William Anderton Brigg was born on 27th August 1862. He was the second son of Sir John Brigg, who became the second MP for Keighley (1895-1911, Liberal), and Mary Brigg. William was second son only by a matter of moments as he was one of twins and was just the junior to John Jeremy Brigg (1862-1945). He and his twin brother lived at Kildwick Hall between Keighley and Skipton from around 1875 to 1945. They lived there with their younger brother, and later were joined by their sister Mary following the death of her husband.
William became Mayor of Keighley in 1912, following in the footsteps of his own uncle, Benjamin Septimus Brigg, who had been Keighley’s first mayor in 1882/83. William became the longest serving Mayor, being in post for four years (1912-16). As William was a bachelor, his sister, Mary Sharpe of Darley Dale, undertook the role of mayoress. He also served as a magistrate and the Police and court report columns of local newspapers of the time are full of his deeds in dealing with the strikes and riots of 1914. He was Mayor at the start of the First World War and was very active raising funds for war bonds, aeroplanes and recruitment, and the extension buildings at the Morton Banks War Hospital.
His time as Mayor is recorded in the Keighley News Borough Jubilee supplement of 10th September 1932: “The distinction of having been Mayor of Keighley longer than anyone else belongs to Alderman William Anderton Brigg, who filled the position with great credit for four successive terms. There is practically no phase of Keighley’s public and social life in which his name does not figure. (He) entered the Town Council in 1912, and he has remained a member down to the present time. As Deputy Town Clerk for the late Mr George Burr and as Clerk to the Denholme District Council he had already had much experience of local government work. On the retirement of his uncle, Mr B. S. Brigg, Alderman Brigg was appointed his successor as chairman of the Waterworks Committee, and it was under him that the great Sladen Valley waterworks project finally grew to fruition, though, because of the war, at a cost undreamed of when the venture was first begun. He was Mayor when the Great War broke out, and two of the most difficult years in Keighley’s history passed with him at the head. His generosity for war relief objects was outstanding. Time, energy, and money were freely spent. He took a leading share in the formation of Keighley’s War Hospital; he opened war funds, and, indeed, when he retired from the Mayoralty a sum of something like £39,000 had been raised in the borough and surrounding efforts in war funds.”
Along with his twin brother, William bought East Riddlesden Hall in 1913. The hall was in a pretty poor state, having been largely refashioned in the 19th century when it was divided up to house tenant farmers. They sought, unsuccessfully, to raise funds to preserve the house, and the house ended up for sale in an auction in 1921. Finally, in 1933, it was sold to a builder with plans to redevelop the whole site, but the Briggs brothers stepped in again. The Hall and estate were handed over to the National Trust on 31st May 1934 on the understanding that it would be looked after for ever and that the land surrounding it would be used for recreation by the local communities.
William served as honorary secretary of the Keighley and District Victoria Hospital and was a staunch supporter of the Y.M.C.A. He stood for election as a Liberal MP in Skipton in 1918 and in Keighley in 1922. He was unsuccessful on both occasions, losing in Keighley to H. B. Lees-Smith who was elected as the town’s first Labour MP (by a majority of over 4000). In 1925, William became the thirteenth Honorary Freeman of Keighley, following in his father’s footsteps who was the fifth person to have the honour bestowed upon them.
He was chairman of the Board of Governors of Drake and Tonson’s School in Strawberry Street, Keighley, and in 1931 he laid a foundation stone for what would become the Keighley Girls’ Grammar School in Stoneycroft Lane, Utley. The school was officially opened in 1934 by the Right Honourable Viscount Halifax, president of the Board of Education.
William died on the 4th January 1938, aged 75. He is buried in the Quaker cemetery established by Thomas Brigg in the 17th century, located between Lustre Street and North Dean Road in the Guardhouse area of Keighley.
The portrait of William is taken from the Keighley News Borough Jubilee Supplement of 10th September 1932; the Borough Council photograph with William is his Mayoral chain is a Hill and Siggers portrait; the postcard of East Riddlesden Hall is a Walter Scott postcard; and the newspaper cutting is from the The Yorkshire Observer of 16th November 1922, photograph by George Crowther.
