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'The Brushes Story'

Forward to the book: 'The Brushes Story' - How it all began

" I came to Sheffield for the first time in 1935 to teach History at Firth Park Grammar School (mysteriously subtitled "The Brushes"). The school was 2,5 miles north of the Sheffield city centre, and I was somewhat startled to discover an urban Balmoral in the midst of a Council Housing Estate.
I asked the obvious questions, and was told that 'Brush House' had been built by a certain John Booth in the late 18th century; and that the Booth family had occupied the mansion till the end of the 19th century, when they had sold it to C. W. Kayser, (head of the steel firm Kayser, Ellison) and departed to the South of England. Brush House then had a succession of owners till in 1919 it was sold to the Sheffield Corporation, who decided to convert it into a Grammar School to serve the growing Northern area of the city.

As a historian, I consulted Hunter's History of Hallamshire, and Eastwood's History of Ecclesfield to find out more about the Booth family (the Sheffield Histories were of little help: Brush House was in Ecclesfield Parish till c.1900 and therefore was a world apart!) I found some interesting material, about three pages in all, describing especially John Booth, the builder of the house, a man of scientific and philosophical outlook, who laid out plantations and gardens of great beauty, together with a private Mausoleum: and William Booth, of Masbrough House, who inherited the house on John's death. John and William were partners of Samuel Walker of Masbrough. Reference was also made to William's sons - John Kay Booth, who was an eminent physician in Birmingham: Charles, William .and Henry who all served as officers in the Peninsular War. Charles being killed at Badajoz in 1812: and George, who was a Classical scholar of distinction, and was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

And that was it. Quite interesting, but rather sparse. In Eastwood, there was a Genealogical Table, but no details about other members of the family. This apparently was all there was to know, and I searched no further.

Nearly 40 years later, in 1973, there came a 'bolt from the blue' - the arrival from Gloucestershire of Mr. Peter Booth and his wife, who were looking for "Brush House, Ecclesfield," the home of Peter Booth's ancestors. After some fruitless hours searching the village of Ecclesfield, some one at last thought of "The Brushes, where Firth Park School is," two miles away.

Mr. Booth had brought with him a picture of Brushes Farm in 1745, and of John Booth's Mausoleum, and - most remarkable of all - a fantastic collection of letters sent by members of the Booth family engaged in the Peninsular War, to their brother at Brush House. These letters not only threw a vivid light on the Napoleonic Wars, but indicated that there was a great deal more of value and interest to discover about the Booth family and their background.

So I went to the Local History Department of the Sheffield Central Library and met the Archivist, Miss Meredith, who opened up a remarkable treasure-house hidden in the letters and documents deposited in the archives by various 19th century solicitors - the 'Smith Collection,' the 'Wheat Collection' and many others. Another great break-through was the discovery of David Hey's outstanding paper on "The nail-making background of the Walkers and Booths" which for the first time revealed to me the remarkable industrial story of the Booth family.

As the story began to take shape, and innumerable pieces of the jig-saw fitted into the emerging picture, help poured in from all directions. Old people remembered The Brushes before it was a school, and what happened to the Brushes Estate and the Mausoleum. Miss M Hemmingfield produced priceless photographs of Shire Hall and Cliffe House. My Colleague, Mr. Jack White, introduced me to Mr. F. S. Hague of Rotherham, who knows everything about the Ecclesfield Parish in the 18th and 19th centuries. Another colleague, Mr. Bert Pilley, put me in touch with Mr. Latham, whose brilliantly evocative description of the Brushes Estate through the eves of a small boy is one of the most moving parts of the story. Then, in August 1977, another surprise, - the discovery that in South Wales there lives a. direct descendant of the Sarah Booth who married Hugh Mellor in 1809. She is Dr. Kay Booth Mellor: and she has produced a host of letters written by Dr. Charles M. Mellor, Sarah's youngest son, which contain new and graphic material about the Booth Families.
And so the details of the history of the Booths of Brush House continue to appear from many different angles.

But I had better put pen to paper before it is too late."

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