The following studies by Terry Spencer are now available on the Knottingley website:

KNOTTINGLEY CARNIVAL
By the last quarter of the nineteenth century the August Bank Holiday period at Knottingley abounded in fun and frolic with the Feast as the hub of the festivities. The fair was supplemented by community sports and of the sporting element within the town none was more prominent than Knottingley Town Cricket Club.

KNOTTLA FLATTS:
Situated on the southern bank of the River Aire, to the north side of Aire Street, lies Knottingley Flatts. Today, the Flatts occupy only a small portion of the original layout which comprised the greater part of Knottingley Ings.

KNOTTLA FEAST:
The modern image of the fair is one of outdoor entertainment for pleasure seeking people but such a concept is one which has developed over the last two centuries being born as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

HOSPITAL SUNDAYS:
Prior to the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 local people relied for health care in the event of sickness or serious injury upon charitable institutions such as Pontefract Dispensary and Leeds Infirmary.

KNOTTINGLEY COAT-OF-ARMS:
The application by Knottingley Urban District Council for a grant of arms was made to the College of Arms, London, in mid 1942.

FERRYBRIDGE GLASSWORKS:
That there was a glassworks at Ferrybridge is indisputable for it was both documented and photographed. That it was situated on the north bank of the River Aire "..where the Parish of Brotherton merges into the Parish of Ferrybridge" is confirmed by map reference. The doubt lies not in the existence or location of the furnace but with its origin.

NINETEENTH CENTURY KNOTTINGLEY:
The township of Knottingley, situated three miles north-east of Pontefract in the Wapentake of Osgoldcross, developed from a 6th century Saxon settlement in a forest clearing on the south bank of the river Aire. By the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066 the settlement had acquired the status of a manorial vill

KNOTTINGLEY PLAYING FIELDS:
As the process of industrialisation and urban development gained pace in the second half of the nineteenth century the provision of public spaces such as municipal gardens and parks for the purpose of public recreation and amenity became increasingly desirable.

CAPTAIN PERCY BENTLEY:
Percy Bentley, scion of a prominent Knottingley family, was born in that town on the 18th January 1891, the son of James William and Helena Bentley, and was baptised in the parish church of St. Botolph on the 11th February.

KNOTTINGLEY WAR MEMORIAL:
On Wednesday, 25th September 1918, a committee previously sanctioned by Knottingley Urban District Council in meeting assembled, met in the Council Chamber at Knottingley Town Hall to consider the form of memorial to the men who had fallen during the Great War.

FERRYBRIDGE WAR MEMORIAL:
No less than the citizens of its larger neighbour, the inhabitants of the village of Ferrybridge decided to honour those drawn from the community and slain in the Great War.

THE 'K' SISTERS:
For approximately a decade from the mid 1940's the 'K' Sisters, Marjorie and Pamela Kellett, were prominent throughout the town and district of Knottingley as all-round entertainers who harnessed their talent to providing public enjoyment and in so doing raised large amounts of money for local charities.

THE PALACE CINEMA:
The new cinema, one of the earliest purpose-built picture houses in the country, was situated on an oblique strip of land some 560 square yards in extent, adjacent to Ship Lane at the junction with lower Aire Street. The hall was designed to seat 600 people: 500 in the area and 100 in the balcony.

KNOTTINGLEY PUBLIC HOUSES & BREWERIES:
In 1752, eighteen residents of the township of Knottingley in company with John Mitchell, the Parish Constable, agreed to be bound over in the sum of £10 each to observe the legal and moral obligations attendant upon being granted a licence as an innkeeper.

KNOTTINGLEY TOWN HALL CLOCK:
In the Spring of 1994, the recently deceased and much lamented Edwin Beckett arranged for the installation of a clock at the top of the Town Hall turret. The event was celebrated in verse by Mrs Joyce Bell who concluded her eulogy by stating that her mother, Dolly Lightowler, had always wished to see a clock set in the "bare face" of the Town Hall - a wish which had now come true.

STATUE OF THE BLACK PRINCE:
Awareness of a link between my native Knottingley and the Prince's statue came quite recently when Mrs Shirley Bedford of Knottingley informed me that her great grandfather was the master of a barge which had transported the statue from Hull to Leeds in 1903.

KNOTTLA NICKNAMES:
It was in the course of a recent conversation with Roger Ellis that the subject of nicknames arose, following which, in an idle half-hour, I casually began to compile a list of those I recalled. My list quickly exceeded fifty in number and I was seized by a natural desire to list as many more as I could obtain.

KNOTTINGLEY SILVER BAND:
The origin of Knottingley Band is obscure. In 1980 the Band celebrated its conjectured centenary year, the date being taken from an old letterhead of 1880.  However, a subsequent documentary source has been located which indicates that the genesis of the Band may lie much further in the past.

KNOTTINGLEY TOWN HALL:
The burgeoning spirit of civic pride found practical expression on 29th October 1864, when a group of prominent citizens of the town formed the Knottingley Town Hall & Mechanics’ Institute Company Limited.

FIELD SYSTEMS AND PLACE NAMES OF OLD KNOTTINGLEY:
The purpose of this study is to consider the topography of modern day Knottingley and formulate a theoretical model concerning the development of the settlement during the medieval and post medieval eras as reflected in the field systems adopted.

GAZETTEER OF KNOTTINGLEY PLACE NAMES:
An A-Z listing of Knottingley field and place names.

WAR SAVINGS WEEKS:
Conflict is fuelled by finance so it is unsurprising that following the outbreak of war in 1939, local savings committees were established to encourage people to curb personal expenditure and invest surplus cash in the National War Savings Scheme in order to assist the cost of the war.

SELECT VESTRY RIOTS 1874:
The township of Knottingley became a semi-autonomous parish in 1789 following the ecclesiastical reorganisation of that period but remaining under the patronage of the Vicar of Pontefract until it became an independent parish in 1846

KNOTTINGLEY HOSPITAL SUNDAYS

FROM FAIRS, FESTIVALS, AND FROLICS,
KNOTTINGLEY, circa 1840 – 2003

Volume One (2003)

By Dr TERRY SPENCER B.A (Hons), Ph d

PAGE TWO

In spite of all incentives and for whatever reason fund-raising at Knottingley underwent a regressive phase between 1909-1918. The situation was exacerbated during the Great War which saw the nadir of giving by the townspeople. In part the decline was caused by even further demands upon the charitable instinct of the inhabitants as provision of comforts for local troops was added to the myriad causes already in existence. More significantly, the enlistment of the young men of the town deprived the Infirmary Committee of voluntary assistance and income. The adverse effect may be seen from the public notice concerning the 1916 demonstration with its plea that "people are earnestly requested to help to the utmost." (71)

and again the following year when H.L. Lyon, Chairman of the P.G.I. Management Committee, stated a need for more workers all year round and appealed from the public platform for helpers to come forward. (72) Something of the deprivation in personal terms is seen in a reference by the local M.P. to the loss of Lt. Arthur Barnell, a keen worker for the cause before the war and Barnell’s loss typified a general pattern both locally and nationally. (73) In a financial context loss is seen in the fact that in 1915 only £70 was collected, with less than £4 coming from the licensed premises which only a few years before had provided at least 50% of all income. (74)

Knottingley’s decline is all the more apparent when compared with the effort of Brotherton. In 1915, Brotherton raised £76, six pounds more than Knottingley had managed and the following year Brotherton collected £130 compared to Knottingley’s £97. Again, the difference was due to public house contributions with more than £100 being raised in Brotherton pubs and only £25 at Knottingley despite the fact that the latter had more than three times the number of licensed premises. (75)

In an attempt to redress the balance, Mr. Handel Booth M.P., speaking at the demonstration held in Charles Elliott’s field at Womersley Road in 1916, offered 3d. of his own money for every shilling saved by any pub which raised £20 or more. (76) In addition, Mr. Lyon promised a medal to any pub which collected in excess of £5 and in 1918, offered a challenge cup to be presented annually to the public house or club with the highest amount, the cup to be retained permanently by any house which won it for three successive years. (77) The purpose of these measures was to encourage collections on a regular basis, the secret of Brothertons success. Thus, little Brotherton set the pace for its larger neighbour and Knottingley responded to the challenge.

In 1918, with the Mayor of Pontefract, Cr. Oswald Holmes, in attendance at the Banks Garth cricket field, the people of Knottingley, by the Mayors own admission, gave him a message to take back to Pontefract. The reason was "a record which redounds to the credit of all concerned" in the form of £281-11-4d., more than £200 in advance of the takings of the previous year and "a record for Knottingley or any place in the district."

Apart from the example and challenge afforded by Brotherton which was duly acknowledged by the Chairman, Mr. Horace Bentley, the reason for the remarkable recovery was ascribed as being due to an increased sense of public awareness and responsibility by the townspeople. (78)

Within the constraints of the income of the labouring poor there had always been awareness and responsibility. In the twenty years following the reconstitution of the local Infirmary Committee in 1897 the sum of £1,132-18-9d.,a per capita average of £33-13-0 per annum, had been disbursed to Pontefract Dispensary. Leeds Infirmary had received £133-7-0 or £12-2-5 per person, as an annual average sum and the total per capita annual average for both institutions was £84-4-0 (79)

Horace Bentley was undoubtedly right, however, in that the grim unfolding of the Great War, then entering its final phase, had heightened awareness of the need to make more effort, from moral conviction as well as practical necessity. On a psychological level the brutal horror of the war with its broken minds and bodies, shattered lives and mass slaughter had engendered a resolve on the part of the survivors to shape a better world. In addition, the growing sense of relief that the end of the conflict was in sight doubtless triggered a feeling of joy and thanksgiving which was manifest in the contributions to the Hospital Fund.

On a more mundane level, more thorough organisation of public house collections gave practical benefit to the cause for in 1918 licensed houses, which now included the Hill Top Workingmens’ Club (which was to be joined shortly afterwards by those of Foundry Lane, British Legion and National Association of Discharged Soldiers & Sailors) contributed £144-1-9 or 51% of the record total. (80)

The following year the record was again broken. A large gathering at Banks Garth was informed by the Hon’ Secretary of the local Committee, Mr. G. W. Reynolds, that in 1919 a total of £477-6-5 had been amassed as against the final tally of £301-14-8 the previous year. Of the new record amount 55% came from public house collections with the Red Lion at Kellington donating more than £100 and the Wesleyan Brotherhood subscribing £101-6-0 compared to £38 in 1918. Cr. Reynolds referred to the unsuccessful attempt by Pontefract to eclipse Knottingley’s effort. The final sum collected in 1919 was almost £500, a record amount that was considered to be unbeatable by any other neighbouring township. (81)

The spectacular financial outcome had been achieved by reorganisation of the system of collecting in licensed premises and workplaces from late 1917, the efficiency of which was acknowledged by George Reynolds who as Secretary had been instrumental in the process of reorganisation. (82)

Amid the vicissitudes of war more subtle changes affecting the nature of the annual demonstration had occurred. The presence and participation of the local clergymen on a regular basis from the turn of the twentieth century underlined the religious origin of the demonstrations and this link was further emphasised by the musical content of the annual proceedings, consisting of selections of sacred music and popular hymns. In deference to its quasi-religious nature the event customarily began with the singing of the 23rd Psalm to the tune ‘Old Hundred’.

Similarly, from the final decade of the nineteenth century the event provided a platform for the political elements within the local constituency with the Borough Member and quite regularly his prospective opponent present, together with local councillors from Knottingley, Pontefract and other neighbouring townships. While the occasion was not one of overtly political nature, merely providing a meeting ground for the elected representatives, their political opponents and the constituents, it is interesting to note how an increasing emphasis was placed upon the political aspects of health care from the 1920s.

In a broad context the trend is discernible from the war years with patriotic fervour expounded by parliamentary and governmental propagandists. For instance, the public address of Mr. Handel Booth M.P., were characterised by strident anti-German oratory and similarly, in 1916, Booth’s sentiments were echoed by Mr. Philip Doherty, a representative of the Ministry of Munitions who employed such rhetoric in order to emphasise the need for increasing war production. Significantly, ‘Old Hundred’ was replaced by the National Anthem at demonstrations during the war and for some time thereafter. (83) While such sentiments were publicly acceptable and understandably so in the context of the period, they were nonetheless a departure from previous observance and influenced the nature of future events to a degree.

With the widespread support of the Labour Party in the 1920s, opinions regarding state provision of medical services became more polarised with doctrinaire views based upon party politics increasingly expounded.

Speaking from the platform in 1920 the Rev. T.A.H. Thomas said that as a result of the war the public attitude towards hospitals was changing with camps in favour of voluntary or state aided schemes. Regardless of the pros and cons of the political theories which informed public attitudes on the issue, the reverend gentleman drew attention to the financial plight of nurses who were receiving only £12 a year at that time, less than small boys were earning in local factories. To underline the disparity it was stated that out of their meagre income the nurses had to pay for their own uniforms. (84)

In 1921, Mr. Tom Smith, the prospective Labour candidate, joined the platform party at the cricket field and used the opportunity to broach the subject of hospital waiting lists (plus ca chance…???) which he stated had grown following the passing of the National Insurance Act and local hospitals were unable to clear because they were debt ridden. Smith also attacked bad housing conditions, claiming them a major factor in the spread of disease. (85)

The following year George Reynolds, remarking on the adverse effect of the beer tax on public house collections, expressed regret at the absence of the sitting M.P., Mr. Walter Forrest, claiming that his presence at the demonstration might have inclined him to support reduction of the impost. Smith capitalised on Reynold’s comment, claiming Forrest was "somewhat afraid of meeting his constituents."

Smith’s fervour for state funding was however, attacked obliquely by the attendant Mayor of Pontefract, Cr. Moxon, who alluded to the advocates of such a system and said it would mean costly, extravagant bureaucracy. The concept "stank in their [i.e. opponents’] nostrils. We’ve had enough of it and we don’t want any more." (86)

Tom Smith was an M.P. in 1923 when he appeared alongside his political opponent, Major Braithwaite, D.S.O., M.C., the prospective Unionist candidate. George Reynolds in stating that Pontefract Dispensary required £3,000 in order to make it "the most up to date in the country" again expressed the hope that the institution would remain a voluntary one rather than a state aided service. However in admitting that Knottingley "had passed through a period of depression as never before"

one senses a note of reluctant acceptance of the inevitability of state control in the face of future economic depreciation. Smith, for his part blamed unemployment for the decrease in contributions that year and said parliament could have done more by exempting tax from money donated to hospitals. (87) Thereafter throughout the remainder of his tenure as an M.P. which (with one hiccup when he was briefly unseated by Brigadier General C.R. Ingham-Brook, C.M.G., D.S.O.) lasted until 1935, Smith refrained from making political points. One reason, perhaps was the reconstitution of the local Infirmary Committee in 1926 but more probably because the severe economic situation consequent upon the world wide depression made obvious the impracticality of state funding for a comprehensive health care system. By the late 1930s however, the cry for a government sponsored health service had been taken up by hospital administrators as well as many politicians. At the 1938 demonstration Mr D.J. Richards, Secretary/Superintendent of the P.G.I., said the government could do more to help hospitals. Richard’s assertion was well founded. More than a decade earlier it had been stated that an average administration cost of £2,000 had risen by 50% by 1924 and that £4,000 per annum would be required in the near future as Pontefract Infirmary sought to adapt to meet the needs of an ever increasing population. (88) Faced with an exponential increase in demand it was obvious that voluntary funding was incapable of meeting future need. Income from voluntary sources was subject to the vagaries of general economic circumstances and even in its most prodigious efforts failed to meet the necessary level of expenditure. A crisis in the financial administration of hospitals and allied institutions was clearly evident when the outbreak of war in September 1939 placed the desired remedial action in abeyance for the duration and a little beyond.

The year 1920 saw a downturn in receipts as the police forbade local public houses to hold raffles to boost contributions. A glimpse of the effect of the ban is seen by comparison of some public house contributions in 1919 and 1920, viz:-

The overall effect was a deficit of about £120 on the amount collected the previous year which it was claimed would have been exceeded had the pubs had complete freedom.

Not all public houses showed a deficit in 1920 however. The Lime Keel Inn, which was described as a ‘pioneer’ in collecting for the P.G.I. and had received more medals than any other local pub, raised £24 compared to £17-5-10 in 1919. Similarly, the Sailors Home, which had donated £5-6-9 in 1919, raised its contributions to £18-11-71/2. Increases such as the above reflected the fervour of the individual licensees, a fact acknowledged in the award of medals to Mrs Downing of the Lime Keel and Mrs Lavin of the Sailors Home. The starkest reduction in contributions was seen in the case of the Red Lion, Kellington, which fell from more than £100 in 1919 to a mere £2-1-0 in the succeeding year. Perhaps the reason for the decline is to be found in a change of tenancy with a less enthusiastic tenant taking over the Inn?

Despite a decline in the overall sum collected, 1920 was nevertheless a successful year, one which Secretary George Reynolds "doubted if any other township would beat."

The street collections along the processional route set a record of £9-0-5 and the year was also the first of a series of successive years marked by the individual effort of schoolgirl, Kathleen Mary Roberts, who collected the sum of 10 guineas and received a brooch from Mr Horace Bentley, Chairman of Knottingley’s Infirmary Committee in recognition of here effort. (89)

Adults involved in the administration of the local fund raising effort were rightly mindful of the need to encourage the participation of the younger generation. When, in 1919, Boy Scout, George Ella, took part in the en-route collection, his effort was recognised by one of the regular collectors, Mr J. Chapman, who generously declined to accept the medal awarded for the highest sum collected in the parade in order that the prize could be bestowed upon the youngster. (90) The award was therefore the precursor to the prize received by Miss Roberts who in 1923 received a wristlet watch for collecting £8-17-11 while the runner-up, Master George Hall, who collected £7-18-0., received a silver pen knife. (91)

In recording the achievements of those mentioned above it is appropriate to digress in order to note the developmental pattern and contribution made to the cause by young people in later years. Pride of place in 1924 went to Miss Elsie Broughton who received a box of hankies while Kathleen Roberts and George Hall received scent and a watch respectively. (92) Miss Broughton continued to dominate individual collections in the years immediately following and by 1928 had amassed a combined total of £60. Retiring that year, Miss Broughton waived her right to a medal in favour of newcomer Master Thomas Miller. (93) For three successive years thereafter, Thomas Miller won the medal, together with a wrist watch in 1929. (94) In 1933 Miss Dorothy Asquith won the medal and a watch and received the medal again the following year. (95) In 1935 the recipient of the medal and watch was Miss Muriel Brooks, who, in 1936 was one of four schoolgirl collectors who collectively raised £26-8-0 of which Miss Brooks attained the highest amount with £17. (96) Achieving the hat-trick in 1937, Muriel then yielded the prize to Miss Irene Cawthorne in 1938. (97)

Proving the benefit of early recruitment was John Firth who at the age of four won the prize for the highest sum collected by a child in 1940 and again the following year when he was presented with a model railway engine, an appropriate prize for John lived in the gatehouse at the Womersley Road railway crossing. (98) A fellow recipient of the prize in 1941 was Master W. Bagley. From 1942-1944 George Tennant won the first prize and John Firth was the runner-up. (99) In Victory Year, 1945, Roly Tennant, brother of George, was first with John Firth again a prize winner. (100) The two final years of Infirmary Sunday fund raising were the preserve of Miss Pamela Kellett. In 1944 Pam won the award for the best street collection and repeated her success in 1945 before taking the prize for the best individual collection in 1946 and 1947 with a young Eric Horton a fellow recipient in the former year. (101)

The valuable contribution of Pam Kellett and her sister Marjorie in collecting money for local charities cannot be overstated. For more than a decade during the war and in the immediate post war period, the talented ‘K’ Sisters were the predominant fund raisers in the area, specialising in raising money for Pontefract General Infirmary. The girls are warmly remembered by many of the older inhabitants of Knottingley more than half a century later. (102)

Nor in paying tribute to the dedication of those casually associated with Hospital Sunday should one ignore a Mr Selway. A regular hand with a collecting tin along the processional route in the years immediately preceding the Second World War, Mr Selway, on leave from the R.A.F. in 1941, joined the parade with his collection tin and with the sum of £1-8-0, won the prize for the highest sum collected for the second time in his years of association with the cause. (103)

A notable team effort in 1920 was the effort of the Wesleyan Brotherhood which raised in excess of £100 for the second successive year and was to go on to complete a hat-trick of centuries the following year.

A prominent figure on the platform at that time was Alderman T.J. Sides, Mayor of Pontefract and Managing Director of Carter’s Knottingley Brewery Co. Ltd., who offered a silver cup, valued at 10 guineas, to be competed for by the Company’s houses (which constituted the majority of the public houses in Knottingley) and retained by any house winning it for three successive years. Addressing the public in 1920, Sides, mindful of the slight decline in the sum contributed, stated that as wages in the locality had increased, he had hoped to see a corresponding increase in workers donations. In order to ensure a future increase, Sides suggested that Sunday School teachers initiate a system of collection amongst their scholars. Receiving the silver Lyon Cup in his capacity as Secretary of the Hill Top Workingmens’ Club, G.W. Reynolds responded to Sides remarks, stating that the workingmen did well "and that they [the committee] ought to have more from the other side [the employers]." (104)

Sides disparagement of the workers efforts was put into perspective in 1922 when, again in the presence of Sides, Reynolds while describing the Knottingley people as "second to none", reported that workpeoples’ donations were down a s a result of wage reductions for which there had been no corresponding reduction in the cost of living, leaving him to wonder "how working people had managed to subscribe so well to obtain within £14 of the previous year."

The ‘knock-on’ effect of the deteriorating economic situation was also seen in reduced public house contributions, although the high rate of tax on beer was a contributory factor. Also, the Wesleyan Brotherhood with a contribution of £79 fell short of £100 for the first time in recent years. Even so, the Hon Treasurer of the Knottingley Infirmary Committee, Cr. Jackson Morris, comparing the effort of fund raising as a ‘Christ like’ activity, was able to announce that for the third successive year the overall total would exceed £400. Two elements in this success were the increased emphasis given to collecting in the surrounding rural areas, particularly the villages of Beal and Kellington which resulted in a fivefold increase in rural contributions, and an anonymous cheque for £30 sent "in order to augment the splendid total which Knottingley raises for the hospitals year by year." (105)

In 1924 Hill Top Workingmens’ Club won the Sides Cup outright, being the highest contributors among the licensed premises for the third year with successive totals of £4-4-2, £38-18-4 and £62-9-2.

The Chairman remarked that the people of Knottingley " taught Pontefract every year what could be done by organisation and set a fine example for Brotherton and Ferrybridge despite bad trade."

Nevertheless, one statistic quoted reveals the deficiencies arising from the dependence upon voluntary funding. Leeds Infirmary had received 242 patients from Knottingley at a total cost of £600 and had received a mere £146 from the town of which sum £125 was donated by the local committee. Even to reach the goal of £500 would not be a cost effective exercise. In reviewing this obvious and long standing deficiency Mr H.L. Lyon, presiding, revealed the fact that "In the old days a feeling existed that Pontefract got all it wanted and therefore all the money should go to Leeds."

While the statement bespeaks the community’s awareness of the debt owed to Leeds Infirmary and a desire to do all possible to minimise it, it seems somewhat surprising that maximisation of the effort should be advocated at the expense of the local Dispensary for not only was there an equal awareness of debt owed to that institution but, arising from statistics quoted at the annual demonstration, knowledge that the Dispensary undertook treatment at a financial loss. Acknowledging that both institutions were hard up Lyon suggested that 75% of contributions be sent to Pontefract to help fund the recent extension. Lyon also expressed regret that the name of the Dispensary had been changed and gave his opinion that in this respect the Infirmary authorities had made a mistake. (106)

Like all outdoor events Infirmary Sunday was a hostage to the weather yet the August date usually endured favourable conditions over the years. An exception occurred in 1925, however, when much needed rain following a period of prolonged drought fell inopportunely, drenching Knottingley Silver Prize Band and accompanying persons in their march round the town prior to the demonstration. The event was therefore held in the Town Hall where soaked but undeterred the bandsmen played a musical selection at the start of the proceedings instead of during the event and then departed for their respective homes and a change of clothes. One positive outcome of the Band’s determination to complete the processional route was that people showed their appreciation of the marchers by producing a record sum for the on route collection with Mr. A. Westerman collecting the sum of £6-4-71/2. In thanking the band for its loyalty to the cause the Secretary of the local Infirmary Committee recalled similar weather two years earlier when William Bagley (since deceased), had made up a shortfall of £9-10-0 in the gate receipts

Appreciation for the band "who were always ready to assist" had been expressed on that occasion and deservedly so for the cause (and indeed, the town) had no more dedicated body of men. For more than half a century, led principally by the diminutive but stout-hearted bandmaster, Samuel Marshall, the band gave its services free of charge making its fiftieth appearance at the 1946 demonstration on which occasion the Pontefract General Infirmary Committee presented two briar pipes to Marshall as a token of appreciation for unparalleled service. (107) Heavy rain also marred the demonstration in 1932 when the event was transferred to the Town Hall. Fortunately on this occasion the rain commenced in time for the parade to be cancelled and thereby prevented the bandsmen from a further soaking. In referring to the role of the Band in passing it is worth recalling the somewhat singular circumstances of 1917 when for some inexplicable reason instead of leading the parade the Prize Band brought up the rear of the procession. (108)

It is somewhat ironic that diminished receipts due to the heavy rain in 1925 occurred in the year which witnessed the opening of a new in-patient wing at the P.G.I. The new wards were named after Mary, the Princess Royal, and Mr. Marshall, a local confectionery manufacturer, who was the current chairman of the P.G.I. Management Committee. There was local disappointment that no recognition had been given to the town of Knottingley which during the six most recent years had donated £2,000. (109)

Crisis occurred in 1926 following the resignation of Secretary, George Reynolds, for personal reasons. The local Committee looked leaderless and doomed. As in 1890 a town meeting was called in the hope of appointing a new committee. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Horace Bentley on the evening of Thursday, 13th May, 1926, and attended by about 60 persons. Mr. A. Berry, K.U.D.C. Accountant and shortly afterwards Clerk to the Council, was appointed Secretary, pro tem, and it was decided to circularise all clubs, workplaces, schools, and social organisations and request representatives to serve on a newly formed Infirmary Committee. (110) As a result a new Committee was subsequently formed with only ten weeks in which to prepare for the annual demonstration.

The new Infirmary Committee consisted of Cr. J. Jackson J.P., President, Cr Jackson Morris, Treasurer, Cr E. Jackson, Chairman and Mr A Pickard, Secretary. Other prominent members and supporters were Mr S.B.Bagey, Mr.H.Bentley, Cr A Macdonald and Rev. J.Bennetts, the Wesleyan Minister. (111)

Contrary to expectation the change in the management gave a spur to events at Knottingley and the event was crowned with success. A large gathering in the Cricket Field was informed that £383-6-4 had been raised compared with £419-19-81/2 the previous year and was a creditable reflection on the new Committee and workers. Overall, a record £760 was collected in 1926 beating the previous highest amount of £485 (112) The sum raised was all the more creditable for being obtained at a time when the effects of the General Strike had caused widespread distress within the local community with soup kitchens being set up to feed the children of many impoverished working class families. The revival was marked by a 150% increase in workplace subscriptions and a rise of 50% in private donations while an appreciable increase in public house and club donations was also discernible. On an individual level the year was notable for the presentation of a silver cup to Miss Broughton who had collected £11 and a significant effort by Mr J.G. Westerman who collected £37-7-0 in a single day’s activity. A novel feature was an award to ‘Rover’, a retriever dog belonging to Mr A. Rush who had assisted his owner in the collection of money for the Infirmary. (113)

An interesting aspect of the addresses delivered from the platform was the growing demand made on hospital services due to the rise in accidents arising from the increased volume of road transport.

In presenting the annual report of the P.G.I. Management Committee in 1927 the Hospital Chairman revealed that the institute had a deficit of £900 over the previous year. It is also significant that the effort of the members of the Knottingley Infirmary Committee and the townspeople who supported them were singled out for congratulation. (114)

Phoenix like the reborn administration flourished. In 1928 £950 was collected, breaking all previous records. Mr W.H. Marshall on behalf of the P.G.I. stated that for its size Knottingley was better organised than anywhere else in the country. In a year of all round improvement special thanks were accorded to both Bandmaster Marshall and the Silver Prize Band and also to the fairground showpeople for their continuous support since 1896.

The effect of the opening of the new 15 bed wing at the P.G.I. in 1925, making a 40 bed capacity, was seen in statistics quoted at the 1928 demonstration. Viz:-

and the swing from Leeds Infirmary to Pontefract Infirmary continued during the following decade so that by 1936 Pontefract Infirmary had 144 in-patients and 350 out-patients referred from the neighbourhood of Knottingley compared to 25 and 86 respectively, who received treatment at Leeds. (115)

Noting the increasing recourse to the local hospital the former Chairman of the P.G.I. Management Committee, Mr H.L. Lyon, mentioned en passant, that when he had retired from the Chairmanship in 1925, £500 had been raised, a record sum which was thought to be unique and would not be matched again. Of the current sum of £950 he hoped 80% would be allocated to Pontefract, particularly as there was more scope for fund-raising at Leeds with its dense population and catchment area. In the event it was decided to split £750 between the two institutions and use the balance to engage a district nurse to attend cases at Knottingley not referred to the P.G.I. (116) The return of the district nurse to the town restored a necessary service lost due to lack of financial provision almost a quarter of a century earlier. (117)

The year 1928 was also significant in that for the first time in many years two bands participated in the demonstration. The Salvation Army Band which had made a solitary appearance 39 years before now returned and the following year the pre demonstration parade was split into two processions commencing as separate entities at either end of the town before joining together as they approached Banks Garth for the demonstration. Thus a new feature was launched which with only slight modification of one of the routes, was to provide the pattern for two decades, ending only with the obsolescence of Infirmary Sunday in 1948.

In 1928 Knottingley Silver Prize Band accompanied by contingents of the local St Johns Ambulance Brigade, the Church Lads Brigade and Girl Guides, marched from the Railway Hotel through Hill Top and along Weeland Road while the Salvation Army Band together with the Boy Scouts and the Girls Life Brigade travelled from the Low End of the town via Aire Street and Cow Lane, both meeting at Banks Garth.

At the venue the Secretary of the local Committee, Mr A. Pickard, was able to announce that at a time when unemployment had reached a level hitherto unknown, the town had achieved a long desired ambition by raising over £1,000 in the past year, thereby breaking all records. The total represented a percentage increase of 350 over the sum raised the first year following the reorganisation of the Committee. Apart from the labours of the Committee, the success owed much to the dedication of local individuals such as Mr J. Hanson who had served as a gate steward since 1890 and whose contribution was honoured that year and who was still recorded as providing stalwart service in 1932. (118)

A further change announced the following year was the award of the Sides Cup and two medals for the two largest club boxes with effect from 1930 as it was considered that public houses could not be expected to compete with local clubs whose large regularised memberships provided more opportunity for fund raising than was afforded by the more casual clientele of the pubs. The situation was clearly evident in 1929 when three of the top four places were occupied by workingmens’ clubs. The N.A.D.S. & S Club was awarded the Lyon Cup and winners medal for £29-4-3. By comparison the Rd Lion, Kellington, occupied third place with £8-10-5 and Foundry Lane Club ironically, a former public house – the Jolly Sailor – was fourth with £8-9-91/2. (119)

Attainment of £1,000 set the trend for future years. In 1931 a further record was set amidst severe trade depression and mass unemployment with £1,133 being collected. Despite unparalleled economic adversity the townspeople made a superhuman effort, falling slightly short of the target sum. However, the Chairman, Mr A. McDonald made up the deficit to ensure attainment of the desired goal. Again, in 1932, when £989-9-8 was reached the amount was rounded off by Mr S.B. Bagley. (120)

With only one exception the years 1930-1943 saw sums raised in excess of £1,000, viz:-

For a community of about 7,000 people the figures above are quite remarkable, particularly in an era of unprecedented socio-economic adversity. While it is true that from 1927 an annual carnival and sports supplemented annual takings by the Infirmary Committee the additional sums came from the restricted incomes of the local inhabitants. Just how hard the potential income of the Infirmary was hit by high level unemployment is shown by reference to various sources of donation during the years of depression. Less people in work meant a smaller workforce to subscribe to the cause either generally or more particularly via workplace donations. Likewise, less money to spend resulted in a decline in public house and club takings while local firms, feeling the adversity of trade depression, contributed less to the funds raised.

In 1934, Mr W. Dickinson took over from Mr A. Pickard as Secretary of the local Infirmary Committee. the change appears to have been a temporary measure for the following year the post was filled by Mr J.W. Underwood who retained the office and filled the demanding duties of Secretary until the disbandment of the Committee in 1948.

An innovative feature introduced in 1927 was the placement of a giant barometer on the front of the Town Hall in order to inform the passing public of the rate of increase in hospital subscriptions. So successful was the measure that it was revived during the Second World War as a means of indicating funds subscribed in the annual War Savings Weeks. The ‘barometer’ was erected by permission of the Council and the formal ceremony marking its use was presided over by the K.U.D.C. Chairman, Cr. John Jackson, J.P., accompanied by Mr M. Lyon, the P.G.I. representative who set the indicator. The ceremony was distinguished by the presence of the ever reliable Silver Prize Band who entertained the assembled public with musical selections. (122) A ‘reverse borrowing’ took place in 1936 when the Infirmary Committee adopted an idea first used in 1929 to raise funds for the provision of playing fields within the town. At that time the compilation of a ‘mile of pennies’ had been a novel feature. Seven years on the Infirmary Committee reintroduced the concept as a ‘mile of sixpences’ in order to assist the financing of the P.G.I. extension. (123)

A widening of disbursements was a notable feature of 1936 for apart from £502 and £200 donated to Pontefract and Leeds hospitals, £150 was given to the Knottingley Nursing Association and incidental payments of £4-19-0 to the Royal Bath Hospital, Harrogate, and £21-15-10 to the P.G.I. to provide new tables for the board room, were also made. (124)

The collection of £1,000 plus in 1940 was all the more remarkable because of government restrictions on fundraising activities such as the Carnival and Sports and special events such as dances, concerts and whist drives arising from the exigencies of war. Even when in subsequent years a degree of adaptation to war time conditions permitted a more relaxed and settled existence the demands of the war effort with its emphasis on National Savings provided competition for charitable causes by vying for peoples’ money.

The inter war years had witnessed the development of Council housing along Womersley Road and the beginnings of the Broomhill estate close by. In order to capitalise in these centres of population it was decided that the 1940 parade route be altered with the Salvation Army Band and its accompanying contingent commencing the march from the top of Womersley Road instead of from Low Green. (125) The following year the Silver Prize Band took the new route while the Salvation Army Band marched along the route from the Railway Hotel, Hill Top. For reasons unknown, in 1943 the Salvation Army Band covered the Womersley Road march and retained this route ever after.

The demonstration of 1943 proved to be the apogee of the Infirmary Sunday movement at Knottingley for that year the record sum of £2,250 was obtained. In a large measure the attainment of that sum was produced by a myriad activities launched under the joint aegis of the Council, local Services Welfare Association and the Infirmary Committee. The fact that full employment ensured full pockets while wartime austerity imposed constraints upon consumer so ending proved a boon to local charities. (126)

The penultimate year of the war saw a total of £2,150 raised. A joyful feature of that years event was the introduction of the Carnival Queen, Miss Peggy Lowther, and her attendants to the gathering, a sure sign of public belief in a brighter future, the Carnival having been in abeyance since 1940. (127)

Victory year, 1945, marked a near challenge to the record of 1943. By the time of the demonstration a sum approximately equal to the 1943 total had been secured and outstanding pledges suggested the attainment of a new record. Alas, it was not to be, the final total of £2,236 falling £14 short of the record. (128) It has always seemed a source of wonder to the writer that one of the wealthy local dignitaries did not emulate the action of William and Stanley Bagley or A McDonald in earlier years and donate a sum sufficient to crown Victory Year in a fitting way.

The years 1946 and 1947 saw a decline in contributions. The landslide election of a Labour government in 1945 with its manifesto pledge implement the recommendations of the Beveridge Report and establish a National Health Service engendered a degree of anticipation characterised by a relaxation in public donations. Thus in 1946 the sum raised was £1,091, followed by £1,218 in 1947, neither sum to be despised as a effort by a community suffering from fatigue induced by sacrificial demands created by six years of grim and brutal warfare. (129)

Although the event of 1947 had a retrospective air in anticipation of the imminent National Health Service it was by no means certain at that date that the demonstration would be the last in a link of such events commencing in 1884. Thus, having outlined the provisions of the National Health Service Act to the large crowd in attendance, Professor R.E. Tunbridge O.B.E., of Leeds, appealed for continued support in order to hand over the existing system to the new administrators as ‘a going concern.’ (130)

As events transpired the 1947 Infirmary Sunday was the last ever. In retrospect one can see that (largely because of the uncertainty at the time) the final demonstration was an anti climax to the whole cycle. It must be noted, however, that such feeling was not apparent in the attitude and conduct of those present upon that occasion, the present writer being an eye witness to the event.

For over 60 years Knottingley’s Hospital Sunday was a supreme manifestation of individual endeavour encapsulated in community action. Today, whatever the perceived deficiencies of the National Health Service, society has the assurance of health care to which generations before the mid-twentieth century could only aspire. Yet in obtaining such a degree of security, society has lost the spirit of mutual assistance and community pride which gave Knottingley of yore its unique vibrancy and character and today’s inhabitants are the poorer for that loss.

In conclusion, it must be noted that for each person mentioned in this study there are hundreds of others whose efforts, either by a self denying desire for anonymity or the caprice of time, are unrecorded in the annals of the town. The contribution of the nameless ones if of no less value for being neglected nor is the debt of gratitude owed to them by succeeding generations.

Memento et valete ac plaudite.

"Gaiety was undimmed even by the burden of trade depression. Almost every house and cottage was decorated from end to end of the straggling town. The Flatts, as usual, were garlanded….The procession would have done credit to a much larger town."
Pontefract & Castleford Express 15th July, 1938

"Can you think back to the Carnivals
and garland threaded streets?
Jimmy Hollingworth was the leading man
Behind these decorative feats."

"Carnival Day’s approaching,
Let’s shout ‘hip, Hip, Hooray’,
With comic bands and stalls and stands
We’ll have a lovely day…

….The streets are trimmed from end to end
The curtains all washed clean
The big day is upon us
A local beauty Queen

Howards Field is the rendezvous
Where everyone will meet
When the Queen and her procession
Have passed the bottom of your street."

Frank Chambers
‘Memories of Old Knottingley’ & ‘A journey Around Old Knottingley’
Carey J Chambers (ed)

Dr. Terry Spencer

Reproduced with the kind permission of Dr. Terry Spencer

Knottingley's Hospital Sundays is copyright ©Terry Spencer 2003

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