The Holmfirth Blue Plaque Trail [ 5. Feb. 2012 - 17:02]
At the meeting on 4 February over 100 members braved the forecast snowfall and enjoyed a fascinating talk by David Cockman, from Holmfirth Civic Society, on the recently- erected blue plaques in the town. The Civic Society wanted to provide something for visitors to enjoy once they had taken their photographs on Norah Batty’s steps and had a cup of tea in Sid’s café.
The town has a long industrial heritage, but much of the evidence has now been lost. The Society’s aim was to keep what was left at the forefront of people’s memories and David’s talk was illustrated with slides and film showing many of the highlights of Holmfirth’s past commemorated by the plaques.
We saw the town’s last iron foundry which is probably the only one left in the country still able to produce cast iron guttering and fall-pipes.
The different standards of dress in Edwardian times compared with today were illustrated by pictures of a suffragist meeting and a crowd at a football match. In both cases every single person was wearing a hat. The suffragette movement had strong support in the Holme Valley area. One local mill-girl achieved fame, or notoriety, when the photograph of her being arrested by two burly policemen was on the front page of national daily papers. Her conduct was branded as disgraceful by the magistrate at her trial.
A more sombre note was struck by photographs of the terrible flood which hit Holmfirth on 4th February 1852 - exactly 160 years before today’s meeting. 81 people died in the flood and one of the bodies was only found in the 1960s. The disaster a nationwide appeal resulted in the raising of £70,000 for relief of the victims. Some of the money was used to build five almshouses in the town dedicated “to the poor of all the surrounding townships for ever” as shown on the blue plaque.
In 1944 another flood hit the town, but this time it was kept a secret because it had been caused by a violent thunderstorm and there was an embargo on any news relating to weather in the run-up to D-Day.
Before “Last of the Summer Wine” the most well-known products of Holmfirth were probably Bamforth’s postcards. In his early days James Bamforth produced many short silent films and David showed some of these, all filmed locally using local people as actors. One of the slapstick comedy stars was “Winky” whose antics rivalled those of Chaplin. Had it not been for the First World War Holmfirth may have been Britain’s Hollywood. David also had examples of Bamforth’s later works, including the famous “saucy seaside” cards showing large ladies and their hen-pecked husbands. Precursor to Norah Batty and Wally?
David finished his talk with film of some Holmfirth residents singing the Holmfirth “anthem” - Pratty Flowers.
The blue plaque walk was instituted to encourage visitors to the town and David’s talk certainly did that for our members.
At our next meeting, on 3rd March, Mavis Sellers will talk about the life of a Queen Alexandra Nurse. Doors open at 9.00am for a 9.30 start.
Christmas Past [ 5. Dec. 2011 - 15:03]
Wakefield & District Family History Society Well over one hundred people turned up on Saturday 3rd December in high expectations to listen to our guest speaker, Ian Dewhirst. With his inimitable style, his fund of knowledge and hilarious delivery, he soon had the audience entranced and in stitches with his topic on ’ Christmas Past.’ He recounted how much of how we celebrate Christmas originated from ancient Rome. 25th December was when the god Mithra was born but was also the period when the Romans held a festival held in honour of the god Saturn in which feasting and self- indulgence took place. Bell ringing in churches was regarded as a way of warding off the devil and on Christmas Eve at All Saint’s church in Dewsbury a bell is rung for every year since Christ’s birth! Ian reminded us that stories of the origins of Santa Claus, from St Nicholas of Asia Minor, such as filling stockings after climbing down chimneys or his giving away sacks of gold, are fables that help with the joyful spirit of give and take at Christmas. He also reminded us that Christmas, as we now celebrate, it really took off in the Victorian period and was greatly enhanced by the writings of such authors as Charles Dickens. Prince Albert introduced the idea of a decorated Christmas tree from Germany and the first Christmas card was introduced by John Calcott Horsley in 1843 and could be bought for the princely sum of one shilling [ten pence]. The original Santa Claus, St Nicholas, was allegedly a thin man dressed in a green cloak. However, the Americans introduced a somewhat more robust figure dressed in red with white fur trimmings.[ Did you know that the American Santa Claus is characterised by him wearing a separate hat while the British version has him with a hood?] Ian illustrated his talk by referring to reports taken from the local Keighley newspaper in 1879 when it was reported that it was probably better to be in the Workhouse on Christmas day when a sumptuous feast was prepared for the inmates when conditions for many in the outside world was often desperate. Also in 1878 a well known auctioneer in Skipton cleared the sales rooms and financed a feast for all who cared to turn up! Finally we were reminded of some of the games that would be played at Christmas such as Hot Cockles when a person is blind folded and is struck by another party-goer and has to guess who struck him. There was Blind Man’s Buff and then there was the rather dangerous game of Snapdragon when raisins had to be retrieved from a container of burning brandy and popped into the mouth. The winner was rewarded with a gold coin! Ian talked for almost one and a half hours in which the audience hung onto every word and gave him a well deserved and enthusiastically round of applause. There being no meeting in January we next meet on February 4th when David Cockman talks on ‘ A Guide to Holmfirth Blue Plaque Walk.’ Enquiries to Ron Pullan 01924 373310
Searching beyond England At the meeting held 5th November Allan Stewart Kaye was our guest speaker. He began by admitting that like many family historians, he had become frustrated by coming up against the occasional brick wall. This is when a particular ancestor appears to have disappeared from England. His talk was to encourage researchers to look beyond England to places such as Scotland, Ireland and the Commonwealth. The latter included countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbean, India and the USA. He began with a brief history of each and then went onto show which records could be accessed such as census returns, civil registration certificates from a country’s General Record Offices, immigration passenger lists, church records, transportation records and National Archives etc. Allan showed that not all countries had complete census returns or that in some cases such as Ireland only 1901 and 1911 returns are available. Unlike England Ireland doesn’t have a GRO index. Australia and Canada’s records have to be accessed province by province. America had it’s first census in 1790 while Jamaica’s started in 1860. However there are slave reports from 1812 to 1834. Canada has church records going back to 1620 whole America doesn’t have an established church and searches may entail looking into the individual denominational churches. For those interested in India there is a wealth of information that can be researched at the British Library in London or Families in British India Society.{ FIBIS]. In each case the records of the East India Company and British government are available. Our speaker also provided a number of useful websites such as scotlandspeople, ancestry.com, Find My Past, castlegardens.org, [ for immigration to USA] and proni.gov.uk [ for Northern Ireland] etc Over ninety people were present and many will have learned a great deal from an extremely detailed and informative talk. Next meeting is 3rd December when we welcome a very popular speaker, Ian Dewhirst whose topic will be on “ Christmas Past.” Enquiries to Ron Pullan 01924 373310
Research and Information Morning [ 2. Oct. 2011 - 19:43]
Wakefield & District Family History On Saturday 1st October the Society held its Research and Information day. The use of laptops, microfiche readers, publications and information help desks were made available and used by a steady stream of visitors. Further help and interest was provided by representatives from West Yorkshire Archive, Local Studies dept. from Balne Lane Library, Ian Laidler and his collection of military medals, Christine Ellis and her collection of historical costumes and accessories and on display samples of mining memorabilia. The next meeting is 5th November when A. Stewart Kaye will talk on “ Searching beyond England - The Commonwealth, Scotland and Ireland.” Venue is Outwood Memorial Hall. Doors open at 9.45am for a 10.30am start. Inquiries to Ron Pullan 01924 373310
A Day in the Life of a Registrar [ 5. Sep. 2011 - 09:21]
On Saturday 3rd September members of the Society were entertained by Sally Clamp as she recalled events from her sixteen years as Superintendent Registrar dealing with the registration of births, marriages and deaths in Wakefield.
For family historians the registers kept at the office in Northgate are the source of certificates which we all need for our researches, but they also provide a fascinating insight into the changes in society over the years since the introduction of registration in 1837.
Birth certificates remind us of famous citizens of Wakefield, such as Barbara Hepworth, Squire Waterton and the Pilkingtons of Chevet as well as the ordinary people. One of Sally’s favourite entries relates to the birth of twins in an inn in December 1855, there is no reference to a father and the mother died in childbirth. The children were named Mary and Joseph.
Marriage ceremonies show perhaps the greatest degree of social change. Nowadays the Registrar has to make many more detailed checks on prospective brides and grooms to prevent someone gaining residence rights illegally by a bogus marriage. The Registrar’s workload has been increased by changes such as; the right to be married in a building other than a church, the introduction of Civil Partnerships, non-statutory ceremonies like non-religious naming, renewal of vows and citizenship, but these have also made the job more interesting. Sally recalled the instance of one citizenship ceremony where the 24 participants were from 19 different countries, a real indication of how the world is getting smaller. She reminded us that details of proposed marriages, other than those to be performed in an Anglican church, have to be posted on the notice board at the Northgate office for 15 days. She recommended this as a source of interesting reading.
Other, less well-known, functions of a Registrar include the performance of “death-bed” marriages, for which the Registrar is on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and marriages in prison. At one ceremony where Sally was officiating one of the proposed witnesses was not allowed in because he could not get past the drug “sniffer dogs”.
The records of death registrations show a less happy side of a Registrar’s work, events like the death of a husband ten days after his wife was burned to death through standing too close to the fire. There is the case of the 12 year old boy in 1856 who died of a diseased hip joint, his occupation was “Hurrier in a Coal Pit”. The records from the Stanley sub-district include the old lunatic asylum, where the master seems to have waited to get enough deaths to warrant a trip to the register office. In one month in 1853 24 deaths were recorded together.
In response to questions Sally explained that “not certified” added to a cause of death means that no qualified doctor was able to certify the cause, something which could not happen today. She also confirmed that only very rarely was there a valid response to the question, “Does anyone know any reason why this man and this woman should not be joined in marriage ?”
Our next meeting, on 1st October, is a research morning where you can search our records and seek advice to help you with your researches. The meeting will start at 9.30 and finish at 1.00 pm.
