HEREWARD THE WAKE (flourished 1070) lead the Saxon uprising against the invaders after the Norman Conquest of 1066 although little factual information about his life survives. There seems no doubt that he did cause problems for the Normans but his reputation rests mainly with the many fictional accounts of his exploits, particularly the colourful descriptions of him ridding Bourne of the invading army while the story of his death in Bourne Wood at the hands of the enemy is undoubtedly apocryphal.

ROBERT MANNING (1264-1340) is perhaps the most notable of all our citizens in that he is credited with putting the speech of the ordinary people of his time into the recognisable form that we have today. He is best known as Robert de Brunne because of his long time residence as a canon at Bourne Abbey where he completed his life's work and in the process, popularised religious and historical material in a Middle English dialect that was easily understood by the people of his time. His best known work was Handlyng Synne, a book of great value because it gives glimpses into the ways and thoughts of our countrymen 600 years ago and even more, shows us the language then in common use. 

ORM THE PREACHER (flourished 1180) also worked at Bourne Abbey a century earlier than Robert Manning but his presence here has only been revealed during recent research. His homily collection known as The Ormulum has been well known to linguists and language historians ever since the 17th century but its source has only recently been established as Bourne Abbey. Orm's language provides a glimpse of the English vernacular of the time and before it was strongly influenced by the French. It is assumed that the manuscript remained at Bourne Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1540 and after various owners, is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
 

JOB HARTOP (1550-1595) was a farmer's boy working on the land near Bourne but hankered after a life of adventure and ran away to sea when he was 12 years old. After a short apprenticeship with a gunpowder manufacturer in London, he signed on with the English admiral Sir John Hawkins and sailed the Spanish main in the company of the young Francis Drake. He was captured by the Spanish on his third voyage and spent ten years as a galley slave and thirteen years in a Spanish prison but managed to escape and make his way back to Bourne where he spent his final days recounting his adventures in the town's taverns, although the privations he suffered had taken their toll and he died at the age of 45.

WILLIAM TROLLOPE (1562-1637) was a prominent landowner whose ancestors settled in the Bourne area from County Durham in the mid-16th century and who increased his fortune considerably through land acquisition but became one of our most eminent philanthropists. He left two important bequests in his will, firstly an endowment to establish a free grammar school which marked a new important phase in local education for the town and secondly sufficient money to build almshouses for six poor, aged men. Both properties survive today although largely rebuilt.

ROBERT HARRINGTON (1589-1654) made large bequests to Bourne from which the community benefits to this day. Legend has it that he walked to London to seek his fortune and was most successful in his endeavours and when he died, he remembered his home town by leaving shops and dwelling houses in the Leytonstone area "for the benefit of his own people", namely the citizens of Bourne. The charity established in his name is by far the greatest currently administered by Bourne United Charities and fittingly, Harrington Street was named in his memory.

Other lives profiled on the CD-ROM are those of

MORE BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES INCLUDE

Edward Andrew, Thomas Ball, J W E (Bill) Banks, Dr George Blasson, William Bradley, John Branston, Willerton Brown, Mary Buckberry, Joseph Burn, John Campbell, William Castledine, Frederick Clarke, Ray Cliffe, George Collinson, Albert Dainty, Harry Dowsett, Leslie Ferriby, James Edward Fisher, Reginald Foster, Eve Frazer, Henry Goodyear, Harry Goodyer, Roland Green, Edward Grummitt, William Hall, John Hinson, Hugh and Susannah Hobson, William Kingston, William Lister, John Lunn, Hugh Mansfield, John Mansfield, Jean McKenzie, Thomas Measures, Birt Morris, George Octavius Munton, William Nowell, Frederick John North,  Joshua North, William Pearce, Stanley Pease, Thomas Pick, William Earle Pick, John Pool, Thomas Revill, Eric Rickard, John Roberts, Eunice Rogan, Tony Rudd, William Scott, Thomas Shippey, Hannah Smith, Reg Sones, Ernest Spridgeon, Alec Stokes, Edward Stringer, Basil Stroud, Stuart Stroud, Henry Stubley, Cecil Sweetnam,  Edward Trollope, George Tory, William and Annie Townson, Joseph B Walker and William Welldon.

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT - THE BOER WAR OF 1899-1902

This includes information about Trooper Emminson Bell, Private Edward Cliffe, Private George Cornwall, Driver Joseph Dickens, Private George Drakard, Trooper George Franks, Private William Glenn,  Quarter-Master Sergeant Harrison, Lance Corporal Herbert Marsh, Private A Percival, Lance Corporal H Leslie Pike, Private Bennett Rogers*, Gunner Charles Stuffins, Private S Tipler* and Private George Tyers. (* Denotes later killed in action).

LETTERS FROM THE TRENCHES - THE GREAT WAR OF 1914-18

This includes correspondence from Private Albert J Adamson, Private John Bannister, Private Martin Barnes, Private Vernon Bradley, Private Ernest Bull, Private Joseph Bullimore, Lance Corporal Oliver Davies, Private Victor Davies, Private W Davies, Private Fred Fisher, Trooper Fred Flatters, Gunner Charles Garfoot, Gunner Edward Garfoot, Private Stephen Grummitt, Driver Fred Hinson, Private W Lane* (letter of condolence), Sergeant Cedric W Lloyd, Private Percy Lunn, Private Percy Milan, Private E Moisey, Sapper George North, Private T Phillips, Private Harold Robinson, Private George Sherwin*, Lance Corporal H H Steel, Private J Stevenson*, Private S Tipler, Lance Corporal Percy J Vickers, Private W Watts*, Corporal Arthur Webster, Private J W Wyles and Sergeant F A Yates.
(* Denotes later killed in action).

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT - CASES FROM PAST TIMES

Andrew R Agnew, Mary Atkinson, John Baker, John William Beck, Joseph Bellamy, Joseph Bland, William Bradley, Richard Brightman, Charles A Brown, Frederick Brown, John Burbidge, John Burton, William Cartwright, Ada Clark, James Clarke, Mark Clay, William Colby, Jane Crampton, William Downes, Elizabeth Faulkner, Nicholas Fowler, John Gibson, John Grummitt, Joseph Haddon, Sarah Jane Halford, Henry Handley, William Hardwicke, James Harris, Thomas and Anna Hilton, Richard Jackson, Elizabeth Johnson, Frank Jones, Eleanor Kelly, Albert Kettle, George and Mary Kyme, John Lawson, William Henry Marshall, William Edward Matthews, John Modd, Frank Newcombe, Joseph Ogden, George and Charlotte Parker, William and Jane Pheasant, Alfred Lawrence Platt, William Reeve, Frederick Rouse, John de Rowe, Thomas Seerle, John and Charlotte Smith, Rose Sneath, John Starkey, William Thiselton, Fred Vickers, Frederick Walker, Thomas Wallis, Judith Weaving, Elizabeth Whitfield, Priscilla Woodward and James Wyles.

TRANSPORTATION TO THE COLONIES IN THE 18^TH AND 19^TH CENTURIES

Francis Allam, Abraham Atkins (alias William Matkins), Henry Barnes (alias Barns and Baines), Davy Bennett, Thomas Bennett (alia Tuck), James Brown (alias Baker), John Buck, Augustine Chamberlain, Perkins Cobley, John Close, William Cox, William Crust, Henry Dawson, Robert Elderkin, Ephraim Francis, George Gardiner, Mary Glenn, James Gray, William Haxey, James Johnson, William Knight, Edward Marvin, Sarah Marvin, John Marvin, John Moisey, Thomas Moisey, Charles Pell, Charles Pinfold, Samuel Preston, John Roberts, Susannah Rogers, William Scott, William Shaw, John Simpson, Thomas Sims, John Stapleford, Joseph Stimson, Thomas Stimson, John Stubley, John Thompson, Henry Thorpe, William Wells and John Whitacre (alias Whitaker).

THIS MORTAL COIL - BIZARRE AND UNEXPECTED DEATHS IN PAST TIMES

Henrietta Arden, Hugh Arnold, Millie Asher, Rebecca Bains, Jane Barwiss, Frances Sarah Bellamy, Thomas Booth, John Boyer, Sarah Bromley, Emma Bullymore, Mary Burton, Tom Cunnington, Ethel Darnes, John Dring, Joseph Eason, William Elston, Thomas Fletcher,  George Foulds, Rachel Gedney, Elizabeth Gillson, Mary Green, James Griffin, Naomi Grummitt, George Hardwick, Samuel Harvey, John Meredith Hazelgreave, A Hewitt, the Rev John James Hodgson, Charlotte Hubbard, John Hudson, Edward Jackson, Maurice Jackson, Michael George Joyce, Thomas Kitchen, Frank Lank, Rose Ellen Makings, Digby Marsh, James Measures, Joseph Measures, Edward Munton, Mary Ann Musson, Mary Elizabeth Nicholls, Ann Nixon, Joseph Norman, William Norman, John Northern, John Osgothorpe, James Arthur Parker, Charles Pick, Robert Pickering, Ernest Woodward Pocklington, John Pullen,  Campain Redmile, William Reed, James Rice, John William Rix, Edward Robinson, William Rodgers, Eleanor Rose, John Sandall, Lewis Sardeson, Albert Saxby, John Scotney, Josiah Sharpe, Thomas Shelton, Charles Smith, Clara Jane Smith, Helen Phyllis Smith, Thomas Smith, Thomas Stevenson, Henry Stubley, May Victoria Stubley, William Sturges, Ann Thurlby, William Todd, Mary Twitchell, John Usher, Thomas Wilkinson, James Wilson, Albert Woolley and James Young.

A MEDICAL CASEBOOK - UNUSUAL CASES IN PAST TIMES

Priscilla Boor, Henry Greenwood, Elizabeth Gunn, Henry Hewerdine, Edward Hubbard, William Marriott, Charles Moisey, John Morris, Marie Nicholls, William Palmer, Susannah Esther Pepper, Martha Pullen, Thomas Redmile, W H Richards, Betsy Rouse, Samuel Smith, William
Todd and Arthur Young.