Sylvia Woodhurst, now of Peterborough, in a special column in the Peterborough Examiner, 20 May 2000, told the fascinating story of William Bancks, from Bewdley, England, who was the founder of Bewdley, Ontario. The family made its fortune in a brass foundry and lost it in gambling. William Bancks was a currency reformer who wrote nearly 100 pamphlets advocating more paper currency in order to encourage investment and pay higher wages to the labouring classes. He likewise opposed the gold standard. Bancks emigrated in 1837, and returned to England in 1858.

Sylvia Woodhurst also comments on the lessons she learned about doing family research in England. She used parish records in the County Record Office, microfilm censuses, and deeds and personal depositions kept in a former church in downtown Worcester.

It is good to see people making connections between careers on both sides of the Atlantic. Although she does not comment on it, her story also reminds us that return emigration was a common phenomenon about which we need to know more.

From Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley , Vol 5, no 4 (February 2001)