The Merchant Adventurers' Hall in the First World War

Throughout history, both the Merchant Adventurers’ Guild and their Hall played a prominent role in benefitting the wider York community, in addition to their normal role as a meeting space and almshouse. This was particularly the case in times of crisis, for example during the First World War (1914-1918), when the Company helped to represent the commercial interests of the city of York on the Committee for the Naval & Military War Pensions Act. 

Additionally to this, from September 1914 to April 1915, a group of 48 soldiers from the King’s Own West Yorkshire Regiment were billeted in the Hall. The wider regiment had two regular battalions and one reserve battalion, as well as territorial and service units, and sourced men from York, Leeds and Bradford.

More specifically, however, the men billeted at the Hall were likely from the Leeds Rifles, because, as author Andrew Kirk has described, this battalion completed extensive training in the York area prior to their deployment on France’s Western Front.

Furthermore, over the Christmas period of 1914, the soldiers were housed in a wide variety of locations across the city, such as the Rowntree's confectionary factory.

Despite the Secretary of State’s claim, Proctor’s reply definitively states that soldiers were present in the Hall from 19th to 25th September, being 'overflow from the Adult School in Lady Peckitt’s Yard'. This dispute introduces a new history of the Company of Merchant Adventurers - their interactions with the British government and the nature of billeting during the First World War. 

Furthermore, the fact that the Company accepted these soldiers despite their agreement to house soldiers from 24th October highlights the sense of community and willingness of the Merchant Adventurers to take these soldiers in, despite the lack of agreement or warning from the Secretary of State concerning the soldiers’ arrivals. The willingness of the Hall to host the soldiers for the war effort can be seen through the addition of a kitchen, evidence of which was found in an insurance document listing the contents of the Hall and dated to the wartime period, now located in the Borthwick Institute for Archives.

Aside from the dispute over rent, another interesting event occurred during the billeting, when the soldiers caused some damage to the Hall during their stay. It is known that they played football inside the Hall, and other damage was caused to a long table and a mantelpiece amongst other things. A letter from the Hall to the Secretary of State for the War Department in the Borthwick Institute for Archives details the Hall’s claims of 'dilapidations' created by the soldiers billeted there.

Of course, these soldiers were mostly family men away from home, so Christmas celebrations were important to keep morale high. Sure enough, archival evidence shows that the men celebrated Christmas together while billeted in the Hall, with one surviving photo showing the regimental band enjoying a meal in the Great Hall on Christmas Day 1914.