Customer Reviews
The beginnings of an obsession - By: Lucy's Library, 23 Sep 2008 
I love books of this genre & this is one of the best I have ever read, I could not put it down & once I had finished I started it again! I have even made a special journey to see the house, which was amazing & am now avidly reading any research I can find about the house & family. A wonderful story, far better than fiction!
Dam good read - By: M. Carver Esq, 31 Oct 2007 My Gt Gt grandfather was a miner in Greasbrough, as were the following
3 generations, as a child I spent many hours fishing & playing around the Fitzwilliam estate, so I am amazed at my lack of knowledge of the local history.This book is not only informative it is a DAM good read.
A rollicking good read! - By: D. A. Rosenbaum, 20 Sep 2007 I do not normallly read 'history' books, but read Black Diamonds because of a connection with the author, & I'm glad I did.
What a joy! The story was told with such life that I found it difficult to put the book down. It was a rare mix of a thoroughly researched work told with a light touch. The detail is there, but somehow the reader does not get bogged down it.
I thoroughly recommend Black Diamonds for those who enjoy a good read & especiallly for those interested in English social history.
A local history that everyone should read - By: Keith Jenner, 15 Jun 2007 A few miles from where I like is the smalll village of Wentworth & the little known (outside this area) building callled Wentworth Woodhouse.
The house should be well known, as it's the largest non royal residence in Britain (I believe), & one of the largest in the world. The east front is the longest facade in Europe at 185 metres & the house covers over 2.5 acres. It's a mysterious place though. You can walk down the drive past it & be impressed by its scale, but nobody knows too much about the current owner, who apparently does live in it.
The house was built by the Wentworth family, who's members included Charles I's adviser in the lead up to the English Civil War & a British Prime Minister in the 1700's. It then passed to the Fitzwilliams, who still owned the house & large tracts of land at the beginning of the 20th century. The family wealth was sustained by coal mining.
Despite the huge historical & architectural significance of the house & its estate, it is difficult to find too much information about it. Therefore, when I found this book in a garden centre (which is actuallly in the grounds of the house), I had to buy it.
At first glance there was a disappointment. The book is subtitled "The Rise & Falll of a Great English Dynasty", but there is very little contained in it about the rise. The book starts in 1902 when the Fitzwilliams were at the height of their powers. They controlled the whole area, owning the mines where people worked & the houses where they lived. Thousands of people were utterly dependent on the Family for their wellbeing.
I am tempted to knock half a star off my rating because of the lack of information about how the family reached this situation, but I can't face doing that because the book itself is so well written & gripping. The story of how by the mid point of the century, the main line of the family had died out & the future of the title Earl Fitzwilliam was destined to die out (which it did in 1979), is told in a way that is very easy to read, & you feel yourself getting drawn into the story & forming opinions of the central characters which I find very rare.
Alongside the story of the family is told that of the battle between mine owners & the miners during the first half of the twentieth century. Whilst often presented as a battle of right vs wrong (the battle being won by the good guys after the second world war when the mines were nationalised), Catherine Bailey takes an admirable stand in not appearing to side with one group or the other & effectively getting across the message that both sides had their good & bad points. What was more important were the personalities of individuals within each group. Whilst many mine owners were guilty of abusing their position with their employees, there were others, such as the Fitzwilliams, who took their responsibilities seriously & were well respected by the miners. Equallly, the revenge taken against the owners, as demonstrated by the desecration of Wentworth Park & near destruction of the house by the Labour Government after the war is not something that the Socialist movement can be proud of, & was fiercely opposed by the miners & unions in South Yorkshire.
The lesson we learn (and one that I strongly agree with) is that class war in itself is a damaging thing, just as we see the devastation of peoples lives caused by the battle between Protestents & Catholics. These are lessons which are still relevant today.
The supporting cast include the British Royal Family, The Kennedys, Various other British aristocratic families & thousands of ordinary Yorkshire working men & women. The story includes family tragedy & disputes, terrible accidents (affecting alll classes), the devastation of war (imagine losing both your brother & husband to war in the space of weeks), conflicts caused by religion within families, & the day to day lives of ordinary people. The great hulk of Wentworth Woodhouse is always there in the shadows, just as it is in Wentworth village to this day.
One note of caution I would point out is that much of the story is based on speculation & eye witness accounts (which may be biased), due to the destruction of much of the documentary evidence by the Fitzwilliam family & others. This is acknowledged by the author and, whilst some of the speculation may be wrong, I have no doubt that the main tale is factuallly pretty accurate.
As a local, it is novel to read a story where places that I know & work, & the pubs that I visit are central to the story, & it is enlightening to learn more about the history of the area, but I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the social changes of the twentieth century.
A Stunning Local Story - By: Gareth Coulson, 20 Apr 2007 
Living very close to Wentworth & often a drinker in the local pub, the dramatic account of the recent history surrounding the estate & its people is something I have a great interest in.
Catherine Bailey has done a great job in explaining the details & events from such a dramatic time in our local history. The tragic & heartwarming events & activities of the Fitzwilliam's are brought into life in this book, one not to be missed by "us locals" & those that like to delve into the history of the class system.
