Prince Louis won’t be gettinghand-me-downs T

PUB historian Dave Green reveals the Zetland Hotel started life as the Druids Arms in Westgate in the 1830s.

Notice was given that the railway needed the land and the pub was demolished.

“Not in an ordinary demolition procedure, but brick by brick, and re-erected in Castlegate, the site that it holds to this day, where it is presently the new students’ Hub Bar,” Dave says.

It was reconstructed in the mid 1840s, about the time the Riding School next door was built for both theatrical productions and as the headquarters of the Yeomanry Cavalry. HE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge added Prince Louis to their family, to join Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and commentators immediately speculated on how being the youngest of three might affect his personality.

To be honest, I can’t see it having any affect on a baby born into possibly the most prominent family in the world. Cloistered upbringing, springs to mind.

Bit different, if you are born Louis Higginbottom into a working class family and are the youngest of seven. Hand-me-down clothes, spring to mind.

Even so, how the order of your birth might affect personality is interesting. Particularly as I’m an only child.

For a start, I’m known as a singleton in technical terms, which is not very nice, and there is even a Single Child Syndrome. By heck, I have a syndrome.

But can siblings, and your place within their ranks, cause you to grow up in a certain way?

I checked online and found all conclusions to be prefaced by “could” rather than claiming to be factual.

Apparently, parents strive more with their first child, because they are learning the ropes. So a first born can be classified as a parental experiment.

This “could” result in causing the offspring to strive more, become a perfectionist, reliable, controlling and an achiever.

The middle child gets less attention

“The grand re-opening was completed in fine style by the Duke and Duchess of Zetland who, by coincidence, were relatives of Sir John William Ramsden, then lord of the manor and principle owner of the Township of Huddersfield. It was renamed the Zetland Hotel in their honour and the adjoining street was named Zetland to complete the occasion.”

The Riding School next door became the Armoury of the 6th West Yorkshire Rifle Volunteers in 1862, and in 1905 was opened as a music hall by Vesta Tilley. Later it became a cinema and was more recently a nightclub. The two buildings have provided and rules are relaxed. So the experts say. They can become peacemaker, people pleaser, attention seeker, rebellious and have a large social circle.

By the time the third child arrives, the parents are laid back about a new baby, who may grow up funloving, uncomplicated, manipulative, attention seeking and self-centred.

Maybe you just take your pick of the options.

My wife was the first of three and, entertainment and refreshment for local folk for more than 150 years.

The Zetland Arms in Queen Street South had, in comparison, a more modest history and, while the building is dated 1852, Dave suggests it was opened in 1874 by mill owners John Taylor and Son.

“It was not uncommon for Victorian firms to own the mill and to encourage its workers to spend their wages at the end of a shift and at weekends.”

By the turn of that century it was owned by Bentley’s Yorkshire Breweries who were taken over by Whitbread, put up for sale and became the Amsterdam Bar. as parental experiments go, turned out by far to be the most reliable and responsible.

I, on the other hand, was quite content to be an only child, and in this category alone, there appears to be research with real results.

Scientists last year produced neurological evidence to show that being an only one can affect brain development which gives greater flexibility in thinking.

They also suggested we have a high sense of self esteem, academic achievement and independence; value our privacy and are quite happy in our own company. Well, I know I am. Oh yes, and we are less agreeable than those with brothers and sisters. But then, being unsociable, we probably don’t care.