DOCSLIB.ORG

Long History of Cottingley Town Hall

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Long History of Cottingley Town Hall HISTORY OF SCHOOL AND COTTINGLEY TOWN HALL Mr. Ellis Heaton, a former resident of Cottingley, wrote the following sketch in 1914. Mr. Heaton was brought up in Cottingley early in life and showed promise of great usefulness. He was appointed Secretary of the Sunday school, but very soon afterwards had to remove from the district. The ensuing history of the Town Hall is reproduced here in its original form. INTRODUCTION England is today a nation in arms. Europe is one vast battlefield. Little Belgium is once again the arena of international strife. We are living in the midst of wars and the alarums of wars. The guns are booming out from the Priory Cliff near my house; soldiers pass to and fro beneath my window. Only a few days ago the ships of the enemy came off our coast and wrought havoc in three of our seaside towns. The year 1814 was no less a time of wars and alarms, but the end was in sight. Napoleon, who had been the scourge of Europe for a dozen years, was a prisoner in Elba, and peace seemed sure. But 1815 saw his escape from that island prison, it saw the exciting events of the Hundred Days, it saw Napoleon's overthrow and his safe lodgement in the lonely southern isle of St. Helena. Such were the times in which a few brave pioneers still holding to the Gospel of Peace and Goodwill, converted a smithy into a Sunday School, and started the work, the history of which we are to trace in these pages, and over which we rejoice today. England had been drained by the wars. She had poured out her blood and her treasure and she was exhausted. But it was all over in June 1815. Oh that we might join to our Centenary and Jubilee Celebrations, the rejoicings over a lasting peace in which "Nation with Nation, land with land, arm in arm, shall live as comrades free, in every heart and brain shall throb the pulse of one fraternity." Christmastide 1914 E.W.H. CHAPTER 1 The Smithy that became a Sunday School Anyone making a tour of the village of Cottingley today can see for himself that the Cottingley of a hundred years ago must have been a much smaller place. The old houses cluster about the foot of the village or range themselves now on this side and now on that of the Main Street, which led in those days to the Old Hall that stood at the t op of the village. There were three houses of distinction in 1815. There was the Old Hall which dated from 1659 and belonged to the Ferrands of St. Ives. This was pulled down in 1872 but we have a reminiscence of it in the "Old Hall Well". Then there was the Grange, erected in 1671, the home of the Hollings family, with its pleasant garden sloping down to the beck and looking across to the ancient hostelry known as the Sun Inn. This inn stood on the old Coach Road and near it was the Smithy, which in 1815 became the Sunday School. Cottingley Hall (then known as Cottingley House) was of more recent date than the Old Hall or the Grange, and in 1815 it was occupied by Miss Sarah Ferrand. The inn was kept by the Fosters, one of whose daughters became the wife of James Moore. The inn had a good reputation and it was here that the "musicians" mentioned in the early accounts of the Sunday School took their refreshment when they came from surrounding villages to help in the anniversary. Can we picture to ourselves the England of 1815. The population was only eleven million souls. There were more than three-quarters of a million slaves in the British Empire, though slave trading had ceased some six years before. Wilberforce was then a man of fifty-six. Leeds was a little town of 80,000 inhabitants. Travelling was by coach. There were no trains or trams or cabs. There were only two steamers in the British Empire and together their tonnage was only 456. Gas was practically unknown. A Member of Parliament got up in the House and said "You might as well talk of ventilating London with windmills as talk of lighting the streets with gas." Duelling was common. Intemperance was an everyday fault. Laws were severe. Poachers could be transported for seven years. Men could be hung for stealing a sheep. The prisons were in a dreadful state. Elizabeth Fry had paid her first visit to Newgate in 1813 and was now fully launched on her career of mercy. Women could be flogged in public places. One person in every eleven was a pauper. Only one child in four was receiving any education whatsoever. Shelley wrote - "In countries that are free such starvation cannot be as in England now we see." Children were sent to work at the age of seven, and were often made to work 16 hours out of the 24: every child has read Charles Kingsley's story of the boy chimney sweeps of those days in "Water Babies". Can we wonder that men, whose hearts were touched with the love of Christ, brooded and yearned and eventually moved in the direction of service to Christ's "little ones", and overcame every obstacle, turning the village smithy into a school house, where every child might learn to read that he might "search the scriptures" and be able to say in the words of the psalm, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." It was towards the end of 1814 and in the early months of 1815 that those noble pioneer s rented the Smithy at the foot of the village from Joseph Hollings esquire, of Whetley Hall, in the parish of Bradford, and vested its management in a committee. They built better than they knew, but so careless were they of fame that they have not even left their names on record for us to honour. The school was to be conducted "on a liberal plan". There were to be no narrow tests. All who loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth and who therefore possessed the moral qualities such love ensures were welcomed as workers in the cause which knew no sect or party. We read in the records - "The Committee shall permit and suffer the children of parents of every denomination, sect and party to assemble in the said schoolroom for the purpose of instruction by such as shall be willing to labour gratuitously". "The said teachers shall be persons of good moral character, and shall not be objected to on account of his or her or their faith or principles." The work began as a Sunday School. This was the foundation on which they built. Parents and grown-up children had been in the habit of worshipping in the chapels and churches of Bingley, Shipley, Allerton and Wilsden. Occasional preaching services had been held in cottage houses prior to the conversion of the smithy into a school house. But now the committee took the further step of initiating "Preachings" in the village. There must have been many who could not travel to the towns and there was growing up a new generation linked to the school. What could be more wise or desirable than that they should commence preaching services in the schoolhouse. So we read the committee decided - "to permit and to suffer the said school-house to be open for the admission of preachers and ministers of all and every denomination whose lives and characters are respectable." Having secured that the right kind of person shall teach and preach the committee proceeded to make sound rules for the scholars. Here are two of them - "Any scholar, either boy or girl, heard swearing - the superintendent shall immediately have the boy or girl placed in a conspicuous part of the room for the space of ten minutes, with a piece of paper in his or her hand on which shall be written the offence." "Each scholar shall be obliged to observe due reverence towards their masters, superintendents and visitors." It is interesting to find that the committee urged superintendents candidly to put in practice the above resolutions. The earliest financial statement of which we have any record is for the year 1817, and occurs in the Sunday School "Accompt Book". The income for the year was just over £11, and there is a handsome balance at the close of £2.13.4½d. Some interesting items are - Two Dozen of Candles ... £0.16s.0d A Letter to London ... £0. 1s.0d. To the Musicians ... £0. 4s.11d. It is gratifying to find that the Ferrands and Joseph Hollings each contributed an annual gift of £1 to the funds. Both families belonged to the Anglican Communion. The earliest recorded names of workers are those of William Picard, Henry Moulden, John Hudson and J. Sugden. In 1818 we find a Thomas and a William Whitley, and in 1819, James Pollard. There is no mention of oil lamps till 1828: till then candles had served: this must have been chiefly for the preaching services, since the school meetings would generally be in daylight. A regularly recurring item of expenditure is - To "Whitewashing" the school, 2/6. By the year 1831 the school seems to have been thoroughly established and henceforth we find a complete record of its doings. From the Minutes of April 12th of that year we gather that "All teachers are expected to be in attendance ten minutes before school time".
Load more

Recommended publications
  • University of Huddersfield Repository
    University of Huddersfield Repository Bolam, Fiona Louise Working class life in Bradford 1900-1914 : the philanthropic, political and personal responses to poverty with particular reference to women and children Original Citation Bolam, Fiona Louise (2001) Working class life in Bradford 1900-1914 : the philanthropic, political and personal responses to poverty with particular reference to women and children. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4755/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ WORKING CLASS LIFE IN BRADFORD 1900-1914. THE PHILANTHROPIC, POLITICAL AND PERSONAL RESPONSES TO POVERTY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIONA LOUISE BOLAM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE IN DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY April 2001 Table of Contents ABSTRACT iv .............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Baptist Members of Parliament 1847-1914
    Baptist Members of Parliament 1847-1914 RELATIVELY few Baptists have reached the House of Commons. It is hard to give a precise total. Too little evidence survives, especially from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for any catalogue to be definitive, but a rough calculation would put their number over the centuries at about eighty. Of these, some thirty-eight, about half, sat in the parliaments of the period from 1847 to 1914.1 Before 1847 there had been no Baptist M.P.s at all for over sixty years, but from the parliament of that year they began to be returned in ones and twos. The trend was steadily upwards in the second half of the nineteenth century. This was both because the number of Baptists in the population was increasing and because more Baptists had achieved the social standing that was expected of a parliamentary candidate. The climax of the process came in 1906, when Baptists shared in the electoral triumph that brought some 180 Nonconformists into the Commons. There were therefore far more Baptist M.P.s towards the end of the period than near its beginning. They may be divided into three groups. First there is the handful who entered parliament before the Second Reform Act of 1867; secondly there is the larger number who were first returned between 1868 and 1899; and thirdly there is the sizable ·body of men elected between 1900 and 1914. Each group had characteristics stamped on them by their period, but each included men of outstanding individuality. This paper attempts to bring out something of what members of the groups had in common and also some of the personal qualities, even eccentricities, that marked them.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Huddersfield Repository
    University of Huddersfield Repository Marshall, William The creation of Yorkshireness: Cultural identities in Yorkshire c.1850-1918 Original Citation Marshall, William (2011) The creation of Yorkshireness: Cultural identities in Yorkshire c.1850- 1918. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/12302/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ he creation of Yorkshireness Cultural identities in Yorkshire c.1850-1918 WILLIAM MARSHALL A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersield in partial fulilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy he University of Huddersield September 2011 Abstract THE rapid expansion, wider distribution and increased readership of print media in the latter half of the nineteenth century helped to foster the process that has been described as the nationalisation of English culture.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergence of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford
    /. REYNOLDS K. LAY BOURN THE EMERGENCE OF THE INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY IN BRADFORD Opening the 21st anniversary of the ILP in Bradford in April 1914, J. H. Palin, one of Bradford's most prominent trade unionists, re- marked: "Of ordinary historical association, Bradford has none. In Domesday Book, it is described as a waste, and the subsequent periods of capitalist exploitation have done little to improve it. [...] The History of Bradford will be very largely the history of the ILP."1 Palin's remark - unjust as it is, perhaps, to a distinguished list of Victorian philanthropists - stands as testimony to the authority and influence which the labour movement in Bradford had acquired by that date. It also provides a clue to the origins of that authority and influence, for it demonstrates the importance which he and other Bradford trade unionists attached to their association with the in- dependent labour movement. Whatever the reactions of trade unionists in the rest of the country, in Bradford, trade unionists were vital to its success. Indeed, strong trade-union support proved to be an essential corollary of effective independent working-class political action. The purpose of this article is to examine the characteristics of the Bradford movement, and in particular to elucidate its relationship to the trade-union movement. The early protagonists of the ILP - trade unionists and others - shared a passionate enthusiasm, a millenarian conviction derived from their commitment to Socialism as they defined it, which gave many of their utterances a revolutionary fervour, and kindled violent antagonism among many respectable Bradford business men.
    [Show full text]
  • Bee-Hive“, 1864-1876 Compiled by Detlev Mares, Institute of History, Darmstadt University of Technology
    1 Index to the „Bee-Hive“, 1864-1876 compiled by Detlev Mares, Institute of History, Darmstadt University of Technology 1864-04-23: BH 001 Garibaldi's Forced Departure from England <Kopie> 1864-04-23: BH 001 many reports on Garibaldi-Visit <Kopie> 1864-04-23: BH 001 National Reform Conference <Kopie> 1864-04-23: BH 001 Working Men's Shakespeare Celebration <Kopie> 1864-06-04: BH 001 Public meetings in the Parks letter by Beales on right of public meeting 1864-06-04: BH 001 The Trades Newspaper Company (Limited) annual report by Potter, clash with Odger; Medland (painter), Mildred (carpenter), Wright, Vize, Dell, Connolly, Shaw, Dunning, Garland, Odger, Margrath, Troup, Graham, Battenbury, Hancock, Murray 1864-06-11: BH 001 Metropolitan Trades' Hall meeting at rooms of Universal League, 18 Greek Street, of friendly, trades, co-op, and working men's clubs delegates; rooms let gratuitously for the purpose to establish Central Working Men's Hall in London; 2 plans: Hartwell (ed. BH): for company under Limited Liability Act H. Solly: for company registered under Industrial Societies Act Weston (Joiner) chair, Odgers, Trimlett (Friends of Freedom Society of Carpenters), Hammett (City Ladies' Shoemakers), Edgar (St. James Co-operative Society) 1864-06-11: BH 001 Summary of the Week. Domestic ... Beales has prepared a legal paper proving right of people to meet in public parks, read to Right of Public Meeting Defence Cttee 1864-06-25: BH 001 General Garibaldi <Kopie> 2 1864-06-25: BH 001 Hearts of Oak Reform Movement W. Allen, sec. of the reform movement, in chair 1864-06-25: BH 001 Manhood Suffrage.
    [Show full text]
  • Race, Democracy and the American Civil War in the County of Yorkshire
    Durham E-Theses Race, Democracy and the American Civil War in the County of Yorkshire BENNETT, MARK,NEIL How to cite: BENNETT, MARK,NEIL (2018) Race, Democracy and the American Civil War in the County of Yorkshire, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12846/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Mark Neil Bennett Race, Democracy and the American Civil War in the County of Yorkshire A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy History Department, Durham University 2018 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author’s prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Mark Bennett – Race, Democracy and the American Civil War in the County of Yorkshire Between the shelling of Fort Sumter and the fall of Richmond, the British public followed closely the course of the Civil War in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Xerox University Microfilms
    INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or “target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Paga(s|“. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in “sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue photoing from, left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again - beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from “photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • KAC the Early Years
    Kilnsey Angling Club The Early Years J M Hodgson 2012 This book is number of a limited edition of 150 copies ISBN: 978-0-9573055-0-2 Published 2012 by J M Hodgson Coneydale Welwyn Garden City, AL8 7RZ © Copyright 2012 Kilnsey Angling Club Designed, typeset, printed and bound in Great Britain by Orphans Press Ltd., Leominster Plus ça change… Kilnsey is the head quarters of one of the most famous northern angling clubs, and here since its foundation in 1840, a long line of anglers, good, bad and indifferent, have found recreation and renewed vigour in the free mountain breezes and the fresh pastoral scenery, as a pleasant foil to the worry of town life. T. E. Pritt. Around Settle: A Holiday Book. 1888. The traditions, tales, legends and anecdotes of the long line of Kilnsey anglers would fll a large volume. Someday, perhaps when somebody has time, they may see the light. Meantime, it is enough for the public to know that the fshing is closed to all but members or their friends, or strangers with big pockets who do not mind paying prohibitive prices. T. E. Pritt. The Yorkshire Weekly Post. June 1885. Preface Established in 1840, Kilnsey Angling Club is amongst the earliest in the country and one of a very few that have survived from the early nineteenth century keeping its traditions intact. The club’s waters in their beautiful surroundings with their excellent fshing are nationally famous and over the years have been host to many well-known anglers. The club’s headquarters since its inception have been the Tennant Arms.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergence of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford
    /. REYNOLDS K. LAY BOURN THE EMERGENCE OF THE INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY IN BRADFORD Opening the 21st anniversary of the ILP in Bradford in April 1914, J. H. Palin, one of Bradford's most prominent trade unionists, re- marked: "Of ordinary historical association, Bradford has none. In Domesday Book, it is described as a waste, and the subsequent periods of capitalist exploitation have done little to improve it. [...] The History of Bradford will be very largely the history of the ILP."1 Palin's remark - unjust as it is, perhaps, to a distinguished list of Victorian philanthropists - stands as testimony to the authority and influence which the labour movement in Bradford had acquired by that date. It also provides a clue to the origins of that authority and influence, for it demonstrates the importance which he and other Bradford trade unionists attached to their association with the in- dependent labour movement. Whatever the reactions of trade unionists in the rest of the country, in Bradford, trade unionists were vital to its success. Indeed, strong trade-union support proved to be an essential corollary of effective independent working-class political action. The purpose of this article is to examine the characteristics of the Bradford movement, and in particular to elucidate its relationship to the trade-union movement. The early protagonists of the ILP - trade unionists and others - shared a passionate enthusiasm, a millenarian conviction derived from their commitment to Socialism as they defined it, which gave many of their utterances a revolutionary fervour, and kindled violent antagonism among many respectable Bradford business men.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Huddersfield Repository
    University of Huddersfield Repository Perks, R.B. The new Liberalism and the challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885-1914 with special reference to Huddersfield Original Citation Perks, R.B. (1985) The new Liberalism and the challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885-1914 with special reference to Huddersfield. Doctoral thesis, Huddersfield Polytechnic. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4598/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ 343 VOI_UP1 E TWO CHAPTER FIVE WAR, LIBERALISM AND LABOUR REVIVAL, 1899-1905 1. The Khaki Election and the Impact of the Boer War in Huddersfield, 1899-1902 345 2. Conservatism Versus Liberalism: Local Politics and National Issues, 1902-5 . 362 3. The Revival of LaLuuI: .lotadlism and the Conversion of the Trades Council, 1900-1905 382 4.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Huddersfield Repository
    University of Huddersfield Repository Laybourn, Keith The Rising Sun of Socialism: The growth of the Labour Movement in the textile district of the West Riding of Yorkshire Original Citation Laybourn, Keith (2012) The Rising Sun of Socialism: The growth of the Labour Movement in the textile district of the West Riding of Yorkshire. In: Huddersfield Local History Day Conference on Yorkshire Radicalism, 24th November 2012. (Unpublished) This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/17717/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ The Rising Sun of Socialism: The emergence of the Labour Movement in the textile belt of the West Riding of Yorkshire c.1890-1914 by Keith Laybourn It was E. P. Thompson, in his seminal article ‘Homage to Tom Maguire’ who, in 1960, reminded us of the value of provincial history at a time when historians were still focussing upon national events .
    [Show full text]
  • Sport and the Victorian City
    Sport and the Victorian City: The development of commercialised spectator sport, Bradford 1836-1908 David Pendleton A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of De Montfort University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 Abstract This study is a history of popular spectator sport in the city of Bradford between the years 1836 and 1908. Its major aim is to chart and analyse the experience of Bradford in relation to the national development of sport in the modern city and how spectator sport, in particular, helped shape personal and civic identities in a bourgeoning industrial community. This project builds on a growing body of work on the development of sport and leisure in British towns and cities during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it will both complement earlier studies on sport in Bradford and West Yorkshire and add to our understanding of how urban sporting and leisure cultures were forged through a combination of national trends and local economic and social peculiarities. The emergence of a national sporting culture ran parallel with an exponential acceleration in urbanisation, the adoption of the factory system, regularised working hours and growth in disposable income. Bradford’s sporting culture, however, was also a product of the city’s shifting social structures, which had been shaped by its unique economy. As a consequence, Bradford also played a significant role in determining the national sporting culture as well as reflecting wider trends. !i Bradford’s move from an essentially pre-industrial sporting landscape towards a recognisably modern one took place over a period of little more than fifty years.
    [Show full text]