Local historian and author’s new book tells of Buxton’s interesting people
An author and local historian has written a new book focusing on the people who have called Buxton their home and their stories.
Intriguing Buxton Residents and Visitors by Julian Cohen takes readers on a journey from 1716 to the 1980s and features everyone from the first modern lesiban to the former president of the United States of America and an England football player.
Julian, who has written three other local history books, said: “The idea for this book came from researching previous books.
“Names kept popping up of people you wouldn’t expect to be associated with the town so I looked into it further.”
He says his book focuses on people born in the town like Frank Soo the England footballer, Winifred Pilkington the town’s meteorologist for 40 years and the identical twins who lived on Fairfield Road and delivered newspapers until their 70s.
But, he says there is also a part of the book which looks at those who were visitors to the town or moved here.
“Herbert Eisner was one of 30 Jewish boys, rescued from Berlin and the Nazis, who came to Buxton college.”
In 1948 he married Gisela Spanglet, who came to Britain aged 13 with the Kindertransport, having met her at university in Nottingham. In 1951 they moved back to Buxton and he went on to become a scientist whose work led to high-expansion fire fighting foam.
Julian said: “The book also tells the story of Anne Lister who is known as the ‘first modern lesbian’ and her travels to Buxton and what she thought of the area.
“In the 1780s Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, visited the George Hotel, which people may not know.”
Julian said it was great to scratch the surface of the town and dig a little deeper.
“I think the research of this book has been the best part, uncovering the forgotten stories of people who called Buxton home or visited.”
He said the population of Buxton in the 1860s was 2,500 but the railways from Manchester and London caused the population to explode to 10,000 in 40 years and his book tells the tales of immigration to the town as well.
The official book launch of Intriguing Buxton Residents and Visitors will take place on Friday June 12 at the Pump Room from 6.30pm.
The book is £10 and will be available from the Pump Room, Hargreaves, and other local book stores.
The launch is free but pre booking is essential and can be done via buxtoncrescentexperience.com/tour/booklaunch/