Tracking Blackah Down!

Harold Bruff's mention of Blackah's burial in Leeds prompted me to visit the cemetery, with a view to ascertaining if any traces of his grave could be found. However, any optimistic hopes about a serene Victorian cemetery and a dignified tomb were diasppointed. The cemetery is now surrounded by Leeds University halls of residence and faculty buildings. Some tombstones are standing, but are neglected and very overgrown. Much of the cemetery had been cleared, with the flat tombstones gathered into areas of 'paving' and the cemetery now acts as a park, where students relax on summer days.

With two companions to extend the search, I spent an hour or so in the graveyard, with no success, no trace of Blackah's grave could be found. The search was left at this point until time could be found to make further enquiries.

The next step was to contact Leeds City Council 'graveyard' department. They told me that the cemetery was no longer managed by them, but by the Special Collections Department of Leeds University.

When I contacted the university they were most helpful. They told me that the cemetery was grassed over in the 1960's, that there are approximately 14000 plots in the cemetery and only a few notable gravestones remain.  However, the researcher kindly supplied the following information about Blackah:

Burial number - 50033
Plot number - 13694
Date of death  - 10 March 1895 
Date of burial  - 14 March 1895
Age  - 67
Cause of death  - Influenza
Rank/Trade/Profession  - Agent
Residence  - 1 Gendun [sic] Terrace*
Place of birth  - Hardcastle
Names of parents  - Joseph & Ann Blackah
Occupation of parents  - Miner
* She could not make out the address, this was her best guess

She went on to say that Blackah's plot would be to the right of the lodge house, in the middle of the north side of the site, but would probably not be marked. She also said that the 1888 Kelly's Directory lists him as an Insurance Agent at 14 Woodsley Grove.

The two addresses were starting points for further research, but neither are listed in the current Leeds A to Z.

The Woodhouse Hill area of Leeds was an area of extensive slum clearance in the 1950's and 60's, but fortunately, Leeds undertook a detailed photographic survey before streets were demolished, which they publish at www.leodis.net

A search of this site came up with Woodsley Grove, and Number 14 is the last house on the right in this photograph, taken in November 1963 when the bulldozers were already hard at work

This is the address he gave in Kelly's Directory of 1888 as the office of his insurance agency. It is also, clearly, where he lived at the time - a far cry from the open views, fresh air and close knit community of Greenhow Hill.

The address on the documentation could not be clearly made out by the researcher at the University. However, it was clear from the Leodis site that Verdun Terrace was very close to Woodlsey Grove. When I asked her if 'Gendun' could in fact be 'Verdun' she replied that it very well could be. The photograph on the right was taken in March 1959. On the left of this view is a secondhand furniture shop at number 92/94 Hyde Park Road. Verdun Terrace runs to the right of the shop, down the hill to Woodlsey Grove, in descending order from number 1 next to the shop. It is possible therefore that this is the house where Blackah was living at the time of his death.

However there is a problem with this hypothesis. It might be thought that a street in Leeds named Verdun might have been named after the 1st World War battle of that name - which took place in 1916. Given that Blackah died in 1895, where does that fit in?

In fact the 1893 map does show Verdun Terrace, joining Woodsley Grove at a right angle. Leeds City Council did not keep any minutes of the committee meetings that gave rise to street names. So we don't know why these few streets were called 'Verdun', but they were there.

To see a slightly larger map of the area, click this link.

The photographs and the map together, give a very good impression of the area where Blackha was working and where he died. So different from Greenhow. The nearby University is now the location of a Yorkshire oral history archive. It is sad to think that Blackha's work is not represented there.

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