Part 3
A Famous Neighbour
There is a large house next door to Enmoor Lodge on Chapeltown Road, it is now part of the dance school buildings. It used to be called Brandsby Lodge and was once the home of Sir Charles Wilson, one of the most famous figures in the poltical history of Leeds.
Brandsby Lodge, the home of Sir Charles Wilson M.P. from 1902 to 1927. The building is now incorporated into the dance school.
The house was built some time before 1847, as it is shown on the plan of New Leeds (see Part 1). It was formerly called Terrace House and was previously the home of a J.G.Heaps, he was a lead, copper, and zinc merchant and manufacturer.. Wilson renamed the house Brandsby Lodge after his birth place in East Yorkshire.
Wilson was the Conservative M.P. for Leeds Central from 1923 to1929. He was knighted in 1923 and died in 1930. He led Leeds city council from 1907 to1928, maintaining Tory control despite the rising power of the Labour party and the Tories’ lack of a majority of council seats. Wilson was a tough and outspoken politician, and a skilful wheeler-dealer.
He is probably most remembered for his obsession with extending the municipal boundaries of Leeds. He openly stated that his long-term aim was for Leeds to control everything from the Pennines to the sea! In 1911 he incorporated Shadwell, Roundhay, Crossgates and Seacroft; in 1919 Middleton was added. Wilson’s passion for aggrandisement was exemplified by his remark at a boundary extension enquiry in 1921, when he said in reply to a question about how Leeds could promote such efficiency and ruthlessness: ‘I am Leeds!’
Sir Charles Wilson M.P. who modestly proclaimed: "I am Leeds!"
All in all he seems to have been quite a character. He had an accountancy business and was a leading Freemason. He was a firm teetotaller. An enormous man, he once weighed twenty stones.
His house on Chapeltown Road would have been very convenient for him, he would only have a short journey home after late-night council meetings. But in 1927 he removed to Osgoodby Hall, near Selby, a decision he was to regret. Brandsby Lodge was sold with its land for the building of the new synagogue.