This article is written for the Stray Ferret by the celebrated Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam. 

Please believe me when I say it gives me no pleasure to bemoan the neglect of Harrogate’s monuments. But when so many people tell me they visit Harrogate to see the town’s buildings and green spaces, it seems foolish to allow some of the area’s most significant structures to appear so shabby. A recent letter of mine about the weed-choked dome of the Tewit Well on south Stray produced a flood of messages of support, all seemingly from people who have Harrogate’s best interests at heart.

The Tewit Well was where modern Harrogate began, following William Slingsby’s 1571 discovery of the mineral qualities of the waters. Before this time, Harrogate was nothing more than a hamlet within the great Royal Forest, but after 1571, Harrogate grew into the sizeable and fully urbanised resort it is today. When Dr. Timothy Bright referred in c.1598 to Harrogate having the “Spadacrene Anglica”, or English Spa, it was the first recorded use of the “Spa” noun in the English language, making Harrogate the first “Spa” in the country. When Dr. Deane wrote his 1626 book on Harrogate’s Spa, he used Timothy Bright’s description “Spadacrene Anglica” as its title

The present “temple” was built in 1808 by Thomas Chippindale as an open cover for Low Harrogate’s old Sulphur Well, and was moved to its present location in 1842, when the Royal Pump Room was built. The open columns of the Chippindale’s temple were then filled in with masonry, to better protect visitors and also the well’s attendant. The historic structure was chosen in 1955 as the subject for a plaque, carved by the National Association of Master Monumental Masons, to mark their conference in Harrogate. The exquisitely carved plaque was fixed to the Tewit Well and unveiled by Mayor Robert Riley on Wednesday September 18, 1955. Two years later, the outside pump was stolen, which introduced a period of neglect, and by 1971, exactly 400 years after Slingsby’s discovery, the neglected Tewit Well was very nearly demolished.

Mayor Riley at Tewit Well, September 1955

But thanks to public protest, and the opposition of the recently established Harrogate Society, the Tewit Well was saved, and in 1973, restoration occurred, the original dome of English Oak and lead being replaced by plastic, which if not authentic, at least followed the design of the original. It was during this restoration that the encircling masonry walling was removed, which restored the original appearance of the 1808 “temple”, but also occasioned the removal of the 1955 stone plaque, which was dumped on the floor of the Royal Baths’ basement, where it probably remains to this day.

Thanks to the Harrogate Society, a new plaque was erected on the restored Tewit Well in 1975, to mark European Architectural Heritage Year, which was this author’s first Harrogate plaque text. It is still there, although as my opening remarks show, the weed-infested building is hardly a good advertisement for Harrogate’s care of its historic monuments.

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When council neglect nearly brought about the demolition of the Sun Pavilion in the 1980’s, it was the public who saved the building, thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Anne Smith and the Friends of Valley Gardens. At the time, the wonderful public response was accompanied by the feeling that the council could be relied upon to restore the Sun Colonnade, but this has never happened, and the exposed wooden roof is now decaying. What should be a well-used public exhibition space is instead open to the worst effects of rain, snow and ice. With its roof restored, the Sun Colonnade would be a perfect home for the Christmas Market and other public exhibitions.

Why, oh why, must it be me, and those who are like minded, who have to repeatedly express their dissatisfaction with the slovenly attitude of the authorities towards maintaining Harrogate’s attractions.

Did you know that the Stray Ferret has teamed up with Malcolm to produce audio walking tours of Harrogate? The walks are sponsored by the Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) and take you back to the Golden Age of the Harrogate Spa and a walk through the Commercial Heart of Harrogate. Why not take a walk back in time and learn about Harrogate’s glorious past.. They’re easy to do and a great day out. For more information click here.

Family-run horticultural nursery Johnsons of Whixley is celebrating 100 years of business this month.

The company is one of the UK’s largest plant suppliers, and has sold an estimated total of 220 million plants since it was founded.

Eric Johnson, company founder

It was founded in 1921 by war veteran Eric Johnson; he began with a small piece of land yielding two dozen fruit trees and grew the company to sell fruit, vegetables and flowers.

When the Second World War started, most of his small team of staff joined the war effort. He was given a commission with the Home Guard in a platoon of 60, covering Wetherby to Green Hammerton.

By the end of the war he was running the well-established ER Johnson Nurseries Whixley, as it was formerly known, and was able to buy seven acres of land to expand the company.

Mr Johnson and the Home Guard.

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In 1964 the company was bought by John Richardson, who maintained it as a family-owned business. At this time the company was producing about 150,000 plants annually.

John is now 83 and is still chair of the business, with 11 members of the Richardson family also having various roles.

John said;

“This has not been just my own doing but is thanks to the support of motivated and trusted colleagues who have run the different elements with such professionalism.

“It is with great pride that I have seen my sons continue to develop the business year-on-year, and now I watch my grandchildren take up the reins to the even further successful growth of the company.”

Today the company owns over 200 acres of land and sells five to six million plants every year.

The business has supplied plants for ambitious projects such as HS1 and the athletes’ village at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

This history is written for The Stray Ferret by celebrated Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam. 

Do you remember the Cone Heads? The street entertainers who a few years ago appeared in the town at the invitation of Harrogate International Festivals? Their sudden appearance was part of a centuries-old tradition of such entertainment, which has included musicians, street theatre, Punch and Judy shows and the travelling waits.

Punch and Judy

To the best of my knowledge, the first known appearance of Punch and Judy in Harrogate was in June 1865, when Professor Bailey was said to have replaced an earlier but unknown Punch and Judy showman. Professor Bailey’s “pitch” appears to have been somewhere at the foot of Montpellier Hill, on the Stray outside the White Hart, and he worked with a young man named Candler, who succeeded Bailey, who was eventually decorated by King Edward VII.

Professor Candler [1869-1922] became one of Victorian Harrogate’s most well-known entertainers, and celebrated as a leading practitioner of his art, so much so that he was chosen to make the Punch and Judy show that accompanied the Prince of Wales’ tour of India. He was also called up to London to perform before George V when the king attended a private party given by Lady Stoner at her South Audsley Street mansion.

Edmund Candler’s Punch and Judy, Swan Hotel, 1910

Professor Candler may also have performed at Pier Head, which was a favourite pitch used by Otto Schwarz and his German Band. I suspect – and if any reader can contradict me, please do so – that Professor Candler was succeeded by Professor Valvo, who had begun his career in Bradford. Professor Valvo was often called to perform before royalty, and had command performances at the London Palladium, and in 1919 he gave a special performance at Crystal Palace for the royal children.

Like Professor Candler, Professor Valvo made his base in Harrogate and appeared several times in the Opera House [today, the Theatre] as part of variety shows. On one occasion, he gave a Punch and Judy show in the Winter Gardens before 600 children, including the sons of the Princess Royal and Lord Lascelles. In 1936, Professor Valvo was described by the Harrogate Herald as “an ex-serviceman, he has been a Punch and Judy man for twelve years, and for forty years previously was a theatre ventriloquist…”

I do not know whether Professor Valvo had any children who kept his act alive, but Professor Candler had two sons. Described by the press on July 13 1957 as “a wonderful showman, yet of a kindly, quiet nature, and his skill with the Punch voice, and the Pandean pipes was that of an expert”. He gained the affection of generations of children and the esteem of adults, including Princess Victoria, who, when in Harrogate, would sometimes stop to listen to the old, old story…

A Noisy Street Scene

The Punch and Judy men were only a small part of the many entertainers who swarmed through Harrogate during those long ago seasons. There were the black-faced minstrels, which were popular at the time, the earliest of which seem to have been Walter Mapping’s, who put on song and dance routines in Valley Gardens. The “Major’s Group” also provided a lively street entertainment show, the “Major” getting his name from his theme song “My friend the Major”. The chair stage prop used by the Major was said to be required because of the Major’s fondness for “the flowing bowl”.

I must not forget to mention the “Black Star Minstrels” who contained several performers who “blacked-up” in such hostelries as the Ship Inn, the Victoria Inn, or the “Borough Vaults” – now the Drum and Monkey. One of them, Joe Morrison, specialised in laughing songs, which could reduce a crowd to hysteria, and who was consequently disliked by more sober shop-keepers. There was Albert Freer, who specialised in sentimental songs about happy slaves on the “old plantations”, and a rival group called the “Mysterious Musicians”, who set up their portable stage near the Royal Pump Room, sometimes in direct competition with other performers. The resulting racket caused great annoyance to the hotels and lodging housekeepers.

Many acts were of course solos, such as The African who performed at Pier Head before the lavatories were built. The African’s ingenious act was to swallow a red hot poker. According to the Herald: “to show that there was no deception a poker was heated in front of the wondering throng, who were even more surprised at the way he used to relish a concoction that he cooked in his own fashion, and transferred to his capacious mouth with a fork whilst it was blazing.”

Contemporary criticism of many of these acts judged that some of the best shows on the Stray before the Great War were those of Adler and Sutton. Max Adler and his companions performed on the Victoria Avenue bandstand, opposite Baptist Church, during mild summer’s evenings. Their comedian was Olly Oakley, who did imitations, and whose saucy songs sometimes upset the local magistrates. Other “Stray” performers included the “Jubilee Singers”, who in the language of the time were described as “a group of real negroes”.  There was also Mr. I. C. Rich, who specialised in Jewish “deliniations”, who shared the bill with another comedian, whose name escapes me, and whose catch-phrase was “My hair’s down again”.

One of Harrogate’s rarer evening acts, who may have performed in Crescent Gardens, were the “Brothers Egerton”, who specialised in songs about drunks and drinking, which were known by the name of “Corney Grain” songs. Eventually, they left Harrogate for St Kilda’s Beach, Melbourne.

The Ongars

I do not have space to describe the many operators of the street piano, who played their raucous jangling instruments outside Hale’s Bar, and – to the intense annoyance of Alderman Fortune – along the rows of decorous hotels and lodging houses on Prospect Place and West Park, grinding out such tunes as “I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts”;  “He had to get out and get under”, “The man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo” and “My old Dutch”.

Town ‘mascots’

I must not leave the subject of the Stray entertainers without mentioning the “Mascots”, who first appeared in 1902, who drew enormous crowds for their acts, which were often held on the Stray near the junction of Beech Grove and Victoria Avenue. Their numbers included Karr and Kooney, who later became famous pantominists, and Tom Johnstone, a singer of chorus songs who later returned to Harrogate to play in the Empire Theatre.

The last known Stray Troupe before the Great War was the “Sparks”, whose boss, Will Driscoll, rode around Harrogate in a high-wheeled dog cart before the show. The Library Gardens, then known as the Town Hall site, was a further venue for street entertainment, where groups of “dancing minstrels” entertained the public. Harlow Hill, too, had its regular street acts, but I will try the editor’s patience if I go on any more.

Much of Harrogate’s street entertainment vanished during the Great War, although Tom Coleman and his Pierrots (featured main image) did sterling service entertaining wounded soldiers in the four military hospitals set up by that wonderful lady the Grand Duchess George of Russia.

My thanks to Geoff Felix and Janet Nijholt [nee Candler] for information about, and photographs of, Professor Candler.

Did you know? 

The Stray Ferret and the Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) have worked with Malcolm Neesam to produce two fantastic history audio tours of Harrogate.  Both last about an hour and are easy to do. The first will take you back to the golden age of Harrogate’s Victorian Spa days, the second will take you through the heart of the shopping district, stopping to learn about historic buildings as you go.  To take a look click here. 

It seems we are a pretty unobservant bunch in Harrogate – except for resident Alex Pemberton.

A brown plaque installed on Regent Parade two years ago has a glaring error on it yet until this week no one had spotted it.

The plaque on Library House was placed on the property by Harrogate Civic Society due to its historically important connection to author Ely Hargrove.

Hargrove was an 18th century author and publisher who wrote Harrogate’s first guide book. He moved his shop to Library House before turning it into the town’s first subscription library.

Unveiled in December 2018, the inscription on the plaque reads that Hargrove “moved his shop from Church Square to this newly built Regent Regent Parade location“.

A Stray Ferret reader, Alex Pemberton, got in touch after spotting the error yesterday. He said:

“I was walking past and saw the plaque and just thought I’d give it a read. I had to read it a few times to check I wasn’t mis-reading it and even got my wife to check it too. I think it should be left as is and the Society should save the money. It adds to the interest of it.”

Plaques are expensive, each normally costs between £500 and £800 to manufacture and install.

At its unveiling, the current owner of the house and founder of Springfield Healthcare stood alongside the Mayor of the time, cllr Bernard Bateman, as he cut the red ribbon.

Harrogate Civic Society’s co-chair Stuart Holland said:

“We hadn’t realised there was a mistake. We’re very grateful for Alex for getting in touch and making us aware. We appreciate him being so observant. The Civic Society will speak to the manufacturer and see if there is a way of correcting the mistake.”

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The Library House is said to have been very popular with tourists in the 19th century and managed to find its way into Sir Walter Scott’s 1823 novel St Ronan’s Wall.

In 1819 the building was bought by William Langdale who continued the subscription business, issuing from September 1820 a ‘Weekly List’ of visitors’ names and their hotels.

This inspired a rival Pickersgill Palliser in 1834 who added a Stage Coach timetable, later expanding in 1836 to the ‘Harrogate Advertiser’.

The library closed in 1857 and was then converted into residential use.

North Yorkshire’s first woman doctor, who spent much of her life in Harrogate, has been nominated for a county award.

Dr Laura Sobey Veale experienced strong opposition whilst pursuing a career in medicine during the 19th and 20th centuries but overcame this to make a considerable impact on the town.

She has been nominated for the county council’s Great North Yorkshire Sons and Daughters campaign.

The “pioneering woman”

Dr Veale was born in Hampsthwaite in 1867 and studied medicine in London. She later returned to North Yorkshire to work at the Hospital for Women and Children in Leeds.

In 1904 she came back to Harrogate and set up her GP practice on Victoria Avenue. She made history overcoming hostility and continued to pave the way for women’s health, establishing a maternity department at Harrogate hospital and infant welfare and antenatal clinics in the town.

Despite retiring in 1936, Dr Veale was still committed to the town. When there was a need in the Second World War Dr Veale came forward to organise the Harrogate Women’s Voluntary Service leading a campaign to collect scrap metal for the war effort.

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Dr Paul Jennings from Harrogate Civic Society History Group, said:

“She deserves recognition as an important figure in the history of both medicine and feminism and a key figure in medical provision, especially for women and infants, in her native county and more particularly Harrogate.”

“It is as a pioneering woman in the medical profession and through her wider work for the community that she is so important to Harrogate.”

A brown plaque in memory of Dr Veale was unveiled in April 2017 at the site of her surgery. It was put in place to commemorate her contribution to the town and as an important figure of history for medicine and feminism.

Councillor Carl Les, said:

“During the current pandemic, it is important we recognise the hard work of all doctors and nurses across the country. Figures such as Dr Laura Veale are incredibly important to the county. She showed determination and dedication not to give up in difficult times.”

Winifred (left) and her sister Dorothy (right). Photograph: Yorkshire Museum of Farming.

Winifred Jacob Smith

Another Harrogate district nominee is Winifred Jacob Smith. Born in 1911 in Humberton, between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge, Winifred went on the join the Women’s Land Army in 1939 with her sister Dorothy.

Winifred later became the organiser for the Women’s Land Army for the whole of Yorkshire. The ladies’ role was crucial for the war effort with many involved in intensive farm labour to feed the county.

Coming from a long established farming family, on her death in May 2003 Winifred bequeathed what was then Scriven Park to Harrogate Borough Council to be used by her local community. It was officially opened as Jacob Smith Park in 2008.

Details of how to cast votes for the award will be released on the county council’s social media soon.

A plaque to commemorate how the people in Harrogate raised funds for Spitfires during the Second World War has been unveiled today.

A government campaign in 1941 asked communities to raise funds to build more Spitfires. The people of Harrogate managed to raise £7,000 in support of the Spitfire campaign and, alongside other communities, was awarded a plaque by the government.

Over time, the plaque deteriorated and was sadly lost. The Harrogate Civic Society, and individual donors, have lead the efforts to fund a replica plaque.

Local historian, Malcolm Neesam, will write for the Stray Ferret tomorrow morning about Harrogate’s contribution to the Spitfire campaign.

The new plaque will be mounted at the Crown Hotel, in Harrogate, on Monday. It was unveiled today by Lord Houghton of Richmond – former Chief of Defence Staff.

The small group invited included MP Andrew Jones, two female war veterans, members of the armed services and donors.

Molly Todd (left) and Sheila Pantin (right) are both veterans from World War Two.

Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said:

“I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we will have this on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. It reflects the way the people of Harrogate came together in this moment of national emergency and contributed so much money to help the war effort. It has been a powerful and fascinating unveiling of this plaque and I look forward to to seeing it go up into location on Monday.”

Read more:

• Local historian, Malcolm Neesam, writes about the harsh realities for Harrogate residents during the war.
• Services were held across the district to commemorate VJ Day. 

Stuart Holland, Co Vice Chair of the Harrogate Civic Society, said:

“The civic society are really proud to have been given the opportunity to have a new plaque I’m quite moved by the response of the donors, people have been so generous in putting the money forward. The Civic Society now have been responsible for 86 plaques in the town now. We are working towards bringing together the masses of information about the town onto our website, before we lose it.”

This History is written for The Stray Ferret by Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam:

The recent tragic circumstances which have initiated a somewhat frenzied public examination into the background of individuals who past generations with vastly different values to our own times decided to honour, have prompted me to consider how this might apply to Harrogate.

This, initially, may seem of dubious value, given that Harrogate’s great days of urbanisation and statue erection belonged to the west’s post-slavery decades of the mid and later nineteenth century. The great problem is one of degree. If Harrogate has never put up any statues to acknowledged slave owners, this is not to deny that in common with every other UK community, there will inevitably have been those of its citizens who benefited from the slave trade by indirect association. The innkeeper, who invested in a company known to profit from the Virginia tobacco trade; the doctor, who bought shares in a company trading in Jamaican sugar; the gentleman farmer who sat on the board of a cotton importation business without looking too closely into the conditions of those who produced that cotton.  Were we today to closely examine the basis on which some of our family fortunes were established, many would surely be discomforted.

Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn

But perhaps there is one figure with a strong connection with Harrogate who might be scrutinised, and that is the man who gives his name to Wedderburn House, Wedderburn Road, and the Wedderburn estate in general. Alexander Wedderburn, M.P. (1733-1805) was an ambitious politician, who in 1771 became Solicitor General, later advancing to the positions of Attorney General, Chief Justice of Common Pleas, and, in 1793, Lord Chancellor, a post he held until 1801.

Wedderburn earned a place in history when he grilled Benjamin Franklin on his role during the unrest in the American colonies. His meteoric career earned him many enemies, and his friendship with David Garrick and Richard Brindsley Sheridan was evidence for his great interest and support for the theatre. Wedderburn’s titles included those of Baron Loughborough and first Earl of Rosslyn.

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In 1775, Wedderburn acquired lands south of what became the Stray, and after living at Woodlands House, he moved into Wedderburn House, it being widely believed to have been remodelled for him by the great Carr of York. Wedderburn’s decision to acquire a residence in Harrogate was partly because he travelled frequently between London and Edinburgh, and found the town ideally situated more or less half way between the two. It was also known that he was attracted to one of the actresses who appeared with Samuel Butler’s troop at Harrogate’s Church Square Theatre – now Mansfield House. In 1790, the sixteen year old Tryphosa Jane Wallis was described as “exquisitely fair, with expressive blue eyes, well controlled movements, a fine figure, and a voice of more sweetness than strength’ . Her talent was recognised by the Lord Chancellor of England, Alexander Wedderburn, also known as Lord Rosslyn, and his wife, who obtained relief from a medical complaint from the mineral waters of the neighbouring St. John’s Well. Years later, when Miss Wallis was a nationally celebrated actress, she interrupted her work at Covent Garden to visit Harrogate,  staying at Wedderburn House, although it is not known what Lady Loughborough thought about the visit!.

Wedderburn House on The Stray

Wedderburn’s wife, Charlotte, received such benefit from the waters of the St. John’s Well on Wetherby Road, that her husband, who then had the title of Baron Loughborough, paid for the rebuilding of the pump room, which is shown in the engraving of 1796, (main picture)  and which records Charlotte’s visit to the well. This was tenanted by William Westmorland, whose name may be seen above the door. Lady Loughborough’s retinue included a black page boy, who is depicted at far left.

Although this writer knows of no direct involvement by Alexander Wedderburn with the slave trade, it would be unrealistic to think that so powerful a man as the Lord Chancellor with his broad portfolio of business interests, did not occasionally benefit from the proceeds of this vile business.

Further research into this may prove revealing, if anyone has the wish to do it.

Malcolm Neesam:

Malcolm Neesam was born in Harrogate and graduated from the University of Leeds as a professional archivist and librarian. He subsequently worked in Hereford, Leeds, London and York where, for twenty-five years, he was North Yorkshire’s County Music and Audiovisual Librarian.  Malcolm is a much-published author. In 1996 Harrogate Borough Council awarded Malcolm the Freedom of the Borough for his services as the town’s historian.