Despite being a shining beacon at night, a fine legacy of Victorian engineering, Wainhouse Tower is sadly often best remembered for its role in the feud between John Edward Wainhouse (1816 – 1883) and Sir Henry Edwards (1812 – 1886).

Many local stories surround the construction of Wainhouse tower and its role in the feud and it earned many unpleasant names: Wainhouse’s Folly, the Monstrous Colum and perhaps best known – The Tower of Spite.

However, construction started on the Tower in 1871, before the two men very publicly fell out. If the feud was never about the Tower, then what was it all about?

The Wainhouse and Edwards families had been neighbours for centuries. Wainhouse has written of his fond memories and great respect for John Edwards (1737 – 1823) and his son Henry Lees Edwards (1775 – 1848). He had even attended the wedding reception of John’s grandson, Sir Henry, at Pye Nest and the two men had much in common.

So why did they fall out? Read on to find out all we know about this infamous feud.

The Skircoat Surveyors

Responsibility for maintaining roads and infrastructure is one of the oldest forms of public service. It was started by The Highways Act 1555, which passed responsibility for the maintenance of roads to local parishes. They would elect “two honest persons” every Easter to be responsible for the upkeep of roads in the area. Such people were known as Surveyors of the Highways.

By the Victorian era Surveyors of the Highways worked as an elected board of many members. A person could join the board of Surveyors if two existing Surveyors nominated them, and then a Chairman would be elected from the group. Each township had its own Surveyors, who worked to keep the public infrastructure in good repair – this included public roads and public wells. They would work with neighbouring townships on shared concerns, as well as companies and committees representing projects like turnpikes, canals and railways and prominent local landowners and industrialists.

Most Surveyors were wealthy individuals with a desire to help with the running of the area. It was considered to be one of the lowest public offices a gentleman could hold as it commanded no political influence and very little public respect. Magistrates, Overseers and Churchwardens were all considered to be higher offices of Victorian England. However, Surveyors were responsible for spending public money raised by local taxes. This often left them open to criticism and also caused problems with private individuals trying to influence where the money should be spent.

John Edward Wainhouse was elected to the Skircoat Board of Surveyors in 1868 and served until 1880. For most of his time he acted as their elected Chairman, enforcing decisions that had been made by the board as a whole. John’s Uncle Robert, who had raised him from a child, had been both an Overseer, Magistrate and Surveyor of the Highways. His Uncle’s public-spiritedness had obviously left a profound impact on the young John Edward. It is clear from his many building projects that Wainhouse also had a love for architecture and engineering, making him a natural choice for the Skircoat Surveyors.

It would be Wainhouse’s responsibilities with the Surveyors that brought him into conflict with Sir Henry Edwards, whose own interests did not always align with the greater good of the township he lived in.

The Trouble at Trimmingham – 1874

For context as you read about the developing feud between the two men – work on the construction of the chimney that would eventually become Wainhouse Tower began in 1871. By 1873, Wainhouse’s architect Isaac Booth had left the project and the upper section of the chimney was redesigned by Wainhouse’s new architect Richard Swarbrick Dugdale. In 1874 Wainhouse sold the Washer Lane Dyeworks that the under-construction chimney was intended to serve. The chimney was not part of the sale. Building work on what was now Wainhouse’s’ tower was completed on 9^th September 1875. The structure was never used for its intended purpose as a chimney.

The opening shot of the feud between Sir Henry Edwards and John Edward Wainhouse was fired after an issue arose at a public well near Trimmingham, on the border of Sir Henry Edwards Pye Nest estate. The well was public, allowing anyone to use it, and its continued maintenance was the responsibility of the Skircoat Surveyors.

Landowners are entitled to what is known as the “tail” of the water, so they own water from the moment it enters their land, until the moment it leaves. At Trimmingham Well, Sir Henry had his architect Isaac Booth – who was also Wainhouse’s architect and provided the original design for Wainhouse Tower – install a cistern and ‘diminishing’ pipe, a pipe shaped like a cone, so when looked at it gave the impression of a vast quantity of water flowing into the well. However, as the pipe narrowed, the volume which flowed into the public trough got smaller and smaller, greatly reducing the amount of water people could use.

The water that could not reach the well ran off, moving downhill and entering Sir Henry’s estate, where it would become his water. There was also a valve fitted to the pipe that could control how much water entered the public well. This had happened in 1872 but had gone unnoticed for some time and was not brought to Wainhouse’s attention until 1873.

Wainhouse initially tried to resolve this with the involvement of the Skircoat Surveyors, first asking Sir Henry to remove the pipe, and then asking Isaac Booth for the key to the valve. Both men refused and when the Surveyors found out they were upset that Wainhouse had not involved them and had tried to approach Sir Henry as a neighbour.

The Surveyors ordered Sir Henry to remove the pipe, which he did. Rumours of Sir Henry’s alleged attempt to obtain greater excess water got around, and Sir Henry’s son, Charles Grove Edwards, addressed this in an open letter to the local paper in early 1874, explaining that his father never intended to acquire the water for his personal use, but was merely trying to regulate the supply so some water would reach his tenants at Bolton Brow. Charles alleged the people of Trimmingham were using the well as a toilet and contaminating the water and that “certain individuals” in the Township of Skircoat were trying to cause bad feeling towards his father.

While not named in the letter, Wainhouse believed that the “certain individuals” was a reference to himself and was very offended. He called the Edwards family cowardly for attacking him without naming him – leaving him no chance to defend himself. Wainhouse cites this letter as the thing that started the feud between himself and Sir Henry Edwards. However, Charles’ letter states that the “certain individuals” held a grudge against his family, implying that he either was not talking about Wainhouse or that in his eyes this was not the start of the feud.  The Wainhouse and Edwards families had been generational neighbours and friends and it could be that Wainhouse was mistakenly taking offence at something which was not directed at him.

The Penny Summons – 1876

In 1876 (with work on Wainhouse Tower now complete) the Skircoat Surveyors ordered Sir Henry Edwards to cut back the trees on the boundary of his estate, which were overhanging the road and causing danger to people riding on top of carriages. After some resistance, Sir Henry reluctantly agreed when ordered to do so. Sir Henry was very proud of his park and upset at having to lop the branches of his trees. He published a public notice, blaming the Skircoat Surveyors and Wainhouse in particular. While no copy of this notice is available, we do know what it said thanks to details from contemporary newspaper articles and a surviving pamphlet.

Notice

These trees so far as the Willow Field Lodge, as well as those on the right hand side of the road in Washer Lane, part of the Pye Nest Estate, facing the dyeworks and cottages (in course of erection), have been marked out under the superintendence of the working surveyor of Skircoat, John Edward Wainhouse, chairman of the Board of Surveyors, as being a source of annoyance to the public.

Any person found destroying

this bill will be prosecuted

Sir Henry was not required to produce and post a notice and likely did so to make Wainhouse look bad and to provoke him. Wainhouse was indeed annoyed at what he saw as Sir Henry’s personal attack and he tore down several of the notices with his stick. He was seen by two policemen who were patrolling the edge of Sir Henry’s land. When confronted about destroying the posters, Wainhouse claimed that if the police fetched Sir Henry and put some more notices up, he would tear them down in front of Edward’s face!

Wainhouse was brought before the court on a charge of criminal damage. He did not deny what he had done but took the opportunity in court to demonstrate the pettiness and absurdity of the case. The local justice system was ridiculed for even trying such a trumped-up charge. It was plainly demonstrated that Sir Henry Edwards had tried to use the court to get at Wainhouse – and the case clearly showed that Edwards was even using the local police as his personal servants to wait, in hiding, to observe the “crime”. Wainhouse also caused a sensation by stating that in the court summons he had been called “John Edward Wainhouse, gentleman” but that he could not in return call Sir Henry a gentleman.

The hearing was so rowdy that the presiding magistrate, W.H. Rawson, threatened to throw out anyone causing a disturbance. He then fined Wainhouse the value of the damaged goods, plus costs. Wainhouse saw this as a waste of the court’s time and would refer to the episode as “The Penny Summons”, after his charge of criminal damage was valued at one penny. After costs were added, the total cost was eight shillings and one penny. By giving Wainhouse his day in court, Sir Henry had only succeeded in embarrassing both himself and his fellow magistrates.

 Cockett and His Ghost – 1875 to 1877

The Surveyors disagreements with Sir Henry over public wells had not ended with the trouble at Trimmingham well. A second well on Darcey Hey Lane, on the boundary of Sir Henry’s estate, became the next point of contention. For centuries, Darcey Hey Well had been giving water to local residents and was named “Cockett Well” after Richard Cockett, a gentleman who lived locally two hundred years earlier and had married into the Wainhouse family.

Although Sir Henry had tried to assert rights over the well in 1875, the real issues arose in 1876. The water took on a yellow tinge which Sir Henry blamed on the drains. Wainhouse had little sympathy for this initially, after Edward’s earlier complaints, but investigated none the less. An investigation by Wainhouse and the Surveyors found the well stuffed full of dirty sacks bearing the branding of Sir Henry’s cotton-spinning business. This prompted Wainhouse to write a lengthy poem, lampooning Sir Henry, which he called “Cockett and His Ghost.”

Cockett Well was struggling and despite the best efforts of the Surveyors, by March 1877 had failed entirely and the water the public had used for centuries was gone. It was suspected that the rapid collapse of the well was caused by Sir Henry’s mining operations digging beneath it and although Sir Henry denied any involvement, he promised to restore the water, but never did.

The Skircoat Surveyors dispatched their “working surveyor”, a type of foreman, by the name of John Collinge, to investigate the failure of Cockett Well and restore the water if he could. Either Collinge mistakenly believed this gave him the right to dig on Sir Henry’s land, or he didn’t realise where the boundary was. In attempting to repair the well, Collinge dug several trenches near Darcey Hey, a farm owned by Sir Henry, and on land owned by him.

Sir Henry took Collinge to court in London and sued hm for damages, which was upheld, along with the cost of the proceedings. The fallout from the trail bankrupted Collinge and although Sir Henry attempted to goad the Skircoat Surveyors into settling on Collinge’s behalf, they refused, and were not legally obliged to do so. Wainhouse would later state that Edwards had promised not to prosecute Collinge and had gone back on his word, leaving the poor man destitute.

When Collinge could not pay, Sir Henry pursued a “distress warrant” against him, which allowed local bailiffs to entre Collinge’s home and take his possessions for sale at auction to cover Sir Henry’s costs. The auction was advertised in the Halifax Courier and took place on 9^th November 1877. All of Collinge’s worldly goods were sold, including his beloved “fat pig”, his furniture, rugs, fire irons and other things. Wainhouse and the Surveyors supported Collinge through this process, but refused to pay Sir Henry’s cost on behalf of their employee. Wainhouse would take the opportunity to highlight the damage that Sir Henry had done to Collinge over a few misplaced holes.

Return from Victory

In the aftermath of the Sir Henry’s court case against John Collinge, someone – presumably Wainhouse – had an illustration made entitled “Return from Victory”. It depicts Sir Henry leading away all of Collinge’s possessions on a donkey cart with someone, again presumably Wainhouse, smirking from over a nearby wall. On a nearby house is a copy of the auction poster, giving the date of the auction, and on the side of the cart is written “English Law, Harrison Road”, the location of the courthouse which enforced the sale of Collinge’s goods.

A caption on one side reads “His usual generosity.” Sir Henry’s lawyers were often quick to point out Sir Henry’s “usual generosity”, particularly when his reputation was brought into disrepute. The artist is clearly illustrating that Sir Henry’s “usual generosity” has taken everything John Collinge owned. One other detail is that most of the items in the cart, including the pig, are listed on the auction poster – but one is not.

Under Sir Henry’s arm is a chamber pot and a scrubbing brush. Wainhouse would reference this at a public meeting in 1978, stating that Edwards had taken everything from Collinge, including his (chamber) pots. The lawsuit had left Collinge with not so much as a pot to go to the toilet in, and the artist decided to incorporate that into the illustration.

The Law Itself – 1879

A major confrontation between the Skircoat Surveyors and Sir Henry Edwards came in December 1879. The Surveyors had been repairing the road on the north side of Pye Nest as part of a larger project with the Halifax Corporation on Rochdale Road, and during their work they had caused Sir Henry much annoyance. The local police – whom Wainhouse accused of taking their instructions for Sir Henry – alleged that the Surveyors were leaving the road in a dangerous state, that warning lamps were unlit at night and that workmen were “dribbling”, Dribbling means that they were purposefully working slowly. Sir Henry was also upset that some repairs involved raising the height of the road, claiming:

“The whole road is going to be raised to that extent everybody will have the opportunity of staring into my grounds, and they will no longer be private as they have been.”

The entire board of Skircoat Surveyors was summoned to the West Riding Court. Sir Henry took the bench as chief magistrate and Wainhouse too the place of the Skircoat Surveyors as their chairman. Ugly scenes erupted in the courtroom. Wainhouse protested that the Surveyors would never get a fair trial so long as Sir Henry was the judge. He appealed to Sir Henry to do the right thing and pass the case on to another magistrate. Sir Henry refused ad the two men argued bitterly.

Edwards presented the complaints against the Surveyors and Wainhouse listed examples of Sir Henry’s personal interest in the case, his longstanding feud with Wainhouse and the Surveyors and the injustice of having a man Wainhouse described as his “enemy” sit and rule on the proceedings.

Sir Henry refused to step down, even when other magistrates offered to take his place. The Surveyors unsurprisingly lost the case and were fined, but the ruling didn’t come without stern criticism of Sir Henry’s actions. Wainhouse published at least two accounts of the proceedings, which tell us a lot about the history of his feud with Sir Henry. The pamphlets are available in the Local studies Library in Halifax and are called “Skircoat Lamps and Justice Lights” and “West Riding Law in Halifax”.

This was one of the last public conflicts between Sir Henry and the Surveyors under Wainhouse. Wainhouse stepped down in the 1880 nominations to allow “those who have complained so much” the opportunity to be surveyors themselves. Wainhouse left the Skircoat Surveyors after 12 years and Sir Henry was elected to the board in 1880, however he never performed his duties, being deemed exempt due to his status as a magistrate.

John Edward Wainhouse died on 26th July 1883, at his home, at the age of 66 years. He was buried in a family grave at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Halifax. The Tower, together with three acres of surrounding land (comprising three parcels of land namely Rough Bank, Plantation and Upper Longfield) was offered for sale by Wainhouse’s executors.

Sir Henry Edwards contracted Bright’s disease around 1884 and was confined to bed at his private grounds at Pye Nest. He died following an attack of hemiplegia paralysis on Good Friday, 23rd April 1886.

Read our other Wainhouse Tower 150th Anniversary blog posts here:

• The Sesquicentennial Story of Wainhouse Tower
• The Dragons of Wainhouse Tower
• Doctor Who and the Tower of Spite

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