Textile family loses last surviving member at 102

THE last remaining member of famous Oldham textile family the Mellodews has died aged 102.

Alice Ramage was the last to bear the Mellodew surname, prior to her marriage.

The Mellodew family built Moorside and Parkfield mills, which were world famous for velvet production, and St Thomas’s Church in Moorside, in 1872.

Pattern books used at the mills are on display at the Local Studies and Archives Centre in Union Street.

A portrait of James Mellodew, who was Mayor of Oldham in 1874, is on display at Gallery Oldham.

Dozens of descendants of the Mellodew family were reunited in Oldham in 2007 just before Parkfield House was demolished.

James Mellodew built the eight-bedroom house in 1854. It stayed in the family until 1940 and was then run as an hotel for 46 years.

Mrs Ramage’s funeral is at St Peter’s Church in Prestbury on Friday at 11am.


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