Messrs. Dawson, Townend & Co.— Pioneer Potholers
by S. A. Craven
The following notes by Dr. Craven of the Craven Pothole Club were stimulated by the photograph, “Y.R.C. at Diccan Pot” which was printed with P.C. Swindells’ article “The Golden Age of Potholing,” facing p.82 in the last number of the Y.R.C. Journal. The photograph was taken from one of the Club’s extensive collection of early 3¼ x 3¼ in. glass slides.
Mr. Swindells’ (1973) article in the last Journal of the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club was full of interest; and especially so was the illustration “Y.R.C. at Diccan Pot” which was previously published the other way round by Swindells (1970). The original photograph was taken in the 1890’s by Mr. T. C. Bridges who had a photographic shop in the late lamented Swan Arcade in Bradford.
In the 1890’s, there was a group of Bradford men who caved apparently independently of the Y.R.C. They included Harold Dawson, grandson of Mark Dawson sometime Lord Mayor of Bradford; William Townend, his brother-in-law; Charles H. Wood, the Bradford City Gas Engineer; John E. Wilson, the local Secretary of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society; and Robert F. Dawson, a monumental mason. Wood and Wilson married sisters of William Harbutt Dawson of “History of Skipton” fame. I have no evidence to suggest that the above three Dawson families were related.
Just how much caving these men did is not clear, because they left very few records. They certainly descended Alum Pot at least five times (Dawson, 1894; Wood, 1897). Cuttriss (1900 or before) writes about Hunt Pot, “I believe that this was first completely descended by Dawson of Bradford in 1897,” i.e. one year before the first Y.R.C. descent.
There is some evidence that they descended Gaping Gill. When I called on Townend’s son in January 1972, he readily volunteered this information without any leading questions from me. Townend’s obituary writer (Anon. 1952) records that Townend was Managing Director of Mark Dawson and Son, Ltd., of Bradford; that he was an enthusiastic potholer when a youth; and that he was on the first expedition to descend Gaping Gill. On 4th February, 1896 Wilson delivered an illustrated lecture at Skipton on Gaping Gill. The report of that lecture (Anon. 1896) states quite clearly that Wilson has descended with two others using a rope ladder.
Harold Dawson (n.d.) wrote and published anonymously between 1892 and 1895 a thirty-three page guide and map. In it he listed most of the well-known caves at the top of a page, with large spaces underneath and opposite—presumably for the reader to enter his own observations. This pamphlet indicates that by 1895 they had caved little apart from Alum Pot. I know of only one surviving copy, which may be seen at the Harrogate Reference Library.
It seems that they were well equipped (Anon. 1895). They are reported to have “wire and stout hemp rope” and “ladders of the same materials.” The wire rope ladders were cut into 14 or 15 ft. lengths, and joined together by “dog-clasps.” For lighting, they experimented with a ten-candle-power electric bulb, but soon discarded it in favour of a “good wax candle.” They also had, and this brings me back to Mr. Swindells’ illustration, a camera.
Several of their photographs have survived, and are in the possession of Townend’s grandson, Mr. William R. Townend, of Harrogate. One of them is identical with Swindells’ (1973) picture but unfortunately it has no caption.
There is no record in the Y.R.C. Journals, Annual Reports, newspaper reports or collection of manuscripts that Dawson and his friends caved with the Y.R.C. They must have known of the existence of the Y.R.C., because that Club’s early cave explorations were reported in the Bradford newspapers (Anon. 1895a). Similarly, Dawson made no reference to the Y.R.C.
Finally, I ask you to study carefully the illustration in question. It is of the entrance to Lower Long Churn Cave, with Wilson’s Cave in the background. This caption error is understandable, since Hutton (1781) mistook Lower Long Churn for Diccan Pot. This confusion was perpetuated by many other writers during the nineteenth century. The gentleman nearest the camera is holding a ladder of the traditional wood and hemp rope design. The other ladders in the picture are of a less heavy construction, compatible with wire rope. The Y.R.C. did not have wire tackle at this time; nor did its members meet at Alum or Diccan Pot before July 1900 (Craven, 1971).
This is why I believe that Mr. Swindells’ illustration is of Harold Dawson’s Bradford Party. How it came into the Y.R.C. collection remains a mystery.
References:
| Anon. | (1895)
(1895a) |
Bradford Observer for 9 Dec., p.4. Leeds Mercury Weekly Supplement for 14 Dec., p. 10. Bradford Observer for 17 Sep. West Yorkshire Pioneer for 7 Feb., p. 5 (Skipton). Yorkshire Observer for 22 Jan. (Bradford). |
| Craven, S. A. | (1971) | “Chronological list of cave explorations in the Craven area by the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club”—typed MS. in the Y.R.C. Library, Central Library, Leeds [Subsequently Published in YRC Journal Series 12 Issue 6 pp32-45]. |
| Cuttriss, S. W. | (1900 or before) | MS. note No. 48 (Y.R.C. Library). |
| Dawson, H. | (1894)
(n.d.) |
The Chronicle No. 5 pp. 75-78 (Settle). |
| Hutton, J. | (1781) | A Tour to the Caves p.45 (reprinted 1970 at East Ardsley). |
| Wood, W. | (1897) | The Gentleman’s Magazine 282 303-309. |
| Swindells, P. C. | (1970) (1973) |
Trans. Cave Research Group 12 (4), 299-303. J. Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club 11 (36), 75-87 (Leeds). |