'PIE' LEACH
Entrepreneur James Leach was a larger than life figure in
Keighley in the 19th century.
He was known as ‘Pie’ because of his one time meat pie business, but he
also ventured into other trades such as handloom weaver, wool comber, coal pit
sinker, beer house keeper, spoon maker, horse & cart driver, gambler,
hawker, travelling showman, docker, green-grocer, nightwatchman/ policeman. He also became very much involved in local
organisations and public offices. Pie
got married on a particular afternoon only because he had time on his hands
when his loom broke down. Unfortunately
he arrived late at the church and fearing that the ceremony would have to be
postponed because it could not be held within the permitted hours, Pie
persuaded a friend to climb the church tower to alter the clock in order to
mislead the parson. Then, when a ring
was unavailable for the bride’s finger, he enlisted the help of the landlady at
the nearby Lord Rodney Inn
and she loaned her own wedding ring.
Apparently Pie was a little more organised when it came to
making his funeral arrangements, making elaborate arrangements. He erected a fine tombstone in Keighley Utley
Cemetery some six years before his death and had it engraved with a testimonial
and details of his public service:
William Busfield Rector. John Craven JP. Jno
Brigg JP. John Sugden JP. James Kershaw Superintendent of Police. July 29th 1854 .’
Mr James Leach was a representative of the
Ratepayers as follows:
He was elected a member of Keighley Local
Board and served about 12 years. He was elected a member of Keighley Board of
Guardians and served 7 years. He was elected a member of the Keighley School
Board and served 2 years. He was elected a member of the Keighley Burial Board
and served 3 years. He was a Commissioner of The Baths and Washhouses for 7
years and moved the resolution for the incorporation of the town officially in
the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the old Local Board of Health.
He kept a diary of his duties as Police nightwatchman
(1848-1853) which is preserved in Keighley Public Library.
This old inn on the edge of
Ilkley Moor recalls one Job Senior who lived nearby in a ramshackled
shelter in the early 19th
century. Apparently Job was born at
nearby Ilkley in the 1780’s, the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner. He became a drunkard, which together with a
problem with women, proved to be his downfall.
He became very unkempt and eventually suffered from rheumatism which
necessitated him walking with two sticks. At the age of sixty he managed to persuade an
eighty years old widow to marry him. It
suited Job very much because she owned a house on the edge of the moor. However the marriage was short-lived when his wife died suddenly. Her family, who were less than pleased about
the marriage became more so when Job inherited his wife’s possessions including
the house. To vent their fury members
of the family descended on the house and virtually demolished it leaving Job
with no option but to construct his ramshackle shelter to live in. Apparently it was so small that he had to
enter on his hands and knees. And so
his lived as a hermit until he contracted cholera and ended his days in the
workhouse, where he died when he was 77 years old.
JOHN KNILL
Cornishman John Knill left his own epitaph and in some
style. He was born at Callington in
1733 and subsequently went to St Ives to work with a relative, a
solicitor. He lived in Fore Street in
what is now known as Knill’s House.
John Knill became very popular in St Ives and in 1762 he became
Collector of Customs, holding the post for 20 years. At the age of 34 he became Mayor of the town.
In 1782, Knill moved to London and it was in that year that he built
a mausoleum at the summit of Worbas Hill overlooking St Ives. Known as Knill’s Steeple, it is a 50ft high
triangular pyramid made of granite. On
one side is written, Johannes Knill 1782. On another side is his Coat of Arms with the
word Resurgam and the motto Nil Desperandum, whilst on the third
side are the words, I know that my
redeemer liveth. The steeple is
hollow with an arch on the south side. Inside is a stone sarcophagus where Knill
planned to have his body interred but was unable to do so due to consecration
difficulties.
Not content, Knill also made plans in his will for his quinquennial celebrations. Once every five years, a ceremony would take
place on 25th July (St James’Day).
Beginning at The Guildhall in St Ives, a party of ten girls, all under
the age of ten years, dressed in white, and daughters of Cornish fishermen,
seamen and tinners, would walk up to Knill’s Steeple accompanied by two elderly
widows and a fiddler. There they were to
dance around the steeple for half an hour, singing the 23rd psalm,
while locals dignitaries would stand and watch. This ceremony takes place as laid down in
the will and has done so since 1801 when John Knill was actually present! He died on 29th March 1811 at Greys Inn Square in London at the age of 78 years. Much missed by the people of his time, it
seems that he will be remembered by the generations to come. In his will, Knill wrote :
‘ It is natural to love those of whom you
have had the opportunity of serving and confess I have real affection for St
Ives and its inhabitants in whose memory I have an ardent desire to continue a
little longer than the usual time those do of whom there is no sensible
memorial. To that end my vanity prompted
me to erect a mausoleum.’
Knill's mausoleum
ECCENTRIC BARRISTER
Anthony Ettricke was an eminent barrister in the small
town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset in the 17th century. It is said that as he grew older, he became ‘humerous, phlegmatic and credulous.’ Because he fell out with the inhabitants
of the town, Ettricke made a solemn vow that he ‘would never be buried within the church or without it, neither below
the ground nor above it.’ However, he lived to regret his vow and
managed to obtain permission to make a recess in the wall of the Minster for
his coffin. He was convinced that he
would die in 1693 and had this date inscribed on a colourful black coffin, but
in fact he died in 1703. His coffin can
still be seen in its recess in Wimborne Minster and the change of date is clear
for all to see.
BURIED ABOVE GROUND
John Hollins from
Stroud in Gloucestershire had an
argument with a former friend who announced publicly that he hope to live long
enough to see Hollins ‘safe underground’.
Hollins did indeed die first, but to thwart his adversary, he left
instructions that he should not be buried underground but that his coffin
should be left on the surface and covered with a pile of stones. The grave and
tiered pile of stones can still be seen in St Lawrence’s churchyard at Stroud.
John Hollins grave
There are many graves
in the graveyard at Braemar in Scotland but. despite the burial there of John
Farquharson in 1698, his grave is nowhere to be found.
Braemar graveyard
Re-interred
‘Black Colonel’
Farquharson of Inverey fought for the Jacobite’s in the Battle of Killiecrankie
in 1689 and when he returned to Inverey he found that Braemar Castle was
occupied by Government troops and promptly burned in down. He then spent many
weeks hiding in the rocky gorge of Ey Burn , which is still known as ‘The
Colonel’s Bed’.
When he died he was
interred at Braemar despite having expressed the wish to be buried within the
Chapel of the Seven Maidens at Inverey. However, the next day his coffin was
found above ground and had to be reburied.
This occurred three more times before the coffin was put on a raft and
towed along the River Dee to Inverey where it was interred in the chapel as
Faquharson had requested.
Braemar graveyard
The Old Gentleman’s grave
A lonely gravestone, surrounded by a stone wall in a small grove of trees, is to be found near to the bottom of a beautiful Pennine valley between the villages of Oldfield and Stanbury near Keighley in West Yorkshire . Known as ‘The Old Gentleman’s grave.’ i bears the inscription :
‘ In memory of
Mr James Mitchell, late proprietor and occupier of Oldfield House
Who died on the 27th Day of January 1835
Aged 72 years.’
The story goes that on his deathbed, the eccentric Mr Mitchell instructed a servant to roll a large stone down the hillside at the front of his house at Oldfield, and that it was his wish to be buried at the exact spot that the stone came to rest!
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