by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library As part of our Light Night celebrations, the Library is hosting a display of rare books on the subject of light, optics and astronomy. Alongside classics by such prominent scientists and philosophers as Galileo Galilei, Alexander von Humboldt, Christiaan Huygens, Nicolaus Copernicus and Isaac Newton, visitors…
Category: Historical Figures
It’s Mr Tetley’s Birthday
Leeds Libraries will be at The Tetley on Saturday 18 July for the free event, Joshua Tetley’s Birthday Party – so be sure to come and say hello and find out more about our special collections and library services. In 1822, a 44-year-old Joshua Tetley signed an agreement with Mr William Sykes, Common Brewer, to take…
Snippet of History: Taylor, Mason and Timothy White
In 1985 the Timothy White chain of stores – formerly a major presence on British streets – disappeared from the high street following a takeover by Boots the Chemist. It’s perhaps not secret history – more forgotten history – that the Timothy White company had at least part of its roots right here in Leeds….
Owney Madden
Friday the 24th of April 2015 marked the 50th-anniversary of Owney Madden’s death. Owney – sometimes Owen – Madden was a legendary figure in American organised crime; a notorious bootlegger during the Roaring Twenties; an associate of Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano; the owner of the fabled Cotton Club; a childhood friend to actor George…
Read More: Legendary Poets meet
by Antony Ramm, Information and Research, Central Library This is an entry in our Read More series. These are ‘long-form’ articles, where staff offer a curated and detailed look at areas of our book collections, usually based around a specific theme or subject. These posts aim to guide the interested reader through to those books that offer a…
Pablo is Coming!
Marking the end of Black History month this week we are sharing three playbills from our collections featuring Pablo Fanque, Britain’s first black circus owner. Born William Darby on 28th February 1796 in Norwich he joined the circus in 1810 as an apprentice to William Batty who owned a small travelling circus. He was known as…
George Corson, leaving his mark on Leeds
Today we bring you the architect and designer of our 1884 Municipal Buildings, George Corson. Born in Dumfries, Scotland, George like his older brother William, trained under Scottish architect Walter Newall. George followed his brother to Leeds, where on the 1851 census aged 21 and 28 they are registered as living at Number 21 Lyddon…
Beryl Gott and the Gott Bequest
By Library and Digital Assistant, Philip Wilde In volume 10 of our copy of ‘The Northern Gardener’ published in 1956, there is an article by Kenneth Lemmon, the Honorary Editor, which says of the Gott Collection in Leeds Central Library ,’I cannot think of another such collection outside the R.H.S. Lindley Library or the British…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 