Welcome to Midland Railway Hotel, Bradford
Contact, mark.mdavis@gmail.com
This digital archive is devoted to documenting the diverse social history surrounding the famous Midland Railway Hotel, Bradford. Illustrated within the various collections, I aim to resurrect the often forgotten lives that have passed through those majestic doors.
The Midland Hotel and Henry Irving..
On Friday the 13th of October 1905, the hotel was to witness the death of the greatest actor of the Victorian age, Sir Henry Irving.
The Headlines Rang Out..
"SIR HENRY IRVING DEAD, SUDDEN COLLAPSE AT THE MIDLAND HOTEL, PATHETIC END OF A GREAT CAREER"
"PROPHETIC LAST WORDS ON THE STAGE “Into Thy Hands, O Lord.”
"How much poorer is the stage for his loss! How much poorer also is our humanity!"
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The hotel was built during those heady days when steam locomotives were King. Thundering beasts, carving their way through the previously unchartered countryside, opening up a whole new world to the increasingly insatiable Victorian public.
Completed in 1890 to the designs of Charles Trubshaw, the hotel was the natural choice for both the rich and the famous when visiting the "Worsted Capital of The World" - our Bradford.
Famous guests, included every Prime Minister up to Harold Wilson, the comedian, George Formby, Lord Lorne, Bram Stoker, Randolph Churchill, The Lord Chief Justice - Coleridge, Laurel & Hardy, the Beatles, J. B. Priestley, John Le Mesurier, the list is endless..
The Bradford Daily Telegraph, Saturday, March 1, 1890
"The Midland Station and Hotel in Bradford must now take rank amongst the leading railway centres in the Kingdom."
"The design is Renaissance in character, the exterior walls in massive looking ashlar. The hotel is five storeys in height and contains about sixty bedrooms. Great attention has been paid to the ornamental carving of the building, the cornices being very massive and ornate. The great feature in the Kirkgate frontage is the octagonal tower which springs from a boldly treated square porch, and is surmounted by a dome and finial."
See also
www.bradfordinfocus.co.uk
www.highroydshospital.co.uk
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Recent Articles
- SIR HENRY IRVING IS DEAD, Sudden Collapse At The Midland Hotel, Bradford
- Midland Railway – 1898
- A Grand Opening
- Sir Matthew William Thompson, Bart.
- Bram Stoker
- Charles Trubshaw, Architect
- “Turned Out Nice Again” George Formby
- Daring Case of Garrotting, 1893
- Doctor Livingstone, I presume?
- A Strange Affair, August 1894
- Laurel & Hardy
- J. B. Priestley
- Sir, Henry Irving’s Funeral
- Sir Henry Irving – The World Mourns
- Terrible Accident At The Midland Station
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Featured Stories
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SIR HENRY IRVING IS DEAD, Sudden Collapse At The Midland Hotel, Bradford
Bradford, Daily Telegraph, October 14, 1905 SIR HENRY IRVING DEAD, SUDDEN COLLAPSE AT THE MIDLAND HOTEL, PATHETIC END OF A GREAT CAREER PROPHETIC LAST WORDS ON THE STAGE “Into Thy Hands, O Lord.” Sir Henry... -
Midland Railway – 1898
The Windsor Magazine, 1898: “The Midland Railway leads where the others follow.” Although it was in 1859 that the Pullman car was first used in America, it was sixteen years later before... -
A Grand Opening
“The Midland Station and Hotel in Bradford must now take rank amongst the leading railway centres in the Kingdom.” -The Bradford Daily Telegraph, Saturday, March 1, 1890 After a period of... -
Sir Matthew William Thompson, Bart.
Matthew William Thompson – Baronet (February 1,1820- December 1, 1891) It is to Matthew Thompson, Chairman of Midland Railway Company, we can thank for his influence in the planning and building... -
Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker (1847-1912), Irish theatre critic and author of the Gothic horror novel Dracula (1897). Abraham “Bram” Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 in Clontarf, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland,.... -
Charles Trubshaw, Architect
Charles Trubshaw Victorian Hotel and Railway Architect. Charles Trubshaw, (1841 – 1917) Charles was born in to an architectural family, the son of an architect also named Charles, who was to be the... -
“Turned Out Nice Again” George Formby
George is a lad after our own hearts – as homely “as they mak ‘em.” By 1939, George Formby was the most popular and highest paid entertainer in the British Isles... -
Daring Case of Garrotting, 1893
Highway Robbery At Bradford Alex Mackintosh, a commercial traveller staying at the Midland Hotel, decided he might take in the night air. Leaving the hotel not knowing the area he found himself... -
Doctor Livingstone, I presume?
The famous Victorian explorer Henry Morton Stanley, and his wife Dorothy stayed at the Midland Hotel on the 14th and 15th of May 1891. On the 14th of May, Morton Stanley, gave... -
A Strange Affair, August 1894
A Strange Affair… On the 10th of August, 1894, two members of the Midland hotel staff were found dead beneath the ‘dinner lift’ or ‘dumb waiter’ in the basement pantry. The... -
Laurel & Hardy
In July 1952, the Telegraph & Argus published a photograph of the famous comedians Laurel and Hardy taken in the Midland Hotel. The beloved pair were appearing at Bradford’s Alhambra... -
J. B. Priestley
Bradford: A ‘Lost City’ 1958 Photo: “JB Priestley sitting in his room at the Midland Hotel phoning up his old pals.” Priestley was born in Bradford in 1894 and his literary output...