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Re: Surname interests originating from Briercliffe, Haggate, Harle Syke. My late Dad Winston Stanworth so loved Blackpool that he promised himself if he survived the W>W2 he would go and live there. He did both. Smokey old Harle Syke did not appeal to him once he returned from his travels due to War duty in Dunkirk, South Africa and Egypt, Libya . The tales we had as his children growing up were legendary..pity he never recorded them like they do today -
Oddly enough Stanworth origins start in the Anglo-Saxon times but it is spelt STEINWIRTH so we are of good, strong Danish/German stock. Attleborough near Norwich has apparently the first recorded Stanworth....in about the 15th or 16th century....I think wars, famine and unemployment drove people to move about the country even to the wilds of North America,Canada, Australia etc...etc..
Just one last thing a Stanworth has even been listed in DEBRETTS PEERAGE!!! so, we seem to be getting just a little bit posh, eh???
Carol...

That's very interesting Carol, I have Stanworths.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Blackpool was a strong drawing card in my family too. My great-uncle, Ed Halstead and his family (Doris nee Stead) moved there sometime between wars and stayed....his one daughter, Shirley, is still living there. My own grandfather James Halstead, and my Nana Esther (nee Gudgeon), moved to St. Anne's and owned a chip shop for many years before returning to Harle Syke in the early 50's.
There seems to have been an exodus to the clean sea-breezes! My dad, Jack, prior to and on returning from WW2, lived with his parents and worked 2 jobs, including the chippie. He met my mother at Blackpool, they married during the war and I was born in 1944. We all lived at the chippie for a while....as well as my grandfather's mother when it was 'his turn' to keep her!!
To this day I have strong memories of that era, even tho' I was a toddler....and I am drawn there every time I return for a visit to Ol' Blighty! I will be spending a week with Shirley in April 2012......
I wonder if your dad and mine knew each other, Maggie. If they were of a similar age (1916 is dad's yob), I expect they did!

Hello suzycue,
My brother Ian seems to remember our Dad talking about a Hartley Halstead....don't know if he is in your particular Halsteads...We have so many photos of people who mattered to my Stanworth grandparents...he might even be amongst them....

Don't remember a Hartley being mentioned....but, as you say, who knows? I, too, had a lot of photos saved by my grandparents and father of the old days in Harle Syke. I donated them all for safekeeping to this Society and they are in the photo archives on this website (Halstead collection). Mel was most gracious about getting them and scanning them all. I believe she has 'inherited' the originals and they are probably in a box under her bed!! My kids aren't that interested in their history yet....so I was concerned that if and when I 'fall off my perch' all those photos would end up being thrown away. Now they are safe....and when and if my kids/grandkids show any interest in their histories......the photos are available.
My daugher is starting to get interested...and she and I are planning a trip to UK in April 2012...and will attend a monthly meeting of this group. It will be the highlight of our visit, methinks!!