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

 

Pine Apple Inn, High Street, Quarry Hill

Amongst the photographs donated by Maurice Beresford there are some of the Pine Apple Inn in High Street, part of the original housing on Quarry Hill. The photograph shows a gentleman wearing a bowler hat standing outside the premises. One would presume he was the licensee of that period – Joseph Glendenning.

The photograph aroused my curiosity and I decided to research into the said Joseph Glendenning and the Pine Apple Inn. continue

 

Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary for Diseases peculiar to Women

This pamphlet concerns a hospital in Sheffield that would be for Sheffield a pioneer establishment. On the 11th of December 1863 a public meeting was held at the Cutlers’ Hall that was attended by the leading citizens of Sheffield.
The following resolution was unanimously passed that-
“in the opinion of this Meeting it is desirable to establish in this town a Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary for Diseases peculiar to Women”.

Perhaps the august body present were continue

 

A Bill for a Charitable Lottery for the relief of the distressed Virgins of Great Britain

The following is taken from a 1902 volume of the historical manuscripts Commission and can be found in the collection of Sir Leo Wombwell, Bart, of Newburgh Priory. It was discovered by Alan Longbottom, one of our members, and caused great amusement at a Claremont lunch time session, especially as one of our volunteers is a minister’s daughter! This is not the kind of topic one expects to find in an historic Manuscript document!

A Bill for a Charitable Lottery for the relief of the distressed Virgins

 

The Installation Feast of George Neville, Archbishop of York, 1465

George Neville was a brother of the Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker). Richard III, then the Duke of Gloucester, attended the enthronement and the feast that followed. Richard sat at the first table in the “Cheefe Chamber”. At the same table were the two daughters of the Earl of Warwick – Isabel who later married George, Duke of Clarence, and Anne, who became Richard’s wife. George Neville officiated at both the marriage ceremonies. George tried to be neutral but his close association with his brother, the Kingmaker, brought him into continue

 

Medieval deeds

Medieval deeds were not usually signed, but were authenticated by sealing and by quoting the names of witnesses. But deeds – and also seals – were sometimes forged and so indentures came into use as a protection against fraud. For a deed involving two parties, a pair of indentures was made thus:
Two copies of the deed were written on the same sheet of parchment and separated by an indented i.e. toothed cut (Lat. Dens, dentis a tooth). One copy was held by each party so that at a future date they could be placed together to check that all the indentation matched.

Although indented deeds are well known, continue

 

Trade Directories

Bookcase number 135 in the Octagon Room houses the YAS collection of directories. Members looking for addresses of their ancestors frequently consult these volumes. It is a pity that other researchers do not more frequently use them, as they are full of interesting information. To explain my point let us look at one directory in particular.

Post Office Directory of the West continue

 

The Luddites and Charlotte Bronte

Along with many of my fellow countrymen I am a great devotee of the novels of the Bronte sisters. I have read all the novels, seen all the films and follow any TV adaptation. Exploring sites associated with the novels has provided me with several happy days out. Many years ago I remember watching an old black and white film adaptation of the novel Shirley. The scenes of the Luddites being repelled by soldiers at the mill have been etched on my memory ever since. I knew that Charlotte had based the events on a real life incident that had been related to her by her father. continue

 

 

Royal Fireworks

Whilst reorganising the library Janet discovered an interesting pamphlet from 1749 describing “the machine for the fireworks”; this item, on account of its age, has now been transferred to the archives. This pamphlet is 14 pages long (it should be 16 pages, but unfortunately the final 2 pages are missing from our copy).

The full title of the pamphlet is “A Description of the Machine for the Fireworks, with all its ornaments, and a detail of the manner in which they are to be exhibited in St. James's Park, Thursday, April 27, 1749, on account of the General Peace, signed at Aix La Chapelle, October 7, 1748.”

The description of these fireworks was published by order of his Majesty's Board of Ordnance. The Board, based at the Tower of London, continue

 

Wakefield Court Rolls

The Wakefield court rolls are an almost complete series of manorial rolls documenting the business of the manor of Wakefield from 1274 to the dissolution of the manor in 1925. The manor was one of the largest in England and covered not just Wakefield, but a huge area of the West Riding from Holmfirth to Halifax, Heptonstall, Dewsbury and Normanton. The court rolls are probably the longest and most complete set of English court rolls to survive.

The court rolls are written in ink on parchment and after 1737 on paper, bound together at the top “exchequer style”. In some cases a paper draft is also preserved along with the final official parchment copy of the court roll. Originally all the rolls were stored continue