The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-02
LEEDS AND ITS MERCHANTS.

,,o.r Rnilt on or near the site OF an old Roman
.ncampmept. It was fortified town in the days
Of Bede. Its strength made it a special object
az attack at the time of the Norman Conquest,
and thereafter. for several generations, the
PaganeIs and their descendants we're its feudal
lords. Maurice de Gaunt or Paganel, the last
of these, in 1908, gave to it's burgesses a charter
Of freedom, worthily robbng himself of much
Of his authority in order that the welfare of the
town might be promoted. Then, however, and
for come centuries ensuing Leeds was small and
uninhuential; steadily advancing as a market
for wool and sheepskns, but inferior to some
sthers of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire towns
to which the Hull ana Boston merchants re-
sorted for those staples of trade with the cont
mental cities.
in ancient Leeds there were few elements Of
prosperity; but as soon as Lancashire and
Yorkshire became great fields of manufacturing
energy Leeds was found to be the dttest centre
or its eastern half, having Hull for its port,
Just as Manchester helped on and was helped
by the commercial advancement of Liverpool.
Manchester and Leeds have grown together,
taking the places, as great manutacturlng
resorts, of the older towns of Bristol and Nor
wieh. About contemporary with Humphrey
Chstsam the great benefacGr Of 1e3e obaDa
from Charles / charter OF incorporation iOr
his native town, and was thereupon appointed
Its arst mayor or alderman 1 Sr St Sohm Saylles
object, fitly Indicated its subsequent prosperity
as o seat of woolleu neutrality-suspicious. the
arms OF Leeds and from his time the annals
of the town show a notable succession of mer-
chants and manufacturers.
Most famous among them all was excellent
John Harrison, who was born in 1919, and died
in 1866 His father, also John Harrison was a
rich merchant before him, so prosperous aud
wealthy that the son had little need to earn
more money, and wisely spent his fortune in
q OOd OF floxyi a., M
When he was seven years old, it was reported
he saw poor boy in the streets, without coat
or shoes and, straghtwaY taking off his own
coat, threw it over the lads shoulders. When
he was seventy, and himself il not in actually
poverty, much poorer than he formerly had been
carplng lookers-on declared that he had brought
his mstortunes on himself by the reckless ways
in which all through life he had shown his
charitable disposition. Having bought Rock
ley Hall, in the Lower Head Row, soon after
inheritng bis fathers fortune, his first step was
TO SET apart It's two largest rooms as storehouses
for food and clothing TO be given to the poor,
Ip 1926 he performed the functions of Mayor of
Leeds, as deputy OF Sir John Savllle, and twice
afterwards he filed the Office in his own name
During his second mayoraty in 1884, st. Johns
Church. begun three years earlier and built at his
own expense, was completed. He had already set
up new and much more commodious building
LOT the old Leeds Grammar School, founded
seventy years before; and in 1868 he established
ana endowed, near 10 st. Johns Church, hos
pltai for poor widows. About this time too, he
pun! hlmself house in Brggate-'a good old
iashi01eS tSa isS, house With qqadranguar court in
that at has one thing very peculiar in it,
namely, holes or passages cut in the doors or
ceilings for the free passage OF cats, for which
animals he seems to have had as great an affec
tion as another eminent beuefactor, Sir Richard
Wilmington" Other doubtful anecdotes akin
to some other Wilmington traditions, are re-
corded OF him. 'When Charles ], then in the
hands of the Scots, was brought to Leeds,n it is
said, "access 10 his person was not, of course
easily obtained, but Mr.. Harrison desired per
mission to present his Majesty with tankard
of excellent ale which he brought in his hand.
in this the guards could see no treachery and
they accordingly admitted him; but the
King, on opening the lid, found that,
vessel was filed with broad pieces. These he
contrtved to hide with great deXterity, and his
loyal benefactor was dismissed with more gra-
titude than thanks" Honest Harrison could
about the Commonwealth, and his last years
were made unhappy by the failure of the
royalist cause The detection OF many of his
old friends was great grief to him. "The time
was when you called me patron, and remem- |
bered me in your prayers, public and private" |
he said, in letter to the incumbent Of st. |
Johns Church, on which, with its schoohouse |
and associated charities, he had spent at least |
six thousand pounds; "but now patrons are out |
of date, and churches may be little barns; to |
pray for any is popish and prelatic. Tae time |
was when suffered for you under the royal |
party more than you will suffer for me |
under the parliament; but oh, the times |
my suffering for you is made the apo
loey to deter you from so much as visit. |
ing me, being under the matches; a poor
conclusion grounded on weak premises. The
time was when all / could do for you was too
little; but now the least done for me is too
much Posterity, however, has remembeIe,l
John Harrison's good actions, and he is rightly
honored as the foremost OF all the benefactors
Of Leeds.
d, The greatest boon conferred by Harrison on
the1 commerce of Leeds was his erection, in
Kirksste, of "a stately cross, for convenience
of the market" Thither assembled, during
many subsequent generations, the wool pro-
ducers and wOostaplers the clothiers and
cloth merchants of Leeds. Among the most
famous of them were John and Philip Thoresby,
brothers, and both of them Aldermen of the
borough soon alter its incorporation, the eldest
of whom was grandfather Of Ralph Thoresby
the antiquarian William Miner, who was
Mayor OF Leeds in 1897, and father of the Will
liam Miner on whom Queen Anne conferred a
barOnetcy, and several Denisoss and Sykes
The Sykes were conspicuous among the mer
chants of Leeds during more than two centu.
ries. A William Sykes, son of Richard Sykes,
ot Sykes Dyke, near Carlisle, settled in Leeds
as clothier In the sixteenth century, and his
grandson Richard, wealthy enough to buy the
manor OF LEEDS from the Crown in 1925 was
chlei alderman OF the town for the first
eighteen years OF its Incorporation. Dying in
I645, he left vast estates to each of his four
sons, and ten thousand pounds to each of his
Tour daughters, from whom four knights and
baronets' families were descended Another of
the family was Daniel Sykes, who was born in
1872 and died in 1898, He was mayor of Hull,
ana ior many years the greatest merchant
Ihereln. de followed the Baltic trade, and ii is
recorded OF him that at one time, during a
grleVous famine in Sweden, he freighted several
vessels with provisions, and despatched them
Tor gratultous distribution among the starving
people, IN return Tor that noble act, the
mi QFtQ nfa1I L. -. ~.