Milligan and Dewhirst families of Bradford

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

John Milligan (1771-1847) was born in Scotland and moved to Bradford in the early nineteenth century where he founded the firm of stuff merchants John Milligan, Son & Company. His half-brother Robert Milligan also moved to Bradford and later became Bradford’s first mayor. The Dewhirst family were also involved in the textile industry (Lydia Constance Milligan, Robert Milligan’s great niece, married Harry Evelyn Dewhirst in 1884). The Milligan family home was at Benton House, Rawdon, and the Dewhirsts at Nunwood, Apperley Bridge.

The collection (WYB342) holds records of Henry Harrison Milligan, Sarah Lucy Milligan, Lydia Constance Milligan, and John Milligan, grandchildren of John Milligan. Some items also relate to Lydia Constance and Harry Evelyn Dewhirst’s children. The collection covers the dates 1856-2006.

A particularly interesting item within this collection is a diary chronicling the honeymoon of Lydia Constance Milligan (1862-1943) and Harry Evelyn Dewhirst who married in 1884. The diary begins by describing their journey from Benton Park, by carriage to Apperley Bridge Station.

“First day – Sept 6 Saturday Left Benton Park in the Woodlawn carriage at 11 O’clock and drove at a leisurely manner down to Apperley. Of course many people were looking out for us ready to give us a friendly nod; the registrar, Mr Stead passed us in a little trap. Every-one received us with honour at the station even Mr Masters exerted himself to specially agreeable…Mr Widdop crossed over from the Bradford platform to see us off. Mr Sykes was there with the tickets in his pocket, on purpose to despatch us with all our belongings. Fishburn appeared with our luncheon-basket which we had forgotten. As the train came up there seemed quite a small crowd. Just as we were moving off we remembered the tickets! Luckily, most luckily for it would have been a very bad beginning to our married life to have forgotten them.”

Their honeymoon was spent at Ross-on-Wye at the Royal Hotel. They took trips to visit places such as Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle. The diary describes the hotels they stayed in, the local scenery and the people they met.

Harry was a keen photographer and among their luggage they carried two photographic boxes. There are several occasions in the diary where he or Lydia records taking photographs or “views”.

On one occasion he writes:

“I had just time to run down to the village and take another view before dinner. I had seen an old stage coach in a little garden which had taken my fancy mightily as it was used for such a novel purpose – viz to store turnips and other like vegetables in – of course the wheels were all gone and most of the seats also. Some old women in the garden could not understand what on earth I was doing as they saw no beauty in an old coach. But a gentleman came up and asked me if I would sell my views to which I made the reply that I was not a professional and was so sorry that I couldn’t oblige him.”

The Milligan and Dewhirst family collection also contains further diaries by different family members as well as photographs of family members and their houses from the 1830s to the 1950s and personal effects such as birthday books, order of services, newspaper cuttings, and dance cards.