Literary papers of writer and local historian, Louis Mellard, 1924

The collection includes three texts, the first of which under the title 'Escapades of 'Shelford Tommy' The Nottingham Ventriloquist and the Misadventures of his Comrade 'Whistlin' Charlie'', offers a fictionalised account of two early Nottingham characters. (MS 78/1) Mellard's text (in 136 ff) is dated 8 October 1824. It draws on the descriptions of these men as given by John Throsby in his revised edition of The Antiquities of Nottinghamshire by Robert Thoroton (1797), vol ii, pp 149-151.

The manuscript is accompanied by two shorter, undated local history essays entitled 'More lost romances of Nottingham in the Tudor and Stuart days' (MS 78/2) and 'Some lost dramas and romances of medieval Nottingham' (MS 78/3).

Apart from the publication of a number of local history works concerning the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas, little is known about the writer Louis Mellard. One of his studies, which appeared under the title Nottingham in the days of Dick Turpin, was printed in Nottingham in 1924. It describes aspects of criminal activity in the town in the 18th century. This was reprinted, with corrections and additions, from two articles published in The Nottingham Evening Post on 17 and 26 January 1924 and it seems possible that he placed other essays too in in local journals and newspapers.

His Sporting stories of the Midlands (Nottingham: Swift Press Syndicate, 1925) indicates that Mellard was then living at 9 Watcombe Circus, Carrington, Nottinghamshire. This essay makes reference to his authorship of Lost Romances of the Midlands, Shelford Tommy, the Ventriloquist and Historic Nottingham, none of which is recorded in published form in the catalogue of the British Library. In Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire (Nottingham: The Lenton Press, 1925), Mellard provided drawings and photographs of local scenes with descriptions of the history of different towns and communities in the area.

Mellard seems to have been also the editor of a periodical or occasional local miscellany entitle Pot Pourri. A collection of trifles, of which volumes one and two (January and February 1896) are recorded at the British Library.

The story of the Nottingham ventriloquist James Burne, alias Shelford Tommy, is given by John Throsby in his revised edition of The Antiquities of Nottinghamshire by Robert Thoroton (1797), vol ii, pp 149-150.

No archival arrangement has been necessary.

ACCESS: Accessible to all registered readers.

LANGUAGE: English

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The date and source of acquisition of this manuscript is not known. It was probably deposited with the library of University College Nottingham (now The University of Nottingham) in the late 1940s.