Parishmouse Free Resources For Family Historians

Act for paving Wakefield streets passed, 1771.

Act for lighting and paving in Wakefield, 1796.

Wakefield Enclosure Act passed, 1793.

Thatched public-house, at Kirkthorpe, near Wakefield, occupied by Mr. Billinton, burnt down by a flash of lightning, July 25th, 1800.

On May 29th, 1799, I went to be clerk with Mr. Scholefield, of Horbury, and remained there till 23rd of October, 1803, when I left; and on ye 31st of that month I went to Mr. Dawson’s of Wakefield.

An evening lecture established at the parish church of Wakefield, and the first lecture given by the Rev. Thos. Rogers (then master of the Free Grammar School), on the 26th of July, 1801.

First Newspaper at Wakefield, called Wakefield Star, was published 4th November, 1803, by Stuart Arnold.

March 13th, 1800. – Richard Linnecar, a coroner at Wakefield died. He was succeeded by Edward Brook, an attorney, who died 13th September, 1825, and he was succeeded by Thomas Lee, a young attorney at Wakefield.

August 1st, 1800. – Granville Wm. Wheeler Medhurst, Esq., of Kippax Hall, tried at York, before Baron Graham, for the murder of his wife, and acquitted, being declared insane.

September 20th, 1802. – Hops rose from £4 to £16 per cwt., all at a stroke.

March 14th, 1803. – John Terry and Joseph Heald, two young men from Alverthorpe, near Wakefield, were hanged at York for the brutal murder of Widow Smith, at Flanshaw. She was buried at the west end of the Unitarian Chapel in Wakefield, and a stone placed over her head, on which was carved the implements used in the murder.

January 17th, 1806. – A lunar rainbow appeared at Wakefield from half-past nine till half-past ten.

July 7th 1806. – Otley fortnight fair first held.

1810. – At the Exeter Lent Assizes, Wm. Gourd and Wm. Rose (two children 11 years old each) were sentenced to death for stealing a few hanks of thread.

May 23rd, 1811. – I was admitted a member of the Hon. Society of Gray’s Inn.

At the York Summer Assizes, 1811, James Thackrah, a soldier, was convicted of perjury respecting the enlistment of a recruit at Dewsbury, and transported for seven years.

William Burrell, of Wakefield, was drowned at Kirkthorp dam while hunting, Feb. 5th, 1810.

Rev. Richard Monkhouse, Vicar of Wakefield, D.D., died January 20th, 1810, aged 53. He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Sharp, his curate.

March 1810. –The White Hart Inn offered for sale. During this year Dewsbury was made a regular market town.

May 17th, 1810. – Francis Maude, of Moor House, died, aged 78.

January 10th, 1810. – West Riding Sessions first held in the new courthouse at Wakefield.

October, 1810. – One Ryan, a soldier, killed in an affray at the Cook and Swan Inn, at Wakefield, for which Tom Shaw, deputy-constable, was indicted at the following assizes, when the grand jury ignored the bill. For particulars of the inquest see Wakefield Star of Oct. 26th, 1810.

November 12th, 1810. – A Mr. Harper fitted and used the White Barn, at the top of Northgate, at a theatre; closed Dec. 28th.

November 28th, 1810. – Wm. Heald elected Clerk to the Commissioners of Wakefield Streets; John Robson having resigned.

March 1st, 1811. – The Wakefield Star appeared under anew title, the Wakefield and Halifax Journal.

Wm. Shackleton, grocer, poisoned himself at the bailiff’s house, whilst under arrest, 11th of July, 1811.

Wm. Hodgson, a Leeds woolsorter, tried at York, Aug. 3rd, 1811, for a rape upon Hannah Halliday, at Leeds, for which he was hanged.

September 2nd, 1811. – first stone of Leeds Court House laid by Alexander Turner, the Mayor.

April, 1812. – The Wakefield Harriers were advertised for sale, and the Wakefield Hunt given up.

October 26th, 1812. – The Leeds mail to London was robbed near Kettering, for which Jeffrey White and Richard Kendall were tried at the Northampton Summer Assizes (1813), and both hanged.

Source: Extracted from Yorkshire Notes and Queries (date unknown).