WE HAD quite a response after featuring local man William Haigh on the Telegraph & Argus nostalgia pages and the We Grew Up in Bradford Facebook page.
Commonly known as Billy, William was a milkman who lived in Carlby Grove, Keighley, and was reputedly the last milkman to do his rounds with a horse and cart. He could be seen in Keighley throughout the 1950s and possibly the early 1960s.
T&A reader Dereck Thomson emailed to say: ‘My grandma and granddad lived in Godfrey Street, Thornton Road, Bradford. They had a milkman with a horse and cart and when we went to visit them, I was allowed to help him - Grandad used to get me up at 5.30am. I helped him by passing over bottles and moving the empty crate bottles on his cart and I got a small bottle of orange when I had finished. Then I would feed the horse some apples while he had a chat with my grandma and grandad. I cannot remember his name, unfortunately.
On the T&A website Joe Baggley says: ‘In 1960 to1965 I went to Swain House Junior School and sometimes got a lift on the milkman’s horse-drawn cart. He came from Greenwoods farm, which was halfway down Kings road on the right-hand side. I think the farm was called Cherry Tree Farm - we used to go scrumping pears and apples.’
Keilin comments: ‘My husband and I moved to our new house in Pasture Close, Clayton early in 1972 when our daughter was one, and our second daughter was born there in 1973. Throughout our time there our milk was delivered by a Mr Shackleton along with his horse and cart, and our eldest daughter remembers it well. It was a most efficient method of milk delivery as the horse, with his nosebag, knew the route well and would stop at the appropriate house for Mr. Shackleton to take the milk from the cart and just walk up and down the garden paths - no need to get on the cart and guide the horse between customers. Plus, of course, there was the occasional benefit of manure for our roses!’
WGG writes: ‘We lived in Lower Grange during the 1950s and early 60s. I had an unpaid job assisting Bramwell Jowett deliver milk on his horse and cart during the early 50s. The Jowetts had a farm in Allerton. A couple of things I remember was having to tend the horse and cart while Mr Jowett watched the coronation in 1953, and being on board the cart one very windy day when the horse got spooked and bolted along the street.’
Many readers commented on the We Grew Up In Bradford Facebook page.
Philip Coxon recalls ‘the Driver sisters, or they could have been mother and daughter, blondes, had a bit of a crush in them - they farmed down Mill Carr Hill, I think.’
Philip Chapman says: ‘The last one I can remember is Swan’s off Broad Lane, Laisterdyke. It was certainly operating on the late 1950s to early 60s.
Margaret Bakes remembers Albert Knapton, who delivered milk by horse and cart in Thornton, while Colin Walton recalls the coal man coming around with his horse and cart.
Josie Bennett comments ‘We had a milkman called Eric. I used to help him on Saturday morning. He did Quaker Lane and Canterbury.’
Reader Bill Holdsworth also remembers having milk delivered by horse, while Steve Collcutt says that when it was foggy ‘we used to follow the horse to find our way home.’
Frank Healy comments: ‘When my grandmother had the Great Northern I pub in Laisterdyke in the 1940s we had a milkman called Leonard (Long?). Every morning he would come into the pub and call out “Won’t be a minute” and visited the gents. Every morning when he came out she handed him soap and a towel and sent him back to wash his hands.’
Linden Milner says: ‘Before she joined the WAAF in World War ll my Auntie Thora delivered milk for a time for a local farmer in the Greengates area. It was a two-wheeled cart and the horse was black and called Bess. My aunt was soon given the nickname of Boudicea. I wish we had a photo.
Jeanette Frost remembers ‘coming home at the same time as they were delivering. You could hear the clip clop.’
Gloria Spender recalls a horse-drawn milk delivery in Wyke in the 1970s, as does Eireen Coulson. ‘I lived in Wyke in the late 1940s and remember them, especially - what seemed to a five-year-old - huge milk churns.’
Paul Woodcock has memories from the same area of Bradford. ‘I remember a lady delivering the milk on horse and cart around the Westfield Lane area of Wyke, in the late 1980s when I was a postie.’
Kevin P McGrath says: ‘I remember those days’, while Pauline Cannon remembers a pot man coming round on a horse and cart.
Here are some more images of horses and carts from bygone days.
Thank you to everyone who sent in their memories. Anyone who wants to add their own can email helen.mead@nqyne.co.uk or emma.clayton@nqye.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel