"Antiquarians supposed the name, Dewsbury, to be derived from the original planter of the village, Dui or Dew, who … had fixed his abode and fortified his "Bury".

Another conjecture holds, that the original name is Dewsborough, or God's Town" (1837)[4] In Anglo-Saxon times, Dewsbury was a centre of considerable importance.

The tower houses "Black Tom", a bell which is rung each Christmas Eve, one toll for each year since Christ's birth, known as the "Devil's Knell", a tradition dating from the 15th century.

The bell was given by Sir Thomas de Soothill, in penance for murdering a servant boy in a fit of rage.

[6] In the Domesday Book of 1086, Dewsbury was in Morley wapentake, but with a recorded population of only nine households it was a relatively small settlement at that time.

[9] Throughout the Middle Ages, Dewsbury retained a measure of importance in ecclesiastical terms, collecting tithes from as far away as Halifax in the mid-14th century.

[10] In 1770, a short branch of the Calder and Hebble Navigation was completed, linking Dewsbury to the canal system giving access to Manchester and Hull.

The town benefited economically from the canal, its location at the heart of the Heavy Woollen District, and its proximity to coal mines.

In the early 19th century, Dewsbury was a centre of Luddite opposition to mechanisation in which workers retaliated against the mill owners who installed textile machinery and smashed the machines which threatened their way of life.

In August 1838, after a speech by Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor, a mob of between five and seven thousand people besieged the Dewsbury Poor Law Guardians in the town's Royal Hotel.

Trouble flared in 1840 when radical agitators seized control of the town, and troops were stationed to maintain order.

This radical tradition left a legacy in the town's political life: its first elected Member of Parliament (MP) in 1867 was John Simon, a Jewish lawyer from Jamaica and a Liberal.

[12] The mills were family businesses and continued manufacturing after the wool crisis in 1950–51, which saw Australian sheep farmers begin to charge higher prices.

The recovery of the late 1960s was reversed by the 1973 oil crisis, and the textile industry in Dewsbury declined, with only bed manufacturing remaining a large scale employer.

[15] Mohammad Sidique Khan, ringleader of the group responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, lived in Lees Holm, Dewsbury.

After a 24-day hunt which attracted huge media and public attention nationally, she was found hidden in a flat in the Batley Carr area on 14 March 2008.

Her mother Karen Matthews, along with Michael Donovan, the uncle of her stepfather Craig Meehan, were later found guilty of abduction and false imprisonment, as part of a plot to claim the reward money for her safe return by pretending to have solved her disappearance; both were jailed for eight years.

[16] In July 2014, Kirklees Council enforced a media ban covering the visit of Princess Anne, who was due to deliver a speech on the importance of restorative justice.

"Soothill Nether" refers to the current east end of the town, although at that time Chickenley and Chidswell were hamlets, and Earlsheaton contained the bulk of the area's population.

The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury and Batley is Iqbal Mohamed, who has represented the constituency since the 2024 general election.

Mohamed was one of four independent candidates who won seats in heavily Muslim areas largely due to Labour's stance on the war in Gaza.

Its proximity to these major urban centres, the M1 and M62 motorways and its position on the Huddersfield Line, served by the TransPennine Express, have contributed to its growth.

The approach from Earlsheaton through the Wakefield Road cutting, constructed in 1830 [citation needed], is dramatic with the view of the town centre in the Calder Valley opening up.

[25] The local market once consisted of 400 stalls and was one of the busiest [citation needed] in Yorkshire and in years gone by drew large numbers of visitors to the town.

[26] As of the 2021 census, Dewsbury's religious makeup was 46.4% Muslim, 28.9% Christian, 23.7% No Religion, and has small Hindu and Sikh communities.

Dewsbury Celtic play in National League 3; their ground is on the west side of the town, in Crow Nest Park.

Dewsbury Museum was located within the mansion house in Crow Nest Park, before it closed to the public in November 2016.

The 1960 book A Kind of Loving is set in a fictional city named "Cressley", but its description was based upon Dewsbury.