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The Black Swan Folk Club was formed in September 1979. It meetings at 8.15pm every Thursday night at the Black Swan pub, Peaseholme Green, York, and offers a range of resident musicians and perfomers, formal concerts and guest singers. From the 1980s until 2019 the club was run by Roland Walls. Since 2001 the club has also held larger concerts of bigger name performers in the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, and the Crescent Club.

In 2020 the club posted weekly 'Virtual' sessions on YouTube during the coronavirus lockdown.
Walls; Roland (1954-2019)

Rural districts were established in 1894, along with urban districts, to replace the earlier system of sanitary districts. In York, the Flaxton, Bishopthorpe and Escrick Rural District Councils were abolished in 1974 and merged with urban districts and boroughs to form district councils.
Jointly administered the Bishopthorpe Out-Relief Union until 1930.

Formed in 1894 along with the York, Escrick and Flaxton Out-Relief Unions. All four out-relief unions were attached to the York Union, otherwise known as the Joint York Union.
Jointly administered with the Bishopthorpe Rural District Council; part of the Joint York Union

Bishophill Action Group was formed in the 1970s as a protest group against City of York Council proposals for an inner ring road just outside the city walls. The group were against the destruction of properties in the Bishophill area to make way for the road, and protested accordingly. Once the ring road plan was finally settled, the group turned its attention to other issues in the area, including the proposed building of a multi-storey car park, the demolition of properties in Buckingham Street and the renovation of 26-34 Skeldergate.

The group appears to have ceased functioning in 1995.

Leonard Birch was a builder and a citizen of York. He administered the estate of a Mrs Keys.

Benton was born in York on 7th February 1899. He was raised in York and went on to work on the railways. He signed up to fight during the First World War, and returned home injured in 1918 following the loss of his lower left arm and a bone in his right arm. His date of death is currently unknown.

George Benson was born in 1856. On 24 August 1889 he married Annie Denton. Benson worked in York as an architect, and was heavily involved in the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society (YAYAS). He published a number of works on historic buildings in York.

T C Benfield qualified as a solicitor in York in 1929. He was always heavily involved in the life of the city, and in 1937 joined the Civil Defence volunteers (a position he retained throughout the Second World War). He was admitted into the Merchant Adventurers Company in York on 7 July 1944, and also served as Secretary of York Festival Society, holding a role during the proposed revival of the York Mystery Plays.

Benfield was elected Town Clerk of York in the late 1940s, and held the position until at least 1959. He died in 1986.

Ben Johnson was originally formed in 1841, when Hull printer William Goddard and businessman John William Lancaster joined forces and set up shop in Bridge Street, York. Seven years later, the partnership was dissolved, but John Lancaster kept the premises. He then employed Ben Johnson, who had served as an apprentice to an engraver in Huddersfield, to take control of his printing and stationery business. By 1880, Johnson was the sole owner and the firm took his name. A factory had been built in Micklegate and was expanded until, in 1907, it covered 75,000 sq ft.

After his death in 1901, Ben's sons, Cecil and Gilbert, took control of the business. In 1932, fire destroyed the mainly wooden factory and new premises were built in Boroughbridge Road.

American firm RR Donnelley's took over the factory in the early 80s, and a ten-year contract began to produce millions of telephone directories for British Telecom.

Bellerby's Decorators was a business located in Petergate, York, owned by the Bellerby family. The business was founded in around 1914, and specialised in painting and decorating services to private and business customers. Their commissions included the gold leafing in both York Minster and All Saints' Church, the renovation of Fairfax House, and work on the Sultan of Oman's palace in the 1980s.

The business was wound-up in 1988 when Derek Bellerby retired.

In 1980, a steering group was formed by members of some of York's surviving guilds, to discuss the possibility of using the building as a new guild hall. Shortly afterwards the Company of Cordwainers, the Gild of Freemen and the York Guild of Building formed the Bedern Hall Company. The company raised the funds to add further facilities to complement the Hall, and a modern annexe was added to ensure that the building was equipped for the needs of future generations. Among the most striking of the modern additions are the stained glass panels in the windows, commemorating Guild members.

Since restoration, the Hall has been used by a variety of organisations as a venue for dinners, meetings and conferences. In 2005, it was licensed for civil wedding celebrations. It is also used as a meeting venue and events space.

Harriett was a PhD candidate at University of York between 2017 and 2020. As part of her PhD research, she carried out face to face interviews with a number of Second World War veterans.

BBC Radio York was launched at 6.30am on 4 July 1983 – a launch featured on the cover of the Radio Times. A year prior to its launch a temporary AM service was broadcast for the coverage of the visit of Pope John Paul II. Broadcasts originally lasted between 6.30am and 1pm and 4pm and 6pm during the week with weekends restricted to 8am till 2pm. BBC Radio York is still the only countywide station in North Yorkshire. Notable former presenters include Jon Champion, Rob Hawthorne, Will Hanrahan, Victor Lewis Smith, Richard Whiteley and Richard Hammond.

William Baynes was a resident of York with an interest in meterology. During the course of his life he kept detailed records of York weather patterns.

Paul Bayliss was a resident of York. He co-wrote a book on the life of York Artist William James Boddy in 1996 with his wife Anne.

Anne Bayliss was a resident of York. She co-wrote a book on the life of York Artist William James Boddy in 1996 with her husband Paul.

Sir Hugh Nigel Edward Bayley (born 9 January 1952) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament for York Central until 2015, having held the predecessor City of York seat from 1992 to the 2010 general election, when boundary changes took effect.

Bayley was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire and was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, the University of Bristol, where he obtained a Politics BSc degree in 1974, before pursuing further studies at the University of York where he was awarded a BPhil degree in Southern African studies in 1976. After his studies in 1975 he became a District Officer and later a National Officer with NALGO until 1982.

Bayley was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Camden in 1980 and became the general secretary of the International Broadcasting Trust in 1982. Bayley stepped down as a councillor and moved to York to take up a post as research officer in health economics at the University of York from 1987 to 1992. He was a lecturer in social policy at the university from 1986 until 1998.

Hugh Bayley was nominated as the Labour candidate for York at the 1987 general election but was defeated by just 147 votes by the Conservative Conal Gregory. After the election, Hugh Bayley became a Health Economics Research Fellow at the University of York, and became a member of the local health authority.

Conal Gregory and Hugh Bayley again fought it out at the 1992 general election in York and this time Bayley won by a comfortable margin. After his election he made his maiden speech on 7 May 1992 and joined the Health Select committee. The name of the York constituency was changed (though with unaltered boundaries) and Bayley won a majority of over 20,000 at the 1997 general election.

After the election, Bayley became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson, who lived near York. In 1998 he was appointed to Tony Blair's Government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Social Security, responsible for Incapacity, Maternity, Disability benefits and Vaccine damage. He was deputed to bring the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill through the Commons, which attracted much criticism from backbench Labour MPs over plans to means-test and restrict access to incapacity benefit. He was dropped from government after the 2001 general election.

Bayley has since served on the International Development Committee and pioneered the foundation of the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group, serving as chair for several years, now being its vice-chair. He was president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 2012 to 2014. He was also a chairman of the Public Bill Committee. The City of York constituency was abolished in 2010, with Bayley being elected in the 2010 general election to represent the successor constituency York Central.

At the outset of the 2010 parliament, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow appointed Bayley as a temporary Deputy Speaker to serve for two weeks until the election of Deputy Speakers. Bayley accepted the appointment, but stated that he would serve only temporarily and would not run for a Deputy Speakership, as he preferred to be able to represent his constituents by speaking out on issues before the House.

On 5 December 2014, Bayley announced his intention to stand down as a Labour MP at the 2015 general election.

Bayley was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours for his 'services to parliamentary engagement with NATO'.

Nellie Battrick was originally from York, who travelled to India to work as a nanny. Her archives date from the 1930s, when she was employed in India. Her date of birth and death are currently unknown.

Barron & Barron was founded in 1893. In 2011 it merged with Mitchells accountants of Leeds and Harrogate, and in 2013 merged with Barber Harrison & Platt, an independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisors based in Sheffield. At that time the practice name changed to BHP Barron & Barron.

Bert joined the army on 1st July 1943 after receiving his conscription letter on his 18th birthday. He was in the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, and was based in Richmond, York for his training. He landed on Sword beach at Normandy on 6th June. During the war, he was sent on 3 wireless training courses, and spent 3 weeks in Brussels as part of the training before returning to his battalion. After the war, Bert remained in Germany for 2 years working as a clerk in the army headquarters. Upon returning to England in 1947, Bert completed a teacher training course, and then worked for 9 months in a Catholic school. Later, he and his wife moved to Ireland, where he worked with deaf people.

Barritt died in November 2019 at the age of 94.

York-born nun Mary Ward began a mission to educate girls in the Catholic faith in order to continue future generations of Catholics. She launched her convent run schools on the continent, where Catholicism was still legal, and built up a community around her to direct them. After her death the Sisterhood returned to York in 1686. Wishing his daughters to be given a local, Catholic education, Yorkshire businessman Thomas Gasgoine gave the Sisterhood £500 to start a small school – the Bar Convent Girls School. Gaining a good reputation, the school grew in popularity, and the Convent block in the Lower School site was built to accommodate a boarding school and a Convent.

In the 1800's, an extra wing was added to accommodate a day school, and in 1925 the Bar Convent School became a Grammar School, enabling locals to apply for scholarships.

Boys were accepted in the mid 1970's and in the early 1980's, on the abolition of the Grammar School system, to secure the future of free education for the Catholic community around York, the responsibility of the school passed from the Sisterhood to the Diocese of Middlesbrough. The school was re-opened as All Saints Roman Catholic School.
All Saints Roman Catholic School, 1985-present.

Banks' Music Room is thought to be the United Kingdom's oldest retailer, and was opened by Thomas Haxby on 15 June 1756 in Blake Street, York. Haxby built up an impressive retail business, and at the same time developed a business manufacturing and repairing instruments. In 1788, Haxby sold the retail business to Samuel Knapton, a hairdresser and cellist, and the business moved to alternative premises in Blake Street opposite York's Assembly Rooms. The business later passed to his son Philip, and in 1803 moved to premises in Coney Street.

The Knapton family took the business into the realms of music publishing, and in 1829, the business was transferred to William Hardman. After Hardman's death in 1855, Henry Banks, who had been his assistant for the previous 15 years, took over the business. It is from this point that the current name originates.

In 1855 Banks moved the business to 2 Stonegate, before moving it again in 1904 to 58 Stonegate, a property looking directly onto St Helen's Square. The shop was to remain on this site until 1985, with the business passing through various generations of the Banks family.

In 1985 the business relocated to 18 Lendal, where it continues to trade from today.

York had three bailiffs. They were replaced by two sheriffs when York became a county in 1396.
Replaced by sheriffs in 1396.

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.

Alan H Audin is a researcher into the history of his family in York, as well as other local history topics. The archive comprises his research notes.

Founded in 1955 to represent local guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and their members.

Art Scene magazine was a regular magazine about the art world in York, including directories of local artists and exhibitions. The magazine was in existence prior to 1968, and continued until the 2000s at least.

The school of art was formed from two art schools which merged in 1905, one in St Leonard's and one created as part of the Mechanics Institute. Following the 1899 Technical Education Act, the city took over the Institute in 1891 and ran its own schools of art and science. The art school moved to the art gallery building in Exhibition square around the early 20th centry.
Reported to Technical Instruction Committee (in various incarnations).

The art gallery buildings were used and altered by the military authorities during WWII. The building was improved and redeveloped between 1948-1951. First professional curator appointed in 1947. Opened a folk museum in the female prison within York castle in 1938. The debtors's prison extension was opened in 1952.
Previously named Museum and Art Gallery Committee (1912-1932). Instructed Curator.

Arnett's Butchers were located at 79 Front Street, Acomb, and were a local butchers shop supplying meats to the local area.

The company began early in the 19th century when Gordon Armstrong opened the East Riding Engineering Works in Beverley. He then started a firm manufacturing shock absorbers in the 1920s. His William took over in 1945, establishing a research and development department in Fulford.

William Armstrong opened the York factory in 1949, to manufacture a new type of suspension unit for Ford cars and to establish the company's range of telescopic shock absorbers. The company later opened factories in Australia, Canada, the United States and South Africa. By the 1960s, Armstrong's had three manufacturing divisions and the York factory expanded in 1965.

But just six years later, Armstrong Patents warned that 250 of its 1,300 employees could be laid off due to Ford and postal strikes. After years of UK-wide industrial strife, and as foreign-built cars grew in popularity, the company announced another 400 redundancies in York in 1980. A year later, the Beverley factory closed.

Fears the York factory would close in 1986 were averted but then in 1989, after losing a £3.3m contract with Nissan, the company was sold to the American firm Tenneco and the York factory became Monroe's. Further redundancies followed, and the factory closed in 2000 with the loss of the remaining 392 jobs.

Archbishop Holgate's School was founded by Robert Holgate, Archbishop of York, in 1546, on a site between Ogleforth and the City Walls in the shadow of York Minster. The site was chosed as it was on land owned by Holgate himself.

In 1858 the school moved to a new site at Lord Mayors Walk, before moving to its current location on Hull Road in 1963.

Until 1985, Archbishop Holgate's was an all-boys' grammar school. With the reorganisation of education in York in 1985, the school changed its name to Archbishop Holgate's School, and became a co-educational comprehensive school. During this transition period the outdoor swimming pool was converted to an indoor pool, a new sports hall was built, and upgrades were made to music, design and technology, home economics and other facilities.

In 2009 a £4.3 million two-storey learning centre with landscaping, parking and bike storage, called the LearningCentre@AHS was built, and now serves as the home of the school's sixth form facilities.

On 1 April 2011, Archbishop Holgate's School officially gained academy status. The school built new two-storey English block which opened in late April 2014. The school development is for expansion due to a larger intake of students because of the closure of Burnholme community college and new housing estates.

The school's ethos is the idea that having a Christian foundation at the centre of all it does give the school an extra dimension, an additional facet, giving it a distinctiveness compared to most community schools. Church status does not provide a context for evangelising; those committed to Christianity will, on the other hand, often find many ways in which their faith can find expression through the corporate values of the school.

Charles Anderson was a member of staff of the Midland Bank in York, and also a member of the wider Anderson family who operated as tailors in the city. He also rented out property in a personal capacity

The Ambler family were a family based in York in the early 20th century. The dominant members of the family are Thomas Ambler, Freeman of the City, who lived in Nunnery Lane, and Louis Ambler. The family had branches in West Yorkshire, York, Lincolnshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, London and America, and Louis Ambler published a book on the family in 1924, with Thomas contributing local research to that work.

The DORA powers for local authorities to acquire land for allotments during the First World War expired in 1923. A new act was made in 1922 which provided more security of tenure and specified the chief uses to which an allotment could be put. Merged with Parks Committee once more in the 1960s.
Functions originally part of the Strays Committee (1907-1913), followed by the Parks Committee before a dedicated Allotments Committee was formed in the 1920s. The Parks and Allotments Committees merged once more in 1961.

Allis was later the proprietor of a private asylum at Osbaldwick, and later Suerintendent of The Retreat in York. He was also Honorary Curator of Comparative Anatomy at the Yorkshire Museum 1839-1875, Fellow of Linnean Society, and one of the first members of the British Association.

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-?)

Samuel and Mary Allen had seven children, five of whom were boys. Four of the latter became ordained ministers in the Church of England, and it is this factor which gives a distinctive character to the archive, which spans the period 1800 to 1880. Samuel James Allen (1797-1856), the eldest son was vicar of Easingwold, North Yorkshire from 1839 until his death, thus creating a local connection. He was an artist of marked ability with a passion for what he described as 'Archaeomania'. There is little information about Robert (1800-42), a merchant seaman until his premature death from cholera aboard ship in the Bay of Calcutta. George (1806-68) was also ordained and spent time as a missionary in India, while Isaac (1808-55) followed a similar career, distinguishing himself as one of the first army chaplains to serve in Afghanistan.

Two of Samuel James Allen's children have a special significance in the archive. George Samuel (1832-1902), like his father, was ordained and spent some of the later years of his ministry near York (in the parish of Kirkby Wharfe, Tadcaster). He also inherited his father's artistic abilities, working in a similar style and with the same kind of subject-matter. Samuel's youngest child Lucy (1836-1911) also has a local connection: in 1857, she married Joseph Foxley, at the time chaplain to the Archbishop of York and subsequently vicar of Market Weighton.

The inner circle of twelve became known as aldermen by 1399. They were elected for life until the corporation was reformed in 1835..

Following the Municipal Reform Act, aldermen continued to be at the heart of local government in York, but their status was changed. The number remained the same at twelve, one third of the total body of councillors, but appointments were for 6 years only, rather than life. They were selected by the council, not the electorate (including the outgoing aldermen, until this was ended by national legislation in 1910).

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.

Renamed Civil Defence Committee in 1943

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.

Acomb Parish Council was officially created at some point after the Local Government Act of 1894 formed Parish Councils. The new Parish Councils assumed responsibility for local civic and social welfare which was previously managed through ecclesiastical parishes. Acomb became part of the York Unitary Authority in 1996.

In 2000 Geoff Hodgson, a well-known and respected local historian, who was regularly conducting historical walks around the village, was asked to form a Group and appointed Dorothy Holdsworth as Secretary. Acomb Local History Group formed part of a wider network of groups formed through York Central Library. Dorothy Holdsworth and Kay Naisbitt promoted the Group and delivered hundreds of leaflets. They were also joined by John Terry. Geoff Hodgson died on 20th February 2004, however the Group continues with a membership of over 160.

A community magazine for residents in Acomb and the surrounding area.

History of Accumulator

York Musical Society