This famous diary was kept by Septimus Lister, a bachelor and joiner  by trade. [but see below] He lived in Ecclesfield at the latter end of the 18th and early 19th century, allegedly dying in 1840. The diary was edited around 1914 by Thomas Winder, and published in 1921.

Within the diary, the author writes how he learned to 'chip' files and the 1851 Census enumerates a Septimus Lister, bachelor, aged 53, file cutter. If this is the case, and the two people are in fact one and the same, then, the earliest entries in the diary cannot have been made by Lister, or if Lister did die in 1840, the later entries are not his. Whatever the truth of the matter, the diary makes fascinating reading. Unfortunately only a small proportion can be reproduced within this site. Full publication details are given in the Further Reading section.

The entries run from 1775 to 1845, but are not in strict chronological order. Often entries were apparently missed out and then inserted at a much later date. The spelling is idiosyncratic and phonetic - all extracts are as spelt in the book.

1775 - They Revd. James Dixon came to they village about midsummer.

[There are no further entries for seven years.]

1782 - Geo. Dearden Inlisted in to they 25. Regument of Foot March 7th.

            Fras. Fearn Hung in Chains on Loxley Plain July 24.

1783 - Ground Covered with Snaw May 7th.