Mrs Sykes, the Diggle Hotel and more than a bit of complicated history

I am still looking for a photograph of Mrs Sykes of the Diggle Hotel, if only to identify a young man from a picture postcard dating to 1910.

The Diggle Hotel, 2015

But what started as a story about that picture postcard, has by degree turned into a quest to uncover the life of Lauretta Lilla Sykes, and in the process plunged me deep into the history of Diggle in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and by extension drawn me back the Diggle Hotel.*

And as they say this is one of those stories which will run and run.

Away from Diggle, 1910

The postcard is unique in that it shows a group of Volunteers from the 6th Manchester’s at a training camp in the spring of 1910 and amongst them is Gordon Radcliffe Sykes aged 21, son of Mrs Sykes and the nephew of Frederick Radcliffe.

And because it was addressed to Mrs Sykes at the Diggle Hotel that seemed a good place to start.

Mr and Mrs Sykes were there running the pub from 1891 and I rather think from a little before that.

They had been married in the November of 1887 and may have there well into the middle of the last century.

James Sykes died in 1939 and Lauretta in 1951 and with a bit more digging it should be possible to find out when they gave up running the pub.

The Diggle Hotel, date unknown

What I do know now is that her connection with the Hotel goes back to 1861 when aged just 9 months she was living there with her mother who was the sister of Frederick Radcliffe who the licensee.

And it becomes even more complicated because a decade later Lauretta was living with her parents close by in the home of James Broadbent whose sisters were working in the Hotel in 1861 and in 1881 she is listed as a householder sharing her home with her servant Amy Sykes aged 62.

With Janmes and Lauretta in 1900

At which point I shall pause and ponder on the connections between the Radcliffe, Platt, Broadbent and Sykes’ families and  just how much each of these families are embedded in the story of Diggle.

But that is for another time and while I am still no nearer knowing what Mrs Sykes looked like I am a bit closer to the business they ran because there on the walls of the pub are some posters from the 1900s.

They were sent to me by Lynn Shaw who along with her husband and family have been running the Diggle Hotel since September.**

Picture: the Diggle Hotel, 2014 and poster advertising the place in 1900 courtesy of Lynn Shaw and detail from the picture postcard, the 6th Manchester's 1910 at West South Downs Camp, from the collection of David Harrop

* Mrs Sykes, her son in the 6th Manchester's and the Diggle Hotel ....... part 1 a picture postcard,http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/mrs-sykes-of-diggle-her-son-in-6th.html

**The Diggle Hotel, Station Houses, Diggle, Oldham, Lancashire OL3 5JZ, 01457 872741
Local family takes over historic Saddleworth pub thanks to funding from RBS,  Aimee Howarth, Saddleworth Independent,  HTTP://SADDIND.CO.UK/LOCAL-FAMILY-TAKES-OVER-HISTORIC-SADDLEWORTH-PUB-THANKS-TO-FUNDING-FROM-RBS/

Back with Mrs Sykes looking for a story

Now the trail has gone cold on Mrs Sykes and the Diggle Hotel

Her connection with the Hotel goes back to 1861 when aged just 9 months she was living there with her mother who was the sister of Frederick Radcliffe the licensee.

A decade later she was living with her parents close by in the home of James Broadbent whose sisters were working in the Hotel in 1861.

And sometime during the middle of the 1880s she had married and was herself settled as landlady in the Diggle Hotel.

Hers will be a fascinating story to explore, more so because it will bring in the Radcliffe, Platt, Broadbent and Sykes’ families who she was related to and all of whom were embedded in the story of Diggle.

I had meant to go looking for the story earlier in December but got waylaid by other projects, but Peter’s painting of the Diggle Hotel has set me off again, and who knows maybe someone in Diggle will be able to help.

Painting; the Diggle Hotel © 2015 Peter Topping 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Mrs Sykes, her son in the 6th Manchester's and the Diggle Hotel ....... part 1 a picture postcard

I am pretty sure that one of these young men staring back at us will be Gordon Radcliffe Sykes, aged 21 of the Diggle Hotel, Diggle.

I just don’t know which one.

But in the fullness of time I might just be able to identify him because I have tracked his parents back to the Diggle Hotel which they were running by the 1880s and in one of those remarkable strokes of luck the present owners have pictures of Mr Sykes on the pub wall.

All of which promises a trip up to Diggle to meet Mr and Mrs Shaw who took the place over in September.*

Already Lynn Shaw has promised to copy some of the photographs and send them down, which will be a start, and will also lead to a whole series of stories about the pub and Mr and Mrs Sykes who were married in 1887.

And that as they say will be the start of a new friendship.

In the meantime I am intrigued by the picture, partly because of the detail and the freshness of the image but also because there is a story here.

When I first saw the card I assumed that here were group of men from the 6th Manchester’s sometime during the Great War but not so for although the inscription on the front carries the title 6th Manchester’s, on the back the location is West South Downs Camp and the postmark on the back dates it to 1910.

And that makes this a photograph of one of the Volunteer Battalions of the Manchester Regiment and suggests they were on a training exercise.

Now I am fully prepared to be corrected on this by someone given that my knowledge of the Manchester’s is still quite limited but if I am right it makes this card quite unique, more so because we can track the Syke’s family and link them to the pub which is still doing the business a century and a bit after James and Lauretta nee Platt were pulling pints in the spring of 1910.

All of which leaves just one last puzzle, because the card was signed S.S.D., and refers to “G having a good time and developing an appatititite.” 

Now I am guessing that G is Gordon who in the spring of 1910 was 21 years old and worked in a machine shop but I have no idea of the identity of S.S.D.

But maybe that trip to the pub will help.

In the meantime I shall have fun reporting back to David Harrop who showed me the card which comes from his extensive collection of memorabilia from the Great War, some of which is on permanent display at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery.

Picture: with the 6th Manchester's 1910 at West South Downs Camp, courtesy of David Harrop

*The Diggle Hotel, Station Houses, Diggle, Oldham, Lancashire OL3 5JZ, 01457 872741
Local family takes over historic Saddleworth pub thanks to funding from RBS,  Aimee Howarth, Saddleworth Independent,  HTTP://SADDIND.CO.UK/LOCAL-FAMILY-TAKES-OVER-HISTORIC-SADDLEWORTH-PUB-THANKS-TO-FUNDING-FROM-RBS/