This Coming Week In History

This week in history

Date	Event
1/8/1086	It is believed that on 1st August 1086, Ilbert de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract, and possibly William de Warenne of Sandal, were at Old Sarum Castle, Wiltshire, on the orders of William the Conqueror who had instructed ‘all the landholding men of any account throughout England’ to swear an oath of allegiance to him as king. The site is also where returns for the Domesday survey were collated.
1/8/1141	On 1st August 1141 the Empress Matilda began to besiege the palatial castle of Bishop Henry of Winchester. The defenders threw burning material from the ramparts which began to set the whole city ablaze. At the same time, Queen Matilda (King Stephen's wife)  was now approaching Winchester with an army of her own, which included William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, and owner of Sandal Castle. Following the Empress Matilda's flight from Winchester, William de Warenne would capture Robert, Duke of Gloucester - Matilda's half- brother - which would prove very useful as a bargaining agent in obtaining the release of King Stephen, who had  been captured at the Battle of Lincoln, earlier that year.
1/8/1242	In August 1242, Edmund de Lacy, later lord of Pontefract, and John de Warenne, heir to the earldom of Surrey and Sandal Castle, both in royal custody due to the ‘premature’ deaths of their fathers, were granted a gift of two deer by Henry III. This was indicative of their esteem within the royal household.
1/8/1485	On 1st August 1485, Lord Strange, son and heir of Thomas, Lord Stanley, arrived at court in Nottingham. Lord Strange’s attendance was regarded as surety by Richard III, lord of Sandal, for his father’s leaving the royal household and returning to his Lancashire base at Lathom. Albeit Stanley had shown his loyalty to Richard in the tumultuous events of 1483 and had kept his wife, Margaret Beaufort, under house arrest, the king did not entirely trust him.
1/8/1513	By 1st August 1513, an English army of Henry VIII, under Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, had arrived at Pontefract Castle setting up camp and recruiting additional troops prior to the impending Battle of Flodden Field on 9th September against James IV of Scotland. Surrey had sent Sir William Bullmer to round up a troop of mounted archers to patrol the border region. On 3rd August, Bullmer’s one thousand archers ambushed a Scots’ raiding party at Millfield of between seven to eight thousand men, led by the Earl of Home, sustaining only sixty men lost to the Scots’ five hundred slain and four hundred taken prisoner. James IV was killed at Flodden Field (the last monarch from the British Isles to die in battle) along with eleven to twelve thousand of his compatriots with twelve hundred captured in less than two hours. The English lost about four thousand men with 120 taken prisoner.
1/8/1797	In summer 1797, (most probably late July, early August), Joseph Mallord William Turner sketched ‘Pontefract: The South Side of All Saints’ Church, with the Porch and South Transept 1797’ during his stay in Yorkshire as a guest of landowner Walter Ramsden Fawkes at Otley. The church, in the shadow of Pontefract castle, had been severely damaged in 1645 (its Tower being used as a lookout), hit by cannonballs.
1/8/2019	The Key to the North project was completed in 2019 and, on Yorkshire Day that year, Historic England announced to a crowd of castle visitors that it would be removing the castle from its Heritage At Risk register where it had been listed since 2003. This was one of the key aims of the project. The £5 million project, which included a new visitor centre, extensive conservation of the monument, a viewing platform, new paths and a bandstand, was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England, the Council, the Wolfson Foundation and landfill charity EpaC.
2/8/1086	Around August 1086 in the Domesday Book of that year, Tanshelf or Tatessella (along with Kirkby representing modern day Pontefract) was recorded as having a priest, 60 petty burgesses, 16 cottagers, 16 villagers and 8 smallholders, a church, a fishery and three mills. Its nominal population of 101, recording only landholders, was probably four to five times larger when family members were included.
2/8/1819	On 2nd August 1819, Thomas Armitage an American clergyman was born at Pontefract. He died on January 21st 1896. He was an important influence in the Baptist Church in New York City, and the prime mover in the establishment of the American Bible Union in 1850 being president of that body from 1856 to 1875. Among his works were’ Jesus, His Self- Introspection’ and ‘History of the Baptists' (1887).
2/8/1950	On 2nd August 1950, the Duchy of Lancaster informed Pontefract Corporation that it was granting a new lease for Pontefract Castle for thirty-one years at a rent of £3 pa (£105 in today's money) subject to the guardianship of the ruins being passed to the Ministry of Works.
3/8/1394	On 3rd August 1394, Anne of Bohemia, queen to Richard II, was buried at Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, John of Gaunt turned up late to the funeral causing a furious Richard to ‘smite him in the face and draw blood’. Following this, John prudently headed north to Pontefract Castle.
3/8/1403	On 3rd August 1403, Henry IV arrived at Pontefract Castle from Nottingham after the Battle of Shrewsbury on 21st July at which Henry Percy (Hotspur) had been killed and Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester (Hotspur’s uncle) and Sir Richard Vernon and Sir Richard Venables beheaded. Henry was pursuing Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland (Hotspur’s father), for his complicity in the Percy family’s revolt and his mustering an army against him at Tadcaster.
4/8/1265	John de Warenne , 6th Earl of Surrey and owner of Sandal Castle, had returned from his exile on the continent following the defeat of Henry III at Lewes in 1264. On 4th August 1265, John was present at the climactic Battle of Evesham when Henry III would finally defeat Simon de Montfort and his supporters.
4/8/1482	On 4th August 1482, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lord of Sandal, tentatively agreed a truce with the Scots. His army encamped at Edinburgh with the Scottish king, James III, enclosed safely within its castle, Richard saw the futility of a long siege and, therefore, sought terms. The Scots agreed: to repay monies that had previously been sent as an advance dower payment for the marriage of James III’s son to Cecily of York; grant control of Edinburgh Castle to the Duke of Albany; consider ceding Berwick to the English.
5/8/1318	On 5th August 1318, Edward II met Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, on a bridge over the River Soar near Loughborough to confirm the Treaty of Leake requiring the king to observe the Ordinances of 1311. Edward gave Lancaster a kiss of peace and pardoned him for all misdemeanours.
5/8/1415	On 5th August 1415, Richard, Earl of Cambridge was beheaded for his involvement in the Southampton plot to depose Henry V and replace him with Richard’s brother-in-law and then Mortimer heir, Edmund (great-great-grandson of Edward III and heir presumptive to Richard II). Cambridge and his wife Anne Mortimer were the parents of Richard, Duke of York, lord of Sandal Castle, who was later to play an integral part in the Wars of the Roses.
6/8/1307	Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and later lord of Pontefract, witnessed Piers Gaveston’s return from exile and creation as Earl of Cornwall by Edward II on 6th August 1307 at Dumfries. This was one of Edward’s first acts on becoming king on the death of his father on 7th July that year. Thomas was with the royal party on three occasions later in the month, and after a visit to Pickering he came south with Edward through Nottinghamshire and Northampton to Langley. Throughout the late winter and early spring of 1308, he was apparently at Westminster, and during the autumn he followed the king to Chertsey, Byfleet, and then back to London.
6/8/1403	On 6th August 1403, Henry IV departed Pontefract Castle for York awaiting the arrival of the Earl of Northumberland and for his complete submission to Henry after the Percy rebellion. The Earl’s son’s head (Henry Hotspur) had been placed over one of York city’s gates after defeat at the Battle of Shrewsbury.
31/7/1648	On 31st July 1648, the Proceedings of the Committee of both Houses of Parliament at Derby House recorded: ‘The same to Sir Henry Cholmeley. We are informed that the (enemy’s) garrison of (Royalist) Pontefract make incursions far into the surrounding country for spoil and plunder, and that many who thought themselves secured by our forces employed in blocking it up are taken and made prisoner by that garrison. We desire you to improve, with your best care and diligence, all the forces there under your command in order to straiten the enemy and secure our people in the parts adjacent from the danger of their incursions.’

Last week in history

Date	Event
1/8/1086	It is believed that on 1st August 1086, Ilbert de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract, and possibly William de Warenne of Sandal, were at Old Sarum Castle, Wiltshire, on the orders of William the Conqueror who had instructed ‘all the landholding men of any account throughout England’ to swear an oath of allegiance to him as king. The site is also where returns for the Domesday survey were collated.
1/8/1141	On 1st August 1141 the Empress Matilda began to besiege the palatial castle of Bishop Henry of Winchester. The defenders threw burning material from the ramparts which began to set the whole city ablaze. At the same time, Queen Matilda (King Stephen's wife)  was now approaching Winchester with an army of her own, which included William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, and owner of Sandal Castle. Following the Empress Matilda's flight from Winchester, William de Warenne would capture Robert, Duke of Gloucester - Matilda's half- brother - which would prove very useful as a bargaining agent in obtaining the release of King Stephen, who had  been captured at the Battle of Lincoln, earlier that year.
1/8/1242	In August 1242, Edmund de Lacy, later lord of Pontefract, and John de Warenne, heir to the earldom of Surrey and Sandal Castle, both in royal custody due to the ‘premature’ deaths of their fathers, were granted a gift of two deer by Henry III. This was indicative of their esteem within the royal household.
1/8/1485	On 1st August 1485, Lord Strange, son and heir of Thomas, Lord Stanley, arrived at court in Nottingham. Lord Strange’s attendance was regarded as surety by Richard III, lord of Sandal, for his father’s leaving the royal household and returning to his Lancashire base at Lathom. Albeit Stanley had shown his loyalty to Richard in the tumultuous events of 1483 and had kept his wife, Margaret Beaufort, under house arrest, the king did not entirely trust him.
1/8/1513	By 1st August 1513, an English army of Henry VIII, under Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, had arrived at Pontefract Castle setting up camp and recruiting additional troops prior to the impending Battle of Flodden Field on 9th September against James IV of Scotland. Surrey had sent Sir William Bullmer to round up a troop of mounted archers to patrol the border region. On 3rd August, Bullmer’s one thousand archers ambushed a Scots’ raiding party at Millfield of between seven to eight thousand men, led by the Earl of Home, sustaining only sixty men lost to the Scots’ five hundred slain and four hundred taken prisoner. James IV was killed at Flodden Field (the last monarch from the British Isles to die in battle) along with eleven to twelve thousand of his compatriots with twelve hundred captured in less than two hours. The English lost about four thousand men with 120 taken prisoner.
1/8/1797	In summer 1797, (most probably late July, early August), Joseph Mallord William Turner sketched ‘Pontefract: The South Side of All Saints’ Church, with the Porch and South Transept 1797’ during his stay in Yorkshire as a guest of landowner Walter Ramsden Fawkes at Otley. The church, in the shadow of Pontefract castle, had been severely damaged in 1645 (its Tower being used as a lookout), hit by cannonballs.
1/8/2019	The Key to the North project was completed in 2019 and, on Yorkshire Day that year, Historic England announced to a crowd of castle visitors that it would be removing the castle from its Heritage At Risk register where it had been listed since 2003. This was one of the key aims of the project. The £5 million project, which included a new visitor centre, extensive conservation of the monument, a viewing platform, new paths and a bandstand, was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England, the Council, the Wolfson Foundation and landfill charity EpaC.
2/8/1086	Around August 1086 in the Domesday Book of that year, Tanshelf or Tatessella (along with Kirkby representing modern day Pontefract) was recorded as having a priest, 60 petty burgesses, 16 cottagers, 16 villagers and 8 smallholders, a church, a fishery and three mills. Its nominal population of 101, recording only landholders, was probably four to five times larger when family members were included.
2/8/1819	On 2nd August 1819, Thomas Armitage an American clergyman was born at Pontefract. He died on January 21st 1896. He was an important influence in the Baptist Church in New York City, and the prime mover in the establishment of the American Bible Union in 1850 being president of that body from 1856 to 1875. Among his works were’ Jesus, His Self- Introspection’ and ‘History of the Baptists' (1887).
2/8/1950	On 2nd August 1950, the Duchy of Lancaster informed Pontefract Corporation that it was granting a new lease for Pontefract Castle for thirty-one years at a rent of £3 pa (£105 in today's money) subject to the guardianship of the ruins being passed to the Ministry of Works.
27/7/1380	On 27th July 1380, Richard II granted Mary de Bohun’s marriage to John of Gaunt’s (lord of Pontefract) son, Henry of Lancaster for 5,000 marks (£2.5 million today). Gaunt was excused this sum as he was owed at least as much for his war ‘expenses’. The marriage would take place seven months later.
27/7/1447	On the 27th July 1447, Richard Duke of York, owner of Sandal castle, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for a term of ten years. The length of this appointment was twice as long as would be normal and would keep Richard well away from the court of Henry VI for a prolonged period. However, it is also true to say that the appointment did provide Richard with some stability whilst offering the English-controlled parts of Ireland the same long-term certainty. York would not leave for Ireland however for nearly another two years.
27/7/1476	On 27th July 1476, the Fotheringhay Procession of Richard, Duke of York’s corpse, passed through Grantham on its way from the Priory at Pontefract, led by Edward IV. A later historian making notes on Grantham and its church, recorded: ‘His coffin lay on a funeral car drawn by seven horses, the figure of an angel robed in white, stood at the foot of the bier, bearing in his hand a crown, to signify that had he lived he would have reigned……His widow held the Lordship of Grantham and its Soke, and owned the George hostelry as her private property, which she left in remainder to Fotheringhay Priory, her husband and her own burial place. She may have joined the funeral procession from her house, the George…’
27/7/2020	On 27th July 2020, DigVentures returned to Pontefract Castle in a three-weeks' archaeological dig to finish excavating the drawbridge pit that they had unearthed in 2019. Funded by Historic England, the project was an opportunity to carry out further investigation of the gatehouse following the unexpected discovery of the remains of a barbican and drawbridge pit during the Key to the North project in 2016. Wakefield Council was supported and advised on the excavations by Historic England and the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service (WYAAS).The excavations revealed some interesting masons' marks and artefacts that helped to date the gatehouse as well as an 8m deep drawbridge pit.
28/7/1338	On 28th July 1338, Robert de Bosevill, Constable of Pontefract Castle, was appointed as king’s justice in the commission in the West Riding in the county of Yorkshire.
28/7/1484	On 28th July 1484, whilst staying at Pontefract Castle between the 23rd and the 29th of that month, Richard III granted a charter to the borough under the seal of the Duchy of Lancaster. The government of the town was vested in thirteen comburgesses chosen for life from among 'the more creditable sort of men' who annually were to elect one of their number as mayor. The original comburgesses were elected at Michaelmas (29th September) 1484.
28/7/1540	On 28th July 1540, Catherine Howard married Henry VIII, nineteen days after Anne of Cleves' marriage was annulled and on the same day as the execution of Thomas Cromwell for high treason. Catherine was first cousin to Anne Boleyn and had been a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves. Later in the marriage, Henry found out about Catherine's purported infidelity while the court was staying at Pontefract Castle.
28/7/1645	On 28th July 1645, Pontefract was mentioned in Parliament when papers and letters taken at the castle were referred to the Committee for the King's Cabinet letters.
28/7/1884	On 28th July 1884, Pontefract Castle was officially re-opened to the public following extensive renovation works to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the town's incorporation as a municipality under the charter of Richard III.
29/7/1483	On 29th July 1483, Richard III, lord of Sandal, had, according to Thomas More (drawing on information from Bishop Morton) writing his ‘History of King Richard III’ more than thirty years later, ordered the deaths of his nephews, the fabled Princes in the Tower. Richard headed from London on this date on his royal progress of the North. Richard wrote to his Chancellor, John Russell, from Minster Lovell, on this date: ‘..we understand that certain persons of such as of late had taken upon them the fact of an enterprise, as we doubt not ye have heard, be attached and in ward.’ The ‘enterprise’ some have claimed was part of a Woodville-inspired coup to free the boys from the Tower. More claimed that the Duke of Buckingham, who had, up to this point, been a staunch ‘Ricardian', was so upset by the king’s orders that he rebelled not long afterwards. More’s account had Sir James Tyrell, Richard’s servant, commit their murders; based on a supposed confession by Tyrell in 1502.
29/7/1772	On 29th July 1772, around noon, John Wesley opened a meeting room in Pontefract which had been established by his followers. Castle Chain House was taken by John Shepherd, partly as his accommodation and for use by travelling preachers with the rest used as a place of worship. The first Methodist chapel was built in Pontefract in 1789 and, in 1796, the town was made the head of a considerable circuit of twenty-four preaching places with two stationed preachers, covering an area from Barnsdale to Wetherby.
30/7/1447	On 30th July 1447, Richard Duke of York and lord of Sandal Castle, was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland for ten years on a fee of 4,000 marks (£3.05 million in today’s money), followed by an annual salary of 2,000 marks.
30/7/1447	On 30th July 1447, a nearly eight-years-old Anne Plantagenet, first child of Richard, Duke of York and lord of Sandal Castle, married seventeen-years-old Henry Holland, (later Earl of Exeter). Holland was to prove a thorn-in-the-side for York as he remained loyal to Henry VI and was a commander at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460 at which York perished.
30/7/1476	On 30th July 1476, the funeral services for Richard, Duke of York’s (former lord of Sandal Castle) re-interment at Fotheringhay along with his son, Edmund, were held at St Mary and All Saints Church. After Masses and sermons, ritual offerings of pieces of gold cloth were made. York’s black warhorse, still alive sixteen years after his death, was ridden into the church by Lord Ferrers carrying an axe with the blade facing downwards. York was buried in the choir and Edmund in the lady chapel. A huge feast followed with reportedly up to 20,000 present. York’s widow, Cecily, apparently was absent for an unknown reason.
30/7/1902	On 30th July 1902, Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates recorded: ‘ Mohill Union (County Leitrim, Ireland) – Paupers sent from Pontefract to Mohill, Withdrawal of Grant of Five Shillings Outdoor Relief by the Pontefract Guardians.’
31/7/1648	On 31st July 1648, the Proceedings of the Committee of both Houses of Parliament at Derby House recorded: ‘The same to Sir Henry Cholmeley. We are informed that the (enemy’s) garrison of (Royalist) Pontefract make incursions far into the surrounding country for spoil and plunder, and that many who thought themselves secured by our forces employed in blocking it up are taken and made prisoner by that garrison. We desire you to improve, with your best care and diligence, all the forces there under your command in order to straiten the enemy and secure our people in the parts adjacent from the danger of their incursions.’

Next week in history

Date	Event
10/8/1231	On 10th August 1231, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, along with five earls, attested charters granting Richard of Cornwall, Henry III’s brother, hereditary rights to the county of Cornwall and honour of Wallingford together with Beckley and Berkhamstead becoming his principal residences.
10/8/1439	Richard, Duke of York's  (lord of Sandal Castle) daughter, Anna, Duchess of Exeter, was born at Fotheringhay on Monday, 10th Aug 1439.
10/8/1618	On 10th August 1618, Ben Jonson, poet and dramatist, visited Pontefract on his accompanied walk from London to Edinburgh. After feasting on venison with the Pontefract Aldermen, on walking back to his lodgings, he was mobbed by ‘dancing giants’ (this may have been arranged to welcome Johnson though it may just have been that his arrival coincided with feast day of St Lawrence) . Processional giants, built on wicker frames and covered with cloth were sometimes carried in medieval English towns and cities in midsummer festivities and often represented religious figures. It is suggested that these giants were stored at the castle. Over four hundred years later, in September 2021, artists Matthew Rosier and James Bulley created the Pontefract Giants’ immersive experience’ at the castle exploring the history of the site.
11/8/1482	On 11th August 1482, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lord of Sandal, besieged Berwick Castle against the Scots and all but around 1700 of his troops were sent home with the castle surrendering on the 24th of this month. Berwick thus changed hands for the final time in its long run of sieges since 1296.
11/8/1485	On 11th August 1485, messengers arrived at Beskwood Lodge, outside Nottingham, where Richard III, lord of Sandal, was hunting. Henry Tudor, as prophecy had foretold, had landed with an invasion force, at Milford Haven.
11/8/1885	On 11th August 1885, author Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton died at Vichy, France. From 1837 to 1863, he represented Pontefract in Parliament as a Conservative and latterly as an Independent Liberal, championing oppressed nationalities, liberty of conscience and the rights of women. He helped to secure the passage of a bill for the establishment of reformatories. He was the author of several volumes of poetry and travels, among them: ‘Memorial of a Tour in Greece’ (1833); ‘Poems of Many Years (1838)’; ‘Palm Leaves (1844)’; ‘Good Night and Good Morning’ (1859); and ‘Monographs, Personal and Social’ (1873).
12/8/1295	On 12th August 1295, the Calendar of the Charter Rolls records: ‘Inspeximus and confirmation of the following charters: —A charter, of Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, constable of Chester, lord of Ros and of Roweynnok, dated at Pontefract, A.D. 1283, transferring the abbot and monks of Stanlaw to Whalley.’
12/8/1484	On 12th August 1484, on the orders of Richard III, lord of Sandal, Henry VI’s remains were disinterred at Chertsey Abbey and royally re-buried in the near-completed chapel of St George at Windsor close to his nemesis, Edward IV. John Rous recorded that the corpse was found almost perfectly preserved thirteen years after his death. A re-examination of his remains in 1910 revealed a disarticulated collection of bones re-packed in a small lead casket.
12/8/1919	On 12th August 1919, the Yorkshire Miners’ Council recommended a return to work for striking miners after 200,000 British miners had been on strike refusing the Government’s offer of settlement. All but the men in the West Yorkshire section had complied by the 15th of that month with Pontefract’s 10,000 men voting against a resumption of work.
13/8/1231	On 13th August 1231, William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey and lord of Sandal, along with the Earls of Kent, Chester, Derby, Aumale and Hereford, John de Lacy and various clerics and knights of the royal household were at Castle Matilda in the Marches - the lands between English rule and Wales - to witness Simon de Montfort paying homage to King Henry III. The ritualistic exchange (preserved even now in the English posture of prayer symbolizing homage to the heavenly Lord) between Simon and Henry proceeded: ' Sire, I become your man in respect to the tenement I hold of you, and I will bear you fidelity and loyalty in life and limb and earthly honour, and I will bear you fidelity against all men.' Henry replied: 'And I receive you as my man and will bear you fidelity as my man' before kissing Simon, who then delivered his oath with his right hand on a sacred object (Bible or relic).
13/8/1403	On 13th August 1403, Henry IV arrived at Pontefract with his prisoner, the Earl of Northumberland, travelling from York in a day. After being pardoned, the Earl was later killed at the Battle of Bramham Moor (19th February 1408) and his body dismembered and exhibited around the country at Berwick, Lincoln, Newcastle and York with his head impaled on a pike on London Bridge.
14/8/1396	On 14th August 1396, Richard II met the Duke of Burgundy at Calais to discuss arrangements for the king’s impending wedding to Isabella, daughter of Charles VI of France. The cavalcade to greet the Duke consisted of John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, the Earls of Rutland and Nottingham plus several bishops and 500 English knights and esquires.
14/8/1705	On 14th August 1705, Joseph Taylor recorded in his book ‘A Journey to Edenborough in Scotland’: ‘we lay at Pontefract, [8 miles. Expen. £l. 8s. 6d.] a pretty Market Town. It sends two Members to parliament, and is very famous for Liquorish, which grows in great abundance almost in every place, The people make black and white Cakes of it, which they send to London and all over England, being very good for colds, Here we saw that old Castle, memorable for the Murder of Richard the 2nd, And also for the brave defence it made in the Civill Warrs, but it's now onely a heap of ruines ; and the walls enclose a Garden or plantation of Liquorish, amongst the ruines …’
14/8/1805	On 14th August 1805, when England feared a Napoleonic invasion, Colonel Walter Stanhope, commander of 600 Yorkshiremen known as the Staincross Volunteers was informed by clergyman and magistrate Mr Dixon from Woolley that the beacon at Pontefract was lighted. Dixon was giving orders for lighting the one standing upon Woolly Edge, a wild, bleak height which dominated the surrounding country for many miles. Instructions had previously been given by the General of the district that upon the lighting of this beacon the regiment was to march to Pontefract immediately, and Stanhope realised that not a moment was to be lost. They commenced their march to Pontefract, in orderly fashion, with their Captain at their head, and they had already got to Hemsworth, a distance of about twelve miles, when they were overtaken by a messenger bearing the following note: — To Colonel Stanhope. Dear Sir, I have sent a Servant to the Beacon at Pomfret this Morning as I could learn nothing here, and find that the Pomfret Beacon was not lighted & that the Woolly People were deceived by the burning of a Brick Kiln placed near the Beacon. You are sure I am truly sorry to have occasioned you all the Trouble you have had. I remain, dear Sir, Very truly yours Jer. Dixon. Although summoned on a false alarm, the troops received an ovation at Hemsworth, where the populace collected to cheer them and they were feted and offered the loan of waggons for their return journey. The readiness of these sturdy Yorkshiremen to devote themselves to the defence of their county, with such excellent leadership which could produce such a prompt muster and perfect organisation, roused popular enthusiasm, while the news sped through the country and the March of the Staincross Volunteers became famous. Stanhope recorded in his journal: ‘A most gallant muster, the whole Regiment turned out; ate at Hemsworth, got home to tea.’
14/8/1926	On 14th August 1926, a dog show, promoted by the West Riding Branch of the British Alsatian Association, was held in the grounds of Pontefract Castle.
15/8/1309	By mid-August 1309, Piers Gaveston was back with Edward II following a recent banishment. Gaveston was publicly, if reluctantly, acknowledged by the nobles in Parliament; it is significant that Thomas of Lancaster who had not been involved in the campaign to banish Gaveston had now become disaffected by this time. Gaveston, with his position with Edward secure again, began to give the nobles derisive nicknames :Henry de Lacy of Pontefract Castle was ‘Burst-Belly’ and Thomas Earl of Lancaster,  later of Pontefract Castle, was nicknamed ‘Churl’.
15/8/1316	On 15th August 1316, Edward II and Queen Isabella’s second son, John, was born at the Palace of Eltham in Kent. Although Isabella asked her uncle, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to stand as her son’s sponsor (godfather), he did not attend the baptism. Having attended the christening of his friend the Earl of Warwick’s son and heir, Thomas Beauchamp in February 1314, this was another insult perpetrated against the king by Thomas.
15/8/1381	On 15th August 1381, at a banquet, John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, challenged Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, to a duel as soon as he returned to London. Northumberland had not allowed him to enter his castles in the North-East in June whilst Gaunt was being sought by London mobs. Northumberland later apologised and an official ceremony of reconciliation was effected.
15/8/1396	On 15th August 1396, the Duchess of Lancaster, Katherine Swynford, mistress-turned-wife to John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, and their seventeen-year-old daughter Joan Beaufort, took the places of honour beside the Duke of Burgundy at Richard II’s table: a great feast to mark the conclusion of Richard’s wedding arrangements.
15/8/1403	On 15th August 1403, Henry IV, having accepted the Earl of Northumberland’s submission at York, made him seal documents at Pontefract commanding his officers to surrender all his castles and all the knights and esquires in Northumberland county to swear an oath of loyalty to Henry. On this day, Henry also commanded his sheriffs to raise forces to meet him at Worcester on the 3rd September for a fourth Welsh campaign in order to quell Owen Glendower’s rebellion.
15/8/1417	On 15th August 1417, Joan Waterton, daughter of Robert Waterton, Constable of Pontefract Castle (and also Constable at Tickhill Castle and Castle Donnington), was married to Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles, at St Oswald’s church, Methley with a young Richard Plantagenet (Duke of York and lord of Sandal Castle) as a guest. Lionel later became stepfather to Lady Margaret Beaufort and step-grandfather to Henry VII.
15/8/1645	On 15th August 1645, Royalist Colonel Sir Richard Lowther, ex-Governor of Pontefract Castle, who had surrendered it only three weeks before, died of consumption at Newark.
15/8/1872	On 15th August 1872, the Pontefract by-election was the first UK Parliamentary election held by secret ballot. Hugh Childers was re-elected following his appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The ballot box seal was made with a liquorice stamp from Frank Dunhill’s factory showing a representation of the castle gates with a raven on the top bar. The castle lodge emblem is reputed to date from 1612.
16/8/946	On 16th August 946, Eadred, was crowned King of England by Archbishop Oda at Kingston upon Thames. Eadred was later to receive the submission of the sub-kings of England and the Northumbrian ealdormen at Tanshelf (part of modern-day Pontefract) in 947.
16/8/1312	On account of the rapidly deteriorating situation between Edward II and many of his nobles on 24th July 1312, letters close had ordered the shire levies to be held in immediate readiness. Now, on 16th August 1312, writs were sent to certain sheriffs and other officials, charging them to bring their forces to London on 27th August: the day on which Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, and the Earls of Hereford and Warwick had been summoned to come to Westminster.
16/8/1649	On 16th August 1649, Colonel John Morris, who in June 1648 had taken control of Pontefract Castle from Parliamentary forces, with men pretending to deliver mattresses and bedding, was put on trial at York, indicted under the Treason Act 1351 for ‘levying war against the late king and the parliament.’ Morris, like Charles I, questioned the authority of the judging body: ‘My lords, under correction, I conceive this court hath not the power to try me in this case; I being a martial man, I ought to be tried by a council of war.’