Huddersfield family’s 1815 bank note mystery

Oct 28 2009 By Emma Davison

The notes have been hanging in Mr Dyson’s Longroyd Bridge office since he set up Northern Battery Service there.

His children Lynda, Sara and Jamie later took over the business and Mr Dyson passed away in 2001.

The Kirkburton-born man was a well-known local businessman.

As well as his business he also owned a few pubs around Huddersfield in the 80s and 90s.

These included the Clothiers Arms in Stocksmoor and the Cask and Spindle in Shepley.

Lynda believes her father’s involvement with the pubs could hold the key as to where the old notes came from

She said: “It is very possible that he found the notes in one of the pubs, but it would be lovely to know if anyone had ideas where they came from.

“They are not worth a great deal – they were valued at about £100 for the pair – but as a piece of local history they are quite an interesting thing to have.”

The Huddersfield Bank Ltd was one of five banks in Huddersfield which failed in the early 19th century.

It collapsed in 1816, but in 1979 the Examiner reported that Marsh couple Mr and Mrs Martin Hirst still had one of its notes – a 1799 one guinea note – after it had been handed down through the family.

The first bank notes were issued in Huddersfield in 1779 by local printer Joseph Brook.

The year the 1815 notes were issued Napoleon was defeated at the battle of Waterloo and English poet Lord Byron married Anna Isabella Milbanke in Durham.