Treasure of the week no. 20 – Decayed tradesmen, fags of the family & stained glass windows

April 11, 2018April 11, 2018Bradford Libraries 1 Comment

JND 194/14 (Please quote this number if requesting this item)

jnd 194 14 001

BRADFORD TRADESMEN’S HOME. Lily Croft, Manningham. 21^st Annual Report, with list of Donors and Subscribers. Bradford: W. Byles and Sons, Printers. 24 pages plus 10 engravings, 1889.

Caring for the elderly has ever been with us. Before state pensions, the National Heath Service, and local authority Social Services, the problem concerned many of Bradford’s leading citizens. Many Benevolent Societies were established and the success of the Tradesmen’s Benevolent Society charted here, in building houses for pensioners, is an inspiring story.

‘The idea of a Home for decayed Tradesmen was suggested by the administration of the affairs of the Tradesmen’s Benevolent Institution. Very early in the history of that Charity it became painfully evident that the mere annuity was insufficient to relieve the necessities of the recipients. With the most frugal management it could barely supply the means of sustenance, so that, with respect to what is equally important for the aged and the careworn – a peaceful home – they must shift as best they could. The pensioners must either be lodgers in the poorest and most unhealthy localities, exposed to every disturbance likely to destroy that calm so necessary for man’s final preparation, or they must dwell with their married children, where there may be equal annoyance, and a sense of dependence – where the grandfather is often made the fag of the family, the grandmother the incessant nurse, – and where in bad times the first resource is to forestall the pensioner’s annuity.’

A proposal was made to erect thirty houses, to be tenanted, free of rent, rates, and taxes, by pensioners of the Tradesmen’s Benevolent Society and others, to be elected by the donors to the fund. A site for the building was purchased at Lilycroft, Manningham, plans of the houses were prepared and adopted, and in due time the foundation stone was laid by Sir Titus Salt, who donated two thousand guineas. The thirty houses were all occupied by 1870 and during 1877 and 1878 another block of thirteen houses were erected. There was a lofty hall that could seat 300 persons, a hall that was beautifully enriched with memorials in stained glass of several departed friends of the Institution.

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Treasure of the Week no. 19: Omnibuses, Gas Stoves, ‘Horses in Stock’ and a Tripery – What the Council did in 1889

February 1, 2018Bradford Libraries Leave a comment

JND 194/13 (Please quote this number if requesting this item)

jnd 194 13 001

BOROUGH OF BRADFORD. Reports of the Committees of the Council, Presented 26^th, October, 1889. Bradford: M. Field, Printer. 1889. 96 pages.

Council documents are a rich source of information. So much of what happens in a locality is due to the decisions and actions of the local authority. In 1889 Bradford covered a much smaller area than it does now – as witnessed in the second report noted below under the Finance and General Purposes Committee. Of great importance to us today was the decision to build reservoirs on the Nidd Valley, noted in the report of the Waterworks Committee. The topics listed below are only a small selection from a year’s work of the Council, much of which was routine. Committees, and some items from each, were:

Building Committee

49 new streets planned

Finance and General Purposes Committee

186 Omnibuses and 44 Tram Cars licensed

Parliamentary powers to be sought to extend Bradford to include Allerton, Heaton, Thornbury and Tyersal

Free Library and Art Museum Committee

New branch library opened in Barkerend

Gas and Electricity Supply Committee

Gas Stove Department report

Hackney Carriage and Cleansing Committee

94 notices served re smoke prevention

Markets and Fairs Committee

The ‘Tripery’ building has been successful

Parks Committee

Flowering plants and evergreens planted at Forster Square

Sanitary Committee

66,903 ashpits emptied

30 public urinals maintained

Street and Drainage Committee

Postal Telegraph wires have been laid underground in Great Horton Road

Street Improvement Committee

New and improved sight lines prescribed for Heaton Road

Tramways, Baths and Team Labour Committee

The Cheapside and Otley Road Tramway opened

27,470 people used the swimming, slipper and shower baths

66 horses in stock

Waterworks Committee

New water filter approved for Thornton Moor Reservoir

Parliamentary approval to be sought to build reservoirs in the Nidd Valley

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Treasure of the Week no. 18: Galas & Fents in Peel Park

December 20, 2017February 12, 2018Bradford Libraries Leave a comment

JND 194/8 (Please quote this number if requesting this item)

jnd 194 8 c 001

BOOTH’S FENT WAREHOUSES. Programme for the Annual West Riding Galas held in Peel Park, Bradford, Whisuntide, 1888.

Galas and Melas have been held in Peel Park for many years, but what went on in these festivals has changed greatly. In 1888 the Gala lasted two days and in the Library’s pamphlet collection we have the 16-page programme of events sponsored by Booth’s Fent Warehouses. Fents were basically animal skins and Booth’s, whose main shops were in Well Street, Bradford and Albion Street, Leeds, made sure that people who purchased the programme for one penny could not escape knowing about their products. There were full page adverts for Booth’s Umbrellas, Booth’s Scotch Tweed, Booth’s Cheviots, Booth’s Doeskins, Booth’s Meltons, Booth’s Beaver, Booth’s Italians, Booth’s Silesias, and much else. Products long forgotten.

So much for fents. What went on at Peel Park in the spring of 1888? A lot! Amusements included:

Coco, Little Coco & Gertie Volta – ‘The Ape at Home’

Harry Lyons & Nellie Danvers – Shooting Act

Brothers Ormonde – Acrobats and Vaulters

Sheriff – Performing Elephant

Henri Benham – Equilibrist and Mountain of Chairs

Sgt. Simms & Troup – Zouave Drill

Newham & Downes – Black Clowns

Cruikshank Family – Jugglers and Balances

Maldavan & Pedro – The Red Men

The Marzelos – Horizontal Bat, Double Clowns

Prof. Atherton – Dogs and Monkeys

Julius Keller – The German Waiter

Mademoiselle Eske & Volier – Gymnasts

Mademoiselle Senide – The Lovely Queen of the Desert, in her Den with Lion, Bear, and Panther

Zalva & Alvar – On the High Wires

There were fireworks by Professor Wells, whose displays included The Wheel of Ixion and the Revolving Fountain. There was Professor Smith with his Famous Punch & Judy Show Performing at Intervals; There was a full music programme – Six military bands, including the 2^nd West York Artillery and local orchestras such as the Postmen’s Band, the Manningham Band, and the Bradford Borough Band played a wide repertoire of music.

About eight o’ clock each night, weather permitting, inventor Eric Stuart Bruce, was to personally supervise the ascent of ‘The Electrical War Balloon! For Flashing Signals at Night, As Supplied to the English and Belgian Governments’.

And, of course, there were Refreshment Tents, Stalls, Swings, Bowling Tents, Shooting Galleries, Dancing, &c., on the Fair Ground.

Imagination is required to understand what some of these activities were about. Performing animals, black clowns, and Punch & Judy would now be frowned on, but I can’t help wishing I was there, at Peel Park, in 1888, watching Zalva & Alvar on the high wires, and the Fireworks, listening to the Bands, visiting the Refreshment Tents, and waiting impatiently for the ascent of the flashing signals from The Electrical War Balloon!

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Treasure of the Week no. 17: Morning Dress at Bradford College: A Scientific Conversazione

November 21, 2017Bradford Libraries Leave a comment

JND233/5 (Please quote this number if requesting this item)

BRADFORD SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. Annual Conversazione held in the Technical College on March 7^th& 8^th, 1901. Programme and Handbook of Exhibits, Demonstrations, etc. Bradford: H. Gaskarth, Printer. 25 pages.

From this Programme and Handbook, printed on thick paper with a (faded) maroon cover with gold lettering, we gain an insight into Bradford Technical College (now just ‘Bradford College’) putting on a show for the public. And some show it was too! Here, at the turn of the century, we sense a vibrant and confident Bradford.

On the Thursday evening there was a ‘conversazione’, a cultural celebration. The Opening Address was given by the President of the Bradford Scientific Association, Mr E. Naylor, there were songs and a violin solo, and two Lecturettes, one on Glacial Geology (with lantern slides) and the other on Colour Photography (illustrated by a photochromescopic lantern). On the following evening there were four songs (‘I was dreaming’, ‘The Sailor’s Grave’, ‘The River of Years’, and ‘Songs of Araby’) and two Lecturettes, one on Faraday’s Electro-Magnetic Discoveries, and the other on Aresenical Poisoning.

Throughout the two days there were Demonstrations, which included:

Machines for testing the strength of concrete
Collotype Printing,

Spectroscopes

Action of dyes on flowers
Preparation of glucose from starch using sulphuric acid
The recovery of ammonia from Ammonical Liquor, and
The Manufacture of Copperas (used in the purification of Bradford sewage)

There was a Children’s Corner where there were Experiments with Gyroscope and Soap Bubbles, and other eye-catching activities. Among the many Microscope shows were the magnifications of insects’ eyes, frog skin and the foot of a spider.

Permanent Exhibits were displayed in the subjects of Astronomy, Botony, Chemistry, Engineering, Ethnology, Geology, Photography, Physiology, Textiles, Zoology.

The Conversaziones were held in the evenings and the programme notes that ‘Morning Dress was to be worn’. Morning Dress is not something seen at Bradford College these days! Nor photochromescopic lanterns for that matter! But as an insight into the development of science in Bradford at the beginning of the twentieth century, this programme is hugely impressive.

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Treasure of the Week No. 16: ‘Rhodes’s Lump Butter is Always Unique’

August 31, 2017November 21, 2017Bradford Libraries 2 Comments

JND 233/1 (Please quote this number if requesting this item)

RHODES & SONS. Bradford: Past & Present. A Sketch of the Progress of the Town from the Earliest Period. Bradford: J. F. Rhodes & Sons, 54 Kirkgate, 1890. 98 pages.

jnd223 1 c 001

This is a remarkable book. So also was 98 pages for 1d.! It is a publication marketed by a grocery shop which is a full and well-illustrated history of Bradford. The text and illustrations are excellent, with engravings of old street scenes and line drawings of local celebrities of the time. Of particular interest today is the information about the products advertised by the publishers, J. F. Rhodes & Sons, Grocers. Every page has a strap line featuring one of the shop’s grocery products, of which the following are a few:

Rhodes’s Lump Butter is always unique
Rhodes’s 2s. Teas, is the Tea Drinker’s Favourite
Rhodes’s are Agents for Armour Ox Tongues
Rhodes’s Coffee is roasted daily
Rhodes’s White Cheshire Cheese

There are several full-page adverts for such products as Reckitt’s Starch, Brown & Polson’s Corn Flour, and Kilvert’s Pure Lard. The engravings are a little faded, but full of historical interest, with horse-drawn and steam trams, a balloon ascent and a boy in the hand-stocks in Kirkgate! Illustrated are: