Huddersfield In Print - Page 1 of 4
A careful search of the the internet resulted in the discovery
of the ILEJ site.
 ILEJ,
the "Internet Library of Early Journals" is a joint
project by the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and
Oxford, conducted under the auspices of the eLib (Electronic Libraries)
Programme. It aims to digitise substantial runs of 18th and 19th
century journals, and make these images available on the Internet,
together with their associated bibliographic data.
Two of these periodicals yielded some interesting snippets about
Huddersfield. Firstly there was a journal called Notes and Queries.
Notes and Queries started in 1849, "a medium of intercommunication
for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc.",
carrying brief reports of completed research on humanities and related
subjects and questions inviting answers in subsequent issues.
The other journal was Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine started in 1817 (as a Tory rival
to the Whig Edinburgh Review), a medium for imaginative literature,
publishing English poetry, essays and especially prose fiction,
and pioneering the presentation of European literature (particularly
German) to a British audience.
Shown below are carefully selected articles and correspondence
that relates to Huddersfield and its inhabitants.
Notes and Queries Vol.6 (128) Apr 10th 1852 Page 349
John De Huddersfield was the engineer who proposed to execute
(and obtained a grant from the King) a great work at Bridport Harbour,
nothing less than an efficient harbour (which had ceased to exist)
in the reign of Richard II, provided certain tools were allowed
to be taken by him and those who acted with him.
Perhaps if the Dom-Book of Bridport were accessible, something might
be learnt. The day may not be far distant, when no body of men will
be allowed to keep secret any important document of their archives
G.R.L
Notes and Queries Vol.2 2nd S. (44) Nov 1 1856 Page 359
Husbands authorized to beat their Wives (2nd S. ii. 108.
219. 297.) – Perhaps the following curious extract in connexion
with this subject may be worth recording in “N&Q.”
“Wife beating advocated by a clergyman, &c. – A
very large number of wife-beating cases have recently been brought
before the magistrates at Whitehaven, where there exists a sect
of professing Christians who propagate the opinion that the practice
is in accordance with the word of God. The Rev. Geo. Bird, formerly
rector of Cumberworth near Huddersfield, has established himself
there, and drawn together a congregation; and within the last few
weeks it has transpired that he holds the doctrine that it is perfectly
scriptural for a man to beat his wife. About six weeks ago, James
Scott, a member of Mr. Bird’s congregation, was summoned by
his wife for brutally beating her because she refused to attend
the same place of worship that he did. When before the magistrates,
Mrs. Scott said that she had no wish her husband should be punished
if he would promise not to ill use her badly again. When asked by
the magistrates whether he would make the requisite promise, he
refused, saying, ‘Am I to obey the laws of God, or the laws
of man?’ as he would not give the promise, the magistrates
committed him to prison for a month, with hard labour. The Rev.
Mr Bird has since delivered a course of lectures on the subject
of Scott’s conviction. He contends that it is a man’s
duty to rule his own household; and if his wife refuses to obey
his orders, he is justified, according to the law of God, in beating
her in order to enforce obedience.” – The Examiner,
Oct. 11. 1856.
Notes and Queries Vol. 3 2nd S. (56) Jan 24 1857 Page 74
Mention of Linthwaite Church which was struck by lightning on Feb
8th, 1835, bending the spire out of perpendicular.
Notes and Queries Vol. 3 2nd S. (74) May 30th 1857 Page
434
Ghost Stories Wanted ( 2nd S. iii. 389.) - "The appearance
of an Apparition to James Sympson of Huddersfield in Yorkshire,
an elderly Broad-cloth Weaver, commanding him to do strange things
in Pall Mall, and what he did. A wonderful narrative in two parts."
The above is the heading of a broad-sheet published by Hone, without
date, but probably about forty years ago, as James Sympson saw in
the Regent's closet " a pair of stays, and a bottle of noyeau,
dragons with tails, and the heads of a divorce, a French clock,
and some Russian fiddlestrings." The narrative is a clever
political squib, and perhaps a parody on some more serious story
of a ghost which expounded the spots on the sun, for the apparition
says:
"Observe what I say, James, and register it in your memory;
for you will have to repeat it in high places. There are seventeen
flea-bites between your wrist and your elbow, and there are an equal
number of spots on the sun, and the bites and the spots have an
equal effect on the state of the weather."
"Personal Recollections of the Little Jew Ghost, reviewed in
connection with the Lancashire Bogie and the Table Talking and Spirit
Rapping. By Edgar Hewlett, Minister of the Gospel, Wigan, Lancashire.
London 1854."
A very ordinary case of rapping and talking.
Hopkins, Jun. Garrick Club.
Notes and Queries Vol. 1 3rd S. Jan 18th 1862 Page 52
Letting the New Year in. - Can any reader of "N &
Q" explain the origin of the superstition in reference to what
is called "letting the new year in" - which believes,
that if the kindly office is performed by some one with dark hair,
Dame Fortune will smile on the household; while it augers ill if
a light-haired person is the first to enter the house in the new
year? It sounds like a trick of the witches; but however it arose
it stands its ground well, as I found out to my cost no longer ago
than on the morning of New Year's Day.
Locked Out, Huddersfield.
Notes and Queries Vol. 5 3rd S. (115) Mar 12 1864 Page
213
Rev. Christopher Richardson
Can any of your readers give me any information respecting the birth-place
and parentage of Rev. Christopher Richardson, ejected from the parish
of Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield, in 1662? I have obtained many
particulars of his after life but I have no account of him before
1649; at which time, by the Parliamentary Survey of the Livings,
now in the library at Lambeth Palace, he was at Kirkheaton. I presume
he had Presbyterian orders. No trace can be found of him, as far
as I can learn, at Cambridge or Oxford. I have been told that the
correspondence of Cromwell’s Commissioners , respecting the
fitness of the men put into livings, is still in existence; but
I am unable to find anything of the sort at the Record and State
Paper Office, in the printed list of papers belonging to the interregnum
period.
J. R.
Huddersfield One Note: According to the book Huddersfield
& Its Vicinity by D.F.E. Sykes Christopher Richards was ejected
because of his support of the Presbyterian form of Church government
which was favoured by the Roundheads during the Civil War. His predecessor,
The Reverend Richard Sykes was ousted from Kirkheaton Church for
the exact opposite reason while the Roundheads were in power.
Notes and Queries Vol. 7 3rd S. (177) May 20th 1865 Page
396
The Roman Hypocaust at Slack. - When this hypocaust was
discovered about forty years ago, a sketch of it was made by the
late Mr Taylor of Halifax, architect. This sketch was subsequently
deposited in the Museum of the Leeds Philosophical Society but now
- non est inventus.
Mr Taylor had also a rough outline of the hypocaust in one of his
sketch books, but it was sold with some other of his plans and drawings
some few years ago.
Let me now say through "N & Q" in the hope that it
will reach the possessors of either of these sketches, that a copy,
or the loan of either of them, will greatly oblige the Council of
the Huddersfield Archeological Association. Address, Rev. George
Lloyd, Hon. Sec., Thurstonland, Huddersfield.
Geo. Lloyd.
Notes and Queries Vol. 7 3rd S. (181) June 17 1865 Page
487
Hoyle Family – It is a pet theory amongst some members of
the Hoyle family that they are rather of British than of Flemish
origin, being the descendants of the ancient dynasty of Hoel, the
brightest name being that of Hoel Dha, whose descendants are said
to have settled in the neighbourhood of Harrington whence they spread
over the mountain district of north-west Yorkshire, until they finally
settled in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield. Can any of your readers
furnish me with the knowledge of how much truth there is in this,
and, if there be any in it does the legend of Hoel Dha’s coat-of-arms
give title to the name, or does the name give the legend?
I believe there is a memorial window in Gisborough church relative
to the Hoyles; what is its subject and why was it erected?
Any information will be most welcome to
William Hoyle
Notes and Queries Vol. 8 3rd S. (193) Sept 9 1865 Page
218
Hoyle Family – Hoyle, being the Yorkshire for hole, is more
likely to have that simple signification than to be a representative
of Hoel Dha. Hole, pure and simple, is a common enough name in the
West of England
H. H. Gibbs
SOURCES
- ILEJ, Notes and Queries, a 19th century journal.
- ILEJ, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine , a
19th century journal.
CREDIT
- Marion B Harper, Genealogist
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