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The Hospital/House of Blessed Mary and St Martin was founded by members of gild of St Anthony in 1446. The charity continued as a corporation charity after the Dissolution. The building, known as St Anthony's Hall was being used as a house of correction in 1646, housed the York Bluecoat School between 1705-1947 and the Borthwick Institute for Archives between 1953-2005

An occasional committee setup by the Local Board of Health Committee in 1854 when the current contract for the supply of gas lighting was coming to an end.

Mary Stuart was born on 23 June 1886 at Shirenewton, Monmouth, the daughter of Alfred Donald Stuart, a mercantile clerk, and his wife Emily. On 15 July 1912 she married John Armstrong Hughes, a clerk in Holy orders.

Mary Hughes came to York aged 38 when her husband, John, became warden of the St Mary's Educational Settlement. After leaving York she accompanied her husband to America, where he served as warden at Pendle Hill. During her time in York she worked with refugee groups in the city, and was a member of the York Refugee Committee.

After the death of her husband in 1942 she came back to York and lived with her daugher in New Earswick. Later they moved to Kirby Moorside in the Yorkshire Moors, before later returning to live in New Earswick.

Mary Hughes died on 20 April 1955 at The Retreat, York, aged 68.

The York Musical Theatre Company is York's longest established amateur theatre company. It was founded in 1902. It was originally called the York Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society. It was renamed the York Musical Theatre Company in 2002.

The group gave its first performance in April 1903

The Society's meetings and performances were suspended during World War I 1914 - 1919, and reconvened in 1920. During World War II 1939-1945, performances were again suspended, but started up again from 1946. During the April 1942 air raid on York, many of the early records of the society (1902 - 1939) were destroyed.

The group gained charitable status in 1978.

On the 1st of January 1915, Quakers in York turned their meeting house in Clifford Street into a hospital for wounded soldiers. Previously it was used as temporary home for Belgian refugees who had fled their home country. The hospital was established to ease the shortage of hospitals in York and run jointly by the St John Ambulance Association and Voluntary Aid Detachment.
The York Quakers

The first Electrical Engineer was appointed by the Electric Lighting Committee in 1899 to oversee and manage the Corporation's electrical generating station at Foss Islands, which opened in 1900. In 1948 control passed to the North Eastern Electricity Board due to nationalisation and the Corporation ceased generating electricity.
Reported to the Electricity Committee.

Founded in 1921.

The first Educational Settlement in York was founded at 31 St Mary's, York, in 1909. It became known as the 'St Mary's Settlement'. It was based there until 1932. In 1933, the Settlement relocated to 128 Holgate Road and became known as the Holgate Hill Settlement. It remained at this premises until at least 1975. In 1924 the York Settlement was recognized by the Board of Education as "a responsible Body under the Board of Education Adult Education Regulations for the purpose of submitting formal classes and receiving grants on respect of them." In 1944 it was recognized by the Local Education Act and Local Education Authorities.
During their existence, the York Educational Settlements, particularly the one at St Mary's, receieved considerable financial support from the Rowntree family, with Arnold Rowntree being a particularly active and influential trustee

The York Settlement had relationships with several other groups in the city, particularly those also working to provide adult education. This included the Workers Educational Settlement (WEA)'s York Branch, who held meetings, classes and lectures at the Settlement's St Mary's premesis. In 1949-1950, the Settlement was affiliated with the York Film Society.
The York Settlement Community Players grew out of the St Mary's settlement and was equated with it until the YSCP became an independent group in 1922.
York Community Settlement Players (YSCP) and Workers Education Association (WEA), York branch.
See Also - Workers Educational Association (WEA) York Branch
See Also - York Settlement Community Players

Christopher Ware was born in March 1794 in St Michael le Belfrey parish in York He married Sarah Nicholson in 1823. He died in 1858.

The York Settlement Community Players grew out of the York St Mary's Educational Settlement which was established in 1909.
From 1922 they existed as an independent group.
The York Settlement Community Players grew out of the Educational Settlement at St Mary's, and was synonymous with it unti it set up as an independent group in 1922. See also York Educational Settlement 1909 - 1976
See Also - Workers Educational Association (WEA) York Branch
See Also - York Educational Settlement

The Society was founded in 1855 by local butchers who proposed holding an Annual Show of Dead Meat (Beef and Mutton) at Christmas. This was changed in 1897 to the Yorkshire Fat Cattle Show. Over the years classes were added and included Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbits, Root Vegetables, Butter, Bread and Yorkshire Hams. The meetings were held mainly at the White Horse, Goodramgate, The City Arms, Fawcett Street and the Old George Hotel, Fossgate/Pavement. Due to the war and the subsequent expense and shortage of timber and feed, society activity declined. This continued until a lack of interest from members and the high costs of setting up a show eventually led to the society disbanding in November 1965.

In 1897 the Corporation formally decided to supply the city with electricity. The Electric Lighting Committee recruited the first City Electrical Engineer in 1899 and oversaw the construction of a power station at Foss Islands which opened in 1900.
The Committee was renamed the Electricity Committee in 1904 because other uses of electricity had increased.
Instructed City Electrical Engineer.

The York Female Friendly Society was established in February 1786 as a benefit society for girls of the Grey Coat School in York, and was founded by a group of wealthy York-based female philanthropists, led by Faith Gray and Catherine Cappe. It was instituted in 1788 when the first official rules and orders were established, and incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act, 1793.

The society was founded to support working class women and girls during times of need, by helping them to help themselves. To this end, the society was established as a subscription society, whereby members paid a subscription, and received certain benefits in return, such as sick pay and awards for long service. The society was therefore promoted as a way for individuals to save for their own future.

Membership of the society was made up of both Honorary Members and General Members. General members were those who paid a subscription and received benefits, with membership open to girls leaving York's Grey Coat (from 1786), Blue Coat (from 1788), and Spinning and Knitting Schools (from 1788) and to other individuals nominated by honorary members (from 1788). Honorary members paid a higher rate of subscription but did not receive any benefits. Instead, honorary membership was a way for wealthier women in York to participate in philanthropy. The organising committee and officers for the society were made up of honorary members.

Subscriptions from general members were paid into the 'General Fund', from which sickness benefits and other benefits during times of incapacitation were paid. Subscriptions from the honorary members were paid into the 'Private Fund', which was initially used only to make discretionary payments to members, such as payments for long service to those employed in domestic service. A third fund, the 'Annuity Fund' was later established in 1800, which provided annuities and pensions to subscribers in old age.

A Senior Stewardess was appointed from the honorary members, who acted in the capacity of a president of the society and managed much of the day to day administration. Several Junior Stewardesses, also appointed from the honorary members, supported her in this role.

Although all practical administration, decision making, and business of the society was conducted by the female honorary members of the society, the funds themselves were invested in government stocks in the names of the male Trustees of the society. This investment of society funds in government stocks with a good rate of return ensured the society had healthy finances to administer to their members.

Major changes to the administration of the society were made in the early 20th century, partly as an attempt to tighten up the management of funds, and partly in response to the introduction of national legislation which brought in state welfare benefits. The first of these major changes came about following the passing of the National Insurance Act, 1911, which enacted compulsory pensions and sick payments to workers across the country. This resulted in the society closing their annuities fund in order to continue with one Pensions scheme, and in the society registering as an ‘Approved Society’ for the administration of these benefits. The society was split into two new sections: the ‘Voluntary Section’, which was the continuation of the old society and provided members with a range of subscription-based benefits; and the ‘Compulsory Section’, which collected national insurance payments and administered national pensions and sick pay.

Approved Societies were abolished in 1946 prior to the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS), and thereafter the society continued with ‘voluntary’ members only. Membership declined after the introduction of the NHS, with many of the former benefits of membership now available to women nationally as employment benefits. The decision was taken to dissolve the society in the 1970s, with this enacted in 1977. The remaining funds was distributed among the remaining members, who continued to meet annually and received small payments from the funds until 1984. Moyra Johnson carried out much of the administration during this latter period and closed the final account for the society in 1986.

The Workers Educational Association or WEA was established in 1903, and there was branch in York from at least 1912. From 1912 to c1920 the WEA held meetings and classes at the St Mary's Educational Settlement. However, during the interwar years the relationship between the two institutions was an uneasy one. The WEA was suspicious of the Educational Settlement due to it's financial reliance on the Rowntree family, which it believed prevented the settlement from running on genuinely democratic lines. The Settlement was also considered 'bourgeois', 'middle class' 'capitalist' and 'reactionary' by the WEA. In 1921, they began to hold meetings at the Co-operative Society Hall on Railway Street, although WEA classes continued to be held at the St Mary's Settlement.
Connected to the Educational Settlement at St Mary's and the York Community Settlement Players.
See Also - York Settlement Community Players
See Also - York Educational Settlement

Founded 1868. From 1895, the York Rugby League was one of 22 groups from across Yorkshire which formed the Northern Rugby League. In 1901 they were first admitted to the national Rugby Football League

NALGO was formed from 14 guilds and organisations at a conference set up by Herbert Blain. The new organisation had 5000 members. In its early years much of its work was social. In 1910 a Benevolent and Orphan fund was set up which gave small sums to widows and families of government workers who had died in service. In 1920, despite leadership opposition, protests from members led to NALGO obtaining a certificate from the Registrar of Friendly Societies confirming its status as a trade union. That year membership rose to 36,500.In 1946 it changed its constitution to allow other public services employees to join such as the NHS and electricity and gas boards. In 1964 they became affiliated with the Trades Union Congress. In 1993 it merged with the National Union of Public Employees and the Confederation of Health Service Employees to create UNISON.
See Also - Jagger; William Arthur (c1897-1996)

The York Sunday School Committee was founded in 1786 largely by William Richardson who ministered at St Michael-le-Belfrey and consisted of several members of the clergy and laymen. The committee opened 10 schools for boys and girls. By 1841 over 1000 pupils attended eight of the schools. By the 1950's they began to decline and became closer to that of the modern Sunday schools. The committee also managed three schools set up by the John Dodsworth Educational Trust.
The John Dodsworth Educational Trust

The John Dodsworth Educational Trust, set up by John Dodsworth of Nether Poppleton, maintained four schools at Castlegate, St. Lawrence's, Bishophill (all in York) and at Nether Poppleton (West Riding). The York Sunday School Committee managed the Castlegate, St Lawrence's and Poppleton Schools from 1800, and the Bishophill school from 1813, on the death of John Dodsworth. In 1896 it became known as the Educational Charity of John Dodsworth. The Educational Charities of John Dodsworth was registered in 1964.
York Sunday School Committee

The York Trades Council was formed in 1890. The majority of York's Trade Unions were affiliated to the Council. By 1899 it consisted of 18 affiliated societies representing nearly 2000 members. It brought a coherence to the trade union movement in the city and was one of the main forces behind the rise in labour representation. Its activities included 'labour demonstrations, [and] running labour candidates at municipal school board and board of guardians elections'. The Council supported the General Strikes in the 1920s. The organisation still exists today as the York and District Trade Unions Council and is a branch of the national TUC.

Established to preserve derelict cemetery as working cemetery containing historic structures and environmental habitat. The York Public Cemetery Company was formed in 1837 to provide better burial facilities for the citizens of York. From 1855 until the 1940s the cemetery expanded to its present size of 24 acres (97,000 m2) by buying all the adjacent land that was available. By the 1960s, with the cemetery nearly full, it became clear that it was no longer financially viable. With prospects of very little income to pay wages and cover the maintenance of the site, in June 1966 the company went into voluntary liquidation. When the process was completed in 1979, there was nothing of commercial value left, only the land containing over 28,000 graves, 17,000 monuments and two listed buildings in an advanced state of disrepair. The abandoned site devolved to the Crown. In June 1984 the roof of the chapel collapsed. This event led to the formation of York Cemetery Trust, a registered charity. Two and a half years later the Crown Commissioners sold York Cemetery to the Trust. On 13th February 1987, the Trust became the owners of the site.
Reopened York Cemetery in 1987. Function previously carried out by York Public Cemetery Company (1826-1966).

The first Yorkshire Music Festival was held in 1823, with the main performances given in the minster and additional evening concerts in the Assembly Rooms. As the Rooms turned out to be too small for this purpose, the following year a group of interested parties purchased adjoining property for the erection of a new concert room. It was decided that a second music festival should be held in order to meet the cost of this new space, and that any profit from future concerts should benefit of the York County Hospital and the Leeds, Hull and Sheffield infirmaries. In 1829 the directors of the concert room received about £2,550 from the proceeds of the third music festival of the previous year. The final music festival was held in 1835, when the concert room was again used for evening concerts.

Mennell Bros appear in York Trade Directory (Cook), 1909 as Saw Mills and Timber Merchant, North St, Micklegate. There is a gap in directories until 1920, but in 1921 and 1922 Mennell Bros. is listed under Timber Merchants, New Earswick. The Mennell Sawmill was situated at Ebor Works, York Road, Huntington, and the firm was run by at least two generations of the Mennell family. Henry Vincent Mennell ran the sawmill with his older brother, Arthur Leo, and it was eventually managed by Charles Arnold Mennell (d. 1980).

Formed after the York Philosophical Society joined the Council for British Archaeology in 1971.
York Philosphical Society

The plays were originally performed in York from the middle of the 14th century until 1569 when they would be performed and funded by local trade guilds who would each take responsibility for one play. The end of the feast of Corpus Christi in England after the Reformation meant the plays came to an end. Performances of individual elements of the Plays started again at the beginning of the 20th century but it was not until 1951 that they were fully revived by the York Festival of Arts as part of the Festival of Britain. The plays were then initially staged every three years, later being staged every four. Due to financial and practical reasons in 1992 and 1996 the Plays were held indoor at the York Theatre Royal. The modern Guilds of York, heirs to the original Mystery Plays presenters, were formally associated with an outdoor production for the first time in 1998. In 2002 they took charge of the production themselves. The Plays have toured outside ever since.

Gas was provided privately in York by the York Gas Light Company and the York Union Gas Light Company who merged to form the York United Gas Light Company in 1844.

George Leeman was born in 1809, the son of a greengrocer. He married twice - in 1835 and 1863, and had at least six children.
His son Joseph Leeman became a lawyer and MP for York like his father. Leeman died in Scarborough in 1882.

The York Central Conservative Club was founded in 1881 in order to consolidate the party after the defeat of The Right Hon James Lowther at the General Election in 1880 who had represented the city in Parliament since 1865. For many years the club met at the Ebor Rooms, Coney Street. However, this became too cramped due to social requirements of numbers and in 1909, moved to the De Grey Rooms, St Leonard's Street where they added an extension onto the rear of the building in 1910. The club had over 500 members in 1933 and the De Grey Rooms were more appropriate due to the size. The club moved again from De Grey Rooms to Museum Street in March 1986 until their closure in 1991. The club finally closed in 1991 after a period of financial difficulty and the archives were subsequently transferred in 1994. There were also four ward Conservative clubs in the city. These clubs, along with the Central Conservative Club formed a valuable asset in party politics. In 1969, the club abolished the 'male only' member policy and allowed females to become members 80 years after the club's foundation. The club also actively took part in international billiard tournaments, including the Faber Shield Tournament (which it won in 1904), the Scruton Cup (which it won in 1975), and the Hylton Foster Billiards Tournament.

The Munby family, centred around Joseph Munby (1804-1875) and his wife Caroline Eleanor Forth (1806-1879), were a prominent middle class York family in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Joseph Munby and his father, Joseph Munby (1773-1816) came from a line of York solicitors, and both continued the family occupation. Joseph Munby's sons, Frederick James Munby and John Forth Munby both also became solicitors. The family eventually established the Munby and Scott firm of solicitors, which was originally based at the family property in Blake Street.

Joseph Munby's son, Arthur Joseph Munby (1828-1910), was a Victorian poet, civil servant, and diarist. He had a long relationship with Hannah Cullwick, a maid-of-all-work, who also kept her own diaries. The couple married in 1873, but largely kept their relationship secret.

The family typify a prosperous middle class family of the time, and were involved in social and leisure activities which reflect the society around them. Many members of the family retained a strong personal faith, and some became members of the clergy. The Munby family was descended from, and connected to, other prominent families, including the Forth family, who for several generations were agents to the Earl of Carlisle.

The family had considerable social impact; they had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and carried out a considerable amount of philanthropic work. Frederick Munby supported the missionary activities of the Reverend Frederick Lawrence, was a leading member of the Gentlemen's Committee, and handled legal matters for the York Penitentiary Society. He was also a leading member in the management of the York Refuge for Fallen Women, while the firm of Munby and Scott handled many of the records of the Refuge.

The family was also involved with the Wilberforce Home for the Blind, later the Wilberforce Trust. They travelled widely to locations including Scarborough, London, Bath and Paris. From1848, the Munby family lived at Clifton Holme (at the end of Ousecliffe Gardens, now St Hilda's Garth) which was built for Joseph Munby. The firm of Munby Solicitors was located at 9 St Helen's Square from c1830 - 1838. In 1838, it relocated to No 18 Blake Street. This property had originally been built in 1789 for Elizabeth Woodhouse, who was the mother of Caroline Eleanor Forth.

Robert Morrell was born in Sowerby, nr Thirsk, in 1799. In 1829, he married Anna Wilson in Masham. They had three children - Robert (b. 1830), Jemima (b. 1832) and William Wilberforce (b. 1838).
In 1869, William Wilberforce Morrell married Lydia Hutchinson. They had two sons - Cuthbert (b. 1872) and John Bowes (b. 1873).

John Swales (1) was born c1800.He was the son of Thomas Swales. In 1812, he was apprenticed to John Wilson, a butcher. He died in 1859. His son, John Swales (2) was born c1835. He and his wife, Mary, had three sons - John Thomas Swales (b.c1869), George Anderson Swales (b. c1871), and James Ernest Swales (b. c1879). John (2) died in 1886, and Mary in 1903.
Their son, John Thomas Swales married Ada Plummer in May 1897. They had two children - Hilda Swales (b. c1898) and Thomas Swales (b. c1910).

Members of the Aitken family lived in York from 1576. Henry Martin Aitken b. c1815. Married Elizabeth Atkinson in 1843. Died 1874.
Elizabeth Aitken was born c. 1823 and died c.1896.
Their children included: Lydia (1844-1879), Rose (b. 1849), Henry Horatio (b. 1853), Violet (1857-1888), Edith (1861-1941), Elizabeth Mary (c. 1864-1870), Robert (1866-1876), and Charles (b. 1869-1936).

The family lived in the Bishophill area of York during the period covered by this collection. Henry Martin Aitken was a surgical instrument maker.
Henry Horatio Aitken was a glass manufacturer with a business at 29 Micklegate.
Charles Aitken was Director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery from 1901 - 1911. In 1911, he became Keeper of the Tate Gallery, and was it's first Director from 1917 - 1930.
Harry Aitken (Henry's son) became a dentist in Newcastle. The Aitken family travelled around England and Europe, and many of the letters in this collection refer especially to their travels to Neuwied, Germany, and Rotterdam.

Henry Horatio Aitken married Annie Amelia Brown. They had a son, Henry George Aitken (b. 1877) who was known as 'Harry' in the family.

William Cundall was born c. 1835. He and his wife Mary Ann (b. c1850) had three children - Mary Gertrude (b. c1877), William Marshall (b. c1879) and John Ernest (b. c1880)
John Cundall was born c. 1811. He and his wife Ann (b. c1819) had seven children - Mary A. (b. c1850), William Farrar (b. 1851, d. 1851), Robert Henry (b. c1852), John A.W. (b. c1854), Horatio F. (b. c1855), Grace T. (b. c1858) and Elizabeth (b. c1859).
Horatio Farrer. Cundall died in 1933.

William Gray (1) was born in 1751, the son of a Hull customs officer. He married Faith Hopwood in Oct 1777. They had three children - Jonathan (b. 1779), Margaret (b. 1782) and William (2) (b. 1785). Gray died in 1845. His son Jonathan Gray and his wife Mary had two children - Margaret (b.1808) and William (3). Jonathan died in 1837. William Gray (3) had a son named Edwin (b. 1847). William died in 1880. Edwin died in 1929.
See Also - Gray; family

William Gray (1) was born in 1751, the son of a Hull packer. He married Faith Hopwood in 1777. They had three children - Jonathan (b. 1779), Margaret (b. 1782), and William (2) (b.1785). William Gray (1) died in 1845.
His son, Jonathan Gray and his wife Mary had two children, Margaret (2) (b.1808) and William (2). Jonathan died in 1837. His son, William Gray (3) had a son, Edwin, born in 1847. Edwin died in 1929.
See Also - Gray; William (1751-1845); Solicitor
See Also - Grays solicitors

James Raine was born in 1791 in Ovington, Yorkshire, the son of James Raine, a blacksmith, and Anne Moore.
He married Mary Peacock, with whom he had three daughters and a son, James Raine (2). He died in 1858.
The second James Raine married Ann Jane Keyworth in 1867. They had ten children, including Angelo Raine, b. c1877.
The first James Raine(1791-1958) was grandfather to Angelo Raine, Antiquary and Clergyman (1877-1962)
See Also - Raine; Angelo (1877-1962); Rev.; Antiquarian and clergyman

Angelo Raine was born in 1877, the son of James Raine (1830-1896) and Ann Keyworth. He died in 1962.
He was the grandson of James Raine, Antiquary and Clergyman (1791-1845).
See Also - Raine; James (1791-1858); Rev.; antiquarian and clergyman

William Arthur Jagger was born in 1897, the son of Albert and Rose Jagger. In 1920, he married Ethel Cook and they had two children - Irene May Jagger (b. 1920) and Peter Francis Jagger (b. 1925). He died in 1996.
See Also - National and Local Government Officers Association

John Stanley Purvis was born in 1890 in Bridlington. He died in 1968.

William Strickland was born in Boynton, Yorkshire, in 1753, the son of George Strickland and Elizabeth Letitia Winn. He married Henrietta Chlomley in 1778. They had thirteen children: Henrietta (b. 1779), Walter (b.1780, d. 1798), Caroline (b. 1781), George (b.1782), Arthur (b.1784), Edmund (b. 1785), Eustachius (b.1787), Emma (b.1789), Anne (b. 1790), John (b.1794), Priscilla (b. 1796), Isabella (b. 1799) and Nathanial Constantine (b.1802).
He died in 1834.

John Goodricke was born at Groningen, in the Netherlands, on the 17th September 1764. His father (Henry Goodricke) was a British diplomat, his mother (nee Levina Benjamina Sessler) was the daughter of a Dutch merchant.

John was deaf from infancy: at the age of 8 he was sent to Thomas Braidwood’s Academy at Dumbiedykes, Edinburgh, a school specialising in teaching deaf or deaf-mute children. In 1778 Goodricke became a pupil at Warrington Academy, where school records noted that he had become ‘an excellent mathematician’.

He rejoined his family who had moved to York: John’s great-uncle the Rev. Henry Goodricke held office at York and was tenant of part of the Treasurer’s House. By late 1781 John was involved with Edward Pigott in making astronomical observations. The two astronomers were soon concentrating their research on the variable stars, particularly Algol [Beta Persei].

Goodricke’s first published paper was ‘A Series of Observations on, and a Discovery of, the Period of the Variation of the Light of the bright Star in the Head of Medusa, called Algol’; this was read at the Royal Society on May 15th 1783. He published a supplement to these observations ‘On the Period of the Changes of Light in the Star Algol’ in April 1784, ‘Observations of a new Variable Star’ [Beta Lyrae] in January 1785, and observations on the variability in Delta Cephei in June 1785. For his work on Algol he was awarded the Royal Society’s annual Godfrey Copley Medal in 1783; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1786, but died on April 20th 1786, aged 21. According to Turner he ‘fell a victim to his favourite study […] in consequence of a cold from exposure to night air in astronomical observations.’

The two families stayed in contact after Goodricke’s death: Goodricke’s astronomical papers were sent to Edward Pigott in 1791, Charles Grey Fairfax (Edward Pigott’s younger brother who had assumed the name Fairfax on inheriting Gilling Castle) married Goodricke’s sister in 1794, and Levina Goodricke (John’s mother) was executrix of Nathaniel Pigott’s will.

The cause and date of John’s deafness is uncertain. Most sources suggest that he became deaf after a fever in childhood. John Ford, in notes published in the Yorkshire Philosophical Society’s Report for 1868, says ‘At five years old he had scarlet fever ending in total deafness’; unfortunately, he did not give his source of information.

There is disagreement over the room where John Goodricke made his observations. Melmore’s article concludes that the room was on the top floor of the south-east wing of the Treasurer’s House. Forrester disagrees; in his MS. (chapter 8, pp. 17-19) he gives reasons for believing Goodricke’s room to have been in the central range of the building, demolished by Frank Green to create the Great Hall of the Treasurer’s House as it is today.

Nathaniel Pigott (1725-1804) and Edward Pigott (1753-1825) were astronomers notable for their work with John Goodricke and the observation of variable stars.

Nathanial Pigott
Nathaniel Pigott was a gentleman of leisure, a noted amateur astronomer and surveyor. The grandson of Viscount Fairfax of Gilling Castle in Yorkshire, Nathaniel Pigott led a peripatetic life, living for many years at Caen in Normandy and later at Louvain in Belgium (then the Austrian Netherlands). In 1749 he married Anna Mathurine de Beriot of Javingue.

In 1772-1773, at the request of the authorities in Brussels, he took a series of astronomical observations to establish the exact latitude and longitude of the principal towns of the province.

In the mid 1770s the family returned to Britain and by 1780 were living at York. In the garden of their house in Bootham (now no. 33, see York City Archives accession E98 f.58 v., Register of deeds) Nathaniel had an observatory built, where he took many transit observations. His primary interest seems to have been observations to establish the latitude of York. Following the death of his wife in 1792, he gave up the lease of the house in Bootham. He died in York on May 31st 1804.

Edward Pigott
Edward Pigott the eldest surviving son of Nathaniel Pigott (1725-1804), was involved in his father’s observations from an early age; he was one of the observers of the transit of Venus of 1769.

He sent his first paper to the Royal Society, ‘Account of a nebula in Coma Berenices’ in September 1779. His observation of a comet in November 1781 is mentioned at the beginning of John Goodricke’s ‘Journal of astronomical observations’. Goodricke [John Goodricke, 1764-1786], initially a pupil, soon became a respected colleague. From 1782 the two astronomers were engaged in diligent study of the variable stars and cross-checked their observations.

Pigott discovered the comet which bears his name in November 1783. In December 1784 he published ‘Observations of a new variable star’ [Eta Antinoi/ Eta Aquilae]. Accompanying his father to Louvain in 1786 he assisted in observations of the transit of Mercury. He sent to the Royal Society an account of an auroral display viewed at Kensington in February 1789. In 1796 he communicated a paper ‘On the periodical changes of brightness of two fixed stars’ [R Coronæ Borealis and R Scuti] ; a paper on the period of R Scuti followed in 1805.

He was at Fontainebleau in 1803 when war broke out between Britain and France and was not allowed to return to the United Kingdom until 1806. His observations of the comets of 1807 and 1811 were communicated to the French Academie des Sciences. His latter years were spent at Bath, and he died there on June 27th 1825.

Jack Kenneth Willson-Pepper was born in Kent in 1904, the son of Albert Edward Pepper, a butcher, and Mary Southee White.
He died in York in 2000, aged 95.

William Etty was born on Feasegate in York in 1787, the son of Matthew Etty, a baker and confectioner, and Esther Calverly.
He died in 1849 and was buried in St Olave's churchyard.

The firm of Gray's Solicitors has existed in York since the 17th century. William Gray (1) was the son of a Hull customs officer. He became a solicitor in York. His two sons, Jonathan (b. 1779) and William (2) (b.1785) followed him into the legal business and the firm of Grays, as did Jonathan's son, a third William Gray (b. 1805), and his son, Edwin (b.1847)

In 1843, the second William Gray was at the helm of the firm, which was located at 75 Low Petergate (it had previously been 'Thorpe and Gray's)
William Henry Cobb was born in York around 1839. He became a freemen of the city in 1860, and by 1872 had set up his own solicitor's firm at 19 Blake Street. The firm was known as W.H. Cobb and Son, and given that his son, Cecil was a law student at the time he became a freeman in 1892, it is likely that he joined his father in the business around this time.

Ernest Ralph Dodsworth was the son of Benjamin Dodsworth, a York surgeon. He was born in 1859, and became a freemen in 1883. That year, he set up a solicitors firm on New Street. By 1885, Dodsworth had become a partner in the firm of Gray's Solicitors, which at the time was under the third William Gray and his son Edwin.
In 1897, the combined firm of Gray and Dodsworth relocated from 75 Low Petergate to Duncombe Place. The firm of W.H. Cobb and Son, at 19 Blake Street, remained there until 1939. By the time of the next published City Directory (1949-1950), the Cobb in charge of the firm (likely the son of Cecil Henry Cobb at this point) had become a partner in the firm of Gray and Dodsworth, which then became Gray, Dodsworth, and Cobb, which it remained until at least 1975.

Charles Piazzi Smyth was born in Italy in 1819, the son of William Henry Smyth (1788-1865), a naval officer and respected amateur astronomer, and Annabella Warrington (1788-1873). His godfather was Giuseppe Piazzi, a famous Sicilian astronomer.
In 1855, he married Jessie Duncan. Piazzi Smyth died in 1900 and was buried alongside his wife Jessie beneath a pyramid tombstone at the church in Sharow, near Ripon.

In 1932 York was connected to the National Grid and then produced only a minority of the electricity it consumed. Control was transfered to the North-Eastern Electricity Board in 1948 when electricity and gas were nationalised. During this period the Corporation bought the tramways from a private company (in 1909) and electrified them (in 1910).

Renamed Civil Defence Committee in 1943

Preceded by the Air Raid Precautions Committee.

Provided public canteens to provide economical meals to the public during rationing.

Formed from a merger of the Electricity and the Tramways committees following the electrification of the previously horse-drawn tram service in 1910. Trialled a hydroelectric generating station at Linton Lock in 1923. Introduced buses in 1915 and built a bus depot in 1921 at Fulford.
Formed from a merger of the Electricity and the Tramways committees in 1911. Functions separated again in 1923 into the Electricity Committee (1923-1948) and Transport Committee (1923-1973). Instructed Tramways and Motor Manager.

Augustus Mahalski was born in Poland in about 1831. His father was John Mahalski.
In December 1856, he married Sarah May in York. They had three children: Amelia (b.1859), William (b.1866) and Cecilia (b.1871).
Augustus died in 1900.

A John Sumpner, born in 1783, appears on the 1841 census, living with his son, also named John.
A Thomas Sumpner was born in 1791. He married a Martha Willingham in 1860 and they had 2 children - another John, born in 1862, and Susannah, born in 1864.
By 1881, Martha Sumpner was a widow, and lived at 6 Park Street.

The 1903 Motor Car Act introducted mandatory registration for both vehicles and drivers, administered by the local council who were to issue and keep a record of the numbers. The number had to be displayed on the vehicle. In 1969 the function transferred to central government, using the same local offices.

Formed by a merger of the two competing local private gas companies. The inherited Monk Bridge gas generating site was extended in 1847 and the Hungate site sold in 1850. The works and supply areas were extended various times by Act of Parliament. There was tension between the private company and the Corporation who sought to buy it in 1871 (unsuccessfully) and attempted to block its expansion in Parliament in 1912. Control was transfered to the North-Eastern Gas board in 1948 when electricity and gas were nationalised.
Formed by merger of York Gas Light Company and York Union Gas Light Company in 1844.
Changed name to York Gas Company in 1912

The exact start date of the club is unknown although the records suggest c.1956. The club continued to operate with a membership base until c1968 when there are no further records available.

The Committee was set up in 1914 by the Lord Mayor as part of a national scheme to support local people during the First World War. The Committee continued to provide support locally until 1935.

The original home for girls was situated in Skeldergate and accepted around 12-14 girls, the price being 6/- per week. A Matron, Mrs Shann, was once president of the Home.

The York Castle prison (originally consisting of Clifford's tower) was the original county prison in york, outside of civic control. City felons were sent there from 1848. By the nineteenth century the prison buildings included the debtor's prison, male and female prisons. Many prisoners were kept at the prison awaiting trial at York assizes.
Reported to Keeper of York Castle.
See Also - York Castle Gaoler

The York Castle prison (originally consisting of Clifford's tower) was the original county prison in york, outside of civic control. City felons were sent there from 1848. By the nineteenth century the prison buildings included the debtor's prison, male and female prisons. Many prisoners were kept at the prison awaiting trial at York assizes.
See Also - York Castle Gaoler

The York City Rowing Club was founded in 1863 and continues today with a membership base of over 200.

Dennis Haydock was born on 15th December 1923 in Crookes, Sheffield to Ada and Edwin Haydock who were deaf and dumb from childhood. Dennis had one older brother, Eric Haydock who was 4 years his senior. Dennis served in the 1st (Armoured) Batallion Coldstream Guards as a tank Gunner from 1942-1947. After the war, Dennis worked at Sheffield Forge and Rolling Mills and in 1980 he moved to York with his wife and took up work in the Terry's chocolate factory.

Dennis Haydock died in 2017.
See Also - Normandy Veterans Association

Gas was provided privately in York by the York Gas Light Company and the York Union Gas Light Company who merged to form the York United Gas Light Company in 1844.

Ken Cooke was an Infantryman in the Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment) for eighteen months between 1943 and 1945. He received his letter of conscription at the age of 18 just before Christmas 1943. Before joining the army he worked in a Royal Ordnance Factory as an office boy with his father. Ken was a member of the allied forces who landed on Gold beach on D-Day 1944. Ken was injured by shrapnel from an exploding shell after which he was sent from a field hospital in France, back to a hospital in England. After his recovery he was sent back to France to join up with Canadian troops. They fought their way to Bremmen where Ken suffered from shellshock and was returned again to England where he was demobbed. Ken is now a member of the York Normandy Veterans Association.
York Normandy Veterans Association
See Also - Normandy Veterans Association

Ken Smith was a signaller in the 43rd Wessex Division of the Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry. Ken received his conscription letter at the age of 18 and joined the army for five years. He was a member of the second wave of allied forces who arrived on June 6th at Gold Beach during the Normandy Landings. During his time in France he fought on Hill One One Two and was injured by shrapnel from Tiger Tank shells at the age of nineteen. He was subsequently sent to a hospital in Brussels before being returning to a hospital in Wales to recover further. After recovering from his injury some months later, Ken served two years in Palestine and Afghanistan, (after the end of the Second World War) where he suffered from acute nephritis caused by injury from a mine that exploded under an armoured vehicle. Ken is now a member of the York Normandy Veterans Association.

Ken Smith died in April 2020 at the age of 95.
York Normandy Veterans Association
See Also - Normandy Veterans Association

The idea of Mechanics Friendly Society was proposed at the Annual Meeting of the York Mechanics Institute held on Tuesday 26th June 1832, a committee was appointed by consider the best way of establishing one in connection with the Institute. This committee was later incorporated with the Committee of the Institute and the proposed rules and regulations of the Friendly Society were read at a public meeting held on Tuesday 21st August 1832 in the lecture room of the York Mechanics Institute.

The idea of a setting up a friendly society was proposed at an annual meeting of the York Mechanics Institute on 26th June 1832. A committee was appointed to establish one in connection with the Institute, with this same committee being incorporated with the Committee of the Institute. At a public meeting on 21st August 1832 in the lecture room of the York Mechanics Institute the proposed rules and regulations of the Mechanics Friendly Society was adopted with the Society being established in October that year. In August 1850 it was first proposed that a meeting be held to discuss the dissolution of the Society and to best divide up the remaining funds. The last of these funds were distributed by October 1850 after which time the Society was no longer in existence.
See Also - Mechanics Institute / Technical College

William Varley was a quaker and conscientious objector from New Earswick, York. He refused to join the Army Reserve where men were conscripted under the Military Service Act of 1916. He was later sent to prison to serve a sentance for disobeying the command of his Superior Officer when ordered to put on a uniform. While in prison he continued to campaign for the rights of conscientious objectors. In November of 1916 William Varley accepted work of national importance and left prison to do this in January 1917.

The York Pageant was conceived by Mr. George Kirby, Curator of the Exhibition, and produced by Mr. Louis N. Parker who was Master of the Pageant. It was intended that 'the York Pageant represent by dramatic means a continuous history of York from the earliest times down to the siege of York in 1644'. It lasted six days from July 26th - 31st and was held in the grounds of St Mary's Abbey in York.

Acomb windmill stood on a site near the present water-tower on Severus Hill but on the Acomb side of the boundary. It may have been damaged in the Civil War in the 17th century and appears to have fallen into disuse about this time. Holgate Mill (also referred to as Acomb Windmill) was built on a different site towards the end of the 19th century where it remains today.

Gas was provided privately in York by the York Gas Light Company and the York Union Gas Light Company who merged to form the York United Gas Light Company in 1844.
See also Parliamentary Committee 1917-1918 re: York Gas Company's Bill

This company began trading in 1800, and by 1901 was operating from premises at 2 Coney Street, York. The business was taken over by the Wright family in 1934. In 1972 Jeremy Wright took over the business and transformed it into a perfumery. It was later purchased by June Yeo and her husband Leonard in 1997. When Mrs Yeo decided to retire in 2011, her former supplier Hanus Wolf bought the business and began trading in October 2011.

The shop closed in July 2017.

The first adult schools were set up by Quakers, with members of the Rowntree family being part of the committee until the late 1960s. Early schools date back to the late 19th century with the York and District Adult School Union first being formed in 1903. They began by establishing schools in some of the newer housing areas of the city and so the number of adult schools rose from 4 to 13 and the number of pupils from 729 to 2648.
Society of Friends; Lord Mayor of York J.W. Rowntree; York Educational Settlement

Oswald Allen was born at Scarhead Farm near Gayle in 1767, the oldest of ten children of the Reverend James Allen, a hymn writer, and his wife Margaret (nee Wilson).

Oswald went to Free School in Hawes, which was founded by his grandfather, also called Oswald Allen. At the age of 13, he became an apprentice to a relative, Dr Francis Whaley, a York apothecary. In 1799 Allen began to style himself Dr Oswald Allen following the establishment of his medical practice and his founding of the York Dispensary. He later wrote a history of the York Dispensary and was succeeded in the business by his cousin John Wilson.

Oswald Allen married Francis Withers, the sister of one of his dispensary colleagues. In 1820, a 'medicine pot' memorial was dedicated to Dr. Oswald and Francis Allen at St Lawrence's Church in York. In 1833 he began writing his memoirs, which were later donated to York Reference Library.

In 1841, a widowed Oswald retired to Hawes, England with his grandson, Dr. Oswald Allen Moore, a surgeon.
See Also - Allen; Oswald (1767-?)

The first William Fairbank was a quaker and surveyor who with the help of his son made plans of estates in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. His two sons William and Josiah carried on the business and after that, Josiah and his son took over in 1833. After his son's death in 1848, the company was wound up.
The Fairbanks were involved in the construction of enclosures, railways, canals, roads and waterworks. They operated in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and even Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire.

William Hargrove was born in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, on 16 October 1788, the youngest child of Ely Hargrove and his second wife. His father intended him to join the church, and he was placed under the care of his godfather, Robert Wyrell, at that time curate of Knaresborough. Wyrell recommended, however, that Hargrove be trained as a journalist, and as a result he was accordingly apprenticed to Mr. Smart of Huddersfield.

Following his apprenticeship Hargrove returned to Knaresborough, before purchasing the York Herald, a weekly newspaper, in 1813. He moved to York, and the first number of the York Herald under his management was published on 13 July 1813. He was editor of the paper for the next 35 years, and during that time expanded the staff to include a reporter, and a correspondent in nearly every town in Yorkshire. Hargrove subsequently bought the shares in the business of his two sleeping partners.

In October 1818 Hargrove entered the corporation of York as a common councilman for Bootham ward. He defended Queen Caroline in the York Herald, and announced her acquittal in 1820 by torchlight from the steps of the Mansion House. In 1827 he successfully promoted, along with Charles Wellbeloved, a scheme for the erection of a Mechanics' Institute, of which he became the first secretary and treasurer. In 1831 he was elected a sheriff of York.

In 1818 Hargrove published a 'History and Description of the ancient City of York'; comprising all the most interesting information already published in Drake's "Eboracum," with new additional content and illustrations. He had initially planned to reprint Francis Drake's Eboracum, but did not have enough support.

Hargrove also published the York Poetical Miscellany; being selections from the best Authors, in 1835. He was a contributor to the poets' corner of the York Herald and the York Courant, and to magazines. He also issued A New Guide for Strangers and Residents in the City of York. ... Hargrove's pocket edition, illustrated in 1842.

Hargrove collected the Roman and mediaeval remains excavated in and around York. About ten years before his death he transferred the whole collection to the museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. He died at York on 29 August 1862.

Bootham School was opened in 1823 as a private boarding school. It was was the idea of William Tuke (1732-1822), who had first raised the idea of establishing a boy's school in York for the sons of Quakers in 1818. The school was seen as a solution to the growing numbers of children who were not eligible for Ackworth School near Pontefract. Suitable premises were found in Lawrence Street in 1822 and leased from the Retreat Hospital (run by a Quaker Committee) and the school opened early the following year.

In January 1829 a Quarterly Meeting Committee was appointed to run the school, under the management of John Ford, the 'Superintendant of the Establishment'. It then became known as the Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting Boys' School. By 1833 the school was teaching 50 boys, and the following year it founded its natural history society, believed to be the first in the country. In 1846 the school moved to 20 Bootham, York, however it only became known as Bootham School in 1915. In 1891 the school began to admit boys whose parents were not members of the Society of Friends.

In 1899 a fire at the school destroyed most of the classrooms. The premises was rebuilt and reopened in 1902.

In 1939 the School was evacuated briefly to Ampleforth College, while the buildings at Bootham were prepared for conversion into a hospital.

In the post-war period the School has grown in size and stature. In 1983, it adopted a co-educational system and admitted girls. In 1997, Ebor School, a Junior School, was acquired. In 2002 this moved to a purpose built school and became known as Bootham Junior School. Today Bootham is part of the mainstream independent school system, however it retains its founding Quaker principles, which include the pursuit of learning through science, progressive and reforming ideas, a respect for the individual, creativity and independent thought, and a responsible social conscience.

Queen Anne Grammar School for Girls was originally founded in 1905 as Brook Street School, a pupil-teacher centre. The new centre was approved by the Board of Education, and replaced the evening and weekend classes held in Fishergate Board School. In 1906 the school became known as the Municipal Secondary School for Girls, and it was officially recognised as a secondary school two years later.

The Brook Street premises were closed in 1909 and the school moved to a new school building on Queen Anne's Road, Clifton. The new site opened in January 1910, and in 1920 the name officially changed to Queen Anne Grammar School.

The school was converted into a co-educational comprehensive school in 1985. It closed in July 2000.

Nunthorpe Grammar School was opened in 1920, in a house in Southlands Road, York. The house had been purchased and refurbished by the council. By March 1921 there were 64 enrolled at the school, which rose to 425 by March 1933.

In 1927 a new wing was opened, with four new classrooms, an art room, two storerooms and a cloakroom. The old stable block was also converted into two laboratories, and the stableboys' sleeping quarters were converted into the school library.

In 1959 a gym was added as well as what was for the next 25 years to be known as the 'new block', the building containing laboratories and classrooms. A Sixth Form block was added in 1974, although this block is now used for science laboratories and languages classrooms. In 1984 a new sports hall was built, however the following year the school closed and, together with Mill Mount Grammar School for Girls, became part of the new Millthorpe Secondary School.

Mill Mount County Grammar School for girls opened in 1920, in a house purchased and adapted by the local council authority. By March 1921 there were 124 girls enrolled at the school, many of whom having transferred from the overcrowded Queen Anne Grammar School.

In 1922 a chemistry laboratory was added to the building, and three years later a cookery centre was also opened. Further extensions were added in 1935 to provide additional accommodation for the girls, and a games field at Nunthorpe was opened in 1935.

In 1985 the school closed and, together with Nunthorpe Grammar School, became part of the new Millthorpe Secondary School. At this time the school moved to the premises previously occupied by Nunthorpe Grammar School.

St Peter's School was founded by St Paulinus of York in 627 AD, on the same site as York Minster. Little is know about the school's early history.

In 705, St John of Beverley became Head Master. In 741 both the school and Minster burned down. Both were rebuilt by Archbishop Aelberht. In 778, Northumbrian scholar Alcuin became Head Master.

In 1289 the school moved from the site of the current nave of York Minster to a house near the Minster's east end.

The school was given a Royal Charter by Queen Mary in the sixteenth century, and in 1557 moved premises to new buildings in the Horsefair, just outside the city walls.

In 1644 the school buildings were destroyed in the Siege of York, part of the English Civil War. The boys were moved back inside the city walls and the school continued in Bedern, a former refectory and dormitory for clergy.

The school moved again in 1730 to the Bagnio, a Turkish bath on Coney Street, before a further move five years later to the disused church of St Andrew. In 1828 the school amalgamated with York Proprietary School in Clifton, and as part of the merger the new combined school moved to the beautiful buildings of the Proprietary School outside the city walls.

In 1901 the school acquired St Olave's Preparatory School. In 1922 a swimming pool was built, initially as an outdoor pool before being covered over in 1965. The school began to admit female pupils into its sixth form from 1976, and in 1987 St Peter's became co-educational at all levels.

St Peter's purchased Clifton School and Nursery in 1994, allowing continuous education for pupils from the ages of 3 to 18 for the first time. In 2001 St Olave's moved to the Queen Anne site on the lower campus, so all three schools shared the same grounds.

In 2012, the new St Peter's Swimming Pool won the Lord Mayor's Architecture Prize in the York Design Awards.

Hungate Mission School was founded in the March 1861 as Salem Mission School by Mr James Harrison, a member of the Quaker Society of Friends. As well as being a Sunday School, it taught reading, writing and arithmetic on every night of the week except Saturday when the teachers met together to clean up the place for the Sunday services.

The school first opened in Whixleys Court, St Saviourgate, with a teaching staff representing nearly every religious community in the city. It was essentially non-denominational. It eventually left Whixleys Court and moved to a building in Garden Street, Hungate, which had been built by the Weslyan Methodists. At this time the name of the school changed to Hungate Mission School. By this time it was so important a centre that a volume was printed publishing the rules of the school, with two colour plates showing the schoolroom and its arrangements.

The Mission School continued to teach pupils until the 1920s and closed down when the Hungate area began to disappear.

The Parish Council represents the local community at council level and is responsible for local matters such as planning applications as well as local facilities including the upkeep of public spaces in the village.

William Peckitt was born in Husthwaite, a village near Easingwold, the son of William, a fellmonger and glove maker, and his wife Ann. He was baptised on 13 April 1731. At some point prior to 1752 the family moved to York, where Peckitt worked in his father's glove making business before establishing himself as a glass painter in Colliergate, York.

Whilst the majority of his commissions were for painted glass, Peckitt also produced a small number of windows which included stained glass. In 1780 he patented an invention for 'blending coloured and stained glass'.

On 3 April 1763 Peckitt married Mary Mitley, daughter of the sculptor Charles Mitley. The couple had 4 daughters. Peckitt worked throughout his life on the maintenance of the medieval glass in York Minster as well as painting new windows there. He also undertook commissions for cathedrals, churches and houses throughout England. He produced windows for a number of colleges including the Alma Mater window for Trinity College.

Peckitt died on 14 October 1795 and was buried in the church of St Martin-cum-Gregory, York.

John Ward Knowles was born in 1838. He left school at the age of 12.

Following a visit to the Great Exhibition in London with his father in 1851, Knowles enrolled at the newly opened School of Design in York. He continued there as a pupil until 1854, winning prizes for his stained glass work in 1852 and 1854. In around 1858, Knowles moved to London for a year to work for Heaton and Butler, where he developed an interest in photography and architecture.

In 1863, following his return to York, Knowles began to undertake conservation work on the 'Fifteen Last Days of the World' window in All Saints Church. Three years later he was a member of the committee for the 1866 Great Exhibition at Bootham, York.

In 1869 Knowles moved his stained glass business from Goodramgate to Stonegate. Five years later he married Jane Annakin, with whom he had two sons, John Alder and Milward, and four daughters. Both sons would follow him into the family business of J W Knowles & Sons. In 1874 he also bought and began to restore 23 Stonegate (now number 35).

During the 1880s and 1890s Knowles undertook extensive conservation work on the St Cuthbert and St William windows at York Minster, during which process he photographed all the panels before their restoration and rearrangement. He also spent some time working on the stately home Nostell Priory.

John Ward Knowles died on 17 August 1931 at the age of 93.
John Ward Knowles was the father of John Alder Knowles, stained glass painter, who worked with him in the family business J W Knowles & Sons.

John Alder Knowles was born in 1881, the eldest son of stained glass painter and restorer John Ward Knowles.

In 1903, Knowles travelled to Toronto, Canada, and then to Minneapolis, where he spent the next nine years working at the Ford Brothers stained glass works. On his return to England in 1912 he began to assist his father with his York stained glass business.

Knowles' career was interrupted by his service in both the First World War and the Second World War.

John Alder Knowles was granted an Honorary Master of Arts from the University of Hull in 1957 for his scholarly monograph on the York School of Glass Painting (published in 1936 and illustrated with his own sketches and photographs). During his career he wrote more than 60 articles on the history of stained glass.

Knowles died on 25 November 1961, aged 80.
John Alder Knowles was the eldest son of John Ward Knowles, stained glass painter, and worked with him in the family business J W Knowles & Sons.

First mentioned in 1290, the number of elected chamberlains ranged from three to eight. There was typically a chief chamberlain, or "Lord Mayor's Chamberlain" and a number of others either for support or in name only. How desirable the posts were varied over time: in the fifteenth century holders often had to supplement the city's finances from their own, whereas in the seventeen century the posts were seen as the first step on the ladder of civic office. The post was replaced by that of City Treasurer when the Corporation was reformed in 1835.
Replaced by City Treasurer in 1835.

Francis Drake was born in Pontefract, the son of vicar Reverend Francis Drake. He was baptised in Pontefract on 22 January 1696.

Drake was apprenticed to Christopher Birbeck, a York surgeon. When Birbeck died in 1717, Drake took over the practice. Ten years later, at the age of 31, he was appointed to the office of city surgeon of York.

In 1720 Drake married Mary Woodyeare, daughter of a former secretary to Sir William Temple, in York Minster. Together they had five sons, although only two of them survived childhood.
Mary Drake died in 1728 at the age of 35 and was buried in the church of St Michael le Belfrey.

Drake had a lifelong interest in history.With the aid of a number of local historians and collectors, Drake compiled the history of York, 'Eboracum', a folio-sized book of around 800 pages with the subtitle The History and Antiquities of the City of York, from its Original to the Present Time; together with the History of the Cathedral Church and the Lives of the Archbishops (published in 1736).

Francis Drake was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of the Royal Society during his lifetime. In 1741 he was appointed honorary surgeon to the new York County Hospital, retiring in 1756 (although he was relieved of the position during 1745–6 because of his Jacobite sympathies). Between 1751 and 1760, he published thirty volumes of The Parliamentary or Constitutional History of England from the Earliest Times to the Restoration of King Charles II, with a second edition, in twenty-four volumes, appearing in 1763.

In 1767, failing health forced him to leave York to live with his eldest son, Francis, who was the vicar of St Mary's Church, Beverley. He died in Beverley and was buried in the local churchyard.

Thomas Widdrington was the son of Lewis Mauntlaine, alias Widdrington of Cheeseburn Grange, near Stamfordham, Northumberland. He was a student at Christ's College, Cambridge in 1617 and was awarded BA in 1621. He entered Gray's Inn in 1619 and was called to the bar in 1625. He held the position of Recorder of Berwick from 1631 to 1658 and Recorder of York from 1638 to 1658. He was knighted at York on 1 April 1639.

In April 1640 Widdrington was elected Member of Parliament for Berwick in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Berwick for the Long Parliament in November 1640. As a barrister, his legal knowledge was useful during the English Civil War. In 1651 he was chosen a member of the Council of State, although he had declined to have any share in the trial of the king. He was elected MP for York in 1654 for the First Protectorate Parliament. In 1656 he was elected MP for Northumberland in the Second Protectorate Parliament and was chosen as Speaker in September 1656, and in June 1658, he was appointed Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. In 1659 and again in 1660, he was a member of the Council of State, and on three occasions he was one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal. In 1660, he was elected MP for York in the Convention Parliament. He was subsequently elected MP for Berwick again in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament.

Thomas Widdrington married Frances Fairfax, a daughter of Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Together they had five daughters and a son.

Widdrington wrote 'Analecta Eboracensia; some Remaynes of the city of York'. The work was not formally published until 1877, when it was edited with introduction and notes by the Rev. Caesar Caine.

Thomas Widdrington died in 1664.

The exact start date of the business is unknown but it is thought that it began around 1861.

The business began operating in 1815 when it was purchased from the Telford family by the brothers James and Thomas Backhouse, Quakers in York. James Backhouse had been apprenticed to Wagstaffe's nursery in Norwich for two years when he was 19 years old, and had spent time visiting nurseries in Scotland prior to the purchase. Their purchase of the nursery was advertised in the York Courant on 13 May 1816. By 1821 the Backhouse family were advertising their ability to undertake 'plantations by the acre' and supply 'gentlemen with experienced gardeners.'

The original firm was founded at Tanner Row, Toft Green, in about 1665, and the Backhouse business continued on the same site. In 1831, following the death of his wife, James left England for Australia to undertake Quaker missionary work. He left the business in the care of family members for the following ten years, during which time he sent back an array of plant samples and seeds from his travels.

In 1841 James returned to England and took up the running of the nursery, first with his brother and then with his son. That same year the nursery moved from Toft Green to make way for the new York railway station. The coming of the railways allowed Backhouse Nurseries to distribute correspondence, plants and seeds much more effectively around the country from their new premises in Fishergate. In 1853 the business moved again, this time to a 100 acre site at Holgate, York.

James Backhouse died in 1869 and the business was continued by his son James, who was later joined by his own son, also James. During this period the business was at its height, with a plant import business, rockery, 40 greenhouses and an underground fernery.

The agricultural depression of the 1880s, followed by the 1910 Land Tax bill and the First World War, compounded by increased competition between nurserymen, all contributed to the decline of demand in plants. Despite James Backhouse forming a new company in 1891 to try and save the business - Backhouse Nurseries (York) Ltd - the firm suffered a series of financial losses. In 1921 much of the land owned by the nurseries was sold off, and the business was officially wound-up in 1955.

The York Motor Boat Club was founded in June 1933 by motor boat enthusiasts who moored along the River Ouse in York. The first President of the Club was Mr B Hudson who purchased the Clubhouse as a Prisoner of War Hospital in Silecroft, Cumbria. The wooden building was brought across to York and erected at Fulford, opening in 1954. The Club changed its name to York Motor Yacht Club in 1968.

Reginald Hunt was born in 1894 at 2 Park Grove, York, the only son and middle child of John Henry Hunt and Bertha Mary Hunt. In 1901 the family lived in Spurriergate and by 1911 had moved to 26 Aldwark. Reginald was educated at St Olave's School and from 1904-11 was a day boy at St Peter's School, York. His father - a brewer, and later a Brewers' manager - was a cousin of (the later, Sir) John Joseph Hunt of the John J Hunt Ebor Brewery.

During the First World War Reginald worked as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse, first at Nunthorpe Hospital (September 1915 to November 1916) and then at St Mary's Convent Hospital - now York's Bar Convent - from December 1916 to May 1917. In both positions he was required to supervise the hospital orderlies, and he moved from the rank of Private to Lieutenant during that period. His sister Violet also worked as a VAD nurse, at Clifford Street Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital.

Reginald also entered the brewing profession. In 1921 he received the Freedom of the City of London in the Worshipful Company of Distillers; from 1934-35 he held the office of Master of the Company. He was also onetime President of the Yorkshire Wholesale Wine and Spirit Association. On the death of Sir John Joseph in 1933, Reginald became Chairman of the John J Hunt Ltd and Scarborough & Whitby Breweries.

Grimston Court, Dunnington, designed by Walter Brierley for Sir John Joseph also passed to Reginald; he lived there with his sister Violet until his death in 1941.

Reginald Hunt took an active role in public life in York. From 1934-5 he was Governor of the York Company of Merchant Adventurers; he served on the House Committee of York County Hospital and as a governor of the hospital; from the group's inception he was Chairman of the Supporters of York County Hospital. During the First World War he was actively engaged with the work of the St John's Ambulance Brigade in York. He gave presentation cups to at least two local societies, the York Rowing Club and York Speedway, and was actively involved with many other societies and charitable organisations.

Reginald Hunt died on 29 April 1941, aged 46.
Reginald Hunt had two sisters - May (Mary) Hunt and Violet Hunt.

The York Penitentiary Society was formed in 1822. In 1844, the late Dr Beckwith bequest his property at Bishophill to the York Penitentiary Society, and this was used to form the York Penitentiary Institution in 1845.

A motion was carried at the 1918 annual meeting that the name "Penitentiary Society" was unsuitable for the work of the Society, and "House of Mercy" was deemed more appropriate. In 1918, the Bishophill premises were sold due to their delapidated condition and new premises at Clifton Holme were purchased. These premises later became known as York Training Home for Girls, which was an approved school that operated by rules set out by the Secretary of State.

The Home Office responsibility for Clifton Holme ended on 31st August 1950. Clifton Holme was sold to the Corporation in 1953, and the profits from the sale were used to form the Clifton Holme Trust, the money from which was distributed to various charities.

The York Society for the Prevention and Discouragement of Vice and Profaneness was established in 1808. The Society started to devote the majority of its fund to the Penitentiary Society from 1822 onwards, and devoted all of its remaining funds to the establishment of the York Penitentiary as an Institution in 1845.

Poppleton History Society was started in February 1989. In 1998, the Society agreed to establish an archaeology section as a five year pilot project for York Archaeological Forum (YAF). Over the following years, the very successful Greater York Community Archaeology project was developed by YAF, with HLF funding for the initial position of Community Archaeologist. A highlight for the Poppleton Archaeology Group was the visit of Channel 4`s Time Team to Nether Poppleton in 2004.

Poppleton History Society was started in February 1989. In 1998, the Society agreed to establish an archaeology section as a five year pilot project for York Archaeological Forum (YAF). Over the following years, the very successful Greater York Community Archaeology project was developed by YAF, with HLF funding for the initial position of Community Archaeologist. A highlight for the Poppleton Archaeology Group was the visit of Channel 4`s Time Team to Nether Poppleton in 2004.

William Camidge was born in St Saviourgate, York in 1828. His father was a freeman of York, Beverley and Hull. He was educated at Houghton School before being apprenticed to a solicitor.

Following his apprenticeship Camidge moved to Pudsey, West Yorkshire, before returning to York to work as managing clerk for Messrs Richardson and Gold, solicitors in Blake Street. He later became an actuary at Yorks Savings Bank before rising to Consulting Secretary, a position which he held for over 50 years. During his leadership the bank increased its customer base by over 2000 people.

William Camidge became a freeman of York in 1849.

Aside from his banking career, Camidge was also a prominent and active Christian. Beginning his religious career as a Sunday School teacher, he went on to found the York Ragged School (where he was also superintendant). He later became superintendant of the Melbourne Terrace School and secretary of the City Mission, as well as being a faithful supporter of the Hungate Mission. He was also a Methodist preacher.

Camidge was also a prolific writer and local historian, and during his lifetime wrote over 100 published works on aspects of York history and the development of Methodism.

William Camidge died on 6 October 1909 in York at the age of 81, a month after resigning from his position at the bank due to ill health.
William Camidge was father of Frederick Adolphus Camidge and grandfather of William Gordon Camidge.

Frederick Adolphus Camidge was born in around 1860, the son of William Camidge, Consulting Secretary of York Savings Bank and Methodist preacher. He was educated in Goole, became a solicitor in 1884 and a member of the law society in 1886.

He held positions as clerk to the school boards of Acomb, Haxby, Wigginton and Dringhouses, and was also clerk to the Escrick Rural District Council, Escrick Out-Relief Union and the Escrick Rating Committee.

Frederick Adolphus Camidge became a freeman of York in 1884. He held numerous public offices throughout his lifetime, and held the role of Sheriff of York in 1910-11.

Camidge was a well-known Freemason and was a Past Master of the York Lodge 236 and of the Zetland Chapter. He was also a lay lector at Holy Trinity Church in Micklegate, and had previously been a churchwarden at St Helen's Church.

Frederick Adolphus Camidge died in August 1947 in York.
Frederick Adolphus Camidge was son of William Camidge.