Huddersfield Corporation

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Huddersfield Corporation was a municipal borough administrative body formed in 1868, which superseded the Huddersfield Improvement Commissioners. The transfer deeds were signed at a ceremony held at the George Hotel on Saturday 10 October 1868.[1]

The area under the remit of the Corporation was initially comprised of the townships of Huddersfield, Almondbury, Dalton, Lindley-cum-Quarmby and Lockwood.

One of the first challenges for the Corporation was to secure improved water supplies to the town, and this was achieved with the Huddersfield Water Act of 1869 and the construction of a series of reservoirs, including Blackmoorfoot which was completed in 1876.

The Ramsden family had been the Lords of the Manors of Huddersfield and Almondbury since the 1590s but, when rumours began to circulate that Sir John Frenchville Ramsden wished to sell the estate, the Corporation negotiated the purchase for £1,300,000 and famously became "the town that bought itself". In reality, it was multi-millionaire businessman Samuel William Copley — a native of Berry Brow — who acted as the crucial middleman, buying the estate and then selling it on to the Corporation.[2]

Huddersfield County Borough expanded in 1937 with the addition of parts of Fixby Civil Parish and Golcar, Linthwaite and South Crosland Urban districts.

Under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the Corporation was abolished in 1974, with control being transferred to Kirklees Metropolitan Council and West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council.

Further Readings

Notes and References

  1. "Improvement Commissioners' Farewell Banquet" in Huddersfield Chronicle (17/Oct/1868) and "The Huddersfield Improvement Commissioners and the Corporation" in Leeds Mercury (12/Oct/1868).
  2. The negotiations are discussed in detail in The Ramsdens and Their Estate in Huddersfield: The Town that Bought Itself (1972) by Clifford Stephenson.