BRIGG DATES TIMELINE PART FOUR: 1900 TO 1939 - POSTED APRIL 2020

Brigg Blog today posts the fourth part of a Dates Timeline series that will eventually feature events of note in our area from the 11th century through to the present day. Here we recall the period from 1900 to 1939 when the Second World War began.
We will be posting additional decades in the near future, including the new millennium years from 2000 and the 1800s.
We'll then go back to earlier centuries.
If you have any entries for 1900 to 1939 you feel should be added to what follows, please email scoopfisher@aol.com
Your contribution will be included next time we update our Brigg Timeline with additional entries.
Brigg Blog's aim is to create a database tracing the development of Brigg from a humble fording place on the Ancholme, with a few properties nearby, to the popular market town it is today.
Although our Dates Timeline is centred on Brigg, some entries relating to the surrounding district have been included, and more are welcome.

1900: The Brigg Workhouse guardians permitted talking at meal-times – change in policy reported by the local press. The first North Lincolnshire (Brigg) Music and Drama Festival  was held.  With a decline in pupil numbers, Brigg Grammar School decided to admit girls as a trial measure. Most Brigg town centre cottages by now had a water supply, although often just a single tap near the front door with a bucket underneath. Elsham Golf Club was founded.

1901: Brigg people mourned the death of Queen Victoria. Brigg Constitutional Club, with 180 members, opened in the Exchange building, on Bigby Street.

1902: Scawby-born Alfred Talbot Cliff played his first county cricket season with Worcestershire, continuing with them until 1920. While taking a career best eight wickets against Kent, one of his victims was Test star Frank Woolley – one of England’s best-ever batsmen.

1903: Brigg Amateur Operatic Society was formed. With numbers on the roll still falling, Brigg Grammar started to accept pupils as young as six.

1904: Castlethorpe Mill was damaged by a severe fire. Brigg Grammar School Headmaster Richmond Flowers stepped down. George Layne was selling 'Glanford' motorcycles in Brigg.

1905: Brigg Grammar was forced to close for 18 months.

1906: Joseph Taylor, of Saxby-All-Saints sang Brigg Fair at the town’s music festival. This traditional tune was one of the many folk songs in the collection of  pianist and composer Percy Grainger who was a personal friend of Gervase Elwes;  Brigg Fair was later orchestrated by composer Frederick Delius and it still performed at classical music concerts today. Brigg-born Joe Kitching made his Football League debut for Gainsborough Trinity in Division Two. He later moved to Sheffield United, scoring more than 100 goals for the Blades. Joe had started with Brigg Britannia and Brigg Town.

1907: Sir Berkeley Sheffield was elected MP for Brigg in a by-election; he was a member of the Exchange gentlemen's club in the town. Chatterton’s corn and cake mill, near the County Bridge, was taken over by the Farmers’ Company. Walker’s shoe shop moved from 65 Wrawby Street to 1 Bigby Street and then again (in 1910) to 75 Wrawby Street (information from Josie Webb).

1908: Laying of the foundation stone at the new Salvation Army Hall on West Terrace, Brigg, by Sir Berkeley Sheffield.

1909: Brigg Cemetery was extended.

1910: Yarborough Mills, adjoining the New River Ancholme, was destroyed by a huge fire but subsequently rebuilt. Alfred Gelder became MP.

1911: Brigg people took to the streets on June 22 to celebrate the Coronation of King George V. The Lincolnshire Show was held in Brigg over three days in July with special excursion trains bringing spectators from as far away as Rotherham, Sheffield and Worksop.

1912: Brigg Bowls Club was founded. Building of the infants' school, Scawby. Beech Villas were constructed on Grammar School Road – these properties becoming the most northerly in the town.

1913: The Manor House, on Bigby Street, was handed over by the Elwes family to an Order of Nuns, to be used as a Convent. Brigg Town Football Club became the first to win the Hett Cup, donated by a local benefactor (trophy still in use today with annual tournaments held to raise funds for charity). Cadney Church reopened after restoration.

1914: Brigg people volunteered to serve at the beginning of the First World War. Troops paraded through the streets, watched by crowds, on their way to board trains at the railway station. In a Roll of Honour, Brigg Grammar School's Magazine listed ex-pupils serving their country and reported the death of one of them, Harold Oglesby, of the Yorkshire Light Infantry, on October 18, 1914 - very early in the conflict.

1915: The Brigg Infirmary off Wrawby Road was opened by R. W. Godfrey, chairman of the Brigg Board of Guardians; it was later renamed Glanford Hospital. 1915:  Brigg Court made an order that all local pubs had to close earlier - at 9pm. A Hibaldstow man was struck by lightning during a terrific August thunderstorm. During the war Spring’s factory in Brigg sent Christmas puddings to cheer up servicemen abroad.

1916: A grass airfield was established at Elsham as part of Britain's Home Defence to combat German Zeppelin airship bombers. Air raid precautions were observed at Brigg Grammar School, where boarders were instructed to run to the day room when alerts were received about  ‘Zepps’ being in the district. Lieutenant 'Billy' Leefe Robinson - the first pilot to shoot down a Zeppelin and holder of the Victoria Cross - was cheered by a crowd in Brigg Market Place when he visited the town; he had downed the airship near London. Wrawby Junction signalbox was installed - the largest on the Great Central Railway with 137 levers. Tracks through Barnetby were extended following the development of the port at Immingham and the village station was improved.

1917: Sergeant Frederick Hobson - "a native of Brigg" - was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. A soup kitchen opened in the Town Hall (Buttercross) serving up pint portions to people from all classes; Brigg Urban District Council provided the soup at cost price and it was served by volunteers - people taking it home to their families. Brigg Grammar School lost 3-1 to Elsham Aerodrome in a friendly football match.

1918: H. F. Stennett began auctioning smallholders' produce on land off Manley Gardens. Charles McLean became Brigg MP. Hostilities ceased on the Western Front. Brigg Grammar School, with a record 150 pupils, "marched in fours" to to the Market Place on Armistice Day to take part in the Thanksgiving Service. The school grew many tons of potatoes on its land to help in a time of food shortage.  Sister Ellen Andrew, a nurse, was killed during an aerial bombing raid on a Red Cross train on the first day of the final German offensive in spring 1918. Alderman Joshua Davy received many letters of thanks for gifting Brigg a "play centre for young children." Many Brigg people contracted flu during a pandemic, with some deaths.

1919: Unveiling of Brigg War Memorial by Mrs Stamp, wife of Alderman Harry Stamp (see crowds in our picture montage above). The Girls' High School opened on Bigby Street (it moved in 1936 to a site off Wrawby Road). Brigg Peace Celebrations were held, including a meal at the Angel for heroes who had survived the conflict. The fledgling telephone service had 20 local subscribers.

1920: Brigg British Legion (later operating the Servicemen's Club) was officially registered. Brigg Hockey Club was founded. Tenders were invited by Brigg Urban District Council to build homes for people to rent on land between Wrawby Road and Glebe Road. Brigg-born cyclist Lal White represented Great Britain at the Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.

1921: Brigg Urban District Council's table of tolls payable on market produce included 2d per head of cattle, 2d for every basket of butter, 1d for a goose and 1d for half-a-dozen pigeons - these charges being approved by the Minister of Heath while C. F. W. Cotton was clerk to Brigg UDC. A Fordson tractor demonstration was held in Brigg – just a couple of years after Henry Ford’s company launched this global brand.

1922: William Sargent established the family ice cream business in Hibaldstow. Sir Berkeley Sheffield became Brigg MP once again.

1923:  George Jobson took over the Queens Arms on Wrawby Street, Brigg; he was to prove a very long-serving landlord. All railway stations in the Brigg area became part of the newly-created London & North Eastern Railway.  The Briggensians’ Association – representing former pupils of Brigg Grammar School –  was founded at a meeting on July 25, then being known as the BGS Old Boys’ Association.

1924: W. A. Sass established the Monument Garage, Brigg.  Closure of the Sutton & Bean Britannia Brewery between Wrawby Street and Bigby Street; it had been established in the 19th century by Frank R. Sutton of Scawby who was later joined by Hull accountant William Ashby Bean. Brigg Women's Institute was formed. A bomb jettisoned by a German Zeppelin during the First World War was discovered stuck in a tree in Wrawby; the airship had been on a raid over Scunthorpe. The first annual dinner of the Brigg Grammar School Old Boys’ Association was held at the town’s Woolpack Hotel.

1925: Many former Sutton & Bean pubs were acquired by the Hull Brewery Company.

1926:  The Brigg area was affected by The General Strike in May, with train services decimated.

1927: Launch of the Grand Cinema on Wrawby Street, Brigg. Curry’s shop opened in the town; the national firm sold cycles and later electrical goods.

1928: Work started on building Brigg Sugar Factory - beet from local fields being processed.

1929: New year sugar-refining work for 300 people was announced at the factory. Glebe Road Junior School opened. Brigg Grammar School's sports pavilion was built by pupils and staff. Acting star of the future, Joan Plowright (Lady Olivier), was born in Brigg at the family home on Central Square; her father was editor of local newspaper The Star. The Angel Hotel was put up for sale. N. F. Preston was appointed surveyor to Brigg UDC – much later to have a street named in his honour; he was involved in council house building projects. David Quibell was elected MP for the Brigg Constituency, losing his seat after two years to Michael Hunter.

1930: Workhouses were abolished, including Brigg’s. The guardians’ room had been used for meetings of Brigg Rural District Council (founded in 1894) whose staff were housed in two cottages on Albert Street. However, the council then acquired Arley House, on Bigby Street, former home of the Bletcher family, and converted it into offices. Bratley’s windmill, in Mill Place, Scawby Brook, was demolished.

1931: The Elwes family bought Elsham Hall.

1932: Brigg Grammar School's speech day, held in the town's Grand Theatre, heard a call for a gymnasium to be built , to cater for more than 200 boys, and noted the growth of the School Orchestra.

1933: Kettle’s furniture business in Brigg was gutted by fire. The town’s gas plant was described as obsolete and in danger of collapse. A plan was drawn up to tackle ‘slum housing’ in the town centre. Scunthorpe United Reserves entered the Hett Cup - and won it.

1934: Brigg's first Trades Exhibition was staged - at the Corn Exchange - attracting 2,000 visitors on the first day.  Glanford Boat Club was formed. Land was purchased from Tadcaster Brewery by the urban council to build the Newlands housing estate, the  estimated cost being £85,000.

1935: Soft drinks firm Lindsey Aerated Water Supply (LAWS) was founded in premises near the Old River Ancholme. Work started on building the Newlands estate to house people living in town centre courtyard cottages.  The foundation stone was laid for a new Conservative Club in Brigg. A meeting was held in the town to discuss a by-pass road and the idea of building a local swimming pool was suggested. David Quibell again became  Brigg MP.

1936: The newly-built Brigg Post Office opened on Bigby Street. Celebrations were held to mark the centenary of Bell’s windmill on Mill Lane.

1937: Ernest Taylor established his TV and radio repair/sales business in the town, later selling toys in his shop. News about Brigg featured in the pages of the area's newly-launched Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, launched that September. Severe flooding affected Brigg in December.

1938: Joseph J. Magrath - still remembered today as 'Mr Brigg' - was appointed Town Clerk; decades later he was awarded the OBE.  A surviving Spring’s Delights price list from this year shows the following products being made at the Brigg factory – lemon cheese, grapefruit butter, marmalade, various types of jam and honey, natural fruit squashes and calves’ feet jelly. The factory also made, at various times, Christmas puddings, horseradish sauce and mincemeat. A National Farmers’ Union branch was formed in Brigg.

1939: The Second World War began on September 3;  the following day the air raid sirens sounded in Brigg but no German bombers arrived overhead. The first three men from the town to be called up included George Hewson, the future councillor, who was a Royal Navy reservist. The editor of the Brigg Grammar School Magazine told fellow pupils: "We, the youth of the nation, have our part to play in this conflict." The School Notes section made reference to ungainly air raid shelters on the edge of the playing field. Although it had seemed likely the school would have to share its premises "with the evacuated Maris College from Hull" the visitors had been accommodated at nearby Brigg Girls' High. The Glanford Players staged their first production. Initial plans to create a recreation ground for Brigg were announced but put on hold because of the war.