The Yorkshire Society is a non-political organisation founded in December 1980 by Mr Barry Whittaker and Councillor for the West Riding David Daniel. It extended the philosophies of an earlier Yorkshire Society which, in 1818, wished to encourage people born, working or living in the County of Yorkshire to join and then help improve several aspects of the area, including the social welfare of its people as well as Yorkshire's physical environment. [1] [2] Traditionally, the patron of the Yorkshire Society is the Duke of York, [1] and its current Chairman is Sir Rodney Walker. [3]
Earlier Societies of the same name included the organisation which ran the Yorkshire Society's Schools on Westminster Road in London. [4] The Yorkshire Society referenced in 1818 was headed by wealthy Yorkshire gentry who were keen to provide charity to the working class and poor throughout much of Yorkshire. As is the case today, the organisation's patron was the Duke of York. [1]
The Yorkshire Society founded in 1980 was founded by Mr Barry Whittaker & Councillor for the West Riding David Daniel.
Although there has long been an implication that the organisation is embedded with wealthy "Society" members, its membership is open to all who are interested in the following:
The Yorkshire Awards, held in Autumn each year, generate substantial funds for many charities.
The Society co-sponsors the annual Yorkshire Awards alongside Yorkshire Television, Joshua Tetley, Asda, Aon, Bain Hogg, Yorkshire Electricity and the Yorkshire Bank.
The Society's award category is the Yorkshire Lifetime Achievement Award. To date recipients have included Lawrence Batley, Ken Morrison, Victor Watson, Lord Harewood, Roy Mason, Baron Mason of Barnsley, Professor Tom Kilburn, Brian Rix, Lord Rix, Michael Parkinson, Barry Cryer, Brian Turner and Ashley Jackson.
The erecting of Yorkshire Rose plaques to mark the contributions of famous Yorkshire men and women. [2]
To date plaques have commemorated:
Acting as host for the annual Yorkshire History Awards.
The Yorkshire Society also convenes the civic celebration of Yorkshire Day, which is held on 1 August each year. [2]
Mary, Princess Royal was a member of the British royal family. She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Elizabeth II. In the First World War, she performed charity work in support of servicemen and their families. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, in 1922. Mary was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932. During the Second World War, she was Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and The Honourable Gerald Lascelles.
Thomas Laurence Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas, FRS was a Scottish politician and peer who sat in the British House of Commons from 1763 to 1794 when he was raised to the peerage of Great Britain as Baron Dundas. He was responsible for commissioning the Charlotte Dundas, the world's "first practical steamboat".
Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, styled The Honourable Richard Grosvenor from 1795 to 1802, Viscount Belgrave from 1802 to 1831 and Earl Grosvenor from 1831 to 1845, was an English politician, landowner, property developer and benefactor.
Brian Norman Roger Rix, Baron Rix, was an English actor-manager, who produced a record-breaking sequence of long-running farces on the London stage, including Dry Rot, Simple Spymen and One for the Pot. His one-night TV shows made him the joint-highest paid star on the BBC. He often worked with his wife Elspet Gray and sister Sheila Mercier, who became the matriarch in Emmerdale Farm.
William Wilkins was an English architect, classical scholar and archaeologist. He designed the National Gallery and University College London, and buildings for several Cambridge colleges.
Sir George Hayter was an English painter, specialising in portraits and large works involving sometimes several hundred individual portraits. Queen Victoria appreciated his merits and appointed Hayter her Principal Painter in Ordinary and also awarded him a Knighthood in 1841.
Diana Spencer Churchill was the eldest daughter of British statesman Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill.
Christopher Saxton was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales.
The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom.
The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839, and became the University of Westminster in 1992.
Robert Abraham (1773–1850) was an English building surveyor and later architect in London. He was the son of a builder and was educated as a surveyor as a pupil of James Bowen. He turned to architecture after 1818, and was chiefly employed by the leading Roman Catholic families in England, including the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury.
Charles James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne,, was Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire from 1999 until 2014. He is also one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, sitting as a Conservative. In 1977, he succeeded to his father's title.
Sir John Dodson was an English judge, aka Dean of Arches, and member of parliament.
St Peter's Church is the parish church of the village of Petersham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is part of the Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England. The main body of the church building dates from the 16th century, although parts of the chancel date from the 13th century, and evidence in Domesday Book suggests that there may have been a church on the site in Saxon times. Nikolaus Pevsner and Bridget Cherry describe it as a "church of uncommon charm... [whose] interior is well preserved in its pre-Victorian state". The church, which is Grade II* listed, includes Georgian box pews, a two-decker pulpit made in 1796, and a display of the royal arms of the House of Hanover, installed in 1810. Its classical organ was installed at the south end in late 2009 by the Swiss builders Manufacture d'Orgues St Martin of Neuchâtel, and a separate parish room was added in 2018. Many notable people are buried in the churchyard, which includes some Grade II-listed tombs.
Sir Rodney Myerscough Walker is a British entrepreneur and philanthropist and the current Chairman of the British Basketball League.
John Shaw, MA FRSA is a British stone letter-carver, based in Saxby, Lincolnshire, England.
Thomas Campbell was a Scottish sculptor in the early 19th century. He has several important public works, most notably a statue of Sarah Siddons in Westminster Abbey. He also has several works in the National Gallery in London. He was heavily patronised by the British aristocracy, as evidenced by his works.
Sir John Conyers, one of twenty-five children of Christopher Conyers, was a pre-eminent member of the gentry of Yorkshire, northern England, during the fifteenth century Wars of the Roses.
The League of Mercy was a British foundation established in 1899 by Royal Charter of Queen Victoria. The goal of the organisation was to recruit a large number of volunteers to aid the sick and suffering at charity hospitals. It was disbanded at the establishment of the National Health Service in 1947, with its royal charter subsequently surrendered.
Operation Hope Not was the code name of a funeral plan for Winston Churchill titled The State Funeral of The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, K.G., O.M., C.H. that was started in 1953, twelve years before his death. The detailed plan was prepared in 1958. Churchill led the country to victory in the Second World War (1939–1945) during his first term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. While in his second term he was struck by a major stroke in 1953 that caused concern for his health. The British Government started a meticulous preparation, as officially decreed by Queen Elizabeth II, to be of a commemoration "on a scale befitting his position in history". As remarked by Lord Mountbatten, Churchill "kept living and the pallbearers kept dying" such that the plan had to be revised several times in the years before his death in 1965.
Yorkshire Society - May 6th ....men sat down to a sumptuous meal...the Duke of York who has agreed....our patron...