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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 9h

My mistake! two sons survived Mary Ann but one was killed in action during #WW2, the other moved away from Macclesfield so is not buried here

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 9h

I made some mistakes when I started this thread: some deaths weren't on the headstone and one son survived and moved away from Macclesfield so is not buried here. But it doesn't alter the fact that Mary Ann had a husband and 12 children and only one lived to see old age; six died while in the army

Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

The two surviving daughters, Elsie and Lily, died in 1918 and 1919 respectively of influenza. That left two sons, Arthur and Frederick. Arthur was killed in action in 1942, in Burma.... www.cheshireroll.co.uk/soldier/?i=2...

122999 Major ARTHUR ALEXANDER McKAY 10th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers 46 Years old on Sunday 27th December 1942

Find out more about the Soldiers who came from Cheshire and gave their lives in the Great War & World war 2.

www.cheshireroll.co.uk

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

Charles died of wounds in France in 1917... www.cheshireroll.co.uk/soldier/?i=1...

7155 Company Quarter Master Sergeant Charles McKAY 16th Bn. Cheshire Regiment 29 Years old Died of wounds on Friday 11th May 1917

Find out more about the Soldiers who came from Cheshire and gave their lives in the Great War & World war 2.

www.cheshireroll.co.uk

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

Ernest was killed in action in Turkey... www.cheshireroll.co.uk/soldier/?i=5...

Lieutenant ERNEST McKAY 1st/7th Bn. Cheshire Regiment , <b>Formerly:</b> 1547, 1st/7th Bn., Cheshire Regiment 21 Years old Killed In Action on Sunday 19th September 1915

Find out more about the Soldiers who came from Cheshire and gave their lives in the Great War & World war 2.

www.cheshireroll.co.uk

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

The remaining 5 sons all joined the Cheshire Regt and served in #WWI. Herbert died of wounds in France in May 1915.... www.cheshireroll.co.uk/soldier/?i=6...

8005 Sergeant Herbert McKAY 2nd Bn. Cheshire Regiment 25 Years old Died of wounds on Saturday 15th May 1915

Find out more about the Soldiers who came from Cheshire and gave their lives in the Great War & World war 2.

www.cheshireroll.co.uk

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

...serving with 4th Bn in the Boer War. Walter died of enteric fever in Feb 1901 and Robert was invalided out of the Army and returned to Macclesfield, dying in September 1901 from a disease contracted abroad. Buried with full military honours, his fellow officers erected the original gravestone...

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

Father Robert retired from the Regular Army in 1894 and moved to Macclesfield, taking the post of Lieutenant and Quartermaster with the 4th Battalion Cheshire Regt. Two mroe children were born here: Arthur in 1895 and Elsie in 1896. In 1899, Robert (49) and son Walter (16) went to South Africa...

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

In 1880 the family left India for the Regimental HQ at Chester, England. 4th child, another Elizabeth, was born here but died of pneumonia six months later. More children followed: Walter in 1882, Frederick in 1884, Charles in 1888, Emily in 1891 (died before her 1st birthday) and Ernest in 1893....

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

In 1875 Mary Ann Rockingham married Robert Hope McKay in India when she was 15 and he was 25. Marriage at 15 was legal then. Their 1st child, Elizabeth, was born 9 months later but died within 3 days. The 2nd child, Lily, was born in 1876. 3rd child, Andrew, was born in 1878 but died in 1879....

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 10h

#31DaysOfGraves Day 11: Military - hard to choose as most of my photos are of military gravestones and war memorials! Decided this is one of the most poignant headstones in #Macclesfield Cemetery. A family of seven children and their parents; poor Mary Ann lost her husband and all her children...

Black headstone with the Cheshire Regiment crest in gold at the top and gold lettering, naming nine members of the McKay family. The father Robert died in Macclesfield of illness contracted while serving in Africa in 1901. All five sons died while serving with the Cheshire Regiment, one in the Boer war, three in WWI and one in WW2. Two daughters died of influenza at the end of WWI.

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 11h

As a child my family almost moved there until my parents decided the drone of the A1 just across a couple of fields was too much for them and they opted for Whittlesey instead - which, to be fair, had a lot more going for it: shops, doctors, library, schools, swimming pool, pubs, takeaways, etc

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Reposted by Rosie Rowley

Janet Few @janetfew.bsky.social · 1d

I have just posted this thehistoryinterpreter.com/2025/10/10/w... For my own sanity, I will not be engaging with negative comments. Feel free to unfriend me.

Why History Matters – the nearest I’ll come to a political post

I deliberately don’t post about politics because I don’t like confrontation but remaining completely silent makes me part of the problem. I don’t have allegiance to a particular political party, al…

thehistoryinterpreter.com

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 1d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 10: Urn - 2 for the price of 1! The grave of Lily & Maggie Gaskell, plot M9721 in #Macclesfield Cemetery, with an urn on top; in the background another urn, plot M9725, the grave of Joseph (1817-1895) & Mary (1826-1895) Brocklehurst & family; Mary died just 5 days after Joseph

Three large grave monuments in Macclesfield Cemetery with trees and the crematorium chapel in the background

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Reposted by Rosie Rowley

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 7d

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me.

I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

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Reposted by Rosie Rowley

C20 Society @c20society.bsky.social · 3d

💥12 months ago Britain's last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, shut down after 50 years powering the national grid. We can now confirm that C20's listing application for Ratcliffe's 8 cooling towers has been rejected by DCMS, while their demolition has been approved.

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, Nottinghamshire - BDP, 1963-67
Image © David Noton

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 3d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 8: Glass - stained glass window in St Michael's Church, #Macclesfield designed by Morris & Co, dedicated to Lt John Close-Brooks, 1st Bn Life Guards, kia 30 Oct 1914 #WWI @cheshire1418.bsky.social www.cheshireroll.co.uk/soldier/?i=1...

Three-part stained glass window depicting three medieval warriors with swords, named Valour, Victory and Fortitude. Inscription at the bottom of the window reads: "To the glory of God and in honoured memory of John Charles Close-Brooks Lieutenant 1st Life Guards killed in action at Zandvoorde First Battle of Ypres Oct 30 1914. Erected by public subscription."

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 4d

#31daysofgraves Day 7: Angel - I'm cheating here, reusing a previous post, but nurses are often referred to as 'angels' and I can't think of a better photo to use

Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 5d

#31daysofgraves Day 6: gender - Maggie & Lily Gaskell, plot M9721, #Macclesfield cemetery, died while serving at 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester. As women, they were not recognised as CWGC war casualties until we submitted evidence. www.cwgc.org/find-records... www.cwgc.org/find-records...

Tall, imposing grave monument for the Gaskell family including near the bottom inscriptions for Lily Gaskell "… Also Staff Nurse Lily Gaskell, Third Daughter of Samuel & Margaret Gaskell, who died Jany. 3rd 1919 on Active Service in England, aged 35 years" and below it her sister Maggie "Also Maggie Louisa Gaskell, their second daughter, who died July 6, 1919, aged 43 years"

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 5d

#31daysofgraves Day 6: gender - Maggie & Lily Gaskell, plot M9721, #Macclesfield cemetery, died while serving at 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester. As women, they were not recognised as CWGC war casualties until we submitted evidence. www.cwgc.org/find-records... www.cwgc.org/find-records...

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Reposted by Rosie Rowley

Steve Jackson @atcherleyons.bsky.social · 6d

🎼 Heron, I’m a heron
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we’re out together dancing, beak to beak 🎵

The one on the left is Fred. A stare like no other, that one’s got.

Ian Sheppard @iansheppard.bsky.social · 6d

Two Grey Herons having words at Venus Pool nature reserve #ShropshireBirding

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Reposted by Rosie Rowley

Friends of Wombwell Cemetery @fowcemetery.bsky.social · 6d

Day 5: Bird - Bonus. #31DaysOfGraves

This is an Avocet, featured in the corner of a cremation stone.

A laser image on a flat marble cremation stone of an Avocet, a wading bird commonly found near water.

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Reposted by Rosie Rowley

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 6d

#31DaysOfGraves - Day 5 Birds

Not a gravestone as such but a huge carving from a tree trunk of a small bird (a wren I think) in Macclesfield Cemetery, Cheshire.

Several of my wife's ancestors are buried nearby...

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 6d

Maurice Louis Joseph de Winne namenlijst.org/publicsearch...
Victor Meuleman namenlijst.org/publicsearch...
Judocus Degenst namenlijst.org/publicsearch...
Louis Picrit namenlijst.org/publicsearch...
They died at the 5th Southern General Hospital which was a school en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_...

IFFM Namenlijst

Web site created using create-react-app

namenlijst.org

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 6d

#31DaysofGraves Day 5: Bird - no bird imagery but remembered on his parents' gravestone in plot X15355 in #Macclesfield Cemetery is Eddie Woodcock of the New Zealand Army Service Corps, kia #WWI 20 Sept 1916 www.cheshireroll.co.uk/soldier/?i=1...

Gravestone of Charlotte and Frederick Woodcock, parents of Eddie Woodcock who was killed in action in France in 1916

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Rosie Rowley @thehistoryspy.bsky.social · 6d

The middle name could mean he was born after his father died?

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