Tuesday, July 26, 2005

100 years ago

Great strides had been made in the work of combating one of the most dreadful scourges of the race, but it would seem, according to Dr T N Kelynack, the physician to the Mount Vernon Hospital for Consumption, that we were still in the experimental stage of the research in connection with tuberculosis. Research was merely in its infancy; it had long been held by scientists that tuberculosis was a preventable disease, but in spite of all the time, money, and energy that had been expended, there was no appreciable falling-off in the number of victims. The total number of sufferers in this country in some form or another was approximately 300,000 with 40,000 deaths every year.

50 years ago

The Nursery, land and certain growing stock, which was owned by Backhouses on Acomb Road, had been bought by York Corporation. For more than 150 years, the firm had been a maker of gardens, not only in the North of England but also further afield. These Quaker horticulturalists had built up a reputation second to none in scientific knowledge of plants and commercial integrity. In 1815 James and Thomas Backhouse bought the old-established business of Telford's of Friars Gardens, York, where had been, in pre-Reformation times, the House of the Dominican Friars on Toft Green. Later when George Hudson and others began negotiations for the purchase of these nursery gardens for the erection of a railway station Thomas moved to land approximately where the Glassworks stood on Fishergate. Shortly after this the site on Acomb Road was acquired. James, the son of James Backhouse Senior, built West Bank for himself having become the manager of the business on the death of his uncle Thomas, and constructed here, in 1859, a mountain tarn with crags to grow Alpine plants. He also had made an underground cavern with ferns, artificially lit, the first of its kind in Britain.

25 years ago

Selby mine would be among the top producers in the world, the Coal Board confirmed. Kellingley Colliery, seen as the guinea pig for Selby, had produced a weekly record coal output for any single British mine. Using the advanced technology to be installed at the five Selby faces, Kellingley produced 54,975 tons of coal during one week. Mr Dave Ketteridge, NCB press officer, said the news was very encouraging for Selby. The new mine was always expected to be among the most advanced in the world, and now the machinery to be used there had been

Updated: 14:31 Monday, July 25, 2005