Explore 150 years of Hanson School through powerful stories of pupils, teachers and pioneers who helped shape Bradford and beyond. Discover wartime histories, suffragette teachers and groundbreaking educational reform through talks, displays and hands-on activities, with opportunities to contribute your own memories and stories to the growing museum archive.

Craft workshops will run throughout the day: 10:00-15:00

Local historian John Jackson 11.00 am

John will talk about the historical significance of Hanson School:
A brief history of first local authority secondary school in the country, est. 1876.
James Hanson, 1815-1895: The man and his mission.
The Bradford School Board, 1870-1903: The country’s foremost educational authority, and pioneer in working-class education provision.

Historian and archivist Dr Jennie Kiff 12.00 noon

Jennie’s presentation will focus on Hanson’s Suffragette Teachers – Radical women at the chalkface.
Looking at the role of local teachers in the campaign for women’s equality
This study was a small but significant part of Jennie’s PhD dissertation and uncovers fascinating stories about some of our past teachers.

Historian and genealogist Sharon Knott 1.00 pm

Sharon will outline the research journey that uncovered the identities and stories of 66 former Hanson pupils who were casualties of the Second World War. Using genealogy resourcses, newspapers, military archives and surviving family testimony, the talk shares how these young men were traced and remembered, with personal stories that reveal the human cost behind the statistics. The project culminated in the published book The Long Shadow of War – Hanson Boys Remembered, which brings their names and histories together for the first time.