A Pudsey-born historian has returned to his home town and compiled a bygone record of its last century.

Gerry Tomlinson, who has already published 20 history titles, spent eight years hunting down information, archives and photographs for his latest work, Pudsey: Queen Victoria's Last Borough.

Mr Tomlinson created the book to commemorate Pudsey's centenary celebrations - and is now campaigning for its borough status to be restored.

And after sending a loyal address to the Queen on the town's behalf, Mr Tomlinson received a letter from Buckingham Palace thanking him for his support.

Like many fellow residents, Mr Tomlinson believes much of their identity was lost after the town was "swallowed up" by Leeds in the massive local government shake-up of 1974.

"Pudsey was the last town to be made a borough by Queen Victoria on November 13, 1889. Obviously, we have reached an important historical landmark and I feel that I can make a worthwhile contribution in preserving the town's history."

Mr Tomlinson was an industrial psychologist in the south of England when he began writing history books and eventually launched his own publishing label, the Kylin Press. After early books on the histories of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, he went on to publish a soldier's diary account of the First World War and another on medieval cookery.

On returning to Pudsey in 1987, Mr Tomlinson ran a bygone shop called Memorabilia until it closed down around five years ago.

"I was in contact all the time with people who showed me old photographs and behind many of these were fascinating stories," said Mr Tomlinson, of Littlemoor Road, Pudsey.

"In history it is not all about centring on the 'great and good'. There is a remarkable amount of information to come from ordinary people."

He added: "I really think we need to have pride in our past otherwise it is difficult to have hope for the future."

He strongly supports Pudsey's fight for borough status and sits on a steering group heading the campaign. He said: "We need to regain our civic pride and the feeling of having some place in the decision-making process."

Mr Tomlinson will be selling copies of the books, which cost £15.99, at the Pudsey's Marks and Spencer store for nine days from today.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.