William Henry Smith School

On September 5, 1916, Alderman William Smith, Brighouse's first mayor and greatest philanthropist, established the Smith Foundation Trust. He purchased the Boothroyd Estate so that the Trust could build a girls' orphanage there. On his death in 1922 he left the bulk of the estate to the Trust - money that would have gone to his cousin's adopted son William Henry Smith, who unhappily was killed in the 1914-18 war. The orphanage began accepting boys in August 1920 after initially serving only girls, and its name was changed to Smith's Homes. There were still The Homes after over 40 years. They took in girls from the Hull Sailor's Orphan Home during the 1939–1945 war. The Trustees were compelled to reevaluate the Trust's post-war purpose. The trustees were given permission to fund Special Schools and create Special Schools in 1951 under a new Trust plan. The schools in Chaigeley and Breckenborough received grants. In 1952 Holly Bank School was opened by the Trust who continued to be responsible for it until 1998 when a separate Holly Bank Trust was set up. The last of the children from the Homes left in 1959 and in September 1961 a residential Special School for boys, named after William Henry Smith, was opened on the site by the Trust. The clock tower used as the school's logo was the first part of the alterations to be completed after the Boothroyd building had been handed back to the Trustees in 1919 after being used as a War Hospital. The tower's foundation stone was placed on Good Friday, 18 April 1919, and it was finished eight months later on December 9, 1919. Three 5 foot diameter dials are located on the clock tower, which is around 50 feet high.