NZOrgan Musings and Amusings, December 2008

Picture 1: Bradford's cathedral-like wool exchange

Increasing volumes of trade during the nineteenth century led to the establishment of Commodity Exchanges for the buying and selling of raw materials. These were sometimes dubbed “cathedrals of commerce”, perhaps with reference to the solemnity with which business was conducted.

Architecturally, too, the term was often apposite, as Bradford's Wool Exchange shows (picture 1). The hammer-beam roof with its winged figures is strongly reminiscent of those to be found in the great churches of East Anglia - which were themselves built from the profits of the mediaeval wool trade. There is even a memorial statue - to Richard Cobden, the “apostle of free trade”. This was given by an American citizen, George Henry Booth, long resident in the city, who shared Cobden's views. Alas, there is no organ to complete the cathedral ambience - but there is a spacious and elegant branch of Waterstone's Bookshop.

Another American - Benjamin Franklin - a former President, no less, might receive a shock were he able to visit the city today. The inventor of the lightning conductor would certainly be surprised to see the example on the Co-operative Bank. Instead of being earthed, this is rolled into a neat coil tied with tape and suspended some feet above ground level - picture 2.

Picture 2: Want to grab hold of an unusual lightning conductor?

Perhaps customers who fail to reduce their overdrafts are invited to hold it during thunderstorms. (Franklin also improved greatly the glass armonica; among composers who wrote for this instrument were Mozart, CPE Bach and Beethoven.)

Picture 3 is a section of the mural in a bar in the Midland Hotel. This was painted by a local artist who accepted payment in beer. His self-portrait, leaning from the cab of a lorry, is seen centre foreground. The story is that the then-owners of the hotel had underestimated his thirst and ended the agreement with the work only half completed....a very great pity, in the opinion of many. Extreme right is a horse-drawn cart loaded high with bales of wool that may well have come from New Zealand or Australia. Horse transport was long-used in the city and is still demonstrated in the Industrial Museum, where a Shire (named Noble) and two Clydesdales (Murdoch and Darcy) are popular characters.

Picture 3: Mural in the bar of the Midland hotel, painted by a patron in exchange for beer

The figures are portraits of local characters and of vistors to the city. In the foreground, seated on his favourite item of street furniture, is a well-known cat. For many years, he patronised local businesses and residents with the self-assured superiority of his kind. Behind him, in the front seats of the tramcar are the bowler-hatted figures of Laurel and Hardy who had performed at the Alahambra Theatre. A local MP is seated upstairs and, wearing the insignia of the City's Lord Mayor, is one of the few ladies to have held this office. She leads a party which is crossing the road immediately behind the Laurel & Hardy tram.

The first New Zealand fleeces were sent to Bradford in 1829 by Samuel Marsden, a missionary who did much to develop wool production in both New Zealand and Australia. His interest in wool was natural, as he had been born in the village of Farsley, near Bradford which even then had an economy based on textiles. An unusual speed record was established in memory of Marsden's pioneering work.

Wool buyers in Farsley

In May 1982, Perendale fleeces were shorn in Whangarei and transported to Farsley for auction. An airliner and a racing motorist provided unusual transport for the cargo, which was sold 40 hours and 27 minutes after shearers had completed their work on the other side of the world. Picture 4 shows a group of potential buyers in Farsley examining the wool. The successful bidder was Peter Hainsworth, Chairman of a local firm, A.W Hainsworth & Sons. The felt this company made from the wool was bought by the piano manufacturers, Steinway and now plays a largely unseen but essential part in recitals and concerts the world over.

• 1, 2 and 3: Althea Bridgeman-Sutton
• 4: IWS publicity picture - thanks to Mark Keighley, author of Wool City
  (ISBN 978-0-9555993-01-6)

EDITORIAL ADDITION: Visit the Perendale Sheep Society of New Zealand website at this link