Words: Paul Chapman
Images: Ian Walton
Reader, Ian Walton, got in touch after being fascinated by the article about the autograph books donated to Ashgate Hospice.
Although he wasn't able to shed any light on those books he has shared with me a similar book, which belonged to his grandmother, Theresa Walton (née Summerscales). She was born on 16 January 1883 and died in her nineties.
The first entry in the album is 30 December 1901 and all subsequent entries went into the album over the next ten years, with the exception of one dated 1925.
We suspect these journals were common in the days before radio, TV and social media when people took the time to develop their artistic skills. The following pages show a few of the pages and the detail that went into the books.
I hope you enjoy them and a huge thanks to Ian for trusting me with the journal.