The Cammack Autograph Book (Kate Hurst - April 2023)
This autograph book is thought to be linked to the family of George James Cammack (b.1865 Appleton, Lancashire) and his wife Mary Leigh Phythian (b. 1863 Appleton, Lancashire).
George James Cammack was a mineral water manufacturer. In 1911 he and Mary lived at 57 Aughton Street, Ormskirk with their seven surviving children - John Aloysius (1889), John Thomas (1890), Francis William (1892), Mary Elizabeth (1893), George Joseph (1896), Margaret Mary (1898), Mary Hilda (1899), Robert Austin (1903) and Joseph Aloysius (1905).
George’s uncle Wilfred Cammack (b. c.1856 Ormskirk), who worked as a watchmaker, also lived with the family in 1911.
The signatures in this autograph book suggest that it was owned by Margaret Mary Cammack (1898), and that the contributors may have included her brothers Francis “Frank” (1892) and Robert Austin (1903).
- Inside front cover, annotated “Margaret M. Cammack, October 1st 1915. 132 Prescot Road.”
- “You can take a doggie to water, but you cannot make him drink.” Signed “M.C. 12/9/15.”
- Pencil drawing of a man with a beard. Signed “Robt. A. Cammack. 30 xii 15”
- Illustration featuring the initials “M.C.”, on a watercolour background.
- Ink drawing of H.M.S. Centurion, signed by Frank Cammack.
- Pencil drawing of a man with a beard and moustache. Signed “Robt. A. Cammack. 2.i.vi” (2 January 1906?)
- “When She Is With Him”; undated poem, signed by “Addie”.
- “There are medicines & plaster”, poem, signed “F.W.C.”; dated 6.2.16.
- “Tis always dreary weather”; signed “G. Cammack” (or “C. Cammack”), Ormskirk, Feb. 7/16.
- “The Best Butter in the District”, signed “Tom” (or “Tony?”), dated 11/2/17.
- “The lives of great men all remind us”, signed “Tom” (or “Tony?”), dated 11/2/17.
- Watercolour of a ship on the sea; undated; signed “M.J.”
- “The Flags Of The Allies”; undated and unsigned. Watercolour illustration.
- “I’d watch risking my blooming neck up there.” Ink drawing of a man with a pickaxe watching an aircraft. Undated; signed “Love and best Wishes from Addie.”
- “Kind Thoughts”; signed “H. Cammack, Ormskirk, Feb 9 1916”.
- Musical Greetings; signed “Addie”, dated 11/2/17.
