Brighouse and District Heritage Newseum

BRIGHOUSE & DISTRICT Heritage Newseum Issue 21 Summer 2023 Edited and Published by Chris Helme

© Christopher D. Helme (2023), Tower House, Holme Mews, Wakefield Road, Lightcliffe, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 8TY. This publication is copyright and apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of study, research, criticism, review or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part including text and/or photographs and/or other images may be reproduced by any process without written permission. All enquiries and payments should be directed to the author and publisher. Frontispiece: Thornhill Briggs Post Office, at the junction of Carr Street and Smithy Carr Lane. This property was built in 1891. The post office was opened on November 1, 1900 and was closed on May 9, 1992. This was just one of the 12 post offices that have closed over the years. They are; the Bailiff Bridge original post office which from 2014 became part of the Costcutter convenience store; Clifton closed June 9, 2006; Hove Edge closed August 22, 2008; Lane Head closed July 18, 2002; Laverock Lane closed 1949/1951; Rastrick closed February 14, 2004; Rastrick Common June 30, 1978;and Cliffe End which closed March 29, 1985. Whilst some post offices closed altogether just a few were moved from their original location to be transferred into other retail outlets. But the post office network of branches is far from what it used to be. This service by the Clifton Methodist Church is taking place at Whitsuntide c1957. It is in Towngate, Clifton, on the green outside what was then known as the Black Bull Inn public house. I don’t have a definitive date when this first opened but in 1834 the licensee was George Pratt, and his family were there until 1891 when the licensee was William A. Pratt. In 1898 it was one of Richard Whitaker’s Halifax Brewery pubs which was leased out by Sir George Armytage, of Kirklees Hall. The Black Bull Inn closed in 1933 and became the Black Bull Farm. In modern times it was sold and is now a private house. Amongst the small congregation attending this service are Gordon France, who was the Clifton Methodist Church choirmaster for many years, Alan Whitaker; Jack Bray who for many years worked at the Brighouse Co-op menswear department; Tom Dixon, the Dixons can be traced in Clifton to the mid-nineteenth century as a farming family; Priscilla (known to her friends as Prissy) Nicholson; Florrie Binns; Annie Firth; Lilly Pace; Malcolm and Charlene Whitaker; Ada York; Sylvia Dixon and her mother.

1 BRIGHOUSE & DISTRICT HERITAGE NEWSEUM Remember to look at our website where you can also contact the editor and you are able to purchase various local books, including some that are no longer in print, through the online shop, where PayPal is available: www.chrishelme-brighouse.org.uk Welcome to the Summer edition of the Newseum. Issue 21 Summer 2023 In this issue we have another varied and eclectic mix of stories and photographs. Through the Brighouse Bid and the £19.5m from the levelling-up fund there are some big changes planned for the town centre. The proposed pedestrianisation will have raised a few eyebrows. One of the stories in this issue is about Harold Sneezum who was the Brighouse Borough Engineer from 1938 to 1963. His master plan of the 1940s involved pedestrianisation in the town centre. Unfortunately the war years intervened but plans were re-examined during the 1960s. So, pedestrianisation in Brighouse town centre is not a new concept. On the sporting front it was a couple of months ago that the old Lightcliffe cricket club pavilion was demolished and we have a nice story about the pavilion from when it was formally opened in 1922. Another two high street banks have now closed. Let us hope the premises do not remain empty for too long. Just how do you get started in local history? I take you back to how I stared almost 50 years ago. I hope what I did helps the new and maybe young up and coming local history enthusiasts. If you have a story to tell or a photograph you would like to share with other readers please contact me 07854-755756 or by [email protected] We have lots more for you to enjoy. Chris Helme 1 Notes from the Editor. 2 Harold Sneezum - a man of vision. 4 Mummification and the Egyptians. 5. Pavilion of splendour. 7 A bit of old Brighouse. 8 The Clubman’s Choir. 9 Horse draw travel 130 years ago. 10 The green fields before Sefton Estate. 11 Another two local bank branches close. 12 Local history how to get started. 14 Looking back over a century at St Chad’s. 15 Freedom of the Borough of Brighouse. 18 Notes from the council chamber 1929 /30. 19 The Vicar’s Bible Class in 1932. 20 Local Bobby turned Blacksmith. 21 Turner’s lasting history legacy to Brighouse. 22 Park Street gas showrooms. 23 Robert Ashworth the successful printer. 24 Brighouse Parish Church bell ringers. PLEASE NOTE — The magazine is now available for sale at the Rastrick Paper Shop on Church Street, Rastrick. We are grateful for the support the shop is giving to the magazine.

2 Harold Sneezum — a man of vision There may be some readers who might remember Harold Sneezum, the former Borough Engineer for Brighouse Borough Council. He retired in 1963 and on that day he was showered with t r i b u t e s a n d compliments for his many achievements, as well as being one of the longest serving Borough Engineers. The best compliment described him as ‘a man of vision’, as well as a practical man. Harold Arthur Sneezum was not a native of Brighouse but was born in Ipswich on July 25, 1898, where he served his articles and began working as a junior assistant in his home town’s Borough Engineers Department. In 1922 he left Ipswich and worked at the Great Yarmouth Borough Engineer’s office until 1924. In 1925, he married 26 year old Elizabeth Dasborough Fieldhead, they had two children John and Patricia. In 1924 he moved north and worked for the Borough Engineer’s office in Halifax as their senior assistant but not long after was promoted to the role of chief assistant. From 1936 he was the De put y Boro ug h Eng ine er f or Ha lif a x Corporation. During his time at Halifax he supervised the extensive relief sewer installations and when he applied for and was appointed Brighouse Borough Engineer on July 11, 1938, following the retirement of Mr S.S.Haywood, he was without doubt going to be a great loss to Halifax. The first major task for Harold on being appointed was to prepare a comprehensive report on the sewerage system throughout the whole of Brighouse. Even with his two assistants helping him the work had to be shelved for the duration of the Second World War. This work was finally completed in 1948 with recommendations resulting in the Borough Council spending £463,000 over a period of time to get the system right. Once the major work had been completed he said: ‘Most can now sleep easy in their beds unlike the earlier days when the slightest drop of rain usually led to massive flooding in many parts of the town and now only the most abnormal storm will cause problems’. During the late 1960s and 70s Brighouse went through a period of great change with a massive town centre redevelopment programme, a plan Harold Sneezum presented to the council as far back as 1944 . B u t w i t h t h e Government’s post-war credit squeeze it had to be shelved and was only s er io us ly reconsidered a few years before his retirement. When his original plan was first submitted it was said to have taken the members’ breath away with it scale and size. On his retirement he was saddened to be leaving before the plan had come into full fruition This was the serious flooding caused by what he described as an abnormal storm of 1947/48. Brighouse Borough Council Engineer’s Department September 1939.

3 and said: ‘For the future the only sensible and safe wa y wa s f or a ll to wn ce ntre s to h a ve pedestrian precincts’, (pedestrianisation, and that was 60 years ago) and car parking close by. Looking at most towns and cities these days how true those words are now. But even today many town and city centre shops are what he once described as houses having the bottoms kicked out and plate glass windows put in and suddenly becoming retail premises. When he first arrived in Brighouse the only council houses were at Smith House Estate, Crowtrees Crescent, Fletcher Crescent and in Clough Lane. But over his period of office he planned both the Stoney Lane and Field Lane Estates and brought the council’s housing stock up to about 1,400 homes. Brighouse, through Harold Sneezum’s efforts, was one of the first towns in the country to change from gas lit street lights to electric ones and the conversion was almost completed before many of the better known and larger towns. One of his lesser know but well appreciated attributes was that of the master ticket seller - by that I mean raffle tickets. Throughout his time in Brighouse he took a leading part in social and charitable work. He joined Brighouse Rotary in 1938 and with the exception of the treasurer’s job held every position. It was as Rotary president that he instigated the Best Kept Garden competition for council house tenants and at one particular effort sold more than 3,000 tickets in one day for special war savings. During the Second World War years he was an active member of the civil defence as the local commandant for rescue and decontamination. Throughout his career he was one of the most respected Borough Engineers in the country and served as a member on many of the country’s leading organisations and committees in his field. Following the death of his wife in 1958 he continued to work in Brighouse but in June, 1963 he retired and went to live in Horsham, West Sussex nearer to his son John and daughter Patricia. He passed away peacefully aged 91, at a nursing home in Horsham. Jack Holroyd, of Wyke, who many years ago recalled working for Mr Sneezum and said about his old boss, ‘Working for Harold Sneezum was a pleasure. He was always the gentleman, he was respected by all the members of staff from the office junior up to his assistant and everyone else who had cause to come in contact with him’. Returning to our featured photograph of the Borough Engineering Depart staff, they include in no particular order Sandy Park, sewerage assistant; John Stevens sewerage clerk; the diminutive figure of Dorothy, his wife and the only lady present, employed as a temporary shorthand typist; Edgar Bowers, engineering assistant; Robert McNair Allen, engineering assistant; seated in the middle is Harold A. Sneezum, Borough Engineer; R.H.Longbottom, Deputy Borough Engineer; F. Balmforth, engineering assistant; F.B.Walker, architectural assistant; Jack Holroyd, costing clerk; Bernard Nesden, the junior clerk; Frank Entwhistle, Building Inspector and Charlie Fulcher, junior engineering assistant. Not on this photograph is John Albert Mellor, the Chief Clerk. This was taken following the declaration of war on September 3, 1939, as a final photograph before they would in all probability be going their separate ways. Fairless Avenue junction with Aysgarth Avenue, these houses are under construction on the new Stoney Lane estate in the early 1950s. Members of the Brighouse Civil Defence c1941 at one of its Christmas meetings at the Martin’s Nest public house.

4 Having been interested in history for many years it was inevitable that when I retired from the police and saw a job advertised delivering history presentations to junior school children I just had to apply. This was for Kirklees which involved an interview at Tolson Museum. Part of the interview involved giving a five-minute history presentation to the interviewing panel. This could be on a subject of my choice. My five minutes was on the humble pop bottle, the kind with the glass marble in. The presentation went well, a good start. Then I had to look on a table and chose any item and talk about it for five minutes. Not knowing anything about Roman helmets I chose a Second World War ration book. Having got the job, one of the presentations I was asked to do was an aspect of Egyptology - mummification. This was at Bagshaw Museum in Batley. Having observed one of the other tutors, I then found myself in front of 25 junior school children all wanting to know about the removal of brains from a dead body. Of course, it was a dummy that I had laid out on a table. I invited those who wanted to be volunteers and help me mummify the dummy to step forward. As always the nine-year tough guys all stepped forward with just one or two girls rather sheepishly stepping forward and choosing to stand behind the boys. Whilst no one actually fainted it was often the boys who declined the invitation to remove the rolled-up string (representing the dummy's brains) with a length of wire (a stretched-out wire coat hanger) and returned to their seats. The girls were made of sterner stuff than the boys and gladly joined in the demonstration. They were also keen to help removed the vital organs (made of chalk) from the dummy's body. Each organ had to be mummified with bandages and then placed in a canopic jar, all part of the mummification ceremony. Each body used four canopic jars, each for the safekeeping of particular human organs: the stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver, all of which, it was believed, would be needed in the afterlife. There was no jar for the heart: the Egyptians believed it to be the seat of the soul, and so it was left inside the body. The final part of the mummification class was to choose one of the students to step forward to be wrapped in bandages like a mummy, now the boys were queuing up for this. All this sounds scary stuff for nine-year-olds but being part of the national curriculum in those days these children wanted to know all the gory details. But of course, no one in my class went home having nightmares. In this featured photograph from March 1995 are two students Tarlee Watts and Fraser Greenhalgh from Cliff Hill School at Lightcliffe. It looks as though they have been having lessons on Egyptology. Bagshaw Museum still does educational programmes on various subjects and the mummification classes are still on the programme and are very popular. The Egyptian Archaeologist workshop is designed to inspire young people with the wonders of this ancient civilisation, children will learn about the work of archaeologists and use their investigative skills to examine and handle objects. They'll also explore a replica tomb, discover transferable enquiry skills and learn about the process of mummification! • For up to 36 pupils Minimum five accompanying adults (1:8). For further information please have a look at [email protected] website or telephone 01924 326155. Learning about mummification and the Egyptians

5 Pavilion of Splendour Lightcliffe Cricket Club has a new pavilion. As I write, it is near completion and will replace the iconic red-and-white building which stood for just over 100 years until its demolition on 18th March. The pavilion was opened on 1st July 1922 during the tea interval of a Yorkshire Council game against Halifax. It was the gift of Sir William Henry Aykroyd, first Baronet of Lightcliffe, a title he received in King George V’s 1920 Birthday Honours List. Sir William, born in Manningham in 1865, had succeeded his uncle, Sir Algernon Firth, in 1921 as managing director of the family carpet business at Bailiff Bridge. Both his sons played cricket at Lightcliffe, and both followed him as managing directors of Firths. The chairman of the cricket club, William Womersley, former chairman of Hipperholme council and still a councillor, opened proceedings by recalling the early days. He referred to records of a game against Hipperholme & Lightcliffe Young Men’s Society in 1875. These records no longer exist. The first mention of a Lightcliffe Cricket Club I have been able to unearth is a game against Leeds Grammar School, in Leeds, on 23rd May 1875. Lightcliffe were all out for 66, and won by eight runs. Womersley, who lived below the White Horse on Cresswell Terrace, bemoaned the increasing cost of providing cricket. In 1918 expenses had amounted to £61; in 1921 they were £634. He doesn’t say how much of this money went to the payment of professionals. In conclusion, he asked Sir William to accept a gold key with which to open the pavilion. Tragically, Womersley died a few months later. Margaret Foster, daughter of the captain, Bert Foster, presented Lady Aykroyd with a bouquet of carnations. Lightcliffe Cricket Club had recently added a tennis section and when Sir William spoke, he said that he took a great interest in both sports. Recreation was increasingly important ‘in these days of hard work, when we are trying to do in 48 hours what we did before the war in 55½’. Playing games gave something to look forward to while they were working, and were also good for health and for education. People learned not to lose their temper, ‘for the cricketer who lost his temper was either clean bowled or leg-before-wicket and made himself look ridiculous.’ (In my long association with Lightcliffe Cricket Club I can say that no batsman has ever been out lbw.) Sir William added that ‘they also learned to play for their side and not for themselves.’ He concluded by saying that he did not want to take all the credit; ‘he had a valuable asset for the money he had spent.’ Tom Dawson, a former player brought up on Park View, off St. Giles Road, had travelled from Manchester for the ceremony. Then 56 years old, as a young man he captained the side for three seasons, first playing for the club on the West Field ground, before it moved to the present site in around 1890. (I imagine this was necessitated when the houses of Park Terrace, Westfield and Osborne Grove were built.) Dawson thought Seth Foster the finest batsman to have played at the early ground. Seth Foster was born in 1856 in Spalding Moor, between York and Hull. His father was a cattle dealer and his mother a ‘schoolmistress’. By 1881, when he was playing cricket for Lightcliffe, Foster was an elementary school teacher living at Greenhouses, the terrace below St. Matthew’s Church. Thirty years later he was a ‘Teacher Head’. Tom Dawson also paid tribute to the late Donald Walker, ‘one of the most energetic supporters of Sir William Aykroyd at the official opening of the new pavilion in 1922.

6 the club’. Walker had been influential in providing the present field, and the previous pavilion. A Lightcliffe cricketer before the war, Roland Walker, son of Donald and Annie (née Sucksmith), was killed in action on 9th December 1915, aged 21. A fortnight later, Donald died, aged 57, after collapsing at Firths carpet mill, where he had become a mill manager, after starting there as a 12- year-old half-timer. He lived at Grange Terrace, opposite Greenhouses. His wife was too ill to attend his funeral at St. Matthew’s, where, according to the Brighouse Echo of 31st December, ‘over 200 men walked in procession, headed by Sir Algernon Firth and Mr. W. H. Aykroyd’. Raymond was buried at Ypres, Donald in St. Matthew’s churchyard. A vote of thanks to Sir William was proposed by Algernon Denham of Lower Crow Nest, chairman of Hipperholme Council in succession to William Womersley. This was seconded by another councillor, Rowland Lumb, of Longlands, Leeds Road. Finally, before the game against Halifax was resumed, Bert Foster formally thanked Womersley, seconded by yet another councillor associated with the cricket club, A. (I think he was Arnold) Aspinall. Denham succeeded Womersley as chairman of the cricket club. The year after the opening of the pavilion, Lightcliffe were accepted into the prestigious Bradford League for the 1924 season. Two years later they won the Priestley Cup, beating Lidget Green in the final at a packed Park Avenue ground. A minute of the committee meeting of 24th August, following the victory, records that ‘thanks be given to Mr. A. Denham, JP, for his kindness in paying for a Chara [charabanc, or coach, for the benefit of younger readers] to bring back the players and committee from Park Avenue on Monday last, and also for providing 2 bottles of champagne to fill the cup.’ The cup was on display at the Sun Inn, and at many local shops throughout the following winter. The club held a celebratory dinner on 1st October at the Conservative Club, now Lightcliffe Club. There was a ‘long discussion’ as to the charge for the dinner at a committee meeting of 13th September. Eventually it was decided that ‘the price of admission … be 4 shillings (20p) each’ and that ‘a recommendation be given to the sub-committee that persons who are unable to get to the Dinner be allowed in for the Dance at a small charge’. Those were the days of a splendid new facility, with gas lighting, and success in what was regarded as the best cricket league in the country. Hundreds of cricketers, young and old, male and female, have changed in the pavilion in the past hundred years, thousands of spectators have bought tea and cakes in the tea room, sat on the balcony and watched the likes of Len Hutton, Brian Close and Jim Laker performing against a succession of cricketing villagers. The decision to replace the venerable old building was forced upon the club as it was realised that the wooden structure could no longer be preserved. The extent of its deterioration was confirmed when the floorboards were taken up prior to demolition, to reveal rotten floor joists that could have given way at any time. The new pavilion retains the red-and-white feature of the old one. Let us hope it is still being used in a hundred years’ time by local people playing the noblest game. A century of Lightcliffe cricketing history came to an end on March 18th, when the old pavilion was demolished. The new one still under construction can be seen in the background. Sir Algernon Firth JP

7 Here are a classic couple of local history views in a then and now position. The older of the three images is a Christmas card which was from Mr and Mrs Charley Jessop, who send best wishes for Xmas 1901. The image in the oval mount was painted by the noted Brighouse artist Miles Sharp (1864-1948), who lived in Halifax Road. There is no actual date shown when this was created by Miles Sharpe. There are a number of clues which does help. Firstly, the tall building on the left is the old Park Chapel, that was built in 1795. The photo below is a close up of the old chapel and looking at the windows you can see that they are the same. The buildings in the oval photo do not date back to 1795 but they are certainly pre-1866. What is the clue to suggest 1866? This modern photo shows exactly the same corner (right hand side) as the oval photo does. The small light coloured sloped roof of the property on the corner is where the Town Hall Company built the town’s new Public Offices. The need for some public offices was discussed as long ago as 1850, but like many things that was discussed it never went much further than talk. In 1863 the serious talking started about a new building being built where public business could be carried out. To finance the scheme it was proposed and seconded at a meeting presided over by Sir George Armytage to set up a limited liability company with a capital of £3,000. In 1866 it was decided to go ahead with the scheme immediately. But, there was a problem, the initial £3,000 was not enough this had now gone up to £6,000. After many months of problems the project started to take shape and even with 80 work people involved in its construction progress was slow. In October 1868, it was completed and at 5pm, the directors, whilst gathered at the Royal Hotel walked across the road led by Sir George Armytage and declared it open. The 1866 date? If you stand across the road from what is now the Brighouse Civic Hall and look up to the roof line you will see a stone with the year 1866 clearly visible. And the date of Charley Jessop’s card — it has to be between 1866 and 1901. It would need detailed research to be more accurate. A bit of old Brighouse pre 1895 The old Park Chapel in Bethel Street was demolished in 1878 and the new Park Chapel was built on the site of the old one. The trustees took the opportunity as an experiment to light the gas lights in the chapel by using an electrical device. It was formally opened in June 1878, it is now the Richard Oastler JD Wetherspoons pub and restaurant.

8 The clubman’s choir Most working men’s clubs battle it out each year in traditional competitions such as snooker, dominoes, darts and possibly football. But just a minute, whatever happened to the club choirs. Yes, believe it or not, most working men’s clubs did at one time have a male voice choir. Back in the 1930s, one of the best choirs in Brighouse area was down at Thornhill Briggs Working Men’s Club. The highlight in the choir’s calendar was the annual music festival held by the Bradford, Halifax and Airedale branch of the Club and Institute Union. The venue for this event had been Brighouse on a number of occasions in the past but, on July 25, 1930, it was held in a field at the back of Baildon W.M.C. As the singers gathered and it was said there were more that 1,000 who took part on that day, along with the hundreds of spectators Thornhill Briggs were about to achieve one of their greatest triumphs. Having completed a hat-trick of wins the previous year in the Club and Institute section, they had been awarded the cup to keep permanently, in recognition for their unique achievement. In 1930 they were attempting to win the competition for a fourth time in succession and take away the newly donated Challenge Cup. As the choir sang through the various sections of the competition, under their conductor Mr E.S.Hird, a huge crowd had gathered. Thornhill Briggs Club c1910. Thornhill Briggs’ first piece was ‘In a cell or Cavern Deep’ by John Parry, followed by Edward Elgar’s ‘The Wanderer’ and then on to Granville Bantock’s ‘The Fighting Temeraire’. They finished with Elgar’s ‘The Reveille’. Expectations of doing well must have gone through the minds of the choir members and, when the results were finally announced, once again they had come first and brought the new Challenge Cup back to Brighouse. There was a serious side to these annual competitions and that was to help raise muchneeded funds for the Union’s convalescent homes. Just what happened to the cup they were allowed to keep after their hat-trick no one seems to know and so far all enquiries have proved negative. This is the front cover of the programme for the 27th annual competition, which was held in the grounds of Elmroyd (the Dyers Club), in Brighouse Wood Lane. Whilst the Blakeborough Male Voice Choir took part, there is no mention of the Thornhill Briggs Choir. This would suggest it had closed for the war years and never started again. Does any reader know what happened to this very successful choir through the 1930s or what happened to the cup they were allowed to keep after their hat-trick of wins. If you know anything about the cup please contact the editor [email protected]

9 Horse drawn travel 130 years ago was no easy ride The Rev William Booker MA was born in Leeds in 1830 and was a Curate at Burnley before he became the Curate at Halifax (1858 - 1861). At this time he lived at 14, Wards End, Halifax, and from 1862 to 1890 he was the Vicar at St Martin’ Parish Church Brighouse. When the first Vicar of Brighouse the Rev. Joseph Birch, left it was proposed that the Rev Thomas Henry Flynn, the Brighouse Curate be offered the living. But the Rev Charles Musgrave the Halifax Vicar offered the living instead to the Rev Booker. When the Rev Booker was in Brighouse this was a time when road accidents were quite rare, based on the number of vehicles there was — these would have been horse drawn vehicles. Fatal accidents did occur which did include both people and the horses. One noted fatal accident happened in 1903 when the Brighouse Borough fire brigade appliance was summoned by the fire siren to attend a large scale mill fire. Every man got on the appliance but the urgency was so great that not everyone was in their rightful seat. Firem an Ale xan der Carmichael was not in his usual place as the fire appliance hurtled down Halifax Road from the Fire Station, next to the library. As the fire appliance raced on Commercial Street the wheel his a raised road sett and Fireman Carmichael was thrown out and his injuries wee so bad he was carried into a nearby house where he sadly died. The Rev Booker left the vicarage in a carriage drawn by a pair of horses. Something startled the horses so much they charged down Parsonage Lane and the gradient was so steep the horses could not stop or turn the corner into Briggate. The horses dashed into the building on the opposite side of Briggate and were killed instantly. In those days many of the roads had been macadamised but not with tar-macadam. In the dry weather they became extremely dusty and water carts fitted with sprinklers had to be used in an attempt to minimise the dust. On the other hand when it was just the opposite with very wet roads there was always a lot of mud on the road. Men were employed to scrape off the extra sludge and shovel it in to the sludge-carts. Those type of carts have long since been done away with as with the carts that went from house to house and other premises back in the days when water-closets were a luxury for the well off. The smell from those that collected what was called ’night-soil’ was often euphemistically referred to a ‘marmalade carts’. A long held story about one of these carts was when it turned over on one of the steep streets which link Thornhill Road with Bramston Street, Rastrick, would have been a lingering memory particularly those with sensitive nostrils. The Rev Booker married Margaret Urquhart in June 1873 at Chapel Allerton in Leeds. In 1890 he resigned from his role as vicar at Brighouse and moved to live in Leeds. In 1903 he passed away at his home in Chapeltown, Leeds, aged 73. His wife died in 1880. Looking down the steep cobbled gradient of Parsonage Lane (2023) and what faced Rev Booker and his pair of horses.

10 Have you ever wondered about the land where your house is and tried to find out or just imagine what was there before it was built. That takes us into the fascinating subject and research of the history of houses. This land, although known as a very damp and wet site was still seen as a favourable site to build on and not long after this photograph was taken all these fields were purchased. The photograph was taken from a back garden on Laverock Lane. On the left hand side you can just make a small section of Catherine Slack in the left middle centre, a road that links Hove Edge with Smith House Lane. The houses in the distance which are very feint are the roof-tops of the Smith House estate. Along with Oaklands in Rastrick, they were the first council houses built by the old Brighouse Borough Council, between 1919/1921. Here is another green field site. This is dated 1954 at one of the S m i t h H o u s e estate’s community galas. Who is this winner of the fancy dress competition. Numbers 24 to 44 Smith House Lane were built on this field. The green fields before the Sefton Estate The open fields before the Sefton estate was built . To the extreme left is a little bit of Catherine Slack and although very feint the properties in the distance are on the Smith House estate. Youth Council’s Annual Sports Day This group of young people were posing for this photograph in June 1962 and if they are in their early teens they will now be into their early 70s. The event was the Brighouse Youth Council’s annual athletic sports and was declared as the most successful for many years. This photo will bring back a few memories for the members of St John the Divine Church at Gooder Lane, Rastrick. The church was consecrated on November 27, 1915, by the Bishop of Wakefield the Rt Rev Bishop George Rodney Eden. This photo shows just some of those who went dressed in wartime outfits to the church’s 75th anniversary dance in 1990. Back row, from the left Malcolm Chippendale, Muriel Coop, Isobel Wilcox and Robert Beaumont. Front row Ken Mayhew, Tony Hiley and Joe Coop. St John’s 75th anniversary dance

11 Another two banks set to close It does not seem that long ago in an earlier issue (10 and 11) of the magazine that we wrote about the history of banking in Brighouse. Little did we know then that two more banks were destined to be closed down in 2023. The first is the HSBC: many readers will recall the days when it was a branch of The Midland Bank. It moved from Briggate to 23, Market Street between 1937/38. In 1987 HSBC had a 14.9% share in the bank and in 1992 it acquired full ownership with the old Midland signage removed shortly afterwards. This branch closed on May 16, 2023. Not long after it was decided that the Nat West Bank in Bradford Road would also close. This bank opened in 1895 in a purpose built property as the Union of London. It merged with Smith’s Bank in 1918. From 1970 it became part of National Westminster Bank, ‘Nat West’ as its high street logo. This branch is set to close on August 9, 2023. The new bank in 1895 — as with the HSBC we do wonder what will become of the them. Winners In 1920, Harry Appleyard was the first winner of the ‘Dacre Bowl ’ an award presented by the Rastrick Bowling Club. He was a member of the club for eight years, he was a committee member at the club. That is just over 100 years ago, where is the ‘Dacre Bowl’ now, has it survived ? Here is another winning bowler. He is referred to just as ‘Mr A. Clegg’. He won the ‘Womersley Cup’ which was a competition organised by the Brighouse C and B ‘C’ Handicap in 1919. In 1908 he reached the final of the ‘Dyson Cup’. Do these two awards still exist, if they do where are they now? Winners In 1919, James (Jimmy) Newsome was a consistent and popular bowler connected to the Brighouse Albion Bowling Club, Lane Head, and was a regular cup winner during his 18 years as a member. What became of the cups that he played for and won ? Walter Sutcliffe was another bowls champion from Rastrick. In 1919/20 he won the ‘Thornton Bowl’. He was a member of the Rastrick Bowling Club since its formation. He had also been a prominent member of Rastrick Cricket Club. Whatever happened to the ‘Thornton Bowl’?

12 Local History how to get started I have often been asked when I first became interested and how I got started in local history. This question has usually been asked by people who want to get involved themselves but don’t really know how to go about it. I became interested in about 1964 when I started to read the weekly nostalgia page in the Brighouse Echo written by Ralph Wade, who wrote under the pen name of ‘Rowan’. Having regularly read his weekly columns I started to notice things in my own Lightcliffe community. Dates on walls, initials and often with a date high up on the front of houses. When I thought I had found something new I often wrote to Ralph, and he would send a nice letter back. This usually contained some further information about the subject I wrote to him about, so it was not as new as I had first thought. I would cut out his weekly columns and put them into scrap books and I still have them. So, to those who want to get into local history one of the ways to start is to do as Shaw Taylor, the old radio and TV presenter of ‘Police 5’ used to say “Keep ‘em peeled.” People were once urged by an eminent local historian that anyone interested in local history should leave their warm archives and libraries and start tramping the streets. GETTING STARTED My advice would be instead of reading about things get up from the easy chair and explore the streets around your own street. We are of course talking about walking you can’t look out for local history from a car. There are some things you might consider taking with you. A street map, the latest A to Z will help to begin with. You might try to get an Ordnance Survey map of the area. You can usually find these at your local Reference Library, and you can purchase photocopies. A town map trail would be excellent if you can find one. Back in 1995 St Andrew’s School produced an excellent Brighouse guide booklet which was to coincide with the school’s centenary. The late Peter Davies produced the Brighouse Centenary Walk publication. I was commissioned to produce a Brighouse town centre history trail walk, I don’t think there are any of these left now days. I also produced an A3 illustrated map of the town centre. I still have some of these left and if you would like one they are £1.50, and they will be posted to you a cardboard tube — p/p £3.49 (total: £4.99). A camera to take pictures of buildings and street scenes is a must. Note: DO NOT take pictures without asking permission and never take them of children playing in your street. If you are taking them with your mobile phone camera MAKE SURE the resolution setting on the camera is very high otherwise low-resolution images will not enlarge without it pixelating. A notebook or one of those digital voice recording gadgets will certainly help to record the what, where and when on your journey. You are now ready to go. Have a route or area in mind, keep it small and tight to start with then later you can expand your area of interest. Be very careful of traffic. Walking across a road fiddling with your mobile phone camera is a road accident waiting to happen. Don’t just stick to main roads, side streets and general street scenes can produce some fascinating aspects of local history. DO NOT walk down a private drive without permission. On your journey you should ask yourself questions: what can the local church tell you about the history of the area, why was it built and who financed the building work. Find out when it was built, there might be a date on the building or the Vicar might help. Look out for a plaque some time these are blue and will give you some information.

13 How many of you have seen this small marble plaque? This was laid when three of the Burton tailoring family came to Brighouse to open their new B u r t o n s s h o p o n Commercial Street. B u r t o n s w a s t h e gentleman’s outfitters and was where the now closed William Hill Betting Office is on the corner of Park Street. There are two more of these plaques on the Commercial Street side. Look at the classic Burton architecture on the first floor. As you are walking around you may see some very old buildings possibly 19th or 20th century. Look at them closely for clues of a former use and what kind of businesses now occupy the building. Here is an example: the signage says Veetaklean Products but that closed many years ago and another sign shows that it is for sale. What was it originally built as? Today, it is Calder Vets, with Brighouse being just one of their nine veterinarian clinics in West Yorkshire. Looking at the architecture of the building it is old and will no doubt have a fascinating history and worthy of further research. Then there are street names, they can often tell a story. Sutherland Road at Lightcliffe, that name comes from the Sutherland Walker family who lived at Lightcliffe before moving to Skibo Castle, Sutherlandshire in Scotland c1867. Co-operative Buildings, Bailiff Bridge, this was named after the Brighouse Co-operative Society who opened a branch in Bailiff Bridge in 1876. Street furniture which can include mile posts, drinking fountains, and troughs for horses: are there any statues, memorials. It was only by sheer luck that the late Ivor Davis, a long-time employee at Firths Carpets saw the company wooden war memorial thrown out in a skip. Thankfully, Ivor saved the day, and that memorial is now proudly displayed on the firstfloor landing at Brighouse Central Library. Whilst local history in a town centre is always visible at ground level, at the first-floor exterior it has probably never changed from when the building was first built. The ground floor will have with the different styles and materials used on the windows and doors. Don’t forget to look under your feet — drain covers manhole covers, hydrant and valve covers. It is on the latter you could spot the name of Blakeborough. This Brighouse company was around from 1828 to 1989 and whilst the business may have gone those valve covers can be found not just in this country but around the world. Sometimes farmers have used old bricks for footpaths and inclines for tractor traffic. Look at the bricks they could have names on such as Henry Birkby, the Wyke brick company or Brooke’s at Lightcliffe and the Brick and Tile Company at Rastrick just to name three. This is a coloured brick (the black colour is actually dark blue) and a couple of years ago was for sale on eBay, the internet auction website for £80. If a property has had some changes to its front elevation — windows blocked, new modern style doors it is likely the rear of the house will not have changed. Always ask for permission to view the rear and always ask if you can take a photograph. Keep an eye on eBay, I have bought many local items of our local history and not paid a lot for them. You are now ready to venture out into the world of local history. I can guarantee the more you get to know the more you want to know. Stuck with a local history question, you can always email me. Calder Vets, Huddersfield Road junction with Lords Lane, Rastrick.

14 Looking back over the centenary of St Chad’s School: 1895-1995 Flat caps, braces for the boys and shawls for the girls, these outfits were not standard school uniform in the summer of 1995 when this photograph was taken. It was all part of a special year of centenary celebrations for St Chad's school at Hove Edge. The 1880 and 1890s Brighouse and Hove Edge was vastly different than the town and community we all know today, no electric street lights in those days. Yes, there were street lights but the gas giving the illumination had to be lit with a flame by a man who was employed as the lamplighter. He would be the same man who went around snuffing out the gas lights in the morning. Then with his long pole would double as the 'knocker' tapping on bedroom windows to make sure everyone was up getting ready for work in the mills and early starts in the quarries. Life for these children in June 1995 would have been far different that a century ago. It was likely they would be half-timers which meant an early start in the morning to work half the day at the mill and then off to school in the afternoons. Getting to the mill meant walking to-and-from with no busses as we know them today, not even a tram for the people of Hove Edge until 1904. The Brighouse Echo was not launched until Friday 24, June 1887. Not that the youngsters at the new school would have been bothered about it. They would have been more enthusiastic about the street partying for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Or a visit to the fledgling new entertainment centre in Walterclough Valley which they would all become familiar with and call 'Bunces' Lots of things have happened in the 100 years since the school gates were opened for the first time. In September 1893 Brighouse gained its Borough status, there was great celebration and rejoicing throughout the town. This all came together when James Parkinson, the new Town Clerk read out the Incorporation of the Borough on ‘Charter Day’, in what is now Thornton Square. The celebrations extended to many of the surrounding communities. This was the start of some major changes in the town, things we take for granted now. The disposal of sewage was greatly improved following the opening of the sewage and outfall works at Cooper Bridge in 1895. The construction of the Mill Lane gas works started in 1895 and the municipal electricity supply was started when the new council bought out the plant of Mr A.B.Brook in Hall Street at the back of the Public Offices (Brighouse Civic Hall). With so much going on would the new Borough have the time and money to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee o f Q u e e n Victoria in 1897. Of course, it did and to commemorate that historic event the Council sponsored a scheme by securing the Rydings Park and buildings to be used for a Free Library, Museum and Park which was bought by public subscription. The Hove Edge quarries of Joseph Brooke would be a hive of activity and with the company about to be the first to patent and manufacture the nonslip flagstone in 1898. This company would see more and more people particularly local people being employed there for generations to come. For these children (left to right) Matthew Noden, David Noble, Rachel Bradley, and Carly Briggs who posed for this photograph 28 years ago, taking part in the school's centenary celebrations and being taught what life would have been like for children that late Victorian era. The centenary quilt the children are holding was made by the children and teachers at St Chad's School.

15 Freedom of the Borough of Brighouse 1893 - 1974 The highest honour a town or city can pay to one of its citizens is granting a person the Honorary Freedom of the Borough or City, a rare event in any town's affairs. A statistic that may surprise some readers is the number of persons awarded this, the highest honour a council can bestow, has been granted in Brighouse before our old Borough Council became a piece of history in 1974. Since 1893 and the Incorporation of the Borough this prestigious award has gone to only 11 distinguished people. They are the following. Alderman William Smith J.P. along with his wife Mrs Susannah Smith on March 22, 1910. They gave us both the Smith Art Gallery and the Smith Orphanage, now the William Henry Smith School, Alderman Robert Thornton JP on June 28, 1916, who gave us the Thornton Cottage Homes at Rastrick, Thornton Square and the clock on the Town Hall. On September 25, 1943, the award was granted to four people on the same day: Alderman John Floyd Bottomley JP; Brigadier General Richard Edgar Sugden, CB, CMG, DSO, TD; George Frederick Sugden JP and Joseph Ellis. What authority was necessary for the council to approve a person for this distinguished honour? The criteria can be found in the Council minutes which reads: The Council of a Borough may by a resolution passed by not less than two thirds of the members voting at a meeting of the Council, which had been specially convened for the purpose and admit to be an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Brighouse. This is the highest honour which a council may bestow. The last Freedom of the Borough presentation was held on Friday April 17, 1964, when four Aldermen were honoured in this way. These were Alderman Gilbert Lawson MBE, Alderman Edwin Rigby Hinchliffe OBE, Alderman John Vincent Floyd Bottomley CBE, JP and Alderman Wilfrid Whiteley CBE. The presentation was held at the Art Gallery with a platform party that consisted of the Mayor, Honorary Freemen, Deputy Mayor, Town Clerk, Aldermen, Councillor Baldwin, and the Mayor’s Chaplain the Rev. J.G.Hughes MA. At the completion of the ceremony the platform party left to attend a celebration dinner at the Assembly Rooms. But who were these men being honoured? Alderman Gilbert Lawson MBE was born in 1890 in Halifax and his family came to live in Brighouse when he was still a child. He was educated at Victoria Infants School and later at the Rastrick Common Boys School. His part-time working life started when he was 12 years old in a cotton mill until he left school the following year to become an apprentice at a local engineering firm. During the First World War he worked in Sheffield and returned after the war to work at Thompson and Munroe, Atlas Mill Road, for the next 40 years until he retired in 1957. He was elected to the council in 1929 at a byelection and became an Alderman in 1937. Whilst he worked on a number of committees he will always be remembered for his work in local housing. He was the Chairman of the Housing and Property Committee for 20 years. It has been said many times that it is thanks him that we have never had high-rise flats in the old Borough area. He was affiliated to the Labour Party and assisted in the founding of the Elland Divisional Labour Party which included Brighouse, in 1917. He went on to serve in many offices in the local Labour Party. In 1953 he was awarded the MBE for his public services and the TUC Silver Medal for his services to the Trades Council and a certificate of Merit and Medal for his 31 years’ service to the Amalgamated Engineering Union. He was a keen sportsman initially as a member of the Brighouse Harriers and then in later life as a bowler. Today his name lives on in Brighouse town centre when Police Street was renamed Lawson Road in his honour.

16 The second recipient of this prestigious award is Alderman Edwin Rigby Hinchliffe OBE. He was born in Skipton in 1896, but from his early childhood he was brought up in Holmfirth. He was educated at Holmfirth National School and then later at Holmfirth Secondary School wh ic h d ur ing th is wa s amalgamated with the Holmfirth Grammar School. He left school in 1912 and was employed in a solicitor’s office until 1916 when he joined the Royal Navy. He left the service in 1919 and in 1926 he was articled with the Brighouse firm George Furniss, Roberts and Co solicitors. He qualified as a solicitor in 1930 and four years later became a partner in Roberts, Son and Hinchliffe. He was elected as a Liberal on the Brighouse Borough Council in 1936. In 1945 he was appointed an Alderman and held the office of Mayor of the Borough in 1954. He was a member of many council committees, but education was his chief interest. For many years he was a governor at Brighouse Girls’ Grammar School and was present at many of the new schools built during the 1950s. He was actively involved with Holly Bank School, Huddersfield and William Henry Smith School at Rastrick. He was in his younger days an active sportsman and was at member of the Brighouse Cricket Club. He was honoured in 1960 by the Queen when he was invested with the OBE for community service. Alderman John Vincent Floyd Bottomley was the third generation of his family to p a r t i c i p a t e i n l o c a l government. His grandfather, John Carr Bottomley, was the Chairman of the old Brighouse Local Board (the fore runner to the Borough Council) for 12 years. JVF was educated at Hipperholme4 Grammar School and then at Huddersfield Technical College where he took a chemistry course. He then joined the family business J.C.Bottomley and Emerson at Brookfoot. He was elected as a Conservative councillor to Brighouse Borough Council in 1936 and served on many committees. He was the Mayor from 1944 to 1946. He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace (JP), in 1950 and from 1957 he was the Chairman of the Bench. I have a recording of an interview he gave in the mid-1970s about his life and Brighouse throughout that time. In 1964 he was honoured by the Queen as a CBE for his political and public services. The fourth and final recipient is Alderman Wilfrid Whiteley CBE. He was born in Huddersfield in 1882 and was educated at Paddock. His working life started in a wool warehouse, and at a printers and then 18 years at a provision’s merchants. However, most of his working was as a Labour Party Agent. He was a member of Parliament for Ladywood, Birmingham from 1929 to 1931. He was elected a member of the Brighouse Borough Council in 1938 and served on numerous council committees He was appointed an Alderman in 1945 and was the Mayor from 1947 to 1952. During his tenure as Mayor, he was awarded the CBE for his political work and public works. In his younger days he too was a keen sportsman and was for many years the President of the North Eastern Brass Band Association and the Vice President of the National Brass Band Association. Each of the recipients were presented with a Certificate of Freedom on vellum scrolls illuminated with the Borough Arms with blue Persian Morocco backings along with an inscribed silver salver. The presentation of the Freedom of the Brighouse Borough came to an end when Brighouse was incorporated into the new Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council in April 1974. A total of 11 people were honoured with the award between 1893 and 1974.

17 Flashes In June 1940, Huddersfield Corporation ceased to operate tramcars. The last one from the Brighouse terminus outside the George Hotel rumbled over the hill via Crowtrees Lane and then from Fixby on to Huddersfield for the last time. Electric trolleybuses took the place of trams for the next 15 years. A Second World War tale from the Home Front. Rockets were never fired ‘in anger’ at Southowram, but unfortunately one was launched by accident one night in 1944. The story goes that fuses were being tested on guide rail. These rails usually held ‘dead’ practice rockets but somehow and I do remember someone telling me that the authorities did not know who did it and they are not going to find out now, but it was over 45 years ago…! Some how a ’live’ one had slipped onto the rails. The rocket made a spectacular flight in the direction of Thornhill near Dewsbury. The rocket embedded itself in a railway banking and thankfully did not explode. It was said that the only casualty was the tester himself who ended up in hospital with burns. Flashes The story goes that not long after the Brighouse Echo newspaper was launched in 1887 a story appeared about a talking parrot. The story involved a horse and cart that had to be pulled out of the canal. But the question has to be how did the horse get in the canal with the cart . The licensee at The Anchor public house (the name was changed in 2000 to The Bridge) used to keep a parrot and when it was nice weather it would hang outside the pub doorway One day a man left his horse and cart outside the same doorway and went inside for a drink. He had only just got inside when the talkative parrot started squawking the words ‘Back, back, back’. The parrot kept saying it and the horse did as it was told until it ended up in the canal. The parrot then squawked ‘Ger-up’ . Inevitably it took a lot of trouble to get both the horse and the cart out of the canal. Not surprisingly the parrot was never seen again after that incident. Notes from the Council Chamber 1929/30 The General Purposes Committee met on January 20, 1930 to discuss a letter which the council had received from Alan Cobham Aviation Ltd. The company was offering to carry out a detailed survey of the Borough with a view to ascertaining the most suitable site for a municipal airport. The committee had no objection as long as no expense was incurred by the council. A further meeting took place on January 29, to discuss another letter which had been received from Alan Cobham Aviation Ltd. To carry out the detailed survey would cost the council 50 guineas. The council decided to take no further action on this matter. The Water and Baths Committee held a meeting on March 17, 1930, when the water manager reported that he had received applications from Mr J. Squire and Messrs Briggs and Sons for a supply of water to houses in the course of erection in Armitage Avenue and Dewhirst Road respectively, and that in order to give these supplies the mains would require extending: Armitage Avenue, 4” main 52 yards the estimated cost would be £23.19.11 and Dewhirst Road, 4” main 74 yards and the estimated cost would be £33.16.6. The committee resolved that the Water Manager be authorised to proceed with the work. The Education Committee held a meeting on March 11, 1930 to discuss the matter of Victoria Infant School being closed. The committee agreed that the current schools reorganisations scheme had not yet been finally settled. The matter was to be given further consideration when the scheme was completed and could then be presented to the full council. A further meeting took place on April 8, 1930, when the Director of Education reported that as from April 1, 1930, the Victoria Infants’ School had been merged into the Longroyd Infants’ School. The Watch Committee held a meeting on September 15, 1930. This was to discuss a letter which had been received from Southowram UDC (Urban District Council). The letter was asking under what terms the Brighouse Corporation Fire Brigade would attend fires in Southowram. This matter was deferred for further discussion by a sub-committee would then report back to this committee.

18 The Vicar’s Bible Class in 1932 People often tell me that they really enjoy looking at photographs with lots of people on, especially if it is possible to identify any of them, whether it be their own relatives or just someone they knew as children. In this photograph clearly dated April 17, 1932, are 40 people and a dog and on this occasion the only name I cannot include is that of the dog. Something else I am often asked is if I knew a particular person because they were a distant relation of the questioner. Older people often ask if I remember 'Bobby..........' so and so, for younger readers that is what many of the older readers called their local policeman in their younger days. Quite often the people I am being asked about are no longer with us and in many instances died many years ago. Although I can remember most people, to get over the problem of knowing countless other names I could never remember even if I knew them I am in the process of creating a names index of as many people as possible who lived within the old Borough boundary. I am of course meaning former residents who have long since died. To date this index has more than 25,000 names and addresses, in some cases dating back to the early 1800s. I am hoping that one day the list will exceed a quarter of a million. The obvious way of looking for someone now a days is to look through the telephone directory. Well, if you lived in the Brighouse area in 1946 and had a telephone I can find you in a Bradford and Leeds telephone directory for that year which I have. Yes, surprisingly those areas are in the same book. Another telephone directory I have is the 1939 equivalent of the Yellow Pages. This half inch thick book surprisingly covered the whole of the East and West Riding areas. Fifty years ago, the old Yellow Pages book was full of industries and trades that either do not exist anymore or are very few in number, whilst on the other hand many other businesses have mushroomed to huge numbers over the last 50 years. For example, there is only one entry f or what is described as burglar prevention equipment but there is half a page or more of blacksmiths to choose from. Apart from the one that used to be at the bottom of Ogden Lane at Rastrick where would you find a blacksmith in Brighouse these days ?. Back in the old days you could ring Brighouse 916 and book a room at The Grove at Brookfoot or 862 and speak to the Black Horse at Clifton. You had no problems finding a boot and shoe rivet maker or someone to sterilize your telephone for you. As always there was C. Wood’s of Brighouse 1 if you needed a taxi. Returning to the photograph members of the Bible Class on that day were: Top, from the left: F.Sugden; T.Steele; H.Robertshaw; J.Bray; H.Taylor; C.Rawlinson; A.Riley; J.Robinson; F.Dyson; F.Taylor; J.Taylor; J.Maltby; A.Eccles; W.Kitson; G.T.Chappell; K.Dews; F.Battye; R.Steele; J.Booth; C.Eckersall and H.Wilcock. Front Row: D.Gledhill; N.Gill; F.Radcliffe; A.Nutter; W.Grummett; G.Barraclough; Jack Ellis; H.M.Broadley (secretary-Treasurer); Rev. H.R.Evers (Chairman); N.Clayton; J.A.R.Mellor; Joseph Ellis (Auditor); F.Womersley; N.Clay; R.Willey; A.B.Maude; S.Spink; J.Stirzaker; J.Earnshaw and not forgetting Simon the dog.

19 ‘If you want to know the time ask a policeman‘, that was the title of a Victorian music hall song. The lyrics were written by Edward Rogers and the melody was composed by Augustus Durandeau and when the music hall comedian James Fawn (1848 – 1923) included it in his act, it became a massively popular song. Within just a few years the sheet music had sold a remarkable half a million copies. In my policing days in the early 1970s I do remember being asked for the time on many occasions Setting that aside before the majority of local people actually had a means of their own to tell the time they would have had to rely on the public clocks in and around the town. On this first photograph is George Corner which takes its name from the George Hotel. When the first tramcar arrived in Brighouse from Halifax in February 1904 and the terminus was at the George Corner having a clock made sense. The clock is clearly visible under the George Hotel sign Some readers may also recall during the 1960s and 1970s there was a St Johns Ambulance box on the wall with the necessary First Aid equipment if some one had either had or been involved in an accident. The second photograph shows the Town Hall in Thornton Square. The Town Hall building was built and opened in 1887. It was in 1914 when the Mayor Robert Thornton donated enough money so the frontage had some balustrade fitted and a new clock. The clock was given the nick name by many local people as ’Owd Bob’ and once the triangular shaped Holroyd Building property was demolished, the open space was named Thornton Square after the mayor. That is the second town centre clock which helped local shoppers know the time. Particularly when the buses were due in the temporary bus terminus outside the town hall. Our third and final public clock is over the entrance door into what was Whiteley ’s Newsagents. That clock was known by everyone whether you were one of the early morning workers going down to one of the many mills in Mill Lane or crossing the road to make your way to one of the mill premises in Victoria Mills in Huddersfield Road or down Birds Royd Lane to the many mill businesses which employed hundreds of local people. It was also know to courting couples who would arrange to meet ’under the clock’ then buy some sweets at Whiteley’s and off to the Albert Cinema, no doubt hoping for one of the double seats at the back was still vacant. Sadly, whilst two of these clocks are still in situe neither of them are working. I am aware that the owners of the buildings have tried to get them working but it does now appear they are beyond repair. Perhaps with everyone having a watch and a mobile phone that gives the time. It may be that the public clock is now a thing of the past. I would certainly like to see the Town Hall clock working again if sufficient funding can be raised — ‘Just Giving’ with everyone chipping in might be the answer. Why is time standing still in the town centre? Brighouse Town clock during the Second World War era. George Corner tramcar terminus c1910. Whiteley’s corner clock during the 1950s.

20 Local Bobby turned Blacksmith I am sure those readers who have spent hours, weeks and in some cases years researching their family history, will have spent endless moments starring at brightly lit microfilm screens in libraries searching for that one missing name they are keen to find in one of the census returns. I am sure that followers of this booming interest in family history will ha ve noticed that when searching through these old census returns in most villages the same family names appear time after time. Some of these old family members were highly respected members of the village community. They could have been the village doctor, church minister, the major employer, local policeman, the corner shop keeper, head teacher at the village school and the landlord of the village pub. There were others of course, the lady who delivered babies, and it was probably the same lady who helped to lay out the dead and the village blacksmith. Bailiff Bridge is a typical example that had all these a century ago. This rare photograph shows inside the Bailiff Bridge blacksmith's shop, a hive of activity back in the days of the horse drawn method of transport. Even with the arrival of the first tramcar from Brighouse in 1904 horse power was still leading the way for many people and workplaces. In Bailiff Bridge the village blacksmith was Tom Greaves, someone who was as well known in the village as the Bellman (This was a man who would walk past house clanging his bell in a village at moonrise and was known by everyone and is often used as a reference to anyone who is well known in a community). Thomas (Tom) Greaves was not born in Bailiff Bridge but in Doncaster in 1848. In 1880 he successfully applied to join the West Riding Constabulary and on August 20 he was sworn in as PC 858. His first posting was to the Morley Division which in those days included the Brighouse area. He had barely been in the job a few months when he was up graded to a second grade constable, following this appointment he was posted to Brighouse. Whether it was the effects of the Brighouse Irish Riots of 1882 we will never know but I understand he did leave before completing his twentyfive year's service. Having left the service he opened a business as the village blacksmith in Bailiff Bridge. On the Bailiff Bridge War Memorial is reference to Acting Sergt-Major Arthur Tom Greaves, 43 years, R.A.M.C., who was living at 21, Allan Royd Bailiff Bridge, who died of smallpox on October 2, while serving with the East Africa Expeditionary Force in 1918. He was one of the many young men who went to war and never fired a shot in battle and died on a hospital ship that was bringing him and many others back home. Tom expected his eldest son to take over the firm after his retirement but when the family was informed of Arthur's death there seemed little need to carry on with the business. On October 3, 1917, he sold his business which made him £228.5s, which in those days would have taken care of him and his family very nicely. Tom Greaves died not long after the First World War at his home on Bradford Road (Allan Royd), Bailiff Bridge. Even long after he had left the police service he was still often referred to as 'Bobby Greaves'. A rare look at Thomas Greaves blacksmith’s shop.

21 Turner’s lasting history legacy to Brighouse The name of Joseph Horsfall Turner will mean little to some readers but anyone who is interested in local history his books on the subject are a must. It was announced on May 2, 1915, that Joseph Horsfall Turner died at his home in Idle, Bradford, aged 71. I first came across his name more than 50 years ago when my own interest in the local history of Brighouse and its surrounding communities started. The first of his books I purchased was his 1893 history of ‘Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme’. In those days I remember paying almost £20, not long after it soared in price, but has now dropped back to a more realistic price. A copy in very good condition with the front fly sheet and the map half way through the book still intact can cost between £40 - £70. The price for a reprinted copy can be as low as £15 and even cheaper for a copy on a CD. But, for me and other book collectors an original 1893 copy in mint condition still with its musty smell and thickness of paper has to be the first choice. Horsfall Turner was born at Granny Hall on Granny Hall Lane (where the rose garden is) on April 10, 1845. In 1869, he married Mary Bentley. In his adult life he became a schoolteacher, and it is recorded on the Calderdale Council website ‘Glimpse at the Past’ pages that he opened the Albert Academy, Brighouse. I believe this will be the Albert Place Academy, which was situated behind the former Yorkshire Bank. It is also recorded that he opened the YMCA in Brighouse in 1870. The name Albert Place can still be seen over the passageway next to the bank building. In 1873 he left Brighouse having accepted an appointment at Idle, near Bradford. He lived at Cockshott Lane, Idle in 1901 and Westfield, Idle at the time of his death in 1915. In 1878, now as a resident of Bradford on May 9, he attended a meeting in the offices of Messrs. Glossop and Gray, Mann's Court, Kirkgate, Bradford. This meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a local antiquarian society. At the end of the meeting and the proposition was carried with Horsfall Turner seconding the motion, the new society was named Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society and was formed. It was three weeks later when the society held its first meeting at The Globe Hotel, Piccadilly, Bradford. There were 35 members present and another familiar name from Brighouse at that time Fairless Barber FSA., one of the secretaries of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, was invited 'to make practical suggestions about a future programme'. He suggested that the manorial records should be examined and emphasised the urgent need to record the recent history of Bradford. He would, he said, also like to see written up the history of each of the local churches and chapels and recommended that the society should start immediately to Joseph Horsfall Turner Granny Hall, the birthplace of Joseph Horsfall Turner The present day site of Granny Hall at the junction with Granny Hall Lane and Blackburn Road.

22 maintain a pictorial and photographic record of the Bradford area which was fast disappearing. After his speech, the code of rules was discussed, a few amendments made, and the meeting adjourned to June 22, again at the Globe Hotel. Horsfall Turner’s output was phenomenal covering a vast area far beyond his home town of Brighouse. A comprehensive list can be found on the Internet with many of his titles can be found for sale on eBay as well as many quality antiquarian book shops. I have bought many of Horsfall Turner’s publications and to describe them as fascinating is an understatement. We have all probably bought history books where you get a few facts on each page but usually supplemented with the rest of the page being made up of ‘padding’. Two the most recent books I bought that he wrote and published are not our local history at all. The first ‘A Three Months’ Tour in the United States and Canada’ was printed and published by R.H.Ashworth Ltd of 37, Commercial Street, Brighouse. Read his story which is also in this magazine). This book is based on 16 letters that had been published in the Brighouse Observer newspaper (first published in 1912 had closed down by the end of First World War). The second book which was published in 1904 by the Brighouse Echo is titled ‘A Tour in Athens, Palestine and Cairo’. Both these books are in first class mint condition. In Horsfall Turner’s books every line tells you something new. If you have the chance of buying any of his publications, they will come at a high price (depending on condition) look out for them. If on the other hand you have one and are considering selling it, please remember that the high price does not work the other way for the seller as well. Horsfall Turner’s research interests made him a prolific writer and editor. With more that 100 titles, relevant to his antiquarian and naturalist interests and many of these can be found under his name in the Calderdale Central Library catalogue. These publications represent only a fraction of his work, which also included frequent contributions to local newspapers. He also took it upon himself to reprint a number of scarce local works – very much a labour of love, as it often involved considerable financial loss to him. His research also attracted vast quantities of correspondence. It was because of the sheer volume he was receiving that he founded the quarterly periodicals Yorkshire Notes and Queries, Yorkshire Folk-Lore Journal, Yorkshire Bibliographer, Yorkshire Genealogist and the Yorkshire County Magazine. In December 1901 he was declared bankrupt. However, his creditors were paid in full by January 1902. Joseph Horsfall Turner died on May 2, 1915, in Idle a century ago. Part of his collection of books was acquired by Halifax Corporation for the sum of £50. This is a unique collection that has been carefully maintained and continues to this day to encourage people’s interest in local history. There is a special local history collection at the Central Reference Library in Halifax which is named after Joseph Horsfall Turner, the a noted antiquarian of the Victorian and Edwardian periods. https://new.calderdale.gov.uk// leisure/local-history/glimpse-past/people/josephhorsfall-turner If you have the chance to buy any of his local history books seize the opportunity. Many reader will remember going to the British Gas showrooms on Park Street, either to pay a gas bill or look for the latest gas fire or a new gas hob and oven. Visiting to pay your gas and electricity bills, a little bit of shopping on the market and then meet up with a few friends at the Brighouse Co-op café on King Street. Can you remember its name …? That for many older people was a day out in town. Sadly when it closed along with the YEB showroom there seemed little point in going to town. Park Street gas showrooms Inside the British Gas showrooms on Park Street during the early 1990s. Little did these members of staff know that in 1996 this branch would be closed. Can you name the branch staff ?

23 The multi-faceted printing business of Robert Ashworth Robert Henry Ashworth who started his printing business as the Victorian era was drawing to a close, went on to have a thriving multi-faceted business in Brighouse. He was born in Bacup in Lancashire in 1871 and for a number of years worked in Penrith before settling in Brighouse working for Albert Benjamin Bayes as his foreman printer compositor. Albert Bayes was born in 1835, in Lumbutts and became a member of the Calder Valley Poets. He was also a Quaker, living at Bradford and Todmorden before settling in Brighouse where there was a well established Quaker community who used to meet at the Friends Meeting Place in Huddersfield Road with a Quaker burial ground just off Birds Royd Lane, which closed in 1880. By 1871 he was an established stationer and three years later he had business premises in Briggate as a printer and stationer and was also an advertising agent. By 1881 he was a letter-press printer and stationer employing three men and six boys. Ten years later he was also a newspaper publisher and owner and a book seller operating from what was called The Gazette Office, at the top of Briggate. Publications that are credited to his business include the Brighouse and Elland Express, this first appeared in March 1873. The name was changed to the Brighouse and Rastrick Express but within its first year of publication the name was changed once again this time to the Brighouse and Rastrick Gazette. In addition to publishing newspapers he also published Bayes’s Almanac. I have two of these and they are a potpourri of news both local and further afield accompanied with numerous local advertisements. He published Joseph Horsfall Turner’s four volume edition of ’The Rev Oliver Heywood BA Diaries (1630-1702). To find a single copy on internet auction sites is quite common but to find all four is extremely rare and they command a very high price. This was the world of print that Robert Ashworth was moving into. The business owned by his employer Albert Bayes came on the market in March 1894 and with his experience Ashworth bought the business. The business was ideally placed at the top of Briggate to attract even more business. The premises were five–storeys high. The ground floor windows always had on display the very latest stationery, books, illustrated printed materials, photographic views, portraits, fancy goods and much more. It also had the very latest in electric lighting through out the business. In the late 1890s he also had premises at 37, Commercial Street. Another important aspect of his business was his introduction of a circulating library which had a quarterly subscription of 2/6d. This kind of library attracted many subscribers with the number growing each quarter. It is fair to say that Robert Ashworth was a master of his craft. In 1890 he married Mary Clayton from Southowram. Throughout what was sadly a short time together they had three children. Bertha (b1896), Hilda Clayton (b1898) and Robert Henry who was born in 1903. In 1902 he developed rheumatic fever from an earlier bout of influenza. On September 2, 1902 just aged 31 he died at his family home and was interred at Brighouse Cemetery. Working out the dates it is apparent that his wife would have been expecting the birth of their son, who was born shortly after Robert’s death and the likely reason for the new son being named after his father. There is a lengthy obituary in the September 5th issue of the Brighouse News. In 1911 his wife was a boarding house keeper. He was the Honorary Secretary at the Albion Bowling Club at Lane Head. Robert Henry Ashworth came to Brighouse as an employee but went on to be a young but very successful businessman. As his business grew he had premises not only in Commercial Street and the top of Briggate but also in Park Street and at 22, Bethel Street. Sadly all that success came to an end on his unexpected death in 1902. In 1911 his wife Mary was a Boarding House keeper.

24 Brighouse Parish Church bells The bells of St Martin’s Parish Church in Brighouse were installed in 1874 and over the years had many people who will have experienced the enjoyment of being a church bell ringer. Having enhanced the notices pinned on the back wall it is possible to date this photograph to c1990. The bell ringers are back row from the left: Eric Lord, Alison Williams, Tina Newsome and Harry Renshaw. On the front from the left are Arlene Lord, who has since moved away and David Townend. The bell ringing captain, Andrew Fawbert, is missing from this photo. With the exception of Arlene Lord and Harry Renshaw, all these ringers are still active today. Harry Renshaw passed away in December 2006. He suffered a mini-stroke whilst ringing. He missed the sally (the fluffy part at the bottom of the bell ringing rope) only once and then recovered but it was obvious to the rest of the band what had happened. He did not ring again. The Brighouse Ringers had marked his 80th birthday at the end of April 2004, when at an annual dinner he was presented with a memorial bell and a framed photograph of the church which he had served so well for many years, not only as a Ringer but also as a Server. Recognition of his service was also acknowledged by the receipt of Maundy Money in Wakefield Cathedral in 2005. He was first taught bell ringing in 1943 when the wartime restriction on ringing Church bells was lifted. He became a member of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers in 1954. Harry was always pleased to be included in the Sunday Service ringing, mainly ringing the treble, sometimes the tenor, but he did ring inside to a bell ringing method called ‘Plain Bob Minor’ in May 1989. This was to mark his retirement from his life-long work at Firths Carpets, Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse. However, the lasting memory the Brighouse Ringers have of Harry is the devotion he had to Sunday Service ringing. He was invariably the first to arrive and the work he did as Steeple Keeper (someone who has been appointed to maintain a bell installation in a safe and effective working condition) for many years. He is sorely missed. On Sunday December 31, 2006, at Brighouse in honour of Harry the bell ringers performed a bell ringing method called ‘Yorkshire Surprise Major’, the ringers were: 1. Anne Worsman. 2. Eric Lord 3. Alison Williams 4. Tina Newsome 5. Neil Murray 6. Margaret Perrott 7. David Townend 8. Andrew Fawbert (Captain) Whiteley Singleton’s advertisement in the 1931 centenary anniversary edition of the St Martin’s Brighouse Parish Church magazine.

Brighouse at Work - From a small hamlet and a bridge, the town of Brighouse in Calderdale grew rapidly with the building of the Calder and Hebble Navigation in the late eighteenth century. This led to the development of the town’s successful textile industries. This is a book where almost a few lines will tell the reader something about the industrial heritage of Brighouse and its surrounding communities. The book is £14.99 + £3 postage packaging, for overseas orders please contact the author. PayPal is available as are cheques. Brighouse Through Time - 96 pages of both black and white and coloured images of aspects with views of Brighouse and its surrounding communities. Fascinating scenes displayed in a of 'then and now' format. £12.99 + £3. All in a Day’s Work — During the 1950s, Chris Helme was often asked by relatives: 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' A policeman was always his answer. A child of the Fifties, he was brought up to respect the local police who seemed to know everyone. All in a Day's Work: 30 Years as Brighouse Bobby is his journey to achieving that ambition culminating with being awarded the British Empire Medal for services to his community in 1990. A local bobby had to deal with everything that happened on his 'patch'. This book takes the reader through a catalogue of sad, humorous, and almost unbelievable incidents in the life of a local policeman. £12.00 + £3 p/p. This is now also available as an audiobook at Calderdale Library Service and other audiobook sources on the internet. Sunny Vale Pleasure Gardens, near Brighouse, opened as a garden in 1880 but with the inclusion of amusements in 1883 it became a hugely popular venue for Sunday strollers, local Sunday School groups and day trippers from around the north of England for the next seventy-five years. This collection of more than 180 images, complemented by detailed captions and reminiscences of the Gardens throughout their long history, will delight all who remember visiting as a child and provide a fascinating insight into this vanished, but not-forgotten, institution. £12.00 + £3 p/p. All these books can be purchased through www.chrishelme-brighouse.org.uk from the on-line shop or by contacting Chris Helme email: [email protected] — or by telephone 07854-755756 and Harrison Lords, Bradford Road Brighouse. If you wish to advertise your book on the website or in this magazine please contact the publisher. A new book has been commission and will be finished in November 2023 and then available in early Spring 2024. Back page outer cover: Taken in 1992, this shows the demolition of the old Hipperholme Tannery Mill at the junction of Leeds Halifax Road and Tanhouse Hill. A tanning industry was in this area from the 1700s. In 1867 James Lee (Lee’s Buildings, is named after him) bought Tan House Croft and built this mill on the site. In 1894, 60 workers were employed. The Lee family sold it to the Brookes family, and moved their business to Gardiners Square/Denholmegate Road. The old tanhouse mill had various uses through the 1980s including as camping centre. Following a fire in 1990 it had to be demolished.