Bradford Family History Society – A list of talks for 2017

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Bradford Family History Society hold a programme of talks at:

Glyde House
Glydegate
Bradford
BD5 0BQ

Talks are held on Monday evenings, 7.00pm (tea and coffee), with a 7.30pm start, and Thursday mornings from 10.00am (tea and coffee) with a 10.30 start.

There is an admission charge of £1 for members and £2 for non-members.

Date Month Description Speaker
Thu 5 Jan “The Turnpike Road System in England for Local & Family Historians” – A general history of the Turnpike Road system in England, with connections to information and sources for the family historian Edgar Holroyd-Doveton
Mon 16 Jan A Mormon Pioneer – How did John Croft born in Bingley in 1836 become one of the leading Mormon pioneers of the time? From his ordinary start as the son of a husbandman to Salt Lake City, Utah. Gaynor Haliday
Thu 2 Feb “Returned to the Regiment” – The life story of Lt. Col. Sir Gilbert Mackereth M.C. who was one of the commanders of the 17th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers in WW1.  In addition, the exhumation of his remains from his threatened grave in Spain and return of his cremated remains and medals to Bury Terry Dean
Mon
20		 Feb Lies, Damned lies & Registration – This talk looks at some of the “mistakes” – deliberate or otherwise – that have occurred on birth, marriage and death certificates. Knowing the sort of lies that informant’s make might help you to work out what the truth really is. Barbara Dixon
Thu 2 Mar Speed leaning in the Local Studies Library – Come and learn about various sources for family history research. Committee
Mon
20		 Mar Hats & Huts – An illustrated account of the YMCA civilian volunteers who travelled to France to run the canteens and recreation huts provided for the use of the ‘Tommies’ when they were away from the front line. Sue McGeever
Thu 6 Apr More Deadly than the Male – Unusual Roles performed by Women in 20th century Conflict – The talk spans both First and Second World Wars with references to post-war conflicts, and covers roles on land, at sea (and undersea), in the air, in clandestine roles and on the home front, with examples of roles which many will find impossible to believe. Phil Judkins
Mon
24		 Apr AGM followed by ‘Adoption – an overview and guidance for the family historian’. Lorraine Birch
Thu 4 May Classic Yorkshire Crimes – The talk includes a number of murders from across the county including Eugene Aram, Mary Bateman, the Luddites of 1812-13 and the case of Jonathon Martin. Martin Baggoley
Mon 15 May An introduction to Heraldry for family historians – Often wonder what those patterns on knights’ shields are? Now is your chance. Gillian Waters
Thu 1 Jun Visit – Borthwick Institute and York – All day trip setting off at 9am, cost £5 for members and £10 for guests. Drop off at Borthwick Institute and York centre. Please book in advance.
Mon 19 Jun Quaker Origins in the North – The former President of Friends Historical Society, will talk about Quaker origins in the North in 17th century England, and will explain the various Quaker sources for family historians. David Boulton
Thu 6 Jul Early Asylum Life – The lives of just some of the patients admitted to the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield, Yorkshire between 1818 and 1869 David Scrimgeour
Mon 17 Jul Visit – Undercliffe Cemetery – Meet at the Lodge, Undercliffe Lane Entrance at 6.30pm Neil McLellan
Thu 3 Aug Visit – Fulneck – Meet in the Car Park at 10:30am
Mon 21 Aug The Golden Era of Postcards – the late 19th century Graham Hall
Thu 7 Sep Juvenile Crime in Victorian Bradford – young boys and girls in Bradford, in the early 1870’s,who had been sent to reformatories all over the north of England. Janet Senior
Mon 18 Sep Origins of surnames – Where did your name come from? Peter Watson
Thu 5 Oct The Chartist Land Plan in Calderdale & Queens Head – Chartism was a working class movement, which was most active between 1838 and 1848. This talk concentrates on the Chartist Land Plan with reference to subscribers in Calderdale, Queens Head, Mountain & Great Horton Anne Kirker
Mon 16 Oct Jowett Cars – Pride of Bradford – The early history of the company, models through the 1920’s and 1930’s, Wartime activity, the post WWII models and the demise of the company. Paul Beaumont
Thu 2 Nov Copyright – An interesting talk, with examples, of what copyright means for the family historian by the expert at West Yorkshire Archives. Stefanie Davidson
Mon
20		 Nov DNA for Family Historians Carolyn Huston
Thu 7 Dec No place Like Home – the many and varied institutions that housed Britain’s children Peter Higginbotham
Mon 18 Dec How we did the research for the Low Moor Explosion – 21st August 1916. Including how we found Ronald Blackwell. Mary & Geoff Twentyman & Barbara Reardon

Battle of the Somme: historical film showing in Keighley Local Studies library

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Bradford Libraries's avatarBradford Libraries World War One Blog

There will be a final opportunity to see the extraordinary and moving film ‘The Battle of the Somme’ in Keighley Local Studies library on Saturday November 19th at 10.00am before the DVD is returned to the Imperial War Museum.

The Battle of the Somme documentary was seen by millions of people across the world in 1916. At that time, film was a relatively young media. However, the government realised the power of film in controlling the war news. The film was released on 21st August 1916 by the War Office. This was a ground breaking British documentary film now accepted to be an early example of film propaganda, as well as a historical record of the battle.

On September 11th 1916, the film was first shown in Keighley. For the audience to see images of the war as it was happening, unfolding on the screen was a…

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TREASURE OF THE WEEK. No. 4. THE PARIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION

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In the basement of Bradford’s Local Studies Library are collections of nineteenth century pamphlets (and some of earlier date). Ranging from sermons and programmes of royal visits, to reports, articles, obituaries and regulations, they are a treasure-trove of local history. What follows is an account of one of these treasures. To consult any of these items please ask the staff. Card catalogues of these collections are located in the Local Studies Library.

 JND 290/13 (Please quote this number if requesting to this pamphlet.)

 The Paris Universal Exhibition, 1878. Report of Henry Mitchell.

paris-exhibition

 In Treasures Of The Week Number 1, we featured an account of Sir Henry Mitchell and reported that in 1878 he was Vice-President of the jurors selected to adjudicate upon worsted yarns and fabrics at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. The report he made of that Exhibition influenced in the establishment of the Bradford Technical College. The 13th item in Pamphlet Volume Number 290 of the J N Dickons Collection is a copy of that Report. The full title is:

The Paris Universal Exhibition, 1878. Report of Henry Mitchell, Vice-President of the Jurors appointed to adjudicate upon Worsted Yarns and Fibres; (President of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, President of the Bradford Technical School, etc.) together with the Reports of the Artisans and others who were sent out to report on the textile fabrics, products and machinery engaged in the Worsted Trade, and on some of the French Technical Schools.

The Report is 73 pages long and was printed by William Byles and Son of Bradford.

In addition to Mitchell’s extensive Introduction, the other contributors were:

  • Thomas R. Ashenhurst, Head Master of the Bradford Technical School (‘French Technical Schools’);
  • William Bottomley of Saltaire (‘Report on the Worsted Fabrics’);
  • Mitchell Stead, Weaving Overlooker (‘Report on the French Technical Schools and the Exhibition’);
  • A Spinning Overlooker (‘Report on the Exhibition and the French Technical Schools’)
  • Peter Greenwood, Spinning Overlooker (‘The Worsted Yarns and Machines, and the Technical Schools’);
  • James Speed, (‘Worsted Yarns, Machines, and the French Technical Schools’);
  • William Deighton and Z. Hoyle, (‘Report on the Exhibition Generally’);
  • James Newsome, Overlooker, Saltaire (‘Report on the French Textiles and Machinery’);
  • John Dufton, Pattern Dyer, Messrs E. Ripley & Son, Bowling Dye Works (‘Report on the Dyed Fabrics’);
  • Jonas Whitley, Wool Merchant, Bradford (‘Report on the Wools in the Paris Exhibition’).

Even without going into detail, we can see from the many reports by experienced textile workers, including Mitchell himself, how seriously the exhibition was taken, and how much attention was paid to technical education.

Mitchell was knighted in 1885 for his services to textile education and now has a building named after him. But his fellow reporters are now probably forgotten, except here!

Sir Henry’s report was received with much attention by the commercial world, and there is no doubt the practical suggestions and conclusions there laid down have yielded very useful results. (Quote from JND 290/4)

A particularly interesting slice of history in the making.

Stackmole (Local Studies Volunteer)

Ilkley and Armistice Day

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Extract from ‘ Ilkley and the Great War’ by Caroline Brown and Mark Hunnebell; Amberley, 2014

At 11.00am on November 11th 1918 church bells rang across Europe. The fighting was over but life would never be the same again. Millions had died around the world and those who returned home had the hard task of making sense of the horrors they had survived and the adjustment back to civilian life.

The Ilkley howitzer brigade brought the guns into action for the last time on November 10th at 2.00pm at Quevy-le-Grand unaware that the last day of the war was so close. A E Gee recorded the events of the morning of 11th November:

‘A mounted staff-officer in a big hurry, passing by with wild news of the Armistice, was thought by many to be a spy; but the Major fired with his own hands a single farewell round at top range at 9am – the safety cap being left on the shell to prevent accidents at the other end of its journey and it began to be realised that all was about over bar the shouting. Shortly came instructions that the Armistice at 11 o’clock was official; and the men stood about as this moment approached almost expecting some sign from Heaven. This came from the heavens at a quarter to eleven in the form of a dozen German shells into the village in front – with the safety caps off. Other Batteries concealed in hedgerows and banks all about could be heard firing their parting shots also…

While most of the world went mad to celebrate the Armistice, it is noteworthy that the men who had most immediate occasion had least opportunity for celebration. Though the fact of the Armistice was known, it was certainly not fully assimilated at first, and the momentum of routine and discipline carried the Battery through the next few days without any changes to indicate that its raison d’etre had vanished and that this body of men which had worked for years as a single compact unit to a single end was about to split up into 200 distinct and separate individuals, striving after their two hundred private ends…

On November 11th 1918, a pointed salient formed the British Front at Valenciennes. The West Riding Artillery was at the apex of this salient being the most advanced Divisional Artillery, and D245 Battery prides itself that, so far as can be ascertained, no British Battery of Artillery was nearer to Germany when the war ended than itself.’

In Ilkley, at 11am Mr Dobson displayed the news on a blackboard outside his newsagent and tobacconist shop on Brook Street with the addendum ‘official’. In a short time the streets became very lively. ‘The Ilkley Gazette’ reported:

‘There were flags of all kinds and streamers too, not a single street being noticed without some evidence of jubilation. Many of the flags had done duty on other occasions of rejoicing than the present, and the ‘Welcome Home’ that one bore in large letters will still more fittingly serve to welcome our local warriors spared to return.’

Wounded soldiers at the Ilkley Military Hospitals, taking possession of a tradesman’s cart, rode round the town in ‘merry mood’. Later, a larger group which included soldiers and sailors at home on leave, broke into the Volunteer Bugle Band room in Bridge lane, and secured a number of drums and one or two bugles. To the accompaniment of these they paraded around the town. In the afternoon they were joined by some of the Volunteer buglers, and paid a visit to Addingham, with one of the wounded soldiers dressed up to represent Britannia. The ‘Ilkley Gazette’ described events

‘With such a holiday spirit in evidence, a good deal of the business of the town was suspended at mid-day, and a number of the shops closed. The Parish Church bells were rung both at noon and in the evening, and the Volunteer Bugle Band continued to peregrinate the town in the evening after the wounded soldiers were obliged to be indoors. The youngsters had the time of their lives, and although the National Schools continued to open in the afternoon, there were many absentees. As night closed in upon the scene fireworks began to be let off in all parts of the town. The pyrotechnic display in Brook Street was of a character never before attempted; nor would it have been allowed. D.O.R.A. and the Police were not to be met with in authority, and squibs, crackers, rockets, maroons and Roman candles mingled together in blazes of light and noise for several hours .The thanksgiving services held at the Parish Church and St Margaret’s Church were very well attended.’

The signing of the armistice which gave way to relief and rejoicing was tinged with great sadness at the loss of life. ‘The Ilkley Gazette’ editorial summed up the situation:

‘ The curtain has finally rung down on the greatest and most terrible war in the world’s history. The glad tidings were everywhere hailed by the Allies with the greatest enthusiasm; indeed more than was to be expected, with the knowledge of the desolation the war has caused and the sorrow it has brought into so many lives. If there was momentary forgetfulness of this on the part of any, it was to be forgiven; for how could the majority of people keep in check their feelings of thankfulness on such a day. Yet not all rejoiced in boisterous and hilarious fashion, for a much deeper and more sober thankfulness was shown by some in attendance at the thanksgiving services held throughout the length and breadth of the land.’

ilkley-war-096

Crowds at the unveiling and dedication of the Ilkley War memorial, July 1922. (Image Ilkley Library)

ilkley-war-095

The procession to the unveiling and dedication of the Ilkley War memorial proceeds along the top of Brook Street towards The Grove. (Image courtesy of Sally Gunton)

 

National Poetry Day the Dewhirst Way!

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A talk by Ian Dewhirst is always something to look forward to and, given Ian’s keen interest and admiration for Keighley’s Gordon Bottomley, writer, poet, playwright, art collector, I was particularly eager to hear this one. I was not disappointed.

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Ian outlined Gordon Bottomley’s early life in Keighley and how local theatre trips with his gran, access to good libraries and his time at Keighley Boys’ Grammar School had all, Bottomley acknowledged, ultimately influenced his playwriting and poetry. Ian also noted the origins of Keighley Library’s unique archive collection of his original correspondence, deposited by Mrs Philip Lamb, a relative from Harrogate. You might have thought that a talk about a man so troubled by poor health would reflect some slow progress but Bottomley did travel at times and he certainly mingled in intellectually energetic company. Ian apprised us of his literary and artistic connections including Edward Thomas, renowned poet, John Masefield, Poet Laureate and Paul Nash, the famous artist. He also spoke of his influence in the Georgian Poetry Movement during the early 20th century, which included Rupert Brook and Siegfried Sassoon and significantly marks the major change in poetry from the romantic to the harsher realism of modern poetry, following the impact of WW1.

This talk could also have become one of simple name dropping of the artists and literati of the time but Ian Dewhirst MBE was never going to be so dull. The talk was well rounded, peppered with amusing anecdotes and brought to life the cultural times in which Gordon Bottomley lived, as well as Bottomley’s intelligent, witty and lively personality which so successfully managed to overshadow very serious ill health.

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Nevertheless, a talk from Ian would not be complete without a relevant but hilarious personal story at the expense of Ian himself. This came in his very funny account of his attempts to get a clearer view of the much admired The Sheiling. From 1914, this was Bottomley’s home with his wife, Emily, in Silverdale, near Carnforth. Quite a few of the great and good visited the Bottomleys here and so there are some fine descriptions of a beautiful house and woodland surroundings, a “magic wood” even. Inspired by these descriptions, Ian had, on a few rambles, attempted to get a better view of the house over the limestone rise and one wet, windy day, romantically determined to get that view at last. Manfully he scaled the rocks, only to find himself suddenly wet nose to pane with the kitchen window. As he put it, soggy and bedraggled, he knew the washing powder of the latest occupants but still had no better idea of the building.

Everyone enjoyed the talk, from the local lady who wrote poetry herself to a member of Keighley’s Film Club who commented that it was inspiring to hear “the expert” speak on an entirely new topic, never tackled before in depth, and he looked forward, as I do, to repeats in the future. Radio Leeds, who had interviewed Ian before the talk, made plans for not one but two features on this national day of celebration.

Indeed, it was a great pleasure post talk, to once again marvel at this comparatively small town of Keighley which has made such a contribution to the nurturing of national and international cultural and artistic influences, not only Gordon Bottomley but the Brontës, Alexander Smith, pioneer of the pictorial movement in photography, and the late Lord Asa Briggs, renowned historian, to mention a few, and all this whilst standing in one of the earliest of the famous Carnegie public libraries. GRAND!

Gina Birdsall