Author: Dave Pattern

Lunchtime Club 2020

Kirklees Libraries’ Lunchtime Club is an informal meeting of people with an interest in local history. Meetings are held every two months in Huddersfield Central Library and begin at 1pm. Light refreshments are provided.

Although the talks are free, you are requested to book places in advanced at ticketsource.co.uk/kirkleeslibraries

The advertised talks for 2020 are:

  • 15 January World War One Peace Pageant in Dewsbury by local historian Stuart Hartley
  • 11 March “I Wished to Tell the Truth”: Ann Bronte at 200 by Diane Fare, Bronte Society
  • 20 May Huddersfield in 50 Buildings by local author and historian Chris Marsden
  • 15 July A Bradford Pal by local author John Broadhead
  • 15 September Brass Bands Around Huddersfield c1840—1914: Inventing Myths of Northernness and Class in an Industrial Landscape by Dr Stephen Etheridge of Huddersfield University
  • 18 November A Brief History of Farming in Kirklees by historian Dr Stephen Caunce

Names, Places & People (2019)

Our latest publication, Names, Places & People: a selection of articles from Old West Riding, is now available to pre-order for £6.95 (+p&p).

This 160 page paperback book, which is edited by Cyril Pearce, will be launched on 23rd November 2019 at our Annual Study Day.

Old West Riding published 23 editions from 1981 to 1995. It was a joint venture by three local historians – Jennifer Stead, George Redmonds and Cyril Pearce. This collection of over a dozen articles is dedicated to George Redmonds, who died in August 2018.

Please note that copies ordered online will not be shipped until 23rd November.

ISBN: 9780992984120

Contents

  • Introduction
    • Selections from Old West Riding — Cyril Pearce
  • Language and Local Topography
    • Huddersfield and Yorkshire Dialect — Stanley Ellis
    • Surnames and Settlement — George Redmonds
    • Turf Pits — George Redmonds
  • Local Customs
    • Ringing Adam Bells 1 — Jennifer Stead
    • Ringing Adam Bells 2 — Jennifer Stead
  • The Textile Industry
    • Foundlers at Marsden — Philip Charlesworth
    • The Uses of Urine 1 — Jennifer Stead with Arthur Saul
    • The Uses of Urine 2 — Jennifer Stead
  • Two Historic Houses
    • The Bradley Family and their Newhouse — Edward J. Law
    • Woodsome Hall, Some Estate Correspondence — Edward J. Law
  • Going to America
    • West Riding Emigrants 1843 — George Redmonds
    • Emigration of the Scott Family and Friends 1842 — Jennifer Stead
    • John Broadbent (1795-1856) and the Vegetarian Colony, Kansas — Helen Broadbent
  • Early Modern Morality
    • Archbishop Neile’s Primary Visitation of the Huddersfield District, 1633 — John Addy

Marsden History Group 2020

The 2020 programme of events for Marsden History Group has now been announced, which includes four talks:

  • 9 March — Peterloo Retold 1819-2019 — Janette Martin
  • 11 May — Who was the real Anne Lister? — Jill Liddington
  • 13 July — Marsden Mechanics’ Men: The Movers & Shakers of 19th Century Marsden — Stephen Challenger
  • 9 November — A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden 1882-1960 — Les Garner

Further details can be found on the Marsden History Group web site.

Windrush Huddersfield Exhibition

Details of the Windrush Huddersfield Exhibition on Saturday 19th October 2019 are given below.

In celebration of Black History Month Education 2000, Amour Promotions and Kirklees Local TV in partnership with the University of Huddersfield Heritage Quays are delighted to invite you to our Windrush Huddersfield Exhibition.

Date: Saturday 19th October 2019

Venue: University of Huddersfield Archives, Heritage Quay

Time: Doors open at 12.30 pm

Refreshments and an opportunity to view the exhibitions of Venn Street Sound System and Culture Huddersfield, Echoes of Colonialism and the Windrush Generation Huddersfield

  • 1.15 pm: Windrush The Years After Documentary
  • 2.20 pm: Presentation Natalie Pinnock Hamilton, Denzil Nurse and Debbie Johnson
  • 3.00 pm: Windrush Panel, Questions and Answers
  • 3.30 pm: Close

Exhibition Overview:

Venn Street Sound System and Culture
This exhibition explores three generations of community activism, bringing reggae music to Huddersfield. The exhibition includes pictures of Sound System’s reggae music events, dance hall clashes, the camaraderie, fun and celebrates African Caribbean individuals, families and the community.

University of Huddersfield Archives, Heritage Quay: Echoes of Colonialism
This exhibition explores the impact of British colonialism throughout the world, as seen in Heritage Quay’s archive collections. Curated by University of Huddersfield History students, the display features textiles, sporting collections and more.

Windrush Huddersfield
The exhibition traces from the Caribbean’s history of enslavement through to African Caribbean peoples coming to Huddersfield between the 1940s and the 1980s. It portrays how those early pioneers created organisations and associations to create a safe space that enabled African Caribbean families to build solid and stable lives in Huddersfield.

Windrush The Years After Documentary
This documentary captures the memories of African Caribbean people and their families coming to England and settling in Huddersfield West Yorkshire between 1948 and 1972. The documentary highlights the personal testimonies of community activists, faith leaders, mothers, fathers, musicians, writers, professionals and others. People overcame barriers of race, prejudice and many forms of discrimination. Three generations of African Caribbean descendants showed courage and determination to succeed.

Presentations will include:

Debbie Johnson: Debbie has been developing skills as a genealogist for over ten years. Debbie will present the importance and excitement of tracing her family tree through DNA mapping and research.

Natalie Pinnock Hamilton: Natalie will present her early classroom experiences as a child and then as a teacher in the British education system.

Denzil Nurse: Denzil will share his experience within the Health Service, for example, the recruitmentjourney for African Caribbeans.

Our three presenters will form a panel and give the audience members an opportunity to ask questions.

Heritage Open Days 2019

Heritage Open Days is England’s biggest festival of history and culture. Every year, in September, thousands of sites across the country invite you in to explore local treasures of every age, style and function, and many special events are held. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences — and it’s all FREE. In 2019 it will run from 13 to 22 September. All events nationwide are posted on the Heritage Open Days website.

Locally the programme is coordinated by the Kirklees Heritage Open Days Committee, a Borough-wide partnership, supported by Discover Huddersfield. In 2019 the Kirklees programme offers a record total of 68 events, including 30 new ones.

The local brochure can be viewed here and will be widely available in print from about 19th August.

Discover Huddersfield will be offering several free walks, which must be pre-booked. Bookings will open on 24th August.

Discover Huddersfield Walks

Several of the upcoming Discover Huddersfield walks may be of interest to our members:

Huddersfield’s Significant Buildings

What do Huddersfield’s town centre buildings tell us about its history?

Chris Marsden, architectural historian and author of ‘Huddersfield in 50 Buildings’ will lead a guided walk on Thursday 20 June at 7.00pm.

Based on his recently published book, ‘Huddersfield in 50 Buildings’, author and architectural historian, Chris Marsden, will provide an authoritative insight into a wide variety of structures and offer an insight to how they form a critical record of the town’s development.

The walk, organised by the Discover Huddersfield partnership, starts at St. George’s Square (Harold Wilson statue), will last between 1.5 and 2 hours and costs £3 per person. No booking is required.

Lindley Chapels, Grand Houses and Mill Workers

One of the Discover Huddersfield partnership’s most popular guided walks over the past few years will again take place on Sunday 7 July. Local resident, David Verguson, will lead a walk through Lindley’s history, revealing the variety of historical features within one of Huddersfield’s most bustling urban communities.

The walk will uncover the story of the community’s development and the people and stories behind its growth. Following some lesser known footpaths, passing pubs, mills, chapels and grand houses, David will unveil the lives of mill owners and millworkers, Methodists and their memorials, a tinsmith and a sculptor.

The walk, which starts from Lindley Methodist Church on East Street, Lindley, at 2.30pm, will last between 1.5 and 2.0 hours.

The walk costs £3.00 per person but no booking is required.

Sculptures, Statues and Mosaics

An evening guided walk around the centre of Huddersfield will highlight the often overlooked wealth of sculptural and other public art in the town.

Led by Chris Marsden, former chairman of Huddersfield Civic Society and author of the recently published, ‘Huddersfield in 50 Buildings’, the walk will begin at 7.00pm on Thursday 18 July from the Harold Wilson statue in St. George’s Square and last approximately 1.5 hours.

The walk features a number of features of national importance, including the world’s largest ceramic panels at Queensgate Market and the stone figures outside the library as well as superbly carved figures such as on the Kirkgate Buildings, Lloyds TSB and Britannia Buildings.

Chris will reveal the background and artists responsible for the works as well as the stories behind various mosaics including ‘Systematic Sequence in Line and Shade’ and ‘Development of the Woollen Industry’.

The walks costs £3 per person but no booking is required.

Web Site Move

The Huddersfield Local History Society web site has been moved to a new web server.

We hope everything is working after the move but, if you experience any problems, please let us know! You can leave a comment on this page or you can send an email to our web site administrator: