Civic Art Collection rediscovered: Ossett

Eli Townend, 1846 to 1910, champion of the poor.
Eli Townend was born in Ossett in 1846. He was partially blind and his parents were poor. He would never be able to read or write so they didn't send him to school. They couldn't afford the penny a day for it. Eli remembered his childhood later. He understood the immense difficulties his parents were facing. This was when the families of working men rarely saw new milk, he said. They never saw butter and seldom touched meat. He knew how hard life could be, but he wouldn't let it beat him.

Eli spent his life working to improve his situation and to help others. But first he needed an education and one came to him in the most unlikely way. When he was around nine years old, Eli's parents added to their meagre income by becoming caretakers of the Temperance Society Saloon on Bank Street.

It was mostly used by working men who met to play board games, read the papers, and discuss current events. Eli listened. He listened. He soaked it in and his knowledge grew.

His first jobs were menial. When he was 15, he turned the handle of the Ossett Observer's printing press. That job and the people he worked with must have meant a lot to him because he saved every copy for 25 years and later had them bound and gifted to Ossett Library. Eli knew how hard life could be, how and how important education was. He went on to work at Healey Old Mill as a rag grinder. If anyone could hustle, Eli could. And he spent his evening selling hot peas to men on the way home from the pub. He became a well-known figure standing in the marketplace wearing a cotton smock and holding a Billy can of peas.

Eli noticed that the rag business was taking over from cloth manufacturing in Ossett. So he saved his money from both his jobs and bought a bale of rags, which he sold on for a profit. Eli knew how hard life could be, but he hadn't let it beat him. He was a businessman now. He and a friend were in partnership to start with, but eventually Eli went into business for himself and from 1870, he was a mungo and shoddy manufacturer with premises at Healey Low Mill. He had a good reputation. Other businesses liked working with him and people liked to work for him. He expected a good day's work but he paid fairly and if someone deserved a wage increase, he'd give it to them. He was a generous person. Every Christmas he gave blankets and calls to the poor. He supported every worthy cause and invited the children from the workhouse to his home for an evening of entertainment.

A man like Eli couldn't help but be political. He'd done well for himself and he wanted to do well for others. In 1882, he was elected to the Ossett local board and the Dewsbury Board of Guardians. They were responsible for the poor law at the Dewsbury Workhouse where the Ossett poor were also sent. Eli was a progressive activist on the board and a gifted speaker. Back then, working class people mostly rented their homes and Eli argued for rates to be paid by the property owners instead of the tenants. He said that manufacturers should pay water bills to protect the poor. He argued for public bars and recreation spaces. Eli travelled as well and brought back wonderful collections to Ossett. He loved life. He was known as a fun and kind man, though you wouldn't want to cross him. He was almost always elected at the top of the poll.

Eli knew how hard life could be and if he could help a good cause, then his hand was in his pocket. He cared about people and they cared about him. Hundreds turned out to watch the procession at his funeral. How many people had Eli helped? The partially blind son of a poor man and woman? Eli knew how hard life could be, but he never let it beat him and he spent his life helping others, this champion of the poor.

I think that he was, um, a remarkable man, for all the reasons that we've just discussed. But also I think partly for his political views. At a time when most people were monarchists, he was Republican. He had little time for the royal family, which of course at that time was headed by Queen Victoria and then by Edward VII. Although in many respects, I find him admirable, he was in some ways a reactionary. He opposed vaccination against smallpox and lots of people listened to him, lots of people followed his advice and didn't have their children vaccinated, which meant that when smallpox did strike us and it did, children suffered unnecessarily because of his views. But he was, as we've just said, overall, you know, he was a very popular figure in Ossett and he did a lot for the town and the collection of newspapers that he donated survive for years in Ossett Library.

And in fact, when he was employed turning the handle, it was for the very first edition of the Ossett Observer in 1864 as it rolled from the printing press. So he was in at the birth of the Ossett Observer, a newspaper which lasted, oh, until the 1970s or even the 1980s.

Portrait of Eli Townend, large oil painting in a gilt frame. Eli is seated in a chair with his right arm resting on the chair arm and his left arm resting on his leg. He's wearing dark green trousers and a black suit jacket with black shirt and waistcoat underneath. He has short brown hair and a medium brown beard of moustache with some visible grey. He's wearing a pocket watch. He's facing forward and his eyes are slightly crossed. He looks relaxed and comfortable. There's a plaque underneath the portrait that reads, Eli Townend, member of the Ossett Town Council, 1907 to 1910. This portrait was presented to the Ossett Corporation by Mr. Jack T. Archer on the eleventh of January 1932.

Edward Clay, 1844 to 1921, a champion of Ossett.

Edward Clay was the son of a blacksmith. He began work as a handloom weaver and he must have worked hard because by 1870 he went into business for himself as a rag merchant and mungo manufacturer. He'd been married for five years by then to Sophia and they had seven children. Edward cared about Ossett and 1877 he was elected to the local Board of Health. He must have been popular because he was reelected three times.

Edward was a member of the Liberal Club. He taught Sunday School at the Wesleyan Chapel and if there was a good cause he'd support it. He was one of Ossett's great champions calling for it to gain borough status, which it did in 1890. It was a busy time for Edward because just one year earlier, he'd moved his business to Wesley House so it could expand.

And after Ossett gained his borough status, Edward was elected mayor. He employed 50 women in his factory. The business continued to grow and he carried on championing Ossett. Edward was involved in lots of improvements for the town including making Station Road and getting a commission of the peace for the borough. He himself served as a magistrate and he was an honorary secretary for the Mechanics Institute.

He lost his first wife, Sophia, in 1895, but he was lucky and found love again when he met Amy, whom he married in 1898. In 1900, he was made an alderman. Times were changing again and in 1914, Britain entered the Great War. Edward's family was affected as were many people in Ossett. In 1918, as the war drew to a close, Edward became ill during the great flu epidemic. His son returned home from military service to help him with the business, which still runs today.

In 1921, Edward died, having worked hard all his life for the place and the people he loved. Edward Clay, from handloom weaver, to mayor, a champion of Ossett.

I think that Edward Clay was very much like many other businessmen of the time in Ossett in that he became deeply involved in public life. As we found out, he served on the council, he was an alderman, he was mayor, but outside of that aspect of his life, he was involved in lots of other public activities. For example, we found out teaching at the Sunday school in the Wesleyan Chapel. And of course the Wesleyan Chapel was just across the road from his home at Wesley House. Like other public men, he was somebody who was politically involved. He was a member of the the liberal club and it's worth remembering that Ossett at that time was mainly a liberal town, although there was also a conservative club in New Street in Ossett.

Portrait of Edward Clay, large oil painting in a gilt frame. Edward is seated in a chair and holding a paper with his hands in his lap. He has short grey hair and a short trimmed grey beard and moustache. He looks beyond the viewer. He's wearing a black suit with a white shirt and a large gold chain of office.

Francis Lumb Fothergill, 1842 to 1929, Jack of all trades.

Francis was born in Wakefield, but he grew up in Leeds. He started work at age six in a brickyard and later became a plumber and a furniture remover. In the 1860s, he was employed at an Ironworks in Leeds before moving to Horbury Forge. He married Rebecca Wilson in 1862 and enjoyed his stable work and home life. Horbury Forge even enabled him to travel to Europe for trade shows and to study the iron industry.

In the 1880s, Francis left Horbury Forge and went into business for himself as a rag merchant in Ossett going on to manufacture mungo. Francis served on Ossett local board and when Ossett Borough Council was formed, he became a councillor. He also became a mayor of Ossett three times, but in his final year of service, his eldest son died. His wife, Rebecca, suffered terribly and later in the year of 1903, she drowned herself.

Francis must have been overwhelmed with grief. At the time, there was also a smallpox epidemic. Francis was a chairman of Ossett's Council Sanitary Committee. So despite his own suffering and loss, he did what he could to help. He must have known better than many how short life can be. And in 1904, he married Sarah Scoles. In 1908, his business collapsed when a creditor failed and Francis was left dependent on his pension.

When war broke out in 1914, he tried to sign up despite being in his 70s. Sarah had died and he remarried again in 1915. Francis had been a member of the Territorial Army and he wasn't going to let old age stop him from doing something he believed in. He gave up his pension and worked on farms in Selby, encouraging others to sign up, which didn't make him very popular with farmers. Finally, he tried joining up again.

Only this time he lied about his age and said he was 50. They let him join and he served with the Royal Engineers in France. After he was demobbed in 1920, Francis went into the butter trade in Selby before finally returning to Ossett. What more might Francis do? This jack of all trades who'd known grief and sorrow untold. Surely he would stop now. But no, in his 80s, he decided to walk all the way to Scarborough and back. Francis Lumb Fothergill, a jack of all trades with an energy that never dimmed.

He must have been remarkably fit. And the fact that he was able to walk in old age from Ossett to Scarborough I think just shows how fit he was. And I suppose that fits into his character in general because he was a very resilient person. When you consider the domestic tragedies that he suffered, when you consider the business setbacks that he suffered, it shows that he was somebody who could summon up resilience, summon up the courage to continue his life.

Portrait of Alderman Francis Lumb Fothergill. A large oil painting in a gilt frame. Francis is seated in a chair with his left arm resting on the arm of the chair. He has short brown hair and a medium light brown moustache and beard peppered with grey. He's wearing red mayoral robes with a white shirt and dark waistcoat with a large gold chain of office. He looks beyond the viewer. The painting has real presence. There is a plaque underneath the picture that says presented by Alderman F.L. Fothergill, Mayor of Ossett, 1893 to 1899, and 1903 to 1904.