Cleckheaton Conservative Club
 |
From Cleckheaton in Times Past, Margaret Mead
|
The Cleckheaton Conservative Club was formed shortly after
the general election in 1867 but had no premises of its own at that point. They met in rooms above the Huddersfield
Banking Company Branch Bank on Bradford Road, Cleckheaton. An inaugural
banquet of Cleckheaton Working Men’s Conservative Association was held at the
National School, George Taylor of the Royal Hotel supplied the food for the
occasion and the Cleckheaton Band played. Tickets for the event were sold out,
as around 200 men attended. Yorkshire
Post 27 April 1867 and Leeds Mercury 25
April 1867
Despite have no premises of their own they appear to have
been quite an active group, holding various events including an annual dinner which
in 1873 was held in the
“News & Club Rooms”.
Membership in 1873 stood at 110 members and
70 were reported to have attended the dinner.
Numbers must have risen by 1879 as the annual dinner was held at The
Royal Hotel a much larger venue.
The club had an offer from Mr G T Bull, a member of the local
Board, to move to more
“commodious premises”
in 1883 and so a meeting was held
of club members to discuss this. The rooms that the club occupied were still
those over the branch of the Huddersfield Banking Company and the Local Board
Rooms, which was a very central and prominent position in the town. The members resolved not to accept the offer
but to remain in their current premises.
Bradford Daily Telegraph 8 June 1883
By 1886 there was another proposal for new premises in order to
provide better accommodation for the club and public meetings. The need for a change to larger premises had come as
numbers of Conservatives had increased and more
“extensive premises had become
an absolute necessity”
in order to provide of only for members but a
“rallying
point for Conservatives”
across the district.
The proposals were reported in The Yorkshire Evening Post in
May 1886 with the selected site being located on Town Street and Albion Street
in the town centre. This site was occupied by a block of buildings known as
“Pigeon Cote” which had frontages on both streets and the cost total was
expected to be in the region of £4000. The
central position of the new premises was seen to be one of the best positions
in the town, as can be seen in the picture of the completed club at the top of the page.
In order to raise the capital for the project a limited
company was set up with Guy Goldthorp,
as chairman and registered on 26th June 1886 as – the Cleckheaton
and Spen Valley Conservative Club Buildings Company with their registered
office being at St John’s Chambers, Cleckheaton. Funds were raised by
selling shares costing a £1 each, which as the Yorkshire Evening Post reported
was to
“give persons of slender means and
opportunity of having an interest in the undertaking.” YEP 21st May 1886.
This
proved a very successful venture with over 1000 shares being subscribed for in
May 1886 and which by December of that year had netted £4500 for the building
fund.
 |
| Yorkshire Evening Post 21st May 1886 |
William Henry
Howorth, a local architect in Cleckheaton, was instructed to prepare plans
for the building which he duly submitted for approval and these were accepted
by both the building committee and the Conservative Party in the town. William Henry Howorth appears to have been a prolific architect in the town.
The outlay of £4000 was seen a good
investment as there would be a return from portions of the building that were
to be let out to businesses. The
basement was to be a warehouse and the ground floor shops. The club rooms would be accessed by a
staircase to the first floor on which there would be a bar, toilet, and
“a
commodious smoke room”.
A large billiard room, a news room, a private room,
committee room for the divisional association and also rooms for the registered
office of the company, would also occupy the first floor. It was intended that
the second floor would be set apart as a large hall of around 64 feet by 29
feet which would be able to hold around 600 people. Adjoining this hall there would be a kitchen
and two retiring rooms.
 |
| Leeds Times |
Having the funds and approved plans
in place to begin the construction, the cornerstone of the new building was
laid on 2nd December 1886 by Frederick
Ellis of Highfield House, Dewsbury who was the President of the Divisional
Association. Although the expected costs
of the building had risen to £4500 by this time adequate funds had been
collected to enable the project to proceed.
There was a large crowd to watch the stone laying ceremony. A time capsule, a bottle containing
newspapers and coins was placed under the cavity of the corner stone. Frederick
Ellis and Mr Horsfall, who represented the
contractors, were both presented with a silver trowel and mallet. At the end of
the ceremony the Cleckheaton Brass Band, who had played throughout the proceedings,
concluded with the National Anthem. A
celebratory dinner was then held in the Masonic Hall for about 100 people. Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer 6
December 1886
Given that one of the large shops can be seen in a photograph to have been “Ellis & Co” a well-known grocery business which
had been established in the town in the 1850’s. One wonders if this may have
been a connection to the Frederick Ellis who laid the foundation stone. he was a prominent figure of the times and was
reported to be
“a popular Chairman of
Spen valley Conservative Association”
and stood as a candidate for local MP
for the area in July 1892. Spen Valley Past and Present; Frank Peel.
 |
| Viscount Lewisham. |
“The Conservative Club, in Market
& Albion Streets, erected in 1887, at a cost of nearly £4000, is a building
of stone in the gothic style, from plans by Mr William Henry Howorth, architect
of this town (Cleckheaton) and comprises a large billiard room, smoking and
news rooms, dining rooms, bar,, kitchen and lavatories. Ground floor comprise three large shops, and
the branch premises of the West Riding
Union Banking Co Ltd and attached is s residence for a caretaker.”
After the opening ceremony a celebratory banquet was held and although Kelly’s Directory gives the cost of the building as £4000 other news reports of the time state the final cost was £5000. Leeds Mercury 3 December 1887. Manchester Courier 1 December 1887.
The annual report of 1897 showed the value of the property to be £4566 16s 6d and by 1899 there was a membership of 239.
1901 saw the death of Queen Victoria and the club sent its
condolences to King Edward VII and the Royal family. Captain Glossop, the Conservative candidate
for the area, said when speaking at the club that the Queen had been
“queen of
queens, a monarch of monarchs, a sovereign of sovereigns and above all a woman
amongst women”
Bradford Observer 26
January 1901
The club was used for a variety of purposes including being
used by the Rural Dean of Birstall for a meeting in 1890. Billiards matches between
rival clubs were also held there and brought some income to the club. In 1891 the club
began to hold a series of “smoking” concerts in the club but it is unknown what
these involved. Yorkshire Post 7
December 1891.
In 1903 members of the club being entertained
at an “invitation” ball in the Cleckheaton Town Hall. The invitations came from
Samuel Law of Carlton House, who was President of the Club. Yorkshire Evening
Post 17 January 1903. Samuel Law, had lived at Carlton House for
many years and was associated with the largest firm of card clothing
manufacturers in the world. He had been
a generous supporter of many institutions including the Conservative Club. and died suddenly in 1915 Yorkshire
Evening Post 3 June 1915
Presentations to prominent members to reward them for their
services show the loyalty that people had towards the club In 1904
David White was presented with a
gold watch, gold chain and pendant, and sovereign purse by members of the club
and his wife was presented with a George III tea and coffee service. This was in recognition of his service to the
club over the previous seven years. The
value of the gifts was put at between £40 and £50. Hull Daily Mail 3 May 1904, similarly
in 1934 Charles Harris,
secretary of the club was presented with a leather armchair to mark his 80th
birthday. He had been a member of the
club for 32 years and secretary for 12. Yorkshire
Post 17 February 1934
In February 1910 the club was broken into. The thieves had gained entry by forcing the
rear door of the building and the door of the bar. The sum of £10 or £11 was
taken and some cigars. There was also
evidence that the burglar had been into the cellar but no record of anything
being taken from there. Yorkshire Evening Post 5 February 1910
 |
| Stanley Baldwin |
In 1931 John Holroyd, President of the club, had
suggested that Stanley Baldwin might
like to speak at the club. Mr Baldwin
wrote to the club to say that he would be pleased speak there and proceeded to
do so after a banquet at the Spen Valley Chamber of Commerce. 17 November 1931
 |
| Sir John Simon |
Cleckheaton Conservative Club took ownership of the Cleckheaton Liberal Club buildings in Northgate in the 1930s, when John Simon, MP, changed his party allegiance at the time of the National Government. Although Kelly’s Directory of 1936 shows both the Club and the Conservative Association as being based on Bradford Road, Cleckheaton.
The 1930s was an unusual era in British politics, one which was presided over by a “National Government”. The origins of the National Government go back to the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald, who was Prime Minister between 1924 and 1931, and later leader of the National Government until 1935.
After WW1 a memorial was placed in the club for
those members who had given their lives during the war and in 1949 a memorial
plaque inscribed with the names of 52 members of the Cleckheaton Conservative
Club who served in WW2, including five who survived was unveiled in the club. Yorkshire Evening Post 27 October 1949
Women Members.
 |
| Yorkshire Evening Post |
Although the club was a male preserve women did
eventually gain a political voice and reports of their political meetings connected with
Cleckheaton Conservatives can be found in the early 20th
century. Prior to Viscount Lewisham
opening the club he encouraged the women of the Spen Valley to form a Primrose
League as soon as the club opened. Leeds
Mercury 1 December 1887.
A report in 1931 shows the activity of the women
in the Spen Valley. The Spen Valley Women’s Conservative and Unionist
Association met at the Conservative Club
in February and Mrs H Fisher said that “it was their duty to support their
leader in every way and work with one object in view” to return the
Conservative Party to power, Yorkshire Post 23 February 1931.
In 1932 they held a sale of work at the club which was opened by R H Turton, MP for
Thirsk. The gathering of women was from
all the Primrose Clubs in the area - Cleckheaton, Gomersal, Birkenshaw,
Birstall, Gildersome, Kirkheaton, Northorpe, Mirfield, Heckmondwike and
Liversedge Branches. Turton addressed the gathering on the necessity of common
endeavour to pull the country out of crisis and praised John Simon, MP. Yorkshire Evening Post 20 October 1932.
By 1934 at their annual meeting held in
the club, it was shown in the report that membership had increased. The collective name for the branches was the “Shirley”
Habitation of the Primrose League.
In 1948 electoral registers shows that the club
had premises on Mount Street in Cleckheaton with Friend Barraclough and
family having residence there possibly as caretaker or club steward. An advert
placed in the Yorkshire Post on 19 April 1955 for “a steward and his wife for
the club. Living quarters, coal. Light,
heat, rent and rates free, CA wages. A
bond of £50 required” also gave the address of the club as Mount Street. Yorkshire Post 19 April 1955.
 |
| Savoy Square, 2018 site of Cleckheaton Conservative Club |
The original club building on Town Street and Albion Street no longer exist. This area is now known as Savoy Square, a large open space used for many open air events during the year.
