Notable dates and reference books for 1910 1922

I was very excited to opens today’s post I had been expecting copies of the Bradford Daily Telegraph Date books from 1910 and 1922. I was slightly surprised by their size I had expected them to be A4 for some reason.

I wasn’t exactly sure of their contents but thought they would be useful for my Bradford research and they were so much better than my expectations. They contain amongst other things:

• List of current Bradford Councillors, committee members and their addresses
• Bradford magistrates and their addresses
• Mayors of Bradford since incorporation and Roll of Honorary Freemen of Bradford
• Bradford and North Bierley Unions Board of Guardians and their addresses
• Registrars of Births and Deaths
• Local MPs
• Bradford public charitable institutions and their committee members
• Register of Bradford Clubs and number of members (1922 only)
• Places of worship
• Football match results and other sports cricket, rugby, golf, swimming, walking (later 1922 only)
• Street Directory (1910 only)
• Dates of local feasts and fairs (1922 only)
• Local [notable] Obituary (1917-1922)

But perhaps most interestingly of all notable events in Bradford from 1066 to 1922 there are some interesting and unusual entries and I am looking forward to sharing more with you on my blog and by twitter. Relevant items will also be added to the timeline as that develops but here is a taster for now

1066 – The value of the Manor of Bradford prior to the Conquest was £4 the population of the then Bradford being only 250

1822 – An Act passed that all oil lamps in the streets of Bradford should make way for gas

1876 Dec 4 – Shipley and Guiseley railway opened

1888 Dec 29 – Mysterious murder of a boy in Manningham

1913 Feb 7 – Gale in Bradford; electric tramcar blown over at Allerton

At the Archives - Bradford Royal Ear and Eye Hospital & Bradford Royal Infirmary Nurses League

I managed to complete two sets of records this week (23/8/11).

Firstly the Annual Reports of the voluntary Bradford Royal Ear and Eye Hospital. The annual reports provide an overview of the activities of the hospital, more detailed records are held at the Wakefield archives. The hospital cared for some of the first wounded soldiers to arrive in Bradford in October 1914 and continued to give beds up for through the war although less so towards the end of the war after the Bradford War Hospital had been expanded to cope with demand. It was difficult to get an accurate measure of numbers from these records but in 1917  they treated 120 wounded soldiers.

The second set of records were from the Bradford Royal Infirmary Nurses League which held its first meeting to establish itself in October 1916. I examined their minutes, annual magazine and some miscellaneous documents. There were fabulous accounts from some of the members regarding their work in France, Egypt, and Belgium etc during the War. There was also one account of a nurse at Buckingham Palace receiving a medal from the King. There are no names assigned to these early articles but the latter is likely to be by Miss S A Brown who was awarded the first class distinction of the Military Nursing Medal the Royal Red Cross.

More blog articles with the results of this research to follow shortly.

If you have any ancestors who were nurses at the BRI it would be well worth a look at these records as you might be able to trace their nursing career through them.

Source

Bradford Royal Ear and Eye Hospital Annual Reports

Bradford Royal Infirmary Nurses League minutes & magazine

Bradford’s Cinderella Club

The Bradford Cinderella Club was started with the objective of feeding, clothing and entertaining the poor children of Bradford

Some of the events and activities they undertook included:

• Annual Pantomime Matinee.
• The Lord Mayor’s Treat entertaining children at St George’s Hall.
• Distribution of toys by the “Telegraph Santa Clause.”
• Distribution of milk, virol and other medical foods to delicate children over 2 years of age.
• Providing fireguards free of charge.
• Providing picnics out of the city.
• Annual Widows trip.
• Children’s Holiday home at Hest Bank, near Morecambe.

The First World War impacted on their normal operations and they stopped appealing for money directly, instead working with the Lord Mayor’s War Relief Fund which made grants to the deserving dependents of soldiers and sailors.

They drew up a general clothing scheme and became the centre for the distribution of all clothing except for that for Belgian refugees and soldiers and sailors on service. They continued to repair clogs, provide fireguards and to provide milk and medical foods in conjunction with the health visitors and the children’s and school clinics. 

However the Club were accused of neglecting the entertainment of the children.  Nevertheless they remained adamant that the grants provided by the Lord Mayors Fund and occasional grants of clothing and footwear would keep the children fit and well and that it would be wrong to divert money for children’s entertainment (which could well wait) which is needed for the daily sustenance of both adults and children.

They were therefore upset when an organisation constituted for another purpose altogether began to collect funds for the entertainment of poor children. Rather than entering into competition with this other organisation and further diverting funds they stated their position and hoped that the friends of the Club would accept their explanation.

Do you think they made the right decision to stop providing free entertainment for the poor children of Bradford during the First World War or were they rightly accused of neglecting their duties?

Sources

Cinderella Club Annual Reports 1913-14 and 1915-16

At the Archives - Men Women and Things – The Ladies Field magazine 1916

Fits of giggles could be heard from the Bradford Archives today as we poured over a copy of “The Ladies Field” Magazine. It started out like a copy of Hello with a section entitled “Men Women and Things” showing photos of the rich and famous getting married and attending events. The main feature was an article about lingerie which covered several pages with lots of photographs which somehow developed into sports jackets.  This was followed by several pages of dogs and later prizewinning cats. 

The main reason for getting this item out from the depths of the archives was a nice overarching article about “Bradford’s work for the War.” It covered the soldiers and sailors dependants relief committee, the Lady Mayoress’s War Guild, War Hospital Supply Depot, the Khaki Club and the care of Belgium Refugees. I will be covering these subjects in greater detail over the next 6 months.

Source The Ladies Field August 12th 1916

Remembrance - 97th anniversary of Britain entering the First World War

In remembrance of the 97^th anniversary of the day Britain joined the First World War I thought I would add a link  to the website (technical problems mean it will be actually be added over the weekend).

Remembrance – the Yorkshire regiment is dedicated to the men of Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment (the Yorkshire Regiment, also known as the Green Howards). It contains a wealth of information not only do they have comprehensive name index of the people that served with the regiment but also photographs of their memorials and graves, biographies of some of the officers that died and details of those who were awarded the Victoria Cross.

The biographical details section reveals that some of the officers in this regiment had Bradford connections for example:

2nd Lt Benjamin Sydney Appleyard – 2nd Battalion was born in Bradford on May 3rd 1891.

2nd Lt Norman Kenyon Barrett – 4th Battalion attached to 1st East Yorks was born in Bradford in 1888. 

Captain William Liley Batty – 4th Battalion was the son of Tom and Sarah Batty of North View, Drighlington, Bradford

2nd Lt Donald Simpson Bell VC – 9th Battalion supplemented his teachers’salary by becoming a professional footballer with Bradford Park Avenue in 1912 who won the Victoria Cross for his efforts on the Somme July 1916.

2nd Lt Eric William Brodrick – 5th Battalion was educated at Bradford Grammar.

2nd Lt James Langdale Gregory – 8th Battalion attd to 101st Coy Royal Engineers worked for Howe and Gregory in Bradford before the war.

Captain Thomas Huffington – 7th Battalion was born in Bradford on May 28th 1892.

Captain Claud Gifford Jeffery – 2nd Battalion was born on April 13th 1880 in Bradford

2nd Lt Harold Kitson – 5th Battalion was born in Bradford in 1889

To see more biographical details on these and many more officers visit the website and a huge thank you to all those whose hard work researching and recording the details of these men has resulted in a fantastic resource.