• The Derbyshire Caver, No. 158

    The latest issue is finally complete and printed

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Leslie Pill

langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
Does anybody have any information about Leslie Pill they would like to share? He lived in Sheffield and was active in the Derbyshire area. He may have been born as Arthur Leslie Pill in 1918, and he was still around in 1992. It seems that he was a bit of a gentleman scientist, who contributed papers and articles on a variety of subjects in a number of publications, including Cave Science.

Any information forthcoming will be gratefully received.
 
Graigwen

Graigwen

Active member
langcliffe said:
Does anybody have any information about Leslie Pill they would like to share? He lived in Sheffield and was active in the Derbyshire area. He may have been born as Arthur Leslie Pill in 1918, and he was still around in 1992. It seems that he was a bit of a gentleman scientist, who contributed papers and articles on a variety of subjects in a number of publications, including Cave Science.

Any information forthcoming will be gratefully received.
Click to expand...
The Arthur Leslie Pill born on the 7th February 1918 apparently died in late 1997 . The death was registered in the High Peak district of Derbyshire.
 
Graigwen

Graigwen

Active member
langcliffe said:
Does anybody have any information about Leslie Pill they would like to share? He lived in Sheffield and was active in the Derbyshire area. He may have been born as Arthur Leslie Pill in 1918, and he was still around in 1992. It seems that he was a bit of a gentleman scientist, who contributed papers and articles on a variety of subjects in a number of publications, including Cave Science.

Any information forthcoming will be gratefully received.
Click to expand...
I have been able to confirm that he worked as a research chemist at a steel works company. I have no personal knowledge, this is just stuff I have dug out in the past five minutes.
 
Graigwen

Graigwen

Active member
He died in Castleton. I think I have a contact route to the family, PM me if this seems useful.
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
He was a member of the Martel Club, based in Derbyhire, in the 1940s. I hadn't heard of them before.
 
Graigwen

Graigwen

Active member
I can't see any good possibilities just called Leslie Pill. Pill is a slightly unusual surname, this helps a lot. I am just looking at public records and genealogical interests. I think it turns on how certain you are that he was born in 1918.

Arthur Leslie Pill's father was also in the steel industry, but he was a crucible worker (i.e. working class.)
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
I used one of his photos in the 2018 issue of BCRA's Annual Review (published 2019), with a great example of a caver laddering Maskhill Mine - it was provided by Alan Jeffreys from the Eli Simpson Collection (Derbyshire).
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Apparently BCL also have the newsletters, which include copies of his Record Books:

British Caving Library

caving-library.org.uk caving-library.org.uk

Some of his correspondence is here:

British Caving Library

British Caving Library: Barry King Collection
caving-library.org.uk caving-library.org.uk

& he also appears to be mentioned (during 1961-63) in:

He was in the NMG & gets various other google hits if you search "A L Pill" caving, mainly to do with Hartle Dale:

History | Technical Speleological Group

www.tsgcaving.co.uk www.tsgcaving.co.uk
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
He had articles in Cave Science vol 1, nos. 1 to 5 (inclusive), vol 2 nos.13, 15 & 16, vol 3 nos. 18 & 22 and vol 5 nos. 33 & 40, on a range of subjects, sometimes more than one in each

British Speleological Association (BSA) : Proceedings Proc. (1) (Aug 1963) held by: BCL
Page 5-13 Pill A.L. Some Recent Discoveries in the Hartle Dale Caves

PDHMS have a copy of: Two Thousand Years of Lead Smelting – by A.L. Pill In 'The Derbyshire Countryside' July-Sept. 1951

He also donated 2000 bones from the archaeological dig:

Another photo apparently from him (Les Pill):

So we've found stuff with A.L. before & after his surname, plus Leslie, A. Leslie & Les! (Fortunately there does seem to be a lack of cave authors called Pill)
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
pwhole said:
I used one of his photos in the 2018 issue of BCRA's Annual Review (published 2019), with a great example of a caver laddering Maskhill Mine - it was provided by Alan Jeffreys from the Eli Simpson Collection (Derbyshire).
Click to expand...

Thanks, pwhole. His record books are now being considered as a separate entity to the BSA Records, and I am in the process of adding them to the BCRA Online Archive. But there seems to be a knowledge gap about the man, and how they came to the BCRA Library!
 
richardg

richardg

Active member
lancliffe... Just seen this, Leslie was a good friend, do you want me to write a bit about him on here or as a personal communication ?
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
richardg said:
lancliffe... Just seen this, Leslie was a good friend, do you want me to write a bit about him on here or as a personal communication ?
Click to expand...

I never knew you knew him; why don't you write something in the obituaries section? Even if you don't know his complete life story (as he was a generation or two before you) this would be of value and would also help Langcliffe's commendable work.
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
richardg said:
lancliffe... Just seen this, Leslie was a good friend, do you want me to write a bit about him on here or as a personal communication ?
Click to expand...
That's great! Let's have it on here, so everybody can benefit without waiting for me to get my act together. A photograph of the man would be fantastic.
 
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