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THE RAILWAY COMES TO OLDHAM
5

Oldham Persons of Note In the 19th Century

During the 19th century Oldham envolved into a major cotton and engineering town. There were a lot of people who assisted in various ways.
The following are some of them. Fuller details can be found in the Oldham District Railway on Ancestry.

John Hawkshaw.
He was the engineer on the District and Alliance railways. Neither of these was completed. He was employed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway for which Oldham was a small part of the network.
He was however a major player in the development of civil engineering but did work in the Oldham area although not very often.
An obituary for him is at https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Hawkshaw

John George Blackburne.
He was a resident of Oldham for all his adult life. At the end of his life he was living in Dryclough House in Edge Lane.
An obituary for him is at https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_George_Blackburne
He was very busy with many civil engineering projects in Lancashire and Wales from the 1850s. He started around Oldham then expanded.
In 1858 he was engineer for the  Oldham, Ashton, and Guide Bridge railway. This included the brick viaduct over the River Medlock at Park Bridge.
His interests were not limited to engineering, however.
He was for nearly twelve years in command of the 31st Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, having, at the time of his death, reached the rank of Lieut.-Colonel.
He also helped to win a court case involving Edge Lane Highways against her majesty’s government. At the time when a turnpike was completed, it was the locals who had to maintain it. The Turnpike through Edge Lane to Shaw was never completed so the locals did not need to maintain it.
It is interesting to look at his descendants.
The girls seem to have married men of the cloth.
The boys became either surveyors or soldiers.
All seem to have moved away from the Oldham area.
The first world war was bad for his grandsons. Two gave good service around the time of the Boer War after which they retired. They were recalled when WW1 started, One died in the Dardanelles.
The other died on the RMS Leinster off Dublin in 1918 – the worst loss of life in the Irish Sea during WW1. He was returning to England after being on the War Office staff. Most of
His family died as well.
A third who may be a great grandson died in Northern France.

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