The Charities of Bradford. Government Inquiry by Arthur Cardew, Barrister at Law. 1894.

(Information reprinted from the Bradford Observer newspaper by William Byles and Sons.)

JND 18/15 (Please quote this number when the Local Studies library reopens if requesting this item.)

At ten o’clock on Tuesday, January 23^rd, 1894, Arthur Cardew, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Assistant Commissioner, opened an inquiry in Bradford’s town hall. This was on behalf of the Charity Commission who had been asked to look into all charities within the County Borough of Bradford, under the Charitable Trusts Acts 1853 to 1891, and the Charities Inquiries (Expenses) Act, 1892. The inquiry was instigated by the Bradford Council so as to ensure that local charities conformed to recent legislative changes.  Among those in the large attendance were the Mayor of Bradford (James Whitley), two aldermen (Smith Feather and William Lister), the Town Clerk, the Deputy Town Clerk, and two MPs (A. Illngworth and W .P. Byles).

The Town Council had originally thought to examine a few old-established and parochial charities, but the Charity Commission wanted all charities included so that the result would be a complete report valuable for future reference. [Like now!] The charities included large ones such as the Infirmary and the Grammar Schools which had from time to time had endowments given to them as sums of money to be invested and treated as capital. There were also many smaller charities. Over the years practice had varied and there had been occasional suspicions of financial malpractice and partiality. The Town Clerk took it that this inquiry was just to collect information and embody it in a report. The Commissioner assented. [The meeting must have breathed a sigh of relief to hear this, though some charity trustees were given a rough ride!]

Forty-eight charities were examined, ranging from the Grammar Schools, with benefactors such as John Crosse, Henry Brown, Titus Salt and S. C. Lister; the Bradford Infirmary; orphanages, convalescent homes, places of worship, and The Organists’ Charity. Information about their foundation, financial information and management were all investigated. For the information of researchers today, all 48 charities are listed here. Collectively they indicate how much education, health and social welfare in Victorian Bradford owe to charitable activity.

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The term ‘Happy Money’ came from the fact that the collector of rents for ‘The Poors’ Estate and Quit Rent’ (No. 3 below) was Mr Henry Happy! Of interest to local historians is that one of the council officials much involved in this inquiry was Thomas Empsall, whose large collection of books on local history was acquired by Bradford Libraries after his death.

THE CHARITIES

1. The Free Grammar School, including the scholarships of John Crosse, Henry Brown, Titus Salt, and S. C. Lister.
2. The Girls’ Grammar School, including the scholarships of Henry Brown and Titus Salt.
3. The Poors’ Estate and Quit Rents.
4. Richard Pollard’s Charity.
5. Mary Ann Jowett’s Charity.
6. William Field’s, or the Black Abbey Dole.
7. Thomas Farrand’s Charity.
8. Elizabeth Wadsworth’s Charity for Bradford Township.
9. John Appleyard’s Charity.
10. The Rev. Dr. Jobson’s Fund.
11. The Organists’ Charity.
12. Susannah Stott’s Charity.
13. The Bradford Lectureship.
14. William Wilson’s Charity.
15. Benjamin Illingworth’s Charity.
16. Mechanics’ Institute: Brown’s Endowment.
17. General Infirmary: Endowments of Musgrave, Semon, Leather, and Brown.
18. Fever Hospital: Nutter’s Endowment.
19. Eye and Ear Hospital: Semon’s Endowment.
20. Woodlands Convalescent Home: Nutter’s Endowment.
21. Orphanage for Boys: Nutter’s Endowment.
22. Orphan Home for Girls: Nutter’s Endowment.
23. Nutter’s Scholarship Charity.
24. Tradesmen’s Benevolent Institution: Nutter’s Endowment and Brown’s Endowment.
25. Tradesmen’s Home: Brown’s Endowment and Wright’s Endowment.
26. Spinsters’ Endowment Fund: Brown’s Endowment.
27. John Harrison’s Charity for the Blind.
28. Samuel Broadley’s Charities.
29. Bailey’s Endowment for Minister of Westgate Baptist Chapel.
30. Endowment of Old and New Wesleyan Chapels at Bradford Moor.
31. Endowment of Manchester Road Primitive Methodist Chapel.
32. Endowment of Salem Congregational Chapel in Manor Row.
33. Endowment of Kirkgate Wesleyan Chapel.
34. Endowment of Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel.
    34A. Holling’s Charity for Friend’s Meeting House.

Township of Allerton

35. James Sagar’s Charity.
36. The British School.

Township of Bowling

37. Endowment of Dudley Hill Wesleyan Chapel and School.

Township of Horton

38. John Ashton’s Charity.
39. Elizabeth Rand’s Charity.
40. Dixon’s Charity for Chapel Lane Chapel.
41. Endowment of Great Wesleyan Chapel.

Township of Manningham

42. Elizabeth Rand’s Charity.

Parish of Calverley

43. Queen Elizabeth’s Dole.

Township of Pudsey

44. Lipton’s Charity.
45. Gibson’s Charity.
46. Neville’s Charity.
47. Simpson’s and Hay’s Charity
48. Elizabeth Wadsworth’s Charity for Calverley Township.

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Report of the Finance and General Purposes Committee as to the operation of the Free Libraries Act.1868.  Printed by M. Field of Bradford. 23 pages.

JND 1/12 (Please quote this number if requesting this item when we reopen again.)

At a meeting of Bradford’s Finance and General Purposes Committee, held on 6^th March, 1868, it was ‘Resolved that the Report of the Sub-Committee on the proposed Free Library, now read, be and the same is hereby approved, and adopted, and that the same be presented to the Council at their next Meeting … . (W. T. McGowen, Town Clerk.)’ The Council did approve the report and Bradford’s ‘Free’ (i.e. ‘Public’) Library opened in 1872.

The Sub-Committee was appointed ‘to inquire into and report upon, the working of the Free Public Libraries Act, in those Towns in which the Act is now in force.’ The Chair was John V. Godwin, an active proponent of Free Libraries. The public library is now very much part of the social landscape, but before the Public Library Act of 1850 people had to pay a subscription to use a library, either by becoming a member of an organisation, such as the Literary and Library Society, or by using a commercial ‘circulating’ library. The move to provide libraries ‘on the rates’ was hotly contested, especially by the limited number of those wealthy enough to pay for them! So the acceptance of the report was a momentous event.

The Sub-Committee had contacted 13 of the 28 towns in England and Scotland which had adopted the Act. To a list of twenty-one questions, “replies were furnished in the most cheerful and courteous manner.” The report had three tables. One gave the dates when the Act was adopted, composition of the management body, whether both Lending and Consulting (i.e. Reference) libraries were established and what other libraries existed in their area. Second: the amount produced by the rates, cost of land, buildings and books, and how met. Third: Opening hours, number of volumes, issues, security and loss. There were also statistics on art galleries.

The libraries consulted were Bolton, Cambridge, Oxford, Blackburn, Liverpool, Sheffield, Cardiff, Birmingham, Airdrie, Manchester and Salford. Much can be learned from these tables about the concerns people had about how a ‘free’ library would work, and about the early history of public libraries. Particularly interesting are the occupations of users, and what sort of books libraries stocked. Liverpool had a reading room that held 600 people, and the most consulted reference source were Patent Specifications.

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