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This photo was taken from a postcard in Maurice Hobkinson's family collection. The scene shows the staff of the Woodlesford Post Office on Church Street, and a dog, posing for the photographer. The card was printed by Warner Gothard of Leeds, Dewsbury and Barnsley, a firm which made its name by taking photographs of newsworthy events and disasters.
The older man with the moustache and bowler hat was the sub-postmaster and the three uniformed young men were telegraph
boys who were kept busy delivering telegrams for local gentry and businesses in
the days long before email. Maurice's uncle, Harry Webster, is the boy in the middle.
The young lady probably worked behind the
counter and her black clothing could be a
sign of
mourning for the death of Queen Victoria who passed away on 21 January 1901. Its not known if the dog had official duties but it looks
quite placid to be wearing a muzzle. On the other hand it may have bitten the local postmen!
Experts at the British Postal Museum & Archive have dated the photo as between 1896 and 1904. After that the tunic style
jacket
was replaced by jackets with flat lapels similar to the one being worn by the sub-postmaster. The "shako" cap was was also replaced by double-peaked ones from 1904. Its still possible that the photo was taken after this date because uniform changes took some time to percolate around the country. The bicycle would have been used by the telegraph boys.
Woodlesford Post Office was always under the control of
the main
post office in Leeds and had a circular frank from 1855. In 1863 it
became a
Money Order office and a branch of the Post Office Savings Bank, and became a Telegraph Office by 1870.
Kelly's Directory for the West Riding
of Yorkshire for 1881 has this entry for the local postal facilities: "POST, MONEY ORDER & TELEGRAPH OFFICE, Savings Bank
& Government Insurance & Annuity Office, Woodlesford. Alexander
Coombs, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Leeds at 6.58am &
5.35pm; dispatched at 1.25pm and 6.35pm."
In 1901 Woodlesford Post Office is referred to three times in the official minutes.
The first
mention is:
“Failure to despatch mail: Sub-Postmaster finally warned.” The second
reference reads:
“FW Sedgwick, Sub-Postmaster and Auxiliary Postman: Deficiency in
accounts.
Office declared vacant and services dispensed with.”
This sounds as
if Mr
Sedgwick was either an inefficient book keeper or had been diverting Post Office funds
for his own use.
Finally the third mention for 1901 is: “George P. Hammond appointed sub-postmaster”. What we can’t say for certain is
who the sub postmaster in the photograph is, but its most likely to be either Mr
Sedgwick or Mr Hammond.
The census for 1901 shows that George Hammond who was 24 had been born in Leeds. He lived with his wife Edith, 21, who came from Normanton, and their one year old son Herbert in Oakdene Yard. Interestingly Harry Webster also lived in the same row of cottages. He was 19 at the time, one of a large family of 3 sons and 5 daughters. Their father Charles Webster was a miner who came from Hartwell in Northamptonshire where Harry was born. His mother came from Castlethorp in Buckinghamshire. Their small house must have been quite crowded because also living there were cousin David Wesbter who was also a miner and nephew Charles Malsher from Roade who was a railway labourer.
Given Harry's age in 1901 and the fact that the census lists him as a maltster by then (probably at Bentley's brewery) then we can deduce that the photo shows him at a slightly younger age and maybe the older man is indeed the dodgy Mr Sedgwick! A video produced by Terry and Barbara Smart for Woodlesford in Bloom.
In 2011 they won a silver gilt medal in the Best Urban Community category
of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom awards. | |
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