The friends of Ilkley Cemetery not only do regular gardening work to remove brambles and saplings from overgrown graves, uncovering hidden graves, leaf clearing and litter picking. They also research the names of people buried here, A selection of some of those who have contributed in different ways to Ilkley and its community are shown here.
William Wycliffe Spooner
Daphne Steele
Thomas Harold Broadbent Maufe (Area A) - 6 May 1898 – 28 March 1942
Thomas Maufe was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 4 June 1917 in France whilst serving as a Second Lieutenant in the 124th Siege Battery. Sadly, he was killed in an accident in 1942 whilst serving in the Home Guard in Ilkley when a trench mortar misfired during training.
John Shuttleworth (Area C) – 1 December 1832 – 30 October 1909
John Shuttleworth and family established a gift selling business on Brook Street, Ilkley in 1851 selling fancy goods, guides and postcards of the local area. A collection of thirty volumes of John Shuttleworth’s photographs of Ilkley dating back to the late 1800s are kept at Ilkley Library. In 1861 John Shuttleworth became the founder and proprietor of the Ilkley Gazette newspaper which continues to be published weekly to this day.
William Wycliffe Spooner (Area C) – 29 March 1882 – 17 September 1967
William Spooner founded the Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company in 1932 and sought to revolutionise the techniques of industrial drying equipment by increasing its speed and efficiency and later expanding the application and techniques to other sectors including the textile, paper and food industries. As his business grew, he bought the old Brewery Company on Brewery Road in Ilkley in 1951 as the new site for his parent company and the adjoining old corn mill which was converted into a drawing office block. In 1959, the group became a public company under the name "Spooner Industries Ltd". Spooner retired as chairman in 1962, but remained as life president, actively involved until his death in 1967.
Daphne Adrianna Steele (Area D) - 16 October 1929 – 23 July 2004
Daphne Steele emigrated from Guyana to the UK in 1951 and trained as a nurse. In 1964 she was appointed as the head matron of St Winifred’s maternity home on Wells Road, Ilkley – becoming the first matron of African heritage in the National Health Service. When St Winifred’s closed in 1971, Daphne went on to train as a health visitor at Leeds University and continued to work in Ilkley and surrounding area until her retirement. A Blue Plaque was unveiled in honour of Daphne Steele at the former maternity home in February 2024. (read more about Daphne Steele here)
Memorial Avenue (Area E) - Some of the gravestones that were removed from the graveyard at All Saints Church in the centre of Ilkley back in 1968 were eventually laid out in a Memorial Avenue in 2011 in Area E of Ilkley Cemetery next to the Ashlands Road entrance. An information board close to the Memorial Avenue provides more information and details of the headstones and crosses included.
The Middelton Family (Area F) – the Middelton’s, who for centuries had been the Lords of the Manor of Ilkley, fell on hard times and in 1867 the first of a series of land sales took place and continued into the 1870s and 1880s. By 1898 Charles Marmaduke Middelton was forced to sell Myddelton Lodge and moved out of Ilkley soon afterwards. He died in 1904 and his body was returned to be interred in Ilkley Cemetery. An application was made to the Home Office for the bodies of his predecessors, who had been buried adjacent to the chapel at Myddelton Lodge, to be exhumed and reinterred at Ilkley Cemetery. In February 1906 the bodies, including those of Anna Middelton (died 1837), William Middelton (died 1847) and William Middelton (died 1885), were moved to Ilkley Cemetery. The gravestone for Helen Middelton, the wife of Charles Marmaduke Middelton, who died in 1888 can also be found in Ilkley Cemetery. She was originally buried in the graveyard of All Saints Church as she was not a Catholic. Her gravestone was removed from there in 1968 and can now be found in the Memorial Avenue (Area E).
Commonwealth War Graves (CWGC) - There are currently 46 CWGC graves in Ilkley Cemetery and further details can be found on the Commission’s website www.cwgc.org CWGC staff visit the Cemetery periodically to clean, maintain and repair these graves.
Locating Family Graves – The Cemeteries and Crematorium Registers for all the Bradford District, including Ilkley Cemetery, are held at Shay Grange Crematorium and can be viewed by appointment. An online version can be viewed at the Bradford Local Studies Library. Please note this is not currently available at the Keighley Local Studies Library.
The Society's Planning Committee meets monthly to review planning applications received by Bradford. The Society's charitable objects include 'to promote high standards of planning and architecture'.
In June 2026 there were nine applications and the Society felt that it had to object to six of these, all of which were at least partly because the submitted information was not sufficiently clear.
Lack of clarity of information can lead to poor standards, inaccurate building regulations and provides wriggle room for variation in the proposals after permission has been granted and the Civic Society will continue to press for more complete applications with clearer information.
Ilkley Town's Mayor unveiled a new information board at Canker Well Gardens to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of of the Ilkley Civic Society. The sun shone and rain stayed away as the Society's chair, Alex Cockshott, spoke about the work that the Society had over this time, protecting the town's heritage, supporting research into the town's history, and sponsoring walks and visits to important locations in and around the town.
The Society reviews (and comments on where necessary) all planning applications received by Bradford Council and submits views on planning policy including Conservation Area proposals. It supports the work of the Friends of Ilkley Cemetery and oversees the Local History Hub, a resourse and research group for the collection, storage and sharing of information on Ilkley.
The Society welcomes new members, supporters and volunteers to enable it to continue its important work.
After the unveiling and short talks, Society members were welcomed for afternoon tea at Outside the Box.
On Saturday 30th May a Blue Plaque was unveiled at Wells House, sponsored by the management committee of Wells House and Ilkley Civic Society. The Ilkley Civic Society’s Blue Plaque Scheme, celebrates the history of Ilkley and of buildings that have shaped the town.
It is 170 years since the opening of Wells House, on 28th May 1856. A group of Bradford businessmen chaired by Benjamin Briggs Popplewell formed the Wells House Hydropathic Establishment and Hotel Company to build the hydro. In 1853 they agreed to buy 9 acres of land on Wells Road, opposite the old Ilkley Wells (White Wells) for £4,000 from the lord of the manor, Peter Middelton. They advertised for designs and chose the Italianate palazzo style by Cuthbert Brodrick, who had recently started work on Leeds Town Hall. The contractors were Pickard and Ogden of Bradford.
By the time the building and furnishings were completed, it was said to have cost in all £30,000. It featured a central open courtyard and an internal corridor, which could be used for exercise in inclement weather. The main large entrance faced south. The spacious dining room with an adjoining drawing room was able to accommodate about 150 guests at the opening meal. Upstairs there were 87 bedrooms with six large bathrooms for treatments. At the four corners there were towers, with the billiard room and the smoking room located at the top of two of them.
Henry Strachan was the well-respected manager, and the first doctor was Dr Rischanek of Vienna. Both had worked at the Ben Rhydding Hydro. The second doctor was Dr Edmund Smith, who treated Charles Darwin in 1859. When Dr Smith died in 1864 his grateful patients installed a stained-glass window of St Luke in All Saints Parish Church.
The next Civic Society walk is on Saturday June 20 at 2pm from the Canker Well. For more information contact
We will celebrate our 60th Anniversary at the Canker Well garden. We are re-planting the bath from Ben Rhydding Hydro and making a heritage notice board for the small park. The celebration will be on Thursday 18 June at 2pm, followed by refreshments in The Arcade at Outside the Box. We look forward to seeing you there.