Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    Z1063
  • Title
    Papers of Henry Darlow (1885 - 1967) Town Clerk of Bedford
  • Production date
    From: 1843 To: 1961
  • Admin/biog history
    Henry Darlow was born on 15th October 1885, the youngest son of Stephen Darlow, and Estate Agent, and Elizabeth Darlow nee Grandage of Bingley, Yorkshire. He had a brother, Francis, born 1872, and a sister, Millicent, born 1876. He attended Downing College, Cambridge and graduated in 1907 as a Bachelor of Arts and Law. On 15 July 1907 he took up articles as Clerk to Frederick Stevens at the Town Hall, Bradford, and became Assistant Solicitor. In 1910 he was appointed Solicitor to the Norwich Corporation. The same year he passed the Law Society Exam on the 1st July and was admitted to the Supreme Court on the 2nd August. He married Ida Elizabeth Dawson on 14th August 1915. She was the daughter of Mark Dawson, a Yarn Merchant of Woodlands Horsforth, Yorkshire. Ida then joined Henry at his home, Woodlands Farm, Dereham Road, Norwich.Their first son, Henry Mark Darlow (known as Mark) was born there on the 17th October 1916, and was baptised at St Margaret's Church, Horsforth Yorkshire. The following year, in May 1917, Henry was appointed Deputy Town Clerk of Norwich. His second son, George Stephen Darlow (known as Stephen) was born on 9th September at Woodlands Farm and was baptised at Cromer, Norfolk. Henry was admitted as a member to the Law Society on 22nd June 1920. The same year in October he secured the post of Town Clerk of Bedford. He began his duties there on New Years Day 1921. His third son, John Michael Darlow, was born on 13th June 1922 at Corr House, 1 Burnaby Raod, Bedford, where the family were then living. Henry was widowed in April 1927. His wife Ida Elizabeth died at a nursing home in Leeds, and was buried at Horsforth, Yorkshire. Henry remarried on 21 June 1928. His new wife was Margaret Ethel Dodd, formerly of 1 Bank Parade, Preston, Lancashire, the daughter of Henry Dodd, a Solicitor. They married at St Peters Church, Bedford. Their daughter Elizabeth Rosemary Darlow was born 14th April 1929, and baptised in Preston 14th July 1929. From 1936-1937 Henry was Vice-Chairman of the Law Committee of the Association of Municipal Corporations, and continued to be a witness for the AMC on various Royal Commissions. It was before the war that Henry Darlow began his 'war job'. Early in 1939 he organised the implementation of the Ministry's scheme for food rationing and National Registration. The work included the requisitioning of premises and the taking of a local population census in 1939. Throughout the war he supervised all arrangements for the issuing of ration books, a task that was greatly complicated by the fluctuating wartime population. He was responsible for the registration of all retailers and catering establishments and their issue with retail licences and permits to buy food. He personally dealt with the hundreds of Ministry circulars that were issued on food allocation and distribution. All preparations for the reception of the thousands of refugees who came to Bedford as well as the initial fire-fighting and ARP arrangements were also undertaken by Mr Darlow, who was appointed Borough Sub-Controller for the ARP in May 1939. Regarding these duties as his war work he refused to accept the stated honorarium which was attached to the Food Executive Officers post. Upon his retirement from this post in 1946 Henry Darlow stated that his success in the role would have been quite impossible without the ability and ready co-operation of the whole staff. They did get complaints, he admitted, but these had been very few and far between. In 1940 Henry Darlow was appointed by the then Minister of Health Mr Malcolm MacDonald to be a member of the Departmental Committee on conditions in reception areas, and he also served on advisory committees of the Ministries of Health and Agriculture. In 1942 his son George Stephen Darlow was captured in Italy and was a prisoner of war there until his escape in 1943. Henry's youngest son John Michael Darlow, formerly a Classics scholar at Downing College Cambridge, and a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Airforce Volunteer Reserve was tragically killed in a flying accident when travelling home from leave in India on 17th August 1945. He was just 23. In 1946 when Henry Darlow had completed 25 years service to the Corporation of Bedford the Town Council unanimously passed a resolution placing on record their appreciation of his valuable work. The resolution was moved by the then Mayor Alderman J Canvin, who paid tribute to Mr Darlow's courtesy and his wide knowledge of local government. Alderman W E Sowter, who had been Mayor in 1920 when Henry Darlow was appointed, seconded the resolution. Having shouldered the responsibility for the distribution of Bedford's food supplies for six and a half years, Henry resigned from his post as Food Executive Officer for the Borough in March 1946. In April 1946 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner for the Local Government Boundary Commission. The same year his son Henry Mark Darlow , who had served as a Surgeon Lieutenant in the Royal Navy married Miss Daphne Ellis, who was a nurse in the Queen Alexandra Royal Naval Nursing Service. In recognition of his service to local government, Henry was awarded the OBE in the 1948 New Year Honours list. He retired on the 15th October 1949 on his 65th birthday. Three days previously he had been awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Bedford by the Mayor Alderman A L Nicholls M.C. JP.
  • Scope and Content
    The collection consists of property deeds , wills and family correspondence, photographs and documents relating to Henry Darlow's career.
  • Archival history
    The papers were purchased by the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives Service on 1st July 2000 at an auction held at St Bede's School, Bromham Road, Bedford.
  • Level of description
    fonds
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