Herbert Hugill, a memorial plaque for whom hangs in Keighley Library, was born on 27th July 1872. He served as Secretary of the Keighley War Savings Association during the First World War and as Secretary of the Keighley Literary Society for 10 years.
Stone plaque commemorating Herbert Hugill, on display in the stairwell of Keighley Library, 9th July 2022. The plaque reads “In memory of Herbert Hugill M.B.E. born July 27th 1872, died February 21st 1919. Death opens unknown doors, it is most grand to die.”
Keighley was proud of its money-raising activities during the First World War. According to the Keighley News supplement of 10th September 1932: “Keighley distinguished itself… in money-raising movements for the national need the War Loan campaign of 1917 realised £2,214,089; the submarine appeal in Business Men’s Week, in March 1918, £556,089; Howitzer Week, of July 1918, £259,390; and Thanksgiving Week, of January 1919, £672,878. The Victory Loan effort yielded over £831,000, and War Savings certificates over £811,000, bringing the total for the town to over £6,000,000, or £140 per head of the people.”
Hugill was awarded his Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) in the 1918 Birthday Honours given by King George V, for his work with the War Savings cause. The list of honours recipients was published in The London Gazette in early June 1918. He died on 21st February 1919.
Ian Dewhirst, ‘A History of Keighley’ (Keighley Corporation, 1974): “Two months later the (post-Great War influenza) epidemic recurred for the third and last time and claimed, among others, the Secretary of the Keighley and Craven Building Society, Herbert Hugill M.B.E., who had pushed the local War Savings movement: he died on the day he should have been guest of honour at a dinner celebrating the Borough’s raising of £5,000,000 in war loans.”
Following his death, a trust fund was established in January 1920 to provide an annual prize (The Herbert Hugill Prize) for the Best Student of Mathematics at Keighley Boys’ Grammar School.
The photograph of the memorial plaque, which hangs at the top of the stairs to the Local Studies Library, was taken by Tim Neal in July 2022. The postcard is postmarked 1918 and shows the Town Hall Square before the War Memorial was erected in 1924. The Library is on the far left, with the Temperance Hall alongside. The Mechanics’ Institute with its clocktower, which was also home to Keighley Boys’ Grammar School, dominates the picture.
Herbert Hugill and his artist sister Annie Hugill were my first cousins three times removed. My family history research has found many details about them, and also their father John Hugill who was secretary of the Keighley and Craven Building Society, as was Herbert. But I have never found photos of any of them. I would be very grateful if someone could suggest where I might look.
Keighley Library has a very comprehensive Local Studies Library. They can be contacted in person, by phone or by email and can generally help out (although there may be a charge involved depending on the work involved).
It may not be commonly known, but as a secretary of the Keighley Scientific and Literary Society, Hugill invited G. K. Chesterton to give a lecture on December 2003. There he met with Father O’Connor who became the role model of the famous Father Brown. Father O’Connor and Chesterton took a walk from Hugill’s house to the Steinthal house at Ilkley, during which Father O’Connor told GKC about the experiences of a Catholic priest. I have found the Steinthal house (St. Johns, Queens Road, Ilkley), but not Hugill’s house, which in contemporary newspapers was addressed as Sunny Mount, Keighley.
Is it possible for you to help with that, as we are some Chestertonians planning to walk in the footsteps of “the creation moment of Father Brown”?