Bradford, West Riding

Description
Bradford, a town, township, county borough, municipal and parliamentary borough, parish, and district in W.R. Yorkshire, in the wapentake of Morley and liberty of the honour of Pontefract, and a rural deanery in the archdeaconry of Craven and diocese of Ripon. Prior to 1882 the municipal borough comprised the townships of Bradford, Bowling, Horton, Manningham, and Bolton. The boundaries of the borough were extended in May, 1882, so as to include the townships of Heaton and Allerton and the hamlets of Thornbury and Tyersal, containing 3555 acres and a population of about 13,000. The total area of the borough as so enlarged is 10,791 acres. The population at the beginning of the century was 13,000, and at the census of 1891, 216,361. In addition to the townships comprised within the borough, the parish of Bradford includes the several townships of Clayton, North Bierley, Eccleshill, Haworth, Shipley, Thornton, and Wilsden, giving a parochial population of 278,372. It is computed that within a radius of 8 miles from the Bradford town hall there is a population of over one million persons. The Bradford Poor Law Union comprises the townships of Bradford, Bolton, Bowling, Horton, and Manningham. Population, 202,975. The Poor Law Union is not conterminous with the borougli of Bradford, as it excludes the townships of Allerton and Heaton, and the hamlets of Thornbury and Tyersal, which form part of the North Bierley Union. The latter authority comprises 16 townships, having an area of 33,292 acres, and a population of 138,906 persons.

Bradford was created a parliamentary borough, with the privilege of returning two members to Parliament, by the Reform Act of 1832. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, three parliamentary divisions were made£viz., East, West, and Central, each returning one member. The number of parliamentary voters for the borough is 35,505. In addition to the borough magistracy, there is a stipendiary magistrate, also a borough quarter sessions and recorder. 218

Bradford forms part of No. 11 Circuit for county court business. Sittings are held on certain days appointed by the judge. There is also an official receiver in bankruptcy.

The situation of the town was at one time beautiful, being at the confluence of three dales, and surrounded by hills. The town suffers from having no river passing nearer to it thean about 3 miles£viz., the Aire at Shipley, but copious streams form a junction near the town, and pass through it to join the river Aire. From being a comparatively insignificant place, Bradford has risen to be the metropolis of the worsted industry of England. While this position has doubtless, in great measure, been achieved by the enterprise and perseverance of its inhabitants, the mineral wealth of the district£an abundant supply of coal, iron, and stone£ has also contributed greatly to its prosperity. Of late years the securing of an abundant supply of water to the town from the moorlands, 30 miles distant, and eminently suitable for manufacturing purposes, has also been of great commercial and domestic value. In making this provision the corporation have expended over two millions of money.

In respect to antiquity Bradford has little to boast of. It was a manor with six berewicks during the Norman period, and was held by Ilbert de Lacy. In his line it continued until it passed by marriage into the hands of the Earls of Lancaster. The manor afterwards passed to the Crown, and in 1669 got into the possession of the Marsden family, who disposed of it to the Rawsons, of which family Henry Edmund Butler, the present lord of the manor, is descended. In 1866 the corporation acquired the market rights of the manor at an annual rental of £5000, and that body lias since expended nearly £200,000 in the erection of a covered retail market, wholesale market, public abattoirs, &c. The men of Bradford took part with the Parliament during the Civil Wars, and the town twice sustained a siege by the Royalist troops£viz., in December, 1642, and June, 1643, and so disastrous were the consequences that it took fully 100 years before the town recovered its position. During the interval the cloth trade, which was the staple industry of the period, left the place, and the manufacture of worsted began to give employment to many of the inhabitants, and also to others in the surrounding villages.

The town received a charter of incorporation in 1847. The Bradford Corporation is composed of 45 councillors and 15 aldermen. The borough is divided into fifteen wards, as follows:£Exchange, East, North, South, West, Bradford Moor, East Bowling, West Bowling, Great Horton, Little Horton, Lister Hills, Manningham, Bolton, Heaton, and Allerton. The number of burgesses on the borough roll is 42,515.

At the period of incorporation, Bradford was little better than an overgrown village, with steep and narrow streets, and almost destitute of drainage. Since that period the central portion of the town has been almost rebuilt. The buildings are almost entirely of local stone, and few towns contain more handsome structures, especially in regard to commercial edifices, banks, wareliouses, &c. The death-rate averages about 20-0 per 1000 of the population. The Bradford Waterworks are all upon the principle of gravitation. The supply is from high and low level services, which range in elevation from 600 feet to 1475 feet above sea level. The district of supply comprises the borough and 32 surrounding places, having an aggregate population of 365,000, and ranging from 200 feet to 1200 feet above sea level. There are 73 miles of paved roads, and 57 miles of macadamised roads in the borough. The public free libraries, news-rooms, art gallery, and museum, are under corporate management. In addition to the central department, there are eight branch libraries and news-rooms. The town possesses five public parks, the property of the corporation, situated in different portions of the borough, namely, Peel Park, Otiey Road (56 acres); Lister Park, Manningham (54 acres); Horton Park (40 acres); Bowling Park (53 acres); and Bradford Moor Park (15 acres). There are also several public baths, hot and cold; two corporation cemeteries at Scholemoor and Bowling, and a private cemetery at Undercliffe. The burial-grounds throughout the borough are closed for interments, except under special conditions. The supply of gas is also in the hands of the corporation.

The history of the worsted industry, of which Bradford has long been the metropolis, received a stimulus by the erection of the Bradford Piece Hall in the year 1773. The manufacture of worsted goods was, of course, all done by hand labour, and it was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the first steam factories were erected. In 1826 steam power looms were introduced, resulting in a serious riot, in which several persons lost their lives. It is computed that the borough now comprises within its boundaries 450 factories, giving employment to many thousands of workpeople. In addition to the worsted industry, Bradford also possesses the largest silk and velvet manufactory in Europe. Within the past half century, the town has also become the provincial centre of the English and Colonial wool trade. The iron, machine, and engineering trades are also important industries in the town. The Bradford Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1852. It consists of bankers, merchants, spinners, manufacturers, and others interested in trade and commerce. There is also a Bradford centre of the Worsted Committee for the counties of York, Lancaster, and Chester, for the protection from fraud of the worsted industry. The Bradford Exchange was erected in 1867. Consulates exist in Bradford for Austro-Hungary, Belgium, Chili, France, the German Empire, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Norway, the United States, and Uruguay.

Bradford is a head post office. There is also a large branch office in Tyrrel Street, connected with the head office by pneumatic tubes. There are 34 town sub-offices and 21 country sub-offices, at all of which, with about four exceptions, both money order, savings bank, and telegraph business is conducted. The town is connected with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Aire and Calder navigation; it is in direct communication with the railway system,of England and Scotland, and it is second to none in postal and telegraphic communication. A system of tramways, chiefly by steam traction, permeates the borough.

The ecclesiastical history of Bradford dates from about the middle of the 15th century, when St Peter's (parish) Church was completed, probably upon the site of an older edifice. It comprises nave, with north and south aisles, chancel, and substantial tower, completed about half a century later than the main body of the church. It is the only venerable structure in Bradford. During the Civil Wars, the sacred edifice was subject to a cannonade from the Royalist guns, and marks of cannon balls are still visible on the tower. The interior was re-arranged in 1705 ; and the church, re-roofed in 1724, had galleries added towards the cloee of the 18th century, was re-fronted in 1833, and in 1870 thoroughly renovated. The registers date from 1596. Number of sittings 1600, which are mostly appropriated. The living is in the gift of Simeon's Trustees, and is valued at £1200 per annum. Christ Church, the second Established Church erected in Bradford, was built in 1815, and rebuilt upon its present site, in 1878. Sittings, 700, half free; value of living, £225 and vicarage. Patron, Vicar of Bradford. There are also the following Episcopalian places of worship within the borough, viz.:£All Saints', Bierley, Holy Trinity, St Andrew's, St Augustine's, St Barnabas', St Bartholomew's, St Chrysostom's, St James's (Holton), St James's (Bolton), St John's (Bradford), St John's (Bowling), St John's (Great Holton), St Jude's, St Luke's (Bowling), St Luke's (Manningham), St Mark's, St Mary's, St Mary Magdalene's, St Matthew's, St Michael's, St Paul's, St Peter's (Allerton), St Philip's, St Stephen's, St Thomas's. There are also in Bradford chapels and preaching rooms attached to other religious denominations as follows, viz.:£ Independents or Congregational, 19 ; Baptists, 14; Wesleyan Methodists, 29; Unitarians, 2 ; Society of Friends, 2 ; Presbyterians, 5 ; Roman Catholics, 8; Primitive Methodists, 15; Wesleyan Reformers, 4; Methodist New Connexion, 3; and United Methodist Free Church, 8. The United College (Congregational) is at Heaton.

Bradford early followed the lead of its member, the late Right Hon. W. E. Forster, M.P., in electing a School Board. The Board has 33 elementary schools, with 80 departments, having a total accommodation for 27,911 scholars. There are also 35 other elementary schools in the borough, with 75 departments, having accommodation for 20,882 scholars. The amount of precept received from the rates was, for 1892, £39,000; and the amount in the £ of School Board rate, 8'8d. The Bradford grammar school for boys is one of the most important scholastic agencies in the town. It was incorporated and re-founded under the charter of Charles II. in 1662, and was re-organized by the Endowed School Commissioners in 1871. It possesses a considerable endowment and an invested fund for scholarships, but its chief source of income is derived from fees. The pupils usually number about 600. The girls' grammar school is of recent creation, and derives an endowment of £250 per annum from the first-named foundation, and the interest of a sum of £10,000 for scholarships. The Bradford Technical College was inaugurated in 1878, for the purpose of giving technical instruction in chemistry, mechanics, and the arts to the youth of both sexes. The Bradford Mechanics' Institute, established in 1832, and the Bradford Church Institute, established in 1858, are both educational agencies of influence.

The charities of the town are numerous, comprising the General Infirmary, Eye and Ear Hospital, Blind Institution, Fever Hospital (corporate property), Children's Hospital, and Children's Nest; Nutter Orphanage (for boys), Girls' Orphanage; and convalescent homes at Ilkley and Eawdon; Tradesmen's Benevolent Institution, Spinsters' Endowment Fund, Charity Organization Society, and Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society.

Three daily newspapers are published in Bradford, and several weekly issues. The Bradford Observer, established in 1834, is the only morning daily newspaper. The town possesses several public buildings utilised for concerts, public-meetings, &c., the largest being St George's Hall, which seats nearly 4000 persons. Hotels are numerous, and several are of high-class character. There are also numerous clubs in the town. The masonic body is strongly represented, and there are many friendly societies. There are two theatres.