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The Illustrated History of Leeds
Book by Grady, Kevin, Burt, Steven
284 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 2002
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September 19, 2011
This is a highly readable account of Leeds from medieval village to modern city, by Steven Burt and Kevin Grady. It's of great interest to me, not only because I'm a Leeds loiner but because my 1920s detective, Kate Shackleton, lives in Headingley.
I was particularly interested in the chapters on the period from the Industrial Revolution, regarding day-to-day living conditions: housing, diets, wage rates, and hours worked in industry and the mills. Children worked a sixty-five hour week, which factory owner John Marshall claimed did them no harm. Waves of immigrants moved to smoke-blackened, overcrowded Leeds from the surrounding areas, and from Ireland, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
The many connections to national movements, such as the Ten Hours Movement, the Factory Acts, Chartism and Irish nationalism give the book a broad dimension and wider than local appeal. There's a huge amount of lightly worn learning here, enlivened by vivid character studies and fascinating stories, such as an account of the 'Dripping Riot'. Henry Chorley, surgeon and magistrate, had his cook committed to Armley Gaol for one month for stealing a small quanitity of dripping from his kitchen. His action touched a raw nerve in the working-class population and drew fierce and witty reactions.
Highly recommended.
I was particularly interested in the chapters on the period from the Industrial Revolution, regarding day-to-day living conditions: housing, diets, wage rates, and hours worked in industry and the mills. Children worked a sixty-five hour week, which factory owner John Marshall claimed did them no harm. Waves of immigrants moved to smoke-blackened, overcrowded Leeds from the surrounding areas, and from Ireland, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
The many connections to national movements, such as the Ten Hours Movement, the Factory Acts, Chartism and Irish nationalism give the book a broad dimension and wider than local appeal. There's a huge amount of lightly worn learning here, enlivened by vivid character studies and fascinating stories, such as an account of the 'Dripping Riot'. Henry Chorley, surgeon and magistrate, had his cook committed to Armley Gaol for one month for stealing a small quanitity of dripping from his kitchen. His action touched a raw nerve in the working-class population and drew fierce and witty reactions.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 of 1 review