WEST YORKSHIRE ARCHIVE SERVICE

WAKEFIELD

As county town of both the West Riding and the former Metropolitan County of West Yorkshire, Wakefield has inherited a huge quantity of records of former county authorities. The West Riding Quarter Sessions begin in the early seventeenth century and cover all aspects of county administration as well as judicial functions. The office also holds records of the West Riding County Council (1889-1974), of the West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council (1974-1986) and the West Yorkshire Residuary Body (1986-1990). Other bodies for which the county had responsibility such as the West Riding House of Correction (later Wakefield Prison), the West Riding Asylum (later Stanley Royd Hospital), West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police (and their predecessors), the West Riding Vehicle Registration authority and the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive are also represented, and in addition the office holds definitive Rights of Way maps.

As record office for Wakefield Metropolitan District the office holds records of the District Council itself and of its predecessors, the City of Wakefield Corporation and many other borough, urban and rural district councils.

The office holds considerable collections of records of public institutions and nationalised industries, many deposited locally under the Public Records Act. These include various coroners' records, magistrates records, records from all the Health Authorities in the county and of numerous hospitals, records of the Yorkshire Water Authority, the Yorkshire Electricity Board and the British Waterways Board (Northern Region). The copy wills of the Wakefield District Probate Registry from 1858 to 1941 and printed calendars of wills at Somerset House, London are also available.

The office is the designated record office for the Diocese of Wakefield. It holds records of the Diocese itself from its foundation in 1888 and records of parishes within it, some from as early as 1558.

Microfiche or microfilm copies of the parish registers are available in all six offices of the Archive Service. The Wakefield office also holds numerous Methodist circuit and chapel records. The Yorkshire Baptist Association has deposited its records too, as have many individual Baptist and United Reformed Churches.

Among records of local business and industry held by the office are those of J G L Poulson, architect of Pontefract, the Wakefield Building Society, the Horbury Industrial Co-operative Society and several firms of solicitors. The records of a number of independent schools have also been deposited: those of Silcoates School, Wrenthorpe, date from 1831, and those of Ackworth School from 1779. The Governors of the Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth in Wakefield, founded in 1591, also administered the Wakefield Charities whose records are held in the office. The Grammar School records in the collection survive from 1590 and other Wakefield Girls' High School records from 1878. Other charity records deposited in the office include those of Archbishop Holgate's Hospital, Hemsworth from the seventeenth century. There are also archives of societies, political groups, trade unions, sports clubs and a wide variety of organisations, families and individuals.