Saltaire Collection

Items

• Clarke, Roger

  Roger Clarke is a historian and author who has researched a great deal on Saltaire.
• Coates, Colin

  Colin Coates is a prolific historian of Saltaire. He has produced hundreds of timelines of people, locations and events related to Saltaire, with information taken from such sources as historical newspapers and census records. Colin has donated this set of documents to the Saltaire Collection.
• Collins, John

  General manager in the estates division of Illingworth Morris. John worked at Salts Mill for 11 years.
• Crossley, Edward

  Edward Crossley was a son of Joseph Crossley, a major textile industrialist in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Edward was also an industrialist, an MP and mayor of Halifax, and a keen amateur astronomer. His main connection to Saltaire is that his sister Catherine married Titus Salt Junior. There were financial dealings between Edward and the Salts.
• Dayton Coal and Iron Company Limited

  Company founded in Dayton, Tennessee, United States owned by the Salts company. The company manufactured iron and stell, based on the large local deposits of iron ore and coal. The Salts made major investements in the company which were partly to blame for the subsequent financial difficulties of the textile business in the UK. The Salts gave up their interest in the Dayton company in 1892 and sold the textile business the following year. Dayton was the site of rich coal and iron deposits. Its original developers obtained a loan from Sir TItus Salt Bart. and Sons Ltd, but they went bankrupt. The directors of the Salts company, including Titus Salt Junior, took over the Dayton firm and made large investments to develope the site. They built: two large blast furnaces with a capacity of 250 tons of iron ore per day, three fire brick kilns and 200 coke ovens were constructed as well as 200 homes, a manager's house (costing $15,000), a company store, a schoolhouse and other social amenities. What had been a small hamlet grew into a sizeable town over a very short period. In 1892 the Salt business partners had to surrender their interests in Dayton due to the collapse of Sir Titus Salt (Bart) Sons and Co. Ltd. The investment the company had made in Dayton was a significant factor in the Salt family’s loss of their business and the estate of Saltaire.
• Denby, Gertrude

  Eliza Gertrude Denby married Bertram Foster Roberts, a son of Sir James Roberts, in 1903.
• Dickens, Charles

  Renowned nineteenth century novelist. Dickens wrote an article in his Household Words publication entitle 'The Great Yorkshire Llama' regarding the early days of Titus Salt's discovery and use of Alpaca wool.
• Edward VII, King

  Edward was king of the United Kingdom between 1901 and 1910. As the Prince of Wales, he visited Yorkshire in 1882 with his wife Princess Alexandra to preside at the opening of the new Technical College in Bradford. While visiting, the prince and princess stayed at Milner Field, the home of Titus Junior and Catherine Salt.
• Fairbairn, William

  William was a leading British engineer and was contracted by Titus Salt to design the interior of Salts Mill. William's significant engineering skills enabled the mill to operate smoothly and perform all the functions that took raw materials through the series of processes required to make high quality cloth. William was responsible for the Mill's iron structure, the lay-out of the machinery, the design and manufacture of the boilers, steam engines and line-shafting. He also designed a tubular-girder bridge over the river Aire that runs through the village. Fairbairn published his plans for the mill in a book that ran to four editions and was translated into French and Spanish. He was justly proud of Salts Mill, his largest work of mill construction.
• Firth, Gary

  Gary Firth is a historian and author who has written several books on the history of Saltaire.
• Foster, Elizabeth

  Wife of Sir James Roberts who she married in 1873.
• Foster, Walter Christopher

  Early twentieth century artist. Born in Bingley, West Yorkshire
• Fowler Calculators

  Fowler Calculators was a Manchester company that was founded as the Scientific Publishing Company in 1898 by William Henry Fowler. Besides their range of calculators, they were well known for their range of engineering pocket books that they published annually. Their address was 53 New Bailey Street (1900-9 at least) and their works were later in Hampson Street, Sale. They went into liquidation in 1988. (http://www.mathsinstruments.me.uk/page17.html)
• Fry, William

  William Fry started working life on the railways but his life was transformed in his thirties when he moved to Saltaire to become the long-serving Secretary and General Manager of the Salt Schools. The 'Salt Schools eventually incorporated the High School (for Girls and Boys), the Saltaire Club and Institute, and the Technical and Art School In the late 1880s a new School of Art and Science was instigated by Titus Salt Junior. To help fund the new school and partly celebrate its opening, and Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, Salt devised the Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition. William Fry became heavily involved in its planning, travelling round the country to visit other exhibitions at Edinburgh, Folkestone and Liverpool as well as the Colonial Exhibition in London. He wrote numerous letters to obtain exhibits and enlist support for the Exhibition. This was a difficult task because of competition with other exhibitions and attractions. William wrote that ‘obscurity, too small an affair’ were ‘prominent ideas to be combated’. William also became Secretary of the Sir Titus Salt's Hospital, likely after the management ot the hospital was passed to the Salts School Board in 1887.
• George VI, King

  King of the United Kingdom 1936-1952. In October 1937, King George and Queen Elizabeth visited Salts Mill.
• Glyn, Thomas and Company Limited
• Griffiths, Medina

  Medina Griffiths (1840–1927) was an outstanding and progressive educator who served as the first headmistress of the Salt Girls' High School in Saltaire. Appointed in 1876, she was known for her 'outstanding character and ability' and her commitment to providing girls with an education equal to that of boys. Early Life and Background Born in Wales in 1840, Medina was the daughter of a Congregational minister. Before moving to Saltaire, she taught at a school near Cardiff. Leadership at Salt Girls' High School Medina Griffiths led the school during its formative years: - Establishment: The girls' school opened in 1876, initially sharing a building on Victoria Road with the Factory School before the younger children moved to a new site on Albert Road in 1878. - Broad Curriculum: She introduced a wide range of subjects, including Latin, Greek, French, mathematics, drama, art, and music. - University Aspirations: She actively encouraged her students to remain in education and pursue university degrees, which many did. - Succession: She remained headmistress until 1886, when she was succeeded by Harriet Byles, who had previously taught under her. Educational Philosophy and Teaching Style Griffiths was considered an inspirational and enlightened teacher with several unique approaches to education and discipline: - Equality for Girls: She famously stated, 'I would have girls placed on an equality with boys so far as educational advantages are concerned…I would have girls stand in the foremost rank'. - Holistic Learning: She believed lessons in 'patience, unselfishness, self-control and attention to detail' could be learned as effectively through well-directed plays as through traditional schoolwork. - Approach to Discipline: She set a rule that girls should have no more than one hour of homework per day, believing that five hours of work during the school day was sufficient. - Student Relationships: She was known to be witty and musical, often reading to students during mealtimes. On her birthdays, she entertained students at her home, where each girl brought a gift of toys or clothing to be donated to charity. The Saltaire Collection preserves records of her tenure, including school certificates bearing her signature and that of Titus Salt Junior.
• Gunnell, Edna Mary

  Edna Gunnell was a trailblazer in the world of horticultural education for women. Graduating from Salt Girls’ High School, she attended University College Reading obtaining a Certificate in Horticulture in 1900. One of only a few women to be trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew she subsequently held various teaching posts in England, Silesia, Germany and USA. In 1920 she joined Devon County Council as a Horticultural Superintendent, the first woman to hold the post and, as part of her role, gave lectures and demonstrations to Women’s Institutes and to schools. At first her lecturers focussed on growing, garden maintenance and pest control but during World War 2 the emphasis changed to fruit growing and food preservation: bottling, jam making, pickles and chutneys. In 1945 she received an OBE in recognition of this work.
• Hanson, Donald

  Donald Hanson was a prominent textile executive who served as one of the last Managing Directors of Salts Mill and as the Chairman and Joint Chief Executive of the textile giant Illingworth, Morris. His great grandfather was Chief Engineer for Sir Titus Salt. Donald kindly donated several items to the Saltaire Collection mainly relating to his role as Managing Director. Donald's life and career spanned several decades of immense change in the Yorkshire textile industry: Born in Slaithwaite near Huddersfield, Hanson's family had deep ancestral links to Saltaire and Salts Mill stretching back to the 1850s. Because his father worked at Globe Mills in Slaithwaite, Hanson was able to secure a business apprenticeship there. His early career was interrupted by World War Two, during which he was called up to serve in the Royal Navy. After returning to Globe Mills post-war, he studied after-hours at a technical college, eventually qualifying as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators. Globe Mills was part of the massive Illingworth, Morris Textile Group. Hanson was quickly identified as a highly talented 'wool man' and rose rapidly through senior management. Hanson built a close relationship with the group's majority shareholders, the Ostrer brothers. After serving in various senior management roles at Salts Mill and other locations, he was made a company director. Donald reached the pinnacle of the firm when he was appointed Chairman of the Board and Joint Chief Executive of Illingworth, Morris. By this time, the group had established its central headquarters inside Salts Mill. Illingworth, Morris had taken over Salts (Saltaire) Ltd. in the late 1950s. Following the deaths of the Ostrer brothers in 1975, their majority shareholdings were inherited by Pamela Mason, daughter of Isidore Ostrer and a Hollywood acrtress and chat show hostess. Mason became increasingly hostile toward Hanson and the rest of the existing leadership, who were collectively known as the 'Yorkshire Directors'. This high-stakes corporate battle became a major subject of global news. Donald navigated these turbulent years and eventually retired in 1983, just a few years before textile production at Salts Mill came to a permanent end. Following his retirement, Pamela Mason sold her 46% holding to Alan Lewis, who eventually put the mill up for sale, paving the way for Jonathan Silver to rescue the building in 1987.
• Hanson, William

  Head of the engineering department at Salts Mill during the nineteenth century. Great Grandfather of Donald Hanson, the chair and chief executive of Illingworth, Morris the last owners of Salts Mill as a textiles business in the 1980s.