When Wayne Harrison and his wife Babette moved into the house where Harold Wilson lived as a child they had no idea about their illustrious forebear.

The couple say it was only thanks to a taxi driver who mentioned it when they moved into their house on Warneford Road, Cowersley, in 2007 that made them aware they were living in the presence of history.

Babette, a mother of two young children, said friends were disbelieving and she was forced to look up Wilson’s background on Wikipedia before they were convinced.

Former home of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson on Warneford Road, Cowlersley, Huddersfield
Former home of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson on Warneford Road, Cowlersley, Huddersfield

Wayne, a 30-year-old student at the University of Huddersfield, said: “We bought the house without having a clue about Harold Wilson living here as a boy.

“But three years after we moved in a BBC crew came along and made a documentary about him including his early years and we appeared in that though by the time it screened we forgot to watch it!”

Babette, a learning disability nurse, said: “It’s pretty awesome and people are quite interested in the story. We quite often wonder whereabouts he was born in the house.

“I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we are part of history. It’s nice for our two children, five-year-old Breanna and two-year-old Ellie that they were brought up in the same house as a famous Prime Minister.

“Wayne and I joke that there should be one of those historic blue plaques placed outside the house and we could give conducted tours of our three-bedroom home.”

Irene Seymour, 80, who lives just down the road, said: “My aunt Doris used to go to New St School with Harold. She said he was a loner and his mother used to kick him out and make him play with the lads roundabouts.

Irene Seymour, a resident of Warnerford Road, Cowersley, Huddersfield. Her aunt Doris went to school with former Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Irene Seymour, a resident of Warnerford Road, Cowersley, Huddersfield. Her aunt Doris went to school with former Prime Minister Harold Wilson

“The school has been pulled down now and part of it’s a doctor's surgery. I didn’t know it was 50 years since he became Prime Minister.”

Michelle Roberts, a 46-year-old self-employed designer, said: “I’ve lived here for four years and was completely unaware that he lived here.”

Wilson was born into a political family at Warneford Road.

His father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel was a schoolteacher before her marriage.

When Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street.

His youth also saw him become a supporter of his hometown football club, Huddersfield Town.

After the New Street School, Wilson won a scholarship to attend the former Royds Hall Grammar School, but then moved to the Wirrall with his family as his father got a new job.

At Oxford, he went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics and graduated with an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree.