Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

At last a spot was fixed on as best
Its cost summed up and put to the test –
And forcibly urged on by one Edward West,
Who then was the mayor, and presided.
And for his exertions ’twas thought of by all,
The honour on him would deservedly fall
Of laying the foundation-stone of the hall, –
For which a resolve was provided.

But time wore on, and West’s term expired,
And Dawson came in, a man much admired,
Who took the oaths and seals as required,
And again what’s been said I will say it.
A mare’s nest [muddle] was made by friends unremitting,
Who said that the layer of the stone most befitting
Was the mayor of the time who, hen-like, was sitting,
And wanted to lay and should lay it.

This led to the making a modest request
By Alderman Scott for Alderman West,
That to rescind the resolve would set it at rest,
After which there were speeches long-winded.
‘Twas argued the thing was unfair and unjust,
And could not be binding on new men in trust,
And the question was somewhat diffusely discussed,
When at length the resolve was rescinded.

Comment

Comment

The opening of the town hall in 1873. The Times has an account of the steam clock and carillon, to which I must return.

William Henry Tucker of Wiltshire is more punchy re the Yorkshire nouveaux riches:

POOLE, AUGUST 1864.
THE WOOLLEN ARISTOCRACY OF YORKSHIRE.
Grandpapa was a barber, and Mamma
At the King’s Head was chambermaid when young;
Aunt Sarah was transported, and, alas!
Poor Uncle Tom at Lancaster was hung;
Pa went to Huddersfield, and dealt in waste;
Then join’d Esq. Duncalf in the shoddy trade;
The Deildust Mills for fifteen years they work’d,
Fail’d twice, but in the end their fortunes made.
Though sister Kate and I went late to school,
We now are both accomplish’d and genteel,
And have a high position to maintain –
New spheres to seek, – old bygones to conceal;
To patronize the County Ball at Christmas,
And keep low folks and tradesmen at a distance.
(Tucker 1879)

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Original

Events, with the wheeling of time, move so fast,
It seems but as days, though long years have past,
Since Bradford, increasing, was urged on at last
To appeal to the heads of the nation;
And a chart of municipal right was then given,
For which a large party had ardently striven,
And since which the Corporate body has thriven
By feeding its Corporation.

The great civic feasts and Mayors’ rich treats,
Of soups and wines and courses of meats,
Made Aldermen grow so large in their seats
Confinement became past endurance.
When Alderman Farrar, with upraised hand,
In manner majestic, and gesture so grand,
Contended for room in which to expand,
So big had he got with assurance.

And many bright speeches and talk called small
Came from shortest of Members to Broadbent tall,
Respecting erecting a New Town Hall,
Till at last their words were plighted.
Then as to a site they differed in views,
And a sight of wrangling before they could choose
Some got into stews, and some wrote to the News,
And many good views were sighted.

At last a spot was fixed on as best
Its cost summed up and put to the test –
And forcibly urged on by one Edward West,
Who then was the Mayor, and presided.
And for his exertions ’twas thought of by all,
The honour on him would deservedly fall
Of laying the foundation-stone of the Hall, –
For which a resolve was provided.

But time wore on, and West’s term expired,
And Dawson came in, a man much admired,
Who took the oaths and seals as required,
And again what’s been said I will say it.
A mare’s nest [muddle] was made by friends unremitting,
Who said that the layer of the stone most befitting
Was the mayor of the time who, hen-like, was sitting,
And wanted to lay and should lay it.

This led to the making a modest request
By Alderman Scott for Alderman West,
That to rescind the resolve would set it at rest,
After which there were speeches long-winded.
‘Twas argued the thing was unfair and unjust,
And could not be binding on new men in trust,
And the question was somewhat diffusely discussed,
When at length the resolve was rescinded.

So now to record the event which outshone
All others, though made of contention a bone,
The laying of the first foundation stone
Of Bradford’s Town Hall, long projected.
Fixed was the day when the stone should be laid,
And great preparations for show and parade
Were extensively, aye! and expensively made,
And a great display was expected.

By post, invitations dispatched were amain,
For the Halifax Mayor to come with his chain;
And friends from afar to be brought by train,
To join and swell the procession.
And orders were given for a rich repast,
With iced champagne on a scale so vast,
That into the shade would other feasts cast –
Even Mitchell’s that made an impression.

Auspicious the morn, when lined was each street,
With sight-seeing people our great Mayor to greet,
To see all our magnates and Bradford’s élite
Was a sight for the gods to behold.
Men of renown of the gown you might see,
A bishop and canons and one M.P.,
And plumed ones of rank in the line two or three,
And mayors who chained were with gold.

And as elements sometimes are said to jar,
There were those who wound and kill in war,
And doctors who cure, and those of the Bar,
And those with a “saving knowledge.”
Men who in pulpits both teach and preach,
To show grovelling man how to upwards reach –
Mitton and Smith, and others, with Leach
In robes of his order at college.

And men were there with remarkable brains,
For ‘cuteness in modes of acquiring gains,
But none with a drop of blue blood in his veins,
Save Poole the great auctioneer.
Some who if told what they once were would frown,
For many have risen in this rising town,
But Poole has got up by knocking things down
Belonging to those in arrear.

With some the wish is innate to acquire,
And to gain with them is a burning desire,
And like an ever-consuming fire,
‘Tis a feeling they never can quench.
An inordinate thirst some have to be
In Senate, and add to their names M.P.,
And some few who get, as one sometimes may see,
To be Shallows, and sit on the bench.

‘Tis strange that men with great acquisitions
Because of their wealth get into positions,
Requiring a knowledge for legal decisions
For which they can have no pretence.
But then there are those in the uppermost class,
If not born to wealth could not wealth amass;
Wealth stands — for the veriest Dogberry ass –
In the place of learning and sense.

I sing not of heroes who win the wreath,
But of those who have raised themselves up from beneath
By combing as t’were in spite of their teeth,
From a very humble beginning.
And of those who to wealth have woven their way,
And those who have saved by waste strange to say,
And those who by tops are tip-top to-day,
And those who have whirl’d up by spinning.

Right laudable ’tis for men to aspire,
With motto “Excelsior,” higher and higher;
The salt of the earth are those we admire,
Who strive for the good of humanity;
But he who aspires himself to raise
To posts of honour, to attract the gaze
Of the vulgar, in order to gain their praise,
Is only a victim to vanity.

Some who affect aristocracy’s air
Have gold-banded flunkies and horses a pair.
Whose grandfathers scarcely had shoes to wear –
But ’tis bootless this long digression.
Far be it from me to envy or blame,
Or detract from any man’s fair risen fame,
Fault-finders would doubtless, so placed, do the same,
So now I will join the procession.

‘Twas noticed that some had a look that was arch,
At keepers of peace, stiff locking as starch,
Who led the train in a kind of dead march,
With their chief in uniform dress.
And others were there who the town have well served,
Men who have rarely from what was right swerved,
And he of the Observer was there, I observed,
With others belonging the Press.

And here is the place wherein best it chimes,
To mention in these desultory rhymes,
That along with the eminent men of our Times,
Was one the greatest of any:
So tellingly graphic is he with his pen,
Our morals he Shields and exposes bad men,
And he never turns round, excepting that when
His turning will turn him a penny.

There were Farrar, J.P., the pompous and grand,
And Farrar the tall, the maker of band,
And Storey, the famed, who would largely expand
At the feast at which they were sharers.
And children came there in many a troop,
And men and women in many a group,
Outsiders who hadn’t a ticket for soup,
But merely were gapers and starers.

Then came to a stand the great parade,
Where ladies in tiers all their beauty displayed;
Where Brown a speech — not a maiden one – made,
Though said to be somewhat effeminate.
Where Alderman West, who the stone should have laid,
Held forth, and the Bishop devoutly prayed,
That counsels wise might prevail, and for aid,
That gocd might be widely disseminate.

Then the Mayor, the occasion to him so proud,
With wonted politeness most graciously bowed,
And kindly, smilingly, looked on the crowd,
Like one with compassionate bowels.
And the part of laying he did with a will,
And deposited coins as into a till,
And the trowel he handled with mason-like skill,
As though he were well used to trowels.

And the ladies so fair who were there to stare,
Admired the Mayor, who did well his share
With mallet and trowel and plummet and square,
With a true workmanlike celerity.
And papers and records belonging the town,
And who at the time wore England’s crown;
And the name Mark Dawson he handed down,
With other great names, to posterity.

When speeches had ended, he waved his hand
To ladies like flowers on a hot-house stand;
And “God save the Queen was played by the band,
Which told of being “happy and glorious.”
For many who stood in the sun I opine,
Would think of the shade and cool iced wine;
And some like old Sol, would be in for a shine,
For ’tis said that the close was uproarious.

1676 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Alcohol (drug) (59) ·
• Bradford City Hall (1) ·
• 📌Bradford (72) ·
• Dawson, Mark (1819-1884) (1), Manchester-born worsted spinner, Mayor of Bradford 1869-71 ·
• 📌Halifax (43) ·
• Hanging (24) ·
• 📌Huddersfield (29) ·
• Inheritance (3) ·
• Lancaster (1) ·
• Narrative poetry (9) ·
• Nouveau riche (1) ·
• Obesity (5) ·
• Poetry (70) ·
• Recycled wool (1) ·
• Robert Bickersteth (bishop) (1) ·
• Textile manufacturing (59) ·
• The Observer (1) ·
• The Times (5) ·
• West, Edward (1821-83) (1), Sculcoates (Hull)-born corn-miller, Mayor of Bradford 1868-69 ·

All tags.

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