Notable Sheffield Dates

[Sheffield History]

SHEFFIELD DATES OF INTEREST

1865.

February 4th. - Garotters in Broomhall Park; one sentenced to penal servitude for life, a second for fifteen years, the third for five years. March.

Last meeting of Inundation Commissioners, £455,164 claimed, £276,821 awarded by Commissioners.

October - Visit of the Social Science Congress to Sheffield, Lord Brougham, 86 years old, presiding.

Papers by Sir H. Phillimore on "Jurisprudence," Dr. J. C. Hall, John Wilson, Wm. Dronfield, Tom Hughes, Q.C., M.P. (author of Tom Brown's School Days), Professor Lankester, Professor Fawcett (the blind Postmaster General), Alderman Sanders, Mr. R. E. Leader, Mr. Gainsford on "A Sheffield Assize," Mr. Samuel Plimsoll, Mr. Ibbotson on "Benefit Building Societies," Mr. Frank Wever on "The Sheffield Savings Bank," Mr. S. B. Auty on "Building Societies," and a conference held during the visit between Professor Fawcett and the file smiths, the visitor seeking information respecting a possible introduction of machinery into their trade. So admirably managed was the visit that when everything had been paid there remained a surplus of £192.

1868.

First year collections for medical charities, £1,169 16 10.

1870.

Opening of New Midland Station.

1873.

March 20. - Sheffield Water Bill passes House of Commons. Death of Miss Harrison, Weston: charities, £65,000.

Town Trustees offer £50,000 towards street improvements.

December - Fall of shop property, Fargate: Askham's and Proctor's premises.

1874.

Sheffield Guardians buy Fir Vale House for new headquarters.

1875.

Midland trains Sheffield to London do the journey in 3 hours 36 minutes.

Prince and Princess of Wales open Firth Park.

1876.

First cab shelter:- Glossop Road.

Largest armour plate so far rolled--Cammell's, for the Italian Government, size 18 ft. by 5 ft., 22 inches

thick, weighing 35 tons.

Opening of skating rink in Glossop Road.

Tramways Co. suggests traction engines, not horses, for the cars.

Opening of Children's Hospital, Brook Hill.

1877.

Increase in population in 16 years, 96,958: total population of Sheffield at the time, 282,130. Sheffield's increase is larger than that of any other provincial town.

Sheffield's first cocoa house opened at Highfields.

Foundation stone laid of new asylum at Dore.

Purchase of 50 acres of land authorized from Duke of Norfolk, for new cemetery. Cost of land, £13,625, total cost estimated at £27,000.

Decision to found a truant school at Hollow Meadows.

1878.

Fulwood Road formally opened.

A terrible year in local trade.

No dividends from Brown Bayley's, Dixon's, John Round & Son, Hawksworth & Co., Midland Iron Co., Sheffield Forge & Rolling Mills, W. Cooke & Co., Yorkshire Engine Works, Sheffield Patent Brick Co.

1879.

Mr. William Bragge's priceless library and collection of paintings destroyed in the fire at Birmingham Free Library.

The Blind Institution at Broomhill opened.

The Firth College, costing £20,000, opened by Prince Leopold.

November - The last meeting of the old School Board.

The Wostenholm Memorial Hall opened by Archbishop of York.

1880.

Norfolk Drill Hall opened with a Ball.

Coming of age of the Volunteer movement.

Sheffield Amateur Parliament first meeting. Speaker, Rev. A.G.Tweedie; Clerk, Mr. Wm. McBrair; Prime Minister, Mr. Robt. Eadon Leader; Leader of the Opposition, Mr. A. Muir Wilson.

In the week ending October 2nd, 2,716 messages put through on local exchange. Rainfall in October, 3.59 inches within two days.

First Quarter Sessions in Sheffield.

1881.

Local Association for preservation of footpaths formed.

Electric light at Davy Bros. and Cyclops Works and Hoveys.

December - Corn Exchange opened.

1882.

First meeting of Sheffield Burial Board.

May - Sheffield Water Works Co. formulate scale for private baths.

The Alhambra, Union Street, burned down.

1883.

Victoria Gardens, Totley, opened by Mr. Josh. Mountain.

Mr. W. J. Clegg appointed first Official Receiver in Sheffield.

Important meeting in connexion with Technical Education in Sheffield at the Albert Hall.

1884.

Right-of-way action in Ryecroft Glen.

Duke of Norfolk offers £3,000 towards Technical Education in Sheffield.

October 31 - Hunter's Bar removed.

December - Under the Redistribution Bill Sheffield has five Members of Parliament.

1885.

First meeting of Sheffield Reform Club, privately opened August 14th.

Wm. Cooke & Co.'s workmen give a week's work in relief of the bad trade.

Council purchases Endcliffe Woods as public park.

Council institutes cycling by-laws.

Lawn Tennis tournament on Bramall Lane ground. Messrs.

Flockton & Gibbs' plans for Mappin Art Gallery approved.

September - "The Mikado" first performed in Sheffield.

Red Indian Missionaries in Sheffield.

1886.

New Sewage works opened.

Formal opening of Technical School.

Trade Union Council discusses the question of Labour Members of Parliament for Sheffield.

1887.

Vickers' capital increased from £250,000 to £1,500,000. June 20 and 21.

Queen's Jubilee celebrated in Sheffield.

September - Hexthorpe railway accident.

Small Pox scourge in the town, in December, 800 to 1,000 cases known.

1888.

Lead Poisoning in Redmires water.

Sheffield Water Co. formally handed over to the Corporation.

January - Excursions and many other trains stopped on local railways through the small pox.

The Archbishop of York issues a form of prayer during the epidemic.

February - Lodge Moor Hospital completed with 120 beds.

In the same month, the Council discusses lead poisoning and scarcity of water.

On July 8th, 1888, it is reported that not since the previous July until that date have any cases of small pox been reported.

Hammer and Pincers public house, Fulwood, opened as temperance inn.

August - Sheffield's first cycling tournament at Bramall Lane.

Mr. Asquith addresses the Hallam Women's Association.

Mr. G. A. Sala opens the Sheffield Press Club.

1889.

Company formed by Mr. Emerson Bainbridge and others to buy a site in Fargate for the Y.M.C.A.

Visit to Sheffield of the Shah of Persia, and Guardians' protest at not being invited to the function.

September - Proposed Amalgamation of Sheffield and Ecclesall Unions.

1890.

July 4. Haigh's buses run for the last time to Broomhill.

1891.

First suggestion of a Sheffield Bishopric. Lord Salisbury ignores it.

Influenza epidemic in Sheffield, April-May: e.g., week ending April 11th, 1 death; April 18th, 7 deaths; April 25th, 55 deaths; May 2nd, 112 deaths; May 9th, 100 deaths; May 16th, 54 deaths; May 23rd, 20 deaths; May 30th, 14 deaths; June 6th, 4 deaths.

1892.

Messrs. Walker & Hall install an old age pension movement for their staff.

February 10. Council Chamber lit by electric light.

1893.

Town Trustees decline to give land in Church Street for Jubilee Library.

The South Yorkshire Building Society's affairs out of the hands of the Liquidator in July, after seven years investigations, the expenses being £24,841, and the amount paid to creditors £92,981. Mr. E. S. Foster was

liquidator, and his work was very favourably commented upon at the time.

The coal strike in Sheffield in 1892, lasting a week, estimated to have cost the Midland Co. £456,924, the M. S. & L. £130,408, and the Great Northern £166,248.

The M. S. & L. compelled to withdraw its service between Sheffield and Leeds through lack of coal, and the

Sheffield Independent publishes a list of pits remaining idle after the strike had been called off, where, previously, 211,000 men had been employed.

The Sheffield Gas Co. estimates its losses at £27,000, and raises the charges to the consumers by threepence per 1,000 feet.

The M. S. & L. Co. reports that as a result of the strike it is impossible to pay a dividend on ordinary stock or

on ten million pounds worth of preference stock.

1894.

February 28th. - The death of Madame Patey occurs immediately after the gifted songstress had sung "Three Fishers went Sailing," at a concert at the Albert Hall.

The M. S. & L. Railway decides to go forward with the scheme to London.

May 23rd. - A course of eighteen holes is laid out at Lindrick for use by members of the Sheffield and District Golf Club.

May 29th. - Coal is won in the new pit at Hickleton Main at a depth of 542 yards.

First annual meeting of the Sheffield Social Questions League. In its abbreviated form the Social Questions

League became rather notorious in the city.

Lord Rosebery visits the Atlas Works and those of Walker & Hall.

1895.

Sheffield's Cottage Homes opened by Sir Walter Foster.

June - The family of the Leaders cease having an interest in the Sheffield Independent.

In a survey of the year 1895, it is reported that the only armour plate orders received during the year were confined to Brown's, Cammell's and Vickers'. In 1894-5, 23,000 tons of armour plate had been ordered from those companies by Government, and it was difficult to estimate how valuable the Harvey process was to Sheffield.

In the first six months of 1895 there is severe depression, the effects of the coal war, 1893, still being very severely felt. In the latter part of the year there comes the rebound and from all parts of the world constant demand for everything that Sheffield can supply.

1896.

February - Umpire in compensation case in connexion with the re-building of High Street, gives Messrs. John Walsh Ltd. £28,844, against the sum of £66,248 asked for.

May - W. Cooke & Co. Ltd., Tinsley Steel and Wire Works, declares a dividend for the first time in 21 years. City Council decides, with three dissentient votes, to purchase Whiteley Woods for £6,000 as a public resort. The Sheffield Tramways system formally handed over to the Corporation at midnight, July 10th.

On November 14th the restrictions on speed of automobiles removed.

December 3rd. - The City Theatre is known as the Lyceum Theatre.

1897.

February - The old Tramways Co. wound up, shareholders receiving £5 15s. 6d. per £10 share.

March 25th. - Corporation refuse destructor first used, cost £21,000.

May - Duke of Norfolk sells 3,672 acres grouse moor and farms for £63,000.

May - Duke of Norfolk gives Roe Park, 20 acres, to Sheffield for ever.

Queen Victoria in Sheffield.

Opening of Town Hall.

Contents of the Conservatories at the Botanical Gardens sold by public auction.

August - Harveyed plates pierced by Hadfields shells, with a velocity of 1,940 ft. per second, the plates being eight feet square by six inches thick.

August - Electric light is installed in the Sheffield Parish Church.

October - Cammell's capital increased from £1,050,000 to £1,750,000.

1898.

January - Scheme for a Sheffield Bishopric approved by the Privy Council, with a house and an income of £3,000, not £2,000 as originally proposed.

February - Terms arranged for purchase by Corporation of electric light undertaking.

Rebuilding of Sheffield Midland Station decided on, to cost £215,888.

April - Opening of the Howard Gallery in Chapel Walk.

April - The Duke of Norfolk sells The Farm to the Midland Railway Co.

May - The City Council seeks powers whereby the city boundaries be extended by 3,615 acres.

May - Poll for purchase of the electric light undertaking; votes for, 28,130; against, 1,965

1898.

June - The Sheffield Bishopric scheme abandoned, the Archbishop of York explaining that it would not be desirable to proceed for some years to come.

July 9th. - The City Accountant produces figures showing that the precise cost of the New Town Hall buildings was £182,128 15 5.

The Great Central main line to London is opened for coal traffic on July 25th.

October 1st. Farewell dinner of the Botanical Gardens Committee at the Masonic Hall.

The Upperthorpe and Steel Bank and Walkley Omnibus Co. wound up as a direct result of the competition with

the trams.

The Council decides to purchase the Market rights from the Duke of Norfolk for £530,000.

November 7th. - The first actual extension of the tramways service between the Parish Church and Harcourt Road.

December - Electric light undertaking wound up and handed over to the city, each shareholder receiving

£213 8 0. for every £100 of stock in the Company, and the undertaking transferred to the Corporation on

December 31st. - This year saw a very marked advance in house building in the city.

The birth rate was 33.85, and the death rate 20.24.

Extension of the suburbs in 1898 was most marked at Hunter's Bar, Fir Vale, Abbeydale and Darnall, for, "as the trams go out, the houses go up."

1899.

August 7th. - Deaths in one week 258, or 17.5 per 1,000 of the population.

August - The City Council authorized to purchase the Bole Hills.

September - Open air treatment for consumptives introduced in Sheffield.

October - First Annual Dinner of the Sheffield University College.

The year's review declares that the new Corporation Bill had done wonders for Sheffield.

Land for buildings had been obtained from Mr. J. D. Leader's estate at Walkley, the Tramways Committee lent £5,000 towards building of 20 cottages in Hands Lane, and the Bill was bringing in a greater Sheffield, drawing within the civic net outlying districts such as Norton, Beauchief, Meersbrook, Abbeydale, Hillsbro', Wincobank, part of Tinsley and Catcliffe.

In the Sheffield Telegraph there appeared at that time the following: "Cottage houses are rising like exhalations

all around; the trams are proving the great building agent, and what were not so long ago wind-swept fields are now beehive colonies. In Crookes, houses are arising as though by a magician's wand."

1900.

Wincobank Hall is taken over by the Salvation Army as a centre for rescue work.

The local Trade Review at the end of 1900 declares that "the coal trade has enjoyed a period of great prosperity at the expense of the general trade of the country."

1901.

February - The statue to the Duke of Norfolk is erected, costing £1,589.

The Sheffield Telegraph Local Reservists' Fund closes at £5,860.

British Christian Endeavour Mission in Sheffield, with 5,000 delegates.

September - Amalgamation of Queen Street and Garden Street Congregational Chapels.

November - Total population of Sheffield under Corporation Bill increased to 408,994.

November - First proposal to move the University College to St. George's Square.

1902.

January - Col. J. E. Bingham advocates through the Press an amalgamation of employers to fight the Trade Unions, and so get fair terms, and offers £10,000 towards such a combination.

January - Vickers Ltd. acquire a half share in William Beardmore Ltd., Glasgow.

January - E. H. Lemare's farewell to Sheffield, an organ recital on the Albert Hall organ.

Grants by the Technical Instruction Committee: £10,210, as against £9,506.

The Vickers-Beardmore combine approved by shareholders in increase of capital to £5,200,000 by creation of

400,000 new ordinary shares.

February - Sheffield electric system increased from single to double phase alternators to make the supply more readily applicable to power purposes.

The memorial to Queen Victoria placed in Barker's Pool, Mr. Alfred Turner being the architect.

Vickers' profit for the year, £501,292. March.

The Town Trustees give £9,000 towards the funds of the Victoria College.

Peace proclaimed at Pretoria, ending the Boer War. Great public rejoicing.

June - Census figures for Sheffield show 205,233 males and 203,837 females.

August - Coronation of King Edward VII and public rejoicings in Sheffield.

September - Viscount Kitchener in Sheffield.

November - Coronation festivities in Sheffield cost £4,711.

1903.

Dispute at Denaby; 500 evictions; good order preserved; chapels used for sleeping purposes; outside men brought in and ensuing scenes.

Endowment of the Sheffield University. The Duke of Norfolk; £8,000, Sir Hy. Stephenson £5,000, Sir Frederick Thorpe Mappin £5,000, and on December 5th total gifts amount to £50,079.

The Great Central runs a train between Sheffield and London, doing the journey in three hours exactly, 164 miles.

1904.

The new Motor Car Act in force in Sheffield.

Grant of £16,000 from the Wesleyan Million Fund to Sheffield, plus £4,000 to the New Central Mission.

March - The Privy Council declares its willingness to approve a University for Sheffield if convinced that the financial status be sound.

April - Zone tickets come into being round Sheffield.

Profit on the trams for the year stated to be: gross £79,578, nett £27,309, accumulated surplus £143,369, deducting grants in relief of rates and renewals.

August - The Monolith removed to Endcliffe Woods.

August 14th. - World's record established on the Broomhead Moors for nine guns- 2,743 grouse.

The valves closed at the Langsett Reservoir, which had taken seven years to build, with a capacity of 1,400,000,000 gallons. The ceremony conducted by Ald. T. R. Gainsford. October 26. Sir Robert Hadfield

President of the Iron and Steel Institute.

Opening of the lift from the Wicker to the Victoria Station approach.

1905.

February - Mr. Samuel Roberts seconds the Address in the Commons.

Passive resisters in Sheffield, and 141 have orders made against them by the Sheffield and Ecclesall Unions for non-payment of rates.

The gold medal of the Iron and Steel Institute awarded to Prof. J. O. Amold.

Sheffield Crematorium opened.

The financial status of the Sheffield University assured with all the large works contributing sums from £1,000 to £2,000.

Princess Battenberg in Sheffield to unveil Queen Victoria's monument.

July - Wedding in Fulwood Chapel, the first for 25 years.

The Sheffield Education Committee purchases the University

buildings in Bow Street for £32,183, with a proviso that of that amount; £16,699 shall be spent on the adaptation of Wesley College to modern requirements.

King and Queen in Sheffield: Opening the Sheffield University Buildings.

Fourteen of the Village Homes at Fulwood belonging to ihe Ecclesall Guardians brought into use, 108 children from the workhouse being taken there.

Opening of the first session of the Sheffield University.

The final statement respecting the Queen Victoria memorial published, showing receipts £3,570 with £3,000 paid

to the architect, Mr. Alfred Turner, the balance being given to Queen Victoria Nurses Association.

November - Annual meeting of Governors of Sheffield University, showing that the new buildings at Western Bank, with land and furniture, cost £98,000; the new Technical School, St. George's Square, £13,300,

the total cost being £138,500. Total endowment shown as £124,570.

The Sheffield Education Committee completes its scheme of scholarships and bursaries, making an educational ladder from the elementary schools to the University.

What is described as the largest casting ever made is the work of the Brightside Engineering Company for

Cammell & Co., weighing 84 tons.

The Trade Review, December 31st, 1905, declares that the year had been in striking contrast to 1904. Instead of constant depression, there had been a well marked and continuous upward tendency, broadening especially in

June and onwards. Less had been heard from the unemployed in 1905 that in any other great industrial

centre.

1906.

January - Mr. Asquith's meeting at Norfolk Drill Hall wrecked by Suffragettes.

Meetings of Iron and Steel Institute in Sheffield. Subscriptions towards the visit £3,667.

May - First Empire Day display at Bramall Lane under Mr. Batey's control; 40,000 people witness the spectacle, with 10,000 children taking part.

Work commenced by the staff at the Sheffield Training College on September 11th. The College was opened on

October 8th by the Right Hon. A. H. D. Acland.

September 18th. - The opening of Firth College as Central Secondary School.

Opening of the re-formed Wesley College as King Edward's School on September 19th. by Mr. Augustine Birrell.

Record for Sheffield's trams: year ending September 25th, £70,295.

Mr. S. Meggitt Johnson gives £5,000 towards a country annexe to the Hospital.

November - Princess Christian opens Bazaar in Cutlers' Hall.

November 8th. - The honour of knighthood conferred on Mr. W. E. Clegg. T

The first subscription towards Sheffield's Bishopric comes anonymously from Bristol, a sum of £1,000.

November - Town Trustees give £1,000 per annum for three years to the Sheffield Infirmary, £1,500 to the

University movement, and £500 to the Engineers towards a new headquarters.

November 19th. - Members of the Sheffield Musical Union go to London, and in Queen's Hall sing Bach's "Sing ye to the Lord." Her Majesty the Queen and other Royalties present.

The Kind-hearted Brigade, instituted in Sheffield by Miss Lillie Harris, Lady Editor of the Sheffield Telegraph, holds exhibition of dolls at the Cutlers' Hall; a large subscription list results in dolls and toys being given to 10,000 poor children who then attended.

Messrs. Osborn close the public grinding wheel, The Tower, because there is little demand for hulls; this step marks the gradual disappearance of "the little mester" from Sheffield industry.

Trade throughout the year boomed; local firms working at full pressure.

1907.

January - Inaugural meeting of the Guild of Help in Sheffield.

January - Sir Henry Holdroyd opens the new Technical school.

January - Sheffield Shakespeare Society formed.

Mr. Haldane again visits Sheffield, inspecting the Technical school and the great East End works of Vickers and Jessops.

February 9th. - Last issue of the Sheffield Argus, the first issue of which was on sale on October 6th. of the previous year.

The Sheffield Press Club closed after thirty years history; noted for its annual dinners with famous guests, and more for its unique late suppers at which practically every notable actor was a guest during his visits to Sheffield.

March - Baslow Hydro sold to R. H. Mabbott, of Blackpool, for £11,000.

Col. Hughes resigns the position of Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce after holding it for twenty years.

May - The Town Trustees give £3,000 towards re-building of the Sheffield Royal Hospital.

The first municipal bowling green opened in Sheffield at Meersbrook.

June - "Tarspra" first put on Sheffield roads largely through the advocacy of Mr. C. D. Leng.

June - Japanese Admirals visit Sheffield works.

July - Literary and Philosophical Society in its new home, Church Street.

July - Mr. G. S. Baxter succeeds Mr. J. F. Moss as Secretary to the Education Committee.

July 27th. - Trial trip of the Lusitania, the largest vessel in the world, from the yards at Clydebank of John Brown & Co., a vessel destined to be torpedoed during the war.

August - Opening of the Crofts Vacation School.

The Sheffield Guardians declare a profit of £316 on their farm.

Staff difficulties arise in the Town Hall on the resignation of Mr. H. C. Sayer, Town Clerk, and of Mr. W. E. Hart, Deputy Town Clerk. It is decided to appoint a new Town Clerk at a salary of £1,250 per annum, with Mr. Sayer consultant for a definite period, the salaries of the department being reduced from £2,600 to £2,250. The Town Clerkship thereupon offered to Mr. Hart, who declines it in August.

Motor charabanc smash at Moscar Top; four of the 29 passengers killed by the vehicle colliding with a telegraph

pole.

September 1st. - The new Rivelin road opened to the public.

September 14th. - First issue of the Sheffield Football and Sports special.

The Town Trustees give £2,500 to the Technical School for high speed tool testing plant.

September - W. Nicholson, Head Smoke Inspector of Sheffield, at a Sanitary Inspectors' Conference in Llandudno, produces figures showing that Sheffield has more bright sunshine than most of the large towns. Sir James Crichton Brown thereupon asks for a definition of "Sheffield sunshine," and is supplied with the methods of recording sunshine in Sheffield and their reliability.

Southbourne bought as hall of residence for men students at the Training College, the total cost being £10,000, of which £6,275 is paid by the Board of Education.

September - A new tramways record, £73,514.

September - Mr. J. H. Yoxall meets 108 new teachers at the Mappin Art Gallery.

Mr. Samuel Roberts lectures in Sheffield on the Dangers of Socialism. Mr. H. J. Wilson replies by asking for tolerance in the matter.

October - The original home of Ruskin's treasures at Walkley sold for £800.

The first movement towards Town Planning occurs through a meeting in the Town Hall of fifty authorities on the subject.

November - Cammell Laird get into difficulties with the Government, involving resignations. During this year very great activity occurs in iron and steel over most of the year until October, when there comes a general easing off in orders. In the lighter and the artistic trades depression occurs chiefly in cutlery and silver plating.

1908.

January - Mr. George Hall's will originally contained a bequest of £50,000 on trust to be applied as his brother might direct to the foundation of a Clara Hall bequest, the income of which should go to deserving spinsters within a radius of eight miles of Sheffield, but this was revoked by a codicil on the day of testator's death.

January - The first "motor cab" seen on Sheffield's streets.

January - The last parade of the Hallamshire Rifles as such, Col. Hughes in an inspiring speech asking all present to join the Territorials.

Mr. Robert Holmes appointed the first Sheffield officer under the Probation of Offenders Act.

General Sir John French chief guest at the dinner of the Chamber of Commerce.

February - The old Shrewsbury Hotel, Paradise Square, turned into a Girls' Friendly Institution.

March - The coming of age of the Sharrow Cycling Club.

April - It is reported that many Congregational churches are in want of pastors, notably Baldwin Street (Attercliffe), Fulwood, Mount Zion, Tapton Hill, and Wicker.

Cammell Laird Ltd.'s disastrous year-- no dividends in final six months.

April - Mr. Amold Muir Wilson returns from a trip round the world.

Sheffield Trades Council welcomes the Old Age Pensions Act.

Opening of the Annexe to the Royal Hospital at Fulwood through the generosity of Mr. S. Meggitt Johnson, who gave £5,000 towards this object.

A notable campaign in favour of free speech all through the summer; many prosecutions and, in every case, fines imposed.

June - The Sheffield Bishopric Fund amounts to £35,000, and it is decided to go to Parliament.

Knighthood conferred on Mr. R. A. Hadfield and Colonel Chas. Allen, and at the same time Professor Henry Jackson, a Sheffielder, receives the dignity of the Order of Merit.

July 1st. - First Degree Day at Sheffield University. Degrees conferred on the Duke of Norfolk, George Franklin, Colonel Vickers, C. H. Firth, Professor Henry Jackson (Cambridge), Professor Hicks, Dr. Ripper, and Professor Amold.

Opening of the Borstal Club, Button Lane, the premises formerly being the Oddfellows' Arms.

July - The British Medical Association pays its third visit to Sheffield.

The Franco-British Exhibition in London produces extraordinary enterprise by the railways, trips at 5/6 return being run.

September - TheVictoria Hall opened.

October - Sandwiches provided for the unemployed, and a great Labour demonstration against it.

November - Mr. Ramsay MacDonald speaks at Attercliffe at a Labour meeting.

November - "Hunger Marchers" put in an appearance in Sheffield.

Mr. Bonar Law lectures in the Albert Hall on Tariff Reform.

November - 100 skilled Sheffield workmen start from Sheffield on a hunger march through Lancashire and Yorkshire seeking work and collecting.

December - It is reported that £80,000 is withdrawn from the banks by works clubs and other workmen's societies.

With great distress prevailing in the city, the G.P.O. makes an effort to provide unemployed with work at Christmas, but finds four out of every five useless.

1909.

January - It is reported that on the register there are 5,033 unemployed, and that of these 3,049 are married.

Temporary work is found for 2,155.

Mr. Amold Muir Wilson entertains 2,000 Walkley children in January, and, later in the month, a further 4,000 at Attercliffe.

February - The Right Rev. Cosmo Lang becomes Archbishop of York, paying his first visit to Sheffield on

February 7th. of the same year.

March - Great snowstorm in Sheffield, sixteen inches within thirty hours, total weight estimated at 2,875,000 tons on the 23,000 acres of the city.

Sir Robert Hadfield pleads that Sheffield, like Woolwich, is entitled to the irreducible minimum in Government orders.

March - Mr. Stuart Wortley introduces Sheffield's Bishopric Bill in the House of Commons.

The Children's Act comes into force.

April 26th. - The Prince and Princess of Wales open the Edgar Allen Library at the University, and the donor gives £5,000 to the Infirmary and £5,000 to the Royal Hospital.

Duke of Norfolk presents Norfolk Park to the city, a gift valued at £60,000.

May 21st. - Mr. Asquith, then Prime Minister, speaks in Sheffield with noisy interruptions by the Suffragettes.

In May it is reported that during the most severe periods of distress the Lord Mayor's Fund amounted to £6,850, of which £6,500 had been distributed; 7,000 cases had been investigated, and 80,000 tickets of various kinds given out.

June - Mr. Joseph Pointer's maiden speech in the Commons very favourably commented on.

September - The Rivelin tunnel completed to carry water from the Derwent Valley to the Corporation reservoir at

Rivelin. The tunnel is 7,623 yards long, and has taken five years to build, its total cost being £150,000. The two parties of workmen meet in the tunnel on September 20th. September. The river Don diverted, and new housing areas thereby formed.

October - Colonel Sir Chas. Allen resigns the colonelcy of the Sheffield Artillery, and is succeeded by Colonel Chas. Clifford.

October - Mr. W. F. Wardley, in an outspoken speech, refers to "the vile reptiles who are eating away Sheffield's trade."

November - In the last year the Guild of Help had investigated no fewer than 8,700 cases, the first year of its existence.

November - It is announced that the University has been enriched by the Hunter bequest of £15,000 for a Chair of Pathology.

During this year trade is simply hand to mouth throughout.

1910.

January - Record week for the trams, £6,742, as against £6,664 when the King and Queen were in Sheffield in July, 1905.

Sheffield Simplex builds its first aeroplanes.

March - Mr. A. J. Hobson declares that the new French tariff is ruinous to Sheffield, especially in respect of high speed steel, twist drills and electroplate.

Sir George Franklin presented with his portrait, painted by Ouliss.

April - Old Colours of the Hallamshire Rifles deposited in the Parish Church.

April - Sir Robert and Lady Hadfield visit Japan and are honoured by the Mikado.

The meetings of the Iron and Steel Institute are held in Sheffield.

Death of King Edward; all places of amusement closed throughout the city, and general mourning.

May - The Sheffield Coal Exchange opened.

May - Alderman Brittain appointed Town Collector on the death of Sir Frederick Mappin.

The Holly Court estate is offered for £40,000, but is sold to Mr. F. A. Kelley for £7,000.

July - Prominent men in Sheffield discuss tar macadam.

Colonel H. K. Stephenson and Colonel Chas. Clifford purchase the Redmires Racecourse as a training ground for Volunteers.

August - Sixty Sheffield labourers leave Sheffield by special train for Southampton, there embarking as firemen on a White Star liner.

British Association meetings are held in Sheffield, August 3lst--September 7th. President, Rev. Professor Bonney (Cambridge).

A Town Planning Conference takes place at the Sheffield Town Hall.

The Trade Union Congress meets in Sheffield, September 12th--17th.

Dr. Coward and his Choir go to Germany for a week's concerts.

September - Lord Hawke resigns the captaincy of the Yorkshire cricket team.

Sir George Franklin opens new sports ground at Norton in connexion with the University, and deals with England's excessive devotion to sport and games; heedless, perhaps, of the Duke of Wellington's dictum that Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.

October 18th. - The Poor Children's Holiday Association takes 100 little ones to the seaside and 257 for a country holiday, each child being away for a fortnight.

November - Judge Adshead Elliott discusses the decentralizing of towns.

November 15th - When the making of aeroplanes becomes an industry in Sheffield, it is recalled that a

Sheffielder, Stringfellow, built his monoplane seventy years before.

November - Within the same week Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. A. J. Balfour address great political meetings in Sheffield.

December - The Stock Exchange takes over the old G.P.O. as headquarters. In this year trade is fairly good in Government orders, but very poor for railway material.

There has been a distinct advance in best crucible steel and special alloy steel.

December - Viscount Milton born, the christening taking place at Wentworth Woodhouse on February 11th, the baby being wrapped in the historic veil given by William the Conqueror to the Fitzwilliam family. Seven thousand guests entertained at the christening, and 50,000 people assembled in the park at night to see the fireworks, with an ox roasted on the North Hill.

1911.

January 1st. - The centenary of the Upper Chapel celebrated.

January 12th. - Mr. J. C. Clegg, as Chairman, presides over the first meeting of the Sheffield Labour Exchange Advisory Committee.

On January 20th. it is humorously observed that midnight in Sheffield lasted longer than anywhere else, because of the faulty clocks, there being a difference of eight seconds in the strike in the centre of the city.

January 21st. - The Archbishop, speaking in Sheffield, says it is necessary for the Church of England to take off its coat and go into the world in its shirt sleeves. It is becoming too desperately respectable.

January - The local Church Extension Scheme produces new churches at New Hall, Darnall, and certain mission churches.

January 25th. - The Drapers' Company of London gives £15,000 for a new wing of the Applied Science Department of the University, this largely through the kindly offices of Judge Denman Benson.

Sheffield Chamber of Commerce creates a special fund of £10,000 to protect Sheffield's trade name and reputation.

February - Removal of the last toll bar in Sheffield, that at Meadow Hall. The Corporation pays £1,400 or 18 years purchase to free the road.

The judge of the County Court deals with the failure of a fried fish shop after being transferred from Jew to Gentile. It is suggested the failure had come about through the Jews withdrawing their custom because the cooking utensils had not been blessed by the Rabbi.

March - It is suggested that local collieries do as is done in Germany, and make the miners change their clothes before going down so as to make certain no matches are carried into the pits.

April - The Duke of Norfolk gives to the city Coppice Wood, Rivelin, for a King Edward VII Cripples' Home, with five acres of land.

It is reported in March that Congregationalism in Sheffield included 4,199 members, 728 teachers, 8,022 scholars, an increase on the year of 49 in members and a decrease of 199 in scholars.

March - The Sheffield Choir starts on its world's tour. It extended over six months, the tour being organized by Dr. Chas. Harris. 34,000 miles were covered; 134 concerts were given in Canada, Honolulu, the United States, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and South Africa. The audiences had amounted to 860,000, 74 receptions had been attended, and the total cost was £60,000, leaving a deficit of £5,000.

When Mr. Joseph Ward became President of the Sheffield Sunday School Union in March, 1911, there were 159

schools, 4,238 teachers, 40,347 scholars.

April - Miss Cleghorn becomes the first woman President of the National Union of Teachers.

On May 25th the official figures of the census are published showing that Sheffield stands first in population in the municipalities of Yorkshire. The figures are: Sheffield 454,653, Leeds, 445,568; the ratio of increase since the previous census being Sheffield 11.14% and Leeds 3.87%.

In May, Sheffield becomes the first municipality to insist on compulsory notification of consumption.

The extraordinary summer of 1911 will be well remembered, and June 8th was the last day of three weeks of exceptionally fine and hot weather, the maximum being 80 degrees on that day.

Mr. James Dixon's observations respecting drought were published at Fulwood. They recorded that from

January to August those observations had shown a rainfall of 13.51 inches as against a 25 years average of 22.08 inches, and in the summer of 1911 the smallest rainfall had been during July, when only 0.21 inches had fallen against the average for the month of 2.81 inches.

The Coronation of the King and Queen is celebrated in Sheffield in very loyal fashion. There is a children's pageant at Bramall Lane, where 30,000 people are present to watch myriad evolutions by 15,000 children. The street decorations are regarded as unsurpassed, medals are distributed to the children, and souvenir programmes to 80,000 school children. Other entertainments are given to the aged poor, 17,000 all told; band performances and fireworks in the parks, bonfires at Sky Edge, the Bole Hills, Ringinglowe, and Old Park Wood; and Coronation oaks planted. In the evening a ball is given at the Town Hall, and the passing of the inevitable illuminated car through the streets rounds off a great day.

In July, what is spoken of as the largest steel ingot ever rolled, weighing 130 tons, is produced by Cammells Ltd.

In July, representatives from Canada, South Africa and Australia visit Sheffield's large works. A visit also

paid to Chatsworth.

Mr. Edgar Allen's medico-mechanical institution in Gell Street opened for free treatment of the wage-earning classes, Mr. Allen bearing the entire cost of equipment and maintenance for three years.

In August an epidemic of diarrhoea in Sheffield extends over seven weeks, the deaths attributed to it being, week ending Aug. 5th, 34; Aug. 12th, 50; Aug. 19th, 68; Aug. 26th, 54; Sept. 2nd, 52; Sept. 9th, 50; Sept. 16th, 29; Sept. 23rd, 34.

Payment of £400 per annum to Members of Parliament comes into force on August 14th.

The great railway strike of 1911 brings from Mr. Pointer, M.P., the expression that a sympathetic word would have prevented it, but a bullying tone had precipitated it.

In September the Charity School removed to its new quarters at Psalter Lane from East Parade.

On September 6th T. W. Burgess, of Rotherham, swims the Channel from the South Foreland to Cape Griznez in 22 hrs. 35 min., being second to Captain Webb in this enterprise, Webb's swim taking place in 1875.

In October Professor Amold, in one of his notable lectures, speaks of smoke as Sheffield's life blood.

The opening of the tower of St. Vincent's Church, White Croft, which was due to the generosity of Mr. Philip K. Wake, takes place on Oct. 29th, the ceremony being conducted by Cardinal Logue, the first Cardinal to visit Sheffield since the days of Wolsey.

Sheffield Corporation's Bill is before Parliament in December, 1911, adding a million and a half to the debt, through street improvements, extension of trams, the Ewden reservoirs, the cost of the Rivelin Road, the superannuation of Corporation officials, and pensions for workmen.

December 30th. - Mr. John Tudor Walters, M.P. for Brightside, is honoured by a Knighthood.

1912.

The trams create a new record in Christmas week, 1911, £7,499 13s. 0d.

against £7,214.

In January three areas laid out in Sheffield for Town Planning.

In February, Vickers complete E2, a first-class submarine for Great Britain.

A curious theory expressed by experts when, in February, Sheffield, Derby and Leicester are afflicted by a scourge of typhoid. It is thought it is due to the consumption of mussels, contaminated by sewage, taken from the rivers Exe and Teign.

The State Insurance Act involves many Friendly Societies.

The Fitzwilliam Friendly Society is wound up in March with 123 members and funds for division amounting to £7,399, or £60 each.

The Norton New Sick Society is also wound up, the 40 members sharing acccumulated funds of £2,047, and the

Norton Old Friendly Society follows with 72 members and funds amounting to £1,500 for division.

Tinsley absorbed by Sheffield on April 1st, adding to the city a rateable value of £35,000 and a population of 5,690.

On May 1st the Shops Act and half-day closing comes into force.

June 24th. - First meeting of Sheffield Insurance Committee.

On July 15th Sheffield has its first real summer's day of the year, and to that point summer had been one of the wettest and coldest ever remembered.

H.M.S. Audacious, the first British-built warship for Great Britain, and built by Cammell Laird & Co., launched at

Birkenhead.

The final service is held in Townhead Street Chapel on Sept. 22nd, after the building had been sold to the Roman Catholics, with which sect the Jews were also bidding. It is explained that the reason for sale was because of a dwindling congregation, and it is stated that the proceeds will be used to assist needy Baptist congregations in the city.

In September Sheffield becomes owner of a new park, relatives of Dr. Payne, of Loxley House, giving 70 acres of

Wadsley Chase to the city as open space.

In October the Town Trustees begin laying out the Machon House estate, Fulwood, as a garden suburb.

The year 1912 saw a great boom in the history of all towns identified with the steel and iron industry, and "the bedrock on which it rested unquestionably lay on armament orders, Sheffield's many orders coming from almost every quarter of the world and trade being very good throughout." Mr. Rossiter Hoyle, then Master Cutler, speaks strongly during his year of office of the inclination of young men in the city to accept clerkships as their life-work when the great works are crying out for skilled manipulators in steel.

1913.

At the annual meeting of the Sheffield Savings Bank in January, it is stated that the amount due to depositors has been increased during the year by £59,000, and that if the coal strike and the operations of the Insurance Act had

not interfered, this sum would have been increased by a further £50,000.

January - The first unemployment benefits under the Insurance Act received by 300 Sheffield workmen.

The first town-planning area approved by the Council-- that at Ecclesall, Woodseats and Abbeydale.

On May 23rd the tablet in memory of the Sheffield soldiers who fell in the Boer War is unveiled.

The York Diocesan Conference held in Sheffield for the last time.

December - Opening of the Sheffield Diocesan House.

December - 100th Concert by Sheffield Amateur Musical Society. Chief performance: "The Dream of Gerontius."

December - Estimated cost of education for year ending March, 1915, £412,283, an advance on previous year

of £9,832.

1914.

January - Medical Officer's report shows that 1913 was a healthy year in Shefheld, the death rate being 15.7 as against the average for previous ten years of 16.6. Only twice had it been lower, 14.2 in 1910, and 14.3 in 1912.

February - A 10,500 h.p. turbo-alternator, said to be the largest in this country, started at the Corporation

Electricity Station by the Lord Mayor.

March 11th. - Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sheffeld Flood.

March 21st. - The Rev. Dr. Hedley Burrows, first Bishop of the new Diocese of Sheffield, "accepted and invested"

in York Minster by the Arch-bishop of York.

March 27th. - Vickers declare a dividend of 12% on the ordinary stock after a record in profits, £911,996, being £32,000 over the previous record in 1906.

April 2nd. - All the collieries in Yorkshire close down, it being estimated that 170,000 men are on strike. The ballot of the Yorkshire miners on the question of accepting the proposals submitted by the Conciliation Board especting the Minimum Wage dispute and returning to work at once results in 27,259.for, and 11,393 against; majority for returning to work, 15,866.

April - The new Mortuary and Coroner's Court opened.

May 1st. - Dr. Hedley Burrows enthroned in Sheffield Cathedral as Sheffield's first Bishop.

May 5th. - The Master Cutler presents to the Chamber of Commerce a gold enamelled badge, set with diamonds,

to be worn by the President annually elected by the Chamber.

The Chinese Ambassador and his wife visit Mr. Arthur Balfour in Sheffield.

June - Annual meeting of the Federation of Master Printers and Allied Trades of Great Britain opens its 14th Conference in Sheffield, the delegates being received by the President, Mr. G. E. Stembridge.

June - Governors of Sheffield University decide that Latin shall no longer be a compulsory subject.

June 16th. - Sir John Bingham, at York, makes a striking appeal for national service.

June 18th. - Sir Robert Hadfield entertains Herr Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach in Sheffield.

July - Chas. S. Jagger, a former student in the Sheffield Technical School, awarded the Rome Scholarship in sculpture on the recommendation of the Faculty of Science of the British School at Rome.

August 4th. - War declared and Sheffield Territorials mobilize.

[RichardB]

One for Dunsbyowl to chew on :rolleyes: