[Ellen Calvert (1888-1988?) married Arthur Gill 11 March 1914. The Listening Experience Database includes items from her memoir, ‘The Diary of Ellen Gill’]

Langsett Terrace, where we lived for a [few months in 1895] wasn’t far away from Peter Laycock’s Cloth Mill, where my wife Ellen worked as a girl. Peter Laycock was very well known in the district of Woodhouse.

My wife Ellen thinks he was the first inventor of “SHODDY”—a very famous blend of cheap cloth, which many of the poorer folk were glad to wear. In politics Peter Laycock was a Liberal […] [and] on this particular election day […] his name was at the top of the poll when the results were declared. Election Days (which were always on NOV. 1^st in those days) were exciting times, especially for boys […] They were great times! We young boys always had to stay up late on “Election” night till the “paper lads” came round the streets shouting “special! all the election results”. Someone made up a verse for Peter Laycock, which we all sang on election day:--

“VOTES, VOTE, VOTE FOR PETER LAYCOCK, YOU CAN’T VOTE FOR A 

BETTER MAN, PETER LAYCOCK IS THE MAN, AND WE’LL HAVE HIM

IF WE CAN, AND WE’LL STICK OLD (SO & SO) UP THE FLUE”