Yorkshire Almanac 2026

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

At the age of seven, however, he was taken badly ill with appendicitis – quite a serious occurrence in those days. Herbert and Ethel thought it best that the operation should be performed in a private nursing home. There, as distinct from the ordinary hospital, it would be possible to visit him regularly every day – a very desirable facility, they felt, for a young child, especially with Christmas only a fortnight ahead. With Herbert’s salary now having reached £500 a year, and with some savings in the bank, it was a practical proposition.

While Herbert and Ethel were visiting him on the evening of the day after the operation, most other people were going to the polling booths: it was voting day in the General Election of 1923. Harold greeted his parents with two major concerns. Had they brought his copy of Bubbles? They had. And had they cast their votes for Philip Snowden, the Colne Valley Labour candidate? They had not. In that case, they must hasten to do so. He urged them to leave him in time to vote before the booths closed.

When Ethel arrived at the nursing home next day, the matron greeted her with some bewilderment. Harold had been pestering a nurse all morning to telephone the Returning Officer to find out the result of the voting. Only when she had done so, and had reported back to him that Snowden had, in fact, been returned, was he willing to co-operate in the various nursing routines.

It would be easy to exaggerate the significance of this episode. He was almost as interested in reading about Buffalo Bill in Scouts of the Great Wild West, which his teacher had sent him, as he was in following Snowden’s success at the time. In reality he understood very little about the issues involved in the election, and regarded the contest in the same kind of light as he regarded a match played by Huddersfield Town.

He knew, however, that the election was regarded seriously by his parents, and his own interest faithfully reflected theirs. In fact, he took it so seriously that for years afterwards his parents did not dare to tell him that after leaving him that evening, thick fog had delayed their tram, and they had arrived at the booth too late to vote.

Order the book:

Subscribe to the free daily email:

To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Comment

The salary of of £500 quoted for Herbert Wilson would have been worth about £26,500 in December 2025. The butcher’s bill was apparently £60.

Something to say? Get in touch

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.

• 1923 United Kingdom general election (1) W/G ·
• Appendicitis (1) W/G ·
• Colne Valley (UK Parliament constituency) (1) W/G ·
• Comics (1) W/G ·
• Healthcare in the United Kingdom (1) W/G ·
• Huddersfield Town A.F.C. (1) W/G ·
• 📌Huddersfield (32) W/G ·
• Labour Party (UK) (18) W/G ·
• Milnsbridge (3) W/G ·
• Private healthcare in the United Kingdom (1) W/G ·
• Ramsay MacDonald (1) W/G ·
• Snowden, Philip (1864-1937) (1), Cowling-born politician, first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer (1924, 1929-31), expelled in 1931 for supporting MacDonald's coalition with the Tories W/G ·
• Stanley Baldwin (1) W/G ·
• Tram (4) W/G ·
• Wilson, Harold (1916-1995) (6), Huddersfield-born prime minister (1964-70, 1974-76), leader of the Labour Party (1963-76), MP (1945-83) W/G ·

All tags.

Order the book:

Subscribe to the free daily email:

To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Comment

The salary of of £500 quoted for Herbert Wilson would have been worth about £26,500 in December 2025. The butcher’s bill was apparently £60.

Something to say? Get in touch

Similar

2 January 1931: Future Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson (14) returns from the tuberculosis hospital to his home in Milnsbridge, Huddersfield

18 January 1966: Barbara Castle (Lab.) swings the Hull North by-election with a bridge over the Humber, convincing Harold Wilson that he has the momentum to win a general election

15 October 1838: Apologies from “imprisoned” Huddersfield workers are read to the great Chartist rally on Peep Green (Hartshead Moor), accusing middle-class radicals of betrayal

13 October 1967: Barbara Castle visits the M62 construction site and ponders regional development via road-building

15 November 1972: During the public inquiry into York Council’s plans for a motorway through the city centre, a college lecturer calls for the new religion to be made tangible

7 November 1959: The last tram scheduled in Leeds, no. 181 or 187, runs from Cross Gates to Kirkgate or Swinegate

28 April 1812: Luddites fatally wound the Marsden textile manufacturer William Horsfall on his way home from Huddersfield market

9 May 1757: John Wesley rides into Huddersfield in the Wild West Riding

27 November 1833: Lewis Fenton, Huddersfield MP, falls mysteriously from the upper window of his house

19 June 1984: On the day after the Battle of Orgreave, the Labour MP for Doncaster North contrasts police behaviour towards striking miners under the (Conservative) Heath and Thatcher governments

Order the book:

Subscribe to the free daily email:

To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Comment

Something to say? Get in touch