~ Leisure and Pleasure ~
Until the middle of the 19th century Dalton was just a small country town, and it would have been surprising indeed if country sports had not figured prominently in the leisure pursuits of its inhabitants. In this context mention must be made of the Dalton Hunt2 which began sometime in the 17th century and developed into an event of major local importance, being attended by members of the nobility and gentry from far and wide. At the beginning of the 18th century it was known as the Dalton Route, and consisted of fox hunting during the day, followed by an elegant ball in the evening. A quaint but perhaps rather repulsive ritual formed a traditional part of the evening's festivities - the recently severed head of the fox was dipped into a bowl of punch and stirred round once or twice before anyone partook of it. For some reason now unknown it was discontinued at Dalton in the middle of the 18th century and transferred to Ulverston13. This change apparently did not last very long; it received an indifferent reception at Ulverston and was duly brought back to Dalton, where it survived until the year 1789. This description of the Hunt is taken from Baines's Lancashire. 'The country is peculiarly adapted to the sports of the field, and till of late years there was an annual festival called the Dalton Hunt, in which the gentlemen of the district partook of this favourite diversion by day, and joined the ladies in the ball-room at night. A suite of rooms was erected in the town and handsomely fitted up for this annual jubilee, which existed as early as the year 1703, as appeared from the columns of the London Gazette, in which it is styled the Dalton Route, and the pen of an elegant contributor to the Tatler has imparted to it additional celebrity. To the regret of the Beaux and Belles of the neighbourhood, the Route was discontinued in the year 1789, and has never since been revived'.
While some people derived pleasure from killing hares and foxes, others used their leisure moments in a more creative way. Young George Romney2, who was destined to become Dalton's most famous son, devoted much of his spare time to science, music and literature; but it was his natural talent for drawing and painting that was ultimately to bring him worldwide recognition as the last of the fashionable 18th-century portrait painters. He was born at Beckside, Dalton, on 15 December 1734, one of a family of 10 sons and one daughter, of which all the sons died before reaching middle-age with the exception of George and James, who eventually became a lieutenant-colonel in the Honourable East India Company's Service.
There can be no doubt that his association with Williamson2 had a deep and profound effect on Romney5, for his memories of these, and other happy events from his youth lingered long in his memory. In his later years, when he had achieved almost every ambition he had ever possessed, he remembered Williamson's tragedy and determined to paint a series of pictures depicting the various stages of an alchemist's work, ending, as it did with his friend, in a violent explosion. Unfortunately, this ambition never materialised beyond the stage of a few tentative sketches.
While living at Kendal, he had married a young lady called Mary Abbot, and this is one reason why he did not wish to accompany Steele on his travels. It soon became obvious to him, however, that if he was to progress further in his career, travel he must, and London was the obvious choice. So on 14 March 1762, he bade farewell to his wife, gave her £30, and, accompanied by two other gentlemen from Kendal he started out on horseback for London, arriving there on 21 March. Although Romney7 contended that by moving to London he would be better able to support his wife and two young children, this desertion of his family represents a serious blemish in the character of the artist. Even the death of his daughter at the age of three, about a year after he left Kendal, failed to persuade him to return to his wife. In fact, during the whole of his sojourn in London, Paris and Rome, a period of 37 years, he paid only two brief visits to his faithful and devoted wife.
His son John decided that his father ought to be buried with his ancestors at Dalton, and that a monument should be erected to his memory in Dalton parish church6. When it was finished, the monument was taken to Dalton, but Lord George Cavendish, the lay-rector, refused to allow it to be erected in the church and it was eventually taken back to Kendal and placed in the church there. For many years, his grave stood in a dilapidated and neglected condition in Dalton churchyard2, but now, as part of the building programme for the extension to the church, it has been restored to something like its former state of respectability.
The 17 rules covered the whole conduct of the Club and the members signed their names to a declaration that they would form the Club for a period of one year and observe the rules. It follows then that in May each year the club comes to an end, and it then re-forms at each annual meeting for a further period of one year. In the year 1764 27 books were purchased at a cost of £4 8s. 6d. plus a 'Catalogue of Books for 60 years past' which cost a further 6d. The books consisted of lives of prominent people, travels, and the Annual Register for 1763. The secretary kept a register which contained much information of great interest to the present-day historian. In addition to the list of books purchased there was a page listing the names of the members, and against each name was recorded, month by month, a note of the books issued to them. This practice still continues. Then on the following page is a list of the fines levied during the year, and finally particulars of the sale by auction of the books and the prices realised. In the early days the whole of the books were sold at the end of the Club year, and then a new batch was purchased. Nowadays about 30 books are auctioned off each half year and about 80 or 90 books are always available for borrowing.
The last 100 years have seen the era of the modern novel and the prolific novelist. The books now offered to the members consist of about half and half novels and a miscellany of what the libraries term 'non-fiction'. Because of the steep increase in the price of hardback books there is now included a fair proportion of paperbacks. The records of members, books issued and other information have throughout the years been kept in registers, each of which has lasted about twenty years. One register covering the period 1898 to 1921 is missing, but all the others have been preserved and are kept in safe custody in the bank. The current register not only contains the present business of the Club but also an alphabetical record of all known past and present members, so far as the missing 1898-1921 register will permit. From 1764 to 1898 there had been 340 members, by 1921 the number was estimated at 375 and the total today, including present members, is 467.
On 1 September 1865, Sanger's circus came to the town and staged a grand procession one mile long. One surprising result of this was that many schoolchildren fell sick that day: the Boys' national School4 at least, gave up in despair and declared a day's holiday. On 6 June 1871, it was Dalton Fair2 Day and once again the schoolchildren deserted the classrooms. This time a holiday was not allowed, instead, the headmaster 'went with a staff of big boys and teachers and captured about fifty and marched them off to school'.
Dalton
Barrow
It is interesting to note the low scores and also that this game was apparently played on the ground which was eventually to become the permanent home of cricket in Dalton, although for many years the club experienced great difficulty in obtaining the use of a suitable field and could hardly function at all. By 1883, the club had virtually creased to exist through lack of playing field. In October 1884 the Dalton News reported that 'At a general meeting last Tuesday, presided over by Mr. G. B. Ashburner, it was decided that a field called 'Hagg's Bottom' be prepared for next year's play. This ground was used many years ago for cricket, is very pleasantly situated, and would doubtless prove a much more attractive ground … than any other field in the town…'.
Towards the end of the 19th century there were a number of rugby1 clubs in the town with names like Dalton White Rose, Lillywhites, White Star, Rangers etc. In 1884, a meeting was held in the Railway Hotel, presided over by Dr. Patterson, with representatives of all these clubs attending. The object of this meeting was to amalgamate all the smaller clubs into one club which would be known as the Dalton Town Football Club. Although this was unanimously agreed at the meeting, something must have happened to prevent the formation of the new team, for six years later in April 1890, it appears from reports in Dalton News that Dr. Patterson called another meeting for exactly the same purpose. In August 1890, a general meeting of the newly-formed Dalton Town Football Club was held and Mr. R. Todd was elected as captain of the first team, and Mr. G. Calligan as captain of the 'A' team. It was also resolved that the colours of the club be blue jerseys with a red sash over the right shoulder, and white drawers.
For several years the Eisteddfod2 was a great success, always outshining the Ulverston16 one, which started with great difficulty in 1899. Gradually, however, its popularity declined, probably because no-one could be found to take the place of its founder, who it seems wanted to hand over the responsibility of organising the event to a civic committee.
The political clubs referred to were the Conservative Club2, which was opened in the presence of a large gathering, on Saturday, 19 March 1887, and the Liberal Club, which opened its premises in Hall Street on 8 January 1897. The latter remained active until about 1947, when the premises were purchased by the Baldwin Masonic Hall Company Ltd. The Conservative Club was originally situated in Station Road, in the premises now occupied by a shop called 'By The Fire'. The opening ceremony was performed by Mr. W. G. Ainslie, M.P., and Mr. Edward Wadham3 and Mr. Godby were elected as chairman and secretary respectively. In 1914, the club moved to its present premises at the corner of Station Road and Beckside Lane.
Apart from these two political clubs, Dalton, in the mid-19th and early-20th centuries could boast a proliferation of clubs and societies. It seems that a club existed to satisfy the demands of a wide range of interests from Morris Tube Rifle Shooting, via pigeons, music, dramatics and many others to a Shorthand Writers Association. There were at least twenty one of these clubs, and almost all of them have now disappeared. Most recently, it was the members of the Dalton Bone Club who met for the last time before a shortage of younger members forced them to call it a day. This final meeting took place on 30th April, 1998 after the club had existed for over 130 years.
The George and Dragon: birthplace of the Bone Club.
The constantly changing pattern of the Dalton band3 scene makes it difficult to pin-point the precise beginning of the Town Band, but it seems to have been about 1870. From newspaper reports and a short anonymous chronicle in the town band's record book, it appears that in 1894, the two principal bands were the town band and the Salvation Army band, and that the Salvation Army band under the able leadership of Bandmaster Jim Coward who later emigrated to South Africa and became Mayor of Germiston in the Transvaal, was the more successful of the two. It included in its ranks several fine musicians; among them were Albert and Herbert Williams, brothers of Sir Thomas Melling-Williams, later according to an undated cutting from the Dalton News, of the British Air Command.
Bob Atkinson remained loyal to the town band5, and in the succeeding years established his reputation as a solo euphonium player. His fame spread rapidly, and it was not long before many of the leading bands of Lancashire and Yorkshire started making him tempting offers for his services. A well-known band of the time 'Besses o' th' Barn', almost succeeded in clinching the deal, but they never knew that his final refusal of their offer depended entirely on the toss of a coin.
Moving forward many years from the time of the First World War to the latter part of the century, the Dalton Town Band7 was once again in a state of decline. Numbers had dwindled alarmingly after the departure of its popular and successful conductor, Alan Fitzsimmons. Having sold their bandroom, the band then faced a dismal future without a home, players or conductor. Consequently as a result of hard work and determination by Sheana Bark and others, it rebuilt itself from the bottom up by starting a learners' class for children. The success of this was due in no small measure to the help given by a man with an undisputed reputation as one of the best brass band teachers in the North West - the late Mr. Norman Martin of Lindal8. In 1993, ex-army bandsman, Bernard Northwood L.T.C.L., N.A.B.B.C., took over leadership of the band, and aided by an Arts Council Lottery Award for the purchase of new instruments in 1997, since then the standard of performance of the Dalton Town Band has steadily improved.
Front row, left to right: Emma Martindale, Sheana Bark, Sarah Thompson, Bernard Northwood (conductor), Angela Parkes, Sarah Parkes and Amy Greenwood. Back row, left to right: Elaine Lovidge, Eric Harlock, Ian Bird, Derek Johnston, Ray McIlroy, Bob Brown (chairman) and Hazel Parkes.