Ritson Graham
Ritson Graham (born July 26, 1896) was a former mayor of Carlisle, Cumbria, and a local naturalist, writer and social activist.
Early Life[edit]
Ritson Graham was born on 26th July, 1896 near Wigton, Cumbria. His first job, at the age of 14, was as a farm labourer, but In 1914 he volunteered for the Armed Forces, being billeted in Barrow-in-Furness with the Border Regiment and serving in France as a horse-mounted dispatch rider and briefly as a machine gunner in Italy.[1]
In 1919, he married Hannah Isobel Ferguson, and had three sons, John Ferguson (born 1922), Alan (born 1924) and William (born 1933).
Railway career and politics[edit]
Graham started his career as a railwayman in Carlisle, rising from a locomotive cleaner to fireman and then driver, and becoming active in the railway union, ASLEF. He was heavily involved in local Labour Party politics[1] and was elected to the city council in 1939, serving the St Nicholas and Currock wards of Carlisle. He was a member of various committees including Chairman of the Education Committee, when the comprehensive school system was introduced to the country. He was also Chairman of the Public Library and Museum Committee.
In 1950 he became a Magistrate and was for several years Chairman of the Bench. Mayor of Carlisle and Freedom of the City Graham was elected Mayor of Carlisle, Cumbria, in 1956-7. His son Alan Graham was later Mayor of Carlisle in 1981-2.[2]\ As Mayor, his portrait was painted by the artist Robert Forrestor.[3] He retired from the council in 1964 and was granted the highest honour of Honorary Freeman.
Naturalist and writing career[edit]
Graham had a keen interest in natural history, particularly the birds and wildlife of his native Cumbria and in particular the Newcastle Fells and the Gilsland Moors, which he explored and documented in detail between the mid 1920s and the mid 1960s.
His writings on Cumbrian wildlife and birds featured in a weekly column in The Cumberland News and he was one of the four authors of the book, The Birds of Lakeland[4] (1943). He was a member of the British Ornothologist’s Union and later became President of the Carlisle Natural History Society between 1931-1933.[1]
A Border Naturalist[edit]
Graham’s extensive notes on Cumbrian birds and wildlife were collated into a book called A Border Naturalist in 1993, the centenary year of the Carlisle Natural History Society.[5] The book compiles various essays documenting Graham’s extensive exploration of the Bewcastle ells[6] and Gilsland Moors between 1930 and 1966, as well as an introduction by Derek A. Ratcliffe.
List of Publications[edit]
The Badger in Cumberland, Volume VII (1946) of ‘Lakeland Natural History’, edited
by E Blezard
Accounts of the Birds of Lakeland, Volume VI (1943) of ‘Lakeland Natural History’
The Roe Deer in Cumberland, Volume V (1933) of ‘Lakeland Natural History’
Local Wildfowl (Ducks and Geese), Volume IV (1928) of ‘Lakeland Natural History’
Death[edit]
Graham died in Carlisle, Cumbria, on January 6, 1983.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Salveson, Paul (2019-09-23). The Settle-Carlisle Railway. The Crowood Press. ISBN 978-1-78500-638-8. Search this book on
- ↑ "Cumberland News | News | Obituaries | Daphne Graham". 2014-09-04. Archived from the original on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
- ↑ "Robert Forrester - Mid 20th Century Oil, Ritson Graham". www.sulisfineart.com. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
- ↑ Blezard, Ernest; Garnett, Marjory; Johnston, Tom L. (1943). The Birds of Lakeland. Carlisle Natural History Society. Search this book on
- ↑ Radio documentary about Ritson Graham, former mayor of Carlisle, retrieved 2020-06-20
- ↑ "The Bewcastle Cross". Modern Language Notes. 18 (5): 160–161. May 1903. doi:10.2307/2917221. ISSN 0149-6611. JSTOR 2917221.
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- ↑ "List of Publications". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Newspaper Article". Carslile and Cumberland Journal. Unknown parameter
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