Carlinghow Liberal Club, Batley
The Carlinghow Liberal Club was the fore runner to Batley Liberal Club and was founded in 1874. It held its meetings in buildings which belonged to the Co Operative Stores. Cross Bank in Carlinghow. The formal opening of the club was held in April 1874 followed by a tea and public meeting where various speakers spoke about the importance of clubs where
A glee party rounded off the evening consisting of a selection of music and song.
The club were making improvements to the premises in 1876 when in order to make room for the they advertised for sale -
By 1879 the rooms that were being used were too small to accommodate the growing membership of the club, which then stood at 161, and so a new building was erected almost next door. The new building included a large reading room, smoke room, a billiard room that contained two billiard tables, committee rooms and a large hall for meetings. The cost of this new building was put at £1651 and Frederick Priestley, who was the first secretary of the club, was instrumental in raising funds for the construction. Due to his efforts £200 was raised in subscriptions towards the cost of the building.
The Marquis of Ripon formally opened the building on 24 June 1879 and it was was advertised in the Dewsbury Reporter. the paper stated that the club would be opened at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and that afterwards there would be a “GRAND BANQUET” in the town hall at Batley at 4 o’clock. This banquet would be presided over by the Lord Mayor of Batley Alderman Edwin Talbot and went on to say that
The large hall was described as being decorated with “festoons” and “mottoes appropriate for the occasion”.
Celebrations continued afterwards with a banquet being held in Batley Town Hall and then a public meeting at Batley Skating Rink where the Marquis spoke of his joy on opening Carlinghow Liberal Club.
As part of the idea of being able to gain political knowledge lectures were held in the club rooms and also in larger public venues under the auspices of the club. One such was a lecture by James Hardaker of Bradford who spoke about Liberalism at Batley Town Hall in September 1874.
Members also attended meetings and conferences held by Liberals around the country such as a Peace Conference at the Free trade Hall, Manchester in May 1878. These political meetings drew large crowds and therefore often needed much larger sites than the club premises to accommodate them.
One such place was the Batley Skating Rink. This was a wooden building on Bradford Road, Batley, built in 1874 and a number of meetings had been held there previously such as the one after the clubs opening. John Simon, MP, Liberal candidate for Dewsbury, addressed crowds there under club auspices on several occasions including one catastrophic meeting in 1879.
The skating rink could hold 3000 people and a gallery had been constructed around three sides of the premises that could accommodate around 800 people. The reason for the gallery construction seems to have been to enable skating to continue whilst a meeting was going on. At this particular meeting held by Carlinghow Liberal Club with John Simon addressing a crowd of over 3000 the wooden gallery collapsed! Read Batley Skating Rink page for the full story.
On the occasion of William E Gladstone, the Prime Minister, visit to Leeds in October 1881, the club ensured that they were represented.
Many lectures and addresses were arranged by the club committee and held in the club buildings including talks by John Simon, MP and Charles Bradlaugh, MP for Northampton.
The club was also used as a venue for meetings of other organisations. One such was a meeting held in 1886 under the auspices of Batley Branch of the Irish National Land League of Great Britain, a political club that is still in existence today in the town. Mr H Parks of Leeds presided over the meeting and a motion of thanks was made by Mr D Phillips of Batley to Prime Minister William E Gladstone for his support for Irish self-government. The meeting was reported in the Leeds Mercury 10 May 1886.
In 1889 the club found itself in financial difficulties and had to be closed. The buildings which they had erected had cost £1758 and they had only managed to raise £554 through a bazaar and subscriptions towards the cost of construction. The starting deficit of £1200 was a
The members had struggled to pay the interest on the debt and had no real opportunity of reducing it. In light of this the decision was made to close the club and sell off the buildings. They were bought by a Mr Hirst, who was a past President of the club. Mr Hirst completely refurbished the premises after which he gave the club the opportunity to buy them back from him for the sum of £760, which was his outlay on the building, or they could rent the property from him at an annual rent of £15. It is unknown which offer they took but the club did reopen and continue as before. There was a feeling that with the clearing of all the previous liabilities the club had “a future of political usefulness” laid open to them.
A reopening of the club was arranged with James Joshua Carter, who was a magistrate and former Lord Mayor of Batley, and the club President. He informed the club members of all these arrangements.
Mark Oldroyd, MP, reopened the club and addressed its members. He was very well received and spoke of his delight in attending such “an interesting function”. He went on to say that he hoped
He reminded them that the strength of a political party came from each individual member, young and old who could strengthen their politics through discussion of
“members could gain knowledge of political matters”.
The Bradford Observer. 27 April 1874
A glee party rounded off the evening consisting of a selection of music and song.
 |
| Leeds Mercury |
The club were making improvements to the premises in 1876 when in order to make room for the they advertised for sale -
“a first class billiard table with all appurtances.”
Leeds Mercury 17 Sept 1874.
By 1879 the rooms that were being used were too small to accommodate the growing membership of the club, which then stood at 161, and so a new building was erected almost next door. The new building included a large reading room, smoke room, a billiard room that contained two billiard tables, committee rooms and a large hall for meetings. The cost of this new building was put at £1651 and Frederick Priestley, who was the first secretary of the club, was instrumental in raising funds for the construction. Due to his efforts £200 was raised in subscriptions towards the cost of the building.
The Marquis of Ripon formally opened the building on 24 June 1879 and it was was advertised in the Dewsbury Reporter. the paper stated that the club would be opened at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and that afterwards there would be a “GRAND BANQUET” in the town hall at Batley at 4 o’clock. This banquet would be presided over by the Lord Mayor of Batley Alderman Edwin Talbot and went on to say that
“the Marquis
and other noblemen and gentlemen will be present”.
A great Liberal meeting was to be held
afterwards at the Skating Rink at 6.30.
Tickets for the banquet were 7s 6d and tickets for reserved seats at the
meeting were 2s 6d. Dewsbury Reporter 21 June 1879 |
| Dewsbury Reporter June 1879 |
The large hall was described as being decorated with “festoons” and “mottoes appropriate for the occasion”.
Celebrations continued afterwards with a banquet being held in Batley Town Hall and then a public meeting at Batley Skating Rink where the Marquis spoke of his joy on opening Carlinghow Liberal Club.
 |
| Henry Frederick Beaumont, creator of Beaumont Park, Huddersfield. |
Henry Frederick Beaumont presided over the opening of the new Carlinghow Club.
As part of the idea of being able to gain political knowledge lectures were held in the club rooms and also in larger public venues under the auspices of the club. One such was a lecture by James Hardaker of Bradford who spoke about Liberalism at Batley Town Hall in September 1874.
Members also attended meetings and conferences held by Liberals around the country such as a Peace Conference at the Free trade Hall, Manchester in May 1878. These political meetings drew large crowds and therefore often needed much larger sites than the club premises to accommodate them.
One such place was the Batley Skating Rink. This was a wooden building on Bradford Road, Batley, built in 1874 and a number of meetings had been held there previously such as the one after the clubs opening. John Simon, MP, Liberal candidate for Dewsbury, addressed crowds there under club auspices on several occasions including one catastrophic meeting in 1879.
 |
| Daily News.. 19 Nov 1879 |
The skating rink could hold 3000 people and a gallery had been constructed around three sides of the premises that could accommodate around 800 people. The reason for the gallery construction seems to have been to enable skating to continue whilst a meeting was going on. At this particular meeting held by Carlinghow Liberal Club with John Simon addressing a crowd of over 3000 the wooden gallery collapsed! Read Batley Skating Rink page for the full story.
 |
| W. E. Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister |
On the occasion of William E Gladstone, the Prime Minister, visit to Leeds in October 1881, the club ensured that they were represented.
Many lectures and addresses were arranged by the club committee and held in the club buildings including talks by John Simon, MP and Charles Bradlaugh, MP for Northampton.
 |
| Charles Bradlaugh, MP for Northampton |
 |
| John Simon, MP |
The club was also used as a venue for meetings of other organisations. One such was a meeting held in 1886 under the auspices of Batley Branch of the Irish National Land League of Great Britain, a political club that is still in existence today in the town. Mr H Parks of Leeds presided over the meeting and a motion of thanks was made by Mr D Phillips of Batley to Prime Minister William E Gladstone for his support for Irish self-government. The meeting was reported in the Leeds Mercury 10 May 1886.
In 1889 the club found itself in financial difficulties and had to be closed. The buildings which they had erected had cost £1758 and they had only managed to raise £554 through a bazaar and subscriptions towards the cost of construction. The starting deficit of £1200 was a
“dead weight on their existence”.
A reopening of the club was arranged with James Joshua Carter, who was a magistrate and former Lord Mayor of Batley, and the club President. He informed the club members of all these arrangements.
Mark Oldroyd, MP, reopened the club and addressed its members. He was very well received and spoke of his delight in attending such “an interesting function”. He went on to say that he hoped
“the membership of the club would considerably increase because he believed that such an institution as that was capable of producing good political work.”
He stressed that primarily the club was a political club which could only serve its purpose when “promoting political objects”.
“political questions” and studying “political literature”
and that “The question of personal influence must also not be lost sight of.”
Whilst he recommended that they would “not do amiss to cultivate social friendships” which would help in the “sterner work” he reminded that that primarily the duty of the club was to promote “political organisation” and to take their fair share of responsibility for this and make “future victory secure.”
Leeds Mercury 18 Nov 1889
There are
reports of a variety of social events held by the club including many billiards
matches with opposing clubs. In 1874 the
Dewsbury Reporter reported that a “band of singers” associated with the club
would visit friends during Christmas morning to sing to them. Dewsbury
Reporter 19 December 1874.
1875 saw the
club holding its second “annual soiree” with tea set for 300 people, although only
200 attended, taking place in the Wesleyan Schoolroom, which had been lent to
the club for the occasion. As with many of their social events this was followed
by a public meeting in Batley Town Hall.
William Brooke, the Mayor of Batley, was in the chair supported by
Alderman Robert Talbot, a former Lord Mayor of Batley, amongst others. There was a selection of music which was
provided by Miss Bailey and Miss Lacey, treble, P Blakeley and S. S. Farrar,
alto, E. Farrar, tenor, and R Blakeley, bass accompanied by Mr J. W. Allatt on
the piano at intervals in the meeting. The Mayor congratulated them on the establishment
of a Liberal Working Men’s Club in Carlinghow and was glad to see it was prospering
and that they were all united in the cause of Liberalism.
T. S. Parr as secretary of the club, presented
the annual report and in this he observed that they had had many difficulties
during the year. Apparently the club had
made heavy outlays and consequently had borrowed heavily and so at the end of
the year was indebted to the tune of £135. The hope was that the debt could be cleared
off in two years. At the soiree the
previous year several of the members had made donations to the club to help them
out and there was some hope that this might happen again. Membership at the club had increased
form 106 the previous year to 140 members. It was hoped that if members of
local parliament attended the club that this would attract more membership.
Mr Parr went
on to say that the purpose of forming the club had been to have a place where
national and local political questions could be discussed. Also to provide
“facilities for mental
acquirements, social intercourse and amusements.”
There was a
large room that had two billiard tables, plus draughts chess and dominoes to
provide amusement and relaxation. When the club had opened they had only one
billiard table, but as numbers increased and billiards proved to be a popular
amusement, they were obliged to purchase another in 1875. Apparently many
members had objected to this purchase at the time saying that it encouraged
young men to get together and “gamble” but it proved to be the opposite. The young
men who previously would have gone to a public house for entertainment had now
joined the club and no gambling had been seen in the club. Indeed many had
taken up other opportunities provided by the club.
The club
supplied a wide range of periodicals in the reading room to suit the range of
members including “Contemporary Review”, “National Reformer”, Christian Age and
some of the London and provincial daily papers. The reading room was reported to be well used
and the club went on to have night classes during the winter time, providing as
they saw it
“amusements to elevate the mind.”
Wednesday evening saw writing and dictation classes being held. Tuesday and Thursday evenings arithmetic and
reading were taught. Books and writing
material as well as teaching were provided free to members. Fred Priestley stated at the annual meeting
that coming to the Carlinghow Club
“tended to take away the cares and anxieties
of the day.”
Dewsbury Reporter 8 May
1875
The club
arranged a visit to Hawarden, the home of the Prime Minister William Gladstone on
“Batley Feast Day” in 1881. They were to
travel by train to Queen’s Ferry Station which was a short distance from
Gladstone’s home. The club had made arrangements with the London and North
Western Company to run the train leaving Morley at 5.30am and changing at
Huddersfield. It was expected that Gladstone would say “a few words” to them
during their visit. Dewsbury Reporter 17
September 1881
Entries in
Kelly’s Directory shows the club in 1899 and Alfred Heald was elected to be its
President that year.
Alderman Joseph
Auty, President of the Dewsbury United Liberal Association, addressed a meeting
at the club in November 1901. The
President of the club at that time was Edwin Talbot. Mr Auty was there to refute claims that there
had been anything dishonourable about the selection of Mr W Runciman as the
Liberal candidate for Dewsbury. His address was given in a “most vigorous
language” and he contended that while the trade unionists had a perfect right
to want their own man, Mr Runciman was
“a gentlemen of such qualifications as
would suit a manufacturing community such as Dewsbury and Batley”.
Leeds
Mercury 8 November 1901
Another “great
meeting” was held at the club in 1903 when Mr W Runciman addressed a meeting
there. He was received with "great
enthusiasm.” Leeds Mercury 27 November 1903.
In June 1918
the club advertised in the Leeds Mercury for a steward and stewardess and the
address of the club was given for applications – Ings Road, Batley.
No further evidence is available so far,
although it is believed that Carlinghow Club combined and became Batley Liberal
Club.
