History of the Huddersfield Woollen Industry (1935) by W.B. Crump & Gertrude Ghorbal

History of the Huddersfield Woollen Industry is one of the series of Tolson Museum handbooks and was written by William Bunting Crump (1868-1950) and Gertrude Ghorbal (1896-1953).

It was first published in 1935 and was based on Ghorbal's earlier thesis for the University of Leeds, for which she was awarded the first Geography degree granted by the university to a woman.

The book was reprinted in 1967 (S.R. Publishers Ltd.) and again in 1988 as a limited edition of 1,000 copies.

Copyright Status

Under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the copyright of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works in the United Kingdom expires at the end of the period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.

  • William Bunting Crump, died on 10 February 1950 and copyright on his works expires at the end of 2020
  • Gertrude Ghorbal (born Sarah Gertrude Humberstone) died in Egypt in 1953 and copyright on her works expires at the end of 2023

Reviews

Leeds Mercury (06/Dec/1935):

"Museum Handbook" sounds a little forbidding. You imagine a work so described must be as cheerful as a mausoleum and represent the eminent Professor Dryasdust at his dusty driest. But the handbooks of the Tolson Memorial Museum at Huddersfield are a class of their own. The latest, "The History of the Huddersfield Woollen Industry," by W. B. Crump, M.A., and Gertrude Ghorbal, M.A., is, believe me, one of the most fascinating books ever written about the West Riding. It cost me 1s. 6d.: books for which I have paid twenty times as much of my hard-earned money have given me less pleasure.

This compact history gives us just the right information to appreciate what a German said of the West Riding:—

"Surveying the old mines of the monks, the mills deserted a century or long years ago, and the admirable modern factories, you seem to see the process of industrial development like a slow-motion film."

Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (1938):

This is one of the valuable series of Handbooks published by the Tolson Memorial Museum and is quite up to the standard we expect from the editorship of Dr. T. W. Woodhead. The collaboration of Mrs. Ghorbal with Mr. W. B. Crump has provided a valuable contribution to not only Huddersfield but Yorkshire industrial history. A mass of material has been dealt with in a highly competent manner, so that the reader is able to follow the development of the woollen trade from its early beginnings as an occupation for the spinsters in the home to the modern factory. Chapters III to X comprise valuable contributions which are a happy combination of local history and technical detail, and go far to preserve obsolete processes and many colloquial terms, long since gone out of use, which might otherwise be lost to future generations. Apart from its purpose as a handbook to the museum, the book contains much of human interest in the rise of local families to wealth and the homely surroundings of the Yeoman Clothier. A series of thirty illustrations from old prints and photographs show careful selection in relation to the subject matter and add to the value for reference purposes. Dr. Woodhead contributes a preface in which the pioneer work of Mrs. Ghorbal receives due acknowledgment.

Further Reading