A special gift to a Furness education leader and wartime mayor is being sold at auction on Wednesday, July 19.

Only £30 to £50 is expected for the unique item given by pupils of the Barrow Municipal Secondary School to the chairman of its governing board.

The silver visiting card holder was hallmarked at Chester in 1917 and presented to Alderman Alfred Barrow.

It is among items (LOT 262) in the sale by Bleasdales of Warwick.

The old Munipical School at Duke Street, Barrow, was later named in the alderman's honour.

The Saturday, July 15, sale by Biddle and Webb at Birmingham includes a clock with a South Cumbrian pedigree.

Around £80 to £100 should buy a mahogany mantel clock with an inlaid design which was retailed by Mr C. E. Court. (LOT 208).

The firm had showrooms in Ulverston, Kendal and Grange.

Today's sale, July 14, by Lawrences of Crewkerne expects £200 to £300 for a portrait of a buisnessman with South Cumbrian links.

On offer (LOT 1718) is an oil painting on canvas of the London merchant Edwin Sandys, dating to around 1770.

He was the son of Myles Sandys, of Graythwaite and married Catherine Athawes.

Secondary education on the Duke Street site in Barrow saw many name changes and political twists and turns over the years.

The first ‘higher grade school’ – the Oxford Chambers – was part of what is now the Travellers Rest on Abbey Road but moved to Duke Street in 1889.

You can still see Higher Grade School in the brickwork on what locals quickly termed Higher Grade Hill at Duke Street.

It later became the Municipal School for Boys, with a girls’ department being added in 1921.

With the opening at the Parkview site in the early 1930s of the Barrow Grammar School for Boys, followed by the girls’ version, a new name emerged at Duke Street.

The Alfred Barrow School – often called the Alfs – was named in honour of Sir Alfred Barrow OBE.

He was five times Mayor of Barrow between 1913 and 1919.

The Alfred Barrow Boys’ School and the Alfred Barrow Girls’ School, existed side by side.

In the 1960s the original buildings were re-equipped and during the 1970s the boys were at Holker Street until a co-educational comprehensive school was created.

Holker Street continued in use for some time as the Alfred Barrow Lower School before being demolished to make way for the KwikSave store.

In more recent years major building work has resulted in a new humanities block to replace the old outside classrooms, the canteen has been moved into the main school building, new IT suites have been created and the science block gained two new labs.

An attempt to close the school was beaten off in 1988 but the school later closed with the birth of the Furness Academy and the site is now wanted as a medical centre.

Sir Alfred Barrow was knighted in the 1922 New Year Honours.

The North-Western Daily Mail on January 2 paid tribute to Sir Alfred and outlined why he had received the honour from King George V.

It noted: “Hail, Sir Alfred Barrow! The bestowal of knighthood upon Alderman Barrow will give entire satisfaction to the townspeople of Barrow, amongst whom he has lived and laboured so long, and whose admiration and respect he has always enjoyed.

“His many friends in the district, and particularly in Ulverston, his birthplace, will also join heartily in congratulating him upon the signal honour that has fallen to his lot.”

In 1921 he had become a deputy-lieutenant for the county of Lancashire and most of his service as mayor was during the turbulent years of the First World War, when the town was packed with munitions workers from all over the North West, swelling the workforce at Vickers to above 30,000.

The mayor was twice called upon to play host to King George V on visits to Barrow during the war.

He career as a councillor had started in 1892 and by 1899 was chairman of what later became known as the borough education committee.

He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1917.

Sir Alfred Barrow was a lawyer, qualifying in 1874 and still taking on some cases in 1922.

At that time he was president of Barrow Conservative Club and chairman of the Barrow St George’s Society and Barrow Amateur Operatic Society.