The collection of personal and business records of the Swales family, a family Butchers business based in Goodramgate. The earliest document is a Baptism Certificate, which shows the birth of a John Swales in 1853, although the Freemen records mention another John Swales (Butcher) who was apprenticed in 1812.
The main part of the collection features the life of John Thomas Swales, who was born in 1869, and appears to have taken over the family business in 1896. John Thomas became a Methodist Lay Preacher, an influential member of local trade organisations, and was nominated for a vacancy on the Board of Guardians in 1907. The documentation also shows his marriage to Ada Plummer in 1897, and some information on their two children, Hilda Mary (who later became an American citizen) and Thomas, (who carried on the family profession of a Butcher).