This week on the blog we hear from Library Officer Ruairí Lewis about a heated debate between two leading local men in the early 19th-century… In 1830, the ‘Tory Radical’ Richard Oastler sent an open letter to the Leeds Mercury, owned and edited by prominent Leeds liberal Edward Baines (1774-1848), entitled ‘Slavery in Yorkshire’. Oastler…
Category: Yorkshire History
The Public Benefit Boot Company
This week we welcome guest blogger Dave Bean, who has spent years researching and writing about the Public Benefit Boot Company, which had Northern and Southern divisions. He has recently donated his collection to Leeds Central Library and it can be found in the Local and Family History Library. Here he tells us about the…
The amazing career of aviation correspondent, author and journalist Allen Rowley
This week’s post is written by Geoff Carter. Geoff has also kindly loaned items belonging to Allen Rowley to the Breaking the News exhibition and donated some incredible 18th century newspapers to our permanent collection. Allen Rowley was born at Thornhill, Dewsbury, and as a nephew of the village newsagent, started delivering the Yorkshire Post…
Before Windrush: Black People in Leeds and Bradford, 1708 – 1948, Part IV
This week on the Secret Library we hear from researcher Danny Friar, who explores the rich history of people of African heritage making Leeds and Bradford their home over a 300 year period. This is Part IV of a four part series during Black History Month: the result of new research, these articles will shed…
Before Windrush: Black People in Leeds and Bradford, 1708 – 1948, Part III
This week on the Secret Library we hear from researcher Danny Friar, who explores the rich history of people of African heritage making Leeds and Bradford their home over a 300 year period. This is Part III of a four part series during Black History Month: the result of new research, these articles will shed…
Before Windrush: Black People in Leeds and Bradford, 1708 – 1948, Part II
This week on the Secret Library we hear from researcher Danny Friar, who explores the rich history of people of African heritage making Leeds and Bradford their home over a 300 year period. This is Part II of a four part series during Black History Month: the result of new research, these articles will shed…
Before Windrush: Black People in Leeds and Bradford, 1708 – 1948, Part I
This week on the Secret Library we hear from researcher Danny Friar, who explores the rich history of people of African heritage making Leeds and Bradford their home over a 300 year period. This is Part I of a four part series during Black History Month: the result of new research, these articles will shed…
Whale Tales
This week sees librarian Helen Skilbeck investigate some whale tales from the 1950s. At a recent virtual coffee morning I talked to an engaging group from Rothwell about some of the treasures of the Local and Family History Library. Afterwards one of the gentleman asked if I had any information about the whale that came…
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