Random Times : Riding Off Into The Political Sunset In Shipley In A Bentley

"Random History" is what happens when you mix together a newspaper archive, a random number generator and a man with too much time on his hands. Today our random-driven time machine takes us back to SATURDAY 21 JULY 1934, and the West Yorkshire town of Shipley.

The front page of the Shipley Times and Express seems to be totally dominated by a speech from the local Member of Parliament, J Horace Lockwood, to the Annual Garden Fete at the Windhill Conservative Club. The speech is a lengthy one and about as interesting as a mouldy corned-beef sandwich. I have the full text, and I will happily provide it to anyone who can come up with a good reason for wanting to read it.

To understand the degree of inappropriateness of the MPs words, you need to see them in the context of the economic and social situation of the times. Britain remained in the grips of the Great Depression, and unemployment in many northern towns was still in the realms of 30%. Poverty was widespread, housing conditions were appalling, and any social benefits available were based on the cruel system  of "the means test". Singing the praises of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain, Mr Lockwood told his Conservative audience: "He has tried to make our national income greater than our national expenditure and because of that we have comfort, financial safety, safety of property and of persons.” 

Large parts of his speech are self-congratulatory and contain warnings about lies and half-truths from opponents and the press alike: the words almost have a Trumpian feel about them. No MP works harder for his constituents, he declares. Criticism was acceptable, he said, "but continual back biting, under-hand methods, and the sayings of untruths or, worse still, half truths, was a very difficult thing to combat". It is unclear what the criticism and half-truths were, but it is interesting to note that within twelve months of the speech, he had been deselected by the local Conservative Party and went on to come fourth in the 1935 General Election in Shipley, standing as an independent Conservative.

Leaving politics aside, 1934 was a good year to buy a motor car - if you were lucky enough to be able to afford one. Appleyard's of Leeds were advertising  1933 Morris cars from as little as £110, and as an added bonus, every car was fitted with four new Dunlop tyres! But if you really wanted a bargain, you could turn to the second-hand cars being sold by local garages, and, in particular, the 1929 4.5 litre Bentley which was on sale for just £350 (taking inflation into account that is equivalent of around £17,500 today). It is interesting to note that a similar 1929 Bentley 4.5 litre car was sold at auction last year for about £750,000 (which is the equivalent of a lot of money today).

I have not been able to discover what Mr Lockwood did after losing his seat in the 1935 elections - perhaps he bought a second-hand Bentley and rode off into the political sunset.

150 Years Of Trips And Falls In Halifax

At a time when the health service is under severe pressure, resulting from a toxic combination of chronic underfunding and rampant influenza, it is interesting to find a list of "Infirmary Cases" from the Halifax Courier of 150 years ago. Three admissions to Halifax Infirmary during the previous week are listed:

•  GEORGE APPLEYARD who fell from a wall and sustained a severe scalp wound and contused eye;
•  BENJAMIN WRIGLEY who fractured his right arm when a heavy weight fell on it at work;
•  JOHN WHITEHOUSE who fell in his house and fractured his ankle.

If this was just a small proportion of the people turning up at the Infirmary in 1868, the waiting room would have still been a lot less hectic than it is now. Nevertheless, I think I would prefer to take my chances with the queues and crowds (and antibiotics and anaesthetics) of 2018.

Random Times :The Price Of Coal And An Oxydised Silver Electric Fire

This week, our random time machine is taking is back 82 years to the 16th August 1934, and it has come down to land in Derby in the North Midlands. Our cuttings are taken from the Late Final Edition of the Derby Evening Telegraph. To put local events in context, in Germany, President Hindenburg died and was replaced as Head of State by Adolph Hitler (who had been Chancellor since the previous year), in America the bank robber John Dillinger was shot dead, and the British Government published plans for a substantial expansion in the Royal Air Force.

COKE-PICKING ON REFUSE TIPS

SOUTH NORMANTON BAN

A letter from the Blackwell Rural Council, read at South Normanton Parish Council's meeting last night, stated the unemployed cannot be allowed to pick coke on the Council's refuse tips.

The sanitary Inspector, in his report to the Rural Council, stated that coke pickers were destructive and left the tips in an untidy condition.

In one case, he stated, a bank was fired and four men were occupied for three days cutting round it.

The unemployment rate in the UK in 1934 was still over 16% and in mining areas such as South Normanton, it will have been much higher. And life upon the meagre benefits that were available was very hard indeed. The dreaded means-test was still in operation, so in order to get what benefits there were, families had to undergo a rigorous and demeaning investigation into what resources and possessions they still had. Searching tips and spoil heaps for coke and coal waste that could still be used was the only means many families had of providing some heating for the coming winter. The decision by the Council to ban such activities because they made the tip "untidy" is a powerful reflection of the state of society after four years of the Great Depression. The bank that "was fired" was not - some may say alas - a financial institution, but a bank of rubbish in the local tip.

SLUM CLEARANCE AT DERBY

Land which is being cleared in the Willows Row area under the Derby Corporation slum clearance scheme.

The slogan at the end of the Great War was the need to construct "homes fit for heroes". In August 1934 it was announced that 2.3 million new homes had been built in the UK since 1918, but poor housing was still an issue and the slums wouldn't finally begin to go until after the Second World War. In 2016 another new housing development is taking place in Willow Row, replacing the development that was built on the newly cleared land in 1934.

DOUBLE COLLISION

THREE LORRY-MEN TAKEN TO HOSPITAL

Jam, cucumber and tomatoes were scattered over the High Street, Weedon, Northamptonshire, today when three lorries were involved in a collision.....

HIT BY AEROPLANE

COMPANY SERGEANT-MAJOR'S DEATH

How a company sergeant-major in the Territorial Army met his death during special aircraft training at Telscombe on July 26 was related at a Brighton inquest today on William George Outlaw (35) of Lowestoft, a lamplighter by occupation ...

The early 1930s were a period of transition for transport in Britain. By 1934 there were some two and a half million motor vehicles on the streets and roads of Britain. Road accidents were becoming more common, a fact brought home to the new Minister of Transport, Leslie Hore-Belisha, earlier that year when he was almost run over in Camden. One of the ways in which he tried to make roads safer was the introduction of the flashing beacon (which was named after him) at road crossings. In the air, plane crashes were widespread, and as the case of William Outlaw so sadly shows, the dangers were not limited to the air passengers.

RECEPTION IN MARQUEE 

LITTLEOVER BRIDE'S FOUR MAIDS 

The wedding has taken place at St. Giles's Church, Normanton, of Miss Margaret Phyllis Jane Brayfield Memmory, daughter of Mr. Brayfleld Memmory, building contractor, and Mrs. Memmory, of Brayfield House, Littleover, and Mr. Cyril Bell, of Osmaston Park Road, Derby. The bride wore a white gown with Brussels lace veil and wreath of orange blossom, and carried a shower bouquet of dark red roses and white heather. She was given away by her father and was attended by four bridesmaids. Miss C. Bell, sister of the bridegroom, and Miss Vera Bonner, the elder attendants, were in powder blue lace model gowns with small net frills and wreaths of silver leaves. The smaller bridesmaids, Miss Marjorie Memmory and Miss Sheila Johnson, the bride's niece, wore powder blue crepe-de-chine dresses and headdresses. The bride's mother wore a dress of cream Swiss embroidered lace and net with picture hat. Mr. Walter Memmory, of Farm Street, uncle of the bride, was the best man. Forty guests were present at the reception held in a marquee on the lawn at Brayfield House. The honeymoon is being spent at Scarborough. 

WEDDING GIFTS 

Presents included: Bride's father to bride, newly-erected detached villa; bride's mother to bride, cheque; bride's late grandfather (to be given her wedding day), case of engraved silver dessert spoons; bridegroom's father and mother, oak clock; bridegroom's sister, case of tea spoons and sugar tongs; bride's sister and brother-in-Iaw, oxydised silver companion set and blue plush nightdress case forming a doll; bride's adopted sister, salad servers; Mr. and Mrs. Waiter Memmory, Pyrex dish in chromium and silver stand; Mr. and Mrs Jess Memmory, silk table runner; Miss Ivy Memmory. afternoon cloth; Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Memmory, glass sandwich dish and fruit bowl and servers; Mrs. Bell (grandmother), embroidered bolster set; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Beil, pair sheets; Mr. and Mrs. Thornham (Hull), case fruit spoons and server: Auntie Florrie, tablecloth; Messrs. A. J. Cash and Sons, solicitors, cut glass; Mr. and Mrs. T. Bonner, electric standard lamp; Miss Vera Bonner, bathroom shower spray. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh, glass trinket set; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur china tea set; Mr. and Mrs. Howe, oak dinner wagon; Miss Joyce Howe. vase; Mr. and Mrs. G Broughton. embroidered silk bedspread: Miss Ward, (bride's godmother) and Ada, case fish knives and forks; Mr. J. L. Shephard (Stapleford), oak canteen of cutlery; Mr. and Mrs. Barker, embroidered afternoon cloth; Miss Walker, china coffee set; Mrs. Fisher and family, embroidered afternoon cloth and jewellery case; Mr. and Mrs. Hockham and Peter, bath towels, tea and glass cloths: Mr. and Mrs. Hodgkinson, oak candle-sticks; Miss Jessie Robson. china coffee set and afternoon cloth; Mr. and Mrs. Philpott. oxydised silver electric fire: Mr. and Mrs. Tester, afternoon cloth and embroidered table centre; Mr. and Mrs. F. Burton, cut glass fruit stand: Mr. George Marsh, chromium plated cheese stand; Mr. and Mrs. Newsham, Empire ware vase. 

Whilst this article is long, it is worth reproducing because it is a near perfect exploration of economic and social history and it provides a fine counterpoint to the unemployed searching for bits of coke on the municipal tips. Not that Mr and Mrs Bell would be needing old bits of coke and coal - their wedding presents included an "oxydised silver electric fire". The gift list itself is a retail list of almost poetic proportions (I can almost imagine Sir John Betjeman reading it). 

The scale of the generosity of Mr Brayfield-Memmory can be judged by the prices of some of the "villas" being advertised in the Evening Telegraph. The villa in Kedleston Road, for example was selling for £450 which in terms of 2016 is the equivalent of about £29,000. If you check on property prices in that road today, the houses are selling for about £300,000. By contrast the oxidised electric fire would be worthless today.

When they returned from their honeymoon in Scarborough, the happy couple could have had a night out at the cinema. Showing at the Cosmo in Derby was that years' "most outstanding screen triumph", "Lady For A Day". Directed by Frank Capra, it was nominated for three academy awards - but sadly got none. 1934 was a great time for the cinema - talking pictures widely available and the restrictions of what could be said and shown set out in the Hays Code had still to take effect.

Random Times : A Time Machine To The Light, The Dark, And A Jolly Good Hiding

A few years ago I did a series of blog posts in which I used a random number generator to identify small areas of West Yorkshire to visit and photograph ("West Yorkshire In Ten Squares"). Randomness is a great approach to investigating areas where the subject matter is almost limitless and one's ability to undertake a detailed and comprehensive analysis is constrained by an enhanced susceptibility to boredom. I have decided to once again crank up my steam driven random number generator and, this time, to harness it to a time machine. I am visiting the past via the archives of British local newspapers. The date will be determined by the date of my posts - the year will be the chance product of my random number generator. The first year it has selected is 1940, so we are going to investigate the random lives of British people courtesy of the Gloucester Journal.

CAR LIGHTS IN AIR RAIDS 

CITY POLICE CHIEF EXPLAINS

What the police described as irresponsible behaviour on the part of soldiers on leave and other unauthorised persons in telling motorists to extinguish all their lights while enemy planes were over the south-west of England, was alleged at Gloucester City Petty Sessions on Tuesday to have caused no fewer than 14 or 15 road casualties. It was emphasised that only the police or soldiers on duty possessed the authority to order motorists to put out lights, and then only the headlights should be extinguished as long as the car was on the highway. Before the magistrates was Eric Brown, a soldier, stated to belong to Dudley. He pleaded guilty to having been drunk and disorderly in Westgate Street on Monday night.

MORE LIGHTING OFFENCES 

SIX DEFENDANTS FINED IN GLOUCESTER 

Fines totalling £14 were imposed on Friday on six defendants who were summoned for having failed to obscure lights inside premises to prevent any illumination therefrom being visible outside.

Our random number powered time machine has landed us back in wartime Britain. By August 1940, the war had been in progress for almost a year and the so-called "phoney war" that dominated the first few months of conflict is now a distant memory. France has been overrun by the Germans, British troops have had to flee from Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain is in full force. People looked with fear to the skies, especially at night. And the authorities were constantly on the lookout for any stray lights that would help pinpoint Britain's town and cities.

Situations Vacant 

PROBATIONER NURSE required, commencing salary £25; uniform provided - Apply Matron, Cotswold Sanatorium, Cranham, Gloucester.
HOUSEMAIDS wanted, wages according to experience; uniform provided - Apply Matron, Cotswold Sanatorium, Cranham, Gloucester.
EXPERIENCED LADY SHORTHAND-TYPIST required in old established Company Office in Gloucestershire (12 miles from Bristol). Would be required to reside locally. Permanency. Write stating age, experience and salary required, 625 Journal, Gloucester.
GIRL leaving school, daily. 8.30 to 3.00: no Sundays - Abbotsford, Chosen Way, Hucclecote.

The Situations Vacant column is by now the exclusive territory of women workers - conscription has already more or less removed men from the open job market. If the salary of £25 for a probationary nurse looks generous, it should be remembered that this is an annual salary and not a weekly or monthly one. If the nurses or the housemaids had stayed at the Cotswold Sanatorium, by 1949 they would discover that George Orwell was a patient there whilst finishing off his book 1984. The "girl, leaving school" advert we must assume, is an advert for a school-leaver to become some kind of daily housemaid.

PRIVATE E W KENT R.A.O.C. of 131 New Street, Gloucester, who is missing from the Lancastria, sunk by enemy action on June 17. Aged 24, he was formerly employed in the butchery department by the Gloucester Co-operative Society.

Edgar William Kent had worked in the butchery department of Gloucester Co-op. He died on the 17th June 1940 when the ex-Cunard liner, "Lancastria" was sunk whilst taking part in the evacuation of British troops from northern France during Operation Ariel.

Less well-known than Operation Dynamo (the Dunkirk evacuations which had taken place two weeks earlier), Operation Ariel was the name given to the attempts to evacuate British troops and civilians from Western France during the fall of that country to the German occupation. The 1,300 passenger Cunard liner, Lancastria, was crammed with up to 5,000 troops and civilians when it was bombed and sunk in St Nazaire at the mouth of the River Loire. No one knows exactly how many people lost their lives in that disaster, but it is at least 3,500, making it the largest British maritime disaster in history. One of that number was Edgar William Kent.

LIKELY TO CATCH GOOD HIDING
GLOUCESTER CHAIRMAN AND BOY FRUIT RAIDERS

Addressing four boys who had admitted at Gloucestershire Juvenile Court Monday the theft of growing fruit, the Chairman (Mr H G Norman) said: "One of these days you will find someone who will catch hold of you and give you a jolly good hiding, which I think will be the best thing for you". The boys, two 10 years of age, one 11 and the other 12, were fined a shilling each. The value of the fruit was said to be a shilling.

Surely nothing illustrates the passage of time so much as this report of what was little more than youthful scrumping. Today it would have been Mr Norman who would have been thrashed for saying such things.

SMOKES FOR LOCAL SOLDIERS
MORE GIFTS TO OUR FUND
One of the outstanding events in Army camp life is the arrival of smokes for Gloucester and District lads sent by "The Citizen" Cigarette and Tobacco Fund.

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HELP FOR OUR CIGARETTE FUND
The party of children who raised 45/- at a concert given in Theresa Street.

Perhaps this is another illustration of the passage of time. Today, sending a box of cigarettes to someone would be seen in itself as a declaration of war.