PONTEFRACT'S FORGOTTEN MAN
THOMAS JEFFRIES SIDES
by TERRY SPENCER
PART ONE |
PART TWO
Such is the transience of mortal fame that a recently published book containing
biographical sketches of almost two hundred people associated with the town of
Pontefract made no mention of T. J. Sides, the town’s most prominent citizen
during the period 1916-1937.
Thomas Jeffries Sides was born in Phillipsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in 1874 of
English emigrant parents who came to live at Henry Street, Featherstone, when
he was about twelve years of age. Obtaining employment as a boy labourer at
Featherstone Main Colliery, Sides worked there for some 15 years, becoming
foreman of the coal screening plant before leaving in February 1902 to become
the licensee of the recently built Featherstone Hotel.
As the tenant of the Featherstone Hotel, Sides was well ahead of rival licensees
in attracting customers by promoting regular events as diverse as dog shows,
shooting competitions, brass band contests, billiard matches and athletic
competitions held on a specially constructed track located next to the hotel.
An accomplished musician, Sides played the violin at local festivals organised by
the Free Churches of Featherstone and was for a time a member of a locally
based orchestra. The wide circle of friends and acquaintances gained through
his cultural and church activities was doubtless influential in his decision
to enter local politics, somewhat surprisingly given his social background, as
a member of the Conservative Party. By the turn of the twentieth century Sides
was a member of Featherstone Urban District Council and in due course its
Chairman.
As the representative of the North Ward in the 1904 local elections Sides
revealed a talent for self-promotion which is almost breathtaking in its
opportunism. Standing against William Sykes, a local miner and Labour Party
candidate, Sides upstaged his opponent by presenting himself as "the true
‘labour’ candidate" heading the poll with a majority of 191. A local
pro-Conservative newspaper editorial acknowledged Sides’ power of persuasion
stating that : -
"The result indicated that in Mr. Sides the ratepayers feel that they have a man of
some substance, who is likely to attend to their interests per se and not
sacrifice them in the same way as his opponent."
Sides, who was described as having "The power of throwing himself without reck
into events of the moment", also had an innate ability matched by
boundless self-confidence which thrust him to the forefront of local affairs
and ensured that criticism of his actions and motives was not wanting. An
indication of the passion aroused by Sides is seen in the turmoil arising from
his fractured association with St. Peters’ Mission Church at Featherstone in
1911.
Friction arose when the Vicar of Featherstone, Reverend F.G. Stebbigs, announced at a
vestry meeting that his warden, T.J. Sides, would henceforth have sole control
of the financial affairs of the church. The Vicar, the parish incumbent for
over 20 years, was highly esteemed by the local populace, having been
instrumental in raising over £100 per week for relief of the local miners
during the period of industrial upheaval subsequently designated as the ‘Featherstone
Riots’ in 1893.
Sides, who lived in the Mission Church district and had been active in the affairs of
the Mission Church for a number of years had, however, had a disagreement with
the ‘elders’ of the congregation and had ‘defected’ to the parish
church at which he had been confirmed by the Bishop of Beverley in 1909.
The announcement of the Vicar annoyed his curate, the Reverend F.H. Jackson, who
had resided at Featherstone about 16 months, having been appointed curate by
the Archbishop of York, Dr. Lang, with whom he had earlier been associated at
Stepney. The Curate therefore petitioned the Archbishop, objecting to Sides’
financial control and followed up his action by preaching a sermon at the
Mission Church stating the reason for his objections and making derogatory
remarks about Sides. In a public statement refuting the remarks of the Curate,
Sides accused him of being the Archbishop’s ‘placeman’ and said that he
objected to his preaching of "socialist sermons", a charge denied by
the cleric. The incident caused a bitter schism in the local church at
Featherstone. Nevertheless, the ire of opponents had never deterred Sides in
his pursuit of his political and business interests nor prevented his rise to
prominence in local affairs and by 1910 he was the Chairman of Featherstone
Urban District Council, having been a member of the Board of Guardians and the
Local Burial Board since 1903, and also Secretary of the local Licensed
Victuallers’ Association and Treasurer of the Yorkshire District Licensed
Victuallers National Defence League.
As the result of a letter from Private E. Wilks who was on active service on the
western front, Sides, who was too old for enlistment, was inspired to assist
with recruitment and training and to this end raised the Featherstone Company
of Volunteers under his command and successfully obtained a Court grant to
facilitate this patriotic effort.
As the tenant of Carters’ Knottingley Brewery Company Limited, Sides used his
contacts and influence in the service of the company, obtaining land and
properties and facilitating business deals and on occasion acting as the
Company’s representative such as the presentation in 1914 to the War Relief
Committee on behalf of the Brewery of £15 to the Distress Fund and a further
£10 to the Belgian Refugee Fund. Simultaneously, Sides was building up a
portfolio of shares in the company. Recognition of Sides’ value to the
company and his potential future value resulted in an invitation to join the
board in 1916. Such was Sides’ business skill and energy that within two
years he was appointed managing director. Commencing at a yearly salary of
£500, itself not an insignificant sum at that time, by 1920 Sides’ annual
income from the brewery alone was £1,500, plus expenses and provision of a
company car.
At the time of his appointment as managing director of the brewery company, Sides
left Featherstone and took up residence at ‘Fernhill’, a detached house in
the Nevison district of Pontefract. The following year Sides, having resigned
from Featherstone Council, was elected to Pontefract Borough Council and a
year later, in 1918, was elected Mayor of Pontefract, remaining in that office
for four consecutive years. Sides’ first official civic duty was to publicly
proclaim the end of the Great War of 1914-1918 thereby inaugurating the first
of seven mayoralities each of significance in the wide context of national
developments.
Raised to Alderman status in 1920, Sides was again called upon to assume the style
and title of Mayor in 1924 when Alderman R.P. Husband died in office. In 1921
Sides was appointed a County magistrate and became a Borough J.P. two years
later. Sides was also the representative member of the Knottingley Division of
the West Riding County Council and until its obsolescence, a member of the
Pontefract Board of Guardians. In 1928 Sides was made an honorary freeman of
Pontefract Borough for services to the town.
His term as an alderman being due to expire in late 1926, Sides resigned his
office in order to contest the West Ward in the forthcoming Borough elections.
Some indication of public dismay, perhaps with Sides political opportunism,
was evident in his defeat at the polls. Beaten by 475 votes to 386, Sides was
presented with a further opportunity to stand in the same ward when his recent
opponent Councillor Brittain, was nominated as an Alderman, but in a three
cornered fight Sides was again rejected. Shortly thereafter, the resignation
of Councillor H. Holmes created a vacancy in the Central Ward of the town and
Sides was duly elected by a comfortable margin. Re-elected in 1927 and again,
unopposed, in 1930, Sides successfully faced two opponents in 1933.
Elected Mayor in 1935 and again, for a seventh time the year following, Sides’
period in office encompassed the abdication crisis and the coronation of
George VI, the effect of mass unemployment on local industry and the
increasing threat of war arising from the rise of fascism in Europe. The
dramatic nature of these events allied to those of peace, post war
reconstruction and industrial unrest which had characterised earlier mayoralty’s
combined to make his periods as mayor more memorable than most.
Sides effected a great affection for children and used to carry sweets and small
change in his pockets to distribute to children he met and at Christmas 1912
gave away 500 new pennies to local children. At the time of the general strike
in 1926 Sides advocated that local miners be relieved of the burden of debt
which they had incurred in consequence of the dispute and throughout the
strike adopted a Saturday ritual, giving a penny and an orange to local
children, the result of which action it was subsequently recalled, reduced
their strike-hardened fathers to tears.
Sides propensity to hurl loose change amongst groups of children, when
electioneering, had near fatal consequences for his social standing and
political career when following his involvement in a local election in 1909 he
was subsequently arraigned on three charges of giving money to voters, a
number of whom had comprised an incidental element of the throng in receipt of
Sides’ largess.
The case was heard at Leeds Assize Court on Monday 18th August 1910 when Sides was
charged with bribery under the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act of 1854 with
regard to events concerning the municipal election at Pontefract West Ward in
November the previous year. Charges of perjury were also brought against
Councillor W. Archer and Dr. Moxon in connection with the case.
It was alleged that Sides had given seven pence to one Arthur Millet, son of a
voter and one shilling and seven pence halfpenny to Ernest Rowe, son of
another voter as well as to sundry others, having thrown an handful of small
silver and copper coins onto the ground for them to pick up.
Sides was presented as a "highly respected publican" and erstwhile
secretary of the Licensed Victuallers Association who were supporting the
Conservatives in the local election. Admitting that he had obtained ten
shillings worth of small change from a local shop, Sides also stated that he
had thrown money to groups containing children during the afternoon and
evening of the day in question and had encouraged them to sing "Vote,
vote, vote for Mr. Archer..."
Without vacating the jury box, the jury announced a verdict of not guilty on Sides, a
verdict enthusiastically applauded by the attendant public while
"A large number of friends heartily congratulated Sides on his escape from a
position into which, but for a political rancour and ill-feeling, he would
never have been forced."
At the subsequent meeting of the well attended Yorkshire District Licensed
Victuallers’ National Defence League at Harrogate, a resolution couched in
flattering terms was passed congratulating Sides on his acquittal and was
carried with great acclamation. Sides "responded feelingly",
doubtlessly thinking of his co-defendants who had fared less well, Archer
being barred from public office for five years and Moxon for seven years,
although the suspension was eventually lifted in the latter case. Yet again an
incident involving Sides and from which he emerged relatively unscathed, left
a legacy of bitterness and alienation. To show his disapproval of Corporation
employees who had signed the petition accusing Councillor Archer of
corruption, the Mayor, Colonel Shaw of Darrington Hall, cancelled the annual
dinner held for Council workmen. The dinner went ahead, however, when the
manager of the Midland Bank and a group of associates undertook to pay the
cost of the event in opposition of the mayor.
The sundry public bodies of which Sides was a member at various periods of his
civic life mirror his interests in child welfare and particularly the
provision of educational opportunity. Sides was sometime Chairman of the local
Education Committee, Vice Chairman of the Association of Education Authorities
of Yorkshire and a long serving member of the Advisory Council of the
Examination Board of Yorkshire Training Colleges. Chairman of the Governors of
Pontefract & district Girls High School and a Governor of the King’s
School Foundation, Sides was also a Manager of the Pontefract Evening &
Technical Institutes and of All Saints Infants’ School, Pontefract.
In the sphere of social welfare Sides was a member of the Osgoldcross Assessment
Committee, Pontefract Old Age Pensions Sub-Committee and a co-opted member of
the Pontefract Charity Trustees. A member of Pontefract & District Board
and Sherburn District Smallpox Hospital Committee, Sides was also a Freemason,
being a member of the De Lacy Lodge. In October 1936 he was instrumental in
organising the attendance of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Yorkshire at
Pontefract for the first time in almost sixty years. Shortly afterwards Sides
was appointed to the post of Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies in the
Grand Lodge of England, bearing the rank of Grand Lodge Officer. Appointed a
member of the Supreme Chapter of Freemasons, a national group, Sides was the
first such appointee from Pontefract since the honour was conferred on Mr. T.W.
Tew more than half a century earlier.
In the mid 1920s when economic adversity threatened the future prospects of the
Pontefract Race Company, formed in 1919, Sides was appointed managing director
and assumed responsibility for its recovery. Through reorganisation involving
severe financial cuts which did not endear him to the shareholders, Sides
ensured the survival and long-term prosperity of the company which still
functions today, almost three-quarters of a century after his demise.
Progressing from Chairman and musical director of the Queen’s Theatre Company,
Castleford, Sides became managing director and was instrumental in overseeing
the transition of the building from a theatre to a cinema. Sides had a long
connection with theatre management. As early as September 1901 he had taken
out a lease on the Theatre Royal, Featherstone, and reopened it following
several months of closure with an eclectic programme of drama, opera and
cinematography. Also in connection with social events at Castleford, Sides was
prominent in the introduction and promotion of the ‘Reight Neet Aht’ with
its famous taws (marbles) and tiddlywinks contests and rolled the first marble
to inaugurate the charitable event in 1936. Featuring nationally known
celebrities, the now defunct event outlived Sides, reaching its apogee in the
immediate post Second World War period when graced by the wealthy
industrialist Sir Bernard Docker and his wife who arrived at the town in their
gold plated Daimler.
Ever the demagogue and self publicist, with an eye open for a photo opportunity,
Sides was omnipresent at events such as local fetes, charitable demonstrations
and fund-raising activities, or accompanying church and school trips to the
seaside. While none can dispute Sides’ interest and generosity, the taint of
opportunism and vested interest seems to have permeated the atmosphere of many
such events.
©2006 Dr. Terry Spencer
PART ONE |
PART TWO
Also by Terry Spencer:
Darrington Hotel: Origins and Early
History
Willow Park Dog Track
The Hope and Anchor Inn, Pontefract
Priming the Town Pump
A Very Gallant Gentleman: Percy Bentley
|
