Hannah Pickard: Ossett Philanthropist

Rediscovering Hannah Pickard

In October 2019, Sarah Cobham invited Ossett Through The Ages (OTTA) to an event, at Wakefield Town Hall. This was to highlight the Forgotten Women of Wakefield. We went along to Wakefield to share the story of a Forgotten Woman of Ossett: Hannah Pickard.

We first learned of Hannah Pickard after discovering photographs of an ornate fountain that once stood in front of Ossett’s Town Hall. Further research showed Hannah Pickard had donated it. And that the Pickard family had existed in Ossett for generations. 

Hannah Pickard’s Family and Early Life

The 1834 Pigot’s Directory lists Hannah Pickard (née Mitchell) under the heading of ‘Shopkeepers & Dealers in Groceries & Sundries’. This was Hannah’s mother. The same directory lists George & David Pickard as ‘Worsted Yarn Manufacturers’. These are Hannah’s father and grandfather. By 1838 George had joined his wife in her business. 

Hannah’s father died in March 1852, aged 53, and her mother continued with her grocery business. In May 1857 Hannah’s older sister, Sarah died (aged 32) of ‘a diseased knee joint’ i.e. cancer. Sarah had worked as an assistant in her mother’s shop. It’s likely that Hannah, the youngest in the family, helped with the business and the care of her sister. 

Along with the family’s sorrows, there was also good fortune, This is evident from the 1861 census. It records David, aged 31, as a woollen manufacturer employing three men, and Andrew, aged 25, as a woollen merchant just beginning to make his own way in business. Their mother financed their success. Hannah was 22 years old in 1861. It is likely, as a dutiful Victorian woman, that she was nursing her sick mother as well as organising the household. In 1862 Hannah Pickard (the elder)died and her daughter Hannah became the mistress of the Pickard home.

The Pickard Family and Green Mount

In 1873, the authorities approved plans for a new house on The Green. Construction was complete in 1874. Above the door, the builders added a datestone made from pink Aberdeen granite, alongside Andrew Pickard’s initials.The house, at the junction of Southdale Road and Ossett Green, has stood for almost a century and a half. This is ‘Green Mount’. 

Hannah Pickard’s Generosity Towards Her Family

Marriage was not to be for Hannah, perhaps because she devoted her life to caring for others. At first, her sister and her mother, and then later her two brothers and her nephews. As a woman of the Victorian era it was, no doubt, expected of her. In her last nine years of life, Hannah lived at Green Mount with her brother David’s illegitimate son, George. He was orphaned when his father died in 1882. George’s mother Catherine, died in 1875 when he was barely five years of age and his brother died in 1878.

David Pickard died intestate. As his heirs at law, Hannah and her surviving brother, Andrew, each had a legal entitlement to half of David’s estate. Aware that David’s son George had not been provided for by his father, Hannah declined her half share. It was assessed at £20,000 (2026 value £3.1m). The legacy then passed to her brother Andrew. Upon his death in 1890, he left it for the maintenance of Green Mount, and the education of David’s son, George.

It is said that Hannah was buried facing her beloved church. 

Now, both the church and Hannah’s family’s tomb are gone.

Ossett Becomes an Independent Borough

On August 16 1890 a Royal Charter arrived in Ossett to a huge fanfare. The charter declared that Ossett was now an independent borough of the West Riding. It had a mayor, four aldermen and 12 councillors. The town declared a public holiday, and bunting, banners and balloons festooned the streets. Flags and shields decorated the lampposts. A grand procession of 5,000 people took place and 4,000 schoolchildren sang in the streets. All day long the bells of Holy Trinity rang and a firework display was provided by Rileys of Flushdyke.

Sounds like an achievement to be proud of doesn’t it? Ossett: an Independent Borough of the West Riding!!

Hannah Pickard’s Memorial Fountain

Hannah Pickard must have been proud of this major event in Ossett’s history. When she died,  on June 29 1891, she left in her will a bequest for the installation of a commemorative fountain and trough to provide water for the townsfolk, cattle and horses. Mayor F L Fothergill unveiled the fountain in the Market Place on Saturday October 21 1893. The Ossett Observer described it:

Standing on a base of Aberdeen granite, it is mainly of Boltonwood stone, enriched with figures and other carvings. The shaft and massive bowl are of Peterhead granite. On the shaft is carved a lion [the crest of the Pickard family], the Borough arms, and the following inscription: “This fountain is the gift of the late Miss Hannah Pickard of this town, to the Corporation of Ossett, for the benefit of the inhabitants and was erected in 1893. 

Hannah Pickard’s Charitable Legacy

Determined to see her wealth distributed for the good of those less fortunate, Hannah left charitable bequests totalling around four million pounds. Her will specified 56 legacies to individuals, and 48 bequests to charitable organisations. Around 90% of those bequests benefitted places and people in need within the West Riding. Some of the places who benefited from Hannah’s generosity will be familiar to you. They included Dewsbury Infirmary, Leeds General Infirmary, Clayton’s Hospital. Dewsbury Infirmary named a ward ‘Pickard’ after Hannah’s brother. Hannah insisted that it be given her brother’s full name. After much deliberation, the hospital board named it the ‘Andrew Pickard Ward’.

You might also remember a ward at Clayton Hospital that bore Hannah Pickard’s name. Eventually, it became known as the HP ward, and Hannah’s name disappeared.

In Ossett, churches, schools, and charitable institutions all benefited from Hannah’s benevolence. Hannah left a substantial bequest to Ossett Grammar School to provide scholarships for the education of the poor. In later years, the school named one of their ‘houses’ after her. Those houses have changed over time, and few people now remember Pickard House. Those who do, appear to be unaware who Pickard was. Hannah’s name has been forgotten. 

The Loss of Hannah Pickard’s Grave

In September 1953, Ossett Corporation voted to change the name of Radley Street to Dimple Wells Road. The Congregational Church also agreed to transfer its burial ground at Radley Street to the Corporation for use as an open space. It lay neglected and unused for the next two decades, its inhabitants forgotten. The site is now partially under the road and has houses on it. The monuments and inscriptions are long gone.

Fifty years ago, workers exhumed 160 sets of human remains from the Radley Street Burial Ground. Among them were the remains of Hannah Pickard. Eyewitness accounts reveal that an open-topped lorry transported these remains in the dead of night. A large pit at the Zion Burial Ground in Gawthorpe provided their burial place, with no burial service or religious ceremony. Inexplicably, there is no record of the exhumation or the subsequent re-interment of these remains. Now privately owned, the burial ground is inaccessible. Horses stabled nearby freely roam among the damaged and neglected headstones. Along with so many others, Hannah Pickard has no known grave. 

What Happened to Hannah’s Memorial Fountain?

The Fountain’s Removal from Green Park

In 2007, Green Park was refurbished. WMDC and the Friends of Green Park, that the fountain was not in a condition to form a part of the refurbishment project. Even though the decision makers were aware of its historic value!

Rather than restoring the fountain and creating a scheme in which it would fit, the authorities simply gave it away. Just like that. One hundred and fourteen years after Hannah Pickard donated it to the people of Ossett, to commemorate such a significant part of our heritage and history, it passed into the ownership of one of the contractors who worked on the park project.

According to the Wakefield Express, without this man the fountain would almost certainly have faced destruction. During the fountain’s removal from the park, the large bowl that sat atop it shattered into pieces. I spoke with the contractor who removed the fountain. He told me that he had rebuilt much of it on his farm at Sharlston. He subsequently sold it to a reclamation yard. Apart from a small remaining piece, its whereabouts are unknown.

Rescuing the Memorial

Remembering Hannah Pickard

Hannah Pickard’s Ossett Blue Plaque

In September 2019, Ossett saw the installation of its first Blue Plaque, dedicated to a former resident of Ossett. Reginald Earnshaw, at 14 years of age, was the youngest service casualty of WW1. We installed Ossett’s first Blue Plaque for a woman on Green Mount at Southdale Road. It was the former home of Hannah Pickard – the Ossett Philanthropist. 

Hannah Pickard’s Blue Plaque was unveiled  by Margaret Hines, the widow of sculptor Stephen Hines. Photos: Nev Ashby  

Saving the Remains of the Fountain

On February 1 2020, a small group of us saw a plan that we had begun some time before, finally come to fruition. We also met a couple of Ossett heroes, by whose generosity I am deeply moved. I sincerely thank them for all that they have done for us. Two men – Jimmy Hill and Ben Rodham – gave their time and their expertise entirely for free, to help us to achieve our goal. What was that goal? To remove, protect and store safely the remains of the Hannah Pickard Memorial Fountain, until such a time that it can be returned to Ossett Market Place. As a reminder of our heritage and as a memorial to Hannah Pickard. 

We are proud to be able to say that Hannah Pickard is no longer a Forgotten Woman. 

My grateful and sincere thanks to all who have taken this journey with us. 

Anne-Marie Fawcett 
Ossett Through The Ages (OTTA) 
Written December 15 2023

Press & Media Links

Hannah Pickard – Ossett.net

Ossett Pictures – Hannah Pickard Fountain