 | | Sam Bate - Elegy for a Craftsman |  | | | | | | In this essay, Peter Barnsley movingly records the memories of Cradley chainmaker Sam Bate at the end of his life. ... read on | | |  | | |
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| | Joe Beasley - A Black Country Farmer | | | | | | | In this essay from the 1970's, Peter Barnsley shares with us the story of Joe Beasley, a Black Country farmer born in Cradley in 1898. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Steve Bloomer - King of Goal Scorers | | | | | | | More than sixty years after the death of Steve Bloomer in 1938, the anthem of Derby County Football Club is Steve Bloomer's Watching. His memory is still honoured by both his club and by his birthplace of Cradley, where he was born in 1874. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Steve Bloomer and the Derby RamsTrust | | | | | | | Paul and David Mortimer visited a meeting of "Cradley Then and Now" to report on progress by the Derby RamsTrust in their campaign to erect a statue of Steve Bloomer at Pride Park Stadium ... read on | | | | |  | |
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| | William Caslon | | | | | | | More than three hundred years after his birth, the controversial subject of the birthplace of the famous typeface designer William Caslon is still hotly debated by some. Was he born in Cradley, as most reference works state, or was he from Halesowen? ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | The Cradleys at Gallipoli | | | | | | | Terry Evans provides us with this account of the 18 young men of Cradley who went to Gallipoli in 1915, but never returned. Here is their story. ... read on | |
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| | Benjamin Hodgetts - A Loss to Cradley | | | | | | | Geoffrey E. Hodgetts writes of his grandfather, Benjamin Hodgetts. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Mr. Jeston Homfray and The Old Worse and Worse | | | | | | | Cradley solicitor Jeston Homfray had his day in Court when the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway Co. insisted on a surcharge of 3/9d for a hamper of pot-plants ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Sarah Jones | | | | | | | Sarah (Sally) Jones - "A genius in her own right, trusted and respected by all" ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Mahlah Addyes Scott | | | | | | | In her lifetime, the enigmatic Mahlah Homer was variously described as a nail maker, singer of high repute, lady of the manor and patron of the living. This is what we know of her life. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Joey Stevens | | | | | | | In Park Lane Unitarian church there is a simple grave marked only "In memory of Joe, the Childrens' Friend."
Here is the story of a much loved Cradley character. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Sam Taylor | | | | | | | Sam Taylor - a Cradley boy, almost ninety years young - looks back on life in Cradley since 1915 ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | Tommy Two-Sticks | | | | | | | The Rev. James Hesselgrave Thompson - “O, yo' mane ode Tummy-Tew-Sticks, does yer? Ar, 'e was a bit o' a funny 'un 'e were” - was vicar at St. Peter's for thirty-three years.
Unconventional and often blunt, he died on April 18th, 1889. Cradley has been talking about him ever since.
His “Vicar's Notebooks” were recently (December 2004) transcribed by Margaret Bradley and Barry Blunt, and published by Cradley Then and Now, but even in 1937 his memory was very much alive, as shown by this newspaper article from that year. ... read on | | |  | | |
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| | The Funeral of Sgt. Tyler | | | | | | | Cradley turned out in force when Sgt. Joe Tyler was buried with full military honours in August, 1916 ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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| | The Wandering Vicar of Cradley | | | | | | | Between 1856 and 1889, those who failed to sing loudly enough at St Peter's, or had dirty hands at school, could only hope that "Tommy Twosticks" - the Reverend James Hesselgrave Thompson - was on one of his many extended absences from the parish. ... read on | | | | |  | |
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| | Alfred Westwood - An Early Cradley Radical | | | | | | | Alf Clift and Susan Westwood tell the story of their grandfather Alfred Westwood JP, chainmaker, trade unionist and prominent Cradley citizen. ... read on | | |  | |  | |
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