Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

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Tuesday 19 August [Halifax]
John Oates of the Stump came between 7 & 8, & stayed till near 10. His errand was about a pair of spectacles for my aunt. I was surprised to find him so good a workman & optician — entirely self-taught. Tho’ the wonder is lessened by the discovery of his having had so liberal an education. He learnt Latin & a little Greek at Hipperholme school & afterwards became a good arithmetician & algebraist as well as pretty well versed in Euclid under the tuition of Mr Ogden, then of the charity school at Boothtown. What a pity that such a man should [have] been put apprentice to a cardmaker, then, this not answering, have turned tanner & should now be bankman at a coalpit. The pit, to be sure, is his own. At least, he & John Green of Mytholm have jointly taken it off my Uncle Lister … John Oates only took up the study of optics & mathematical instrument-making about a dozen years ago. He was then a tanner & had little time to spare — frequently kept at his work till 12 at night &, even then, got up at 3 in the morning to pursue his favourite occupation. He has made several telescopes, electrifying machines, etc. His family have been tenants to our family for several generations. He now lives in a neat house that he built some years ago at the Stump & is comfortable in his circumstances owing to the frugality of his parents who saved their money at the Mytholm public house & by his own prudence in keeping what he had. He has taught himself optics chiefly from Martin’s works.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

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Original

Tuesday 19 August [Halifax]
John Oates of the Stump came between 7 & 8, & stayed till near 10. His errand was about a pair of spectacles for my aunt. I was surprised to find him so good a workman & optician — entirely self-taught. Tho’ the wonder is lessened by the discovery of his having had so liberal an education. He learnt Latin & a little Greek at Hipperholme school & afterwards became a good arithmetician & algebraist as well as pretty well versed in Euclid under the tuition of Mr Ogden, then of the charity school at Boothtown. What a pity that such a man should [have] been put apprentice to a cardmaker, then, this not answering, have turned tanner & should now be bankman at a coalpit. The pit, to be sure, is his own. At least, he & John Green of Mytholm have jointly taken it off my Uncle Lister … John Oates only took up the study of optics & mathematical instrument-making about a dozen years ago. He was then a tanner & had little time to spare — frequently kept at his work till 12 at night &, even then, got up at 3 in the morning to pursue his favourite occupation. He has made several telescopes, electrifying machines, etc. His family have been tenants to our family for several generations. He now lives in a neat house that he built some years ago at the Stump & is comfortable in his circumstances owing to the frugality of his parents who saved their money at the Mytholm public house & by his own prudence in keeping what he had. He has taught himself optics chiefly from Martin’s works.

266 words.

Tags

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• Algebra (3) ·
• Arithmetic (3) ·
• Autodidacticism (1) ·
• Benjamin Martin (lexicographer) (1) ·
• 📌Boothtown (2), textile settlement 1 mile north of Halifax ·
• Coal mining (24) ·
• Glasses (1) ·
• Greek language (2) ·
• 📌Halifax (43) ·
• Hipperholme (1) ·
• Latin (9) ·
• Lister, Anne (1791-1840) (8), wealthy diarist, famous for revelations for which she has been dubbed "the first modern lesbian" ·
• Mytholmroyd (1) ·
• Optics (2) ·
• Scientific instrument (1) ·
• Shibden Hall (5) ·
• Shibden (5) ·
• Tanning (leather) (3) ·
• Telescope (2) ·

All tags.

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