A DIARY charting the life of a former Blackburn councillor and alderman will go up for auction next Friday .

Charles Tiplady's writings from 1839 to 1873 is one of the lots in a fine art and literature auction in Nottingham and is expected to make about £600.

The 500 pages of hand-written memoirs, bound into one so far unpublished volume, reveals Mr Tiplady's life as a successful printer and stationer.

Mr Tiplady, who lived in Church Street, Blackburn, and later Mill Lane, attended the Perseverance Freemason's Lodge where he worked his way up to Provincial Grand Master.

He was also an Oddfellow and held membership of St John's Church and the local board of Guardians of the Parochial Burial Society. He was also a prominent Tory.

The journal charts his life from his second marriage, after the death of his first wife in 1938, until three weeks before his death.

It not only records much of his family history and his day-to-day domestic life, but also the complex politics associated with the many bodies he sat on for more than 34 years.

The diaries also includes press reports, letters to editors of local newspapers, poems and a large number of obituaries. It ends with death notices for Mr Tiplady, his wife and one of his four sons who were killed in a railway disaster.

The sale begins at 10am at the Auction House in Nottingham. For further information ring 0115 979 0000.

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