A series of articles celebrating some lesser-known contributors to the Leeds story. Click a link to read the full profile. 

Enjoying these articles? You might also enjoy our Brief History of Leeds series.

#1: Samuel Schofield – aka Sam The Newsman
19th-century newsagent and theatre programme seller, who was a familiar figure on Leeds streets

#2: Cedric Clarke
Leeds’ first Councillor of African-Caribbean heritage

#3: Maud Dightam
Joint-first woman elected as a local Councillor in Leeds

#4: Olga Denver
Circus performer, and friend to Hollywood stars

#5: Mary Brewer
Another circus performer, proprietor and professional weightlifter

#6: Alice Mann
Leeds-born Radical publisher and printer

#7: John De Morgan
19th-century Radical, active in Leeds during the late 1870s

#8: Annie Tunnington
The ‘Poppy Lady of Leeds’

#9: Dr. Isaac Hipshon
Jewish Doctor, novelist and playwright

#10: Godfrey Wood
Confectioner, caterer and businessman

#11: Henry Baker
Superintendent of Leeds Corporation Fire Brigade

#12: Frances Rushworth
Unassuming dressmaker, with an extraordinary place in Leeds’ electoral history

#13: Gertrude Paul
Educator and activist; the first Black headteacher in Leeds

#14: Norma Hutchinson
Trade unionist and the first Jamaican elected to Leeds City Council 

#15: Buffalo Bill
American showman, a long way from home during two visits to Leeds

#16: Brothers Johnson
Swimmers extraordinaire!

#17: Arthur Rigby Turner
Ironmonger with a unique catalogue of for-sale items

#18: George Lucas
A new hope for temperance campaigners in 19th-century Woodhouse

#19: Jessie Beatrice Kitson
The first woman to be Mayor of Leeds

#20: Charles Ward VC
Hunslet-born soldier, honoured for an act of bravery during The Boer War