Halliwell Sutcliffe (1870-1932)

Prolific local author Halliwell Sutcliffe died ninety years ago today on 14th January 1932. He wrote over 40 books between the 1890s and 1930s. Many of his novels are historical romantic dramas set in the Yorkshire Dales (including a series set in Haworth, renamed as the fictional Marshcotes). He was born in Thackley in April 1870. At the time the family was living at Cross Roads, but then moved to Bingley. He was educated at Bingley Grammar School (where his father was headmaster) then at King’s College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics. He married Mabel Cottrell of Twickenham in 1904, they had two sons, and lived in Embsay then Linton-in-Craven. It was here that Sutcliffe died in January 1932, aged 61. He was passionate about the outdoors, becoming the first president of the West Riding Ramblers’ Federation, and his ashes were scattered on his beloved moors.

The covers are from books owned by History Society member Tim Neal and the portrait is by Ernest Moore (1865–1940), (c) Grassington Folk Museum.

First meeting of 2022

The History Society’s first members’ meeting of 2022 will be on Wednesday 12th January. The guest speaker is Alan Reynolds who will be talking about his historical novel ‘The Baker’s Story’ set in a fictional West Yorkshire town that was based on Keighley. You can read more about Alan and the novel at alanreynoldsauthor.com

The meeting will be on Zoom and ‘doors open’ at 7pm with the talk starting at 7.30pm. History Society members will receive their invitation to the meeting via email a few days before the event. If you are interested in joining the History Society please get in touch or comment below.

Author Alan Reynolds and Keighley’s Town Hall Square circa 1915.

Keighley in Colour

The History Society is giving our members and followers an early Christmas present by publishing these rare photographs of Keighley from the 1950s. They are taken from a set of colour slides we recently acquired and show events such as the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and various Keighley Galas.

You can help us out if you have any further information about the images or any memories you can share. Click below to see the full album on our Flickr site.

KHS_P_576_ (5)

New Newsletter

The latest History Society newsletter comes out this week. This time it runs to a record 18 pages, including a 12-page fully-illustrated history of the Geoffrey Rundle and Keith Marsden-produced pantomimes staged at Ingrow St. John’s Church in the 1950s. It also contains news about the first three guest speakers of 2022.

The newsletter is sent as a PDF document exclusively to History Society members as part of their annual subscription. If you are interested in joining the History Society please click here.

December’s Meeting on Zoom

A reminder that next Wednesday (8th December) is our last History Society Zoom meeting of this year. It will be a Christmas Special with a recording of an Ian Dewhirst talk from the archive and a snow-themed quiz! Members of the History Society will receive the email with their invite to attend in the next few days.

It is also the last meeting under this year’s subscription, so if you want to make sure you don’t miss any of the meetings for next year please don’t forget to renew your subs (if you haven’t already). And if you would like to join the History Society then you can join now and attend the Christmas meeting for free!

You can either pay via GenFair or existing members can get in touch with any member of the committee. The GenFair link is here.

The Lord Rodney Pub on Church Green circa 1990. From the History Society’s archive on Flickr.

2021 AGM

A reminder to members that it is the AGM this coming Wednesday (10th November). The meeting will include reports from the Chair and the Treasurer, election of officers and a discussion around plans for 2022. Members should receive their invites to the meeting on Zoom in the next couple of days.

Membership Offer

Become a member of the History Society now and get membership for the whole of 2022 on top!

Being a paid-up member of the History Society means…
* being able to join the monthly meetings where we have guest-speakers talking on a wide-range of subjects. At the minute these talks are on Zoom, but we are planning to resume meeting at Keighley Library or other town centre venues in 2022 (while still making the talks available to our members who live further afield).
* receiving the quarterly digital newsletter, which now runs to at least 12 pages with articles on the town and surrounding area’s history as well as History Society news (we also welcome contributions from members).
* being able to attend any exclusive visits we may arrange (previous visits have included Dalton Mills, Keighley Bus Museum and Bridgehouse Mills).
* having a say on how the History Society is run at our Annual General Meeting, or even joining the committee to help us run things. Volunteering with the History Society might include helping us have a presence at events like the Keighley Show.

Membership at the minute costs £11.50 (this includes an admin fee) and covers a full year from January to December. Because we are not currently meeting face-to-face this has to be bought via our online payment service (click here to see details).

Because we are nearing the end of 2021, if you buy your membership now we will throw in the whole of membership for 2022 on top! That means you get access to the meetings in October, November and December this year plus all the meetings in 2022.

October Guest-Speaker

This month’s History Society guest speaker talk on Zoom will be “North Street and beyond as seen through the lens of Wilfred Moore”, a presentation by local historian Eddie Kelly. Some of you will know that Wilfred Moore was the father of Captain Sir Tom Moore as well as being a keen photographer around Keighley. The talk features many rarely-seen images of the town.

The talk is happening on Wednesday 13th October. ‘Doors open’ at 7pm. It is a History Society members-only talk but if you want to join the Society please click here. History Society members should receive their email from Anne-Marie with details on how to join the meeting in the next few days.

A view of North Street, Keighley. Detail from a Lilywhite Ltd. postcard.