01229 585 778 | admin@ulverstoncouncil.org.uk
Ulverston Town Council Office, County Square, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 7LZ
Ulverston’s War Memorial
Sir John Barrow
Stan Laurel
Selina Martin – Suffragette
Maude Green – Mother of Bill Haley
Norman Gifford – Cricketer
Lord Norman Birkett
Bryan Russell Martin – Broadcaster
Francis Arthur Jefferson VC
Ulverston Town Council will be supporting World Environment Day which this year is on Saturday 5 June.
We will be having a stall on the Ulverston’s street market that day and will be giving away free trees and shrubs for your garden plus wild flower seed packets. The town council will also be giving away free litter pickers so families and individuals can carry out their own litter picks in the local area. First come first served!
We’ll also have a practical demonstration of composting plus loads of information on how to garden sustainably. The council has 300 allotments and we’ll be bringing along information on how to apply for one in your area.
We’ll also be joined on the stand by Ford Park who will be bringing some of their produce along.
Ulverston’s war memorial was unveiled on 11 May 1921 and will be celebrating its centenary on Tuesday 11 May this year. Because of the pandemic the council has decided that it will not hold a re-dedication ceremony on the centenary date, but will be holding the event on Sunday 12 September at 2pm. More details will be available nearer to the time.
(19 June 1764 – 23 November 1848) was an English statesman and writer. Barrow’s Boys – Fergus Fleming (1998) “For 30 years beginning 1816, the British Admiralty’s John Barrow and his elite team charted large areas of the Arctic, discovered the North Magnetic Pole, were the first to see volcanoes in the Antarctic, crossed the Sahara to find Timbuktu and the mouth of the Niger – John Ross, John Franklin, William Edward Parry and others.” In 1804 he was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty by Viscount Melville, a post which he held for forty years. His life and work are commemorated in Ulverston by Sir John Barrow’s Monument on Hoad Hill, overlooking the town. It was built in 1850 and was restored in 2009.
(Arthur Stanley Jefferson) was born in his grandparents’ house on 16 June 1890 at 3 Argyle Street, Ulverston, Cumbria. He had two brothers and a sister. Laurel first appeared with his future partner, Oliver Hardy, in The Lucky Dog (1921), which was filmed in 1919, but not released until 1921. He visited Ulverston in 1947 when he appeared on the Coronation Hall Balcony with Oliver Hardy. He died in America on 23 February 1965, aged 74.
Selina Martin was born in Ulverston on the 21 November 1882 and died in 1972.
Selina joined the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1908. During the years as a members of WSPU she was imprisioned on numerous occasions, and was active in the movement throughout her life.
www.documentingdissent.org.uk/suffragettes
Maude was born in Ulverston in 1895. She emigrated to America aged 15.and became a classically trained pianist. She married William Albert Haley. Their son William (Bill) Haley, born on 6 July 1925 became a Rock and Roll legend. Maude died in 25 Apr 1955 in Bethel, Delaware, Pennsylvania, USA.
Norman was born on 30 March 1940 in Ulverston. He was an international cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. Gifford played county cricket for Worcestershire, and Warwickshire, and represented England in fifteen Tests between 1964 and 1973. He was awarded an MBE in 1978 for Services to Cricket.
http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1230/1230.html
Lord Birkett was was born in Ulverston, Lancashire on 6 September 1883 to Thomas Birkett, a draper, and his wife Agnes. He became a distinguished lawyer. In 1936 he acted for Mrs. Wallis Simpson in her divorce proceedings against Mr. Simpson. As Lord Birkett he represented Britain at the Nuremberg Trials. He was created Baron Birkett of Ulverston in the County of Lancaster, and took his seat in the House of Lords on 20 February 1958. He sat for the last time in the House of Lords on 8 February 1962, where he made a speech criticising the Manchester Corporation Bill which would have water drained from Ullswater to meet the needs of the growing population in Manchester. His speech was “deeply felt and eloquent”, and when the votes were announced, Birkett and his supporters had won by 70 votes to 36. The Ullswater Yacht Club now holds an annual Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy Race on the lake.
Bryan Russell Martin was born on May 29 1935 at Ulverston, Cumbria, the son of a stock and share broker who lived in the next street to the birthplace of the comedian Stan Laurel. He became a Senior BBC Radio 4 newsreader and presenter of the 70s and 80s, who announced on the Today programme the death of Elvis Presley in 1977, and broke the news of the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980. He appeared in The News Quiz, occasionally introduced The Goon Show, and read the spoof “news bulletin” which always featured in the middle of the comedy The Men From the Ministry.
(18 August 1921 – 4 September 1982) was awarded the VC for his actions during the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War II.(18 August 1921 – 4 September 1982) was awarded the VC for his actions during the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War II.
Francis Jefferson was 22 years old, and a fusilier in the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 16 May 1944, during an attack on theGustav Line, Monte Cassino, Italy, the leading company of Fusilier Jefferson’s battalion had to dig in without protection. The enemy counter-attacked opening fire at short range, and Fusilier Jefferson on his own initiative seized a PIAT gun and, running forward under a hail of bullets, fired on the leading tank. It burst into flames and its crew were killed. The fusilier then reloaded and went towards the second tank which withdrew before he could get within range. By this time, British tanks had arrived and the enemy counter-attack was smashed.[1]
