Bradford Mechanics Institute: Through These Doors

Description

This illustrated talk will take you through some of the key figures who left their mark on Bradford and beyond. For nearly 200 years the Bradford Mechanics Institute has been at the heart of city life but who were the movers and shakers associated with the Institute that helped put Bradford on the map?

People like Alderman Dr. Thomas Beaumont, a founding committee member who introduced street lighting, improved sanitary conditions and established England’s first Temperance Society in Bradford, and the industrialist, philanthropist and cabinet minister, Sir W.E. Forster, a former president of the Institute were two such visionaries.

Over the years, this venue has attracted a cross section of Bradfordians, from clerks and engineers to wool barons and politicians. Find out who else helped shaped Bradford’s story and left behind a legacy that’s still being talked about today.

About the Author

Tricia Restorick

When she was appointed in 2013, Tricia Restorick became the first woman President in the nearly 200-year history of the Bradford Mechanics Institute. Her first contact with the Institute came through her research into a family member who had served in the Bradford Pals. The WW1 Group, founded for members of the Mechanics over 40 years ago, proved helpful and drew her in to publication of Bradford in the Great War in 2006.