The YAS library and archive contain many treasures and curious items of
interest on all sorts of topics. These short articles will give you a taste of some
of the fascinating things to be found in our collections.

A Tax on Bachelors and Widowers
The Thoresby Society Transactions Miscellanea volumes include many interesting articles. Volume XXIV (Miscellanea VII) includes an article by H.W. Thompson on a curious tax imposed in 1695. This was a Tax on Bachelors and Widowers. An Act of Parliament granted the King certain rates continue

Cogan’s Charity School, Hull
The bookcases in the Octagon Room contain box files full of interesting pamphlets. They range from histories of buildings through to clerical sermons. Amongst these are many reports and descriptions of Charity Schools. One that caught our attention is about a school in Hull.
“Rules to be strictly observed and enforced by the parents or friends of girls admitted into the Subscription School Salthouse Lane - continue

 

The York Mystery Plays
The bookcases in the Octagon Room contain box files full of interesting pamphlets including some on the city of York. As you can imagine there are quite a few on the York Mystery Plays. The booklet that particularly caught our attention was a programme for the first production of the Cycle, since 1572, in 1951. In medieval times the plays were continue

 

Dickens’s Dictionary of London
The above book came to light during this year’s stock check. It is subtitled An Unconventional Handbook and was published by Charles Dickens, Office Of All The Year Round in London. The book cost one shilling when first published and is a very interesting read. It not only informs the reader of interesting places to visit but of colloquial expressions, charities, clubs, churches, hospitals, a list of Holy continue

 

The Secret History of the Calves Head Club or the Republican Unmasked
This curious little book, printed in 1709, sets out to show “The religion of the Calves Head heroes”. It is the 7th edition with “large improvements”. It also contains an “annex” which is a “vindication of the ROYAL MARTYR King Charles 1st”

The club met every 30th January, the day Charles 1st
was beheaded, at different houses. In 1709 they were celebrating their 30th anniversary continue

 

Funeralia
The “funeralia” is a detailed account of the funeral of Christiana (1716-1767), wife of Francis Fawkes (1707-1789). Christiana died in London on 14 July 1767, and was buried in All Saints Church, Otley on Saturday 25 July. The journal is part of the Farnley Hall papers (DD146).

The funeral journal gives a detailed continue

 

Brawling women in Skipton, 1671
The Yorkshire Archaeological Society is fortunate to have on deposit, courtesy of the owners of Skipton Castle, an impressive set of court rolls relating to the Skipton area dating back to the thirteenth century (DD121).

I was looking at some of the seventeenth century Skipton Burgess court rolls, which include many presentments for affray (fighting). Unfortunately, few details are given apart from the continue

 

Dr Heaton’s diaries
The Society is indebted to Dorothy Payne, for her recent donation of John Deakin Heaton’s diaries to the Archives, in memory of her late husband, Brian.

Brian and Dorothy Payne wrote about Dr. Heaton in the 1973 volume of the Publications of the Thoresby Society, Miscellany 15. In this they recalled that he was an eminent citizen of Leeds in the nineteenth century, a physician at the General Infirmary, President of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, and one of the founders of the Yorkshire College of Science, now the University continue

 

The Yorkshire Post, Kriegie Edition
This edition of the Yorkshire Post (MS1553) was produced by a group of Yorkshire airmen in a German POW camp in 1944. It was the idea of Sgt Richard Pape who has worked on the editorial staff of the Yorkshire Post prior to the outbreak of war. It took over five weeks of painstaking work to complete.

The contents of the Kriegie Yorkshire Post are varied; from cartoons, poems reports of life in the camp including entertainments, portraits of some of the camp members to articles on sport, Yorkshire’s heritage and buying a house.

The foreward by James A.G. Deans the Camp Leader reads:
“It is natural that the P.O.W. should think much continue

 

Mary Bateman, The Yorkshire Witch
The library’s copy of the EXTRAORDINARY LIFE & CHARACTER OF MARY BATEMAN THE YORKSHIRE WITCH TRACED FROM THE EARLIEST THEFTS OF HER INFANCY THROUGH A MOST AWFUL COURSE OF CRIMES & MURDERS, TILL HER EXECUTION AT THE NEW DROP, NEAR THE CASTLE OF YORK ON MONDAY THE TWENTIETH OF MARCH, 1809 was printed in 1811 only 2 years after Mary’s continue

 

British Public Characters
Sorting books for repair the other day I came across an interesting set of volumes. They are entitled “British Public Characters”. There are 8 volumes and cover the years 1798–1806. Each volume has an index and some have a section for small pen portraits. The 1798 portraits include Nelson and Dr Priestley. The writer and politician Benjamin Disraeli is also in this volume. His name is actually spelt D’Israeli. Other volumes include biographies of Sir Robert Peel, Mr Wilberforce, Edmund Cartwright, Lord Granville, Duke of Marlborough, Richard Sheridan, William Cowper, Dr Jenner, Rowland Hill and William Franklin. Surprisingly there are some Surprisingly there are some 20 entries for continue