An Introduction to Chickens’ Lib and the Chickens’ Lib Archive

View the Chickens’ Lib Archive on our catalogue.

The History of Chickens’ Lib

In the early 1970s, Clare Druce and her mother Violet purchased four live ‘spent’ hens from an East London butcher’s shop. They took them, uninvited, to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Department in Surrey, along with a reporter and photographer from the Surrey Comet newspaper. The ‘invasion’ (as the press called it) earned them a front page spread in the Surrey Comet. Over the years, they took part in further campaigns and acquired the help of other animal rights campaigners, eventually naming their small pressure group Chickens’ Lib, which later evolved into the Farm Animal Welfare Network.

Their first national support came in 1975 when they were chosen as one of the candidates for the BBC’s Open Door programme, an initiative which saw them supplied with a professional    producer and TV studio to make a short programme about the group. The programme came out live on BBC2 at peak viewing time and earned Chickens’ Lib more than 500 letters of support.

Over the years, the number of supporters grew and many well-known people in the arts, sciences and Church lent their names to their campaigns. At first Chickens’ Lib were unwelcome on the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (now DEFRA), but their careful and in-depth research, and their strict adherence to non-violent activism, meant that they were often treated as experts in their field. For years they were invited to official meetings where farmed animals were being discussed.

When Violet died in 1999, aged 91, and as other members of the group were obliged to other commitments, Chickens’ Lib (now the Farm Animal Welfare Network) came to an end. Since then, many bigger pressure groups and animal charities have emerged and taken their place, but Chickens’ Lib were valuable in unearthing some of the worst aspects of animal abuse in the early days.

Archive Overview

The Chickens’ Lib Archive was donated to Heritage Quay in 2021 by Clare Druce. It contains a substantial collection of letters and campaign materials covering the history of the group from the 1970s until 2017.

Some of the many campaign documents reveal how Chickens’ Lib petitioned the Prince of Wales and the Queen about game birds, specifically cruelty in pheasant shooting (item ref: CKL/CA/1/5) and the use of bird ‘specs’ (item ref: CKL/CA/1/4). The latter documentation includes an article issued by The People with headline “Queen Bans Bird Specs!,” showing the real-world changes influenced by Chickens’ Lib.

These campaign documents also include an expert witness personal statement written by Clare Druce, highlighting her qualifications as an expert in the McDonalds libel trial of 1996 (item ref: CKL/CA/5). These documents are supported by the government correspondence (item ref: CKL/CO/1) between Druce and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which reveal how the group were thought of in high standing and were later invited to official government meetings.

The wealth of correspondence available reveals the relationship between Chickens’ Lib and international organisations, asking for assistance or advice setting up their own campaign initiatives (item ref: CKL/CO/2) from groups in the USA, Australia, South Africa and beyond.

There are also many letters and cards from their supporters and patrons (CKL/CO/3). These include celebrity supporters such as Spike Milligan, Barbara Castle M.E.P, and Joanna Lumley, as well as various members of government and the Church. There are also a large variety of marketing materials (item ref: CKL/MK) including newsletters, factsheets, posters, postcards, badges, banners, and audio-visual media.

We hold a copy of their 1975 BBC2 Open Door programme (item ref: CKL/MK/5/1/2) for which they received their first national support, and their factsheets further support their reputation as an authority on bird farming. These sheets (item ref: CKL/MK/2) include a topic index for ease of access, and cover subjects such as animal diet, disease, antibiotics, foie gras, broiler chickens, the battery hen, turkey farming and the egg industry.

Their research included site visits to battery hen farms where photographs were taken to document their findings and record living conditions. The archive contains these photographs as well as images of demonstrations, hen rescues and the group’s first uninvited visit to Whitehall in 1973 (all items ref: CKL/MK/9). There are many newspaper cuttings (item ref: CKL/PR) included in the archive, covering the demonstrations, activities, and media appearances of Chickens’ Lib, as well as support from celebrities.

The Chickens’ Lib Archive tells the fascinating story of the relentless and challenging work involved in trying to achieve even the smallest of changes, and it is now live on our online catalogue:

https://heritagequay.org/archives/ckl/

The archive is open to everyone, and appointments can be made to view items using our online booking form.

UNIQUE TED HUGHES COLLECTION ACQUIRED BY UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD NOW AVAILABLE AT HERITAGE QUAY

We are delighted to announce that a unique collection of rare and valuable items relating to the former poet laureate Ted Hughes has been acquired by the University of Huddersfield and is now available at Heritage Quay.

Image of Ted Hughes seated, smiling.
Photograph of Ted Hughes by Layle Silbert. One of 11 previously unknown photographs of Hughes by Silbert in the collection and part of the photograph album featuring many unknown photographs of Hughes and Sylvia Plath. By permission of University of Chicago who manage Silbert’s estate. © University of Huddersfield

 

The Mark Hinchliffe Ted Hughes Collection – described by the collector’s journal The Private Library as ‘one of the finest Hughes collections in private hands’ and ‘a rival to collections held in University libraries on both sides of the Atlantic’ – was gathered over a lifetime by the late Huddersfield poet and Hughes expert, Mark Hinchliffe, and came to the University from Hinchliffe’s widow, Julie.

The collection was acquired with the help of generous funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Victoria and Albert/Arts Council England Acquisition Fund, The Friends of the National Libraries, and the University of Huddersfield.

Dr Steve Ely, Director of the Ted Hughes Network at the University comments: “We are delighted to have acquired Mark Hinchliffe’s outstanding collection. It comprises over 170 items, including signed first editions of dozens of Hughes’ trade, limited-edition and fine-press publications; original letters written by Hughes and his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath; signed and annotated books from Hughes’s personal collection; and, some absolutely unique items: a very fine ceramic jaguar sculpted by Hughes in 1967, the only intact example anywhere in the world of Hughes’s work in the plastic arts.

Manuscript with Ted Hughes handwriting holograph of Hughes' radio script for Orpheus.
A holograph of Ted Hughes’ radio script for Orpheus.
© University of Huddersfield
Becky Bowd sat at table smiling with two Baskin watercolours on the table
Dr Rebecca Bowd, University Archivist with Baskin watercolours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“There is an album containing hundreds of photographs, including some previously unknown photographs of both Hughes and Plath; a holograph manuscript of the radio play ‘Orpheus & Eurydice’ with some significant differences to the broadcast and published versions, and, a bespoke edition of the Gehenna Press’ limited edition Howls & Whispers, comprising the original fine-book, 8 original watercolours by Leonard Baskin – two of which are pictured here –  and a unique copper-plate, engraved portrait of Sylvia Plath.”

Watercolour of woman swathed in blue.
‘Woman swathed in blue’ from Howls and Whispers. By permission of the Estate of Leonard Baskin.
© University of Huddersfield
Watercolour by Leonard Baskin showing heads coloured orange, blue and yellow.
‘Woman swathed in blue’ from Howls and Whispers. By permission of the Estate of Leonard Baskin.
© University of Huddersfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Mark was a significant figure in the international Ted Hughes scholarly and collecting communities, a friend and correspondent of Ted and other members of the Hughes family, a member of the Ted Hughes Society, a founding member and chair of the Elmet Trust, a key figure in the development of the Ted Hughes Poetry Festival in the Upper Calder Valley, a scholar and a published poet – a significant figure in his own right.

Photograph of Mark Hinchliffe
Mark Hinchliffe, who died in 2019, first corresponded with Ted Hughes while still in his teens and built up a substantial collection of Hughes-related material.

“He was a great supporter of the work of the Ted Hughes Network at the University, and it is fitting that his collection should be retained in his hometown.”

Julie Hinchliffe comments: “I am absolutely delighted that the University of Huddersfield has acquired Mark’s extensive Ted Hughes collection. It was his wish that the collection should remain intact and be available for academics, students and the public to enjoy as much as he did. I know that he would be very pleased with its new home.”

The Collection will be housed in the University’s archive, Heritage Quay. Dr Rebecca Bowd, University Archivist comments: “We are thrilled to be able to preserve Mark Hinchliffe’s fantastic collection at Heritage Quay where for the first time it will be freely accessible to the public. The Ted Hughes Archive at Heritage Quay already holds three other Ted Hughes-related deposits: the Donald Crossley Papers, the Christopher Reid Papers and a comprehensive collection of Hughes’ fine and small press work.

“The purchase of this collection cements Heritage Quay’s reputation as a must-visit archive for Ted Hughes scholars world-wide and we can’t wait to welcome researchers to explore the collection here at the University of Huddersfield.

Heritage Quay will also work with the Ted Hughes Network to arrange public-facing events to engage people with the collection—a symposium, talks, poetry readings, exhibitions, creative writing workshops and events for young people are planned. The first of these, an exhibition featuring highlights from the collection will take place at Heritage Quay from late June to mid-September.”

Dr Simon Thurley CBE, Chair, National Heritage Memorial Fund comments: “The National Heritage Memorial Fund are delighted to support the University of Huddersfield with £33,775 to enable the purchase of the final five works from Mark Hinchcliffe’s private collection. The works that we have supported are considered unique and will now be shared widely by the university’s Ted Hughes Network & Heritage Quay, including through children’s workshops and creative writing activities.”

Black Ceramic Jaguar on white background
A ceramic jaguar sculpted by Ted Hughes, the only intact example of his work in the plastic arts.
© University of Huddersfield

The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, which has contributed £35,000, adds that “‘we are delighted to be able to support the acquisition of the Hinchcliffe Archive by the University of Huddersfield. Not only is it an important collection of material which explores the life and work of Ted Hughes, but the collection is fascinating in how it reflects the relationship between Hughes and Hinchcliffe; it has much research potential for students and academics alike, both national and international.”

Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “It is fitting that this extensive Ted Hughes collection has been acquired by the University of Huddersfield in the poet’s home county. I am delighted that UK Government funding through the National Heritage Memorial Fund has enabled it to happen. These brilliant works will now be available to academics, students and members of the public where they will provide endless inspiration and enjoyment for years to come.”

For further information about the collection or to arrange a visit, email us at archives@hud.ac.uk or see https://heritagequay.org/archives/mhth/

Story originally published at https://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2022/may/ted-hughes-collection-acquired-heritage-quay/

Equality and diversity

This is new blog series from the team at Heritage Quay where we’re going to be sharing the practical steps we’re taking to make our collections, staff and services more diverse and accessible.

This is a long-term project that we have committed to working on, so please get in touch to tell us how we are doing. It’s important to us that we are open about what’s going on.

Those of you who keep an eye on the archives sector may have seen that the last ARA conference ended very acrimoniously. This emphasised for us that it isn’t enough to say that we believe in equality and diversity in archives, we need to take concrete action to make changes.

We’ve started by drawing up a plan for the areas we think we need to work in. This gives us some ways of planning our activities and focusing our efforts.

To begin, we’ve identified some quick things we can do to lay the groundwork. This includes reading up on what other people are doing well, putting together a list of resources available to use, and mapping networks to speak to in the next phase.

That phase will involve a lot of listening and talking with those more qualified and experienced than us.

We commit to sharing the outcomes of those conversations here, and making changes in what we do. This will be a long-term project, and we are bound to get some things wrong, but we are committed to learning, openness and humility as we go. We also want to be allies to people already doing work around injustices in the sector, and offering concrete support and help to them where we can.

“They’re Wearing ’em Higher In Hawaii” – by the Corner House Ragtime Band (1918)

Charles Hippisley-Cox writes

Here’s another recent addition to the British Dance Band collection here in the Heritage Quay.   It represents exactly what was happening in popular music at the end of the Ragtime era before the arrival of jazz.    The band was based at Lyons’ Corner House, Coventry Street, London with an instrumentation based on a lead violin, two banjos, piano and drums.   Recorded in March 1918 and issued on the Winner record label that had adopted a rather dull colour during the austerity of WW1.  Jazz “proper” arrived exactly 100 years ago by boat with the visit of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.   Next month we will be celebrating this by sharing their first London recording which was in April 1919″

Collections Information Policy

The Service has recently completed drafting our first Collections Information Policy.  This focusses on the provision of intellectual access to collections, both by users and by staff for management purposes.  It will assist the Service in decision making and prioritising work in a range of circumstances, including:

  • Providing access to the holdings which is balanced with their long-term preservation and legislative requirements;
  • Cataloguing work by staff and volunteers;
  • The submission of funding bids with a cataloguing and information enhancement aspect.

If you would like to comment on the draft Collections Information policy please leave a comment on this blog page, or email archives@hud.ac.uk.  The policy consultation period will close on Friday 13th December 2013.

Collections focus: political records

Background to the collections

The collections reflect major social, cultural and political movements of national and international significance, which have a common thread in relating to Huddersfield and the region as a key location for associated activity.

We currently hold 73 individual archival collections and 55 individual Special Collections (of published material).  These collections occupy 194 m3 and contain more than 200,000 individual items. The individual collections vary considerably in their size. The largest are the University’s own internal archives (at least 950 boxes), the Rugby League (Board) Archive (approximately 900 boxes), Hopkinson’s business archive (approximately 421 boxes), the British Music Collection (approximately 365 linear metres) and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival archive (approximately 171 boxes). Most other archive collections are between 1 box and 72 boxes, and the special collections between 1 and 90 linear metres. The total number of individual items is around 214,349.

 A wide range of formats are covered, including files and individual sheets, textile samples in bound volumes, large formats including maps, plans, drawings, posters, magnetic video and audio cassettes, photographic formats of a wide range of types and dates, many of them plastic based (acetate and nitrate), long playing records and digital material both sound and image.

The vast majority of the collections date from the mid-19th century to the modern day, although there are a few items dating back to the 18th century and one or two items even earlier. 

Politics

West Yorkshire has had a long reputation for radical politics. These collections help inform that reputation. They were collected because the University of Huddersfield and its predecessor have a national reputation as a centre for the study of Labour history. Indeed, the Huddersfield Labour Party records were purchased by the Polytechnic in the 1960s well in advance of the establishment of a formal archive service.  This displays the long-term aspiration of the Polytechnic to develop this area of specialism and the recognition by the Polytechnic of the value of these records.

There are the records for the Labour parties of Colne Valley, Denby Dale and Huddersfield. The Colne Valley Constituency collection is particularly interesting as it was the first constituency –based Labour Party in Britain and includes all its meeting records since its creation in 1891.  The Colne Valley Labour Party Collection provides a detailed and coherent record of the operation and experience of a local political party organisation.  It covers the work of the local Labour Party including its very active Women’s Section and includes minutes, correspondence and accounts plus the records of individual Labour clubs across the region. It also holds records on the campaign elections of individual candidates such as Tom Mann, who was a founder of the Independent Labour Party and a militant Socialist, and Victor Grayson, another radical socialist whose mysterious disappearance in 1920 was widely believed to have been the result of his intention to reveal evidence of Lloyd George’s sales of honours.

There is a similarly detailed range of records for the Huddersfield Labour Party, which is equally interesting.  This collection demonstrates the widespread interests and work of constituency MPs and their close connections with community life as well as the operations of a local political party.

 

JH Whitley letter from King George V
JH Whitley letter from King George V

These Labour Party collections are supplemented by collections relating to several MPs.  The most notable are the papers of JH Whitley who was Speaker of the House of Commons in the 1920s (including during the General Strike) and became Chairman of the BBC (1930-935). 

There are also the records of Mick Clapham (Barnsley West MP from 1992 to 2010), who opposed many of Tony Blair’s measures and resigned over cutting of benefits to lone parents. This collection covers his constituency work e.g. reports, correspondence.  Another collection details the work of J P W Mallalieu, Huddersfield’s longest serving MP (1945-79).

These Archive collections are strongly supported by a variety of special collections. For example the library of Arthur Gardiner who was a conscientious objector during the First World War (when Huddersfield was a major centre for the anti-war movement) and a Huddersfield Councillor in later life. The collection covers local history, general history, books and pamphlets covering politics, history and social history. The items date from the late C19th through to mid C20th. It is the Library of a self-made man in the Huddersfield tradition. The library of Dr Wilson includes many volumes relating to left wing ideas, and the Left Book Club collection includes many ‘classic’ left wing texts. The major George Henry Wood collection includes works on politics of all sorts.

There is a good collection of C20th newspapers particularly from the Labour and Socialist movements which supplement newspapers held in the Colne Valley and Huddersfield Labour party Archives. There are also the left wing publications of the Wilson collection and the Conservative Party ephemera found in the Whittaker collection.

To find out more about any of our collections, please contact us.

Collections focus: music

Background to the collections

The collections reflect major social, cultural and political movements of national and international significance, which have a common thread in relating to Huddersfield and the region as a key location for associated activity.

We currently hold 73 individual archival collections and 55 individual Special Collections (of published material).  These collections occupy 194 m3 and contain more than 200,000 individual items. The individual collections vary considerably in their size. The largest are the University’s own internal archives (at least 950 boxes), the Rugby League (Board) Archive (approximately 900 boxes), Hopkinson’s business archive (approximately 421 boxes), the British Music Collection (approximately 365 linear metres) and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival archive (approximately 171 boxes). Most other archive collections are between 1 box and 72 boxes, and the special collections between 1 and 90 linear metres. The total number of individual items is around 214,349.

 A wide range of formats are covered, including files and individual sheets, textile samples in bound volumes, large formats including maps, plans, drawings, posters, magnetic video and audio cassettes, photographic formats of a wide range of types and dates, many of them plastic based (acetate and nitrate), long playing records and digital material both sound and image.

The vast majority of the collections date from the mid-19th century to the modern day, although there are a few items dating back to the 18th century and one or two items even earlier.  

Music

The music collections are becoming a remarkable feature of the University’s heritage collections.  The current collections along with the expected accruals will mark the University out as a critical destination for anyone wanting to study British classical or “art” music of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in particular. The key collections include the British Music Collection, The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF) archive and The Goldberg Ensemble archive.

However, the collections also clearly depict the notable local music heritage of this apparently unassuming northern town with the Slaithwaite Brass Band Collection and smaller collections such as that of composer Haydn Wood.   Alongside the HCMF, these collectively portray different aspects of the music that has been created and/or performed (often for the first time) in Huddersfield and the surrounding valleys.

British Music Collection

The British Music Collection (BMC) is a wonderful and unique resource for contemporary British music. Its remit is to provide a place of deposit for scores and recordings by UK-based composers.  This resource was originally based in Somerset House, as the British Music Information Centre, and available for public consultation until it was moved out into storage in 2008.  The vast majority of the collection is self-published work and therefore differs from the material held in the British Library which collects published work.  It comprises a large collection of around 39,580 scores dating back to 1855 and 21,436 recordings.  There are recordings from the 1920s onwards; the earliest probably dates from 1925.  However, the vast majority of recordings cover the 1980s to the 2000s.  The BMC has a very wide remit.  ‘It’s the only type of archive that brings together a cross-section of contemporary music including film, choral, brass and modern.’ Since the 1980s the British Music Information Centre amassed a large amount of electroacoustic work but classical form music is also included. The collection is not fully representative of UK contemporary music scores and recordings. But it is coherent and has always had a strong collecting policy to avoid obvious gaps.  Nevertheless the collection has its own idiosyncrasies, as it was open to deposit from any professional composer from the 1940s onwards.  A significant proportion of the content is unique work that cannot be found anywhere else. For example, whenever the Arts Council commissioned work it deposited a recording of the first performance with the British Music Information Centre. There are also many composer files providing contextual information that would not be available in a standard music lending library.

Search the catalogue of the British Music  Collection.

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

The archive of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF) documents this annual festival (started in 1978 by Professor Richard Steinitz of the then Huddersfield Polytechnic).  The Festival remains a vibrant and key international event for the contemporary music community and attracts visitors from all over the world. Many compositions have been premiered at the Contemporary Music Festival and its extensive repertoire covers cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic performances, along with film, dance and music theatre. Guest composers who have taken part in the festival include Karl Heinz Stockhausen, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, John Cage, Will May, Steve Reich, Daniel Giorgetti, Jonathan Harvey, and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. The Festival takes place in a number of venues including the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield Town Hall, St Paul’s Hall, St Thomas’s Church and the Creative Arts Building of the University of Huddersfield. Some performances are broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

This major collection is a coherent record of both the live performances and the organisation of the Festival.  It includes a large selection of recordings of performances including many premieres of compositions. There are also written records including correspondence with world famous composers and financial records. Printed records include a complete run of programmes, reviews and publicity material such as posters as well as a few artefacts such as T-shirts.

The Goldberg Ensemble

The Ensemble is a British freelance string ensemble dedicated to promoting string ensemble music. From its creation in 2000 to 2008 the Ensemble commissioned 39 pieces and toured the UK with this music as well as hosting accompanying children’s and student composers’ workshops. The compositions included works by the University of Huddersfield Professor Michael Clarke and a former student of the University, Joe Cutler, who went on to become Head of Composition at Birmingham Conservatoire and a featured composer at the 2005 and 2010 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festivals.  The collection held by the University comprises 19 original scores of pieces commissioned by the Goldberg Ensemble from the British composers with notations by Malcolm Layfield (Artistic Director for the Goldberg and Head of the School of Strings for the Royal Northern College of Music) for the world premiere performances.  There are also details of the 8 ‘celebration’ tours plus correspondence and 2 CDs recorded by the Ensemble.  It is a collection that strongly complements the HCMF and BMC collections, continuing the theme of original composition of contemporary music.

Slaithwaite Band

Slaithwaite Band is a thriving exemplar of the brass bands that sprang up across the industrialised north of England in the C19th and early C20th, taking their members from the mills and mines and often centred on a specific industrial concern.  Slaithwaite was formed in 1892 and 120 years on is still one of the finest brass bands in the UK.  The core of this coherent collection is its scores, including hand-written arrangements of orchestral music for brass, often used for the hotly contested competitions that have always been such an important part of the ‘banding’ world.  There are even hand-written arrangements by composer Haydn Wood (whose papers are also in the University Archive). But it also holds other material such as uniforms, tickets and music stands with cigarette stands!  Many bands folded in the 1980s and few found a home for their collections.  The Slaithwaite Band Collection provides a potted history of banding.  It is a rare survival of a musical heritage, much of which was lost with the de-industrialisation of the UK.

Other music collections

Smaller collections that support the music theme include:

  • The papers of Haydn Wood who was a prolific C20th composer of orchestral music and violinist. Well-known compositions include the three-movement Fantasy-Concerto and the song Roses of Picardy (1916).  He was born in Slaithwaite in Yorkshire in 1882.
  • The Incorporated Society of Musicians, Huddersfield Branch
  • Papers of Keith Jarvis, organist of the University of Huddersfield in the 1990s
  • The Huddersfield Amateur Operatic Society

 

To find out more about any of our collections, please contact us.