If you want to know about Huddersfield’s past look no further than Huddersfield and District Family History Society.
It’s a registered charity which has been in existence since 1987 and has now just helped a Honley man research a history of the village in World War One.
Cyril Ford first turned to the society for help two years ago and he has been a weekly visitor ever since. Cyril is archivist for the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and secretary of the Huddersfield and District Veterans’ Association and he had already started researching the names on the Honley War Memorial and came to the society’s base in Meltham called Root Cellar to continue his research in greater depth.
With the assistance of HDFHS volunteers, Cyril was able to bring the names on the war memorial to life – addresses, parents, siblings, spouses, occupations and, in certain cases, wills were all discovered.
The facilities at Meltham – which include online search facilities with access to websites such as Ancestry and Findmypast, parish records and census information – proved invaluable in his searches. Cyril was extremely diligent. For example, in the 1911 census, some young men were found to be at boarding schools – usually sons of the well to do. In these cases he contacted those schools which are still in existence and obtained and shared information with them. He also enthused the volunteers he came into contact with and some assisted in his task in their own time. Cyril has also readily assisted both staff and visitors in their queries about the Great War.
He said: “I am extremely grateful to HDFHS volunteers. Their assistance and enthusiasm have been extremely valuable.”
The culmination of his research has resulted in a book called Honley in the Great War 1914-1918 by Cyril Ford and Honley Civic Society. The society complemented the research with articles about life and people of Honley.
In the early days the society met in the Kirklees Junior Library or Huddersfield Town Hall but didn’t at the start have any premises of their own.
Initially some were found in Honley to make room for the many items which were being stored in members’ homes but the building in Honley soon became too small and a move was then made to the basement of Slaithwaite Town Hall.
This was where the current name of the society’s headquarters, The Root Cellar, has its origins – the premises being in a cellar with its members searching for their roots.
Many will remember the Family History Society’s next location on Huddersfield Road in Meltham where the Kirkwood Hospice shop currently stands. Then four years ago the committee decided that because of problems of flooding in the basement on Huddersfield Road the society should move to new premises just off Greens End Road and next to Greens End Garage.
Although the society is now based in Meltham it covers the whole of the area of Kirklees and offers a service for around 900 members worldwide. The Root Cellar research room is open most days of the week – see the website for more details: www.hdfhs.org.uk .
The society is holding its annual Family and Local History Fair this year at Cathedral House, St Thomas’ Road, Huddersfield, on Saturday, November 8. It is hoped that Cyril will be at the fair when he will sign copies of his book.
As well as the attendance of many Yorkshire family history societies, local history groups and commercial suppliers at this year’s fair there will also be three lectures.
David Griffiths will talk about Researching Public Lives in 19th Century Huddersfield. David, a member of Huddersfield Local History Society, has written a number of books devoted to the local history of Huddersfield and he will be using his research for Joseph Brook of Greenhead as an example of the techniques and pointers that family historians might use in their own research.
Another speaker will be David Smith from Huddersfield University with a talk called A peek inside Heritage Quay which is the new home of the university archives. David will share some of the hidden stories contained within and provide an introduction to the Heritage Lottery-funded facilities that house them.
And finally John Rumsby will give a talk entitled Yours for Eternity, a Romance of the Great War. This is the story of a wartime romance between two young Huddersfield people which is being told following the discovery of 150 letters and postcards hidden in a tin box in a house in Birkby after almost a century.
John, a former museum curator, is a local historian and the box was passed to him when it was found in an attic.
Huddersfield and District Family History Society has lots to offer those starting out on their research as well as a great deal for more experienced family historians and they hope that people will join them at the fair either to get started on their own family history, where volunteers will be on hand with help and advice, or to further more advanced research.
Admission is £2.50, under16s are free and the fair will be open from 10am until 4pm.
