A Brief History of Leeds #9: The Early 20th-century, part 2

Part nine of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. In our last entry, we finished with the words of Colonel T.W. Harding at the opening of the 1908 ‘Old Leeds’ exhibition…

A Brief History of Leeds #8: The Early 20th-century, part 1

Part eight of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Part eight of this series took a brief look at the emergence of the ready-made clothing industry in Leeds during the latter…

A Brief History of Leeds #7: The Later 19th-century

The seventh part of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Our last part in this series concluded with the arrival of Irish migrants to Leeds in the 1840s and 1850s. many…

A Brief History of Leeds #6: The Early to mid-19th century

Part six of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Our previous step in this history looked at the place of the industrial revolution in Leeds, noting in particular the growth in…

A Brief History of Leeds #5: The Industrial Revolution

The fifth part of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Part four of this series finished with a suggestion that the writings of 18th-century Leeds antiquaries such as Thomas Wilson and…

A Brief History of Leeds #4: The 18th-century

Part four of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We left our brief look at the 17th-century with a reference to Ralph Thoresby’s place in an impressive national and international network…

A Brief History of Leeds #1: The 15th-century

The first in a series of articles exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We start our story some 500-years ago in the 15th-century, at Kirkstall Abbey, established by pioneering Cistercian monks in 1152…