Spondon Liberal Club/About

About the Club and it's History

The site on which the Spondon Liberal Club now stands originally belonged to The Guardians of the Poor of the Shardlow Union, a grand title, more commonly known as 'The Workhouse'.

On 14 January 1884 it was announced that a resolution had been passed at a meeting of "Rate payers of the Township of Spondon and owners of the property" to order the Guardians of the Poor to sell their interest in the property under the provisions of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. This was to be by public auction.

One lot was on the corner of Moor End and Ilkeston Road (now Moor Street), the other two were situated at Butts Yard. One was just a piece of vacant land, while the other had on it four cottages and gardens and in these lived Joseph Lambert and the widows Elizabeth Cotton, Mary White and Jane Jerram. The vacant land cost Henry Boam £45 and for the four cottages he paid £152.

Henry Boam was a typical Liberal of his time. His beginnings were humble, his father and grandfather were both bricklayers and Henry was one of the navvies digging the new railway line between Draycott and Derby. Through his hard work, force of character and the self improvement ethic that was Liberalism of the day, he rose to platelayer, then studied telegraphy which was in its infancy. He became a coal merchant of some influence.

During 1892, Henry Boam had the Liberal Club built at Spondon on the unoccupied piece of land in Butts Yard and on 24th December he leased it to William Maddocks a builder, Peter Coxon an innkeeper, Thomas Elson Junior a boot maker and farmer, Williams Stevens the Cemetery Superintendent, Abraham Allen a machine hand, John Reader a builder, John J Pritchard a fitter and turner, John Lagar a plate layer and John Maddox also a builder. These nine men were of Spondon and formed the first trustees . Many names of these and later Trustees are still familiar as local families still in Spondon and indeed some antecedents can still be found as members and past members of the Liberal Club.

The agreement for the lease was that it would be held for seven years from 25 December 1892 for the yearly rent of £9 to be paid in four equal quarterly payments.

On 9 June 1899 Henry Boam agreed to sell the Club to the Trustees for £130 and £10 deposit was paid. On 28th September 1900 the Trustees took out a mortgage for £60 "plus interest".

In 1913 a new set of Trustees were appointed. It is interesting to note how the Trustees always came from all walks of life and were described as official documents by trade, it was the mid twentieth century before this information was replaced by their addresses.

Henry Boam died on 29th July 1907 and on 20th December 1920 a mortgage was taken out for £300 from Cornelius Boam. It is not clear what this mortgage was used for but it was paid off slightly less than six years later on 9th November 1926.

The Club remained the same structurally for many years after this. In 1962 the now derelict cottages were demolished to make way for a car park fronting on to Moor Street. In 1976 major alterations were made to the building when the extension was built.

The Club has always been known as "Spondon Liberal Club" despite the fact that it has had no affiliation to any political party since the 1930s, to underline this fact, two past Labour Mayors of Derby have both been members of the Club. Mr Newton, the first Labour Mayor of the new City, said the Liberal Club has always been known for friendliness and concern for others. There were those who were members for most of their lives, for example George Henry Belfield became a member at the age of 19 and remained until his death at more than 80 years old.

There is a booklet available from the club which sets out all the history if you are interested.

SpondonClub.com