Mike Green: ’T W Thompson – local historian extraordinaire’.

T W Thompson (1888 – 1968) was a local lad made good. He was born into a working-class family in Burneside, had a highly successful school career in Kendal, took a science degree in Cambridge and taught science for thirty-five years. But by the time he retired in 1944 he was also an expert on Wordsworth, on local dialects and on Gypsy Lore. He now set about serious work and, amongst other achievements, published two books, one an anthology of dialect tales, the other on Wordsworth’s schooldays in Hawkshead.

We will review his achievements and end by looking at a fun dialect tale that had its origins in his family: “T’oppenin’ O’ T’ Kendal Ta Windermer Railway”.