Burley In Wharfedale Census
Family Histories
Samuel Smith of 'Midge Hall Station'
Contributor: Martyn Smith, Manchester
"My grandfather was Samuel Smith of Midge Hall (farm). I'm told he used to enjoy a drink and often went to Ilkely on a Saturday night. He would come back to Burley on the train and, seeing as the railway line passed by the farm, instead of going all the way to the regular station , he would pull the communication chord as the train was reaching the farm, saving himself a long walk home in the dark. He did this often enough for it to become known as 'Midge Hall station'.
I have in my possession a small pendulum wall clock which he won off the landlord of the Malt Shovels at billiards. I also have an oil painting of the rear view of Newall Hall in Otley (which was demolished to make way for Otley General Hospital. My mother told me that he was born there but that he was the black sheep of the family.
My mother, Olive, was a later addition to Samuels family (born in 1919) and does not appear on the 1901 Census. She was a weaver at Listers in Addingham and was given the task of weaving the velvet for the cape/train worn by the Queen at her coronation.
Samuels son, John, took over the farm when Samuel died and Johns eldest son Robert took over the farm when John moved to Steeton. Bob in turn moved to Steeton when his father became older and sold Midge Hall to a Mr. Thorpe. Mr. Thorpe built a bungalow near the farm house but he then sold the land and the Hall Drive estate was built there.
One thing I am interested in, and if you have any information I would be interested in learning it, is that, as I have mentioned Samuel Smith was supposedly the black sheep of the family and was born at Newall Hall.
A couple of years ago I met a lady called <DELETED> who had been a couple of years under me at Prince Henry's. She had recently returned from a ten year sojourn in South Africa. We discussed our origins and she told me that a boy she had been to school with had made a home in S. Africa, started a demolition business and had become a millionaire. His name was also Smith and his family had connections with Newall Hall. I would be interested if you had any information regarding Newall Hall and its occupants."