melancholy event, were Joseph Tweedale, and his two sons, Robert and James; James and John Kershaw, brothers; George Taylor, and his niece Mary Ann Hussey; Edmund Wimpenny, William Mannock, Susannah Wright, Ann Buckley, Ann Ogden, Daniel Dunkerley, William Butterworth, James Ridgway, Ann Hulme, Hannah Slater, Elizabeth Smethurst, William Whitehead, and Sarah Whatmough. Public subscriptions to the amount of upwards of £1800, were immediately contributed to the relief of the surviving sufferers, and the relatives of those who were unfortunately killed.

In 1843 - 1844, unusally active efforts were made by the Rev. Thomas Lowe, incumbent of Oldham, and a number of members of the Church of England, for the purpose of extending its principles, by the erection of new churches and schools in various parts of the parish, in order to equal, if not exceed, the labours of the numerous other christian congregations of different sects, who are extremely prevalent in this populous district.

The years 1845-1846 will be memorable in local annals for the interest excited in the minds of all classes of the inhabitants, on the subject of providing adequate railway accommodation for the town and neighbourhood. The contests of the Oldham District and the Oldham, Manchester, and Birkenhead Companies, though involving the occurrence of considerable animosity for a time, ultimately terminated in a union with the Manchester and Leeds Company,with whom the Oldham District Company had been connected from its formation. The result of this association of the contending parties was the formation of the Oldham Alliance Railway Company, the great purpose of which is the construction in conjunction with the Lancashire and Yorkshire (late Manchester and Leeds) and London and North Western Companies of a comprehensive system of local railways,

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