Despite having to abandon their 2020 programme of meetings and visits due to the Coronavirus, the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society have been able to produce their annual journal, The Bradford Antiquary. Copies are now available in several of our libraries.
The contents of this 81st issue are:
From Donkey-Boy to Oxford Don: the childhood of Dr Joseph Wright of Thackley by Christine Alvin.
The Birds and the Beasts. Text of a 1830s tract on the ‘Factory Question’.
‘We Can Take It Again’ by Norman Alvin. On a wartime air raid
‘No food or fire – decent people’: Bradford during the first national coal strike of 1912 by Derek Barker and Jane Wheeler.
Bradford in Fiction by Astrid Hansen. Bradford through the eyes of Willie Riley, J B Priestley, John Brain, A A Dhand and others.
Some Empsall Treasures A selection of topics from the library’s collection of 19th century pamphlets ranging from Homeopathy and the Henpecked Husbands’ Club to the Disorders of Horned Cattle and Spirit Writings! A window into a Bradford long gone.
W E Forster and the 1870 Education Act by Dave Welbourne
A Shelter for the Cabmen of Bradford by Laura Bird of The National Tramway Museum
The Ancestry of the Phoenix Dynamo Company, Thornbury by Gina Bridgeland
Rural Tanners in late 16th and 17th century Bradford by G D Newton
Book Reviews
Society News
Going back to 1882, The Bradford Antiquary provides an unrivalled history of Bradford, Keighley and the West Riding. The Editor, David Pendleton, is always pleased to receive ideas for, and submissions of, possible articles (davidpendleton1@gmail.com).
Arrival of Father Christmas, Busbys’, Manningham Lane, Bradford C.H. Wood, (Bradford Museums’ Photos)
The first purpose built department store in England was Brixton’s Bon Marché opened in 1877. https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2018/03/brixton-history-bon-marche-department-store-in-the-edwardian-sun-and-the-straw-boater-riot/ It was not until the end of the 19th Century that electric lighting was common in shops and with that came some wonderful Christmas lighting. Busbys’ department store was founded in 1908 (merging with Debenhams in 1958) and over the succeeding 70 years became one of the most popular shops in Yorkshire. At Christmas, Busbys’ Santa’s grotto was a must visit for many families in the Bradford district. The following quotes are taken from Busbys’ A Shop Full of Memories by Michael Callahan and Colin Neville (Bradford Museums, Galleries & Heritage, 2008).
“I was chosen to be ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, and I felt very proud to be doing this. The day the Grotto opened we started out for Busbys’ on a big flat lorry from Dockfield, in Shipley. There was Mother and Father Christmas and their fairy, and myself in the lorry, and we were joined by some of the Hammond Sauce Band and they played Christmas songs and carols along the route. We had a big bags of sweets, and all along Manningham Lane there were children and mothers just lining the road and we threw sweets to them all along the way; it was such a big event. In the Grotto I had my own little sweet shop and talked to the children while they were waiting to see Father Christmas. The Grotto was so big; it was never-ending! There was a lot to see – and it was magical. Dorothy West” p.70
“As the electrician at Busbys’ from 1972-75 I have great memories of the family atmosphere there. The highlight and privilege was wiring all the working models and fairy lights for the Grotto. Seeing the children’s faces from behind the scenes was magical. Keith Brown” p. 71
Father Christmas’s Grotto, Busbys’ Department Store, Bradford C.H. Wood, (Bradford Museums’ Photos)
“My memory is being taken to see Santa Claus when very small. My memory is a huge display of lights and tinsel and magic. We had to walk down paths and over bridges, pull strings, and glitter snowed down on us. It seemed as though we walked for ages before we saw Santa… that walk and the magic has never been equalled in any display since. A.Wallace” p.59
‘I must have been the only child who didn’t enjoy the visit to Santa’s Grotto. I was aged about 3, and when we finally reached Santa he said, “what do you want little girl” I replied, “I want to get out of here!” Anonymous, p. 61
Mill Christmas
Messrs. Heatons’, Keighley, decorated for peace celebrations, 1918 (Keighley Local Studies)
Many textile mills decorated workplaces, and even some machinery, for royal events but also for Christmastime:
‘We would buy a few packets of crimped paper, which we cut and made into streamers to decorate the room at the mill. We would have a walk round at dinner time to see the other rooms and decide which we liked best. As Christmas drew near there was always someone singing carols during meal-times. Someone would start “Hark the herald angels sing” or “While shepherds watched”, and soon it was taken up by another and another, till soon almost everyone had joined in. It was in the mill that I was introduced to Handel’s Messiah. Most of the mill workers, if they could sing, would be taking part in the Messiah at their own places of worship. They put in a bit of practice while working.’ Picking up Threads Reminiscences of a Bradford Mill Girl by Maggie Newberry (Bradford Libraries, 1993), p. 52
At Christmas we’d take some sherry and mince pies, and happen a Christmas cake, and have a break for about an hour in the afternoon. The weavers, you could hear them going mad, but we weren’t with them, we just sat round our mending tables and had us own bit of fun. We never went in any other part of the mill at all.’ Woman. Born 1915 From Textile Voices A Century of Mill Life by Tim Smith and Olive Howarth, BHRU (Bradford Arts, Heritage & Leisure, 2006), p. 115
Salt’s Mill (Saltaire) Limited, final Christmas party for the burling and mending department, (n.d.) BHRU, (Bradford Museums’ Photos)
Artists’ and Writers’ Christmas
David Hockney: One Tuesday afternoon in December 1951 three boys from Bradford Grammar School boarded the trolley bus. The three, namely Hockney (David), Taylor, M.S. (later Oxford University scholarship), and Dixon, M. (minor), had all been subjected to a ‘half Tuesday’ – detention – for a variety of misdemeanours. It was decided a visit to Busbys’ to see Father Christmas and the grotto was in order. We joined a long queue. After what seemed like hours we finally arrived at the head of the queue. Alas! We were approached by a very imposing commissionaire in uniform complete with bristling moustache who enquired ‘where were our parents?’ On being informed they were at home he said ‘sorry, but we could not see Father Christmas’. He politely showed us the Emergency Exit and kicked us out! On the wall immediately opposite was the famous Busbys’ sign with the marching guardsmen and the slogan ‘The Store with the Friendly Welcome’. The now world famous David Hockney was heard to mumble ‘some friendly welcome!’ “ Michael Dixon in Busbys’ A Shop Full of Memories by Michael Callahan and Colin Neville (Bradford Museums, Galleries & Heritage, 2008) p.71. See also https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/bradford/items?query=the++Hockneys
Charles Dickens: On 28th December 1854, ‘Mr Christmas’ himself, Charles Dickens (author of such Christmassy works as A Christmas Carol, Pickwick Papers and The Chimes) read from his works to a packed audience at the new St George’s Hall in Bradford. Special trains were put on for journeys to Halifax and Huddersfield, such was the popularity of the event. However, for some female members of the audience, the evening might not have turned out quite as Dickens had initially promised, that is like “a small social party assembled to hear a tale told round the Christmas fire…” because, as a skilled actor, his dramatic readings of the violent murder of Nancy in Oliver Twist, for example, had been known to cause women in the audience to swoon into a dead faint.
J.B. Priestley: Much later in time, a great fan of Charles Dickens, a young Bradford born J.B. Priestley, who would frequently forego dinner to buy books, was said to have “spent one Yuletide with a chum at an old inn near Bradford where he smoked a church-warden pipe and tried a brew of punch”, in order “to sample Christmas very much as Dickens’s Mr Pickwick would have done.” (Rebel Tyke Bradford and J.B. Priestley by Peter Holdsworth (Bradford Libraries, 1994), p.45
Nativity play at Heaton Middle School, Bradford, BHRU, (Bradford Museums’ Photographs)
The school nativity has long provided a Christmas gift that keeps on giving to parents and teachers alike. Let’s hope that this year will be the only year that for many has to be watched only on film at home or not at all. If you have never seen or been part of one, Gervase Phinn gives some lovely and humorous accounts from his Yorkshire School Inspector days, such as at St Helen’s school where the teacher, Mrs Smith had asked the children to write parts of the Christmas story in their own words, one child read,
’The three kings were very rich and they wore beautiful clothes and had these crowns and things. They looked at the stars every night. One night one of the kings said, “Hey up, what’s that up there, then?” “What?” said the other kings. “That up there in the sky? I’ve not seen a star like that one.” The star sparkled and glittered in the blue sky. “You know what?” said another king. “It means there’s a new baby king been born. Shall we go and see Him?” “All right.”’
The narrator continued: ‘They shouted to their wives: “Wives! Wives! Go and get some presents for the baby king. We’re off to Beth’lem to see Him.” “OK,” said the wives.’ Head Over Heels in the Dales (Michael Joseph, 2002), p. 95 These books are available for loan, follow: https://www.bradford.gov.uk/libraries
Charity in Depression Christmas, 1932
Roberts’s Model Lodging-house, Leeds St, Keighley, c.1924, (BK36, Keighley Local Studies)
In 1861, Francis Middlebrook wrote, “Mother went to Keighley workhouse to see all the inmates get rum and tea”, the latter being donated by William Busfield Ferrand of St Ives. Keighley News 24 Dec 1982
In Keighley at the two lodging houses, Mr Edward Roberts, landlord, provided a ham and egg breakfast and an anonymous donor provided parcels of tea and sugar. Mr Roberts organised an annual fund and as a consequence each resident was also given free lodgings, tobacco and cigarettes on Christmas day. Each child in various Keighley institutions was also given a new shilling piece by a Mr Asa Smith. Keighley News 10 December 1982
Unruly Christmas
The Keighley Police Force in 1865, (Ian Dewhirst MBE archive)
Hearth and home in Victoria’s reign was not for everyone. With no regular police force yet, law and order in Bradford and Keighley was kept by Watchmen. In Keighley, there were 6 patrolling the streets. One of these kept a diary between the years 1848-1853, now held in Keighley Local Studies Library archive (BK 309) and was called, James Leach. He had a very busy Christmas in 1848. In his diary he reported that at one o’clock on Christmas Day morning Mrs Wilkins’ Star Inn had “company in her house from 15 to 20 persons”. They were still drinking there at a quarter to three on Boxing Day. On 27th December one Zyckriah Ashton was found in Cony Lane drunk and very ill. On the 28th December at one o’clock there was fighting at the Black Horse amongst a group of men and at two o’clock Mr Lapish of New Town was found drunk and disorderly. On the 31st , Samuel Smith, ‘comonley caled Mucky Sam’, ‘threw Patrick Waterhouse over the batlment at Damside a depth of 5 yards & cut & wounded im daingerousley’. The New Year started in a similar way…
War Time Christmas, 1939
Christmas war certificate for donations made. (BK10/683, Keighley Local Studies)
During WW2, Keighley people on the Home Front, as in other districts, did their best to provide “comforts” for those serving in the forces. They provided funds for recreational and rest huts. During November, four large bales of knitted woollen comforts were despatched to France, also to the Navy and Air Force. “Cigarettes, sweets, candles etc.,” were also sent. Firms such as Ward, Haggas & Smith; Clapham Bros., and Dean, Smith and Grace also had schemes to provide comforts as well as Christmas parcels to their work people serving in the Forces. Keighley News, 9 December 1939 For those Evacuees remaining in Keighley and the Worth Valley over the holidays, there was a large Christmas party on 4th January with a film show, community singing and a play. On other days, there were to be games in schools, walks and visits to museums and places of interest. Keighley News 23 December 1939.
Hospital Christmas
Keighley and District Victoria Hospital held regular children’s Christmas parties even during the war years. Ian Dewhirst noted that in 1943, the visiting Santa Claus was none other than Dr Joseph Chalmers, hospital surgeon. Nursing staff also performed a pantomime, “Boy Blue” and patients received presents from the Matron’s Christmas Fund and the Workpeople’s Collection Committee. Keighley News21 December 2001.
Victoria Hospital children’s Christmas party c1950
Another shadow, another queue, hopefully we shall soon be on the bright side…….
Father Christmas at a works’ children’s party, 1955 C.H. Wood (Bradford Museums’ Photographs)
To join the library, borrow books and examine local 19thC newspapers using our online services from home, as well as gain free access to Ancestry and Findmypast, follow the link below:
Bradford’s Oral History collection is housed in Bradford Local Studies Library. It consists of 800 tape recorded interviews (also transcriptions) with local people’s memories including subject areas such as textiles, health, war, immigration to Bradford.
The Local Studies research appointment service has been suspended at the present time as one of the steps taken by Bradford Libraries in line with the Government regulations. There will be no access to study spaces during this time.
This is a perfect time to delve into local and family history and Bradford Libraries will continue to offer the free use of AncestryLibrary and Find My Past from home at the current time. This is available to anyone with a library card.
Local studies library staff are continuing to provide a telephone and email service to answer enquiries involving the unique local collections. You can contact Bradford Local Studies Library on 01274 433688, email local.studies@bradford.gov.uk or Keighley Local Studies Library on 01535 618215, email keighleylocalstudies@bradford.gov.uk.
Apologies for any inconvenience and we hope to see you back soon.
An email and telephone service is available for local and family history enquiries. Please contact us with details of your request using the details below.
In addition we are now able to offer access to visitors by appointment only, to use local studies publications and original records for study and research.
Booking a session
To make an appointment, contact us by email or telephone. We will allocate you a session for research.
We only have limited slots so the date or time you want might not be available but we will do our best to accommodate your needs. Please book your appointment as far in advance of your visit as possible.
To keep staff and visitors safe, all items required must be pre-ordered. Access will be limited to local studies and archive material.
Please note that we require at least 72 hours notice and at busy times this may be significantly longer.
On booking your appointment via telephone or email, our team of library staff will help to search the catalogues to identify appropriate items if required. They will then prepare the items for use prior to your visit.
It is essential that all materials/documents are ordered and an appointment made in advance. No requests can be made on the day.
Customer details (name and contact details) will be taken in compliance with the NHS Test and Trace system. These will be retained securely for 21 days after which the information will be securely destroyed.
To ensure a safe and productive visit we request that you follow the guidelines below which have been designed in line with current advice to prioritise the safety of all.
Please arrive at the allotted time.
Please wear a face covering during your visit. Wearing gloves is optional.
Please sanitise your hands on entry and exit.
Please observe social distancing and keep 2 metres distance from staff and customers at all times.
No food or drink will be permitted during your visit.
We are unable to provide face to face support to our customers such as assistance with using documents and no general browsing facilities are available at the present time.
Our card catalogues are not available to public access at present.
There will be no access to public PC’s however Wi-Fi is available using your own equipment.
Please bring all stationery required as we are not able to supply or lend any stationery.
Photocopying, scanning or printing services will be unavailable at the present time; however researchers are permitted to photograph items from the collection for personal use or study with their own equipment. No other kind of reproduction will be permitted without the necessary permissions which must be arranged via email.
If you have requested the use of a microfilm/fiche reader we request that you use the antibacterial wipes provided to clean the surfaces before and after use and follow the disposal guidelines for the wipes.
When you have finished your research visit please place the research items in the designated area. Please do not leave the documents in the study area or return them to shelves or cabinets.
We hope that you have a safe, comfortable and productive visit. If you have any further enquiries please don’t hesitate to contact us via email or telephone.
Arrangements for disabled visitors
Arrangements for disabled visitors remain the same.
Please let us know when booking if you have any special requirements.
If you require someone to accompany you when you visit, please let us know at the time of booking.
Online services
Please remember too that many of our online offers are still available remotely or from home. These include AncestryLibrary, Find My Past and British Library Newspapers. For further information please visit:
To mark Black History Month, here is a selection of online guides to tracing your family history. Bradford Libraries of course hold book stock for loan covering the basics of family history research, the sort of records you might come across and dedicated guides to aspects of Black history and Black family history, such as Madeleine E. Mitchell’s Jamaican Ancestry How to Find Out More, (Heritage Books, 2008) ISBN 978-0-7884-4282-7.
Background historical information
Black people have been in Britain from at least Roman times and increasingly more research is being done into their history and valuable contribution to the development of British society and culture. Here are a couple of sites you may find useful:
The website was launched in 2003, and funded by the New Opportunities Fund. It is one in a series of online exhibitions produced by Pathways to the Past web resource. It was established to provide an historical context for lifelong learners using the archives in their own research. It includes resources such as digitised records and artworks from the National Archives’ collections and elsewhere.
The Every Generation website was launched by Patrick Vernon after mentoring young black people in Brent and Hackney. He was inspired to create this online resource for young people and families for genealogical research and to explore Black British identity.
BBC articles for Black History Month on great men and women
If your family has a long heritage in Britain then please follow the guides’ link below to a leaflet that includes an outline of some of the records you may come across in your research. Please note that census records did not identify ethnicity until 1971 so although early censuses do identify the country of birth in some cases from 1841, your search will be by address and surname. All are accessible through Bradford Libraries’ Ancestry from home service. You can start with the 1939 Register and then work through 1911 back every 10 years to 1841.
Free online guides are also available on this site on all aspects of general and particular British family history research. Follow this link and type in your search needs:
Passenger lists for African-Caribbean heritage during the period c1948-1960
The British Transport Collections include some of the migration records of British citizens from Caribbean countries to the UK from this period and these are held at the National Archives, Kew. The National Archives also has a series of guides that you can read online and/or print off to read.
These include the UK inbound passenger lists up to 1960. However, these are currently available to all Bradford Library card holders from their own home. Follow the instructions below to access Ancestry and/or the more restricted access to Findmypast.
Ancestry includes the ‘Windrush’ inbound passenger lists and other inbound lists 1878-1960. UK outbound lists from 1890-1960.
To access Ancestry Library you will need a Bradford Libraries membership card. Go to https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/bradford/and log in to your library account with your card number and pin. Remember to input just the numbers. Next, click on the special link to Ancestry Library Edition.
Findmypast includes UK outbound lists from 1890-1960. Access is limited to a certain number of searches per month. To access please email public.libraries@bradford.gov.uk
A guide for National Archive records that relate to aspects of the slave trade, slavery and unfree labour in the British Caribbean and American colonies:
African-Caribbean heritage: two free online talks this month with Paul Crooks
If you would like to pursue this topic more informally, Manchester Library is hosting two family history talks, free online, by the author and family historian, Paul Crooks who pioneered research into African Caribbean genealogy during the 1990s. Join him as he explains how he traced his family history from London back 6 generations through to slavery in a Jamaican sugar plantation and how he researched his father’s history using the Passenger lists above mentioned. The events take place on the 19th and 20th October and are online, you register using your email and do not have to be a member of Manchester Libraries.
Belle Vue Studio collection: a unique collection based in Bradford’s Museums and Galleries. The studio became a popular destination in the 1950s for those coming to work in Bradford from other parts of the world. Digitisation of the photos is almost complete: https://www.migrationmuseum.org/tag/bradford-heritage-recording-unit/
Bradford’s Oral History collection is housed in Bradford Local Studies Library. It consists of 800 tape recorded interviews with local people’s memories including subject areas such as textiles, health, war, immigration to Bradford.
Further links for tracing immigrant and ethnic ancestors:
The British Library houses the Oriental and India Office Collections, relating to all the cultures of Asia and North Africa and European interaction with them.
UKIRAhttp://www.asiamap.ac.uk/ UK Information Resources on Asia provides collection descriptions of resources held in university, special and public libraries; also access to holdings of newspapers in any language published in Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and information on the range of linguistic expertise in Asian languages available across the UK.
The National Archives holds the records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices.
SOAS Library & Information: housed at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, this is one of the world’s most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
http://www.mundus.ac.uk/index.html The Mundus Gateway is a guide to collections of overseas missionary materials held in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
AIM25: provides electronic access to collection level descriptions of the archives of over fifty higher education institutions and learned societies within the Greater London area.
ARCHON: the Archon Directory includes contact details for record repositories in the UK. The Archon Portal provides information about archival resources and projects. The site is hosted and maintained by the National Archives.
A good web site with some current free tips on getting children involved in their family’s history. This site also has free genealogy layout forms to help you organise your research as you go.
We hope that this guide proves useful to you, please follow this link to find out what else is on in Bradford and Bradford Libraries and Museums to honour Black History Month.
