Fellow members of Bradford Family History Society who have received the latest issue (Vol 8, No. 5, March 2010) of the society's journal, "Bod-Kin", will find in it an article by myself about the Bradford ancestry of that wonderful character actor and film star WILFRID LAWSON, who appeared in almost 50 British and Hollywood films and countless stage productions. If his name has been largely forgotten today, you will recognise him instantly from the photographs - a balding little man with a face like a wrinkled prune, a bulbous (drinker's!) nose and a squeaky voice. Though he mostly played supporting roles, he always stole any scene he was in. Most people will remember him for his part as Laurence Harvey's Uncle Nat in the film of Room At The Top (1958, shot in Bradford and Halifax), the decrepit, ancient butler Peacock in that hilarious comedy The Wrong Box (1966) with John Mills, Michael Caine, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock, and The Dormouse in Jonathan Miller's TV adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (also 1966, the year of Lawson's death). He was born on January 14 1900 at 18 Harris Street, Bradford, off Barkerend Road, as Wilfred [sic] Lawson WORSNOP, the son of a Bradford photographer and artist called John Mitchell Dowling Worsnop and his second wife, Isabella McCubbin, a Scottish girl from Ayrshire. He began acting in his teens and went on to appear in 47 films in Britain and Hollywood, plus many theatrical productions. He was also known throughout show business as a legendary drinker, about whom many stories were told. I too have WORSNOP ancestry and run, as my second ONS, a one-name study of the name. My gt-grandmother Charlotte Worsnop, though born in Scarborough, married my gt-grandfather Robert Stockdill (as his 4th and last wife) on Christmas Day 1851 at Shipley. WORSNOP is one of those rarish surnames hardly ever found outside its principal home, which is Bradford and Leeds with a presence also in Halifax. In the 19th century and earlier the epicentre of the name appears to have been at Low Moor, Bradford, where there were many church and chapel records of the Worsnops. Wilfrid Lawson (Worsnop) descended from the Low Moor Worsnops and I traced his ancestry back to his gt-grandfather REUBEN WORSNOP, who was born at Low Moor about 1794 and married PRISCILLA BOOTH of Halifax in 1812. Because of the profusion of Worsnops in the area, getting back further is difficult. Surprisingly, Lawson, though a prominent and well-known actor who had a career of over 30 years in the theatre and films, appears to be little recognised or remembered in his home town. I would be glad to hear from anyone who knows anything about him or whether his branch of the Low Moor Worsnops still has living members. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE