Dewsbury

Modern Statues

 These modern statues of a rugby league player and a female millworker stand on the former site of the Trinity Methodist Chapel at the corner of Halifax and Wellington Roads. They were created by Sheffield artist JasonThomson and funded by a government grant of over £20,000. The design was chosen by a community panel from entries to a competition organised by Dewsbury Area Committee.  The figures represent Dewsbury's past and present, and were placed here in September 2004.

The chapel which once stood on the site was built around 1890 and was well attended until the 1940s, after which it closed and was re-opened as the Majestic Cinema. This was renovated in 1949 at a cost of £20,000 and renamed the Rex Cinema.   

 Central Station 

This was formerly the site of the central station in Dewsbury, opened in 1880 by the Great Northern Railway Company. Trains once operated form here to neighbouring towns but also to London King's Cross, carrying both passengers and goods, which were loaded and unloaded in the station yard.  In 1923 it became part of London North Eastern Railways and, after nationalisation, part of British Railways.  Sadly the station closed in 1964 and was left to decay until its frontage was incorporated into the ring road.  

 Cloth Hall Mills

This building on Foundry Street was once the shoddy and mungo business of the Machell Brothers who moved here in 1874 from Bradford Road. Busts of the brothers, Robert and William, together with those of Cobden and Disraeli decorate the building. William Machell was Mayor of Dewsbury 1880-82.

 Pancake Dog

 A real curiosity, the pancake dog, sits on the roof of the Church of England School in School Street. The school was built in 1843 by the National Society for the Education of the Poor, and the pancake dog, which was moved here from the old vicarage in the 1880s, is said to jump down for his pancake every Shrove Tuesday.

 Pioneer Buildings

Named after the Rochdale Pioneers, this building was designed by Holtom and Fox  and opened in 1880 with extensions in 1896 and 1914.  It was essentially a department store but also had a library, conversation rooms and offices and an Industrial Hall  with 1500 seats on the second floor. After its hey day, it became a cinema in 1922 and later a snooker hall, after which it fell into a sorry state of disrepair.  

However, Kirklees Council, with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, have recently entered a project to restore some of it to its former glory, leaving some parts, like the archway pictured, in danger of demolition. 

Thompson's Mineral Water  

Pictured is a  Ghost Sign advertising the company painted on a wall at Cemetery Road, West Town, former production site of the company, and one of their early containers.

Eli Thompson founded the company.  Born around 1861 in Dewsbury to Enoch and Elizabeth Thompson, Eli worked at first in the textile industry as a blanket finisher, and continued to work in that industry and live with his parents after his marriage to Hannah Moorhouse in 1884 and the birth of their first three children. By 1901 Eli, Hannah and their growing family had their own home in Thornhill and Eli had begun to find alternative ways of making a living. He was a muffin and crumpet baker by now, assisted by his oldest son Albert, then aged 15. Then in 1910 we find him renting a house, shed, stable and gas engine from a Mr amd Mrs William Schofield in Moor End, Dewsbury. This must have been the start of his involvement in the mineral water industry as the following year, aged 50, he is described as a mineral water manufacturer resident at 5 Cemetery Road, Dewsbury.  In the yard at the back of the house he established his factory manufacturing bottled "pop" which could be bought directly from the factory or from local shops. Flavours included orangeade, a bright green limeade, lemonade and dandelion and burdock. Some of the "pop" was delivered by Thompson's own vans in wooden crates holding a dozen bottles with screw tops and a red rubber collar to stop them from leaking under the pressure of the gas. Customers buying a bottle had to pay a deposit too which was refunded when the bottle was returned. The factory area was known as Park Brewery, probably because of its proximity to Crow's Nest Park. Eli's sons and daughters worked in the firm and he employed other people too. The company thrived during the 1940s and 50s and continued after Eli's death in 1944, his son Percy becoming a director. However, Percy himself died in 1953 and the business fell into decline, being wound up in 1963.

Wallace Hartley

Wallace Hartley was born in Colne, Lancashire on 2nd June 1878, the son of Albion and Elizabeth Hartley. He spent his childhood in Colne, attending the Colne Methodist day school and Bethel Independent Methodist Chapel, where he is said to have learnt to play the violin from another member of the congregation, taking additional lessons as he improved. The family moved to Huddersfield in 1895 and Wallace was proficient enough to join the  Huddersfield

Philharmonic Orchestra. He left home in 1903 to join Bridlington’s municipal orchestra and there he met Maria Robinson of that town, who was to become his fiancee. She presented him with his own violin on the ocassion of their engagement in 1910, and this was the instrument that Wallace was playing the night RMS Titanic sank.  

After six years with the Bridlington orchestra Wallace moved to Dewsbury. His home "Surreyside" at 48 West Park Street is now marked by a blue plaque placed there by Dewsbury Art Group. 

He joined Cunard as a musician in 1909 and from then on played on some of their finest liners, including RMS Lucania, RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania. Whilst aboard the Mauretania his employment was transferred to the C.W. & F.N, Black agency which supplied musicians to both Cunard and the White Star Line.  In April 1912 he was appointed bandmaster of White Star’s RMS Titanic and joined the ship on the 10th April for her departure from Southampton to New York. On the14th April, the night that the ship disastrously struck an iceberg, Wallace and his 7 man band began to play to calm the passengers as the lifeboats were deployed and loaded. They continued to play as the ship began to sink and were seen on the boat deck near the entrance to the Grand Staircase, at the base of the second funnel. They played on until the very end. One survivor reported that  he actually saw three band members washed off the deck whilst the

five others held on to the railing at the top of the Grand Staircase’s deckhouse, only to be dragged down with the bow. Hartley is said to have stowed his violin at the last moment in his music holdall which he then strapped around his body as a makeshift flotation device. He is then said to have exclaimed, "Gentlemen, I bid you farewell!". After the event, one newspaper reported that "the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea."  

Wallace’s body and the violin seem to have been recovered separately almost two weeks after the disaster. His body was said to have been found fully clothed with his music holdall still strapped to his body. His fiancee requested that the violin be returned to her and later wrote a note of thanks to the Provincial Secretary of Halifax, Nova Scotia, thanking him and everyone involved in the recoveries.  She then kept the violin in her home in Bridlington until her death, unmarried, in 1939, after which it was given to the Bridlington Salvation Army and thence to one of its members. It was recovered

and put up for auction in 2013, after being put on show in Dewsbury and other places for a short time, having been identified by the engraved silver plaque at its base as the gift from Maria to Hartley. It achieved £900,000 at auction.  Wallace’s body was returned to England and his parents decided he should be buried in Colne.  The funeral took place on 18

May 1912 with a thousand people attending and an estimated 30,000 - 40,000 lining the route of the funeral procession. His grave has a carved violin at its base.

In the 1920s Dewsbury officials promised Hartley’s family that a bandstand would be erected in the town dedicated to his memory, but this was only achieved in 2013. The Wallace Hartley bandstand opened in October 2013 in Longcauseway Memorial Gardens near the town centre.

Its plaque reads "This bandstand is dedicated to the memory of Wallace H. Hartley Bandmaster of RMS Titanic who, together with his colleagues, remained at their posts and thus gave their lives in the sinking of the liner 15th April 1912.

Wallace H. Hartley Bandmaster Violin

John F. P. Clarke   Bass Viola

John L. Hume       Violin

Percy C. Taylor     Piano

John W. Woodward  Cello

William T. Brailey Piano

Roger M.L.J. Bricoux Cello

Georges A Krins        Viola

'They played as mortals and by their sacrifice became immortal. Thus the memory will remain and enter into the entirety of eternity' 'NEARER OUR GOD TO THEE'

  Public Fountain at Savile Town

This Victorian fountain at the corner of Headfield Road and Warren Street in Savile Town was erected by the Rt. Hon John Baron Savile, GCB in 1894. The Saviles were the local landowners and donated this polished marble   fountain surmounted by a lamppost at a time when horse drawn traffic was the norm. In fact there were three tiers to the fountain, one for dogs, one for horses and one for humans. The fountain has recently been restored.  

Canal at Savile Town 

 Old lock gates mark the entrance to what is now Savile Town Wharf Marina, but until 1958 was the canal basin for Dewsbury. The Calder and Hebble navigation opened here in 1770 and at first directly joined the river Calder, but in 1876 the Calder and Hebble Navigation Company created the basin. Goods could be offloaded from barges here and delivered directly to local businesses. New cargoes were then loaded onto the barges to be exported elsewhere. From Dewsbury goods could either travel east to Goole and Hull, or west to Manchester and Liverpool, and from these ports reach the rest of the world.  Textiles were one of the major cargoes shipped by barge from here.

Wall art beside the canal at Mill Road East is pictured.  

 Patrick Bronte

Patrick Bronte was born in poor circumstances in County Down, Ireland in 1777.  After trying his hand at weaving and blacksmithing to make a living he turned, aged only 17, to tutoring. Local clergymen saw something special in him and encouraged him to apply for a place at Cambridge University.  Gaining sponsorship from a few prominent men such as William Wilberforce, he attended St. John's College there, graduating in 1806.  He was ordained in the Church of England that same year.  After ordination his first post was as curate at Wethersfield, Essex, and then at Wellington in Shropshire, but by December 1809 he had taken up a post in Dewsbury as curate for the Rev. John Buckworth.

Patrick seems to have made a big impression during his stay in Dewsbury.  He was austere but popular, especially with children. Whilst in Dewsbury he plunged into the river to save a boy from drowning on one occasion, and on another he removed a drunken bully who was trying to impede the Whitsuntide procession.

Patrick was a storyteller and a poet.  His poem "Winter Evening Thoughts" was published in 1810 whilst he was at Dewsbury and was followed by "Cottage Poems" in 1811 and further works later, including a short novel.

A plaque on Dewsbury minster records Patrick's curacy there between 1809 and 1811.  In 1811 he was appointed minister of Hartshead church (see Hartshead) which was in the gift of the vicar of Dewsbury, the Rev. Buckworth.  

Tommy Weston

Tommy Weston has been referred to as one of the greatest jockeys of the (20th) century. He was born in Westtown, Dewsbury to a working class family, but ended up being recognised by royalty and a friend to such stars as Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby and George Formby.

Tommy was born in Fearnley Street, Westtown on 4th February 1902. Although the houses have long since been demolished, the cobbled street still exists.  Sadly, his mother passed away the following year and Tommy, his sister Mary Evelyn and father George went to live with Tommy's maternal grandmother, an Irish widow named Bridget Frain, on Back Vulcan Street, Dewsbury. On leaving school, Tommy first helped his father who was a drayman on the railways, but by the age of 14 had begun to fulfil his dream of becoming a jockey, becoming an apprentice at the McCormack stables in Middleham.  In 1918 he won his first race at Newmarket on 'Miss Richard' and at the age of 21 went on to win the Derby on 'Sansovino'.  For much of his career Tommy rode for the 17th Earl of Derby, winning the St. Leger in 1923 on Tranquil.  In 1933 he won the Derby again, this time on Hyperion, a superb horse.  In fact, Tommy won every classic race in the calendar during his career, riding a total of 149 winners.  Although he was by now nationally famous, Tommy kept in touch with family and friends in Dewsbury and visited often.  He visited his sister, Evelyn, by now landlady of the Crackenedge Hotel, and friends at the Irish National League Club and Trades and Friendly Club in the town, and often bought drinks all round, earning his nickname of "The Swell".  He also became friendly with Father Hayes, his Catholic parish priest, and donated a series of paintings depicting the stations of the cross to St. Paulinus church at a cost of £2,000.   Tommy retired in 1950 and used his retirement to write his autobiography, entitled "My Racing Life". He died at Ely, near Newmarket on Jan 22nd 1981 aged 78.  He had at one time lived next to Lester Piggott.  After his death, the town named a street after him and Newmarket also boasts a life size statue of his finest horse, Hyperion, outside its Jockey Club H.Q. 

 Confectionery - Slade's "Toffy"

Slade's "toffy" became a nationally and internationally known product made in Dewsbury.  Robert Eustace Slade, the founder of the firm, was born in Leeds in 1857. His father, William, was a bookseller on Bond Street in the city centre and his mother, Mary Ann, who lived to the ripe old age of 103, taught at a boarding school for young ladies on Woodhouse Lane. It is said that Robert determined to become a toffee manufacturer when he visited his mother's schoolroom whilst very young and the pupils greeted him with toffee and kisses. In any case, Robert determined at an early age to become a successful businessman. Aged only 13 he was sent away from home to a boys boarding school in Walthamstow,  run by non-conformist minister Benjamin Beddow and his wife, and here Robert endured a torrid time, being bullied and assaulted by the young man who had been left in charge. Upon leaving school, Robert found a lowly paid job as an office boy for a London chocolate company, earning only £20 a year. He began to supplement his income by travelling all over London selling the company's chocolate on commission. Before long the company offered him a better salary of £7 per week, but Robert refused this, holding out for a totally commission based post. The company recognised his enthusiasm and agreed, so, by working 14 hours a day, he was soon making between £700 and £1,000 a year. Then in 1879 Robert joined with a friend to set up a company in Bermondsey known as "Slade and Scott" which proved very successful, so successful in fact that a northern chocolate company offered to buy the company if Robert would stay with them and travel throughout the north as their representative. He agreed and moved to live in Harrogate as a result.

Not long afterwards, in 1894 he joined a John Eastwood to manufacture toffee in Leeds as "Slade and Co." In 1904 they purchased the Ben Bullock Company in Dewsbury for £40,000 (see below). Two years later the entire company transferred to the Excelsior Works on Bradford Street, Dewsbury, becoming "Slade and Bullock". Robert continued to travel extensively to promote the company and achieve sales. As well as visiting countries in Europe and North Africa he ventured as far as the USA. He is credited with being one of the first to realise the advantages of selling toffee in tins, as one day in 1895 he took an empty tin into the factory and asked for it to be filled. It held just one pound of toffee and the tin was ideal for him to take on his travels to show prospective purchasers without the toffee coming to harm. The product was known as "Dandy Toffy" and sold for sixpence a pound.

Robert and his wife, Miriam Ruth Slade, continued to live in Harrogate but suffered a double family tragedy. Their son Arthur William, or 'Willie' died from injuries received during a football match there and a few years later, in February 1915, a younger son, Leonard, who was a soldier and member of the Royal Flying Corps., home on leave after receiving an injury starting up a plane, fell under a train a few miles outside Harrogate. He had left a message to say he had felt "a bit off" since his brother's death. Then work colleague Mr Eastwood died suddenly on a train journey between Dewsbury and Leeds in November 1917.

In 1920 the company was reported to be flourishing. However Robert Eustace himself died unexpectedly in July 1927 whilst visiting his brother in St. Leonards,

Sussex. He was 70 and had retired as a businessman several years earlier but retained his directorship. His only surviving son, Frank, had become the managing

director. However, by October 1928 the factory, which had employed 300 people, had closed due to a downturn in trade and a receiver had been appointed. In March 1929 the factory including machinery, boilers, engines, tins, saw mill and lorries was up for sale by auction. The trade names of "Slade's Toffy" and "Slade and Bullock" were also up for sale. It seems there were no takers as the factory stood empty on 20th November 1939 when Dewsbury fire brigade were called out to attend a small fire on the unoccupied premises.

Ben Bullock and Seaside Rock

Ben Bullock was not born in Dewsbury but by 1881 he was living comfortably there on Bradford Road with his second wife Mary (nee Dixon), daughters Evelyne and Gertrude and son Frederick, Ben being described as a sugar boiler, and by 1891 as a manufacturer of confectionery.  He had been born in Lancashire around 1843 and worked as a miner in the Burnley area. Then in 1868 he moved to Dewsbury and set up stalls at Heckmondwike and Dewsbury markets selling lollipops and boiled sweets he made at home. He seems to have worked in partnership at first as "Bullock and Redford" but by January 1873 was announcing the opening of his own wholesale and retail confectionery concern at Prince of Wales House, near the railway arch on Bradford Road. By 1876 he had been successful enough to establish his own company on Bradford Street, just a short distance from the town centre. It was here that he made his first stick of lettered rock with the strange lettering "Whoa Emma", words derived from a popular song of the day.  This sold like hotcakes at local markets. Around this time Ben, like many West Riding folk, took a fortnight's holiday in Blackpool. Here he seems to have hit upon the idea of matching the lettering to the place and on his return manufactured the very first sticks of Blackpool rock, sending several hundredweight of his product to Blackpool retailers to try out.  This fresh idea caught the public's imagination and before long Ben was receiving orders from seaside resorts up and down the country, and then from all over the world including India and Australia. The ability to create the lettering inside the rock was a real skill that took years to perfect and could only be achieved by the firm's "Sugar Boiler". Not many such skilled workers existed, but Ben Bullock's were able to send one of theirs over to Blackpool to teach the art to manufacturers there.

Meanwhile Ben was playing his part in the community and in business. He was a member of Dewsbury Town Council and in 1895 was one of the favourites to become Mayor, although he never did.  That same year, in January, he had been appointed President of the newly formed Confectioners Association of Leeds and District. A national Confectioners Association had been formed in London only the previous September but delegates of the trade in West Yorkshire decided they needed a representative body of their own. Ben was able to retire to live in Southport, a wealthy man, but died only six years later in February 1905 at the age of 62. He was interred in Dewsbury Cemetery. As we have seen, Ben Bullock's company was bought by Slade's in 1904 (see above) who changed their name to "Slade and Bullock" and moved into the Excelsior Works premises in Dewsbury.

Greenwood's

Dewsbury's oldest shop, John Greenwood Ltd., has been in business in Church Street since 1856. Before that, from about the 1830s, the building had been occupied by the Mallinson family. The Greenwood shop's interior has changed little since that time, still retaining its original mahogany counters, fixtures and fittings. The shop currently sells  mainly jewellery and outdoor clothing and, as its fading advert suggests, once also

specialised in workwear, but its origins were quite different. John Greenwood himself, the original proprietor, was born in Hebden Bridge around 1821 but he and his wife Amelia, daughter Sarah Jane Prior and her three children were all firmly established and living together in Dewsbury by the time of the 1871 Census, Sarah having married one Frederick Stowe Prior. John was a pawnbroker mainly and a 'plate dealer', but also sold men's clothing at the Church Street shop. He owned another similar shop in Dewsbury too, in Robinson Street, and kept his surplus stock in a wharehouse on nearbyTithe Barn Street. Each shop was intended for each of his two daughters, Ellen and Sarah to inherit. Ellen married Henry Chadwick (pictured) and they at first ran the Robinson street shop, but their son, John Edward Chadwick, and later their grandson, Ronald Taylor Chadwick both went on to run the Church Street shop.

Plenty of interesting incidents occurred during John's time there. In December 1869 his assistant, William Sanson, was approached privately by two men willing to pay him well for an impression of the front door lock and the safe keys. Sanson reported this to the police who advised him to go along with the thieves and learn all he could about their plans so the police could be ready to arrest them in the act. Sanson complied and the burglary went ahead on Sunday evening 19th December and the two men, Job Lee of Bradford and John Hartley of Manchester, both well known to the police, were arrested and sent for trial, Sanson being the key witness for the prosecution.

John Greenwood seems to have attracted very loyal staff because on another occasion a different assistant, Tom Hardy, also acted on behalf of his master. In December 1882 miner's wife Mary Robinson, carrying her 14 week old baby, stole a man's overcoat worth 30 shillings that Hardy had earlier hung outside the shop door. On being informed of this, Hardy followed the young woman as far as Dewsbury market, where he took back the coat and informed the police. Robinson was arrested and magistrates at Dewsbury Borough Court sentenced her to 14 days imprisonment.

Then again in December 1873 a Patrick Little had attempted to defraud the pawnbroker by claiming an albert chain he was offering him was made of gold. The wily shop assistant this time decided to test the chain with acid, revealing it to be largely made of brass, so serving his master's interests once again.

The contents of the shop were obviously objects of desire and in October 1895 another robbery occurred. The shop was prepared for the usual half day holiday on the 8th, all the valuables being stowed in the safe, but various gold brooches, rings and silver watches, worth about £80, were left in the shop window. On Wednesday morning the window was found to have been cleared and a one foot square hole discovered in the roof.  Inspector Shore surmised a couple of slightly built men had done the job and was pursuing his investigations!

A further perplexing incident happened in 1879. On October 4th the Dewsbury Reporter wrote to inform its readers that a woman missing for several weeks and believed drowned at Scarborough had been found in Tadcaster and taken to her father, Mr Porritt's house. That woman was John Greenwood's wife and he was said to be incensed.

After the Greenwood and Chadwick eras the shop was sold in 1953 to Tom Burns who bought it for his spinster daughters, Kathleen and Doris, to run, which they did for many years, before selling to Jack Gledhill in 1974. His assistant, Colin Parkin, who had worked at the shop since leaving school at the age of 15 in 1953, got the shock of his life when Jack left him the shop in his Will just a few years later. After Colin's death in 2000 his wife and daughter continued to run the business which has since passed into new hands once again. Sue Baker has owned the store since 2015.

The original shop's ledgers from around the 1930s are pictured.