James Mason Plaque
The Blue Plaque is on the wall on the left hand side of the entrance to Huddersfield Central Library.
This plaque forms one of a series erected in 1996 by the British Film Institute to commemorate 100 years of cinema.
James Neville Mason (15 May 1909 – 27 July 1984), the famous actor, was born at Croft House, Marsh, Huddersfield on 15th May 1909. His father, John, was a well to do textile merchant. James was educated at Marlborough College followed by a degree in architecture at Peterhouse College, Cambridge achieving a 1st. After Cambridge he joined the Old Vic theatre company and began acting on stage which led to parts in many British made films including "The Wicked Lady" in 1945.
After achieving much success in the United Kingdom (he was the top box office attraction there in 1944 and 1945), he made the transition to the United States and became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, starring in iconic films including:" A Star Is Born", "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", "Julius Caesar" and many more. He was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes (winning the Golden Globe in 1955 for "A Star is Born").
He died on 27th July 1984 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He had settled there in 1963 although continuing to make films and voice over documentaries in Hollywood, Britain and internationally into the 1980s.
Anita Lonsbrough
Anita was born in York on 10th August 1941 to Stanley and Maude Lonsbrough. Her father was a Sergeant Major in the Coldstream Guards and was posted to India when Anita was a girl, and this is where she first learned to swim. When Anita was 14 her father left the army and the family moved to Huddersfield where she joined the Huddersfield Amateurs Swimming Club and later the Baths Club. These clubs merged to become the Huddersfield Borough Club. She later gave much credit to her coach there, Harry Chambers, who taught her how to relax before a race.
Meanwhile Anita worked as a clerk in the Council's Treasurer's Office being employed at Huddersfield Town Hall, but she made time to swim in her lunch break and again in the evening. She began to swim competitively in 1958, winning her first gold medals in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in the 220 yards breaststroke and the medley relay.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, on 27 August 1960, at the age of 19, she won gold in the 200 metres breaststroke ahead of West Germany's Wiltrud Urselmann setting a new world record time. On her return to Huddersfield she was
given a civic reception, huge crowds gathered, and she was presented with a silver tea service. Anita was the last British woman to win an Olympic gold in swimming until Rebecca Adlington won gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics, 48 years later.
At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth Anita won three golds, for the 110 yards breaststroke, 220 yards breaststroke, and 440 yards individual medley.
She married British track cyclist Hugh Porter whom she met at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. They married on 17 June 1965 at St Peter's Church, Huddersfield. The couple later moved to Wolverhampton.
Anita then taught P.E., including swimming, at Ounsdale High School and became a sports commentator and journalist for The Daily Telegraph
Honours:
Anita Lonsbrough was the first female flag bearer for Great Britain at the Olympic Games when she carried the flag in the opening ceremony of the1964 Tokyo Games.
She was the first woman winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1962.
She was awarded an MBE in 1963 for services to swimming.
And in 1983 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Boundary Marker
A boundary marker at the top of Trinity Street, is one of several around the town. It has the inscription “HIB 1848”. This relates to the Huddersfield Improvement Act of 1848, “an Act for better paving, lighting, watching, sewering, draining, cleansing and otherwise improving the Town and Neighbourhood of Huddersfield…….for maintaining an efficient Police, and removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therin.” Boundaries within which the Act would apply were set at “a radius of 1200 yards in every direction from the Spot where the old cross formerly stood, in the centre of the Market Place in Huddersfield.” This included “such Parts of the several Hamlets of Huddersfield, Bradley, Deighton-with-Sheepridge, Fartown and Marsh-with-Paddock, in the township and parish of Huddersfield.”
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An interesting pillar by the side of the ring road in Huddersfield (near the Lidl store) has two different insc
riptions. Towards the top a metal plate decorated with organ pipes, bears the inscription
In this house was born
Sir Walter Parratt
K.C.V.O., PROF MUS. OXON
MASTER OF THE KING’S MUSIC
1841-1924
By example and precept the outstanding organist of his time
Walter was born in a house on South Parade, Huddersfield, the son of Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth Parratt. His father and elder brother Henry
were organists at Huddersfield Parish Church, and in fact members of his family were organists there for over 100 years. Walter was something of a child prodigy as far as playing the organ was concerned. By the age of four he was copying his father, playing the correct notes on the pedals with his hands. At the age of five he officiated alone at a church service, and by age eleven he was the organist at Armitage Bridge Church. At seventeen he became the organist at Wigan Parish Church. He then took up the post at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he later became a Professor of Music at the University, which post he held until 1918. In 1882 he was appointed organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor and eventually became “Master of the King’s Music”.
Besides playing the organ, Parratt also loved playing chess, and in one curious incident
in the Church Institute, Ludlam’s Yard, Huddersfield, he attempted to do both at the same time. He played Bach’s C Minor Fugue on the organ and was relayed his opponent’s moves on the chess board, which was behind his back, working out his own moves as he played!
Walter Parratt was knighted in 1892, created M.V.O. in 1901, G.V.O. in 1917 and K.C.V.O. in 1921. He was Master of Arts and Hon. Mus. Doc. Of the Royal Academy of Music and receive honours from many universities and musical institutions. He was at one time President of the Royal College of Organists, as well as President of the Oxford University Chess Club!
He married Emma Gledhill of Huddersfield in 1864 and they had one son and three daughters.
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Below this is a very different style of inscription, engraved in stone with the following message
These dwelling houses were erected by Subscription
under the immediate Direction and Superintendance of Godfrey Berry
1812
for the purpose of supporting an organist and choir of singers in
the Parish Church of HUDDERSFIELD
The houses mentioned were in South Parade. Godfrey Berry (1756-1829) was a pioneering figure in Huddersfield’s early urban history. He was born in Deighton, the son of John and Jane Berry and was the youngest of their four sons. They also had two daughters. John was a substantial farmer and maltster, owning his own kiln, which Godfrey inherited. Godfrey had married Elizabeth Walker of Middleton, Leeds, in the early 1780s and she brought him land she had inherited. Godfrey and his brothers eventually became significant land owners in the district. He is at first described as a tallow chandler and maltster, later a corn and flour dealer, a miller and, later still, a brewer. In 1784 Godfrey bought land on New Street and had a fine house built there for his growing family. Elizabeth had twelve children in all, of whom nine survived to adulthood. The land behind the house became Berry’s Yard. He helped develop King Street by building more houses there, and after1822 leased land on which his New Town Brewery was built, a substantial property with dwelling house, cottages, brewhouse, maltkiln and stables.
Godfrey had an active public life as well as a business and family life. In 1812 he was a churchwarden at Huddersfield Parish Church, in which capacity he supervised the building of the six cottages in South Parade, the subject of the inscription, preserved when the properties were demolished and the Ring Road built. He actively undertook various aspects of church business from 1815 to 1827 and the church contains a brass memorial plaque to him and his wife. In 1820 he became an assiduous member of the Commission for Lighting, Watching and Cleansing the town.
Godfrey was a proactive member of the Commission from then until his death in 1829, attending many meetings and chairing some of them. He was particularly involved with lighting the new town, and was on committees investigating the current situation and deciding on how best to improve it. The lighting committee decided upon gas as the best fuel, so, with other committee members, Godfrey set up the Huddersfield Gas Company in April 1821 and negotiated a contract for its supply. By October 1821 the streets of Huddersfield were lit by gas for the first time, an event which caused much rejoicing. The gas works were duly erected on Leeds Road, the same site they occupy today.
See also Huddersfield page 2 and 3