Under the pen-name 'Rambler' John Noakes was the senior reporter, and later sub-editor of the Worcester Herald. He came to Worcester when he was 22 years of age and died in Rose Terrace in 1894, in his 78th year, after 56 years devoted to local history researches. The two volumes of 'The Rambler in Worcestershire' were early, and have a lot of flowery reporting not appreciated today, but with the years, he became more of a historian, and his 'Worcester in Olden Times', and other books are valuable works. He took an active part in saving the Guildhall from demolition in the 1870's.
