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24 FEBRUARY 2020. ALAN HOWE AND STEVE WILSON: OSSETT’S GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
Taking a personal selection of Ossett’s people, our speakers justified their choices through the examination of their lives and character. Amongst those categorised as “good” were Eli Townend and Philip Mickman. Townend (1846-1910) overcame early handicaps, including impaired vision, by working hard at whatever jobs he could get. He succeeded in both his working and public lives, becoming a member of Ossett’s Local Board and a West Riding County Councillor, despite never learning to read. A rough diamond, he never forgot his humble beginnings and was a charitable man. Philip Mickman, whose family owned a hosiery firm off Dale Street, achieved sporting greatness when he became the youngest successful Channel swimmer in 1949. Three years later he repeated his efforts by crossing the Channel in the opposite direction, becoming the youngest to swim in both directions. On the other hand, the “bad” of Osssett were represented by James Mark Briggs a drunkard who was imprisoned for assaulting his daughter; by Louie Calvert of Gawthorpe, who was hanged for murdering both her landlady, Lily Waterhouse and John Frobisher for whom she had been a housekeeper; and by Sydney Cecil Beauchamp or Thomas Price (and other aliases) a bigamist, liar, thief and military deserter, who was finally apprehended in Hull in 1915 and served three years at Portland jail, Dorset. The “ugly” was represented not by a person but by Flushdyke, a part of Ossett which is seen as a gateway to the town from the M1. From the 1970s onwards it has been blighted by a mishmash of unsightly industrial units.
27th JANUARY 2020. RUTH NETTLETON: OSSETT’S 1908 GRAND BAZAAR
The large public hall, part of Ossett’s new Town Hall building, was inaugurated by a Grand Bazaar in February 1908. Held over three days, the Bazaar raised over £1800 for the Dewsbury and District Infirmary. Using images from the beautifully designed pages of the Bazaar handbook, Ruth Nettleton highlighted the names of Ossett’s “great and good” who sat on the event’s various steering committees. These involved both men and women in various aspects of the organisation, with committees responsible for Invitations and Donations; The Handbook and Advertising; Decoration and Entertainment. The hall housed a number of stalls with a smoke room and shooting gallery, and a café upstairs offering afternoon teas at 2/6d. Visitors were entertained by a musical programme from J. Wormald’s orchestral band. Descriptions of some of the businesses which advertised in the Handbook were accompanied by fascinating historical photographs of Ossett town centre, showing where they were located.
25 NOVEMBER 2019. LORRAINE SIMPSON: THE FORGOTTEN WOMEN OF WAKEFIELD – THE GISSINGS AND THE STAYNES.
The talk began with an overview of the Forgotten Women of Wakefield project which has the eventual aim of blue plaque parity between men and women in the city. Among the notable women who have already been researched and their plaques unveiled, are Florence Beaumont, the suffragist, Alice Bacon the politician from Normanton, philanthropist Edith Mackie and the artist Louisa Fennell.
Lorraine herself has contributed research on Ellen and Margaret Gissing, the sisters of the Victorian novelist George Gissing. Both were teachers and in 1898 opened a preparatory day school for boys in Wentworth Terrace, later moving to Sandy Walk. Margaret, “Little Gis”, taught the younger pupils, while the more extrovert Ellen or “Big Gis” educated the older ones. Judging by the fond reminiscences of some of the boys, the school was very successful.
Research into the Battle of Quebec Street has highlighted the pivotal role of the extended Staynes family which inhabited several houses in this street just off Westgate. Of the four daughters of Joe and Lily Staynes, Nellie and Emily were particularly prominent in their attempts to protect a group of conscientious objectors from a local mob. Members of a Quaker family, the girls were also suffragettes, and after the First World War, both married conscientious objectors. Nellie and her husband then moved to Leicester, while Emily went first to Birmingham and later emigrated to New Zealand.
More information about the Forgotten Women project can be found at: https://forgottenwomenwake.com
28 OCTOBER 2019. ROD DIMBLEBY: A YORKSHIRE DIALECT TREASURE TROVE – JOHN HARTLEY’S CLOCK ALMANAC
John Hartley (1839-1915), from Halifax, started his working life as a pattern designer in a local textile company. However, he became well-known as the author of Yorkshire dialect poems and stories, which were published in his annual Clock Almanac. Like Charles Dickens, he was a popular performer of his own work, even giving readings in the United States, and was able to command high fees, though at times his family struggled financially. His first published poem was “Bite Bigger” (1865) which was an immense success and sold thousands in penny sheets. Hartley highlighted poverty and social inequality in his work, but he was always able to inject an element of optimism into his stories and poems. He also took note of changes in society poking fun, for example, at the suffragettes. Rod Dimbleby illustrated his fascinating talk by reciting examples of Hartley’s dialect work and with slides of different editions of the Clock almanac
30 SEPTEMBER 2019. BARBARA PHIPPS: CHARLES WATERTON – WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
In a well-illustrated talk, Barbara gave the audience a fascinating introduction to Charles Waterton’s life and family. The Watertons had lived in the Walton area for many generations, stretching back to the early Middle Ages. The last to hold public office was Sir Thomas, who was High Sheriff of Yorkshire during the reign of Tudor Queen Mary. As the family remained staunchly Catholic, they were later unable to participate in public life and service. Charles himself, one of seven children, attended Stoneyhurst, a Jesuit school in Lancashire. He later went out to Demerara in South America to manage the family’s sugar plantations. As he felt that slavery could not be defended, the administration of the plantations fell to his brothers and cousins after the death of their father. Charles married Anne Edmonstone at the Convent des Anglais in Bruges .Sadly Anne died soon after the birth of their son, Edmund, who was brought up by his aunts. Charles made many changes to the parkland, building a long wall to keep out vermin and poachers. His intention was to establish a nature reserve to protect and attract wildlife. A kind and generous man, he encouraged visitors to the park’s Grotto, particularly local people and inmates of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Charles died in 1865 and is buried in a secluded spot in the woodland. Widely regarded in his own time as eccentric, he was, in fact, a pioneer conservationist.
29 APRIL 2019. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by LESLEY TAYLOR: A WAKEFIELD DANCING MASTER
The evening began with a brief Annual General Meeting in which Ruth Nettleton was confirmed as Chairman for the next season and all officers and members of the Committee were re-elected. Both the Secretary and Treasurer’s reports were read and accepted. As the Society’s finances are in a healthy state, it was agreed to maintain the current level of subscriptions.
Lesley Taylor started her talk by linking the venue of the music class she attended in the 1950s in Wakefield, with the location of a dancing school in the town in the middle of the 18th century. At that time the Earl of Strafford owned an extensive estate to the north of the town centre, which included Northgate Head, a large house with orchards and gardens, once known as Haselden Hall. From the early 1740s this property was leased by Robert Greaves (or Grave) a dancing master formerly based in Briggate in Leeds. Greaves was possibly attracted to Wakefield by the availability of pupils studying at a successful new grammar school at Heath and by the vitality of the social and cultural life of the town, centred around the Assembly Rooms on Southgate. Not only did Greaves teach the young gentlefolk to dance but he was also very active in promoting balls to demonstrate the abilities of his pupils and concerts in which both amateur and professional musicians performed. His own gardens seem to have been the venue of the concerts and became known as Wakefield’s answer to the Vauxhall pleasure gardens in London. Robert Greaves married late in life, but he and his wife had three daughters, two of whom survived him. He died in 1788 and was buried in Wakefield parish church.
25 MARCH 2019. DAVID SCRIVEN: MEMORIALS IN HOLY TRINITY CHURCHYARD
The first burials in Holy Trinity churchyard took place in 1861, four years before Holy Trinity church was consecrated by the bishop of Ripon. Over the following years, it became the resting place of a cross-section of Ossett society ranging from the very rich to paupers who ended their days in Dewsbury Workhouse. Among the wealthiest of those buried at Holy Trinity were the dyer William Gartside, the landowner and maltster Joshua Whitaker and the mungo manufacturer Abraham Pollard. These men were part of Ossett’s elite, but buried near them were humbler people such as the butcher Sarah Asquith and the school teacher David Lucas. Several of those mentioned in the talk played an active part in the public life of the town. Among them was the teetotaller and non-smoker Bennett Brook who campaigned for Ossett to have a Local Board of Health and then to have a Borough Council. Bennett Brook lived to be 88, but the youngest person mentioned, Herbert Aliffe, was only 10 months old when he died in 1899 after suffering convulsions. Unfortunately, his case was not an isolated one as 23% of the burials at Holy Trinity that year were of children under the age of one. Much of the information in the talk came from the ‘Ossett Observer’, which was owned by the Cockburns from 1873, and Stephen Cockburn senior and Stephen Cockburn junior, who between them edited the paper for a generation, are also both buried at Holy Trinity.
25 FEBRUARY 2019. CLIVE McMANUS: CHRISTOPHER SAXTON, ELIZABETHAN MAPMAKER
There are difficulties in tracing Christopher Saxton’s genealogy due to a lack of useful contemporary documents. It is known that his ancestors came from Sowood, Ossett, though later moved to Dunningley, near Tingley. Although modern day researchers have used sources such as parish records, wills and lay subsidies, Saxton’s own birthplace and date have not been revealed. Nor is anything known about his education, though his success as a surveyor must have been partly due to great mathematical knowledge and skill. It has been suggested that he was apprenticed, possibly to John Rudd, vicar of Dewsbury, a noted cartographer. They were certainly working together in 1570. Saxton came to national prominence during 1574-9 when thanks to his patron, Thomas Seckford, he was employed to produce a set of county maps of England and Wales. The resulting series were the first ever published for the entire the country. Each map shows features such as towns, rivers and hills and administrative hundreds and wapentakes. Once completed, the series of maps were collected into the first English atlas. Saxton was well rewarded for his labours and later returned to live and work in Yorkshire, where he completed several surveys commissioned by the Savile family. Although his date and place of death are unknown, it is possible that he was buried at Woodkirk.
28 JANUARY 2019. RUTH NETTLETON: OSSETT PUBS
With a wide-ranging series of photographs, our speaker embarked on a tour of Ossett, showing the many pubs in the town, some of which have now disappeared. The Quiet Woman at the top of Storrs Hill Road (later the Junction Inn,) was later converted into a greengrocer’s shop. The Flying Horse on Dewsbury Road was demolished in the early 2000s and houses built on the site, although its bowling green still exists. On the other hand, the Prince of Wales, on South Parade, was converted into a pub from a Primitive Methodist chapel in the 1860s and is still open today. The old Miller’s Arms, later Brewer’s Pride at Healey, is now the home of the successful Ossett Brewery. The talk clearly demonstrated the important part pubs play in the Ossett townscape .
26 NOVEMBER 2018. ALAN HOWE AND STEVE WILSON: OSSETT WAR MEMORIAL
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, Alan Howe, Steven Wilson and Neville Ashby began to research the biographies of Ossett men who had lost their lives in the conflict. Although 230 were listed on Ossett’s roll of honour, they went on to find another 85 names and later extended the search to servicemen and women of World War Two. (See www.ossett.net). Ossett people began to discuss ways of commemorating the fallen as early as 1917, but there was little enthusiasm for the project despite ideas for a park, scholarships, swimming baths or bronze statue being put forward. Eventually, a simple war memorial, erected on Kingsway, was dedicated in the presence of Lord Lascelles, on 11th November 1928. Ninety years later Alan Howe and a small group began planning to commemorate all those people their research had discovered. With funding from Wakefield Council and the support of the British Legion, they arranged for the names to be cut into granite sets to be laid around the war memorial, now in the Market Place. Despite setbacks, all was ready for the dedication of these names, which took place in front of a large crowd on Sunday 11th November..
29 OCTOBER 2018. IAN STEVENSON: YORKSHIRE DIALECT
Ian, a member of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, started his talk by drawing a distinction between accent and dialect: far more people speak with a Yorkshire accent today than use Yorkshire dialect. Dialect is sometimes wrongly viewed as a corruption of Standard English. In fact Yorkshire dialect originated in Old English and Old Norse, both of which were spoken in early medieval Yorkshire. Not surprisingly, many Yorkshire dialect words have parallels in modern Scandinavian languages including Icelandic. Naturally dialect changed over time and its use declined in the 20th century, partly as a result of social and economic changes. Rendering Yorkshire dialect into written text has been a challenge which some authors have met more successfully than others. Some writers have been misguided enough to create a generalised northern dialect using words taken from different parts of the north and even from the south of England. Even the publicity for Yorkshire Tea uses the word ‘brew’ rather than the Yorkshire ‘mash’.
24 SEPTEMBER 2018. DAVID SCRIMGEOUR: THE EVOLUTION OF ASYLUM PATIENT PHOTOGRAPHY.
David pointed out that photography was being used to capture the appearance of asylum residents from the 1850s. Dr Hugh Welch Diamond of the Surrey Lunatic Asylum explained that the advantages of a photographic record were that it helped with the identification and diagnoses of his patients. Dr James Crichton-Browne introduced photography into the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield in the 1860s. He sent many photographs to Charles Darwin while the latter was researching his book on the facial expression of human emotions: Darwin believed that asylum residents were unlikely to disguise or fake their feelings. As a result of Crichton-Browne’s correspondence with Darwin, Cambridge University has a collection of Browne’s photographs, while the West Yorkshire History Centre has another 400. Crichton-Browne stopped commissioning photographs taken in the early 1870s and it was not until twenty years later that the Wakefield Asylum resumed the photographing of residents on a regular basis. David illustrated his talk with a wide selection of asylum photographs, many of them moving records of Victorian mental illness.
30th APRIL 2018. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by DEBORAH SCRIVEN: A CRYSTAL PALACE IN MINIATURE - THE WAKEFIELD INDUSTRIAL AND FINE ART EXHIBITION 1865
The 1860s and 70s could be regarded as the Victorian Age of Exhibitions when towns and cities across the land took great pride in hosting exhibitions designed to elevate public taste and showcase Britain’s innovative industrial production. Wakefield’s event was originally planned on a small scale, but soon grew in scope and ambition. 1300 people from all over the West Riding submitted articles in time for the grand opening on 30 August 1865. These were grouped into categories such as Glass, China and Earthenware; Clothing; Furniture, Woodwork, Fancywork and Domestic Work and Fine Art. Among the entries were a number from Ossett businesses and individuals. As may be expected, there were several examples of mungo, while others exhibited a reversible suit of clothing, an aquarium and a telescope that enabled an observer to look through a brick. Local scholars and children submitted examples of penmanship, needlework pictures and drawings. During the seven weeks that it was open the Exhibition was visited by nearly 190,000 people from across the county and beyond. Overall, it was judged a great success and even made a small profit, which was later used to found the Wakefield School of Art.
26th MARCH 2018. JO HERON: THE METCALFE SOCIETY: A YORKSHIRE CLAN
Jo Heron, the honorary membership secretary of the Metcalfe Society, explained that the Metcalfe family originated in the Swaledale area of Yorkshire in the early middle ages. From there the family has spread around the globe with particularly high concentrations of Metcalfes in North America, South Africa and Australia. During the medieval period the Yorkshire Metcalfes were among the county’s gentry and fought in the battles of Falkirk, Bannockburn and Agincourt. James Metcalfe, who was in Henry V’s army at Agincourt, later built Nappa Hall near Hawes. The hall still survives and is a site of pilgrimage for Metcalfes today. Later members of the clan included Theophilus, the inventor of a system of shorthand writing, and the famous road builder, ‘Blind Jack’ of Knaresborough. The Metcalfe Society, which was founded in 1980, keeps in touch with its world- wide membership through its website, its newsletter and its annual meeting or ‘muster’. In addition, members of the society undertake research into the clan including Metcalfes in India and in the First World War. If your family is from Yorkshire, it is highly likely that you will have Metcalfes in your family tree.
26th FEBRUARY 2018. GARY BRANNAN: THE BLACK DEATH IN WEST YORKSHIRE
The mid 14th century was a time of political uncertainty with difficult living conditions due to wet weather and poor harvests across Europe. Following trade routes, the Great Pestilence which was spread by infected fleas, killed huge numbers of people as it travelled from east to west across the continent. Over the space of one summer, nearly 60% of the population of Europe died. The Black Death entered Yorkshire through the coastal ports in the early months of 1349. Gary tracked the effects of the plague through wills proved at the courts of the Archbishop of York. As many people made their will only just before they died, it is possible to infer from the spike in numbers and types of documents that many richer people and clergy were succumbing to the pestilence. In particular Gary looked at the will of William de Aberford, vicar of Batley, who left much of his wealth to members of his local community. It is thought that 50% of clergy died and that 96 parishes in the West Riding were left vacant as a result of the plague. For the survivors life improved because a shortage of workers led to better employment and higher wages.
29th JANUARY 2018. RUTH NETTLETON: THE PICKARDS OF OSSETT
The talk looked in detail at the family background of Hannah Pickard (1838-1891) who left a number of bequests for the benefit of local people. Ruth traced the source of the family’s wealth from her father George who was a successful grocer, through her mother, Hannah, who carried on the family business after her husband’s death. She was able to provide financial security for her children and Hannah’s two brothers, David and George, did well in the textile trade. Neither married, but David had illegitimate children by a Leeds woman. Andrew’s death in 1890 left Hannah as the sole legitimate member of the family and a wealthy woman. Her will showed her to be generous as she remembered not only her friends, but also the poor of Ossett and local and national charities. In particular she left money for the Pickard fountain, an elaborate confection, which graced the Market Place until the 1960s. (see image above) Ruth’s talk was complemented by comments from a Society member, Alan Howe, who set Hannah in context as a dutiful Victorian daughter and sister who had firm ideas about what to do with her family’s fortune.
27th NOVEMBER: KEVIN TRICKET - A BRIEF HISTORY OF WAKEFIELD
Kevin first explained the origins and role of the Wakefield Civic Society, of which he is a leading member, before giving a richly illustrated talk on the city’s history. Wakefield originated in the early middle ages at a crossing point of the River Calder. At first the crossing was a ford, but later a bridge with a chantry chapel was built. The town’s main streets – Westgate, Northgate and Kirkgate – were laid out in the medieval period and the burgage plots which lined them later developed into the yards which are still a feature of central Wakefield. With the opening of the Aire and Calder and Calder and Hebble Navigations and the Barnsley Canal, the town became an inland port, encouraging its growth as an industrial and commercial centre. With the coming of the railways, Kirkgate and Westgate stations were built. The former has recently been renovated, while the latter has been renewed. The wool textile industry was a staple trade in the town during the Industrial Revolution and traces of it still survive in the shape of some of the warehouses built for wool and cloth merchants. Since the Second World War, manufacturing industry has declined, leading to the closure of textile mills. The city’s proximity to the M1 and the M62 has led to the growth of the logistics industry with its vast warehouses. Attempts are being made to revive the city’s waterfront, the Hepworth Gallery being the most conspicuous result. Apart from being a commercial centre, Wakefield has long been an administrative centre and the Town and County Halls in Wood Street together with Wakefield One are striking monuments to this aspect of the city’s life. Future plans for the development of city include the replacement of the Market Hall by a cinema and restaurants and the conversion of part of the Victorian Clayton Hospital for educational use.
23 OCTOBER. DAVID SCRIVEN: A WORLD WE HAVE LOST: OSSETT AND HORBURY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Neither Ossett nor Horbury escaped the impact of the English Civil Wars. Not only was there fighting around both places, but local men fought for either the King or Parliament. The communities they came from were small, their populations numbered in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Periodically both suffered from epidemics and from harvest failures which caused a sharp increase in the number of deaths. 1623 was a particularly bad year, and not just in Ossett and Horbury but across the whole North of England. Farming was the principal occupation of the inhabitants: wills and inventories mention the crops, livestock and equipment such as ploughs and wains. Next to farming in importance was the making of woollen cloth. The key figures in the woollen industry were the clothiers who bought the wool, had it spun and woven and then sold their cloth to merchants at Wakefield’s weekly market. In both Ossett and Horbury there were deep divisions between the richest and the poorest inhabitants. Among the richest was Dame Sarah Monson, whose home was Horbury Old Hall. She left monetary bequests amounting to £500 in her will and set aside another £100 for the cost of her funeral in Wakefield. Among the poorest inhabitants was Mary Oxley of Ossett who was excused paying the 1672 hearth tax because of her poverty. There were also religious divisions in the two communities. After the restoration of Charles II some inhabitants refused to conform to the Church of England. One was John Issott of Horbury who was a member of William Marshall’s Independent congregation at Woodkirk. Another was John Bradford of Ossett who became a member of the Society of Friends. Like other Nonconformists, Bradford suffered for his faith. Arrested at a religious meeting in Wakefield, he was imprisoned in York Castle. Only with the Toleration Act of 1689 did the persecution of Nonconformists cease.
25 SEPTEMBER 2017 – ERIC JACKSON: THE BARNBOW LASSES
Mr Jackson’s interest in the Barnbow munitions works was aroused when he found the names of two women, Jane Few and Helena Beckett, on the war memorial at All Saints Church in Pontefract. They had been among 35 women killed in an explosion at the works on the night of 5 December 1916. Today there is little to see of the works, but during the First World War 16,000 people were employed there, 93% of them women. Barnbow was opened in 1915 as a shell filling factory in response to the British army’s massive demand for munitions. Working there was dangerous, not only because of the risks of explosions, but also because of the damage exposure to explosives did to the long term health of the women. However, wages at Barnbow were high – on average £3 a week – and free rail transport was provided to the works and this attracted women workers from York, Pontefract and Castleford as well as Leeds. Although the site was cleared after the First World War, the memory of the Barnbow lasses has been revived in recent years in a number of ways among them several memorials, streets named after some of the victims of the 1916 explosion and a play.
24 APRIL 2017. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by DAVID SCRIVEN: CRIMINAL OSSETT 1780-1914
At the Annual General Meeting Ruth Nettleton’ election as Chairman was ratified and the other officers and committee members were re-elected. As the Treasurer’s report showed the society had a healthy surplus, it was decided to maintain the subscriptions at £10 for the coming season. The Secretary reported that the best attended meeting was for Douglas Brammer’s presentation of his lively drawings of Ossett in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Under Any Other Business concern was expressed at the lack of progress in the refurbishment of Ossett Library’s Station Road premises and at the lack of disabled access and internet connection in the library’s temporary accommodation in the Town Hall.
David Scriven’s talk ‘Criminal Ossett 1780 - 1914’ examined some of the perpetrators and victims of a variety of crimes in over a century of the town’s history. One theme in the talk was domestic violence, a crime often taken for granted at this time. Yet in at least one case, that of Martha Boocock, an assault by a husband led to a wife’s death. Another theme was theft. Among the town’s thieves were the Pickersgills of Street Side, whose home yielded three cart loads of goods stolen from local shops and markets when it was raided by the police. Ossett was also the scene of a case of industrial espionage during the Napoleonic Wars when Henry Dobson, a visitor to the town, was fined and imprisoned for trying to take models and drawings of machinery to France. Finally, the town was briefly the home of a bigamist and fraudster, Sidney Cecil Buchanan Beauchamp, whose stories of his military service at the start of the First World War were swiftly exposed as lies after they were ‘Ossett Observer’.
27 MARCH 2017. DAVID SCRIMGEOUR: PROPER PEOPLE
David shared his research into the lives of patients in the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum (later Stanley Royd Hospital), using a variety of sources, particularly the excellent collection of case notes deposited at West Yorkshire Archive Service. He highlighted some of the reasons poor people were committed to the asylum and the different forms of treatment, including purging, bleeding, the circular swing and warm/cold baths. Among the many inmates described was Lachlan McKenzie, from Glasgow, who had worked as a woodcarver in Huddersfield, before being admitted to the Asylum. While there he carved a magnificent eagle lectern for St Faith’s church, which can still be seen today in the Mental Health Museum. Another inmate, George Penny, spent 49 years in the Asylum, costing the town of Bradford nearly £2,000 for his maintenance, though it must be said that, working as a tailor, he helped to produce the Asylum’s clothing during this period. Illustrating the humane conditions in the Asylum, David told of another inmate, a habitual drunkard, who was taken on a fishing expedition by staff. Unfortunately, he got drunk and fell out of the dog cart on the way home. His absence was not discovered until the occupants of the cart arrived back at the Asylum!
For further information see David Scrimgeour’s book “Proper People: Early asylum life in the words of those who were there” (2015)
27 FEBRUARY 2017. JOHN LYTE: BRIESTFIELD
John Lyte, chairman of the Briestfield History and Community Group, gave a well-illustrated talk on aspects of the history the ancient hamlet of Briestfield. In particular he highlighted changes during the last one hundred years. This was a period when the population dwindled from over 1,000 to less than 200 as a result of the decline of the local coal and textile industries and the demolition of insanitary housing. From the late 16th century until the early 20th century much of the hamlet belonged to the Armytage family of Kirklees, but death duties led to them selling off their local properties and to a rise in the number of owner occupiers in Briestfleld. Today many of the surviving older properties, some dating back three hundred years, have been renovated and are homes to commuters.
30 JANUARY 2017. RUTH NETTLETON: THE INGHAMS AND THE WHITAKERS
Benjamin Ingham (1784-1861), a member of an old Ossett family, arrived in Sicily in 1806 as representative of his family’s merchant firm. He proved to be very successful , building up a trade in marsala, wine, citrus fruits and sulphur as well as lending money to the Sicilian aristocracy and the King of Naples. To carry some of the goods he had his own merchant ships, one of which traded with the Far East and profits from his exports to the USA were invested in American canals and railways. All of this was achieved against a background in Sicily of war, rebellions and cholera epidemics. To assist him in his enterprise he recruited five of his Ingham and Whitaker nephews, none of whom showed quite the same flair for making money. Part of the family fortune was donated towards the cost of Ossett’s Holy Trinity Church which remains a striking memorial to a remarkable man.
28 NOVEMBER 2016. DOUGLAS BRAMMER: OSSETT SKETCHES
Ossett-born and bred, Douglas Brammer has for many years mined his memory to produce lively drawings of the Ossett of his youth, in particular the people and buildings of the Flushdyke area, his own neighbourhood. In his reminiscences accompanying the images he highlighted the great gulf between the working people and those living in the larger houses of the area. As a small boy, Douglas sat on the boundary wall watching the tennis parties at Longlands House. Douglas was assisted by Alan Howe and Steve Wilson and the presentation will be uploaded to www.ossett.net
HOLY TRINITY SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
Two members of the Society, Mike Adams and David Scriven, recently helped Holy Trinity School with its 140th anniversary celebrations. Using a selection of images from the Ossett Community Archive they presented a slideshow to several classes, showing what the town was like between the 1870s and the 1920s. The children showed a keen interest in the pictures, which included shots of horse-drawn transport, trams, early cars, and asked Mike and David a lot of very good questions.
31 OCTOBER 2016. JOHN WALSH: POTS FOR HORBURY
In this well-illustrated talk, John Walsh highlighted the many different varieties of ceramics, produced mainly in The Potteries, which displayed Horbury motifs and scenes. The working men’s club commissioned a variety of mugs and beakers to give to local school children to commemorate events such as coronations and silver jubilees. Horbury Co-operative Society illustrated its commemorative mugs with pictures of the three local shops and gave them out at children’s festivals, held every ten years from the Society’s foundation in 1866. Other ceramics, including plates and jugs, were commissioned by local churches and chapels, both to commemorate anniversaries and to raise funds. Purely commercial ceramics included stoneware flagons used by local botanical brewers such as Gledhill and North. John has documented over 40 different types of Horbury pots in the last few years.
26 SEPTEMBER 2016. CHRISTINE HEWITT: ORDINARY SITLINGTON FOLK IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES
Recently restored windows in St. Luke’s Church, Middlestown commemorate soldiers from the parish who died serving during the First World War. Two of the windows are dedicated to brothers William Henry and Cecil Bedford and to Wilfred Kaye. Christine’s talk highlighted the lives and service history of the three young men. William Henry went to Ossett Grammar School before becoming a colliery clerk at Denby Grange. He enlisted in the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was injured at the battle of the Somme and died of his injuries. His brother Cecil, who was a bank clerk, entered the Manchester Regiment but died in Mesopotamia in March 1916. He is remembered on the Basra War Memorial in Iraq.
Wilfred Kaye’s family moved from Kirkburton to St. Luke’s cottage in Middlestown, where his father was caretaker for the church and school. Wilfred himself worked at the Co-op, where he was “a highly respected employee” who was also an accomplished violinist. He too served in the KOYLI, as a signaller, but was killed at the third battle of Ypres in 1917. He is commemorated at the Tyne Cot War Cemetery.
25 APRIL 2016. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, followed by MIKE ADAMS: SHOPPING IN OSSETT
At the AGM, the Secretary reported that speakers have provided a wide range of topics during the 2015-16 season, ranging from an Ossett emigrant’s voyage to Australia to Wakefield’s new History Centre. Overall attendance has ranged from 18 – 23 with most meetings attracting visitors too. The Society also put on displays in the Town Hall during Heritage Weekend in September 2015 and at “Lest we forget: A Parish at War” at the National Coalmining Museum in March 2016. The Treasurer’s report showed that the Society had a small surplus for the year, so membership fees will remain the same for the new season. Ruth Nettleton was ratified by the meeting as Chairman, while other officers and committee members remain the same.
The AGM was followed by a slide show of images from the Ossett Community Archive, administered by Mike Adams. The Archive, which began in 2002, holds about 3,000 photographs in its database, many from the collection of local photographer, Mr Fowler. A project in 2015 to expand the archive involved working with students from Ossett Academy, who took about 500 photographs of the town and put on a well-regarded exhibition. Recently the Archive has started a blog requesting local people to add their reminiscences about the town. The photographs on show at the meeting also elicited many reminiscences about Ossett shops and markets accompanied by detailed research carried out by Mike Adams.
21 MARCH 2016: STUART HARTLEY. CROW NEST PARK, DEWSBURY
The speaker began by outlining the history of the Crow Nest estate and its owners. The mansion and its park were sold to Dewsbury Corporation in 1893 by the Hague family of millowners, who had owned the estate since the late 18th century. Having paid £20,000 for the estate the Corporation spent another £10,000 remodelling the park. Just before its grand opening, the Great Yorkshire Show was held on the site. As today it included a large number of events and agricultural displays. It attracted large numbers of visitors, 8,000 people attending on the first day with another 43,000 on the two subsequent days, making it one of the most successful events in the history of Dewsbury.
29 FEBRUARY 2016: LESLEY TAYLOR AND SHIRLEY LEVON - THE LETTERS OF ESTHER MILNES OF WAKEFIELD 1771-1773
The Milnes family of Chesterfield and Wakefield had many branches and while researching 18th century Wakefield, Lesley and Shirley came across a collection of letters from Esther Milnes (1724-1799) of Wakefield to Esther Milnes (1752-1792) of Chesterfield. The older Esther was the widow of a wealthy merchant, Robert Milnes, while the younger Esther was the orphaned daughter and heiress of Richard Milnes, a grocer and merchant. The letters cover a wide variety of topics including the comings and goings of family members, the health of the older Esther’s stepchildren and the possibility of the younger Esther marrying. The older woman was careful to relay gossip, good and bad, about one Manchester gentleman who was rumoured to be courting the young Esther. In fact, Esther eventually married Thomas Day, an eccentric member of the Birmingham Lunar Society. Today the letters of her friend are in the keeping of the Essex County Record Office, but much of the Wakefield the two women knew has vanished. The site of the house of the older Esther, for instance, is now a used car lot next to the Westgate railway bridge. However, the Westgate Unitarian Chapel where the Milnes family worshipped and the older Esther is buried still survives.
25 JANUARY 2016. DAVID MORRIS: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE WAKEFIELD RECORD OFFICE
The plans to open a new West Yorkshire History Centre later in 2016, provided an opportunity to look both backwards and to the future of the Archive Service. Using both old and modern photographs, David was able to highlight and describe some of the most interesting types of records stored in the current Registry of Deeds building. However this building is now full, lacks easy public access and does not meet modern standards of archival storage, so, funded by the five West Yorkshire local authorities and the Heritage Lottery Fund, new premises are currently being built in Kirkgate, Wakefield. The striking new building will have sufficient space to hold not only the present collections but also provide storage for the foreseeable future. Photographs of the construction coupled with plans of the proposed layout and facilities provoked many questions and much comment from the audience
30 NOVEMBER 2015. RUTH NETTLETON - EDWIN PICKERSGILL: A PASSAGE TO AUSTRALIA
Edwin Pickersgill, an Ossett man, emigrated with his wife and daughter to Australia in 1854. During the voyage he kept a journal, still in the possession of his family, which gives a vivid impression of shipboard life. When his vessel, the ‘Oliver Lang’ set sail from Liverpool, it carried not only British passengers, but also Irish, Germans, French and Italians. Although they had ample food, it was not always palatable. Edwin compared the ships’ biscuits to slates and thought the meat was tough and salty. In the evenings the passengers amused themselves by telling stories, singing, dancing and playing cards and dominoes. The ship experienced both calms and storms and on at least one occasion the passengers were afraid she was in danger of sinking. Eventually, she reached Australia and the journal ends when Edwin arrived in Geelong.
26 OCTOBER 2015. IAN STEVENSON: MONK BRETTON PRIORY
In a two-part talk, Ian briefly outlined the history of the Cluniac religious movement which originated in France and arrived in England after the Battle of Hastings. In 1154 Adam Fitzswaine of Cawthorne founded the Priory of St Mary Magdalene at Lundwood, inviting Cluniac monks from St John’s Priory in Pontefract to run it. The name, Monk Bretton was attached to the priory when the monks started a market in the nearby village of Bretton. The Cluniac order was very wealthy and supported by influential patrons, but like other monastic orders was dissolved when Henry VIII took over their estates in 1538. The land and buildings at Monk Bretton were sold off and the monks and their prior retired to Worsbrough.
In the second part of his well-illustrated talk, Ian took his audience on a tour of the surviving ruins, explaining the purpose of each building and showing how it may have looked in its heyday. The site is now owned by Barnsley MBC under Heritage England custody and supported by an active Friends of Monk Bretton Priory group. www.monkbrettonpriory.org.uk
28 SEPTEMBER 2015. DAVID SCRIVEN: HELD DOWN LIKE A LOT OF SLAVES - WOMEN IN NINETEENTH CENTURY OSSETT
Drawing on a wide range of sources, the speaker outlined the many roles women played in this growing textile town in the nineteenth century. As children many girls had either no education or a very patchy education until schooling became compulsory in the 1870s. One reason for this was that girls were often kept at home as child minders while their mothers did housework or worked in a local mill. It was the town’s woollen mills and rag shops that provided most jobs for girls and women. These jobs were poorly paid and occasionally women workers went on strike for higher wages. However, fear of blacklisting hindered the development of trade unionism among textile workers. Most of the town’s women married before the age of 30, although the surplus of females in the population meant that there were always unmarried women living with their parents or with their brothers or sisters. Although women’s lives outside of the home and workplace are poorly documented, it is clear that they were prominent in the pews of the town’s churches and chapels. In addition, there were women members of the Mechanics’ Institute and the Choral Society. On a lighter note, by the end of the century some of Ossett’s women were enjoying lawn tennis and cycling.
HERITAGE OPEN DAY SATURDAY 12th SEPTEMBER
Members of the Society joined other local groups in commemorating World War One in Ossett Town Hall. Our display, in the Main Hall, from 10am, looked at at some aspects of life in Ossett in 1915 and how the war affected local people.
27 APRIL 2015. AGM followed by WORLD WAR ONE – OSSETT MEN AT WAR by ALAN HOWE and STEPHEN WILSON
After a very brief Annual General Meeting, Alan and Stephen explained that their research was spurred on not only by a desire to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, but also to create a modern day Roll of Honour of Ossett’s war dead. Using a variety of sources including local rolls of honour and newspaper reports, they identified 302 Ossett servicemen who died during or shortly after the conflict. The men’s family lives and military careers were investigated using sources such as the Census, Parish Registers, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and Regimental War Diaries. Before the War their working lives were varied. As was to be expected in Ossett, many had worked in the textile trades or in the local collieries, Among the miners was John W Shaw who was also well-known as an entertainer, performing as a female impersonator. He died of his wounds in April 1917. One of the youngest to die was another colliery worker, Willie Giggal, a hurrier at Hartley Bank pit. He was absolutely determined to volunteer, despite attempts by his family and employers to dissuade him. Willie was killed by a sniper only a month after arriving in France in September 1918.
The vast majority of servicemen were in the army and many volunteers enlisted in the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. 83 men had served overseas by the end of 1915 and so were awarded the 1914-15 Star medal. Throughout the conflict most Ossett men served on the Western Front, though some fought in other theatres of war such as Gallipoli, the Middle East and East Africa. Thomas W Spurr, a regular soldier who saw service in the Boer War, was one local man who died at Gallipoli. He emigrated to Australia in 1912, joined the Australian army in October 1914, but was killed in action on 30 April 1915. However, not all of the 302 men died from war wounds. James Frudd of South Parade, a miner, originally enlisted in October 1915, joining the Royal Engineers as a sapper. He was discharged as medically unfit at the beginning of 1916. However he re-enlisted in April 1918 as a gunner, but died, aged 50 years, in Kilnsea Military Hospital of pneumonia only three months later. Alan and Stephen also mentioned Willie Clapham, Joshua Fox Taylor and Eli Marsden Wilson, local conscientious objectors who refused to support the war effort and were imprisoned.The 2014 Ossett Roll of Honour, giving full details and biographies of all the men, can be found on the website www.ossett.net where there is also a searchable database.
30 MARCH 2015. KEITH WAINWRIGHT: CRIGGLESTONE THROUGH HISTORY
Although billed as a look at Crigglestone’s history, Keith Wainwright concentrated on Newmillerdam, once part of the parish of Crigglestone. Enhanced by extracts of historical Ordnance Survey maps, the illustrated talk looked at many aspects of life and topography in the village. Aided by a superb collection of old postcards and photographs gathered by Keith’s father, the role of the Pilkington family in the life of the village was highlighted. The Church Institute, the community hub of the village, dominating the skyline at Hill Top, was built by Mary Pilkington, who was also responsible for the erection of a school for 145 pupils in 1906. Lady Kathleen Pilkington unveiled the local war memorial in 1920. The Pilkington home, Chevet Hall, and its surrounding estate appeared in many of the early illustrations, though the house was sold to Wakefield Corporation in 1947 and demolished a few years later. Local industries such as the collieries, ropeworks, Hanson’s heavy haulage and the quarries were featured. Stone from the quarries was of major importance in the area and was used to build Chapelthorpe church and to repair Wakefield Cathedral. Local pubs including the Dam Inn, where the Badsworth Hunt gathered for its New Year’s Day meet and the Fox and Hounds appeared in many views of the village as did a number of local chapels.
23 FEBRUARY 2015. KEVIN TRICKET: THE BLUE PLAQUES OF WAKEFIELD
As the blue plaque scheme in Wakefield is administered by Wakefield Civic Society, Kevin Trickett, President of the Society, began his talk by outlining the Civic Society movement which is dedicated to improving the public realm of our villages, towns and cities. The thriving Wakefield Society has put up over 40 plaques since 1995 to mark local buildings of significance. These include the Tammy (Cloth) Hall, the old Wakefield Museum, formerly a Music Saloon, later the Mechanics Institute, now owned by Wakefield College and Pemberton House, on Westgate, home of Pemberton Milnes, a member of a prosperous 18th century family of cloth merchants. Some of these plaques have been put up on modern buildings to commemorate now-vanished landmarks, such as the Corn Exchange at the top of Westgate, which was demolished in the 1960s. Other plaques have been placed on buildings associated with prominent local people, such as the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, novelist George Gissing, the lyricist and composer Noel Gay and John Lee, lawyer and developer of St John’s Square and church in the 1790s.
For those wanting to find out more about Wakefield’s rich urban heritage, the Civic Society has published a small series of booklets.
See www.wakefieldcivicsociety.org.uk
26 JANUARY 2015. RUTH NETTLETON: THE BREAD OF LIFE AND DEATH
Ruth Nettleton’s talk dealt with two examples of local self-help. The first was the creation in 1784 of a friendly society, the Ossett Union Society. Established at a time when there was only the Poor Law and no Welfare State, the Society no doubt appealed to the more affluent workers in Ossett. Payments into the Society’s ‘box’ entitled its members to draw a regular benefit if they were unemployed because of illness. Just as today there was a fear of ‘benefit cheats’ as the Society’s steward visited sick members to check that they were really ill. Ruth’s second example of local self-help dealt with Ossett’s campaign against the Wakefield soke. Under this medieval manorial obligation, Ossett inhabitants had to have their grain milled at one of the soke mills at either Horbury, Wakefield or Newmillerdam. Attempts to evade the monopoly led to prosecutions by the owners of the soke and a prolonged legal case involving Ossett inhabitants between 1816 and 1826. Eventually, in 1832, Ossett freed itself from the soke in return for a payment of £3,500, the money being raised from the rate payers.
24 NOVEMBER 2014. PAM JUDKINS: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN THE WAKEFIELD AREA
Due to changes in the planning process, there have been many more archaeological excavations in the area over the past fifteen years, funded mainly by developers. These have led to the discovery that the local landscape was more densely occupied in the prehistoric period than formerly thought, with small farmsteads and settlements dating back as far as 6000BC. Excavations at Mitchell Laithes near Ossett provided evidence of occupation of the site from the Neolithic Age right through the Bronze Age to the Roman period and into the Middle Ages. In 2002-3 excavations in advance of improvements to the M62/A1 junction at Ferrybridge uncovered one of the most exciting finds in recent times – an almost complete Iron Age chariot burial. Other archaeological investigations at industrial sites on the outskirts of Pontefract, Wakefield and Castleford, in advance of house-building, afforded glimpses of old industries such as tanneries, glass-making, brick-making and cloth dyeing.
27 OCTOBER 2014. ELSIE WALTON: OTHER PEOPLE’S RUBBISH
Helping a friend clear out a bungalow in Crigglestone, Elsie acquired the diaries, letters and other papers of the family who had lived there. Intrigued, she began to research the lives of members of the Iveson family, and in particular, Lizzie and Amos, only four of whose ten children survived into adulthood. Lizzie emerged as the lynchpin of the family, seizing the opportunity to better their fortunes by taking on the job of running Chapelthorpe Post Office. It was her son, Fred, who built the pair of bungalows, one of which was occupied by Lizzie and the other by her daughter Janet, son-in-law Harold and two children. Illustrated by family photographs and other memorabilia, Elsie shared stories of family members, including several who fought in the First World War.
29 SEPTEMBER 2014. DAVID SCRIVEN: OSSETT IN 1814
2014 marks the bicentenary of the end of the Napoleonic War of 1802-1814, which was greeted with widespread celebrations in Ossett. The people gathered in the centre of the village to celebrate the downfall of Napoleon with a feast, at which the poor were treated to a free meal of beef and mutton with ale and tobacco for dessert. In the same year Rev. Edward Kilvington was responsible for opening a Church of England day and Sunday school in Ossett. Although the school was demolished when Ventnor Way was built, its commemorative plaque survives to this day in the wall of the King’s Way Church. Many of the children who attended the school were the offspring of workers in the woollen industry, the village’s main trade. In 1814 one of Ossett’s oldest mills, Pildacre, was burned down in a fire which did £10,000 worth of damage. During the same year a group of local businessmen planned to open a new mill, Union Mill, at Flushdyke. However, their hopes were disappointed as their venture was a failure and, within two years, they were bankrupted. For the village’s overseers of the poor the end of the war was good news because the payments they made to the families of militia men began to fall as the soldiers were demobilised. Of course, the peace was short-lived as Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of Elba the following year, only to be finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.
13 SEPTEMBER. HERITAGE FESTIVAL
Members of the Society were in Ossett Town Hall on Heritage Saturday. In the Court Room was a display celebrating some of Ossett’s worthies, including Eli Townend, a most remarkable man, who, although barely literate and visually impaired, successfully made his way in life and was a great benefactor to the town. A further display on "Ossett becomes a borough" prepared by Ruth Nettleton was in the Main Hall.
30 APRIL 2014. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and DEBORAH SCRIVEN: THE PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS
At the A.G.M. the appointment of Ruth Nettleton as President was ratified and the current officers and committee members were re-elected. The financial statement was accepted and the proposal to increase annual subscriptions to £10 was approved.
The Secretary’s report highlighted the success of the 2013-14 season of talks and other activities in which the Society has participated such as the annual Heritage Open Day in September. The report went on to concentrate on concerns for the future viability of the society in the light of the small membership and the need to find a new venue. After discussion with members it was agreed to transfer the monthly meetings to the Trinity Centre in Church Street and to hold meetings on Monday evenings.
Deborah Scriven: The Pilgrims’ Progress
In the summer of 1913 the non-militant National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies promoted the idea of a pilgrimage starting from each of the four corners of England to publicise the campaign for women’s suffrage. The local Wakefield society and its secretary Florence Beaumont were very active in the city and supported the pilgrimage. When the marchers from Newcastle arrived in Wakefield on 2nd July the society offered overnight hospitality and organised meetings which were very well attended. The pilgrimage cumulated in a large rally in Hyde Park in London, but it did not inspire any immediate dramatic change in Government policy. It was not until the end of the First World War that most women over 30 were given the right to vote.
26 MARCH 2014. CHRISTINE CUDWORTH: THE GREENS OF HORBURY
The Green family, which came to Horbury in the mid 18th century, were well-known in the local cloth industry as dyers and handloom weavers, later becoming involved in making both flannel and jacquard cloth. However some of the descendants of Christianus (born1780) made their mark not only in the West Riding, but also in the USA. In particular, Henry became wealthy and successful as a lead miner and smelter, selling lead to the Union army during the American Civil War. Back in England, his brother George prospered in the family woollen cloth business in Leeds, becoming wealthy enough to build a house, Hillfields, in Horbury. Two of his sons were well regarded in the town. John Henry was managing director of the family firm and a noted philanthropist, donating money towards the building of Primrose Hall and providing Green Park for playing fields. His brother, Thomas Edward, was a popular lecturer and member of the Royal Geographic Society, who was a pioneer in the new technology of coloured of lantern slides. Christine’s talk was beautifully illustrated by some of his family photographs.
26 FEBRUARY 2014. JOHN BROOKE: A TIDAL WAVE OF DISEASE
John Brooke’s talk was about the Leeds’ cholera epidemic of 1832. He explained how rapid urbanisation had created ideal conditions for the spread of a disease such as cholera in the town. Most of the population lived in crowded and insanitary conditions, often in unpaved yards crammed behind the main streets. Landlords were unwilling to improve conditions because of the cost and the local authorities lacked both the will and the power to enforce higher standards. It was into these conditions that cholera was introduced in May 1832, probably brought by boatmen working on the Aire and Calder Navigation. The first victim was probably John Dock, who lived in one of the insanitary yards – Blue Bell Fold. His symptoms included severe diarrhoea and vomiting and a distinctive blue tinge to his features. Today we know that the disease is carried in water contaminated by faeces, but in the 1830s doctors did not know this. Instead many of them believed that the disease was transmitted by miasmas, bad smells. Not only did the doctors not know what caused the disease, they also had no effective treatments for it: one that was recommended, purging, was in fact likely to hasten death. Not surprisingly church attendance in Leeds surged during the epidemic and wild rumours spread that doctors wanted the disease to spread in order to secure bodies for dissection. The last known victim in Leeds was buried in December 1832, by which time 702 people had been killed by the disease. Details of the outbreak were recorded by a local surgeon, Robert Baker, in a detailed report on the town’s sanitary conditions, but it was to be many years before effective measures were taken to improve public health in Leeds.
29 JANUARY 2014. JOHN WHITAKER: MOVING THE MUSEUM
Curator John Whitaker began his talk by briefly outlining the history of Wakefield Museum from its beginnings in Holmefield House in the 1920s to its move to the 19th century Mechanics Institute building in Wood Street in 1956. Here traditional ideas of museum display told the story of Wakefield and its people. A Lottery-funded refurbishment in the late 1990s brought the Museum up to modern standards, improving accessibility and installing new displays. The move to Wakefield One in 2012 posed significant challenges, because the building had originally been envisaged purely for administrative functions with neither the Library nor the Museum included in the plans. Museum staff had less than 12 months to shut down, pack and move over 1000 objects, then plan and design the new premises. However the move has had very positive outcomes, allowing the Service to adapt to change and become more innovative in its outlook. A fresh approach has allowed for a more flexible way of displaying the objects, using themes such as Work, Play, Love and War, while a greater focus on people’s lives has been encouraged and enhanced by a closer partnership with the Local Studies section of the Library. The grand opening in March 2013 by David Attenborough, who has a particular interest in the Waterton collection, engendered fantastic publicity for a greatly improved service.
27 NOVEMBER 2013. DR PHIL JUDKINS: MORE DEADLY THAN THE MALE
Dr Judkins examined a wide selection of roles undertaken by women in both World Wars and in more recent conflicts. Illustrated by photographs of individual heroines the talk highlighted nurses of the First World War such as Edith Cavell who was shot for helping allied soldiers escape from Belgium and Nellie Spindler from Wakefield, a Queen Alexandra nurse who was killed by shell shrapnel after only 13 days on a front-line clearing station. On the other hand, Florence Green who joined the newly formed WAAF just before war ended has died only recently, aged 110 years. On the Home Front many women worked in munitions, on the land and in high-tech and cutting-edge jobs such as code-breaking. Female code-breakers at Bletchley Park performed a highly secret and vital role during World War 2, along with the saboteurs and radio operators parachuted into occupied France. Women in the forces worked as anti-aircraft gunners, barrage balloon operators and in the Russian army they were recruited as snipers and tank crew. Female air transport auxiliary pilots single-handedly flew big bombers such as Lancasters, delivering them across the UK to new airfields. Among their successors today is an all-women Tornado crew serving in Afghanistan. The more traditional role of nurse was joined by that of mortuary worker, fire-fighter, mechanic, welder and steelworker.
Questions and comments after the highly informative talk revealed an Ossett schoolgirl’s memory of the Doodlebug or V1which flew over the town and exploded at Grange Moor.
30 OCTOBER 2013. RUTH NETTLETON: FIFTY YEARS OF THE KING’S WAY CHURCH
Ruth intertwined her presentation about the history of the church in Ossett with her own involvement with the Wesley Street Methodists, from her youthful experiences at the Sunday School, to becoming a Sunday School teacher and later as secretary of the Building Committee and Trustee of the Church. Her illustrated talk concentrated on development of the present building from the stone-laying ceremony addressed by Marjorie Lonsdale, ex-Vice President of the Methodist Conference, to the opening in September 1963 and on into the 21st century. The new church cost just over £30,000 with money received from grants, a longstanding fund accumulating since 1903, the sale of the Queen Street church and a subscription from the Ossett Temperance Society. Showing slides of different parts of the premises, Ruth highlighted some of the schemes
to upgrade and repair the building since its opening. She also featured changes such as the amalgamation of the Methodists and United Reform Church and the present day wide-ranging activities centred on the church.
25 SEPTEMBER 2013. DAVID SCRIVEN: THE ELLIS FAMILY AND VICTORIA MILL
There were numerous Ellises in nineteenth century Ossett, but probably none were as rich as rich as the Ellis family of Victoria Mill. The firm was founded by Samuel Ellis in the early years of the century and under his sons Philip, Eli and John Victoria Mill was built in the 1850s. Ellis Brothers became the town’s largest single employer in the following decade manufacturing heavy woollen cloth for uniforms and such was their success that they expanded into Navigation Mill in Horbury Bridge. To house some of their workers the Ellises erected Victoria Buildings at Ossett Green, while Philip Ellis built Park House for himself at a rumoured cost of £20,000. Apart from being leading businessmen in the town, the Ellises played an important role in the town’s public life. They were major figures among the Congregationalists who worshipped at the Green Chapel, they took an active part in local government and Philip Ellis was an energetic Liberal campaigner. Philip’s death in 1877 at the age of 55 was followed by the decline of the firm. Poor business decisions, increased competition, a lack of capital and bad debts all contributed to its failure in 1893. By this time only one of the partners, Eli, was alive and he died at Park House in the following year. His personal estate was worth only £170, a reflection of how far the family had fallen.
HERITAGE WEEKEND 14th – 15th SEPTEMBER 2013
On Sat 14th September the Society put on a display about Ossett town centre in Ossett Town Hall. In the Main Hall there was a
selection of historic aerial photographs, while in the Court Room there was an “Around the Marketplace” display, highlighting over a hundred years of shopping. Members of Ossett Community Archive also gave a slide show of some of the hundreds of photographs held in their collection.
24 APRIL 2013: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and DEBORAH SCRIVEN: ST IGNATIUS: SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
At the A.G.M. the appointment of Ruth Nettleton as Chairman was ratified and the current officers and committee members were
re-elected. The financial statement was accepted and the proposal to increase annual subscriptions to £8 was approved.
The Secretary reported:
Over the last year the Society has held seven meetings. The overall standard of the speakers has been good and they covered topics ranging
from the Chartists to cocoa adulteration. One unusual feature was the audience participation demanded by Mick Yates in his talk on Branwell Bronte: Hilary Oxley and Alan Bellinger were revealed as talented actors. Our thanks are due to Pat and Mike Adams for providing the Community Archive’s digital projector for several meetings. Thanks are also due to Deborah Scriven and Pam Yates who have improved our publicity by creating a Society website.The Society had a display in the Town Hall during the Jubilee celebrations in June and in the Town Hall and Holy Trinity Church during Heritage Open Days in September. Among the members who manned the displays were Hilary Oxley, Alan Bellinger and Ruth Nettleton. On both occasions the Society’s new display boards, which have also been used at every meeting this year, were very useful. We have provided advice to Holy Trinity’s Lottery-funded heritage education project which is led by Brigid Bradley and participated in the church’s consultation exercise about a second lottery- funded project.
The AGM was followed by:
DEBORAH SCRIVEN: ST IGNATIUS: SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
The talk charted the two turbulent years (1905-7) during which Miss Catherine Phelan was head of Ossett’s Roman Catholic elementary school. Using records held in both local and national archives, Deborah outlined the often fraught relationship between Kate Phelan, the Catholic school managers and the Ossett Education Authority. An unfavourable inspection report in February 1907, coupled with accusations of the falsification of attendance registers and the school log book and the bullying of assistant teachers, led the Managers to recommend her dismissal. However, an inquiry held by the L.E.A. exonerated Miss Phelan and it was not until the Managers insisted that she be removed on the grounds of deficiencies in the teaching of religious instruction that Kate Phelan left the school and the town.
27 MARCH. GARY BRANNAN: AS INJURIOUS AS A BRICKBAT: ROWNTREES AND COCOA ADULTERATION.
Gary’s talk, based on his own archival research, ranged across the whole subject of cocoa manufacture, linking the three big Quaker firms, Fry’s in Bristol, Cadbury’s in Birmingham and Rowntree in York. The adulteration of many foodstuffs sold by local grocers was common in the Victorian period, driven by the desire to save money and evade taxes. Yet the manufacturers themselves needed to adulterate cocoa with products such as starch and farina in order to stop the cocoa butter from rising to the top of the drink and forming an unpleasant scum. However Rowntree’s was very careful not to deceive the consumer and always listed these extra ingredients on the packets. Once the Dutch invented a press to produce pure cocoa essence, the English companies began their own research. Rowntrees spent many years experimenting with additives in order to improve the alkilisation of their cocoa essence and it was not until 1886 that they launched their Elect Cocoa. Once cocoa began to be sold in packets direct from the manufacturer, the safety of the product became the responsibility of the manufacturer rather than the consumer or retailer and the emphasis moved from the purity of the product to quality and taste.
27 FEBRUARY 2013. JO HERON: HUDDERSFIELD ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The Society is a very active one with members involved in excavations, training in archaeological techniques, fieldwalking, surveying, excursions and trips and producing newsletters and a website The Young Archaeologists’ Club caters for young people aged from 7 to 17 and offers opportunities to be involved in all aspects of archaeology. As the Society was originally formed in the 19thcentury it has a long history of projects investigating a number of sites of interest in the area including Castle Hill, Almondbury in the early 20thcentury, the Roman fort at Slack and more recently an iron-working site at Myers Wood, for which the Society won two Council for British Archaeology awards. In 2007 and 2008 members excavated and recorded the vicus outside the Roman fort at Slack, discovering a water conduit and a great deal of pottery, including two burial
urns. Another group is researching the trans Pennine Roman road system and has published a very popular book detailing some of their results.
More information about the Society can be found at www.huddarch.org.uk
30 JANUARY. DAVID SCRIVEN: AN INSPECTOR CALLS: OSSETT’S PUBLIC HEALTH INQUIRY IN 1857
David’s talk was based on research in The National Archives and in local libraries. He explained that the rapid growth of Ossett’s population in
the first half of the nineteenth century, a result of the expansion of the woollen industry, multiplied the threats to the health of the villagers. A Nuisance Committee was formed in 1856 in an attempt to remove some of the more obvious problems such as foul privies, but it soon became clear that the members of the Committee lacked both the enthusiasm and the power to make significant improvements. As a result a public
meeting in 1857 decided to petition the General Board of Health to establish an elected Local Board of Health in Ossett with the power to drain, sewer and water the village. In May a public inquiry was held at the Church School in the centre of Ossett by William Ranger, one of the General Board’s inspectors. Ranger not only examined witnesses including the local doctors, but he also visited various parts of the village. The evidence he collected revealed a high death rate in the village, 22.9 per 1,000, and it also highlighted some of its causes including a lack of scavenging, overflowing privies and in some places an inadequate water supply. However, Ranger was made aware that there was very strong opposition in the community to the creation of a Local Board of Health. Among the reasons for this were the cost of a Local Board and ignorance about how diseases such as typhoid were spread. As a result of the opposition Ranger decided to recommend that the Nuisance Committee should be given a second chance to improve conditions in the village. It was not until 1870, following a prolonged campaign, that the ratepayers of Ossett were persuaded to vote in favour of a Local Board of Health.
26 NOVEMBER. RUTH NETTLETON: AN OSSETTONIAN IN MELBOURNE
Over many years Ruth has researched the story of Peter Nettleton, born in Ossett in 1824, who emigrated to Australia in 1849. He began work as a fellmonger, but later went gold digging. His success enabled him to purchase land along the Yarra river, where he established a wool scouring business. He was involved in the construction of Victoria Street in Collingwood and built a fine house for his wife Mary Ann and family. Peter also participated in the public life of the town, becoming a JP in 1873, and he was also a founder of the Improved Dwellings Association and helped develop the Collingwood Building Society.Ruth was able to continue her research on a visit to Melbourne, where she found more information in the local state archives and was able to visit and photograph Nettleton House, which stands on the banks of the Yarra
Taking a personal selection of Ossett’s people, our speakers justified their choices through the examination of their lives and character. Amongst those categorised as “good” were Eli Townend and Philip Mickman. Townend (1846-1910) overcame early handicaps, including impaired vision, by working hard at whatever jobs he could get. He succeeded in both his working and public lives, becoming a member of Ossett’s Local Board and a West Riding County Councillor, despite never learning to read. A rough diamond, he never forgot his humble beginnings and was a charitable man. Philip Mickman, whose family owned a hosiery firm off Dale Street, achieved sporting greatness when he became the youngest successful Channel swimmer in 1949. Three years later he repeated his efforts by crossing the Channel in the opposite direction, becoming the youngest to swim in both directions. On the other hand, the “bad” of Osssett were represented by James Mark Briggs a drunkard who was imprisoned for assaulting his daughter; by Louie Calvert of Gawthorpe, who was hanged for murdering both her landlady, Lily Waterhouse and John Frobisher for whom she had been a housekeeper; and by Sydney Cecil Beauchamp or Thomas Price (and other aliases) a bigamist, liar, thief and military deserter, who was finally apprehended in Hull in 1915 and served three years at Portland jail, Dorset. The “ugly” was represented not by a person but by Flushdyke, a part of Ossett which is seen as a gateway to the town from the M1. From the 1970s onwards it has been blighted by a mishmash of unsightly industrial units.
27th JANUARY 2020. RUTH NETTLETON: OSSETT’S 1908 GRAND BAZAAR
The large public hall, part of Ossett’s new Town Hall building, was inaugurated by a Grand Bazaar in February 1908. Held over three days, the Bazaar raised over £1800 for the Dewsbury and District Infirmary. Using images from the beautifully designed pages of the Bazaar handbook, Ruth Nettleton highlighted the names of Ossett’s “great and good” who sat on the event’s various steering committees. These involved both men and women in various aspects of the organisation, with committees responsible for Invitations and Donations; The Handbook and Advertising; Decoration and Entertainment. The hall housed a number of stalls with a smoke room and shooting gallery, and a café upstairs offering afternoon teas at 2/6d. Visitors were entertained by a musical programme from J. Wormald’s orchestral band. Descriptions of some of the businesses which advertised in the Handbook were accompanied by fascinating historical photographs of Ossett town centre, showing where they were located.
25 NOVEMBER 2019. LORRAINE SIMPSON: THE FORGOTTEN WOMEN OF WAKEFIELD – THE GISSINGS AND THE STAYNES.
The talk began with an overview of the Forgotten Women of Wakefield project which has the eventual aim of blue plaque parity between men and women in the city. Among the notable women who have already been researched and their plaques unveiled, are Florence Beaumont, the suffragist, Alice Bacon the politician from Normanton, philanthropist Edith Mackie and the artist Louisa Fennell.
Lorraine herself has contributed research on Ellen and Margaret Gissing, the sisters of the Victorian novelist George Gissing. Both were teachers and in 1898 opened a preparatory day school for boys in Wentworth Terrace, later moving to Sandy Walk. Margaret, “Little Gis”, taught the younger pupils, while the more extrovert Ellen or “Big Gis” educated the older ones. Judging by the fond reminiscences of some of the boys, the school was very successful.
Research into the Battle of Quebec Street has highlighted the pivotal role of the extended Staynes family which inhabited several houses in this street just off Westgate. Of the four daughters of Joe and Lily Staynes, Nellie and Emily were particularly prominent in their attempts to protect a group of conscientious objectors from a local mob. Members of a Quaker family, the girls were also suffragettes, and after the First World War, both married conscientious objectors. Nellie and her husband then moved to Leicester, while Emily went first to Birmingham and later emigrated to New Zealand.
More information about the Forgotten Women project can be found at: https://forgottenwomenwake.com
28 OCTOBER 2019. ROD DIMBLEBY: A YORKSHIRE DIALECT TREASURE TROVE – JOHN HARTLEY’S CLOCK ALMANAC
John Hartley (1839-1915), from Halifax, started his working life as a pattern designer in a local textile company. However, he became well-known as the author of Yorkshire dialect poems and stories, which were published in his annual Clock Almanac. Like Charles Dickens, he was a popular performer of his own work, even giving readings in the United States, and was able to command high fees, though at times his family struggled financially. His first published poem was “Bite Bigger” (1865) which was an immense success and sold thousands in penny sheets. Hartley highlighted poverty and social inequality in his work, but he was always able to inject an element of optimism into his stories and poems. He also took note of changes in society poking fun, for example, at the suffragettes. Rod Dimbleby illustrated his fascinating talk by reciting examples of Hartley’s dialect work and with slides of different editions of the Clock almanac
30 SEPTEMBER 2019. BARBARA PHIPPS: CHARLES WATERTON – WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
In a well-illustrated talk, Barbara gave the audience a fascinating introduction to Charles Waterton’s life and family. The Watertons had lived in the Walton area for many generations, stretching back to the early Middle Ages. The last to hold public office was Sir Thomas, who was High Sheriff of Yorkshire during the reign of Tudor Queen Mary. As the family remained staunchly Catholic, they were later unable to participate in public life and service. Charles himself, one of seven children, attended Stoneyhurst, a Jesuit school in Lancashire. He later went out to Demerara in South America to manage the family’s sugar plantations. As he felt that slavery could not be defended, the administration of the plantations fell to his brothers and cousins after the death of their father. Charles married Anne Edmonstone at the Convent des Anglais in Bruges .Sadly Anne died soon after the birth of their son, Edmund, who was brought up by his aunts. Charles made many changes to the parkland, building a long wall to keep out vermin and poachers. His intention was to establish a nature reserve to protect and attract wildlife. A kind and generous man, he encouraged visitors to the park’s Grotto, particularly local people and inmates of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Charles died in 1865 and is buried in a secluded spot in the woodland. Widely regarded in his own time as eccentric, he was, in fact, a pioneer conservationist.
29 APRIL 2019. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by LESLEY TAYLOR: A WAKEFIELD DANCING MASTER
The evening began with a brief Annual General Meeting in which Ruth Nettleton was confirmed as Chairman for the next season and all officers and members of the Committee were re-elected. Both the Secretary and Treasurer’s reports were read and accepted. As the Society’s finances are in a healthy state, it was agreed to maintain the current level of subscriptions.
Lesley Taylor started her talk by linking the venue of the music class she attended in the 1950s in Wakefield, with the location of a dancing school in the town in the middle of the 18th century. At that time the Earl of Strafford owned an extensive estate to the north of the town centre, which included Northgate Head, a large house with orchards and gardens, once known as Haselden Hall. From the early 1740s this property was leased by Robert Greaves (or Grave) a dancing master formerly based in Briggate in Leeds. Greaves was possibly attracted to Wakefield by the availability of pupils studying at a successful new grammar school at Heath and by the vitality of the social and cultural life of the town, centred around the Assembly Rooms on Southgate. Not only did Greaves teach the young gentlefolk to dance but he was also very active in promoting balls to demonstrate the abilities of his pupils and concerts in which both amateur and professional musicians performed. His own gardens seem to have been the venue of the concerts and became known as Wakefield’s answer to the Vauxhall pleasure gardens in London. Robert Greaves married late in life, but he and his wife had three daughters, two of whom survived him. He died in 1788 and was buried in Wakefield parish church.
25 MARCH 2019. DAVID SCRIVEN: MEMORIALS IN HOLY TRINITY CHURCHYARD
The first burials in Holy Trinity churchyard took place in 1861, four years before Holy Trinity church was consecrated by the bishop of Ripon. Over the following years, it became the resting place of a cross-section of Ossett society ranging from the very rich to paupers who ended their days in Dewsbury Workhouse. Among the wealthiest of those buried at Holy Trinity were the dyer William Gartside, the landowner and maltster Joshua Whitaker and the mungo manufacturer Abraham Pollard. These men were part of Ossett’s elite, but buried near them were humbler people such as the butcher Sarah Asquith and the school teacher David Lucas. Several of those mentioned in the talk played an active part in the public life of the town. Among them was the teetotaller and non-smoker Bennett Brook who campaigned for Ossett to have a Local Board of Health and then to have a Borough Council. Bennett Brook lived to be 88, but the youngest person mentioned, Herbert Aliffe, was only 10 months old when he died in 1899 after suffering convulsions. Unfortunately, his case was not an isolated one as 23% of the burials at Holy Trinity that year were of children under the age of one. Much of the information in the talk came from the ‘Ossett Observer’, which was owned by the Cockburns from 1873, and Stephen Cockburn senior and Stephen Cockburn junior, who between them edited the paper for a generation, are also both buried at Holy Trinity.
25 FEBRUARY 2019. CLIVE McMANUS: CHRISTOPHER SAXTON, ELIZABETHAN MAPMAKER
There are difficulties in tracing Christopher Saxton’s genealogy due to a lack of useful contemporary documents. It is known that his ancestors came from Sowood, Ossett, though later moved to Dunningley, near Tingley. Although modern day researchers have used sources such as parish records, wills and lay subsidies, Saxton’s own birthplace and date have not been revealed. Nor is anything known about his education, though his success as a surveyor must have been partly due to great mathematical knowledge and skill. It has been suggested that he was apprenticed, possibly to John Rudd, vicar of Dewsbury, a noted cartographer. They were certainly working together in 1570. Saxton came to national prominence during 1574-9 when thanks to his patron, Thomas Seckford, he was employed to produce a set of county maps of England and Wales. The resulting series were the first ever published for the entire the country. Each map shows features such as towns, rivers and hills and administrative hundreds and wapentakes. Once completed, the series of maps were collected into the first English atlas. Saxton was well rewarded for his labours and later returned to live and work in Yorkshire, where he completed several surveys commissioned by the Savile family. Although his date and place of death are unknown, it is possible that he was buried at Woodkirk.
28 JANUARY 2019. RUTH NETTLETON: OSSETT PUBS
With a wide-ranging series of photographs, our speaker embarked on a tour of Ossett, showing the many pubs in the town, some of which have now disappeared. The Quiet Woman at the top of Storrs Hill Road (later the Junction Inn,) was later converted into a greengrocer’s shop. The Flying Horse on Dewsbury Road was demolished in the early 2000s and houses built on the site, although its bowling green still exists. On the other hand, the Prince of Wales, on South Parade, was converted into a pub from a Primitive Methodist chapel in the 1860s and is still open today. The old Miller’s Arms, later Brewer’s Pride at Healey, is now the home of the successful Ossett Brewery. The talk clearly demonstrated the important part pubs play in the Ossett townscape .
26 NOVEMBER 2018. ALAN HOWE AND STEVE WILSON: OSSETT WAR MEMORIAL
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, Alan Howe, Steven Wilson and Neville Ashby began to research the biographies of Ossett men who had lost their lives in the conflict. Although 230 were listed on Ossett’s roll of honour, they went on to find another 85 names and later extended the search to servicemen and women of World War Two. (See www.ossett.net). Ossett people began to discuss ways of commemorating the fallen as early as 1917, but there was little enthusiasm for the project despite ideas for a park, scholarships, swimming baths or bronze statue being put forward. Eventually, a simple war memorial, erected on Kingsway, was dedicated in the presence of Lord Lascelles, on 11th November 1928. Ninety years later Alan Howe and a small group began planning to commemorate all those people their research had discovered. With funding from Wakefield Council and the support of the British Legion, they arranged for the names to be cut into granite sets to be laid around the war memorial, now in the Market Place. Despite setbacks, all was ready for the dedication of these names, which took place in front of a large crowd on Sunday 11th November..
29 OCTOBER 2018. IAN STEVENSON: YORKSHIRE DIALECT
Ian, a member of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, started his talk by drawing a distinction between accent and dialect: far more people speak with a Yorkshire accent today than use Yorkshire dialect. Dialect is sometimes wrongly viewed as a corruption of Standard English. In fact Yorkshire dialect originated in Old English and Old Norse, both of which were spoken in early medieval Yorkshire. Not surprisingly, many Yorkshire dialect words have parallels in modern Scandinavian languages including Icelandic. Naturally dialect changed over time and its use declined in the 20th century, partly as a result of social and economic changes. Rendering Yorkshire dialect into written text has been a challenge which some authors have met more successfully than others. Some writers have been misguided enough to create a generalised northern dialect using words taken from different parts of the north and even from the south of England. Even the publicity for Yorkshire Tea uses the word ‘brew’ rather than the Yorkshire ‘mash’.
24 SEPTEMBER 2018. DAVID SCRIMGEOUR: THE EVOLUTION OF ASYLUM PATIENT PHOTOGRAPHY.
David pointed out that photography was being used to capture the appearance of asylum residents from the 1850s. Dr Hugh Welch Diamond of the Surrey Lunatic Asylum explained that the advantages of a photographic record were that it helped with the identification and diagnoses of his patients. Dr James Crichton-Browne introduced photography into the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield in the 1860s. He sent many photographs to Charles Darwin while the latter was researching his book on the facial expression of human emotions: Darwin believed that asylum residents were unlikely to disguise or fake their feelings. As a result of Crichton-Browne’s correspondence with Darwin, Cambridge University has a collection of Browne’s photographs, while the West Yorkshire History Centre has another 400. Crichton-Browne stopped commissioning photographs taken in the early 1870s and it was not until twenty years later that the Wakefield Asylum resumed the photographing of residents on a regular basis. David illustrated his talk with a wide selection of asylum photographs, many of them moving records of Victorian mental illness.
30th APRIL 2018. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by DEBORAH SCRIVEN: A CRYSTAL PALACE IN MINIATURE - THE WAKEFIELD INDUSTRIAL AND FINE ART EXHIBITION 1865
The 1860s and 70s could be regarded as the Victorian Age of Exhibitions when towns and cities across the land took great pride in hosting exhibitions designed to elevate public taste and showcase Britain’s innovative industrial production. Wakefield’s event was originally planned on a small scale, but soon grew in scope and ambition. 1300 people from all over the West Riding submitted articles in time for the grand opening on 30 August 1865. These were grouped into categories such as Glass, China and Earthenware; Clothing; Furniture, Woodwork, Fancywork and Domestic Work and Fine Art. Among the entries were a number from Ossett businesses and individuals. As may be expected, there were several examples of mungo, while others exhibited a reversible suit of clothing, an aquarium and a telescope that enabled an observer to look through a brick. Local scholars and children submitted examples of penmanship, needlework pictures and drawings. During the seven weeks that it was open the Exhibition was visited by nearly 190,000 people from across the county and beyond. Overall, it was judged a great success and even made a small profit, which was later used to found the Wakefield School of Art.
26th MARCH 2018. JO HERON: THE METCALFE SOCIETY: A YORKSHIRE CLAN
Jo Heron, the honorary membership secretary of the Metcalfe Society, explained that the Metcalfe family originated in the Swaledale area of Yorkshire in the early middle ages. From there the family has spread around the globe with particularly high concentrations of Metcalfes in North America, South Africa and Australia. During the medieval period the Yorkshire Metcalfes were among the county’s gentry and fought in the battles of Falkirk, Bannockburn and Agincourt. James Metcalfe, who was in Henry V’s army at Agincourt, later built Nappa Hall near Hawes. The hall still survives and is a site of pilgrimage for Metcalfes today. Later members of the clan included Theophilus, the inventor of a system of shorthand writing, and the famous road builder, ‘Blind Jack’ of Knaresborough. The Metcalfe Society, which was founded in 1980, keeps in touch with its world- wide membership through its website, its newsletter and its annual meeting or ‘muster’. In addition, members of the society undertake research into the clan including Metcalfes in India and in the First World War. If your family is from Yorkshire, it is highly likely that you will have Metcalfes in your family tree.
26th FEBRUARY 2018. GARY BRANNAN: THE BLACK DEATH IN WEST YORKSHIRE
The mid 14th century was a time of political uncertainty with difficult living conditions due to wet weather and poor harvests across Europe. Following trade routes, the Great Pestilence which was spread by infected fleas, killed huge numbers of people as it travelled from east to west across the continent. Over the space of one summer, nearly 60% of the population of Europe died. The Black Death entered Yorkshire through the coastal ports in the early months of 1349. Gary tracked the effects of the plague through wills proved at the courts of the Archbishop of York. As many people made their will only just before they died, it is possible to infer from the spike in numbers and types of documents that many richer people and clergy were succumbing to the pestilence. In particular Gary looked at the will of William de Aberford, vicar of Batley, who left much of his wealth to members of his local community. It is thought that 50% of clergy died and that 96 parishes in the West Riding were left vacant as a result of the plague. For the survivors life improved because a shortage of workers led to better employment and higher wages.
29th JANUARY 2018. RUTH NETTLETON: THE PICKARDS OF OSSETT
The talk looked in detail at the family background of Hannah Pickard (1838-1891) who left a number of bequests for the benefit of local people. Ruth traced the source of the family’s wealth from her father George who was a successful grocer, through her mother, Hannah, who carried on the family business after her husband’s death. She was able to provide financial security for her children and Hannah’s two brothers, David and George, did well in the textile trade. Neither married, but David had illegitimate children by a Leeds woman. Andrew’s death in 1890 left Hannah as the sole legitimate member of the family and a wealthy woman. Her will showed her to be generous as she remembered not only her friends, but also the poor of Ossett and local and national charities. In particular she left money for the Pickard fountain, an elaborate confection, which graced the Market Place until the 1960s. (see image above) Ruth’s talk was complemented by comments from a Society member, Alan Howe, who set Hannah in context as a dutiful Victorian daughter and sister who had firm ideas about what to do with her family’s fortune.
27th NOVEMBER: KEVIN TRICKET - A BRIEF HISTORY OF WAKEFIELD
Kevin first explained the origins and role of the Wakefield Civic Society, of which he is a leading member, before giving a richly illustrated talk on the city’s history. Wakefield originated in the early middle ages at a crossing point of the River Calder. At first the crossing was a ford, but later a bridge with a chantry chapel was built. The town’s main streets – Westgate, Northgate and Kirkgate – were laid out in the medieval period and the burgage plots which lined them later developed into the yards which are still a feature of central Wakefield. With the opening of the Aire and Calder and Calder and Hebble Navigations and the Barnsley Canal, the town became an inland port, encouraging its growth as an industrial and commercial centre. With the coming of the railways, Kirkgate and Westgate stations were built. The former has recently been renovated, while the latter has been renewed. The wool textile industry was a staple trade in the town during the Industrial Revolution and traces of it still survive in the shape of some of the warehouses built for wool and cloth merchants. Since the Second World War, manufacturing industry has declined, leading to the closure of textile mills. The city’s proximity to the M1 and the M62 has led to the growth of the logistics industry with its vast warehouses. Attempts are being made to revive the city’s waterfront, the Hepworth Gallery being the most conspicuous result. Apart from being a commercial centre, Wakefield has long been an administrative centre and the Town and County Halls in Wood Street together with Wakefield One are striking monuments to this aspect of the city’s life. Future plans for the development of city include the replacement of the Market Hall by a cinema and restaurants and the conversion of part of the Victorian Clayton Hospital for educational use.
23 OCTOBER. DAVID SCRIVEN: A WORLD WE HAVE LOST: OSSETT AND HORBURY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Neither Ossett nor Horbury escaped the impact of the English Civil Wars. Not only was there fighting around both places, but local men fought for either the King or Parliament. The communities they came from were small, their populations numbered in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Periodically both suffered from epidemics and from harvest failures which caused a sharp increase in the number of deaths. 1623 was a particularly bad year, and not just in Ossett and Horbury but across the whole North of England. Farming was the principal occupation of the inhabitants: wills and inventories mention the crops, livestock and equipment such as ploughs and wains. Next to farming in importance was the making of woollen cloth. The key figures in the woollen industry were the clothiers who bought the wool, had it spun and woven and then sold their cloth to merchants at Wakefield’s weekly market. In both Ossett and Horbury there were deep divisions between the richest and the poorest inhabitants. Among the richest was Dame Sarah Monson, whose home was Horbury Old Hall. She left monetary bequests amounting to £500 in her will and set aside another £100 for the cost of her funeral in Wakefield. Among the poorest inhabitants was Mary Oxley of Ossett who was excused paying the 1672 hearth tax because of her poverty. There were also religious divisions in the two communities. After the restoration of Charles II some inhabitants refused to conform to the Church of England. One was John Issott of Horbury who was a member of William Marshall’s Independent congregation at Woodkirk. Another was John Bradford of Ossett who became a member of the Society of Friends. Like other Nonconformists, Bradford suffered for his faith. Arrested at a religious meeting in Wakefield, he was imprisoned in York Castle. Only with the Toleration Act of 1689 did the persecution of Nonconformists cease.
25 SEPTEMBER 2017 – ERIC JACKSON: THE BARNBOW LASSES
Mr Jackson’s interest in the Barnbow munitions works was aroused when he found the names of two women, Jane Few and Helena Beckett, on the war memorial at All Saints Church in Pontefract. They had been among 35 women killed in an explosion at the works on the night of 5 December 1916. Today there is little to see of the works, but during the First World War 16,000 people were employed there, 93% of them women. Barnbow was opened in 1915 as a shell filling factory in response to the British army’s massive demand for munitions. Working there was dangerous, not only because of the risks of explosions, but also because of the damage exposure to explosives did to the long term health of the women. However, wages at Barnbow were high – on average £3 a week – and free rail transport was provided to the works and this attracted women workers from York, Pontefract and Castleford as well as Leeds. Although the site was cleared after the First World War, the memory of the Barnbow lasses has been revived in recent years in a number of ways among them several memorials, streets named after some of the victims of the 1916 explosion and a play.
24 APRIL 2017. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by DAVID SCRIVEN: CRIMINAL OSSETT 1780-1914
At the Annual General Meeting Ruth Nettleton’ election as Chairman was ratified and the other officers and committee members were re-elected. As the Treasurer’s report showed the society had a healthy surplus, it was decided to maintain the subscriptions at £10 for the coming season. The Secretary reported that the best attended meeting was for Douglas Brammer’s presentation of his lively drawings of Ossett in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Under Any Other Business concern was expressed at the lack of progress in the refurbishment of Ossett Library’s Station Road premises and at the lack of disabled access and internet connection in the library’s temporary accommodation in the Town Hall.
David Scriven’s talk ‘Criminal Ossett 1780 - 1914’ examined some of the perpetrators and victims of a variety of crimes in over a century of the town’s history. One theme in the talk was domestic violence, a crime often taken for granted at this time. Yet in at least one case, that of Martha Boocock, an assault by a husband led to a wife’s death. Another theme was theft. Among the town’s thieves were the Pickersgills of Street Side, whose home yielded three cart loads of goods stolen from local shops and markets when it was raided by the police. Ossett was also the scene of a case of industrial espionage during the Napoleonic Wars when Henry Dobson, a visitor to the town, was fined and imprisoned for trying to take models and drawings of machinery to France. Finally, the town was briefly the home of a bigamist and fraudster, Sidney Cecil Buchanan Beauchamp, whose stories of his military service at the start of the First World War were swiftly exposed as lies after they were ‘Ossett Observer’.
27 MARCH 2017. DAVID SCRIMGEOUR: PROPER PEOPLE
David shared his research into the lives of patients in the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum (later Stanley Royd Hospital), using a variety of sources, particularly the excellent collection of case notes deposited at West Yorkshire Archive Service. He highlighted some of the reasons poor people were committed to the asylum and the different forms of treatment, including purging, bleeding, the circular swing and warm/cold baths. Among the many inmates described was Lachlan McKenzie, from Glasgow, who had worked as a woodcarver in Huddersfield, before being admitted to the Asylum. While there he carved a magnificent eagle lectern for St Faith’s church, which can still be seen today in the Mental Health Museum. Another inmate, George Penny, spent 49 years in the Asylum, costing the town of Bradford nearly £2,000 for his maintenance, though it must be said that, working as a tailor, he helped to produce the Asylum’s clothing during this period. Illustrating the humane conditions in the Asylum, David told of another inmate, a habitual drunkard, who was taken on a fishing expedition by staff. Unfortunately, he got drunk and fell out of the dog cart on the way home. His absence was not discovered until the occupants of the cart arrived back at the Asylum!
For further information see David Scrimgeour’s book “Proper People: Early asylum life in the words of those who were there” (2015)
27 FEBRUARY 2017. JOHN LYTE: BRIESTFIELD
John Lyte, chairman of the Briestfield History and Community Group, gave a well-illustrated talk on aspects of the history the ancient hamlet of Briestfield. In particular he highlighted changes during the last one hundred years. This was a period when the population dwindled from over 1,000 to less than 200 as a result of the decline of the local coal and textile industries and the demolition of insanitary housing. From the late 16th century until the early 20th century much of the hamlet belonged to the Armytage family of Kirklees, but death duties led to them selling off their local properties and to a rise in the number of owner occupiers in Briestfleld. Today many of the surviving older properties, some dating back three hundred years, have been renovated and are homes to commuters.
30 JANUARY 2017. RUTH NETTLETON: THE INGHAMS AND THE WHITAKERS
Benjamin Ingham (1784-1861), a member of an old Ossett family, arrived in Sicily in 1806 as representative of his family’s merchant firm. He proved to be very successful , building up a trade in marsala, wine, citrus fruits and sulphur as well as lending money to the Sicilian aristocracy and the King of Naples. To carry some of the goods he had his own merchant ships, one of which traded with the Far East and profits from his exports to the USA were invested in American canals and railways. All of this was achieved against a background in Sicily of war, rebellions and cholera epidemics. To assist him in his enterprise he recruited five of his Ingham and Whitaker nephews, none of whom showed quite the same flair for making money. Part of the family fortune was donated towards the cost of Ossett’s Holy Trinity Church which remains a striking memorial to a remarkable man.
28 NOVEMBER 2016. DOUGLAS BRAMMER: OSSETT SKETCHES
Ossett-born and bred, Douglas Brammer has for many years mined his memory to produce lively drawings of the Ossett of his youth, in particular the people and buildings of the Flushdyke area, his own neighbourhood. In his reminiscences accompanying the images he highlighted the great gulf between the working people and those living in the larger houses of the area. As a small boy, Douglas sat on the boundary wall watching the tennis parties at Longlands House. Douglas was assisted by Alan Howe and Steve Wilson and the presentation will be uploaded to www.ossett.net
HOLY TRINITY SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
Two members of the Society, Mike Adams and David Scriven, recently helped Holy Trinity School with its 140th anniversary celebrations. Using a selection of images from the Ossett Community Archive they presented a slideshow to several classes, showing what the town was like between the 1870s and the 1920s. The children showed a keen interest in the pictures, which included shots of horse-drawn transport, trams, early cars, and asked Mike and David a lot of very good questions.
31 OCTOBER 2016. JOHN WALSH: POTS FOR HORBURY
In this well-illustrated talk, John Walsh highlighted the many different varieties of ceramics, produced mainly in The Potteries, which displayed Horbury motifs and scenes. The working men’s club commissioned a variety of mugs and beakers to give to local school children to commemorate events such as coronations and silver jubilees. Horbury Co-operative Society illustrated its commemorative mugs with pictures of the three local shops and gave them out at children’s festivals, held every ten years from the Society’s foundation in 1866. Other ceramics, including plates and jugs, were commissioned by local churches and chapels, both to commemorate anniversaries and to raise funds. Purely commercial ceramics included stoneware flagons used by local botanical brewers such as Gledhill and North. John has documented over 40 different types of Horbury pots in the last few years.
26 SEPTEMBER 2016. CHRISTINE HEWITT: ORDINARY SITLINGTON FOLK IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES
Recently restored windows in St. Luke’s Church, Middlestown commemorate soldiers from the parish who died serving during the First World War. Two of the windows are dedicated to brothers William Henry and Cecil Bedford and to Wilfred Kaye. Christine’s talk highlighted the lives and service history of the three young men. William Henry went to Ossett Grammar School before becoming a colliery clerk at Denby Grange. He enlisted in the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was injured at the battle of the Somme and died of his injuries. His brother Cecil, who was a bank clerk, entered the Manchester Regiment but died in Mesopotamia in March 1916. He is remembered on the Basra War Memorial in Iraq.
Wilfred Kaye’s family moved from Kirkburton to St. Luke’s cottage in Middlestown, where his father was caretaker for the church and school. Wilfred himself worked at the Co-op, where he was “a highly respected employee” who was also an accomplished violinist. He too served in the KOYLI, as a signaller, but was killed at the third battle of Ypres in 1917. He is commemorated at the Tyne Cot War Cemetery.
25 APRIL 2016. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, followed by MIKE ADAMS: SHOPPING IN OSSETT
At the AGM, the Secretary reported that speakers have provided a wide range of topics during the 2015-16 season, ranging from an Ossett emigrant’s voyage to Australia to Wakefield’s new History Centre. Overall attendance has ranged from 18 – 23 with most meetings attracting visitors too. The Society also put on displays in the Town Hall during Heritage Weekend in September 2015 and at “Lest we forget: A Parish at War” at the National Coalmining Museum in March 2016. The Treasurer’s report showed that the Society had a small surplus for the year, so membership fees will remain the same for the new season. Ruth Nettleton was ratified by the meeting as Chairman, while other officers and committee members remain the same.
The AGM was followed by a slide show of images from the Ossett Community Archive, administered by Mike Adams. The Archive, which began in 2002, holds about 3,000 photographs in its database, many from the collection of local photographer, Mr Fowler. A project in 2015 to expand the archive involved working with students from Ossett Academy, who took about 500 photographs of the town and put on a well-regarded exhibition. Recently the Archive has started a blog requesting local people to add their reminiscences about the town. The photographs on show at the meeting also elicited many reminiscences about Ossett shops and markets accompanied by detailed research carried out by Mike Adams.
21 MARCH 2016: STUART HARTLEY. CROW NEST PARK, DEWSBURY
The speaker began by outlining the history of the Crow Nest estate and its owners. The mansion and its park were sold to Dewsbury Corporation in 1893 by the Hague family of millowners, who had owned the estate since the late 18th century. Having paid £20,000 for the estate the Corporation spent another £10,000 remodelling the park. Just before its grand opening, the Great Yorkshire Show was held on the site. As today it included a large number of events and agricultural displays. It attracted large numbers of visitors, 8,000 people attending on the first day with another 43,000 on the two subsequent days, making it one of the most successful events in the history of Dewsbury.
29 FEBRUARY 2016: LESLEY TAYLOR AND SHIRLEY LEVON - THE LETTERS OF ESTHER MILNES OF WAKEFIELD 1771-1773
The Milnes family of Chesterfield and Wakefield had many branches and while researching 18th century Wakefield, Lesley and Shirley came across a collection of letters from Esther Milnes (1724-1799) of Wakefield to Esther Milnes (1752-1792) of Chesterfield. The older Esther was the widow of a wealthy merchant, Robert Milnes, while the younger Esther was the orphaned daughter and heiress of Richard Milnes, a grocer and merchant. The letters cover a wide variety of topics including the comings and goings of family members, the health of the older Esther’s stepchildren and the possibility of the younger Esther marrying. The older woman was careful to relay gossip, good and bad, about one Manchester gentleman who was rumoured to be courting the young Esther. In fact, Esther eventually married Thomas Day, an eccentric member of the Birmingham Lunar Society. Today the letters of her friend are in the keeping of the Essex County Record Office, but much of the Wakefield the two women knew has vanished. The site of the house of the older Esther, for instance, is now a used car lot next to the Westgate railway bridge. However, the Westgate Unitarian Chapel where the Milnes family worshipped and the older Esther is buried still survives.
25 JANUARY 2016. DAVID MORRIS: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE WAKEFIELD RECORD OFFICE
The plans to open a new West Yorkshire History Centre later in 2016, provided an opportunity to look both backwards and to the future of the Archive Service. Using both old and modern photographs, David was able to highlight and describe some of the most interesting types of records stored in the current Registry of Deeds building. However this building is now full, lacks easy public access and does not meet modern standards of archival storage, so, funded by the five West Yorkshire local authorities and the Heritage Lottery Fund, new premises are currently being built in Kirkgate, Wakefield. The striking new building will have sufficient space to hold not only the present collections but also provide storage for the foreseeable future. Photographs of the construction coupled with plans of the proposed layout and facilities provoked many questions and much comment from the audience
30 NOVEMBER 2015. RUTH NETTLETON - EDWIN PICKERSGILL: A PASSAGE TO AUSTRALIA
Edwin Pickersgill, an Ossett man, emigrated with his wife and daughter to Australia in 1854. During the voyage he kept a journal, still in the possession of his family, which gives a vivid impression of shipboard life. When his vessel, the ‘Oliver Lang’ set sail from Liverpool, it carried not only British passengers, but also Irish, Germans, French and Italians. Although they had ample food, it was not always palatable. Edwin compared the ships’ biscuits to slates and thought the meat was tough and salty. In the evenings the passengers amused themselves by telling stories, singing, dancing and playing cards and dominoes. The ship experienced both calms and storms and on at least one occasion the passengers were afraid she was in danger of sinking. Eventually, she reached Australia and the journal ends when Edwin arrived in Geelong.
26 OCTOBER 2015. IAN STEVENSON: MONK BRETTON PRIORY
In a two-part talk, Ian briefly outlined the history of the Cluniac religious movement which originated in France and arrived in England after the Battle of Hastings. In 1154 Adam Fitzswaine of Cawthorne founded the Priory of St Mary Magdalene at Lundwood, inviting Cluniac monks from St John’s Priory in Pontefract to run it. The name, Monk Bretton was attached to the priory when the monks started a market in the nearby village of Bretton. The Cluniac order was very wealthy and supported by influential patrons, but like other monastic orders was dissolved when Henry VIII took over their estates in 1538. The land and buildings at Monk Bretton were sold off and the monks and their prior retired to Worsbrough.
In the second part of his well-illustrated talk, Ian took his audience on a tour of the surviving ruins, explaining the purpose of each building and showing how it may have looked in its heyday. The site is now owned by Barnsley MBC under Heritage England custody and supported by an active Friends of Monk Bretton Priory group. www.monkbrettonpriory.org.uk
28 SEPTEMBER 2015. DAVID SCRIVEN: HELD DOWN LIKE A LOT OF SLAVES - WOMEN IN NINETEENTH CENTURY OSSETT
Drawing on a wide range of sources, the speaker outlined the many roles women played in this growing textile town in the nineteenth century. As children many girls had either no education or a very patchy education until schooling became compulsory in the 1870s. One reason for this was that girls were often kept at home as child minders while their mothers did housework or worked in a local mill. It was the town’s woollen mills and rag shops that provided most jobs for girls and women. These jobs were poorly paid and occasionally women workers went on strike for higher wages. However, fear of blacklisting hindered the development of trade unionism among textile workers. Most of the town’s women married before the age of 30, although the surplus of females in the population meant that there were always unmarried women living with their parents or with their brothers or sisters. Although women’s lives outside of the home and workplace are poorly documented, it is clear that they were prominent in the pews of the town’s churches and chapels. In addition, there were women members of the Mechanics’ Institute and the Choral Society. On a lighter note, by the end of the century some of Ossett’s women were enjoying lawn tennis and cycling.
HERITAGE OPEN DAY SATURDAY 12th SEPTEMBER
Members of the Society joined other local groups in commemorating World War One in Ossett Town Hall. Our display, in the Main Hall, from 10am, looked at at some aspects of life in Ossett in 1915 and how the war affected local people.
27 APRIL 2015. AGM followed by WORLD WAR ONE – OSSETT MEN AT WAR by ALAN HOWE and STEPHEN WILSON
After a very brief Annual General Meeting, Alan and Stephen explained that their research was spurred on not only by a desire to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, but also to create a modern day Roll of Honour of Ossett’s war dead. Using a variety of sources including local rolls of honour and newspaper reports, they identified 302 Ossett servicemen who died during or shortly after the conflict. The men’s family lives and military careers were investigated using sources such as the Census, Parish Registers, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and Regimental War Diaries. Before the War their working lives were varied. As was to be expected in Ossett, many had worked in the textile trades or in the local collieries, Among the miners was John W Shaw who was also well-known as an entertainer, performing as a female impersonator. He died of his wounds in April 1917. One of the youngest to die was another colliery worker, Willie Giggal, a hurrier at Hartley Bank pit. He was absolutely determined to volunteer, despite attempts by his family and employers to dissuade him. Willie was killed by a sniper only a month after arriving in France in September 1918.
The vast majority of servicemen were in the army and many volunteers enlisted in the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. 83 men had served overseas by the end of 1915 and so were awarded the 1914-15 Star medal. Throughout the conflict most Ossett men served on the Western Front, though some fought in other theatres of war such as Gallipoli, the Middle East and East Africa. Thomas W Spurr, a regular soldier who saw service in the Boer War, was one local man who died at Gallipoli. He emigrated to Australia in 1912, joined the Australian army in October 1914, but was killed in action on 30 April 1915. However, not all of the 302 men died from war wounds. James Frudd of South Parade, a miner, originally enlisted in October 1915, joining the Royal Engineers as a sapper. He was discharged as medically unfit at the beginning of 1916. However he re-enlisted in April 1918 as a gunner, but died, aged 50 years, in Kilnsea Military Hospital of pneumonia only three months later. Alan and Stephen also mentioned Willie Clapham, Joshua Fox Taylor and Eli Marsden Wilson, local conscientious objectors who refused to support the war effort and were imprisoned.The 2014 Ossett Roll of Honour, giving full details and biographies of all the men, can be found on the website www.ossett.net where there is also a searchable database.
30 MARCH 2015. KEITH WAINWRIGHT: CRIGGLESTONE THROUGH HISTORY
Although billed as a look at Crigglestone’s history, Keith Wainwright concentrated on Newmillerdam, once part of the parish of Crigglestone. Enhanced by extracts of historical Ordnance Survey maps, the illustrated talk looked at many aspects of life and topography in the village. Aided by a superb collection of old postcards and photographs gathered by Keith’s father, the role of the Pilkington family in the life of the village was highlighted. The Church Institute, the community hub of the village, dominating the skyline at Hill Top, was built by Mary Pilkington, who was also responsible for the erection of a school for 145 pupils in 1906. Lady Kathleen Pilkington unveiled the local war memorial in 1920. The Pilkington home, Chevet Hall, and its surrounding estate appeared in many of the early illustrations, though the house was sold to Wakefield Corporation in 1947 and demolished a few years later. Local industries such as the collieries, ropeworks, Hanson’s heavy haulage and the quarries were featured. Stone from the quarries was of major importance in the area and was used to build Chapelthorpe church and to repair Wakefield Cathedral. Local pubs including the Dam Inn, where the Badsworth Hunt gathered for its New Year’s Day meet and the Fox and Hounds appeared in many views of the village as did a number of local chapels.
23 FEBRUARY 2015. KEVIN TRICKET: THE BLUE PLAQUES OF WAKEFIELD
As the blue plaque scheme in Wakefield is administered by Wakefield Civic Society, Kevin Trickett, President of the Society, began his talk by outlining the Civic Society movement which is dedicated to improving the public realm of our villages, towns and cities. The thriving Wakefield Society has put up over 40 plaques since 1995 to mark local buildings of significance. These include the Tammy (Cloth) Hall, the old Wakefield Museum, formerly a Music Saloon, later the Mechanics Institute, now owned by Wakefield College and Pemberton House, on Westgate, home of Pemberton Milnes, a member of a prosperous 18th century family of cloth merchants. Some of these plaques have been put up on modern buildings to commemorate now-vanished landmarks, such as the Corn Exchange at the top of Westgate, which was demolished in the 1960s. Other plaques have been placed on buildings associated with prominent local people, such as the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, novelist George Gissing, the lyricist and composer Noel Gay and John Lee, lawyer and developer of St John’s Square and church in the 1790s.
For those wanting to find out more about Wakefield’s rich urban heritage, the Civic Society has published a small series of booklets.
See www.wakefieldcivicsociety.org.uk
26 JANUARY 2015. RUTH NETTLETON: THE BREAD OF LIFE AND DEATH
Ruth Nettleton’s talk dealt with two examples of local self-help. The first was the creation in 1784 of a friendly society, the Ossett Union Society. Established at a time when there was only the Poor Law and no Welfare State, the Society no doubt appealed to the more affluent workers in Ossett. Payments into the Society’s ‘box’ entitled its members to draw a regular benefit if they were unemployed because of illness. Just as today there was a fear of ‘benefit cheats’ as the Society’s steward visited sick members to check that they were really ill. Ruth’s second example of local self-help dealt with Ossett’s campaign against the Wakefield soke. Under this medieval manorial obligation, Ossett inhabitants had to have their grain milled at one of the soke mills at either Horbury, Wakefield or Newmillerdam. Attempts to evade the monopoly led to prosecutions by the owners of the soke and a prolonged legal case involving Ossett inhabitants between 1816 and 1826. Eventually, in 1832, Ossett freed itself from the soke in return for a payment of £3,500, the money being raised from the rate payers.
24 NOVEMBER 2014. PAM JUDKINS: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN THE WAKEFIELD AREA
Due to changes in the planning process, there have been many more archaeological excavations in the area over the past fifteen years, funded mainly by developers. These have led to the discovery that the local landscape was more densely occupied in the prehistoric period than formerly thought, with small farmsteads and settlements dating back as far as 6000BC. Excavations at Mitchell Laithes near Ossett provided evidence of occupation of the site from the Neolithic Age right through the Bronze Age to the Roman period and into the Middle Ages. In 2002-3 excavations in advance of improvements to the M62/A1 junction at Ferrybridge uncovered one of the most exciting finds in recent times – an almost complete Iron Age chariot burial. Other archaeological investigations at industrial sites on the outskirts of Pontefract, Wakefield and Castleford, in advance of house-building, afforded glimpses of old industries such as tanneries, glass-making, brick-making and cloth dyeing.
27 OCTOBER 2014. ELSIE WALTON: OTHER PEOPLE’S RUBBISH
Helping a friend clear out a bungalow in Crigglestone, Elsie acquired the diaries, letters and other papers of the family who had lived there. Intrigued, she began to research the lives of members of the Iveson family, and in particular, Lizzie and Amos, only four of whose ten children survived into adulthood. Lizzie emerged as the lynchpin of the family, seizing the opportunity to better their fortunes by taking on the job of running Chapelthorpe Post Office. It was her son, Fred, who built the pair of bungalows, one of which was occupied by Lizzie and the other by her daughter Janet, son-in-law Harold and two children. Illustrated by family photographs and other memorabilia, Elsie shared stories of family members, including several who fought in the First World War.
29 SEPTEMBER 2014. DAVID SCRIVEN: OSSETT IN 1814
2014 marks the bicentenary of the end of the Napoleonic War of 1802-1814, which was greeted with widespread celebrations in Ossett. The people gathered in the centre of the village to celebrate the downfall of Napoleon with a feast, at which the poor were treated to a free meal of beef and mutton with ale and tobacco for dessert. In the same year Rev. Edward Kilvington was responsible for opening a Church of England day and Sunday school in Ossett. Although the school was demolished when Ventnor Way was built, its commemorative plaque survives to this day in the wall of the King’s Way Church. Many of the children who attended the school were the offspring of workers in the woollen industry, the village’s main trade. In 1814 one of Ossett’s oldest mills, Pildacre, was burned down in a fire which did £10,000 worth of damage. During the same year a group of local businessmen planned to open a new mill, Union Mill, at Flushdyke. However, their hopes were disappointed as their venture was a failure and, within two years, they were bankrupted. For the village’s overseers of the poor the end of the war was good news because the payments they made to the families of militia men began to fall as the soldiers were demobilised. Of course, the peace was short-lived as Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of Elba the following year, only to be finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.
13 SEPTEMBER. HERITAGE FESTIVAL
Members of the Society were in Ossett Town Hall on Heritage Saturday. In the Court Room was a display celebrating some of Ossett’s worthies, including Eli Townend, a most remarkable man, who, although barely literate and visually impaired, successfully made his way in life and was a great benefactor to the town. A further display on "Ossett becomes a borough" prepared by Ruth Nettleton was in the Main Hall.
30 APRIL 2014. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and DEBORAH SCRIVEN: THE PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS
At the A.G.M. the appointment of Ruth Nettleton as President was ratified and the current officers and committee members were re-elected. The financial statement was accepted and the proposal to increase annual subscriptions to £10 was approved.
The Secretary’s report highlighted the success of the 2013-14 season of talks and other activities in which the Society has participated such as the annual Heritage Open Day in September. The report went on to concentrate on concerns for the future viability of the society in the light of the small membership and the need to find a new venue. After discussion with members it was agreed to transfer the monthly meetings to the Trinity Centre in Church Street and to hold meetings on Monday evenings.
Deborah Scriven: The Pilgrims’ Progress
In the summer of 1913 the non-militant National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies promoted the idea of a pilgrimage starting from each of the four corners of England to publicise the campaign for women’s suffrage. The local Wakefield society and its secretary Florence Beaumont were very active in the city and supported the pilgrimage. When the marchers from Newcastle arrived in Wakefield on 2nd July the society offered overnight hospitality and organised meetings which were very well attended. The pilgrimage cumulated in a large rally in Hyde Park in London, but it did not inspire any immediate dramatic change in Government policy. It was not until the end of the First World War that most women over 30 were given the right to vote.
26 MARCH 2014. CHRISTINE CUDWORTH: THE GREENS OF HORBURY
The Green family, which came to Horbury in the mid 18th century, were well-known in the local cloth industry as dyers and handloom weavers, later becoming involved in making both flannel and jacquard cloth. However some of the descendants of Christianus (born1780) made their mark not only in the West Riding, but also in the USA. In particular, Henry became wealthy and successful as a lead miner and smelter, selling lead to the Union army during the American Civil War. Back in England, his brother George prospered in the family woollen cloth business in Leeds, becoming wealthy enough to build a house, Hillfields, in Horbury. Two of his sons were well regarded in the town. John Henry was managing director of the family firm and a noted philanthropist, donating money towards the building of Primrose Hall and providing Green Park for playing fields. His brother, Thomas Edward, was a popular lecturer and member of the Royal Geographic Society, who was a pioneer in the new technology of coloured of lantern slides. Christine’s talk was beautifully illustrated by some of his family photographs.
26 FEBRUARY 2014. JOHN BROOKE: A TIDAL WAVE OF DISEASE
John Brooke’s talk was about the Leeds’ cholera epidemic of 1832. He explained how rapid urbanisation had created ideal conditions for the spread of a disease such as cholera in the town. Most of the population lived in crowded and insanitary conditions, often in unpaved yards crammed behind the main streets. Landlords were unwilling to improve conditions because of the cost and the local authorities lacked both the will and the power to enforce higher standards. It was into these conditions that cholera was introduced in May 1832, probably brought by boatmen working on the Aire and Calder Navigation. The first victim was probably John Dock, who lived in one of the insanitary yards – Blue Bell Fold. His symptoms included severe diarrhoea and vomiting and a distinctive blue tinge to his features. Today we know that the disease is carried in water contaminated by faeces, but in the 1830s doctors did not know this. Instead many of them believed that the disease was transmitted by miasmas, bad smells. Not only did the doctors not know what caused the disease, they also had no effective treatments for it: one that was recommended, purging, was in fact likely to hasten death. Not surprisingly church attendance in Leeds surged during the epidemic and wild rumours spread that doctors wanted the disease to spread in order to secure bodies for dissection. The last known victim in Leeds was buried in December 1832, by which time 702 people had been killed by the disease. Details of the outbreak were recorded by a local surgeon, Robert Baker, in a detailed report on the town’s sanitary conditions, but it was to be many years before effective measures were taken to improve public health in Leeds.
29 JANUARY 2014. JOHN WHITAKER: MOVING THE MUSEUM
Curator John Whitaker began his talk by briefly outlining the history of Wakefield Museum from its beginnings in Holmefield House in the 1920s to its move to the 19th century Mechanics Institute building in Wood Street in 1956. Here traditional ideas of museum display told the story of Wakefield and its people. A Lottery-funded refurbishment in the late 1990s brought the Museum up to modern standards, improving accessibility and installing new displays. The move to Wakefield One in 2012 posed significant challenges, because the building had originally been envisaged purely for administrative functions with neither the Library nor the Museum included in the plans. Museum staff had less than 12 months to shut down, pack and move over 1000 objects, then plan and design the new premises. However the move has had very positive outcomes, allowing the Service to adapt to change and become more innovative in its outlook. A fresh approach has allowed for a more flexible way of displaying the objects, using themes such as Work, Play, Love and War, while a greater focus on people’s lives has been encouraged and enhanced by a closer partnership with the Local Studies section of the Library. The grand opening in March 2013 by David Attenborough, who has a particular interest in the Waterton collection, engendered fantastic publicity for a greatly improved service.
27 NOVEMBER 2013. DR PHIL JUDKINS: MORE DEADLY THAN THE MALE
Dr Judkins examined a wide selection of roles undertaken by women in both World Wars and in more recent conflicts. Illustrated by photographs of individual heroines the talk highlighted nurses of the First World War such as Edith Cavell who was shot for helping allied soldiers escape from Belgium and Nellie Spindler from Wakefield, a Queen Alexandra nurse who was killed by shell shrapnel after only 13 days on a front-line clearing station. On the other hand, Florence Green who joined the newly formed WAAF just before war ended has died only recently, aged 110 years. On the Home Front many women worked in munitions, on the land and in high-tech and cutting-edge jobs such as code-breaking. Female code-breakers at Bletchley Park performed a highly secret and vital role during World War 2, along with the saboteurs and radio operators parachuted into occupied France. Women in the forces worked as anti-aircraft gunners, barrage balloon operators and in the Russian army they were recruited as snipers and tank crew. Female air transport auxiliary pilots single-handedly flew big bombers such as Lancasters, delivering them across the UK to new airfields. Among their successors today is an all-women Tornado crew serving in Afghanistan. The more traditional role of nurse was joined by that of mortuary worker, fire-fighter, mechanic, welder and steelworker.
Questions and comments after the highly informative talk revealed an Ossett schoolgirl’s memory of the Doodlebug or V1which flew over the town and exploded at Grange Moor.
30 OCTOBER 2013. RUTH NETTLETON: FIFTY YEARS OF THE KING’S WAY CHURCH
Ruth intertwined her presentation about the history of the church in Ossett with her own involvement with the Wesley Street Methodists, from her youthful experiences at the Sunday School, to becoming a Sunday School teacher and later as secretary of the Building Committee and Trustee of the Church. Her illustrated talk concentrated on development of the present building from the stone-laying ceremony addressed by Marjorie Lonsdale, ex-Vice President of the Methodist Conference, to the opening in September 1963 and on into the 21st century. The new church cost just over £30,000 with money received from grants, a longstanding fund accumulating since 1903, the sale of the Queen Street church and a subscription from the Ossett Temperance Society. Showing slides of different parts of the premises, Ruth highlighted some of the schemes
to upgrade and repair the building since its opening. She also featured changes such as the amalgamation of the Methodists and United Reform Church and the present day wide-ranging activities centred on the church.
25 SEPTEMBER 2013. DAVID SCRIVEN: THE ELLIS FAMILY AND VICTORIA MILL
There were numerous Ellises in nineteenth century Ossett, but probably none were as rich as rich as the Ellis family of Victoria Mill. The firm was founded by Samuel Ellis in the early years of the century and under his sons Philip, Eli and John Victoria Mill was built in the 1850s. Ellis Brothers became the town’s largest single employer in the following decade manufacturing heavy woollen cloth for uniforms and such was their success that they expanded into Navigation Mill in Horbury Bridge. To house some of their workers the Ellises erected Victoria Buildings at Ossett Green, while Philip Ellis built Park House for himself at a rumoured cost of £20,000. Apart from being leading businessmen in the town, the Ellises played an important role in the town’s public life. They were major figures among the Congregationalists who worshipped at the Green Chapel, they took an active part in local government and Philip Ellis was an energetic Liberal campaigner. Philip’s death in 1877 at the age of 55 was followed by the decline of the firm. Poor business decisions, increased competition, a lack of capital and bad debts all contributed to its failure in 1893. By this time only one of the partners, Eli, was alive and he died at Park House in the following year. His personal estate was worth only £170, a reflection of how far the family had fallen.
HERITAGE WEEKEND 14th – 15th SEPTEMBER 2013
On Sat 14th September the Society put on a display about Ossett town centre in Ossett Town Hall. In the Main Hall there was a
selection of historic aerial photographs, while in the Court Room there was an “Around the Marketplace” display, highlighting over a hundred years of shopping. Members of Ossett Community Archive also gave a slide show of some of the hundreds of photographs held in their collection.
24 APRIL 2013: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and DEBORAH SCRIVEN: ST IGNATIUS: SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
At the A.G.M. the appointment of Ruth Nettleton as Chairman was ratified and the current officers and committee members were
re-elected. The financial statement was accepted and the proposal to increase annual subscriptions to £8 was approved.
The Secretary reported:
Over the last year the Society has held seven meetings. The overall standard of the speakers has been good and they covered topics ranging
from the Chartists to cocoa adulteration. One unusual feature was the audience participation demanded by Mick Yates in his talk on Branwell Bronte: Hilary Oxley and Alan Bellinger were revealed as talented actors. Our thanks are due to Pat and Mike Adams for providing the Community Archive’s digital projector for several meetings. Thanks are also due to Deborah Scriven and Pam Yates who have improved our publicity by creating a Society website.The Society had a display in the Town Hall during the Jubilee celebrations in June and in the Town Hall and Holy Trinity Church during Heritage Open Days in September. Among the members who manned the displays were Hilary Oxley, Alan Bellinger and Ruth Nettleton. On both occasions the Society’s new display boards, which have also been used at every meeting this year, were very useful. We have provided advice to Holy Trinity’s Lottery-funded heritage education project which is led by Brigid Bradley and participated in the church’s consultation exercise about a second lottery- funded project.
The AGM was followed by:
DEBORAH SCRIVEN: ST IGNATIUS: SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
The talk charted the two turbulent years (1905-7) during which Miss Catherine Phelan was head of Ossett’s Roman Catholic elementary school. Using records held in both local and national archives, Deborah outlined the often fraught relationship between Kate Phelan, the Catholic school managers and the Ossett Education Authority. An unfavourable inspection report in February 1907, coupled with accusations of the falsification of attendance registers and the school log book and the bullying of assistant teachers, led the Managers to recommend her dismissal. However, an inquiry held by the L.E.A. exonerated Miss Phelan and it was not until the Managers insisted that she be removed on the grounds of deficiencies in the teaching of religious instruction that Kate Phelan left the school and the town.
27 MARCH. GARY BRANNAN: AS INJURIOUS AS A BRICKBAT: ROWNTREES AND COCOA ADULTERATION.
Gary’s talk, based on his own archival research, ranged across the whole subject of cocoa manufacture, linking the three big Quaker firms, Fry’s in Bristol, Cadbury’s in Birmingham and Rowntree in York. The adulteration of many foodstuffs sold by local grocers was common in the Victorian period, driven by the desire to save money and evade taxes. Yet the manufacturers themselves needed to adulterate cocoa with products such as starch and farina in order to stop the cocoa butter from rising to the top of the drink and forming an unpleasant scum. However Rowntree’s was very careful not to deceive the consumer and always listed these extra ingredients on the packets. Once the Dutch invented a press to produce pure cocoa essence, the English companies began their own research. Rowntrees spent many years experimenting with additives in order to improve the alkilisation of their cocoa essence and it was not until 1886 that they launched their Elect Cocoa. Once cocoa began to be sold in packets direct from the manufacturer, the safety of the product became the responsibility of the manufacturer rather than the consumer or retailer and the emphasis moved from the purity of the product to quality and taste.
27 FEBRUARY 2013. JO HERON: HUDDERSFIELD ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The Society is a very active one with members involved in excavations, training in archaeological techniques, fieldwalking, surveying, excursions and trips and producing newsletters and a website The Young Archaeologists’ Club caters for young people aged from 7 to 17 and offers opportunities to be involved in all aspects of archaeology. As the Society was originally formed in the 19thcentury it has a long history of projects investigating a number of sites of interest in the area including Castle Hill, Almondbury in the early 20thcentury, the Roman fort at Slack and more recently an iron-working site at Myers Wood, for which the Society won two Council for British Archaeology awards. In 2007 and 2008 members excavated and recorded the vicus outside the Roman fort at Slack, discovering a water conduit and a great deal of pottery, including two burial
urns. Another group is researching the trans Pennine Roman road system and has published a very popular book detailing some of their results.
More information about the Society can be found at www.huddarch.org.uk
30 JANUARY. DAVID SCRIVEN: AN INSPECTOR CALLS: OSSETT’S PUBLIC HEALTH INQUIRY IN 1857
David’s talk was based on research in The National Archives and in local libraries. He explained that the rapid growth of Ossett’s population in
the first half of the nineteenth century, a result of the expansion of the woollen industry, multiplied the threats to the health of the villagers. A Nuisance Committee was formed in 1856 in an attempt to remove some of the more obvious problems such as foul privies, but it soon became clear that the members of the Committee lacked both the enthusiasm and the power to make significant improvements. As a result a public
meeting in 1857 decided to petition the General Board of Health to establish an elected Local Board of Health in Ossett with the power to drain, sewer and water the village. In May a public inquiry was held at the Church School in the centre of Ossett by William Ranger, one of the General Board’s inspectors. Ranger not only examined witnesses including the local doctors, but he also visited various parts of the village. The evidence he collected revealed a high death rate in the village, 22.9 per 1,000, and it also highlighted some of its causes including a lack of scavenging, overflowing privies and in some places an inadequate water supply. However, Ranger was made aware that there was very strong opposition in the community to the creation of a Local Board of Health. Among the reasons for this were the cost of a Local Board and ignorance about how diseases such as typhoid were spread. As a result of the opposition Ranger decided to recommend that the Nuisance Committee should be given a second chance to improve conditions in the village. It was not until 1870, following a prolonged campaign, that the ratepayers of Ossett were persuaded to vote in favour of a Local Board of Health.
26 NOVEMBER. RUTH NETTLETON: AN OSSETTONIAN IN MELBOURNE
Over many years Ruth has researched the story of Peter Nettleton, born in Ossett in 1824, who emigrated to Australia in 1849. He began work as a fellmonger, but later went gold digging. His success enabled him to purchase land along the Yarra river, where he established a wool scouring business. He was involved in the construction of Victoria Street in Collingwood and built a fine house for his wife Mary Ann and family. Peter also participated in the public life of the town, becoming a JP in 1873, and he was also a founder of the Improved Dwellings Association and helped develop the Collingwood Building Society.Ruth was able to continue her research on a visit to Melbourne, where she found more information in the local state archives and was able to visit and photograph Nettleton House, which stands on the banks of the Yarra
