitched together. Old handbills advertising Edwin's father James' history of Oldham were used, for example, to create Edwin's News Report notebooks (D-BUT/F). In the same way, Manchester newspaper wrappers were cut up to make the notebooks' covers. Edwin Butterworth's handwriting, although legible, is minuscule. Within the Parish field notebooks, particularly, many tiny amending papers have been inserted into the already small volumes. The Papers have been examined in detail during the recent cataloguing. A conservation scheme has been formulated which will best enable both their long term preservation, and full public access to their information. The Papers will be cleaned and repaired where necessary, and the loose papers gathered together. A full reference and marking scheme will enhance intellectual access.
Access conditions:

The Papers will be microfilmed to the greatest extent possible. This will enable copies to be provided wherever required, while reducing future handling damage to a great extent. Access to the original documents will still be possible where the microfilm copies are inadequate.

Immediate source of acquisition:

We gratefully acknowledge the significant funding for the cataloguing, conservation and preservation microfilming of these papers received from:

 

The British Library through its scheme of grants for cataloguing and preservation

 

The Pilgrim Trust

Subjects:
  • Butterworth, Edwin, 1812-1848, of Oldham, Lancashire
Administrative / biographical background:

EDWIN BUTTERWORTH (1812-1848)

 

Edwin Butterworth was born in Oldham on 22nd October 1812, the tenth child of James Butterworth (1771-1837) and Hannah Boyton (1773-1836) (q.v. D-BUT/K).

 

Edwin began writing at an early age, publishing his first work, A Biography of Eminent Natives, Residents, and Benefactors of the Town of Manchester, in 1829. In June 1830, with his brother James, he started to report local events for the Manchester newspapers. During the next 13 years, Edwin was to be an active news reporter for both Manchester and Leeds newspapers. Copies of his News Reports can be found at D-BUT/F. They more than compensate for the lack of a local Oldham newspaper for that period.

 

From 1831, Edwin also worked as a research agent for Edward Baines' History of Lancashire. He toured the whole County, mainly on foot, interviewing anyone who could give him the information he needed. He completed the project in 1836, having filled more than 100 fieldbooks with his working notes (D-BUT/A). These have particular value today, as descriptions of a region then in the throes of transition from agriculture to industry.

 

When his brother James died in 1837, Edwin took over the news agency. As well as his news reporting, he continued to publish small local histories, maps and sketches (D-BUT/B & /C). Also in 1837, Edwin eagerly sought to be appointed a Superintendent Registrar of Births and Deaths, under the new Civil Registration regime. He asked Baines to be a referee, obviously with some success. When Civil Registration was implemented in Oldham in March 1838, Edwin Butterworth was appointed Registrar for Chadderton and Tonge (q.v. D-BUT/G).

 

This work aside, Butterworth seems to have had two other great interests - temperance and education, especially for what he called the Operative classes. He supported the Temperance League and the new idea of "Tee Totalism".

 

Edwin's achievements, particularly as an historian, were well recognised by his peers. In 1839 he became a founder member of the Oldham Lyceum. At the inaugural meeting he was proposed as Secretary, but he pleaded lack of time (q.v. D-BUT/F/64-67). However, he supported the Lyceum fully, serving on its Council, and reporting its monthly educational meetings.

 

Despite Edwin's labours, and his acknowledged social standing, the Butterworth family income was low. The account books (D-BUT/I) show that the income he and his brother received as news reporters and news agents was only just enough to support their father, mother and disabled brother, Hiram.

 

Edwin was described as having a "pale and delicate constitution, arising perhaps from too intense application to his studies, and want of attention to his social affairs, for he never married". It does appear that his prodigious literary undertakings, and lack of due reward, eventually became too much for his sensitive nature. In 1848, a few days after selling part of his library to meet unpaid bills, he died, aged 35.

 

Edwin's friends raised £130 to purchase his library and manuscripts for the Oldham Lyceum. The money raised was used to provide an income for his disabled brother. Although his funeral was well attended by "126 respectable friends, besides relatives" Edwin was buried in an unmarked plot in the churchyard of Oldham St Mary's. The Union Literary Club of Oldham subsequently raised a subscription to provide a fitting memorial (D-BUT/L/A/1). In 1859, a large inscribed obelisk was erected in the new Greenacres Cemetery, to properly recognise one of Oldham's most important literary men.

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