Book offers a fascinating insight into life in old Bradford

The book, titled Pen and Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford, describes the old ‘nooks-and-corners’, the buildings and the people of Victorian Bradford.

Scruton, wanting to preserve something of the old Bradford rapidly being replaced with mills and terraced houses, provides 100 or more sketches - many of which were done by himself - of buildings ‘now gone forever’ such as the old Court House ‘top of Westgate’; the earliest workhouse, the Old Corn Mill, and the Old Piece Hall.

Shops in bygone Kirkgate

Scruton describes the old shops and their owners such as Mr Tordoff, the tea dealer; ‘dumb John’ the barber - so-called because he rarely spoke - and the spice seller Judy Barrett ‘and her world-famed humbugs'.

He gives us the histories and illustrations of the old mansions and halls of Bradford - Stott Hall, Manor Hall, Bierley Hall, Horton Hall, all now demolished and gone forever, and that of other halls: Paper Hall, Barkerend, Royds Hall, and Bolling Hall - still standing today.

Paper Hall, Barkerend

Ivegate in days gone by

A staunch Nonconformist himself Scruton - a Moravian - describes the Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalist and other churches, including the Anglican churches, in Bradford.

Useful insights are given regarding the origins of the Bradford Dispensary, the Infirmary and the Post Office that used to stand beneath the Parish Church in Forster Square.

Interesting vignettes are presented of notable characters such as Dr William Scoresby, scientist, Arctic explorer and philosopher who became the vicar of Bradford; Parson Bull of Bierley, the ‘Political Parson’, so-called because of his energetic efforts in factory reform, and the enigmatic ‘prophet John Wroe’ of Bolling who faced the fury of a mob for attempting – unsuccessfully - to part the river Aire as Moses had parted the Red Sea.

Old Theatre Royal, Duke Street

Rare insights are given of John Nicholson the ‘Airedale poet’, the Brontë sisters, and lesser-known figures such as ‘Blind Jimmy’ of Heaton who despite his disability didn’t just beg for a living but at set times and locations entertained passers-by by skilfully playing hymn tunes on his clarinet.

Scruton had a keen interest in politics. He describes the campaigns, controversies and canvassing of ‘the early parliamentary elections’ in Bradford; the election of 1832 and the appointment of the town’s first two members of parliament: John Hardy and Ellis Cunliffe Lister. He talks about other elections down to 1867 and the emergence of WE Forster and Sir Titus Salt as Bradford’s MPs.

Old Market House, Westgate

Scruton’s life illustrates what John Ruskin, the Victorian art critic and social reformer called ‘the great art of getting on’.

Born in 1840 in Little Horton Green, Bradford, and raised in relative poverty, Scruton achieved considerable literary success through application, discipline and a thirst for reading and knowledge.

Aged about 12, he began work as a warehouse boy for the firm of Milligan, Forbes & Co, whose premises on Hall Ings was until recently occupied by the Telegraph & Argus newspaper.

William Scruton

Simon Ross Valentine with his book

Improving his scant education by attending night classes, Scruton soon became the chief warehouse clerk. By the 1860s he left the textile trade and obtained a well-paid position of legal clerk at a solicitor’s firm on Cheapside, where he stayed for 59 years.

In May 1878 Scruton, with other Bradford historians Thomas Empsall and William Cudworth, was one of the founding members of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society.

By the late 1870s, Scruton was a regular contributor to the

Bradford Observer and other local newspapers.

Scruton wrote several books including The Birthplace of Charlotte Bronte (1884); Thornton and the Brontes in 1898 and his Bradford fifty years ago, a jubilee memorial celebrating the gaining of borough status by the town in 1847.

Horton Lane Congregational Church

Scruton died at St Luke’s Hospital, Bradford, on January 31,1924, aged 83 and was laid to rest in Scholemoor Cemetery.

Despite its obvious merits and appeal, Scruton’s Pen and Pencil Pictures can be a frustrating book to read, chiefly because Scruton did not provide an index.

As such readers of the book may well have to skim their way through its 250 pages in an attempt to find material on featured persons, subjects and places. Indexes do exist but they only list people’s names.

With this limitation in mind, I decided enough was enough. It was time to fill that gap.

So, working as a volunteer archivist at Bradford Local Studies Library and formerly a lecturer in local history at the University of Bradford, I recently published a book containing a comprehensive index listing places, subjects, and themes as well as personal names.

Not only has it an index, my new book contains a brief biography of Scruton, a summary of his Pen and Pencil Pictures and a sample of Scruton’s drawings.

Anyone with an interest in Bradford’s history should read Scruton’s Pen Pencil Pictures, copies of which can be found at the Local Studies Library on Prince’s Way.

My book, William Scruton: A Biography & Comprehensive Index to Pen & Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford, Themelios, is priced £7.99 and is available on Amazon and in local retailers. It is an invaluable aid for anyone reading Scruton’s beautiful old book on bygone Bradford.