Thomas Walter Harding on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Colonel Thomas Walter Harding (22 January 1843 – 26 March 1927) was a British industrialist and civic figure in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
, England.
Life
Harding was born inLille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, where his Leeds-based father Thomas Richards Harding (1812–1895) had a factory, and was educated at Leeds Grammar School. He built extensions to Tower Works
Tower Works is a former factory notable for its three listed towers. It is located on Globe Road in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The Italianate towers of the factory are a distinctive landmark on the Le ...
in Holbeck
Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the o ...
in 1899 and the 1920s and, when City Square was remodelled, proposed and financed the sculptures including the Black Prince.
On 19 May 1869 he married Anne Heycock (1846–1923), daughter of Ambrose Edmund Heath Buckley Butler, ironmaster, of Kirkstall, Leeds; they had a son, born in Leeds in 1870, and a daughter, who died in infancy. Harding used the title "Colonel" after the Leeds Artillery Volunteers gave him the title of Honorary Colonel when he retired after 33 years service in 1893. He was involved in local politics and actively championed the foundation of Leeds City Art Gallery which opened in 1888. He donated a number of pictures to the collection including '' Scotland Forever!'' by Butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...
in 1888. He was Chairman of the Art Gallery Committee between 1887 and 1904.
He was Lord Mayor of Leeds
The Lord Mayor of Leeds (until 1897 known as the Mayor of Leeds) is a ceremonial post held by a member of Leeds City Council, elected annually by the council.
By charter from Charles I of England, King Charles I in 1626, the leader of the gov ...
in 1898–99, and was created a Freeman of the City of Leeds in 1903. He moved from his home in Abbey House (originally the Kirkstall Abbey gatehouse) to Hartsholme Hall in Lincolnshire (1902) and Madingley Hall in Cambridgeshire (1906), which he restored. He was appointed High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
in March 1901, and Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in April 1901.
Harding was also a writer. He published ''The Abbot of Kirkstall'' in 1926, a novel about the Black Prince, John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...
, and John Wycliffe.McGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, ''Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels''. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (p.77).
References
Further reading
*. Available online to subscribers and via UK public libraries. 1843 births 1927 deaths Lord Mayors of Leeds Deputy Lieutenants of Cambridgeshire High Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Liberal Unionist Party parliamentary candidates French emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century English novelists English historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages {{England-mayor-stub