George Lloyd (archaeologist)
In the 1860s and 1870s he was curate of Thurstonland in West Yorkshire, Trimdon in County Durham, Church Gresley in South Derbyshire and Cramlington in Northumberland.
[3] His whereabouts during his first forty years are unknown, but he may have spent some time in Ireland, since he edited a magazine in Belfast and married an Irish woman.
[10] On Saturday 3 June the society held its first formal meeting in which Lloyd was able to report some funding for excavation, and in which papers were read, describing in detail findings at the Slack site.
A Roman villa, a bath house with hypocaust, walls 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, a red tiled floor, pillars, silver coins of Vespasian and Nerva, and a gold ring were found.
[14] When he left the association, the Halifax Guardian said, "It would be difficult to find his equal as a disinterested, unprejudiced supervisor in these interesting excavations" which had been "already so signally successful.
[1] On Friday 23 June 1865, Lloyd took part in the annual Thurstonland church school feast, along with the schoolchildren, teachers, local inhabitants, the Kirkburton Temperance Band and four other clergy from Holmbridge, Upperthong, Armitage Bridge and Lockwood.
[20] In December 1865 he resigned his "miserable pittance" of a £90 curate's stipend and his sole charge of Thurstonland for a more remunerative living in the diocese of Durham.
[15][21] On the evening of Saturday 3 February 1866, at the behest of the Thurstonland schoolchildren, a "farewell tea party" was held at the school to present Lloyd with a "richly ornamented, silver-mounted and gold-plated" inkstand, made by Cooper of Huddersfield.
Lloyd told of a local independent minister who had attended a service at St Thomas and had subsequently ridiculed and abused Rev.
He wished his audience the "compliments of the season," encouraged them to attend St Thomas's services and social activities, and to support local charities.
[15] In 1866 he accepted the curacy of St Paul, Trimdon, later Deaf Hill cum Langdale, County Durham, which has since been closed.
On Wednesday 10 October 1866, in response to the continuing efforts of the Reform League to enfranchise working men, and to the associated London riots and northern ironworks strikes of that year, Lloyd wrote to the Darlington Mercury, appealing to Parliament "to put all trade unions under the iron heel of the law, and stamp them out as the vilest rinderpest that England has ever known."
[2] It said: Sir, I wonder very much at a man like you pretending to be a faithful follower of Christ to act in the unjust way that you are doing for I assure you that you are not following the precepts of our Saviour by so fondly embracing and cherishing and upholding the unjust Claims of the Masters and at the same time despising the poor working Men and trying to drive them in to work below the country price and to make black sheep of them, but A man holding the position that you hold should try to make white sheep ... if I ever see another Letter from you ... you may preach your own funeral sermon...
