Dukinfield Centenary Souvenir

Dukinfield and the Charter

The campaign for Dukinfield to be granted its own Charter of Incorporation as a Borough can be traced back to October, 1897, and to an article in the Ashton Reporter, which called for the town to given equal status to those around it.

At the time, Dukinfield was in its second year as an urban district council. Before that, it had been administered by a local board of health for almost 40 years. However, many neighbouring towns were boroughs, with the extra powers a charter conferred. Ashton had attained such status in 1847, followed by Stalybridge (1857), Hyde (1881) and Mossley (1885).

"Why not Dukinfield as well?" people asked. There was a fear that the town might be swallowed up by its more powerful neighbours, and many pointed out that, when Stalybridge had become a borough, it had absorbed the area around Stanley Square which had belonged to Dukinfield.

The Reporter argued that "people could have closer contact of officers in the district, and of the police in particular." The borough Bench needed to free itself from the "petty and annoying restraints of a standing joint committee sitting in faraway Chester."

It was also pointed out that Dukinfield had the population to merit a charter. Mossley was a borough, yet had a population of 15,000. Dukinfield's was 4,000 higher.

That article met with a great deal of approval, and a public meeting to discuss the matter was held at the Co-operative Hall, Astley Street, on November 23, following a ratepayers' petition. The room was packed.

Not everyone was in favour of an application for charter status. Some feared that a borough council would mean higher costs and, therefore, higher rates; but a rousing speech by Mr James Grime - later to be one of Dukinfield's first aldermen - won the day. He was supported by George Heathcote - another future alderman - and the motion " it is desirable that application should be made for a Charter of Incorporation under the provisions of the Municipal Corporation acts 1882-93, and that a district commissioner be hereby requested to give assistance in the matter" was passed by a huge majority.

An incorporation committee was then elected comprising Allen Howard, Charles Webb, John Moorhouse, Robert Phipps, Charles Selby, Edwin Kenyon, James Garforth, Abraham Jeffreys, William Underwood, Henry Pratt, George Heathcote and Thomas Hall.

The petition for incorporation was sent to the Privy Council on February 25, 1898, and bore the signatures of 2,400 men, representing a rateable value of £31,000. Now, it was a matter of waiting for an inquiry to be established by the Local Government Board to take account of the views of those for and against a borough council.

However, the committee wasted no time. A competition was established to design a town hall that would be testimony to Dukinfield's elevated status, and to replace the rather dowdy council offices which had been opened in 1861 and stood at the corner of Chapel Street and King Street, where the town hall plateau is now situated.

A first prize of £40 was offered, with one of £20 for second place, and 21 designs were received. These were quickly reduced to a shortlist of five, and these were put on public display at the Technical School on Town Lane.

The Government announced that the inquiry would be chaired by Mr Commissioner Cresswell, and the charter committee engaged the services of Dr Richard Pankhurst, husband of the famous Suffragette Emmeline, to put their case.

Cresswell was to have visited Dukinfield at the end of May, 1898, but a collapse in the "no" campaign meant that the inquiry was delayed until June. Dr Pankhurst then gave what the Reporter described as a "detailed and painstaking address which, at times, reached the point of eloquence."

Tracing the town's history, from the formation of the local board, "he grounded the substance of the appeal upon the fact that we have collected, in a very difficult area, an intelligent, active and prosperous community possessed of public institutions of the greatest value, and the most eminent service."

A petition opposing incorporation had been drawn up by solicitors Booth and Wilkinson, but the signatories failed to attend the inquiry. The main pillar of the "no" campaign was an insistence that incorporation would be bad for agriculture, leading to an increase in rates. However, it appears this would only have been the case if cereals had been cultivated in Dukinfield. As it was, the town was in a dairy farming area, so the argument did not apply.

When the inquiry ended, Cresswell said he would recommend charter status to the Privy Council. Unfortunately, Pankhurst was not to see his labours come to fruition as he died only weeks later.

By September, the Privy Council had approved Dukinfield's application, and the preparations began to organise celebrations, and the first council elections which, in those days, were held in November.

The Charter of Incorporation was finally granted on August 2, 1899; and the Charter Day celebrations were held on Saturday, September 23. It was the greatest day Dukinfield had seen, up to that point, and the UDC voted £250 for the celebrations, and a further £50 for decorations - a total sum that would run into several thousands of pounds 100 years later.

Edwin Kenyon was appointed chairman of the decorations committee, and four triumphal arches were erected: just below the King Street - Queen Street junction; on Astley Street, just below the Old General; on Astley Street towards Dukinfield Hall; and close to what was to become the park.

At the junction of Astley Street and King Street a circular device, suspended by streamers, hung in mid-air, bearing the inscription "We appreciate the civic honour. "On Chapel Hill, there was a decorated masthead, and there were attempts to stretch a banner across Town Lane with the message "Dukinfield is now on the map." Unfortunately, it was torn across as a result of the dreadful weather which prevailed on the day.

The ceremonials began with the cutting of the first sod at what was to become the park. This was performed by Mrs J.F. Astley-Cheetham, who was presented with a silver spade. The first tree, a sapling ash, was planted by Miss Charlotte Astley, who was presented with a silver trowel.

At the town hall site, the corner stone was laid by the Lady of the Manor, Mrs Gertrude Nicholson. The stone bears the inscription: "This stone, laid September 23, 1899, commemorates the grant of a Charter of Incorporation to Dukinfield on the 2nd of August, 1899." Inside the stone is a bottle containing coins and copies of three newspapers.

Next, the provisional town clerk, Charles Henry Booth, read the Charter of Incorporation from the district council offices. A banquet took place at the Crescent Road schools, in the evening.

Under the terms of the Charter, Dukinfield was divided into three wards: East, Central and West. Each elected six councillors, and the addition of six aldermen gave the town 24 representatives.

Aldermen were abolished in the local government reforms of 1974, but these people - almost always members of the council - were elected to the Aldermanic Bench by the council, where they served six-year terms, during which there was no need for re-election by the townspeople.

On the first Dukinfield Town Council, the Liberals held a majority of four. In the first elections, on November 1, 1899, they had 14 members elected, while there were eight conservatives and two Independent aldermen - Charles Hadfield and Abraham Elce. These two gentlemen were not elected, but were invited to join the council.

Henry Pratt, owner of the Compo washing powder company, Crescent Road, was elected the town's first mayor, with Alderman James Pickup as his deputy.

Thomas Gordon was appointed town clerk, and the other officers were Thomas Hyslop, borough treasurer; William Smith, accountant and committee clerk; Samuel Hague, surveyor; Dr John Park, medical officer of health; Joseph Summerfield, sanitary inspector; Harrison Veevers, gas manager; George Hague, cashier and collector; and Edwin Broadrick, librarian.

Over the following 75 years, only two women held the office of mayor - Elizabeth Kenyon, in 1917, and Hilda Andrew in 1974-1975.

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