Evening chaps. Just cross-posting my VBCW blog, starting with my backstory, as follows:
A Very Brighouse Civil War
Key Characters
Sir George Armytage – 7th Baronet of Kirklees
Local landowner and career soldier. Served with distinction in WW1, being mentioned in dispatches four times, and continued his career into the 1920s, eventually reaching the rank of Brigadier. Now retired from the army, he maintains an interest in military matters and a healthy distaste for foreigners, especially Americans and “The Boche”.
John Armytage – Eldest son of Sir George
Heir to the Kirklees estate. Educated at Eton and at Sandhurst. Paternal pressure drove him into the army, and he currently commands a rifle company in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, serving on overseas posting in Malta.
Robert Blakeborough – Industrialist
Chairman of J Blakeborough & Sons Ironworks, heavy industrial firm and the town’s primary employer. Primarily a businessman, he is still sympathetic to the needs of his workers, he recently purchased the Brighouse Liberal Club for them to use as a social club and meeting hall.
Gilbert Lawson – Alderman of the Borough
Ex-footballer and long-serving member of the council. An all-round pillar of the community with the town’s best interests in mind. Generally popular with the people of Brighouse due to his personal approach as Chairman of the Housing and Property Committee.
Joseph “Big Joe” Bottomley – Shop Steward at Blakeborough’s Ironworks
Radical trade-unionist and public speaker. A great believer in class solidarity over national pride, he is a vehement anti-fascist and anti-monarchist. His rousing speeches at the working men’s clubs draw large crowds and increasingly close attention from the police.
Key Locations
Thornton Square
Public square at the centre of Brighouse. The Town Hall stands on one side, and the Black Bull public house on the other. Traditionally used as a parade ground by local militia.
Lane Head Recreation Ground
Built on land formerly used for stone quarrying, the “Rec” provides much needed relief from the smoggy streets surrounding it. Since the early 1920s an important feature is the shell of a Whippet tank, used by local children to clamber on.
Blakeborough Social Club
Recently purchased by Robert Blakeborough as a social club for the workers at his ironworks, “Blake’s Club” is a focal point for working class life in the town. Joseph Bottomley is in regular attendance.
Thornhill Briggs Working Men’s Club
One of the many independent working men’s clubs in Brighouse, it is another of Joseph Bottomley’s regular haunts, and a hotbed of socialist activity.
Kirklees Hall
Ancestral home of the Armytage family, its estates include the so-called “Robin Hood’s Grave”, and most of the agricultural land to the north and east of Brighouse.
The Road to War
1936 - Summer
Enraged by the events in Spain, Joseph Bottomley’s already vehement campaign against the BUF enters a new phase. Under the pretence of “Union Business”, he tours the local working men’s clubs, public houses, and factory floors, giving increasingly rousing speeches, and spreading socialist fervour. He proposes the formation of a flying column, men who’re willing to down tools at a moment’s notice to march out and meet any fascist threat. Town leaders largely ignore Big Joe’s activities, and even amongst his peers, few take him seriously, believing that Mosley’s bully boys lack the resolve to show themselves in the West Riding.
1936 – Autumn
News reaches Brighouse of the Battle of Cable Street. Workers across the country begin to wake up to the threat of the BUF. Several union men approach Joseph Bottomley and pledge to join his flying column, should the need arise.
Big Joe’s activities draw the attention of the police, but no charges are brought other than the posting of bills, for which he receives a nominal fine.
1936/7 – Winter
The appointment of Mosley as Prime Minister causes shockwaves across the county. In Brighouse, an emergency meeting of the town council is called, with the public gallery filled with many local worthies. Hundreds of people soon fill Thornton Square, anxious to have a say in the proceedings. Alderman Lawson announces to the assembled crowd that around a quarter of the council have resigned, including the Mayor, and that he has been hastily elected acting Mayor until the crisis is resolved. He vows that the fascists will never hold sway over the people of Brighouse, and implores the crowd to return to their homes.
In the New Year, reports of increased BUF activity on the far side of the Pennines result in a new wave of support for Joseph Bottomley, and his flying column becomes more of a militia, albeit one armed only with whatever tools they can grab from the factory floor.
Fearful of the fascists, but equally fearful of Big Joe’s socialist rhetoric causing a workers’ revolt, Robert Blakeborough and several other local mill owners threaten to dock a week’s pay from any worker found leaving his place of work to attend militia meetings.
1937 – Spring
The order to form Auxiliary Constabularies is met with resistance in Brighouse. Those few who do support the fascists are too small in number, and too fearful for their own safety to volunteer.
Therefore, when Auxiliaries are called in to break up a parade of Big Joe’s militia, they have to be bussed in from over the Pennines. This is seen by many as an invasion, and only serves to strengthen the anti-fascist cause, leading to another upsurge in volunteers.
The disbanding of the Guards regiments causes Sir George Armytage to realise he can no longer remain neutral – this blatant attack on the Army by a fascist rabble and a pro-German playboy is too much to bear. He begins using his remaining influence and contacts in the Army to sound out like-minded officers.
1937 – Summer
Realising their mistake in deploying the Auxiliaries to enforce martial law, the King deploys regular Army regiments instead. The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment are recalled from Malta, and John Armytage’s rifle company is stationed in the Lane Head Hotel, Brighouse, in the hope that local lads will make a better job of keeping the peace. Sir George welcomes home his son and heir, confident that he will do the right thing should armed conflict occur.
Violence continues to escalate between the BUF and Auxiliaries on one side, and the workers’ militia on the other.
Acting Mayor Lawson realises that some sort of organised defence will be needed to defend Brighouse against the continued attentions of the fascists, and organises a secret meeting with Joseph Bottomley.
Big Joe argues that his supporters are going to need proper training and equipment if they are to stand any chance against the fascists, and suggests sending an ultimatum to the Kirklees Hall, demanding Sir George’s military expertise. Lawson reasons that Sir George will not respond well to strong-arm tactics, and is hardly likely to show sympathy for the workers’ left-wing agenda. Bottomley maintains that his politics are at the very heart of the fight against fascism, and any compromise will ultimately lead to capitulation. The two men ultimately fail to reach a satisfactory outcome, and the workers’ militia continue largely disorganised and unarmed.
1937 – Autumn
A large column of BUF and Auxiliaries descend on Brighouse by train and charabanc to break up a meeting of Bottomley’s militia on the Lane Head Rec. A pitched battle ensues, in which the better-organised fascists initially gain the upper hand over Big Joe’s lads. Captain John Armytage’s riflemen, watching from their billets at the Lane Head Hotel, are horrified to see local men being thrashed by bully boys from Oldham and Manchester, and form up on the edge of the Rec to drive off the fascists.
Several Auxiliaries are badly wounded by the riflemen, but this is considered tit-for-tat, as a large number of militiamen are already lying wounded on the ground. The remaining fascists flee the scene, and a desultory cheer goes up from the miltia and rifles. The rifles are immediately ordered back to their billets and given a seemingly severe but ultimately hollow reprimand by Captain Armytage, who was equally shaken by the thuggery shown by the fascist mob.
Joseph Bottomley himself received a broken arm and a concussion during the fighting, and realises during his recovery that he needs to be more pragmatic. He calls for another meeting with Acting Mayor Lawson.
This time, the two men come to an agreement. Bottomley will moderate his political rhetoric, and Lawson will approach Sir George Armytage to ask for help.
Blakeborough and several other mill owners, shocked by the violence taking place on their own doorstep, cease their threats of docked pay, and come around to the idea of a local militia to protect their businesses from fascist clutches.
1937 – Winter
A deputation of town worthies, led by Gilbert Lawson, visit Kirklees Hall to beg Sir George’s help in organising Joseph Bottomley’s militia into an effective defensive force. Initially suspicious of Bottomley’s motives, Sir George is eventually won over by the arguments of Lawson and the mill owners, who convince him that his own position would be jeopardised if the fascists were to gain sway. Sir George consents to help train and equip the militia, on the condition that it bears his name, and reveals that he has been secretly using his contacts in the local regiments to sequester weapons and equipment from the stores.
Upon hearing of his father’s intentions, John Armytage informs the men in his company that he will be leaving the army to help train and lead the militia, despite the looming threat of court-martial. Almost to a man, the riflemen agree to follow him, and immediately set off for Kirklees Hall.
Acting Mayor Lawson summons Joseph Bottomley to the town hall to give him Sir George’s terms. Big Joe grudgingly agrees to the renaming of the militia, and to serve under John Armytage’s command.
In Thornton Square, to much ceremony and to the sound of the Brighouse & Rastrick band, the militia is officially inaugurated as Armytage’s Local Defence League.
A few weeks later, the decaying Whippet tank disappears from the Lane Head Rec during the night. Rumours abound…
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April 29, 2024, 04:17:04 PM
