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INTRODUCTION.
My object in compiling the paper following is to bring together notes on the names and deeds of men and women in the County and City of Nottingham who have distinguished themselves, or have become distinguished, in usefulness, or in skill, in any or every department of life. The prominent idea is that of usefulness to their fellow-men, which may be by industry, energy, natural development, invention, manufacture, or any other department of trade and commerce; or it may be in the cultivation of the fine arts—music, painting, poetry, sculpture; or in education and scientific study and the impartation of knowledge; or in compiling books for historical or literary purposes. Perchance it may be in legislation, or administration of law, and the thousand and one needs of modem society and of our great Empire; or in its defence; or in repairing the ills that arise from sickness, or poverty, or crime, or in promoting the spiritual welfare of men and women who aim at something above the materialism of every day surroundings, and who need guidance and comfort to bear and rise above the trials of life, and to cultivate their hearts and minds by sympathy, and disinterested usefulness, worthy of our history, our capacity, our destiny.
If there have been such men and women—Who were they, and when, and where did they live and die? It may be that the knowledge of their deeds will provoke imitation and emulation, as Dryden says, "A noble emulation beats your breast." "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you," said the Great Model. Our newspapers publish every day examples of evil deeds, and their disastrous consequences. We need a corrective, and to look on the sunshine, the flowers, the beautiful fruits, and all the loveliness of nature and grace. By a constant dwelling on the dark spots of life we lose a due sense of proportion, and think that the great mass of the people are bad, and we need to be reminded that there may be more good people than bad ones; more kind actions than cruel ones; and that the surest way to promote the welfare of others, and our own peace, is to substitute "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."
Although the object may be good, the method of attainment may be faulty. No one man can know a tithe of the useful men and women in a county. He must depend upon what others Bay, and their minds may, like ours, be biassed. Life is short, and we soon pass out of sight and of memory, and the record may be faulty. Actions and lives that appeared to be good may, through human frailty, work out with a different result to that intended. We cannot discern motives, and we do not live long enough to determine results. But when all has been said and done we do well to recognise good actions, to aim at a fair valuation; to give praise to those that do well, to imitate all that is commendable, and leniently to view the action that lacks perfection.
These remarks will particularly apply to the class of persons in the following list styled "Benefactors," or "Bequeathing Benefactors." The first term is intended to apply to those donors who have during their lifetime conferred benefits, and the other to those testators who have postponed conferring benefits until they were passing away. The distinction may be real or artificial, and largely depends upon motive, which is outside our province to determine, and fortunately the benefit to the recipients is real, regardless of motive. One may, however, be entertained by the thought that some people do more good after their deaths than during their lives, and let us piously give credit to some of the benefactors whom we regarded as lacking the grace of cheerful giving during lifetime with the hope that they were secretly purposing to accumulate in order to bequeath more bountifully.
Of course no after-death bounty, however great, can compensate for the lack of a useful, helpful life. The greatest things of life cannot be put into financial terms, or added up in pounds, shillings, and pence columns. The widow's half-farthings, in the estimate of the Divine Assessor, were added up as being more than the "much money" others offered, and no gifts are equal to personal service. The influence of example is of greater value than the donation, and the benefit to be obtained by the donor is not in money, or money's worth, but in the
building up of character. The good to be received—not in another world, but in this life—by the man who acts rightly, with a high motive, in a strenuous effort to promote the welfare of his fellow-men, is priceless and abiding. This is the true art of living, and outweighs all the pleasures to be derived from fortunes made, or ease, or selfish gratification and display.
It may be suggested that in the following list the service rendered to the community was unequal; in one case involving hardly a ripple of effort, or self-sacrifice, and in another the great surrender; or one result being trivial, and the other permanent; one hardly meriting the name of a noble motive, and another involving a life passion of devotion. That is quite correct, and it is true to life. In actual reality there is no such thing as equality, except it be in French formulas, or on political platforms. Life is made up of fragments, and the river cannot say to the trickling stream, "I have no need of you." In the Auctioneer's catalogue there are lots that are described as "Sundry," but all may have their uses. In every-day life the chimney-sweep and the scullery maid render necessary services, although only temporary or unseen.
It is highly probable that many of us have at times secretly wished that we could imitate "My Lord" or "Lady Bountiful" in the profuse distribution of money, but it will here be seen how various are the fields of usefulness, and in many of them gold, or other possessions, if the mind be unduly set on them, may actually hinder the development of true life, and in such case we may well beware of every form of wanting more, realizing that the highest type of life consists not in possession, but in the use we make of whatever we have—whether knowledge, abilities, attainments, opportunities, example, influence, all of which may be independent of material considerations. The power for good is in the soul. We gain nothing by crying for the moon, and sighing, "If I only had ------!" Wisdom is shown by a man using what he has, and where he stands.
It will be seen that the number of names of men distinguished for skill in manufacture is limited. This may partly be the fault of the compiler lacking a wider range of knowledge of all departments of local skill; but is it not a fact that the great advantages now possessed in both city and county are insufficiently appreciated by both employers and workpeople? With the advantage of heredity developed from the inventors of such a marvellous combination as the modern lace machine, together with all the local benefits of natural resources, and acquired conveniences, including University College, Secondary Schools, and the School of Art, and other educational facilities, there might be, with a hearty cooperation between employers and workpeople, such developments of technical skill as would be for the credit of the district, and for the advantage of all parties concerned.
On the other hand, it is very gratifying to observe the number of men who lacking the advantages of birth and social position, of education and environment, and in some cases in spite of positive disadvantages, have, with energy joined to a laudable ambition and tenacity of purpose, so overcome all drawbacks, and educated themselves by observation and imitation, and by the exercise of the power of brain, and hand, and heart, that they have been a credit to themselves and their families, and have rendered to the community helpful service. Possibly a lad seeing this record will exclaim, "I can, and I will!"
The number of women whose usefulness is here recorded is few, and that is to be regretted, because there are always more good women than good men, and probably more useful ones to the community, but either through their self-effacement, or the selfishness of men, the record is slight. In another generation, now that all fields of usefulness are opened for women, or are being opened, we shall have an abundant record, which will to men be more attractive for reading and admiration.
I have purposely included the names of some men of only ordinary ability, educational attainment, and social position, for the object of the book being to instruct and stimulate, it is of little use telling a lad to imitate Solomon in all his glory, or the great General who is a mighty man of valour, or him who had "much goods laid up for many years." We may aim at and attain usefulness in any and every walk in life, and there are and have been examples close at hand where
"The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves;
a road To bring us, daily, nearer God." Keble.
And still there are some men who exceed and excel, and whose examples voiced would say to us, "Come up higher !"
I must confess that I have purposely avoided party politics and politicians. I have also where practicable, minimized ecclesiastical differences, for in dealing with the names and doings of men whose views differed as much as their faces and features, and as flowers and trees, birds and beasts differ, and yet make one harmonized whole, one is forcibly reminded of the wise declaration that St. Peter made to the Roman officer, in view of the lesson which he said had been taught him by a vision, that "in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him." Emphasis apparently must be put upon righteousness working; and so love to God and man appears to be at the heart of all forms of religion worth having, and was probably the motive power operating in the minds and lives of the majority of the men recorded.
I regret that I have not come across the biography of a Nottinghamshire farmer who has excelled in the development of his knowledge of science, art and craft as applied to agriculture. There must be such men, but they do not commit their efforts to writing, and yet how helpful it would be for a man who has had experience in working our local soils to tell of his choice of cultivation, varieties of seeds, manures, crops, stock, food values, times, and general methods and management. There is no art so important to the national welfare as agriculture, and every effort should be made to encourage the best cultivation, and to penalize wilful and careless neglect in the growth of weeds.
I had hoped to have included within the limit of five hundred all the names I deemed important, or at least within my contemplated range, but I find that is impracticable. There are so many persons partly "done," and so many more known but not yet approach-
ed, and others that by correspondence and reading can be, and ought to be, included, that with time, effort, and patience a large book may be compiled, but time in my case will not wait, and effort weakens. I have, therefore, given what I have obtained, and start again feeling sure that although "God buries His workmen, He will carry on His work." I am assuming that reverence for departed worth is part of the work of God, whether or no inspired in printed book, or on artist's canvas, of by sculptor's tool, or inscribed on monumental brass, or canopied alabaster tomb, or in Gothic temple.
It has been a great pleasure to be able to bring together so many names of men and women who in a limited area have sought the glory of God in the welfare of the people around them, and the more so on the reflection that these are only a portion of the names that can be, and ought to be, brought and associated in book form for the benefit of the young people who on the morrow will form or govern the nation, and the thought may be extended to the fact that all the names of which a record may somewhere be found are only a tithe of those who do their duty in the station to which they have been called; and the circle may be further extended to the thought that all other parts of Britain could produce a like number—in proportion to area and population —of God-fearing men and women who have a high ideal of conscience and duty; and the circle may even be still further extended to the British Empire, which in the providence of God has in some remarkable manner come to be the hope of the world. The League of Nations should by all and every means practicable be sustained, but the League of the Nations of which the British Empire consists is at the very centre of the League of the Nations of the world, and is moreover the vital part of that centre, for with the Empire gone the whole would fall like a pack of cards.
Thus we arrive again at the same point that while the name of the wicked may rot, and the name of the careless and forgetful of duty may be forgotten, and the name of those who live only for themselves may be lightly esteemed, and the name of those who set class against class and foment discords and promote wars may be execrated, the young should be taught to honour the names of those who seek to promote the general welfare.
May I suggest here that in order to encourage reverence for departed worth—in my opinion every Church, School, or Society should keep a register of its faithful workers, and in these days of cheap photography should preserve portraits of such workers, with the names given at the foot, and the distinctive work done, such likenesses being protected by glass, and hung on the wall of the vestry or class room, and where this is impracticable, kept in an album. For these are days of many and rapid changes, and the worker of one generation is superseded, or forgotten, or unknown by another Pharaoh who arises and knows not Joseph.
It should, however, be a distinct encouragement to workers that whoever falls the work continues, and the nation that can produce such a succession of patient toilers will not easily fall, for they will possess the land and inherit the earth.
We close with the thought that here is a record chiefly of men with a purpose, who having seen a vision in advance, pursued it, regardless of immediate success or failure. They had
"One great aim, like a guiding star above,
Which tasked strength, wisdom, stateliness, to lift
Their manhood to the height that takes the prize."
and so we join with George Eliot in singing—
" O may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self.
So to live is heaven.
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world."
R.M.