North Staffordshire Historians' Guild

This book is of interest not only because of its content but because it arose from an adult education class run by Keele University at Knutsford. Audrey Jones and Abby Ashby are two retired teachers from Altincham who have attended Lesley Edwards' class 'Fine Arts and Society in the Late Georgian Country House' for several years. Class members undertake a project of their own choice, with a view to giving a talk to the other participants. Audrey and Abby have spent about four years investigating the subject of their book. They relate the story of the abduction in 1827 of Ellen Turner, the only child of a wealthy cotton manufacturer, who had purchased Shrigley Hall near Macclesfield. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, had arranged for Ellen to be collected from her school near Liverpool on the pretext that her mother had been taken ill. The journey took them to Gretna Green and eventually to France. The abduction, chase and subsequent trial were a sensation at the time. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a relative of Elizabeth Fry, was in the diplomatic service. While in prison for the abduction, he took up the case of the colonists of Australia and New Zealand for better conditions and subsequently became a respected administrator. Audrey and Abby have produced an entertaining and informative account. They have travelled to many record offices and libraries across the country seeking photographs and documents and have also traced descendants of some of the parties involved and interviewed them. In addition they have obtained help from record offices in New Zealand. There are about 400 footnotes to sources, which have been placed at the end of the book. Recently, Audrey and Abby were interviewed at Shrigley Hall and at Lyme Park for 'Woman's Hour'