Earlier this year a new Red Plaque was unveiled in honour of James Potter Schofield, former fireman in the Liverpool & London & Globe Brigade. Schofield was killed on duty tackling the 1892 Leeds New Station fire. The plaque has been installed at the Dark Arches entrance to the station, off Neville Street, on behalf…
Coasts Between
This week on the Secret Library Leeds we bring you a snapshot of a unique treasure held as part of our Special Collections: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer’s A description of the sea coastes of England between Burnham & Scarborough….This wonderful sea chart was shown to the public during our Local and Family History open day in…
For Evermore – Stories of the Fallen
As Remembrance Day approaches, we hear about a Commonwealth War Graves Commission project to remember those who lost their life in the First and Second World Wars. Since 1917, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has maintained a record of all those who died serving in British Imperial forces in the two World Wars. Those…
Eliza Craven Green (1803-1866) – a Leeds Poet
This week we are joined by two guest authors, Lucy M. Evans and Spencer Needs, who write about a little known poet from Leeds – Eliza Craven Green. Part 1: The Manchester Connection by Lucy M Evans On 24 March 1842 over forty people assembled at the ancient Sun Inn, Long Millgate, Manchester for a…
Percy Thrower – Leeds gardener?
Today’s article, by Antony Ramm, forms part of a series of posts inspired by Unearthed: The Power of Gardening – an exhibition in partnership with the British Library’s Living Knowledge Network, at Leeds Central Library from 10 September – 29 October 2025. A previous article in this series, by Becky Bavill, justly brought to light the life and…
A Selection of Botanical Treasures
Here at Leeds Central Library, we recently hosted a treasure handling workshop to show off a few more of our botanical items that we could not fit in our current exhibition – Unearthed: The Power of Gardening – at Leeds Central Library until 29 October 2025. First up was Flora Londinensis by William Curtis. This…
The man who turned into a moss: The botanical exploits of Richard Spruce
In connection with the ongoing Unearthed exhibition at Leeds Central Library, here’s a sneaky look at the backstory of a Yorkshire botanist whose passion for plants led him far and wide, touching on the worlds of science and medicine, empire and gardening. We then peek into his connections to one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs…
Planning the City: Leeds City Council Papers
We welcome back Heritage Volunteer Andy Armstrong this week, for the fifth in his series of blog articles exploring the rich archives of Leeds City Council papers and records available in our Local and Family History department. As usual, Andy’s research is accompanied by a research guide and a comprehensive spreadsheet of all our stock…
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