John Lucas was an eighteenth-century Leeds schoolmaster who left behind a series of jottings of life on the Leeds of his day and which became his Memoranda Book. The Thoresby Society felt that this insight would be a valuable asset to any historian of the city and Dr Jonathan Oates undertook the task of editing the text. He has also added copious footnotes and a detailed introduction. Here then we find the great civic events of Leeds, such as the celebrations of the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, the first anniversary of the accession of George I in 1715 and the coronation of his son, George II, in 1727, all recorded. Visits by the great and good, such as the Archbishop of York, Sir William Dawes, and Lady Elizabeth Hastings are meticulously noted as are the arrival in the town of numerous troops of soldiers, including coloured troops in 1749. On a lighter note horse racing at Chapeltown and Temple Newsam are reported and we learn that football was being played in Leeds as early as 1715 when groups of men played on the frozen river Aire in December that year.

Dr Jonathan Oates is currently the Borough Archivist for the London Borough of Ealing. He holds a BA and PhD from the University of Reading and a Diploma in Archive Administration from U.C.W. Aberystwyth. He has previously published work with the Thoresby Society on Leeds and the Jacobite rebellions and has also had many articles published about Jacobitism and the responses in different parts of England to the insurrections.

Price £22.00 plus £1.30 p.& p. per copy within UK


ISSN 0082-4232

ISBN 0 900 741 64 3

Also published this year is the
Index to the Publications of the Thoresby Society 1969-2004.

Compiled by
J. Mary D. Forster, MA
Honorary Librarian 1960 - 2002

Price £4.00 plus £1.30 p.& p. per copy within UK