The exhibition will focus on the Edwardian period in the early years of the 20^th century, considered by many to be the heyday of the Harrogate spa. Visitor numbers reached record levels in these years and some of its grandest buildings, like the Majestic and Grand Hotels, the Opera House and Kursaal were opened. But Harrogate was much more than a spa, it was also an important local and regional retail centre, and a base for a number of institutions: those for health but also many private schools. Importantly too it had become a residential centre for those with private means, the retired and commuters to the nearby industrial cities of Bradford and Leeds and their families.

The town’s workforce reflected this economy. Numerically the most important sector for women was domestic work, hotel and institutional service, but they also worked in laundries, retailing and in dressmaking and millinery. For men, the building trades and the railways provided the biggest source of employment, but many worked in hotels, as gardeners, both private and municipal, as coach- and cab-men and, increasingly in these years, as chauffeurs. The treatments provided at the spa provided work for both men and women and a small number found work as entertainers and musicians.