LETTERS FROM WILLIAM BROWN TO J W CLAY

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MS972-985. Papers of J W Clay (1837-1918) and C T Clay (1855-1978)

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John William Clay was the son of Joseph Travis Clay of Rastrick. He was a member of the Brighouse Corporation, mayor of the borough 1898-1900 and alderman 1900-1909. Clay also served as a JP for the West Riding amd borough of Brighouse. In the business world he became the director of Messrs J T Clay & Sons Ltd, worsted manufacturers, and also served as a director of the Halifax Commercial Banking Co Ltd.


J W Clay was elected to the Yorkshire Archaelogical Society in 1883, and became Vice-President in 1909. His chief work was as Hon Secretary of the Record Series which he held from 1897 until his death in 1918. He himself edited 9 volumes and also published articles in the Society's journal. His interests were principally in genealogy and heraldry - perhaps his most important work was his edition of Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire. He also transcribed several parish registers. For a long period he had been collecting material for a complete Yorkshire Armory. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1888, and also seved as Vice-President of the Surtees and Halifax Antiquarian Societies, and was a member of the council of the Harleian and Yorkshire Parish Register Societies. One of the original members of the Tyke's Club, he was Archtyke in 1901.


William Brown was born at Arncliffe Hall in 1854. After attending Eton he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, taking an ordinary degree in law in 1876. Continued bad health drew him to the study of historical documents and in 1878 the Surtees Society invited him to undertake an edition of the Chartulary of Guisbrough Priory. He was called to the Bar in 1879, but never practiced seriously. He moved from London back to Yorkshire and following his marriage and the subsequent death of his wife directed his attentions towards antiquarian interests. His interests were partly inherited from his father, who was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and cherished the priviledge of possessing the historic estate at Arncliffe which included one of the most interesting monastic ruins in the country. He was also encouraged by his brother-in-law John Charles Atkinson, Rector of Danby-in-Cleveland and Canon of York.


He became a member of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society sometime before 1882 and in 1887 became a member of Council. In 1896 Brown became honourary editor of the Journal and was elected Hon Secretary too. In Yorkshire he was a member of the Parish Register Society and Thoresby Society. He also formed a friendship with a group of historians and antiquaries, which under the leadership of Dr William Greenwell, made Durham a remarkable centre for learned activity. He served as Hon Secretary to the Surtees Society from 1896-1916, was a member of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries and Durham and Northumberland, and Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Societies. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1898 and acted for many years as one of its local secretaries for Yorkshire.


In public life he became a JP for the North Riding in 1887 and eventually became Chairman of the Bench at Northallerton.


In 1899 he was reluctantly obliged to part with the Arncliffe estate, to which, burdened with a heavy mortgage, he had suceeded in 1892. He then settled at Northallerton, marrying for a second time, and then later moved to Sowerby where he lived until his death.

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