What is Loughborough's story?

So, over the last couple of weeks, apart from sharing anniversaries with you, I've been out and about and doing  a lot of thinking about things I've encountered on the way.

In particular I've been trying to work out the story of Loughborough, but in all honesty, I'm having a bit of bother with this!

Imagine you go to a work meeting where there's lots of discussion about a variety of topics. After the meeting you chat with someone else who was there and they say something like "Gosh, that was a controversial meeting", and you think to yourself "Was it? What was controversial about it?". 

Or, imagine you go to a party, and have the time of your life! Afterwards, you talk to a friend who was a the same party, who says to you "Wasn't that such a boring party last night?" 

Or imagine you go into town on a Monday, while your 21st cousin 300 times removed goes in on a Saturday. You meet up one evening in the local pub, and you say to them "Loughborough is so quiet and boring, with lots of empty shops, lots of charity/betting/telephone/coffee shops". They look at you in amazement and share their thoughts "Good grief! Yes, there's some empty shops and quite a lot of charity/betting/telephone/coffee shops, but it's a really, really busy and buzzing little place."

So, you may be left wondering if you went to the same meeting/party/town centre?

But, of course, all these views are valid, none are right, none are wrong, and there are plenty of other views to be had as well! 

And so it is with history. Events are interpreted in different ways by different people. Events are recorded in different ways by different people. Some things are recorded to the nth degree, other things more sparsely, other things not at all. 

An additional problem with trying to piece together history is trying to find what's been recorded and where it is now kept. And then once you've found it, trying to read it, both from a handwriting point of view and from an etymological point of view. Then it's helpful to know where the person who recorded the information is coming from - so, why did they record this information? for their own use? for official use? and why did they only record this but not something else?  

So, it's helpful to know what has been recorded, and by whom, and where it can be accessed. Of course, other issues affecting historical records are geographic coverage, which can vary widely across the country, hence some areas have a rich story, others virtually none. And, whilst many events and happenings have been diligently recorded, some have since been lost, for example, the 1931 UK census was taken, but later destroyed during a fire in WWII.   

On top of all the above, add your own 21st century perspective, and you've got a story that represents one view of what might or might not have happened, which may be extremely far-removed from the general contemporaneous consensus, or the view of other people today.

2018 sees the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which gave the right to vote to those men who didn't already have the right, and to a certain selection of women. The Suffragettes were instrumental in campaigning for votes for women, so it is not surprising that the women's suffrage movement is getting a bit of publicity. For me this has started with the unveiling of the statue of Alice Hawkins, the Leicester Suffragette, and will continue with the opening of an exhibition in the public library. 

The story of the Suffragettes is one which has been told many times, but it is also one of those where the whole story may not be available. If you're interested to learn more about this, and the story of Kitty Marion, pop over to this blog. And pop back to my blog next week and see what's been happening over the coming week. 

Alice Hawkins under wraps

Alice Hawkins under wraps

Alice Hawkins unveiled

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). What is Loughborough's story? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/02/what-is-loughboroughs-story.html [Accessed 4 February 2018]

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Lynne