Mystery mug - the Jamaican connection

Creamware mug, early 19th century, Red Girls for Ever
This photograph was taken by Norman Taylor for Leeds Museums and Galleries
and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

This creamware mug has been part of the Leeds Museums collection since it was donated by Alderman Percival Tookey Leigh in 1933. It was originally attributed to the Leeds Pottery (as were many pieces of unmarked creamware) but recent research has discounted this theory and it may well turn out to have originated much further afield.

The mug has a transfer printed design of palm trees and the motto "Red Girls for Ever", neither of which seem to have much to do with Yorkshire history and until recently the meaning of the motto has remained a puzzle.  However recent internet research has revealed a possible answer.

The design appears to relate to the tradition of the Set Girl parades in early 19th century Jamaica which were held at New Year.  The tradition seems to date from the 1770s and to have originated in the French Caribbean. There were two rival factions, Reds and Blues. One theory is that the Reds represented the English and the Blues represented the Scotch. Another is that it relates to two balls for creole girls held by two admirals in the late 18th century, the "Admiral of the Red" and the "Admiral of the Blue".  The Reds and Blues seem to have held rival balls and parades which were heavily influenced by European fashion.  The motto of the Reds was "Red Girls Forever". 

Information about this tradition has been gleaned from the following sources: 
Race, Romanticism and the Atlantic, edited by Professor Paul Youngquist, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 2013

The Quarterly Review, Volume 50 1834

Understanding Slavery

Dictionary of Jamaican English

Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition, and Play in the Caribbean

John Canoe (Jonkonnu, JonKanoo) Dancers, Jamaica, 1838

Transcolonial Collaboration in the Revolutionary Americas

Authentic Recipes from Jamaica

Kitty Ross, Curator of Leeds History

 

 

The Morley Brank or Scold’s Bridle

The Morley Brank.
This photograph was taken by Kitty Ross for Leeds Museums and Galleries and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

One of the items that has attracted most publicity and interest in the Abbey House “Crime and Punishment” exhibition is the “scold’s bridle” or “brank”. 

The “Brank” was a cruel device used to punish those who spoke out of turn (probably mostly used on women).  The earliest reference to its use in England seems to be from Macclesfield in 1623, but there are records in Scotland that refer to women being “branket” in 1574.

The Yorkshire Illustrated Monthly No. 6, Vol. 1, May 1884
This photograph was taken for Leeds Museums and Galleries and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

The brank was an iron framework that was placed on the head to enclose it in a kind of cage.  It had in front an iron plate which was either sharpened or covered with spines and situated to be placed in the mouth of the victim so that she could not move her tongue without injury.    With the brank on her head she was then conducted through the streets, led by a chain held by one of the town’s officials.  In some towns she would have been chained to the pillory, whipping post or market cross. 

“She thus suffered for telling her mind to some petty tyrant in office, or speaking plainly of a wrong doer, or for taking to task a lazy, perhaps drunken husband” (Article in Yorkshire Illustrated Monthly  May 1884)

The same 1884 article pointed out that:

“The use of the instrument was not sanctioned by law, but was altogether illegal.  To everybody it must be a matter of deep regret that the brank should ever have been used at all.”

The brank from Morley is slightly less vicious than some of those found elsewhere.  The tongue plate is rough but not spiked.  It was collected by the Morley historian Norrison Scatcherd (1780-1853) who left it to the Leeds Museum where it has been in the collection since 1863.

The late Liz Pirie, Curator of Archaeology at Leeds City Museum, wearing the Morley brank in 1985
This photograph was taken by Leeds City Council Dept. of Planning for Leeds Museums and Galleries and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

The scold’s bridle caught the imagination of the local and national press when the Crime and Punishment exhibition opened at Abbey House Museum in January 2016. 
Yorkshire Evening Post
 The Sun
Daily Mail
Daily Mirror

Kitty Ross, Curator of Leeds History

The travels of a Leeds Police helmet: the Senegal connection

One of the treasures of the Thoresby Society collection, which has recently been transferred to Leeds Museums and Galleries, is this Leeds City Police badge.  It is of interest in its own right as it is the design worn by the police shortly after Leeds gained city status in 1893 and probably dates from about 1895.

This photograph was taken by Sara Porter for Leeds Museums and Galleries and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA.

What happened to it over the next twenty years is less clear but somehow it had ended up in West Africa by 1916.  The accompanying letter sent to the Chief of Leeds City Police explains the circumstances:

District Commissioner’s Office, Zouaragu, Navorro , 19^th August 1916

Sir,

I have the honour to enclose herewith a badge belonging to one of your Force which was found on a native here on the borders of French Haut-Senegal and Niger.  It was on a policeman’s helmet which he was wearing, and which he stated he had bought in Coomassie market.

We are strict here in not allowing the natives, except those employed by the Government, to wear badges etc. as they impose on the raw savages up here, and loot under the guise of being in the Government Service.

I presume the helmet must have been sold in a pawnshop, but I thought the badges were always taken off.  I have seen in a small trading store in Northern Transvaal a London and N.W. Railway guard’s frock coat for sale with the company’s buttons still attached.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, Louis Castillain, District Commissioner

We only hope that the gentleman concerned was not punished too severely for this transgression and was allowed to keep his hat (minus the badge).

The badge is on display in the Crime and Punishment exhibition at Abbey House until the end of December 2016. http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/Crime-and-Punishment.aspx

Kitty Ross, Curator of Leeds History

Decades of Youth: Growing Up In Twentieth Century Leeds

Our next Community History display at Abbey House Museum will focus on what it was like to be a young person growing up in different eras. It will be curated with Abbey House’s Vintage Youth Group,  who are all between 13 and 24 years old. 

Share your memories!
The Vintage Youth Group want to hear from you and your memories of being between 13 and 24 in different decades, from the 1940s and 50s, through the 60s and 70s, to the 80s, 90s and Noughties.

The big question we want to answer is: how has the experience of being a young person in Leeds changed?

We want your comments and memories, but also any photos you may have of yourselves as young people to form part of a montage in the exhibition.  We also want your memories to inform what objects we put on display.

Tell us about your teenage years
We'd like to know what was important to you when you were young? Was it getting your first job, or furthering your studies?

Were you socialising out with friends?  Listening to the latest music? Were you dedicated follower of the latest fashion?  What hobbies and interests did you have?

Did you undertake National Service or were you letting your hair down?  Were you among the first wave of 18 year olds casting your vote? Finding love? Setting up home?

Teddy boy, Glam chick, Mod, Rocker, Punk, Disco diva, Goth, Britpop fan or true individual, we want to hear from you.

How to share your memories:
Post your memories in the comments section below, on our Facebook page, via Twitter, or email me at Patrick.Bourne@leeds.gov.uk

We’d also love to see any pictures of you in your ‘era’ so don't be shy in sharing them with us on social media! We have an Instagram account @leedsmuseumsandgalleries, so do tag us in any photos. 

The Decades of Youth display will launch on July 30 2016 at Abbey House Museum.

Women's History Season at Leeds City Museum

This March and April we are putting on our first season of talks, events and study days relating specifically to women’s history.

Why are we holding these events?
 Traditionally history has focussed on the lives of those that were thought of as the important figures in society – politicians, rulers, soldiers etc. – but the vast majority of those were men. In recent years there has been a real growth in interest in social history, and in particular looking at more general experiences of life. This has included a huge growth in interest in how women have lived their lives over the centuries.

Rather than just hold a one off event for International Women’s Day we thought it might be nice to bring together museum colleagues and other speakers and researchers from organisations across Leeds to put on a whole season looking at different aspects of women’s history.

What are the talks on?
Whilst it is by no means an exhaustive selection of topics, we do have a good range from a Medieval Women Study Day to a talk on the history of Girl Guiding, via a range of topics including votes for women, gender in natural history galleries, and even Jewish fashion.

Our first talk is on March 1st at 2pm, Leeds City Museum. Janet Douglas will be speaking about Isabella Ford: Socialism, Feminism and Peace.

Find out more!
If you fancy joining us for any of the events and want to find out more you can visit our special Women’s History website. Each drop down list at the bottom of the page takes you to a list of either events, talks, or study days.

 Events and talks are free and on a drop in basis. There is a charge for study days (which includes lunch in our café), and places do need to be booked in advance with Leeds City Museum as they are limited.

Leeds Gas Riots

This photograph was taken for Leeds Museums and Galleries and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

This anonymous drawing is titled the “Leeds Gas Riots” and shows events around New Wortley Railway Bridge, Wellington Road, in July 1890.

This eruption of violence came in the wake of a bitter Gasworkers’ strike which started in June 1890. The Gas Committee of Leeds Corporation wanted to save rate-payers money by enforcing a reduction in the working hours of coke stokers during the summer months (when demand for gas was less) and a strike was inevitable.   The council tried to break the strike by bringing in expensive blackleg labour from Manchester and London, but this served to rally other trade unionists, led by Tom Maguire, to support the strikers and to physically prevent blackleg workers from entering the gasworks.  The Gas Committee called in armed Dragoons from York and riots broke out on 1^st July.

Sword (about 1850) used by Leeds Police during the Gas Riots 1890
This photograph was taken by Norman Taylor for Leeds Museums and Galleries
and is licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

Violence broke out as the imported workers were escorted by Dragoons and police from the city centre to the gas works (south of the river).  At the railway arch in Wellington Road several thousand angry workers hurled missiles (including boulders, timber, iron pipes and bottles) from the bridge and railway embankment. 

The drawing features in the 2016 exhibition “Crime and Punishment” at Abbey House Museum, and there turns out to be a direct connection to Abbey House. Among those injured was Thomas R. Harding, a magistrate and owner of Tower Works in Holbeck, whose son had just moved into Abbey House.  In his autobiography Colonel Thomas Walter Harding recalled that his first night at Abbey House coincided with the gas riots and that early next morning he was called to the scene.  He was vice-president of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce and so was appointed as mediator for the dispute.  Factory owners were beginning to put pressure on the council to restore a normal gas supply as soon as possible.  The strike was resolved in favour of the striking gas workers and the victory was regarded as Tom Maguire’s finest hour but Harding must also take some of the credit for the peaceful resolution.   His actions help explain his popularity with both employers and workers and helped his election as a city councillor for Headingley and subsequent election as Lord Mayor in 1898.

Colonel T. Walter Harding, Abbey House, Kirkstall in 1893
Photograph: Leeds Museums and Galleries, licensed under Creative Commons BY NC SA

Kitty Ross, Curator of Leeds History