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Holmfirth1914.com
Holmfirth during the Great War

News & Updates

I am working on a section of photographs of people (both civilian and military) from the Holmfirth area during the First World War period. I would welcome any additions that anyone might care to make to this.

Holmfirth and District during the Great War.

This website gives a sample of the information gathered over the last ten years of research into the history of Holmfirth and district during the Great War, and related events that occurred afterwards. There is much more information available that is not yet on this website.

Email me at: Tony@Holmfirth1914.com if you have any questions and I will run a search through my files.

In 1914 Holmfirth and district had three councils, the Holmfirth Urban District Council was the largest followed by the smaller New Mill Urban District Council and the tiny Holme Urban District Council, which was one of the smallest in the country. All three came under the auspices of the West Riding County Council and the Local Government Board. There was a railway service which linked into the Huddersfield to Penistone line at Brockholes, but no tramway service to Huddersfield at that time. Transport was by train, motor, horse, bicycle and foot.

There were two cinemas: the Holme Valley Theatre in the centre of Holmfirth and the Electric Picturedrome around the corner on Dunford Road. Besides film shows there would often be live acts, singers, performing dogs, one man bands, etc. Music was important, and every village that was of any size put on an annual music festival, universally known as the "Sing". Besides local bands and choirs, people would organise concerts themselves, often with a small charge at the door for charity.

Churches and Chapels were everywhere, and all ran Sunday schools that allowed young people to continue their education long after they had left school. There was also a strong socialist group of Independent Labour Party members (many of whom would prove to be against the war in general and conscription in particular) centred around New Mill and Jackson Bridge.

A small isolation hospital was shared with other councils at nearby Meltham, but the largest publicly owned facility in the area was the Deanhouse Institution, usually known as the Workhouse. Following a serious scandal around sixty years earlier, which disclosed absolutely deplorable conditions at the Huddersfield Workhouse, the Board of Guardians built two new institutions, one at Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, and one at Deanhouse, Holmfirth.

In 1914 the Deanhouse Institution was still managed by the Board of Guardians of the Huddersfield Union, and was widely acknowledged to be a model of modern welfare care. It had sections for male and female residents, and fulfilled a multitude of roles. It was a hospice, a residence for the elderly and infirm, and it also cared for various vagrants found wandering the district and had a number of recovering alcoholics. The presence of this last group caused much heated debate amongst the Board of Guardians every Christmas when Bentley's Brewery at Lockwood, Huddersfield, donated a barrel of beer to the Institution. In 1914 the Board's vote on the matter was an even split with the Chairman of the Board, Miss. E. F. Siddon, giving her casting vote in favour of accepting the gift; declaring: "Ladies and gentlemen, I take a drink of water, but the people shall have their beer".

There were plenty of pubs and inns, many still with stables, and fish and chip shops also did a lively trade in tripe suppers when the cinemas closed. Every little village had its own football, rugby and cricket teams, and several had athletics teams. The Holmfirth Harriers catered for the area's runners. The Co-operative Society was well established with several local branches and Holmfirth had all the usual shops and businesses that could be found in larger places, but obviously not as many. They also had the Holmfirth Gas Company and gas street lights, but no electricity at this time, and local industry was still powered by steam.

There were numerous small workshops and factories and countless small hill farms, many of which were worked part-time alongside a job in one of the plentiful local textile mills; these ranged in size from small to massive, and cloth production during the war was counted by the mile. Holmfirth also had a small local police force and a magistrates' court normally held weekly on Saturdays, a part-time fire brigade, and its own drill hall and Territorial Army Company. Holmfirth Council also kept a newly refurbished horse-drawn ambulance at their yard; but there was no hospital nearer than Huddersfield Infirmary until the demand for care for wounded men showed that Holmfirth was quite capable of organising one. First for wounded men in 1914 and then for local people in 1920.

Magistrates and councillors were unpaid and - with the exception of some socialist councillors at New Mill - usually came from amongst a group often described as prominent citizens or leading families, not surprisingly many were mill owners.

Money was still old pounds, shillings and pence, usually abbreviated to LSD (Librae Solidi Denarii), there were twelve pennies in a shilling and twenty shillings in a pound. Shilling was abbreviated to s. and penny to d., vis: two shillings and sixpence equals 2s. 6d., or, alternatively, 2/6d. Weights and measures were imperial: there were sixteen ounces in a pound, fourteen pounds in a stone, and eight stone (or 112 pounds) in a hundredweight. Twenty hundredweights equalled one ton. Ounce was abbreviated to oz. Pound was lb. Stone was st. Hundredweight was cwt. And yards, feet and inches were yds. ft. ins. Feet and inches were also written as symbols, for example 5 ft. 9 ins. would be 5' 9". There were twelve inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, and 1760 yards in a mile.

The Holmfirth Express was the local weekly newspaper and printing works, and James Bamforth & Company had substantial photographic studios. The Bamforth Company also produced postcards, a business that was to boom during the war. They also made silent films that were exported to many countries, and had a branch of the family business in New York, which included Jack Bamforth, who left Holmfirth when he was about eight with his father and died serving with the United States Marines in 1918. The film making side of the business faded away during the war.

I have noticed there is some interest in the Holmfirth Workhouse, officially known as the Deanhouse Institution, at Deanhouse near Netherthong. Consequently I shall endeavour to put together such information as can be found and make it available on this page:

Other civilian information includes:

During 1914: - a well known urban myth was given a unique local twist by the Holmfirth Express.

In 1915 - this is a series of letters between a clergyman who considered helping the war effort to be his duty and those who considered that Christianity should always be opposed to war.

- The section deals with the first use of electricity in the area. It begins with a small hydro-electric generator at Holme in November 1915, and is followed by a much larger Holmfirth power station at Crown Bottom in July 1916.

- this imaginative piece of journalism became a strong urban myth lasting for many years.

1914 - 1921 - Regarding the creation of the First World War Holmfirth Military Cottage Hospital and the post war Holme Valley Memorial Hospital and the Holme, Holmfirth and New Mill War Memorial.

In 1914 the war started with some local men in the Regular Army, and many more who had served their time and remained on the Army Reserve and who were consequently recalled on the outbreak of the war.

Men were scattered in many different regiments but the local regiments always held the majority of local men. In this district this was the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment. The regiment had three Regular Army battalions: in 1914 the 1st Battalion was in India and the Battalion stayed there throughout the war, although some of its members were killed in action in Mesopotamia (Iraq) during the war. The 3rd Battalion was based at the Halifax Depot and acted as a training and general regimental base unit. This was not intended to move or fight as a battalion, but it would send out drafts of men to other battalions, and accept new recruits, including conscripts from 1916 onwards.

The most important local battalion during 1914 was the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, based at Dublin Castle in Ireland, which at this time was a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and therefore classed as Home Service. This battalion sailed for France in August 1914 as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

This most of the information from this period is not yet on the website but the diary of a Holmfirth Sergeant written in 1914 is given
The death of seventeen year old Clifford Pollard when HMS Hawke was torpedoed by the U-9 in October 1914 is described
1915.

The 2nd Battalion were busy at Hill 60 in Belgium during the early part of the year. Details are given
Some New Army battalions were raised for the duration of the war only. The most important for this area are three new battalions of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment: the 8th, 9th, and 10th.

The 8th Battalion was sent out to Gallipoli in 1915. The details are given
The 9th Battalion had arrived in France in July 1915 and then moved up to Ypres, Belgium, where they spent a period in a relatively quiet area before taking over more dangerous trenches. Then later in the year they moved down to the Armentieres area, and in June 1916 they joined the force assembling for the assault at the Somme in 1916. The details are at the end of the Regular Army in 1915 page, which will be added shortly.

The 10th Battalion also contained local men, they landed at Le Havre in August 1915.

The local Territorial Army Battalions also landed in France in 1915. Details of their mobilisation and training together with their first weeks in France is given
They then moved up to Ypres in Belgium and the details are given
Before the war there were four local Territorial Army Battalions in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment: together they formed the 147th Infantry Brigade, consisting of four battalions of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment: the 1st 4th from Halifax and district; the 1st 5th from Huddersfield and district, including Holmfirth; the 1st 6th from Skipton and the Craven area; and the 1st 7th was from the Colne Valley area, but also included men from the Lancashire mill towns just over the Pennines from there. The 147th Infantry Brigade was part of the 49th West Riding Division.

The men of the Territorial Army had volunteered for home defence only, and could not legally be sent outside the country against their wishes. The solution chosen was to double the size of the force by turning each Territorial Army Battalion into two. Those men who elected to volunteer for active service, about 75%, formed the new first line battalions, and went into training for the Front, and those who wished to retain their home defence status formed the second line battalions. In both cases the battalion’s numbers were made up to full strength with new recruits. A little later on it was also decided to bring the Territorials into line with the Regular Army by changing the number of companies in each battalion from eight to four. This was done by merging two companies into one. In this way Holmfirth’s local Territorial Army Company changed from F. Company, 5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, into B. Company, 1st 5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment.

1916.

The Local New Army artillery unit (C Battery, 168th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery) arrived in France. Their training and movements are detailed and the 168th Brigade's general movements are
This year was dominated by the Battle of the Somme.

The main information on the local Regular and New Army battalions is not yet on the website but the activities of the 2nd and 9th Battalions during the first week of the battle can be found
Full details of the activities of the local Territorials during the ill-fated attack on the Pope’s Nose are given
1917.

The Regulars and New Army battalions were in action throughout the year, but the details are not yet on the website.

The 2nd 5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment arrived in France, and suffered the worst day for deaths from Holmfirth and Huddersfield of the whole war in May 1917. Details are given
Later in the year the 1st 5th Battalion were in action at Passchendaele, and the 2nd 5th Battalion were in action again at Cambrai, during the first major tank battle. Details will be given later.

1918 and afterwards.

The German Army broke through the British line and forced a retreat. This was followed by repeated British, French and American attacks up and down the line until the Armistice on November 11th. Early in this year the 1st 5th and 2nd 5th Battalions of the Duke of Wellingtons West Riding Regiment amalgamated and once more became the 5th Battalion, this time in the 62nd West Riding Division, This became the only Territorial Army Division to form part of the Army of Occupation in Germany. The 168th (Huddersfield) Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery was also part of the force that crossed the Rhine and spent Christmas in Germany. This information will be added later.

There were a number of notable individuals:

who died in 1919 and was added to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Register on January 31st 2007.

- He was a former art teacher at Holmfirth Secondary School, and a well known local artist and sculptor. He was was killed in action on Monday November 13th 1916.

. A well known and highly respected local doctor.

A young officer with the Holmfirth Territorial Company in 1914, he became the Adjutant of the Battalion and was part of the Army of Occupation in Germany in 1919.

Some overseas connections below:

- During the war Holmfirth born Jack Bamforth was killed serving with the United Sates Marines, the details of this and some other American connections are included here.

- Included here are some details of Holmfirth men who served with the Australian Army. Four were killed and another died after being discharged during training. Some general information from letters from Australia etc., is also included.

- Included here are some details of Holmfirth men serving with the Canadian Army - three of them were killed - and two Canadians who are connected to Holmfirth, including Clarence Denman, a Canadian soldier who is buried at Netherthong, and Private Charles Alfred Tolton who came to Holmfirth on leave with one of the Cartwright brothers and married his sister. Plus a couple of civilian items. It starts with a man living in Canada but still on the British Army reserve list.

- Regarding the two Holmfirth men who were killed serving in the New Zealand Army; plus some other items.

- A letter from a Holmfirth man serving in the Natal Light Horse, and one from a former Holmfirth schoolteacher living at Cape Town.

There are also details of the burial places of local men. - This section gives details of where the 366 local men who died in the war are buried, or where those with no known grave are officially commemorated. Included are all those who were born, or resident, or named on any of the many memorials that are within the area covered by the main Holme, Holmfirth and New Mill War Memorial. Also included are members of the local pre-war Territorial Army unit - originally F. Company (Holmfirth) - and the Holmfirth Harriers, including some who may have lived outside of this area, plus two men from outside the area who died at the local wartime military cottage hospital.

This section is in two parts: Cemeteries and Memorials to the Missing. Countries are listed alphabetically; the cemeteries in each country are then also listed alphabetically, and the men buried within them are also listed alphabetically. This procedure is repeated for the Memorials to the Missing. This will be especially useful for anyone visiting France or Belgium who is interested in knowing which local men are buried or commemorated near their destinations. There are no time saving links as yet; consequently it is necessary to scroll down through the list.

There is also a list of 606 men 1914 Volunteers
And also various lists of names, namely:

The (Holmfirth), 5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment who volunteered for foreign service on September 12th 1914.

The men from Holmfirth who were at home on leave in late 1915.

The men from the Holmebridge Rangers Football Club, Players and Committee, who had enlisted by November 21st 1914 are
The eight former Netherthong Boy Scouts who had enlisted by November 7th 1914 are
Finally there are photographs, some rather rough, but many that are surprisingly clear. For now they are presented alphabetically in groups and can be found below and at the bottom of the main menu.

A - E is
F - J is
K - O is
P - T is
U - Z is
Tony Lund.
Huddersfield.

Tony@Holmfirth1914.com