Goole's Local Historian: Mr. Harold Garside
Goole History > Goole People & Families > Harold Garside
From the Goole Times, Friday, 24th July 1964:
MAN BEHIND THE GARSIDE COLLECTION
Goole has been fortunate in its possession of the man who has made the historical records collection possible. Mr Harold Garside, who lives at 105 Lime Tree Avenue, came home in early 1919 after serving as a corporal in northern Italy with a siege battery ammunition column of the Army Service Corps and began to take an interest in local topography and church architecture. He amassed a stock of negatives, prints and slides of local events, and it was only a step further before he collected a library of books, pamphlets, news cuttings, plans, maps and documents relating to local history.
Mr Garside was always concerned about the repeated assertion that
Goole never had any history before the Aire and Calder Navigation
opened the canal and port, and so he began to specialise in collecting
every detail and item of interest relating to the events and history
of Goole and its neighbourhood before the 19th century, and adding
always to facts recorded from that date.
Gradually he became accepted as Goole's historian. He has been a
member of the local branch of the Historical Association since it
was founded in 1936, and has been its chairman for the last 25 years.
He is a member of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, and his
services as a lecturer have been freely available over the years
to almost every organisation and society in the town and surrounding
villages. He was the adviser on the historical tableaux which were
part of Goole's jubilee pageant in 1958, and it was his offer to
place his historical collection on loan that prompted the Borough
Council to prepare a room for a permanent exhibition of local historical
records.
Once the exhibition is established, Mr Garside will resume work
on his "History of Goole" which the Borough Council has
agreed to sponsor for eventual publication.
...
From the Goole Times, Friday, 11th August 1967:
GOOLE LOSES ITS HISTORIAN
The death in St John's Hospital early on Sunday of Mr Harold Garside, of 105 Lime Tree Avenue, has removed a man of unique knowledge of the history of the town and district.
His death, at the age of 72, ended a long period of ill-health,
and occurred little more than a week after the Borough Council had
agreed to confer on him the honorary freedom of the borough in recognition
of his outstanding services to the town.
From boyhood Mr Garside devoted all his leisure hours to a study
of local history until he became recognised not only locally but
throughout the country as an outstanding historian. His services
as a lecturer were in wide demand and he was unsparing of himself
in fulfilling his engagements, so that there was scarcely any group
or organisation within many miles of Goole which he had not visited.
In July 1964, Mr Garside presented to the town, on permanent loan,
his lifelong collection of documents, books, photographs, maps and
items relating to the history of the town and district, and this
became the foundation of the local history collection which was
named after him.
It was when Mr Garside was demobilised after service in the First
World War, with a siege battery ammunition column of the Army Service
Corps, that he began to amass his collection, paying meticulous
attention to every detail of local history. As the years passed
he became accepted as Goole's historian, and as a member of the
Yorkshire Archaeological Society his services were much in demand.
He was adviser on the historical tableaux which were a feature of
Goole's jubilee pageant in 1958, but it was for his work for the
Goole branch of the Historical Association that he will be more
readily remembered by lovers and students of local history. The
branch was formed in 1936 and Mr Garside was a founder member. For
25 years he was its chairman and only last January, because of the
onset of his final illness, did he relinquish the office, becoming
the branch's first president.
In his last few years Mr Garside had devoted much of his time to
writing a history of Goole, which was to be published with the support
of the Borough Council. It was never completed.
The opening of the Garside collection coincided with the 138th anniversary
of the opening of the port of Goole. Mr Garside's speech on that
occasion ended: "As we become more and more aware of the history
and past of our town, let us remember that we cannot live in the
past; let us appreciate its worth and those who lived and worked
for it, and at the same time let us draw inspiration from it and
go forward, building up a new town, new industries, in a renewed
spirit behind our old motto."
The Mayor of Goole, Mr T. E. Addy, with members and officials of
the Borough Council attended a funeral service for Mr Garside at
Christ Church on Wednesday. Members of the Goole branch of the Historical
Association, and of Christ Church, were also present.
The service was conducted by the Rev. R. F. C. Ruffell, who paid
tribute to Mr Garside's integrity and thoroughness.
Interment followed in Goole Cemetery.
...
From the Monumental Inscriptions - Goole Cemetery, Plot H1
In loving memory / of our dear father & mother / Lena Garside, / born August 29th 1860, / died January 18th 1939, / William W. Garside, / born June 9th 1861, / died January 8th 1947. / Leonard, loving husband of / Ethel Garside, / died March 11th 1957, aged 59 years. / Harold Garside, dear husband of May, / and Hon. Freeman of this Borough, / born 9th Oct 1894, / died 6th Aug 1967. / Also Edith May Garside, / beloved wife of Harold / died 4th Dec. 1975, aged 74 years.