William Horton - famous shoemaker - but sources?

Question

I've come across William Stafford in my tree, and a quick google shows he was a famous man from Stafford who brought shoe-making into the industrial scale. But I'm struggling to find any real sources about him save the usual birth, marriage and death. How much can I put about his achievements in his bio when most things I'm coming across aren't actually sourced? Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Have you tried Google Books? Worth a go!

Comments

excellent idea ty

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Some good stuff in there thank you

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Great!

Answer 2

Did you come across this website? Could you cite the website and the author?

http://claymoorslist.com/2012/11/15/shoemakers-from-pastwilliam-horton/

Also: the baptism date in the source says January 15. I think there is a typo on the profile, because it says January 1.

Comments

Ooh thanks yes typo. I did see that one - lovely writeup but it's not sourced so wasn't sure I could use it?

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Hi Matt, you are right to be cautious when sourcing and although this isn’t considered a primary source you can best use it alongside other sources to build proof of Events/timelines etc.

Corroborating evidence is always a lovely thing to find :-)

The profile is looking good btw :-)

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Thanks Lizzie - so lovely to find photos of relatives isn't it let alone an interesting story to go with it.

Reckon he would be a "notable" ?

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I’m from the North of England so to me, yes he is notable. Anyone who influenced the shift in industry at that time is so important in understanding the Industrial Revolution in England. His story is fascinating. Unfortunately to be considered notable I believe he needs a Wikipedia entry (though I may be wrong about that). I would Categorise him In a few England categories though. For example you can add location and occupation categories.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:England%2C_Occupations

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Oh! I didn't know about those categories. Are they used a lot? I'm not sure I fancy going through the hundreds of profiles I've made to put them in but I guess I can add them as and when I see them. Why is there a location category as well as locations on birth,marriage,death etc. ? What advantage does that give?

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to be considered notable I believe he needs a Wikipedia entry (though I may be wrong about that).

commented by Lizzie Griffiths

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Needs to qualify for a Wikipedia page, even if does not have one.  If you think the person does qualify, you can ask the Notables Project. 

I would agree with Lizzie that William would qualify, but asking the NP is the best option.

Extra links that may assist the NP in deciding if William was, indeed, notable enough :

http://staffscc.net/shoes1/?p=20

http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2008/11/28/stafford_shoes_feature.shtml

http://www.evodehistoryproject.org.uk/History/Histories/History%20of%20EVODE/History%20of%20Evode%20CH01.html

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1317575/1/252007.pdf

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/william-horton-17501832-18561

https://divergentpathsstafford.wordpress.com/tag/shoemaking/

http://claymoorslist.com/2012/11/15/shoemakers-from-pastwilliam-horton/

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That's grand thank you!