Textile and Industrial Heritage - Cuthbert Brodrick

Included on the piece of pink smocking is part of the bust of one of Leeds worthies.

Cuthbert Brodrick was born in Kingston-upon-Hull in 1821. When he was 15 he became articled to Henry Francis Lockwood, an architect in Hull who was influenced by the classical style. After this he toured Europe to study the major cities, then returned to Hull in 1845 to set up his own practice. When he was 29 he won a competition to design Leeds Town Hall, which building was opened by Queen Victoria in September 1858. He also won the competitions to design the Corn Exchange (opened 1862) and the Mechanics Institute (opened 1865).

Brodrick's fourth public building for Leeds was the municipal baths, opened in 1867 and demolished in 1969. There's a strange photograph of the Alpine Sun Baths over on the Leodis site. A bar, named The Cuthbert Brodrick now stands on the site, overlooking Millennium Square.

The piece was hand stitched by Janet Carding (26 hours), love the beard.

Sports for All - John Charles CBE (1931-2004)

The ‘Gentle Giant’ was born in Swansea in 1931 and was signed by Leeds on his 16th birthday. In 1953-54 he scored 42 League goals to set a new United seasonal record, breaking another record 3 years later when he was sold to Juventus for £65,000. Charles returned to Leeds in 1962 but left for Roma after only 11 league games. He is said to have been Leeds greatest player outside of the Revie era and he earned his nickname by never being sent off or cautioned.

He has been honoured in Leeds with one of the stands at Leeds United being named after him and as we saw yesterday the South Leeds Stadium, once the home of Leeds Reserves is now renamed in his memory.

Hand stitched on printed fabric by Janet Carding(42 hours), all is not as it appears in the embroidery. Thanks to pictures in a 1950s football annual and a bit of photoshopping, his right arm (borrowed from Gary McAllister) and the football were added out of the frame.

On the Move - 1939 Vauxhall Car

On 26th March 1934 the Driving Test was introduced in the United Kingdom.

Today's offering is a 1939 Vauxhall car in celebration of this event (OK, tenuous link)

I have many more questions than facts today. Whose car is this? Where is it and is it still being used?

It appears with a Vauxhall Calibra on the Transport (On the Move) panel and both were sponsored by Barr Wallace Arnold.

Were those driving already issued with licenses without having to pass a test?

The printed fabric was hand stitched by Janet Carding.

Textile and Industrial Heritage - Mathew Murray

And here's the man himself. Mathew Murray, born in Scotland in 1765.
A potted biography can be found on the Holbeck village website.

Wondering if there was a statue of Mr Murray in Leeds I found this site where Bob Speel has listed all the Victorian sculpture in the City. He includes a good deal of information on the statues in City Square. Judging by the dates of these, the worthies of Leeds were commemorating the turn of the eighteenth to nineteenth century in the Square. The equivalent of Millennium Square (formerly Mandela Gardens)?

Post Script
City Square was constructed to celebrate Leeds becoming a City.
Mandela Gardens still exists in the new Millennium Square arrangement - its the southern part with the Kenneth Armitage bronze 'Both Hands'.
Both City Square and Millennium Square were re-created by the Civic Architect John Thorp.

The embroidery was hand stitched on printed fabric by Janet Carding and took 18 hours to complete.