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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
Excellent and informative site.
The Henry Irving information is fascinating. The next time I am in Bradford I will be sure to book in. The ability to sit where Henry Irving and Bram Stoker possibly discussed the publication of Dracula absolutely does it for me.