Huddersfield Local History Society is a membership organisation for anybody and everybody interested in the history of the town. Our established activities include monthly talks from September to May; a summer outing; an autumn seminar; an annual journal, free to members; and a series of booklets. We are keen to recruit new members and to develop opportunities for members to share their interests in local history and work together to find out more about our fascinating town. Please explore our website and contact us here for further information.
Publications update
Newly available, with revisions, after a period out of print is Queen Street Chapel and Mission Huddersfield by Edward Royle.
Also recently reprinted is Public Lives: the family of Joseph Woodhead, by Pamela Cooksey. Woodhead was the founder and proprietor of the Huddersfield Examiner, and the family played many significant roles in 19th century Huddersfield.
Purchase details of both are on our booklets page. All our booklets can now be purchased on-line by PayPal as well as by post.
Our annual journal has been revamped and the 2011 edition is now available on public sale. On other pages you can view the contents and find details of how to purchase.
Our illustrated paper, Before the Town Hall: a short guide to Huddersfield’s early civic buildings, prepared for the 130th anniversary celebration of Huddersfield Town Hall on 15 October 2011, can be downloaded here.
Searchable history
The website offers a digitised version of Discovering Old Huddersfield, by Gordon & Enid Minter, offering over 600 pages of fully searchable information on Huddersfield history.
Luddite bicentenary
We are working with the University, Kirklees Museums and others to plan commemorative activities for the bicentenary next year of the Luddite risings of 1812. Details will appear at the Luddite link website as they are announced.
The Society plans to offer a Huddersfield to Milnsbridge Luddite guided walk in 2012, and to publish a fully revised edition of Liberty or Death: Radicals, Republicans and Luddites, 1793-1823, by Alan Brooke and Lesley Kipling.
The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) have announced their courses for 2011/12, including two on the Luddites, tutored by HLHS member Dr John Hargreaves. Details of the autumn course, ‘The Yorkshire Luddites and their Legacy’ are here.
Yorkshire History Prize
Submissions are now invited for the Yorkshire History Prize essay competition in 2012 – click here for details. A published version of the 2010 winner of the 2nd prize, HLHS member David Griffiths’ essay on the 1840 Huddersfield Exhbition, is now available for free download from the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal.
Our web site
This website is always under development and we would like your feedback on how to improve it.
We cannot offer to research your local history queries, but we will do our best to point you in the right direction – check out our research resources page or contact us. You can also post queries on the forum of the Huddersfield & District Family History Society (which is a separate organisation) or make use of their family history search service. Huddersfield Local Studies Library have also set up links to a wide range of family history resources.
Header image courtesy of Kirklees Image Archive: www.kirkleesimages.org.uk
