1888

   A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE 

 1888

WATER SUPPLY ARGUMENTS
  In January Malcolm Paterson of Bradford put in his bill for the work he had done so far on the water scheme. It came to £68 2s 8d. He offered to act as engineer for the scheme at 5% of the cost and if appointed would waive his present account. The Local Board agreed he would be paid £300 or 5% which would include the previous bill.
  Most of the wells in the district had dried up and there was an unprecedented shortage of water. Wakefield Corporation offered to supply water for 20 years to be metered at Wakefield Bridge. Featherstone Local Board were to lay the water main and erect a reservoir capable of holding 320,000 gallons. The Board had to take a minimum of 30,000 gallons a day in the first year and a maximum of 60,000. The price would be 10d per 1,000 gallons up to 30,000 or 9d if the quantity was between 30,000 and 60,000. The Wakefield Rural Sanitary Authority declined to consider a joint scheme for Sharlston so the Local Board voted to accept the Wakefield offer.
  Problems over the contract arose in April. The Featherstone Local Board wanted the agreement to be for 30 years, and they wanted a trial period of three years before the minimum take was fixed. Wakefield Corporation said if they agreed to 30 years they would have to have the power to put up the rates by 2d per 1,000 gallons if necessary. Wakefield wanted to supply water only during weekday nights and from 2pm on Saturdays until 6.30am on Mondays. Also Featherstone must not sell the water to any other authority even if they could not use the 30,000 gallons themselves.
  At the Board's April meeting it was announced Wakefield would not extend the period to 30 years but would allow a two years trial period to fix the minimum. Mr Denton asked how the Board was situated by getting a loan for 30 years if the agreement was for 20 years. The clerk assured the Board it was in order, so the agreement was approved subject to a drought clause.
  In June a letter was received from Pontefract Corporation saying they could supply water at a lower cost than Wakefield, and the Park Hill reservoir would serve both districts. Wakefield had refused to insert a clause in the contract saying during a drought they would supply Featherstone in preference to manufacturers in Wakefield. The chairman said they were in honour bound to sign the agreement if Wakefield inserted the clause and they could not discuss the Pontefract letter.
  Wakefield refused to budge on the drought clause. A special meeting of the Local Board was called which refused to sign the agreement. The Express commented "Much regret is expressed by the inhabitants of the district at the arbitrary dealing, as it is termed, of the Corporation, and they hope that as an engineer had been appointed, the necessary plans of the district prepared, and other preliminary work carried out, the Corporation may still give way on the point and thus allow the people of Featherstone to enjoy, on fair and equitable grounds, a good supply of pure and wholesome water".
  At the July meeting it was said Wakefield Corporation was sticking to the right to supply Wakefield business before Featherstone. There was a telegram from Pontefract Corporation saying they would send a deputation to the meeting. The deputation arrived and said the analysis of their new water supply showed it to be pure and excellent for domestic and manufacturing purposes. It would be available in 12 months time and the price would be 8d per 1,000 gallons from Pontefract reservoir or 7d if Featherstone had its own reservoir. The minimum would be 30,000 gallons per day and Featherstone could dispose of water elsewhere if necessary to make up the minimum. Pontefract would share the water in times of scarcity. It was agreed the terms would be put in writing.
  The August meeting was "one of the most protracted and uproarious meeting on record of the Featherstone Local Board". Wakefield would still not give way so Mr Denton proposed acceptance saying Wakefield Corporation would ultimately have sufficient water for everybody. Mr Bennett opposed saying they would spend £2,000 more than necessary and proposed they adjourn the matter for six months. Mr Waller said there was plenty of water in his hay field. Mr Wardman moved a second amendment that the matter be adjourned for one month.
  Three members voted for the second amendment, two for the first, and four wanted to sign the agreement. On Mr Denton's resolution being put again only three voted in favour, Mr Eley had changed his mind.
  Things then got heated. Some members stormed out and Mr Battye called Mr Denton a liar. The chairman, Mr Fearnley, said he would leave the chair unless Mr Battye withdrew that remark so Mr Battye gave way. The reporters were then asked to leave and the meeting continued in private.
  At the September meeting it was decided to ask Wakefield to supply water for 30 years instead of 20 as a means of reopening negotiations. The chairman said the only stumbling block was the possibility of withdrawing water in cases of drought. Mr Denton said Wakefield Corporation had borne the brunt and burden of the scheme so it was only reasonable they should be supplied first. The chairman said they were bearing a great burden if they put down four miles of pipes. Mr Denton asked the chairman what he offered as a substitute but received no reply.    
  In October Wakefield Corporation agreed to extend the terms to 30 years as a kind of set-off to the other contentious parts of the agreement. Messrs Fearnley, Waller and Bennett voted against, but all the other six voted in favour. Mr Fearnley said he would still pursue an alternative. When this was queried by Mr Denton he replied the agreement was still subject to an inquiry (to borrow the money). He then signed the agreement and fixed the Local Board seal to it. "It’s a blessing" was Mr Denton's final comment.
  Wakefield Corporation also fixed their seal to the agreement. Notices had then to be put in the local papers for three months to allow objections before a loan could be arranged.

EDUCATION IN 1888
  In February eight Featherstone men were in court for not sending their children to school and they all claimed they were sending them to Michael White's school. For the Featherstone School Board it was claimed Michael White's school was not open to inspection, it was not under the rules of the Government, and because it did not charge more than 9d a week it was not exempt from the Education Act. All eight were fined 5s each and ordered to send their children to the Board Schools.
  When it was time for the School Board elections in September posters were put up saying the "classes" had been long enough represented on the Board and now the "masses" ought to look to their own interests. A meeting was held at the Boys' School where the main criticism was the bad financial management which had caused a rate of 11d in the £1.
  At the poll those elected were A Higgins, H Gledhill, Alexander Alexander, T Phipps and Revd F G Stebbing. Those who failed were J Battye, Jonah Barratt, W Hepworth, J Chambers and F Wood. So Joseph Battye and Joseph Chambers lost their seat on the Board.
  The first meeting of the new Board elected Mr Phipps as chairman. They were told by Mr Simpson the Boys' School was now accommodating more pupils than it was built for, and he had been told by the inspector they were liable to pay £1 for every child over that figure (presumably taken off the grant).
  The Board decided to have a new classroom for 72 boys built on land in George Street already bought from Mr H Horner of Wakefield for £320. A decision was also taken to allow the children of miners out on strike to attend school free.
  At the next meeting Mr Alexander objected to the free places for striking miners. He said some of them were boasting they could get more from the union and begging than when they were working. Some were getting up to 25s a week. It was agreed to allow free places only for special cases.
  In November Mr Higgins told the School Board he had been elected in order to make economies in the running of the schools. He proposed reducing Mr Simpson's salary by £10 and taking away his free gas and coal so his salary would be £110 plus house plus a quarter of the grant, making the equivalent of £150. Revd Stebbing proposed it should be £150 plus house and nothing else and that was passed by four votes to one. It was also agreed to reduce the clerk's salary from £25 to £20 and to reduce the attendance officer to his former wage.
  
GEORGE BRADLEY AND THE POOR RATES
  In April John Bramley and William Bradley, the Ackton overseers, were summonsed by the Board of Guardians for £91 10s poor rates. John Bramley told the magistrates he knew no more about the outstanding accounts then they did and he claimed William Bradley himself owed £19 5s and one ratepayer had not paid for four years.  The Bench decided the overseers must take proceedings against every person in rate arrears at once and the case would be adjourned for a week to see if they had done so.
  A week later it was time for the next year's overseers to be nominated by the parish and approved by the magistrates. Because Ackton was in the Agbrigg district this was done at Wakefield Court. Only William Bradley and Charles Keith had been nominated and both worked for Henry Briggs, Sons and Company who paid two-thirds of the rates for Ackton because their miners' homes at Loscoe were included in the Ackton district.
  Mr Horner appeared on behalf of some of the ratepayers who objected to the way things were run, and John Bramley told his tale again and said the outstanding arrears were now £381.
  The Bench appointed Messrs Bradley and Keith and said there should be an overhauling of the rate books. On the same day at Pontefract Court it was announced the £91 10s had been paid.
  In May George Bradley was summonsed for £136 18s 3d owing on the poor rates. He did not appear in court and PC Foster said he had been twice to Ackton Hall but he could not gain admission, so he gave the summons to a servant in the stable yard some distance from the hall.
  Mr Lodge, for George Bradley, asked for an adjournment and said George Bradley had paid £100 on account. Mr Leatham, for the overseers, opposed an adjournment and said George Bradley owed for the last eight rates over the last four years. The Bench said the summons had been properly served and the case would be heard.
  Mr Leatham then said at a recent vestry meeting John Dunn Parker, assistant overseer, had been ordered to take proceedings against all poor rate arrears but had failed to do so. He had also declined to give any information or hand over the rate books. A Township meeting was held on May 3 at which Mr Parker was dismissed and ordered to hand the rate books to the overseers. It was then found George Bradley owed eight rates totalling £236 towards which he had now paid £100.
  John Dunn Parker was called and was reticent in his answers until told by the chairman he would not leave until the matter was finished. He then said he had been assistant overseer for 20 years and the collector since 1884 for which he received £20. It was now obvious George Bradley had not paid any poor rates during Mr Parker's period as collector, and Mr Parker said he had not entered Mr Bradley's arrears in the rate book because the magistrates would not have agreed a new rate if they knew such a large amount was outstanding.
  Mr Lodge claimed the £100 paid in was for the last three rates and Mr Bradley was not liable for the others because the rate fixings had not been properly posted in the church. The Bench didn't agree and said the outstanding amount must be paid forthwith.

GEORGE BRADLEY BANKRUPT
  George Bradley bought the Ackton Hall estates with borrowed money. He borrowed more to sink Manor Colliery next to the railway station. The coal trade slumped and he had trouble paying his bills. In March he was summonsed by four miners for unpaid wages. He was summonsed back again the next week by another eight miners and the poor rates collector.
Apart from his workmen and the poor rates he couldn't pay his suppliers. He was sued in the County Court in June by Mr Richardson of Leeds for £3 3s 3d the value of goods supplied to the colliery. In August he was sued by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company for £41 6s 2s for the carriage of coal. At the end of August he was summonsed by 33 miners for their wages and from then summonses were issued almost weekly because of unpaid wages.
  In October it was said he owed £50 of his current rates assessment and a distress warrant had been issued for a previous unpaid rates demand, and he owed one creditor £24,000 and steps were being made to declare him bankrupt.  
  In December George Bradley was back in Pontefract Court to say why he should not be committed to prison. It was said there were 32 outstanding claims for unpaid wages totalling £114. Some of his property had been seized and sold by auction which raised £104 and was used to pay off 29 of the miners. Two of those not paid had taken him to court again. 
  Mr Lodge, defending, said the sale had taken place at 8am instead of the usual 10am. Consequently £1,000 of goods had gone for a paltry £100, Supt Whincup said every dodge possible had been used to entrap the police because they were applying for the money of the poor colliers who were literally starving. He had even advanced some money himself on some occasions and had put back the sale as long as possible.
  Mr Lodge said all the men should have been paid 19s in the pound, but the Bench said Supt Whincup did right as they would never have got the other shilling. George Bradley was ordered to pay the two men the money owing to them plus 3s 6d each for a day's wage lost in coming to court.
  The same week it was announced the British Medical Insurance Society had filed for bankruptcy against George Bradley. 
  Back in court next week there was a row between George Bradley, his legal representative Mr Horner, and Supt Whincup. George Bradley complained he was hard done by and excessive expenses had been claimed by the police. He grabbed a schedule of payments and expenses which Supt Whincup had allowed Mr Horner to look at and refused to give it up until overpowered by Supt Whincup and Sergeant Sparrow. His case was adjourned for another week and it was then announced George Bradley had settled the miners' claims.
  In the meantime the Local Board received a letter from the British Medical Insurance Society saying Joseph Howgate of Wakefield had been appointed as receiver for George Bradley and future letters about rates should be sent to him.
  This arrived after another summons had been issued against George Bradley for unpaid Local Board rates of £41 18s 0d and poor rates of £80 0s 4d. He didn't appear in court no doubt deciding to let the receiver sort it out.

1888 NEWS ITEMS
  JANUARY  William Ecclestone was employed at Mr Bradley's pit as a doggie and when asked to do a hurrier's work by the deputy he refused. He was told to seek a fresh job so he summonsed George Bradley for £1 wages he was owed and £2 8s in lieu of notice. Mr Darlington told the court it was the custom if the hurrier did not turn up the doggie did his work. Another rule was a man could be instantly dismissed for refusing to obey the orders of the underviewer. The case was dismissed apart from the £1 wages. (A hurrier was a pony driver, a doggie was the man in charge of the pony drivers, and the underviewer was the undermanager.)

  Four South Featherstone miners were fined 6d for obstructing the footpath in Station Lane and causing several ladies to step into the road.

  The Salvation Army opened its new barracks in the former United Methodists Free Church. They claimed 1,047 members and they marched to the station to meet Major Longstaff (a lady) who then conducted open air meetings before moving to the barracks.

FEBRUARY  The Revd F G Stebbing asked the Burial Board to discontinue Sunday funerals but they declined.

MARCH  Featherstone Main Colliery formed an ambulance class. Dr Buncle gave lectures to 45 members.
 
  The School Board allowed Mr Allen to use a schoolroom to give French lessons at a rent of 5s a quarter. The Ambulance Society was also allowed a room at 1s a night. The miners' union at Featherstone Main were refused as it was considered it was out of accord for the purposes for which the schools were built.

  An inquest was held on Adolphus Rowley aged 19, a pony driver at Featherstone Main Colliery. He was trapped between a tub and the side of the road and died in Clayton Hospital. The verdict was accidental death.

MAY  An inquest was held on Feargus Exley who was found cut in two at the Halfpenny Lane railway crossing. James Walton said they had been in the White Hart Inn at Pontefract and had missed the last train so they walked along Halfpenny Lane but Exley got left behind. The driver of a goods train said he felt a bump at the crossing and stopped at the station where he found a sand pipe at the front of the engine was bent. The coroner said Exley had been in drink and had probably laid down and gone to sleep. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death and recommended the crossing be lit.

  Mr Fearnley was unanimously re-elected chairman of the Local Board. A rate of 10d was fixed for the half-year. The collector said all the rates had been paid except for George Bradley who had only paid £10 on account. He had been summonsed and a distress warrant issued.

  William Schofield claimed £2 10s wages in lieu of notice from George Bradley. He said he had been given a fortnight's notice but the pit had only worked four days and he had only been allowed to work two of those. George Senior, the manager of Manor Colliery, said Schofield was stopped from working because the small coal and dirt he was getting was totally unsaleable. They could not find him other work because all the wagons were full and the pit had no orders. The case was dismissed.

  The annual soiree of the Purston and Featherstone Liberal Association was held in Purston National School. Because of the slow sale of tickets only a guarantee of 250 was given to a Pontefract confectioner but he decided to bring enough food for 400. In the event 600 crowded the school so many of them got no tea.
  Mr Pickard MP said a few words about the Primrose League (the Conservative ladies) and said the wives of the miners were as radical as the men themselves. On local councils he said he was in favour of paying councillors £1 a day so working men could put themselves forward, and if we were going to have County Councils and Local Councils why not abolish the Poor Law Unions (the Guardians) which would do away with a costly and uneconomical system of local administration.

JUNE  Simon Burns was fined £2 10s for removing his furniture at 4am from a cottage in Purston to avoid paying the rent.

  Sam and Henry Millington were playing peggy in the street and it went through an open window. William Twigger went out and told them they had no business playing there. They assaulted him giving him two black eyes and a cut face, and it cost them a fine of 10s or 14 days in jail with hard labour.

  Adam Hirst was breaking a horse in for Mr Scholey when it shied and threw him. His foot got fast and it dragged him down Station Lane. Near the station a Castleford Cooperative delivery man seized the horse. Mr Hirst had several dislocated ribs, one arm broken, a dislocated shoulder and numerous cuts and bruises. He was attended by Drs Buncle and Steven who said it was a miracle he was not killed on the spot.

  At the Local Board meeting there were more complaints about unfiltered sewage going into the River Went and polluting it where cattle drank. The surveyor was told to remedy the matter.
  There was a letter from Mr Allison of Leeds, a large ratepayer, complaining the flagging of the west side of Station Lane had not been done and the road was in a shameful and dirty state. Also he paid £6 a year for the cleaning out of his privies and ashpits which he considered was really the work of the Board. "If that body thought it was to be a one-sided improvement and a one-sided lighting of the lamps, in all fairness to myself and all the other property owners on the west side I consider it should be a one-sided paying of the rates". The Board decided as in some cases the Local Board had flagged and paved private streets and the property owners had then paid without demur, this policy should continue.

  Notices were placed in the shops saying they would be closed every Wednesday afternoon at 3pm from June to September to give a much needed rest to those engaged within.

  The first examination of the Featherstone Main Colliery St John Ambulance class was taken by Dr Martin of Leeds in Regent Street School. All 20 passed.

  Mr W Dalston Braithwaite of Ackworth gave a talk to a large meeting of ratepayers in George Street School which sought to show the need for another Guardian in Featherstone. At the end it was proposed "that this meeting of the ratepayers is of the opinion it is highly desirable an additional Guardian should be granted to the parish of Featherstone, and that the overseers at once call a vestry meeting to petition the Local Government Board to grant their request". It was passed unanimously.

JULY  Hand  bills were circulated among Featherstone miners asking them to attend a mass meeting at Sharlston Common to press for a 10% increase from next October. Several hundred miners turned up and William Boffey of Featherstone urged the assembly to train for the final heat in October. He hoped the non-union men would join them for he said it was a hard road to travel when one union man had to carry eight non-union men on his back.

  Samuel Cooper, a potato dealer of Ackworth Lane, had converted two stables into a cottage without the consent of the Local Board. Mr Cooper appeared before the Board to apologise, and he agreed to make alterations to conform with the bye-laws.

  Fanny Davis aged 14 of Newport Terrace, went on a Snydale Colliery trip to Scarborough. She fell off the Castle Hill and broke her thigh and was carried to the infirmary by soldiers and police.

  John Turner and Benjamin Davis were charged with assaulting George Pflasterer, the landlord of the Bradley Arms. They began fighting after an argument about pigeon flying and when the landlord intervened he was set on by both of them and was hit on the head with a spittoon. They were fined £1 each.

AUGUST  The Haigh Moor miners at Featherstone Main Colliery gave notice and came out on strike for an increase in wages after bringing their tools to the bottom of the shaft.

  Members of the Primitive Methodist Church paraded the streets headed by their brass band prior to a public meeting in Station Lane. It was agreed to send a resolution to the licensing magistrates protesting against two more applications for selling intoxicating liqueur, saying the neighbourhood was already provided for and the granting of such licences would seriously injure the domestic, social and moral well being of the district.
  This photo of the Primitive Methodists place of worship on Wakefield Road is from the Tony Lumb Collection.

SEPTEMBER  Three Featherstone boys were in court for throwing the Local Board roadstone about. Supt Whincup said "You can scarcely pass along Featherstone or Purston without being subject to the danger of stones thrown by boys". The Express commented "He might have added bicycle and tricycle riders feel their annoyance and appreciate the danger as much as any other people can possibly do". 

  The Snydale, Streethouse, Featherstone and Purston Flower Show Society held its first exhibition opened by John Rhodes of Snydale Hall in the cricket field at Streethouse. It was intended to be held alternately at Streethouse and Featherstone.

  The Haigh Moor miners were still on strike. They toured the streets with a hand cart to collect provisions or other gifts anyone was disposed to give them. Some were not in the union and were entirely dependent on outside support. The wives and children of the strikers were taking work of any kind to gain a livelihood.
 
  At the Local Board meeting there was more controversy about building without permission. Mr Denton said he considered if anyone built without submitting a plan he should be made to pull it down. The 12 street oil lamps in North Featherstone were lit for the first time. They had been supplied by Alfred Higgins of Station Lane, a tinner and plumber. He used the same lamps in his shop and it was said they gave out a very good light.

OCTOBER  Malcolm Paterson, the engineer for the water scheme, was asked to report on the sewage works after more complaints from Lord St Oswald. Mr Paterson said the 25 acres of land used for sewage irrigation was useless because it was mostly clay. It would cost £5,000 to lift the sewage 50 feet to suitable land and even more for precipitation works.

  The Board of Guardians were asked by the Local Government Board for an opinion on another Guardian for Featherstone. It was agreed the population of Featherstone had grown more than any other in the Union, but they would have to take a Guardian from somewhere else to give another for Featherstone. It was suggested joining Ackton (including Loscoe) or Purston to Featherstone, but as both had a population of over 700 it was against the rules. The Guardians eventually voted by 11 votes to 7 against another Featherstone Guardian.

  John Thomas Cardo aged 13, a door trapper at Snydale Victoria Colliery, got on the cage with another seven miners to come out of the pit, but when the cage reached the surface he was missing. His body was found caught on a stay 40 feet below where the cages passed. At the inquest at the Railway Hotel Thomas Taylor said he told Cardo to come away from the end of the cage and get hold of the bar but he stayed where he was.
  Sam Millington said when the cage was half way he turned to talk to a mate, and when he looked back the boy was gone. In answer to a question from the mines' inspector he said the cage was going fast and rattling and he assumed John Cardo fell out just after they passed the other cage. The jury's verdict was he accidentally fell out of the cage.

  The Haigh Moor miners at Featherstone Main Colliery had been out on strike for three months when the rest of the miners at that pit came out along with the Yorkshire Miners' Federation men at other pits. The local colliery owners gave in to the men's demands and granted them the 10% rise they were seeking.

NOVEMBER  The victorious miners held a meeting in George Street School at which Mr Law Senior presided. Mr J Wadsworth proposed and Mr W Boffey seconded the following resolution. "Seeing that we have secured 10% on our wages, through the action and at the expense of the Yorkshire Miners' Federation, the members of the Featherstone Main, Snydale and Featherstone Manor collieries do hereby agree and pledge ourselves to join the Yorkshire Miners' Federation at once, and thereby make it a power of good for the future." It was carried unanimously.

  The Purston and Featherstone Liberal Association met at the Travellers' Rest Hotel to confirm the acceptance of Mr H McD Clokie as candidate for the Castleford District, which included Featherstone and Purston, in the election for the new West Riding County Council.

  A number of children going to Purston National School hitched a lift on a wagon. William Balmforth aged five got his leg fast in the wheel and had it broken. He was carried home by Joseph Hoyle's son.
  On the same day Isaiah Marshall aged four was run over by a cart in Station Lane driven by George Asquith but was not badly injured. The Lane was crowded at the time because of a funeral headed by the Salvation Army Band.

  At the Local Board meeting it was agreed to send a deputation to visit other sewage works in the district to find the best remedy for the problem at Featherstone where a vast increase in the sewage was overloading the system and causing problems in the River Went. Some members blamed the thousands of gallons of salt water being put into the drains by Snydale Colliery which flooded the sewage works.

DECEMBER  James Arthur Hemmingway was fined 5s or seven days in jail for disturbing a Salvation Army meeting. Supt Whincup said there were numerous cases of youths interfering with the Army meetings, and the Bench declared their intentions of putting a stop to it.

  Mr Battye brought up the problem of blocked drains at the Local Board meeting. He said sewage was running into the streets and there was a soft water tank with dead cats in it. The Board officers were instructed to look into these matters.

  The St John Ambulance Society, formed last February with 50 members, held its first examination in the Girls' School. John Shaw of Darrington Hall presented certificates to those who passed.