IS your name Mercer? Then you might belong to the Burnley family that Jean Mulgrew is seeking to trace.

For she has a box of photographs and memorabilia spanning generations in her possession, which she would like to hand over to the family.

One beautifully-scripted notebook dates back to 1866 and records the dates of family births and deaths.

It contains, too, what appears to be school work, in precise handwriting, presumably when the writer attended the local church school.

Jean, who lives in Padiham, also has a confirmation book of Edith Allen, nee Mercer, which is almost 100 years old.

She said: "I often look through the books and pictures and wish I could hand them over to one of the family. It is a wonderful record of people through the ages.

"None bear any dates, so it is difficult to know who is who. Some photographs date back to the turn of the century, and others are in colour and are obviously more recent.

"There are photographs of soldiers, who obviously fought in the First World War, as well as an old school photograph from Todmorden Road."

They came to her through Edith, born in 1908, to Hannah and Arthur Mercer, who lived in Albert Street, Burnley. Her father was the youngest of eight children, born in 1864, of Richard and Judith Mercer, who lived in Blakey Street.

Edith married Albert Allen, who was 96 when he died in 1997, and they lived in Wilton Street.

If you are one of the descendants of the Mercer family, or know how we can trace them, just get in touch with the Looking Back desk.