The history of Halifax is the history of “women who do” in many ways, and a brief rummage through one of our pamphlet boxes brought a woman to light who I hadn’t come across before – Helena Mildred Kate Wadsworth – and her contribution to Halifax's attempts at introducing a social welfare system that was truly ground-up.
Ever heard of the Halifax Citizen’s Guild of Help? This group was formed in 1905 and would eventually become part of the larger Halifax Council of Social Welfare after WW1. If you had heard of it, did you know its roots extended even further back? The Guild was based on the "Elberfeld System" which originated in Germany in 1853, itself the end result of attempts since the early 19th century to decentralise poor relief. Readers familiar with the angry response to the Poor Law Act of 1834 will, of course, not be surprised that the people of the Calder Valley were generally unimpressed with attempts to take poor relief out of the home and into the workhouse, and indeed the Elberfeld System was a philosophy of community social care divorced from both political and sectarian religious interests.
As we said, the Guild formed in 1905, and this brings us to the item in this box: “Cheap & Good Cookery” by Kate Wadsworth, “Teacher of Domestic Science”. The recipe booklet is simple enough and pretty standard, lots of wholesome hearty meals that feed lots of people, use lentils to help bulk them out, and usefully also includes explanations of why some things need to be done a certain way (such as why pastry needs to be added to the edge of a pie pan and why you should only sprinkle sugar on a batter pudding rather than mix it in). It’s geared towards those who know how to cook but haven’t maybe had much teaching into the why of cooking. This booklet was printed for the helpers, not those being helped; being able to explain it to those being helped was clearly something volunteers realised they needed to be able to do, and the booklet’s aim was to help with that just as much as it was to share some economical recipes. Thanks Kate for doing your bit!
Who was Kate though? Kate - we aren’t going to use her full name for the purposes of saving time typing! – was born in November 1880, the daughter of Henry and Mary Matilda Wadsworth of St. James Street in Halifax. Henry was the "son" in Samuel Wadsworth and Son’s joinery and carpentry firm and by 1891 their very large family were living at 17 Carlton Street. Kate’s string of forenames was not unique to her – the Wadsworths had a penchant for grand-sounding names. Kate had the luxury of growing up with money but clearly was also taught the value of hard work and the value of doing something for others, because she was clearly interested in both things. It’s interesting to note that the Wadsworths were not patrons or “subscribers” to the Guild, so her interest in producing the cookbook must have been entirely her own.
By 1901 she was working as confectioner but would soon leave for Liverpool to train at the Liverpool College of House Craft, where she graduated in 1907. She came back to Halifax and began teaching at evening schools as well as getting involved in the Guild as well as getting some nursing qualifications. In 1912 she left for London to take up a teaching post at King’s College for Women which was part of the University of London; quite the promotion from the technical schools here.
During WW1 she worked as part of the Canteen Board for both the Army and Navy, ensuring that soldiers’ rations were sufficient to keep them able to fight. She eventually returned to Halifax in 1928 and became head of the Women’s Work department at Halifax Technical College where she stayed until her retirement in 1942. Her sisters Clara and Edith had remained unmarried and the three lived out the remainder of their lives together at Park Road, not far from the College itself. Kate died in October 1946, just shy of her 66th birthday.
What did Kate make of the Guild’s evolution? We have no idea, because this recipe book seems to have been her only foray into social work. She is never mentioned again in their yearly accounts, and she never appears in the newspaper again in connection to the Guild or the later Council for Social Welfare. However, her obituary in the Halifax Evening Courier mentioned that she had done extensive research into sugar substitutes (artificial or natural?) and low-fat cooking options...oh to know what this research was or what its outcomes were! Only the recollections and experiences of her students would likely tell us, and those are absent from our records. Her study was probably as much out of economics as of health, but it would have been the outcome that mattered, and the outcome was healthier meals for the people of Halifax.
It’s probably too late now to hear from anyone who studied under this educated, well-travelled and industrious woman, but on the off-chance that any of you reading this have a mother or granny (or great-granny) who was one of Kate’s students, please let us know.
