2019.22.1: A Walk From The Towpath -Saltaire
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
A guide to walking the canal at Saltaire
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Plan of Saltaire
2019.23: Illustrated map of Bingley Five Rise Locks
Illustrated map of Bingley Five Rise Locks
A guide to walking the canal at Bingley Five Rise Locks
2020.6.2: Saltaire Overlookers 1830-1914
'Saltaire Overlookers 1830-1914' by Roger Clarke, with contributions by Colin Coates: Includes items relating to individual overlookers and the social life of overlookers
Content available under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence
Saltaire Overlookers 1830 to 1914 By Roger Clarke in collaboration with Colin Coates 1 Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Colin Coates, whose ability to use his computer skills to access information from census returns, newspaper stories, and many other sources has provided me with detailed material which would otherwise have been unavailable, especially in the biographies of Saltaire residents. His research is much appreciated. I have used Jack Reynold’s ‘The Great Paternalist’, published 1983 extensively in researching information about Saltaire in Victorian times. Part one Setting the scene th At the end of the 18 century the time was right for change, and for a different attitude towards work and employment. Calvin preached that hard work, thrift, and efficiency in one’s worldly calling were keys to eternal salvation. Profit is an end in itself, and the pursuit of profit is virtuous. Early capitalists needed a skilled and unskilled workforce disciplined to accept long hours and harsh conditions for as small a wage as possible to maximise profits. The organisation of labour in textile mills was dependent on the nature of the machinery involved, which determined the need for huge galleries and a large workforce to service the machines. Examples of early mills are:- • In 1776, Richard Arkwright, built his cotton mill at New Lanark. There were 9 rooms in the mill for preparing the raw cotton, carding drawing and roving, bobbin winding, throstle spinning, mule spinning, warping and beaming, drawing and weaving, and each was under the control of an overlooker. • In 1840, Brunswick cotton spinning mill, Ancoats, Manchester was built by David Bellhouse who employed William Fairburn to design a 7 storey block which housed 276 carding machines, 77,000 mule spindles, 20 drawing frames, 50 slubbing frames, and 81 roving frames. Overlookers The typical structure of the mill was to have a department manager and an overlooker for each of the mechanised processes involved from combing to dyeing. The following list outlines the generic role of the overlooker in all departments:- • Middle management between workers and bosses. • Maintenance of machines – regular oiling and checking, often before workers arrived. Undertake basic repairs, bringing in specialist mechanics if 2 necessary. Salts had their own specialists. Some overlookers were so good that they could tell if a machine was about to break down before it did. • Checking attendance. Workers were only allowed in at specific times and if you missed the time you might be allowed in after paying a fine. Overlookers had to make sure they had enough workers to operate the machines in their department, which included breaks and lunchtime when the machines continued to run. • Making sure that workers operated the machines efficiently and reliably. • Inspected the quality of the pieces before they left the department. • Hiring and firing. In some mills managers insisted on interviewing the overlooker’s choice. Workers could appeal to management if they felt unfairly dismissed. • Reporting accidents. • Checking use of toilets, ensuring that only one person used them at a time to prevent time wasting and gossiping. • The effectiveness of overlookers depended on their personalities and their ability to motivate workers as well as keeping control. • Training on the job. Observing the overlooker, but then had to attend evening classes 3 nights a week for a year. Then had one day a week day release and one evening a week for classes. The process could take 4 to 6 years. Bradford Mechanics Institute (between 1832 and 1882) and then Bradford Technical College offered other business classes which they could choose from. All funded by Mill. Apprentice overlookers could find that they were earning less money than mill juniors because the mill was paying for their training. Overlookers played their greatest role in spinning and weaving. In spinning they repaired machinery, inspected the final product and supervised both drawing and spinning room operatives. Each spinning room overlooker supervised about 40 workers. Weaving overlookers performed similar tasks but in addition they inspected the warps for weaving and determined the quality of the completed pieces. They were in charge of 50 to 100 looms. Overlookers were paid more than ordinary workers. They received 28/- to 30/- a week, compared with 14/- to 28/- for male workers, 9/- for female workers and 8/- to 10/- for children. Which raises the interesting question of how this payment was worked out for the most demanding overlooker role - in the weaving department. There had to be an element of technical skill here because overlookers would not only maintain the looms, they would often tune them and set up the patterns which were to be woven. But how do you calculate, in cash terms, for their exercise of authority over the workers? They were responsible for the flow of production and therefore controlled the distribution of work, the speed at which snags were overcome and the immediate discipline of the floor. One way was to put a value on the product of the worker’s labour i.e. the pieces of cloth produced – their length, complexity and density of the weave. In which case 3 their wages would vary from week to week according to piecework. Mills varied in the amount allowed for piecework and that allowed for the overlooker’s contribution. There was a ratio of 1 overlooker per 30 to 40 workers. Overlookers were invariably male in contrast to a largely female and child workforce. The complexity of the overlooker’s role is obvious from one of the few surviving examples of an overlooker’s notebook which can be found in the West Yorkshire Archive. It was the property of Fred Shackleton, an overlooker in Salts Mill in 1919. He was responsible for twisting, warping, winding and reeling. His notebook contains long handwritten lists of information about wages for a wide range of workers including takers-off, doffers, setters, jobbers, reelers, warpers, winders and hankers, and the prices of materials, all of which changed regularly and had to be updated. Overlookers had to be literate and numerate which many workers were not. Discipline of the workforce. In supervising the workers, especially children, overlookers often resorted to physical punishment. • “The overlooker gave us all a bit of the alley strap. It used to knock all the bits of wool, you know all the waste, it used to send it under the frames, so when the walking boss came round it were all tidy you see. Oh it were a big alley strap and it were all leather, and if they didn’t behave themselves they got a bit of this alley strap”. (From ‘Textile Voices’ by Tim Smith and Olive Howarth – Bradford Heritage Recording Unit. Published by Bradford Museums, Galleries and Heritage). • “Newspapers carried reports of continued violence in the work place, such as the 10 year old who died in March,1857, a week after a beating by an overlooker at Garnett’s Mill. The frequency of such violence led the ‘Textile Manufacturer’ to remark in December, 1875, that overlookers seemed to believe that they could treat children as they pleased. It recommended that notices be posted telling overlookers that they could not strike children.” • Evidence provided to the Factory Commissioners in 1832 stated “Discipline was the responsibility of the overlooker and was invariably maintained using a strap. In some mills it was not unknown for the overlooker to use a spindle from one of the machines to discipline children; particularly boys, who seem to have been dealt with more harshly than girls. One overlooker said that he had occasionally seen girls of 15 or 16 strapped, and on one occasion a woman of 20, although he had not strapped any girl over the age of 14. The same man said that he had sometimes seen parents of boys come to the mill to complain about excessive beatings. He also said that he thought that many parents did not complain about excessive beatings because they were afraid that it would encourage the overlooker concerned to find a reason to dismiss the child as quickly as possible. Interestingly, the majority of children giving evidence did not appear to feel aggrieved at having been beaten.” 4 • Sutcliffe Rhodes, frequent commentator in the local Press in the 1860s, cites “the sight of an emaciated form of a spinning girl rendered helpless by the scandalous abuse of an overlooker. And the dying spinner boy who said ‘Ellis Brook (overlooker) has pawsed me right hard”. There are many descriptions of the condition of children in mills in literature, including Disraelis ‘Sybil’ or ‘The Two Nations’ (1845) Dickens ‘Hard Times’ Charlotte Bronte ‘Shirley’ (1849) Frances Trollop ‘Michael Armstrong’ (1876) Gaskells ‘Mary Barton’ and ‘North and South’ (1854) Mrs Tonna ‘Helen Fleetwood’ (1839) I could find little evidence of extreme sexual abuse, such as that demonstrated in the 2015 film ‘Suffragette’ starring Meryl Streep as Emmaline Pankhurst and Cory Milligan as Maud Watts a laundry worker. A male supervisor has been sexually abusing girls in the laundry for years, including Maud and currently a friend’s young daughter. It may be that even when sexual abuse was known about it remained covert and was not publicised - certainly not in courts or newspapers. For example, between 1870 and 1914, 39 cases of sexual abuse came before Hamstead magistrates. Only a quarter were committed for trial. Three quarters were dealt with summarily. 60% of these received a conviction for common assault or indecent exposure and 40% were dismissed. As in other areas of the country, cases of sexual abuse were either acquitted or trivialised as minor public order offences. And from the Office of National Statistics we have • “In excess of 500 people were dealt with by the courts per year during the 1920s, rising incrementally to over 5,000 by the 1960s. • Throughout, however, this represented merely the tip of an iceberg. It is likely that the ten-fold increase was a result of changes in police and criminal justice procedure (enabling more cases to be reported and recorded) rather than an increase in prevalence. • Whilst the number of cases reported to the police increased incrementally across the period, evidence suggests there was a significant decline in the proportion that resulted in guilty verdicts. The law had been constructed as a reaction to Victorian moral anxieties – including concerns about homosexuality - rather than the need to protect and safeguard children. This means that children (as those against whom offences were committed) were only partially visible within the criminal justice statistics. In sum, the British state did not effectively monitor abuse of children. Ultimately it is only possible to conclude that the law and criminal justice system were woefully inadequate in dealing with child sexual abuse.” 5 However, there are examples of sexual harassment such as:- “There were one fellow, and we used to call him ‘Touchy’ because every time he come reckoning to look at the box he’d touch your behind. I remember one time I were on the box, and we used to warn each other when he was coming. They all used to say ‘watch him with Hilda’. And of course this day I didn’t know he were on and I was doing something with my machine and he come and put his hand right across my bottom. So I turned round, picked up a bobbin and hit him with it. So they took me to the office for it. The gentleman that was over the overlookers asked me what I hit him for. I said, ‘when he stops touching my arse I’ll stop hitting him with bobbins.” (Textile Voices) Women’s rights were very limited in the Nineteenth Century. The following is a reminder of what they were:- “1857 Matrimonial Causes Act – a man could divorce his wife for adultery, but she had to prove his adultery and also an additional ‘matrimonial offence’ such as cruelty, desertion, bigamy or incest. The reason was that a wife’s adultery ‘might introduce a spurious child into the family whereas a man’s promiscuity would have no such deleterious effects’. Under common law a married woman’s independent identity was totally subsumed in that of her husband under the doctrine of ‘coverture’. She was not able to enter into legal contacts and had no rights in her own property. All she had earned or inherited belonged to her husband. The 1870 Married Women’s Property Act was passed but inadequately gave women further rights. Husbands could gamble or drink away their wife’s earnings. Wives could not even have custody of their own children since the father was deemed to be the ‘natural’ guardian regardless of his faults. In 1878 the Matrimonial Causes Act enabled brutalised wives to obtain a Protection Order with the force of a judicial separation in the Magistrates Court to receive custody of their children and be awarded maintenance. However this did not constitute divorce and the woman could not remarry.” (From Sex, Gender and Social Change In Britain since 1880 by Lesley A Hall) Fortunately there are also examples of overlookers motivating their workers using more easy going methods. For example:- “We made a parcel up. We put orange peel, mucky bobbins, sweepings up, and made a lovely parcel and wrote on it ‘To our beloved overlooker from his doffers’. Well he got hold of it and looked at it you know, he’s looking right slyly around him, and he crept out and went into the men’s toilet. When he came out he shied the bobbins at us, orange peel, apple cores, banana skins. Anyhow he were a lovely overlooker and we loved him.” (Textile Voices) But there are other ideas about discipline and control in mills When Robert Owen took over control of the New Lanark Mill in the early 1800s he devised a new way for overlookers to control his workers in the workplace. He introduced the silent monitor. This was a four-sided piece of wood 2 inches long and one inch wide, each side coloured – one side black, one blue, one yellow and 6 one white, with a hook on top to hang it near to every person employed. The colour to the front told of the conduct of the person on the preceding day. Books of character were provided for each Department with the names of employees listed and monitor readings were noted in the book. The books were changed six times a year and were preserved. This system was similar to Jeremy Bentham’s Panoptican, a model prison featuring a central tower with several wings radiating out from it. The prisoner can always see the tower but never knows when or from where he is being observed. Prisoners self police their own behaviour because the guard may be watching, Each individual is seen but cannot communicate with the warders or other prisoners. The panopticon induces a sense of permanent visibility that ensures the functioning of power. Surveillance is permanent in its effects even if it is discontinuous in its action. Michelle Foucault was a French philosopher who had well formulated ideas about the nature of power in various social settings. He looked at diamond mines, prisons, schools, hospitals and the military, and saw common features in the way in which they impose disciplinary power in order to create ‘docile, obedient bodies’. That is, discipline must come about without excessive force through careful observation. Individual personal differences are not acknowledged unless they are related to skill, promotion or production. The Mill is divided into discrete departments and workers are classified in this way. The disciplinary power of the Mill is that it controls this system, and individuals become workers (or ‘operatives’). In Saltaire, this system of discipline is extended because the houses which the workers rented are owned by the Mill and linked with their employment . There are two local examples of this form of disciplinary surveillance. Saltaire Primary School has a balcony extending all the way around a central hall below which classrooms are situated, each with glass windows which enable a headteacher to observe the classroom from above without being seen. Salts Mill has huge open galleries (especially ‘The Lobby’) within which the textile machines were situated, enabling overlookers to observe a number of machines without actually approaching them. In a Bradford Mill Rachel Bellerby (‘Chasing the Sixpence – the lives of Bradford Mill Folk’ published by Fort Publishing Ltd) describes an overlooker who “had his own small office at the end of the weaving shed, which had glass sides so that he could always see what was happening on the floor”. Part Two The local scene in Saltaire 7 Titus Salt had mills in Bradford before starting to build Saltaire in 1851. Between 1851 and 1853 Salts Mill was built, and in 1853 house building began. Jack Reynolds notes that Saltaire had a selected population – key workers from Salt’s Bradford mills. Overlookers were amongst the first to go to Saltaire. Groups of workers were influenced by overlooker choices and followed them to the village. Warp dressers whose work was crucial at an early stage in the textile process were treated in the same way. Other groups moved more slowly. Overlookers and other senior workers formed an element in the so called workers committee which was responsible for allocating tenancies in the village. Titus Salt had seen Saltaire as being a place where the mistakes of Bradford could be rectified and a model industrial community could be created meeting his workers spiritual, moral, educational, housing, environmental and social needs – very different to the Bradford which his workers had left behind. The original plans for Saltaire specified two types of housing – workers and overlookers houses. This distinction has never narrowly determined their actual occupancy. The overlookers houses were larger and more expensive to rent and therefore more likely to be occupied by people in Jack Reynold’s ‘executive’ group of employees which includes wool buyers, designers, engineers, chief cashiers, managers, foremen and overlookers. Their size also means that they are more suitable for large families or for use of two families which wanted to live together and share the rent whatever their social position. These houses were initially on William Henry St, and George St, followed by ‘improved’ overlooker houses on Victoria Rd, Albert Rd and on Gordon Terrace and Myrtle Place. House building continued uphill towards Bradford Rd, with the improved housing of later build appealing to overlooker choices and there was a lot of tenant mobility. Reynolds says “Removals within the village were a persistent feature of village life. Of those who stayed between 1861 and 1871, over 50% moved to better or newer houses as they were completed and left older property to newcomers”. The following table shows overlooker choices over time according to Census returns. Overlookers Choice of Houses by street Street 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 Ada St 6 4 1 1 2 Albert Rd 6 4 3 4 5 Albert Ter 1 1 3 Almshouses 4 Amelia St 5 2 2 Bath Buildings 1 Caroline St 2 4 1 6 2 Constance St 1 2 5 2 2 Daisy Place 1 8 Dove St 1 2 4 2 7 Edward St 2 1 1 1 2 1 Fanny St 4 1 1 Fern Place 1 1 Garden 1 1 1 1 Cottage George St 11 10 10 9 7 11 Gordon Ter 4 4 2 3 Harold Place 1 1 1 1 1 Helen St 4 2 1 3 3 1 Herbert St 4 4 3 1 2 3 Higher School 1 1 St Jane St 2 1 6 3 Katherine St 1 1 Lockwood St 1 1 2 2 3 Lower School 1 5 2 2 St Mary St 6 3 1 1 1 3 Mawson St 3 4 4 2 2 Myrtle Place 1 1 Shirley St 2 1 8 1 1 3 Titus St 8 13 12 7 6 3 Victoria Rd 1 7 7 4 4 4 Whitlam St 4 3 4 2 1 William Henry 3 2 3 1 2 2 St This table shows one thing very clearly – that in the Mill the overlookers were part of the management structure but at home they lived on the same streets as fellow workers and were regarded as working men. I looked in detail at both overlooker and ordinary worker’s families and found very little difference in terms of number of children or lifestyle. One difference is that overlookers tended to be better educated than the ordinary workers. They had to have a better level of literacy to embark on an apprenticeship, and to follow their overlooker training. They also arranged for their children to remain in education for as long as possible, recognising that this was necessary to enter a skilled trade on leaving school. However, education was expensive at secondary level, and it is suggested that a foreman earning less than £100 per year could not afford to send their children to school beyond 13 or 14 years. The children of ordinary workers left school earlier, as soon as possible to begin work in the mill and earn a wage. Many were half-timers. Overlookers wives and families were closely involved in village life, living alongside the families of ordinary workers. Married women and their children, whatever their husband’s occupation, shared the everyday life of the village. It might not be 9 possible to know all 4,300 inhabitants of the village in 1906, but gossip was a common commodity , and Edward Stanners remarked at a later date that the women on the factory floor would often get to work half an hour early in order to ‘cal’ and catch up with the latest events in the village. The fact that Saltaire village had clear boundaries and was widely publicised as a model village gave workers of all kinds a sense of pride, belonging and a shared commitment to each other. Many employees and their families had known each other for many years working for the same firm even before moving to Saltaire and there were often kinship links. Some overlookers had worked as ordinary workers in the past. My hypothesis Overlookers were in a position to take the lead in contributing to community initiatives “Skilled men played a greater part than others in the administration of village facilities” (Reynolds) The following is a look at the evidence that this was the case. In Parliament The Nine Hours Movement. “Began with engineers and craft unions nationally, and only became a real issue when taken up by textile workers, led by overlookers. It was headed by Mundella, MP for Sheffield who consulted with the Overlookers’ Short Time Committees in Bradford and Leeds and brought a Bill before the House in 1872 to limit the working hours of women and children in factories to nine hours a day. A group of employers opposed the Bill, suggesting that although they worked longer hours than most craftsmen they did not work as hard in ten hours as the men did in nine. A deputation including Edward Salt presented their views to the Home Office. They claimed that there was no widespread desire among workers for a reduction of hours, for many textile workers were on piece rates and the prospect only faced them with diminished earnings. They claimed that the overlookers who had brought the agitation did so to bring their own hours into line with mill craftsmen who had obtained the reduction through their unions. Mundella’s Bill did not pass the House but a less generous Bill, the Ten Hour Bill was passed by the Disraeli administration.” (Reynolds) and “Working men were beginning to demand a more real political authority, either through a Radical/Labour wing of the Liberal Party or in a new Independent Labour Movement. In 1892, Saltaire men joined with Shipley working men to indicate that they were no longer willing to accept the political leadership of the local mill owners, and in particular the special authority of Salts. They produced their own Liberal/Labour candidate for the general election of 1892 – WP Byles had backed the strikers at Manningham Mills in 1890/91. He won the seat, leading to the resignation of Charles Stead as chairman of the Shipley Liberal Executive. Seth 10 Bentley, manager of Saltaire Baths, and a regular critic of the Salt authority, took Stead’s place. Among the men who supported him on the Executive were vice presidents Alex George, J Cryer, and Isaac Sanctuary. Isaac Sanctuary later joined the Bradford Independent Labour Party in 1893 when a branch was formed in Shipley, and his place on the Liberal Executive was taken by his brother Jacob.” (Reynolds) There were two political organisations in Shipley Shipley Liberal Club. Charles St, off Briggate, Shipley. Opened 1887. 400 members. Shipley Conservative Club. Atkinson St, off Westgate, Shipley with 300 members. Plus Saltaire Manhood Suffrage Association. “By 1866 there was a powerful branch of the National Reform League in Saltaire with secretary Robert Power, ‘an uncompromising radical’, son of Edward Power who had been imprisoned in 1848 in Bradford for Chartist activity. In 1866 and Easter Tuesday in 1887 the Manhood Suffrage Association turned out in force with the blessing of the firm which closed for the 1866 occasion since it was not a public holiday. The Saltaire Brass Band played the accompaniment to the march from Saltaire to Leeds. The National Reform League was a working class movement which asserted the intrinsic dignity and worth of working men as individuals and as members of a class. Unlike Chartism it did not demand social reform – it was a franchise for men who were properly ‘residential and registered”. (Jack Reynolds) In Saltaire Let’s begin by looking at organisations which provided safeguards against death and sickness. Saltaire Funeral Brief Society Open to anyone over 7 years old living in Saltaire and in good health pay 1.5d under 21, and over 21 they pay 3d as an entrance fee. Then a levy of 2d is made on those over 21 and 1d under that age. They receive £5 on death if over 21 and £4 under that age. The Society was formed in 1857 and by 1879 it had nearly 3,000 members. Originally Thomas Greenwood of 22, George St, an overlooker, was the secretary. Like the savings bank it was run by senior workers. In 1879, James Rushton was President, James Paley, (spinning overlooker) secretary, and the committee of 15 was made up of overlookers, specialist mechanics and warehouse men with only one ordinary ‘millhand’. Among the committee were men who were constantly active in the affairs of the village – Sharp Varley (weaving overlooker), Samuel Baldwin (overlooker), Edwin Cox and John Lambert. Saltaire Men’s Society 11 For relief of the sick. John Wood of 9. Mawson St, Secretary. Members above 18 and under 25 pay 6d per month, and above 25 but under 50 pay 8d per month. During sickness they are entitled to 8s per week for the first six months, 4s for the next six weeks and 2s per week after that. In addition to payments from members, Sir Titus Salt pays the Society 4d per month for each member enrolled. Saltaire Women’s Society For relief of the sick. Thomas Greenwood (overlooker), 22, George St, Secretary. Members over 16 pay 4d per month. They are then entitled to 5s for the first six months of sickness, and 3s per week afterwards. Sir Titus Salt pays the Society 6d per month for every member enrolled. Other organisations which encouraged saving to meet times of need included:- Saltaire Penny Savings Bank. Formed in 1857 by a number of senior workmen with Joseph Dawson, foreman of the wool warehouse as secretary. Post Office Savings Bank Opened in 1861 enabling the GPO to provide a simple savings scheme for ordinary wage earners. By 1914 it had more than 8.5 million accounts, almost 80% of which were under £25. Bingley, Shipley and Keighley Building Society. Established 1851. Opens in Shipley at Yorkshire Bank Chambers, Otley Rd twice a week to collect subscriptions. Branch of Bradford Old Bank. Open daily on Market Place, Shipley. Friendly Societies To ward off the effect of sickness, injury or death amongst working men. The three largest Friendly Societies were the Oddfellows, the Foresters and the Royal and Ancient Order of Buffaloes. 8% of the population in 1815 were in Friendly Societies. Legislation to encourage the formation of Friendly Societies came as early as 1793. This was consolidated in 1850 with an Act of Parliament and a government department was established to administer the Act. By the early 1830s the Oddfellows had 30,000 members and 561 lodges, increasing to 90,000 members and 3,500 lodges by 1842. There were lodges in every county of England. By 1874 there were 489,237 members and 1908 there were 868,190. The Bradford branch of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows was the richest in the West Riding and had 27 lodges, 3,382 members and paid out over £3,000 a year in death, sickness and medical benefits in 1850.’ Royal Antedeluvian Order of Buffaloes (The Buffs). Formed in 1822 as a Fraternal organisation who’s mission was Justice, Truth and Philanthropy. They aided members and their families in times of need and supported local charities. Branches were called Lodges, in imitation of Freemasons. Overlookers in Bradford had the Power Loom Overlookers Society and the Amalgamated Overlookers. They had a motto of ‘United to help, not combined to injure’. They had no connection with strikes or trade unions. Their object was to benefit each other in employment and to assist each other in sickness and death. 12 They were originally Friendly Societies. The first was in 1827, Bradford No 1 Overlookers Provident Society; the second in 1833, Bradford No 2 Managers and Overlookers Society; the third in 1862, Bradford No 3 Overlookers Provident Society. All three merged in 1911 to become Bradford and District Managers and Overlookers Society. Some Mills required apprentices to join them. But help still came mainly from relatives or the pawnshop. The peak year for pawn shops came in 1914 when there were 5087 shops operating under licence in Britain. The number declined after this point. Co-ops In the 1830s/40s chandler’s shops were popular. They advanced goods on credit but often the goods were adulterated, over priced and of poor quality – and the same with firms operating the truck system. The Rochdale Pioneers bought good quality food at wholesale prices, cutting out the middle man and avoiding adulteration. Then in 1862 the Co-operative Wholesale Society was formed with similar ideas. This also provided a dividend (a payment Society profits once a year in proportion to the buyers expenditure). It had 400,000 members in 1883, reaching 2.3 million in 1913, 3.2 million in 1923 and 6 million in 1937. Saltaire Industrial Coal Society – Formed in 1864 when W Tiffany (wool sorter) was Secretary. Offices were at 13, Victoria Rd. Members received dividends and bonuses dependant on the amount of coal sold and profits made. In 1871 it had 600 to 800 members. In 1876 and 1877 there were newspaper advertisements under the heading ‘Coal! Coal! Coal!!!’ listing all the types of coal stocked and profits made. Orders received by W Tiffany of 30, Albert Rd. Jabez Copley of 20 George St was then Secretary. With Isaac Constantine they were the organisers of the Society. Independent Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd – 6, Victoria Rd. Michael Holdsworth of 4, Gordon Terrace (overlooker and later weft room manager) was secretary. Closed in Saltaire in 1881. Leeds Co-operative Society. 8, Victoria Rd. James Wilkinson, storekeeper – Isaac Constantine, President of 33, Victoria Rd. Closed in Saltaire in September, 1885. Windhill Co-operative Society opened a branch at 30/31 Caroline St in May,1881. Abraham Barras was a director. Religion Saltaire Congregational Church. Opened for divine worship in 1859, and by 1860 had a regular weekly congregation of 400, plus a Sunday School with 110 on register. It was the elite church in Saltaire with Titus Junior as a member and principal benefactor and George Morrell and Frederick Wood, Chief Cashier, among the deacons. A number of well-to-do Shipley people also formed part of the communicant membership. Saltaire Wesleyan Methodist Chapel drew its leaders from a wider social circle than the Congregational Church, and included the manager of the wool warehouse, 13 the mill engineer, several of the overlookers and woolsorters and four or five woolcombers. Low Lane Primitive Methodist Church, off Saltaire Rd, Shipley. Opened in 1840 and closed in 1960 when it was demolished. St Paul’s Parish Church, Kirkgate, Shipley Built in 1826 St Walburger’s Catholic Church (Parish of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). Built 1878. Saltaire Society of the New Church (Swedenborgians) In his history of this Church, Bernard Leather describes that in 1870 a group of men (many of whom were Salts Mill workers), looking for rooms to rent where religious services could be held. They first used 13, Victoria Rd but in 1882/3 they “took the tenancy of two small rooms in Saltaire Rd, Saltaire which were part of the group of almshouses”. This was also known as Chapel House which held Sunday services for the Congregational Church. It was No 6, Alexandra Square (later renumbered as 29, Victoria Rd). Services were held there until 1924 and Leather describes the rooms in detail. Isaac and Jacob Sanctuary, Albert Cawthra, Robert Power, John Preston (an artist), Ben Preston (writer and poet), Abraham Holroyd (bookseller and stationer), Jonathan Mitchell (warp twister), Richard Barker (warp twister), Seth Bentley (manager Saltaire Bath-house), and James Mattack of Baildon (shopkeeper of various wares and street trader) were the founders. They were articulate, strong minded men with firm political and religious ideas. I understand that Swedenborgianism is an interpretation of the Bible which can be incorporated into other religious beliefs and so the members came from a number of religious backgrounds. In 1901, the group bought land in Park St from the Trustees of Sir Titus’ will and Sir Titus Salt Bart. Sons and Co Ltd, but never built a church there. In 1924 the Saltaire group amalgamated with the Bradford Society of the New Church and opened a New Church at Ashfield Avenue, Frizinghall. Apart from all these formal organisations, there were many societies for Saltarians to join in their leisure time. Fire Brigade – S Shackleton, Foreman, 29, Victoria Rd. Floral and Horticultural Society – Founded 1861. Renamed the Horticultural, Pig and Dog Society in 1873 and then the Horticultural, Pig, Dog, Poultry and Pigeon Society in 1876. W Tiffany, 30 Albert Rd, Secretary. “It had about 100 members, most prominent among them were long serving and skilled employees such as Eli Lambert, Isaac Constantine, John Hanson, James Ellis, Sam Baldwin and James Rushton. Men of this type were most likely to be allocated and to keep the allotments which the firm provided, though they could not establish a total monopoly since there were 100 allotments and 38 piggeries along the canal-side. It had an annual show and exhibition which was a highlight of the village social life. In addition to a produce competition (judged by the Head 14 Gardener from Methley Park) there were athletic events attracting a nationwide field and games were arranged for the children”. (Reynolds) In 1869 there were also horses jumping hurdles and a velocipede race. From 1867 to 1876 it was “held in a field owned by Mr Titus Salt situated on the Baildon side of the River Aire – the entrance to which was rather difficult and inconvenient owing to the fact that the construction of a new bridge is going on just now” (Bradford Observer). This presumably was what, since 1871, was Saltaire Park (later Roberts Park). There were no shows between 1877 and 1881, but in 1882 it was held on a recreation ground on Albert Rd. Cricket Club – William Parker, Secretary. It was destined, like the gymnastics club and the brass band, to achieve national fame. It was founded in 1865 with 140 members and promise by Salt to provide a playing area. It was reorganised in 1871 when the firm began to take a more positive interest in its affairs. The managing director, Charles Stead became President and Titus Salt was on the committee. The firm (under Sir James Roberts) provided a ground in the new park and generous financial help. The Half Moon Café was built for the Club. (There is a book by Patsy Quinn called ‘Run of the Mill’ which describes the history of the Club but which unfortunately concentrates on professional players like Sidney Banks and doesn’t mention the ordinary members at all. It does however have a photo of the Veterans team which is worth looking at). String and Reed Band – Anthony Hill of Caroline St was bandmaster. Saltaire Brass band. Challenged the already famous Black Dyke Mills band for pre-eminence in national competitions. It was originally founded in 1855 and called the Saltaire Brass Band, supported financially by Titus with £1,000 per year. There were two bands originally – a drum and fife band for the boys and a brass band for the men of the village, all of whom worked in the Mill. It began to enter national competitions, gaining first prize at the Crystal Palace in London in 1861, and second prize at the Belle Vue September Contest in 1872. There were numerous prizes at more local contests, but from the early 1870’s it was no longer entering national competitions. In 1894 it was disbanded, and the instruments were called in by the Company. Then there was a time gap until 1932 when it reformed as Salts Silver under the tuition of Mr HB Hawley, and they used to practice in the Royal Café (Salt’s old dining hall on Victoria Road). It changed its name to Salts (Saltaire) Band and was very successful on the national scene. Mr Hawley continued as its sponsor, but in 1946 he decided to form a new junior band and link this with his thriving business – he was managing director of Hammond’s Sauce Company. Some of the original senior band members transferred to this new band and Hammond’s Sauce Works Band was born, to go on to national fame and recognition. Hawley died in 1981, leading to changes in the management at Hammonds, and sponsorship was finally withdrawn in the early 1990s. Fortunately Yorkshire Building Society came in with a new offer to sponsor, and the name changed to the Yorkshire Building Society Band, and then to the YBS Band. 15 In January, 2009, the band was renamed the Hammond’s Saltaire Band. Gymnastics Club. Housed at the Institute it became a leading club in the north of England. Glee and Madrigal Society – John Johnson, Secretary. In 1869 J Giles of 47, George St was secretary. Saltaire Prize Choir Formed in 1877 as the Saltaire Wesleyan Choir, this choral group went on to achieve huge successes on the national musical scene. All over Britain, competitions were held with cash prizes, encouraging groups to form in order to win substantial rewards. The Wesleyan Choir became the Saltaire Prize Choir in 1889, and here are a few of their most notable achievements:- • Held at Hawes, the Hardraw Scar Brass Band and Choral Contest was set in an natural outdoor amphitheatre. Saltaire Prize Choir won first prize in 1890, and went on to compete here with the same success for many years. • In 1891, they performed at the Welsh National Eisteddfod in Swansea and picked up a second prize. They endured a 10 hour train ride to get there, performing before 30,000 people in a canvas tent in the rain. • At Tanfield, near Newcastle, they were invited to the mansion of Sir Frederick Milbank, Bart, there they sang and were given the freedom to explore the house and gardens. • After winning first prize at Morecambe in 1896, they returned home by train at 1-30am on Sunday morning to be greeted on the station by hundreds of supporters to welcome them back. In the pouring rain the crowd demanded a short concert on the railway bridge where the choir sang “The Sea Hath its Pearls” by Pinsuti and “Great God of Love” a madrigal in 8 parts by Pearsall – all without copies and under umbrella canopies. But perhaps the best know of their achievements was their performance at the Second Annual International Music Traders’ Exhibition, Royal Agricultural Hall, London in July, 1896, where they were awarded first prize of a Gebruder Knake white grand piano, worth 100 guineas. Angling Association – GH Bayley of 12 Victoria Rd and J Hall of Market St, Bradford were agents. Jack Reynolds notes that “There was a fishing club with one of there woolsorters as secretary which provided sport for about 100 men. It was supported by Titus Junior who established a trout farm at Milner Field and kept a stretch of the River Aire inside the Park stocked with fish”. Thirty-ninth West Riding Rifle Volunteers – J Crowther, Captain. Established in summer 1859. Edward Salt, George Salt and Titus Junior Salt held commissions in it for short periods and 90 young men in the village joined the ranks. Its armoury was located in Victoria Hall. Sir Titus provided beer for the men on manoeuvres. Shipley Musical Union Club. Wainman St. Established 1880. Gentlemen only. 16 Shipley Temperance Union. General Committee meets at Rosse St School. Established 1892, for the promotion of temperance and general moral well-being of the community, by efforts of an educational, remedial and preventative character. In 1906 the Shipley Temperance Union was located at The People's Hall, Otley Road, between Dale Street and Cross Banks. (thanks to David King for this information). President Mr George Morrell. There follows extracts from overlooker biographies, with their involvement in local organisations highlighted Baldwin, Samuel 1815 – 25 July 1888 Samuel Baldwin was born c1814 in Guiseley. He married Sarah Greenbough 2 February 1840 at Christ Church Bradford. They had five children. By 1861 they were living at 34 (renumbered 60) George Street in Saltaire with Samuel working as an overlooker. In August 1864 Samuel won a prize at the Saltaire Horticultural Show for his roses. By 1871 Samuel and his family had moved to 28 Victoria Road (renumbered 45 in 1880 then renumbered 71 in 1898) in Saltaire. In March 1879 Samuel was elected as an officer of the Saltaire Funeral Brief Society. Samuel died 25 July 1888 at 6 Mawson Street in Saltaire Barras, Abraham c1846 – 20 January 1925 Abraham married Sarah Horne 1 June 1868 at St Wilfrid’s Calverley. They had six children, with one dying as an infant. They lived all their lives in Windhill. In March 1885 Abraham was appointed to represent Windhill on the Central Committee of the Shipley Liberal Party. In February 1895 he was elected onto the Shipley School Board. He began work as a boy at Saltaire Mills in the spinning department and was a spinning overlooker for many years. On leaving Saltaire Mill he took up the insurance business for upwards of 20 years. In his early manhood was a prominent member of the Windhill Young Men's Institute. Later he became associated with the Windhill Wesleyan Mission, and for nearly 60 years was a well-known local preacher. He was also actively identified with the local cooperative movement and was a director of the Windhill Co- operative Society for 23 years. He was for many years a member of the Shipley Veterans Association, and during the absence of Mr. Hulme (chaplain) conducted the weekly services. Boddy, John 1843 – January 1915 John worked at Saltaire Mill for fifty four years in various jobs; warehouseman, weft man, worsted overlooker and clerk. He was an active member of the Saltaire Wesleyan Church and at one time or another held practically all the offices open to a layman. Amos Brear 17 Amos died 14 March 1919. Report from the Shipley Times 21 March 1919 as follows: - Originally a worker in Saltaire Mills, at which he became a spinning overlooker, he commenced in 1866, along with his brother, the drapery business in Saltaire Road. Mr. Brear was held in great respect and esteem by the tradesmen of Shipley, and this feeling found expression in 1906 when he was elected President the Tradesmen's Association. His connection with the Association dated from its formation. At the time of his death Mr. Brear was the senior deacon of the Saltaire Congregational Church, and he had served on the deaconate for 37 years. For over 20 years he was also treasurer of the church. With the church and Sunday school at Saltaire he had indeed been closely connected for over 65 years, Mr. Brear was a director for the last 15 years of the Bingley Building Society, a meeting of which he attended a fortnight before his death. A lifelong Liberal, and a member of the West Ward Liberal Club, he unsuccessfully contested two Urban Council elections in 1899 and 1913. After he was 50 years of age, he became a keen and enthusiastic cyclist, and rode many thousands of miles, Carr, John Francis 1896 – 26 October 1917 John was born c1896 in Saltaire. In 1911 he was living with his parents at 60 George Street in Saltaire. John Francis was employed as a worsted piece overlooker in Saltaire Mill. He was well known as the scorer for the Saltaire Cricket Club Second X1. He was also connected with Saltaire’s Men Own and the Saltaire Horticultural Society. Carr, Henry 1855 – 1924 During WW1 Henry served as secretary of the Shipley & District Ambulance Corps. Mr. Carr was one of the founders and the first secretary of the Shipley Gala Committee when it was formed in 1885, and up to these last few years had always taken an active part in the annual gala. He was also for several years’ secretary of the Yorkshire Voluntary Charitable Association, having to resign owing ill-health. As an ambulance worker. Mr. Carr had gained several honours for long and valued service. Constantine, Isaac 15 November 1827 – 5 November 1898 Isaac was a wool sorter, which was his occupation throughout his life. Isaac was a keen gardener. Living in Saltaire he won first prize for his potatoes at the Airedale Floral & Poultry Show 19 August 1856. This was the first of numerous awards he won for his vegetables. In the 1861 census Isaac and his family were living at 5 (renumbered 10) Edward Street in Saltaire. Isaac was active in politics and in local affairs. In April, 1866 he chaired a meeting to consider the Government’s Franchise Bill as part of the National Reform League In March, 1871 he chaired a meeting celebrating the Saltaire Branch of the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society Limited and the Saltaire Industrial Coal Society 18 Limited. Isaac was director of the Saltaire branch of the Leeds Co-Operative Society. By 1871 Isaac and his family had moved to 33 (renumbered 76) Victoria Road in Saltaire, where they remained the rest of their lives. In April 1874 at the annual meeting of the Saltaire Club and Institute Isaac was elected as one of sixteen committee members. At the funeral of Sir Titus Salt (5 January 1877) Isaac was one of twelve foremen of the works invited to officiate as a bearer, to carry the coffin into the Saltaire Congregational Church from the hearse. In July 1882 Isaac was reported as presiding at a meeting of the Saltaire Coal Society. In January 1886 Isaac was elected to and appointed auditor for the Shipley Liberal Hundred. Throughout his life Isaac was involved with Saltaire Cricket Club and in 1893 was vice chairman. Frank Dickinson Report from the Shipley Times 3 June 1953 as follows: - The award of the 0.B.E. to Mr Dickinson, of 58 Marlborough Road, Shipley in the birthday honours announced on Monday will be welcome news to many of Mr. Dickinson’s friends and business associates. He became the first full-time secretary of the Bradford and District Power-Loom Overlookers' Society in 1915. and in 1949 he was appointed a director of U.K. Wool Disposals, Ltd. Mr. Dickinson has been secretary of the Yorkshire Association of Power-Loom Overlookers ever since its inception in 1921. He was one of the founder members of the National Association of Unions in the Textile Trade 1916, was its chairman from 1943-46 and is still an Executive member. Mr. Dickinson served the Wool Control Board in both world wars; He was connected with the formation of the Wool Textile Industrial Council and has been a member of the management committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions since 1936. He has been a member of Bradford Employment Committee since 1920 and a member the Appellant Tribunal, for conscientious objectors' appeals since 1940. In Shipley Mr. Dickinson is a vice - president of Northcliffe Amateur Bowling Association and a member of Shipley Musical Union. He was born in Saltaire and commenced work at Saltaire Mills when he was 10 years of age. Frank died in 1962. Doyle, Thomas Francis c1855 – 6 March 1933 Mr Doyle lived in Shipley for well over thirty years and was a departmental manager at the firm of Messrs. Salt’s (Saltaire) Ltd. He was perhaps best known for his political activities. In 1913 he contested the West Ward as a Labour candidate and was elected a member of the Shipley Urban Council, but on four subsequent occasions he was returned unopposed as an Independent candidate for the same ward. In all he served on the Council for 14 years, and rendered valuable service as chairman of the Baths, Public Health, and Promenade Concert Committees, and vice-chairman of the Education Committee. During the war he was a member of the Military Service Tribunal. 19 A very keen musician. Mr. Doyle was a past president of the Shipley Musical Festival, with which he was associated for many years. He was also a member of the committee of the old Saltaire Institute Society, and a past president of the Mills Male Voice Choir. Mr. Doyle was also a former chairman the Shipley I.L.P, a past president of the Saltaire Mills Bowling Club: member of Laycock’s Debating Society, Bradford: a speaker on political economy; a member of the Astronomical Society; and a member of the old Shipley Operatic Society. As a young man he was an enthusiastic Rugby Union player and played wing three-quarter for the Buttershaw Club. His brother, Eddie Doyle, was the famous Bradford and Yorkshire full back. Ellis, Fred 19 Mar 1853 – 1947 He began work at eight in the Saltaire Mills and became a combing overlooker ten years later. He retired on a pension in 1927, after 66 years’ service without a break. In his younger days he was a notable cricketer. He assisted in the formation of the Saltaire Cricket Club and played with the first team as batsman and wicketkeeper until he retired from the game in 1887. In those days the club consisted largely of employees of the Saltaire Mills, and the team was known as the “Millboys in white.” In 1877 he played with the Saltaire and district “XV.,” which defeated the full Notts County team, and he scored nearly 100 runs against the bowling of Billy Barnes, Morley, and Flowers. Two years later he was selected by the M.C.C. to play with a team of All-England colts at Lord’s and scored an outstanding success. Ellis, Edwin 27 April 1855 – 19 September 1940 Edwin Ellis was the son of Joseph Ellis a wool warehouseman. In 1871 & 1881 they were living at 21 Victoria Road with Edwin working as a piece hooker then a weaving overlooker. In 1891 they lived at 14 Almshouses (renumbered 37 Victoria Road). In 1901 & 1911 Edwin was a weaving manager living with his family at 34 Albert Road (renumbered 67). Around 1914 they moved to 29 Avondale Road in Shipley where Edwin would spend the rest of his life. Report from the Shipley Times 28 May 1920 as follows: - “In the year 1864, before he was nine years of age, young “Ted” came to work in the mills as a half-timer and attended the school for half-timers held by the firm in the building now known as the Royal Café in Victoria Road. At this tender age he worked in the drawing room of the spinning department, but after a few months, and before he attained the solemnity of ten years, he became a jobber, which occupation he followed for some four years. At thirteen he was transferred to the weft room of the weaving department and was employed there in pegging bobbins. From the weft room he advanced to piece- hooking and weavers wages clerk, and at sixteen years of age, some 49 years ago, he took up the practical side of weaving. At that time the workers were employed on the noted Donskoi wool, when three pieces per day were turned off the loom. This employment lasted some six months, 20 and in 1873 his future was definitely decided, when, on Sir Titus Salt’s 70th birthday, young Ted became an apprentice weaving overlooker. For nine years, including his apprenticeship, he worked on ladies’ goods in the Dresses Department, and subsequently for eleven years was employed on men’s wear in the Coatings Department. A further period was spent in charge of the Pattern Weaving, and on December 13th, 1894, a few months after the advent of Mr. James Roberts and his co-directors, Ellis was promoted to be the manager of the whole of the Weaving Departments, which position he has held up to the present time, making a total length of service of 55 years. Natural capacity and determination resulted in a very wide and thorough technical knowledge, and this was recognised by the local authorities when, at the inception of the Shipley Technical School in 1887, Mr Ellis was placed in charge of the textile Department, and he held this position for five years. He is a well-known character in old Saltaire, and in his younger days played in the first eleven with the Saltaire Cricket Club. He was in the team on the memorable occasion when they put out Scarborough for eleven runs. Mr. Edwin Ellis is leaving with the tale of fifty-five years to his credit, and his brother, He was presented with a gold watch. Excell, John (Jack) 1 May 1879 – 6 March 1959 Mr John Excell, of 10 Springcliffe Street, Green Lane, Baildon, who died on Friday at the age of 79, retired last July after 69 years unbroken service at Saltaire Mills. He came of a family with a remarkable record of service, even at a firm where there is a tradition for generation to follow generation. His father, who lived to be 95, actually helped to build houses in Saltaire. and worked at the mill for more than 73 years. Mr. Excell’s sister worked there for 47 years, and his son, Mr. Harold Excell, has been at the mill for 50 years. Mr. John Excell was at Delph Hill, Baildon, and started working in the drawing department at the mill when only ten years old. For more than 40 years he was a carding overlooker. In his youth, Mr. Excell played cricket with Baildon Green. He was a member of the New Prosperity Lodge of the Shipley District. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Manchester Unity, and of the Wood bottom Veterans’ Association. Ferrand, William c1821 – 27 February 1903 In 1861 William was a spinning overlooker living with his family at 46 George Street (renumbered 72) in Saltaire. From 1881 they lived at The Green in Baildon where William was a wool buyer and merchant. William died 27 February 1903. Report in the Shipley Times 6 March 1903 as follows: - Mr Ferrand was well known and respected among all classes in the village, having held various public offices. He was throughout his life a sterling Liberal, and his death awakens memories of political struggles in the days before the household franchise was given to the counties, in which he took an active part. Born at Cottingley, he had early in life to begin to earn his own livelihood, which he did first in a humble way as weaver, then as hand comber in Bradford. He was 21 employed at Messrs Forster Fison’s when that firm removed from Bradford to Greenholme, Burley in Wharfedale. He graduated from one position of trust to another until about the year 1860, when he obtained the appointment of wool buyer at Saltaire Mills, a position which he held for many years, ultimately retiring from the firm to commence a business as a woolstapler on his own account in Bradford. Mr Ferrand was a member of the Baildon Local Board for about twelve years and was a district representative on the Wharfedale Board of Guardians over nine years. He was also on the executive committee of the old East Division of the West Riding Liberal Association and of the Otley Division Liberal Executive Committee, and for many years a prominent member of the Otley and Baildon Liberal Clubs. George, Alexander c1840 – 28 March 1910 Alexander was a clothier with a shop on Commercial St, Shipley. By 1874 Alexander and his family were living in Saltaire. He was very active politically and felt strongly about a number of issues. He was a staunch Liberal He was prosecuted and fined for refusing to have his children vaccinated against smallpox. In August, 1903, he presided at a mass meeting of 7,000 people welcoming home two men who had been imprisoned for refusing to have their children vaccinated. He was president of Saltaire Industrial Co-operative Society He objected to half-timer children being compelled to attend Albert Rd Board School. He presided at the Sunday Lectures held at the Temperance Hall He spoke at the meeting held at Wellcroft Field involving 2,000 attendees objecting to the House of Lords refusal to pass the Franchise Bill. He presided at a meeting of the Shipley Liberal Association to elect members of the Liberal Hundred. In January 1900 Alexander was elected President of the Shipley Tradesmen Association at their annual meeting. He supported the candidature of Tom Townsend for re-election as the Liberal representative for the West Shipley Division on the County Council. Gilbert, George 24 March 1857 – 24 August 1927 Report from Shipley Times 6 December 1901 as follows: - Employees of Saltaire Mills met at the Victoria Hotel to bid farewell to two of their older overlookers, Mr. Arthur Nutter and Mr George Gilbert who had been employed at the mill forty and thirty-six years respectively. Mr Nutter left to take charge of the weaving department at Buttershaw Mills and Mr Gilbert to an appointment at Yorkshire College. Hanson, John 1833 – 21 January 1919 John Hanson born in 1833 in Keighley. Aged just eight he worked for Daniel Salt (father of Sir Titus) in Bradford and subsequently he worked for Sir Titus too. When Saltaire Mills opened in 1853, John was the first overlooker in the spinning department. Later he would become an overlooker in drawing and combing. 22 In 1861 they were living at 6 Titus Street in Saltaire, in 1871 at 6 George Street. John was the oldest member of the Overlookers’ Union in the Bradford when he died 21 January 1919. Edwin Holdsworth c1839 – 8 April 1920 Report from the Shipley Times 16 April 1920 as follows: - Death of a Shipley Veteran. At the advanced age of 81 years, Mr. Edwin Holdsworth, 40 Victoria Road, Saltaire, died at his residence on Thursday in last week. For 46 years he was employed as a weaving overlooker at Saltaire Mills. Mr. Holdsworth was connected with the Rosse Street Baptist Church, Shipley, ever since its erection in 1866, and he was a life deacon of the church and one of the first trustees. When the Sunday School was opened, he took charge of the infants’ class, with which he kept up his connection for the long period of a quarter of century. For some years he was teacher and superintendent. In November 1878, he was appointed superintendent of the Sunday School, a position which he held until November 1906. The deceased was one the oldest members of the Shipley Veterans’ Association, member of the Tree of Life Lodge, of the Shipley District 1.0.0. F. (M.U.), and of the Saltaire Liberal Club. Holdsworth, Michael c1822 – 1896 In 1871 Michael was living with his family at 4 Gordon Terrace (renumbered 57 Bingley Road), Saltaire. In 1871 he was an overlooker; 1881 a weft room manager, and by 1891 he had retired. Chaired a public meeting of the Liberation Society in March, 1864 President of the Saltaire Band of Hope in May, 1866 President of the Saltaire Branch of National Reform League in February, 1867 which advocated residential registered manhood suffrage protected by ballot, and that the position taken by the government was vague, indefinite and unsatisfactory. Gave a lecture to the British Temperance League in February 1867. Chaired a meeting of the Shipley and District Temperance Society in July, 1868 Addressed a meeting of the Shipley and District Temperance Society which set up a Band of Hope at a tea meeting in September 1868 Was secretary of the Saltaire Independent Co-Operative and Industrial Society Limited – 6 Victoria Road; Michael Holdsworth, 4 Gordon Terrace Michael & Martha lost their son, Alfred aged 24, in May 1878. His body was found in a canal in Birmingham. He was a cabinet maker and he had found employment. At the inquest into his death an “open verdict” was recorded. Ince, John 19 December 1862 – 18 May 1926 In 1891 John was a spinning overlooker, in 1901 a worsted foreman spinner, and 1911 was spinning manager. He is active in Saltaire Wesleyan Church. Lamb, Joseph 23 27 August 1877 – 1939 His father, John, played cricket for Baildon Green, then he was a “pro” for Manningham, and he was subsequently coach to Oxford University. John died in 1918 and Harriet in 1929. In 1911 they were living at 48 George Street in Saltaire. By 1914 they had moved to 3 Myrtle Place in Saltaire, where they remained until 1934. From 1935 they lived at 13 Albert Road. Joseph worked at Salt’s Mill for over 50 years. He started as a doffer aged just 10 in 1883. He was a spinner overlooker for over 40 years. Like his father Joseph was a keen cricketer. He played for Saltaire when Sydney Barnes was captain of the club. Mansfield, Alfred c1839 – 11 September 1915 In 1871 the family were living at 19 Amelia Street in Saltaire with Alfred working as a worsted spinning overlooker. By 1881 they had moved to 4 Lockwood Street where they remained the rest of their lives. Alfred was a faithful member of the Rosse Street Baptist Chapel for many years and he was secretary of the Shipley Veterans Association. Minakin, Fred 1860 – 21 March 1903 Fred died 21 March 1903. He was a twisting overlooker at Salts Mill. As a sportsman he was on several occasions well to the front and was at one time first in the averages of the Saltaire cricket team, that being during the time of the membership of Harry Mosley and other well-known cracks. He was also owner of several prizes and medals which he had won in the sports at Saltaire Park, but his supremacy in any branch sport was only short-lived, though when he was at his best in any particular branch of athletics he was looked upon as a hero at Saltaire. At the formation the Saltaire Football Club be was installed as secretary and held that position throughout the whole career of that now defunct club, and although he did not take any part in the working of the affairs the club, he was referee in the Yorkshire Rugby Union. Joining the Shipley & District Working Men's Club as assistant secretary, which be held for 3 or years, afterwards taking over the office of secretary, which he held at the time of his death, having been 7 years in that office. He was also a member of the Shipley Brass Band Social Club and was for many years’ auditor for the Baildon Working Men’s Club. He leaves a widow and two children. Mosley, Henry (Harry) 8 March 1850 – 1 June 1922 Local cricketers who can recall the Saltaire Club in the eighties will learn with regret of the death of Mr. Harry Mosley, who about 30 years ago was a professional for Saltaire, and was regarded one of the best left-arm bowlers that time, he being associated with Dickie Barlow, who also was one of Saltaire’s professionals. Mr. Mosley was a native of Shipley, and was employed as a drawing overlooker at Saltaire Mills, and about 30 years ago he emigrated to Sanford, Maine, U.S.A., 24 where was employed a similar capacity for an American firm, where eventually he became manager over the drawing department, and retired pension some time ago. He was succeeded as manager by his son. Regarding his cricketing career, a local enthusiast informs that Mosley played as a professional for 17 seasons—from 1874 to 1890 inclusive. He was considered the most destructive left arm bowler in the whole of the Aire Valley. In 1881 he was tried for Yorkshire County, for his bowling. Pearson, Robert Crowther Wilkinson 5 April 1841 – 15 November 1897 Mr Pearson, who was 58 years of age, had followed the employment of spinning overlooker at Saltaire Mills for about twenty years. About three or four years ago he went to Manningham Mills as a sweeper out. The deceased only arrived back on Wednesday last from London, where he had been spending a month with his son. In his younger days Mr Pearson was a vigorous Radical, the interests of which party he consistently advocated and promoted up to the time of his death. He was member of the Working Men's Club Redman, Ogden 1847 – 12 October 1890 Ogden was not an overlooker. He was employed as a wool sorter at Salts Mill. His only involvement in village life was in the Saltaire Industrial Co-operative Society. He was appointed a compounder (along with Holdsworth and Stell) when a motion was put forward to wind up the Society in August 1876 he moved to Dalry in Scotland, where he was involved in the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society in 1888. Rushton, James Wilkinson 15 August 1825 – 22 September 1893 James married Sarah Whiteoak 18 January 1846 at St Wilfrid’s Calverley. They had a daughter, Ellen Elizabeth, born 23 September 1847. In 1851 they were living at One Street in Bradford with James working as an alpaca sorter. In 1861 they were living at 28 (re-numbered 54) George Street in Saltaire. Sarah, James’s wife, died in 1869. She was buried 1 September. In 1871 widowed James was a wool sorting manager living at 19 Victoria Road, Saltaire. James married widow Amelia Smith (nee Ellison) 28 March 1872 in Bradford Cathedral. They had a son, Charles, born in 1875. Amelia died in 1877. In 1881 & 1891 James was living at 74 Victoria Road in Saltaire. James married Sarah Drake 11 January 1882 at St Paul’s Shipley. Report from the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer - Friday 30 September 1887: - Presentation of a portrait on the occasion of his retirement after 53 years service in Salts Mill as foreman woolsorter. He had joined the firm before Sir Titus created Saltaire - in fact be was the oldest employer about the premises. James died 22 September 1893 aged 68 years. He lived at 32 Moorhead Crescent, Shipley (formerly of George Street, Saltaire), Sanctuary, George 1857 – 12 October 1932 25 Spinning overlooker with 60 years employment at Salts Mill. Secretary of the Prize Choir and member of Congregational Church choir. He was a staunch Liberal and his wife was one of the founder members of Shipley Women’s Liberal Association. Stell, John c1850 – November 1917 John’s father George had been a spinning overlooker, and John was a spinner in 1861. He had a varied career. He then worked as a merchant’s clerk, before becoming cashier in a worsted factory in 1891; in 1901 he was a manager in a braid factory and in 1911, he was an electrical cable manufacturer. In 1878 he was involved in Saltaire Industrial Co-op, and was appointed one of the auditors when it was decided not to close the Society. For many years he was churchwarden at St Paul’s Church in Shipley and a teacher in the Sunday School. At the annual vestry meeting of St Paul’s Shipley in April 1885, John was nominated as one of twelve sidesmen. At the annual meeting of the Shipley Conservative Association in January 1889 Edward Salt was elected as President and John Stell was elected as one of two auditors. By 1897 John was living with his family at Wellington Crescent, Shipley. At a special meeting of the Shipley District Council in May 1897 John was part of a three-man deputation who addressed the council about the condition of the back street of Wellington Crescent. In 1914 he was elected as secretary of South Ward Unionist Polling District Association William Tiffany rd th (3 October, 1835 to 27 June, 1899) Secretary of Saltaire Floral and Horticultural Society and Saltaire Industrial Coal Society. 1851 William was a spinner aged 16. 1861he was a wool sorter aged 26. 1869 he lived at 31, Helen St 1871 Census he was working as a wool sorter and living at 30, Albert Rd (renumbered 59). He was the eldest of 3 children who were employed as factory operatives. He marries Susannah Airey and they had 10 children – Joseph (1858); Susannah (1859); Emily (1862); Fred (1864); Martha (1866); George (1868); Mary Ann (1870); William Arthur (1872); Elizabeth (1874); Lavinia (1877); Edith (1879 died Dec 1879). Wife died 1884 and he remarried Sarah Locker 1881 census William still a wool sorter and living at 68, George St. Varley, Sharp c1836 – 1881 Sharp Varley was born c1836 in Bingley as Sharp Cowgill, son of Mary Cowgill, father unknown. Mary married William Varley 2 October 1836 at St Michael’s Haworth. Sharp then took the Varley name. 26 In 1851 they lived in Wilsden with William working as a labourer and Sharp as a power loom weaver. By 1861 they had moved to 1 (re-numbered 27) George Street in Saltaire with William working as a farm labourer and Sharp as a weaver. Sharp married Elizabeth Illingworth in 1866. They had four children. In 1871 & 1881 they lived at 57 Titus Street with Sharp working as a weaving overlooker. In May 1875 Sharp was reported as being a past provincial grand master of the Bingley branch of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows. In March 1879 Sharp was elected as an officer of the Saltaire Funeral Brief Society. Sharp was associated with Saltaire Cricket Club in a non-playing capacity. th Sharp died 4 Qtr. 1881. Others Bentley, Seth 28 October 1833 – 23 June 1897 Seth Bentley was the son of James Bentley. James was born c1793 in Baildon. He married Sarah Robinson 19 May 1912. Seth, the youngest of 10 children, was born 28 October 1833 in Baildon. He was baptised 10 November 1833 in Otley. Seth married Hannah Pollard in 1862. They had two children: Fred born c1864 and Sarah b c1869. In 1871 & 1881 they lived at 26 Caroline Street in Saltaire. By 1891 they had moved to 5 Bingley Road in Shipley. By 1897 the family has moved to 29 Bradford in Shipley. Seth died 23 June 1897. He was buried in Nab Wood Cemetery in Shipley. The following article was published in the Shipley Times 26 June 1897: - ‘For some years he was a worker in the Saltaire Mills, under the late Sir Titus Salt, who had a high regard for him, and who selected him for post of manager of the public baths and wash house built by the late firm. For over twenty yean Mr Bentley filled this position, which brought him in contact (often friend and helper) with nearly every family in the place. Seven or eight years ago, when the baths were closed, he went into business on his own account as a laundry proprietor. Mr Bentley was man of strong religious convictions. Many years ago, he became follower of Swedenborg, and was one of the founders of the New Jerusalem Church at Saltaire. He remained an active supporter of that church to the end, and he will be much missed by the community which meets there. In politics he was a staunch Radical, a strong anti-vaccination, and land reformer. Early in 1891 he headed an important deputation of influential working men from Shipley and district to invite Mr Byles to become a candidate for the Shipley Division, on the retirement of Joseph Craven. He was at the same time, and for the express purpose of advocating this candidate, elected a member of the Executive of the Shipley Division Liberal Association, of which he was afterwards for several year the president. Mr Bentley, who enjoyed good health during the whole his life until his last illness, left behind him widow and one daughter. His only son was killed in America in 1891’. 27 Rhodes, Sutcliffe 26 March 1837 – 19 September 1916 Sutcliffe married Alicia Ann Wallace 13 January 1862 at St Paul’s Shipley. They had five children. In 1851 he was a woolcomber. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 04 April 1867: - Sutcliffe makes a plea for woolsorters who are laid off when demand is poor and re- employed when it picks up again. He was living at Ada St. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 25 July 1867: - Sutcliffe wants investigation into anthrax – ‘clouds of dust and keenly penetrating hairs’ which cause woolsorter deaths. th And on 30 January, 1868, he reports that a philanthropic gentleman and an eminent physician are interesting themselves in the problem. Then on 12 March, 1868, he writes to praise the discussion taking place to look for solutions to this problem, albeit with the rejection of a mask. Report in the Leeds Times Saturday 26 December 1874 of a meeting at the Temperance Hall devoted to discussion of the woolsorter’s disease, at which detailed medical evidence was advanced. Sutcliffe was one of the main speakers. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 05 March 1868: - A plea for the creation of a place in Shipley for young men to meet for self improvement, similar to the Saltaire Literary Institute. Writing from Baildon. In 1871 Sutcliffe was a wool sorter living with his family at 14 Wycliffe Place in Shipley. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 25 November 1875 entitled ‘Slavery in the Spinning room’. Sutcliffe deplores the practice of overworking child spinners and physically abusing them. He cites the sight of an emaciated form of a spinning girl rendered helpless by the scandalous abuse of an overlooker. And the dying spinner boy who said the ‘Ellis Brook has pawsed me right hard’. Sutcliffe is living at Mildred St, Bradford in 1875. In 1881 Sutcliffe was a commercial traveller living at 10 Orchard Street in Bradford. Alicia, Sutcliffe’s wife, died 3rd Qtr. 1890. In 1891 Sutcliffe was living alone at 130 Mildred Street, Bradford. He married Harriet Lord 9 May 1891 at All Saints, Bingley. Report from the Bradford Daily Telegraph Saturday 19 March 1892, that Sutcliffe was before the Bankruptcy Court for public examination and was allowed to pass. He admitted having appropriated money belonging to the Liverpool, Yorkshire and Lancashire Tea Company but was re-engaged by them at less salary, the difference going to pay off his defalcations. In 1901 Sutcliffe was living alone at 19 Moorhead Lane in Shipley. Sutcliffe married his third wife, Charlotte Squires, in 1910. In 1911 he was living with her family at Sibsey in Lincolnshire. (Sibsey is a village 4m north of Boston. In 1911 it had a population of 1,004). Sutcliffe died 19 September 1916 aged 79 years In conclusion There is ample evidence that overlookers performed essential management roles in Salts Mill. 28 Without their innovative and organisational skills in the community, life for Saltaire residents would have been much less rich and rewarding. They are the unsung heroes of the Saltaire story. We shouldn’t forget the broader picture too. Bringing large numbers of workers together in factories stimulated an awareness of their shared condition. It encouraged their involvement in the political process, in the growth of trade unions, in manhood suffrage and the National Reform League, and ultimately in the Independent Labour Party in 1893. The more radical and active Saltaire overlookers played a role in this journey, as their biographies reveal. Roger Clarke February, 2020 29
An abstract of title relating to transfers, sales and purchases of land at Hirst wood - 1866 - 1911 - Information in printed text
Hirst Wood, Shipley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Digital media credit: Saltaire Collection
1911 Abstract of the Title --------- of ----------- The Present Earl of Rosse AS TENANT FOR THE LIFE UNDER A SETTLEMENT EXECUTED BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM LATE EARL AND COUNTESS OF ROSSE AND UNDERA RE-SETTLEMENT EXECUTED BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LAWRENCE LATE EARL OF ROSSE AND THE SAID PRESENT EARL TO CERTAIN ESTATES SITUATE IN THE TOWNSHIP OF HEATON SHIPLEY AND MANNINGHAM IN THE PARISH OF BRADFORD IN THE WEST RIDING OF THE COUNTY OF YORK 1866 September 25th Indenture of this date made between THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Stamp WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE AND MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE his £1.15.0 wife of the first part THE HONOURABLE LAWRENCE PARSONS of 9 followers of 10/- each Uplands near Fareham in the County of Hants of the second part 4 followers of £1 each and the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING of 1 followers of £2.10.1 Ballylin in Kings County Ireland Esquire of the third part Reciting that by and Indenture of Release and Settlement dated the 6th day of June 1837 made between the said EARL OF ROSSE and MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE his wife then and therein respectively called LORD OXMANTOWN and MARY LADY OXMANTOWN his wife of the first part the HONOURABLE ARTHUR DUNCOME and DELIA his wife of the second part and the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and HARDRESS LLOYD Esquire then since deceased of the third part and WILLIAM EDWARD POWELL and ROBERT WHARTON Esquires of the fourth part and being duly acknowledged by the said Countess as appeared by a Memorandum of Acknowledgement thereupon endorsed and by an Official Copy of the Certificate of Acknowledgement. The one undivided moiety then of the said Countess of and in (amongst other hereditaments) the manors messages farms lands and other hereditaments at Heaton and Shipley and Manningham in the Parish of Bradford in the County of York comprised or particularly mentioned or referred to in the schedule thereunder written or thereunto annexed (but exclusive of such small parcel thereof as had then since been purchased as thereinafter was mentioned) with the appurtenances was duly conveyed limited and assured (subject to one moiety of the therein mentioned mortgage debt which had then since been discharge and subject also to one moiety of the therein mentioned jointure rent charge of £700 payable to ISABELLA HELENA FIELD Widow during her life but which had not been then previously charged upon any of the said hereditaments and has then since determined by the decease of the said ISABELLA HELENA FIELD in the year 1842) To the use of such person or persons for such Estate and Estates interest and interests upon such trusts and to and for such ends intents and purposes and with under and subject to such powers provisions limitations declarations and agreements as the said Earl and Countess during their joint lives by the deed or deeds instrument or instruments in writing with or without power of revocation to be by them sealed and delivered in the presence of and attested by the two or more credible witnesses should jointly direct limit and appoint and in the meantime and until and also in default of such direction limitation or appointment To the use of the [1] said WILLIAM EDWARD POWELL and ROBERT WHARTON their executors administrators and assigns for the term of 99 years without impeachment of waste upon the trusts thereinafter declared concerning the same (and which were trusts for raising or securing an annuity or yearly sun of £500 for the said Countess during the joint lives of herself and the said Earl by way of pin money) with remainder To the use of the said Earl and his assigns during his life without impeachment of waste with remainder To the use of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and HARDESS LLOYD and their heirs during the life of the said Earl upon the usual trust to preserve contingent remainders with remainder To the use of the said Countess and her assigns during her life without impeachment of waste with remainder To the use of the last named Trustees and their heirs during her life upon the usual trust to preserve contingent remainders with remainder To the use of such Son of the said Countess by the said Earl for such estates or interest or with such limitations over in favour of any other of such son or sons as they the said Earl and Countess in manner therein mentioned should jointly appoint and in default of and subject to any such appointment then to the use of the first and other sons of the said Countess by the said Earl or any future husband severally and successively according to seniority in tail general with remainder To the use of all daughters of the said Countess by the said Earl or any future husband as tenants in common in tail with cross reminder in tail between them if more than one with divers remainders over with an ultimate remainder To the use of the said Countess her heirs and assigns for ever And by the Indenture then in recital it was amongst other things provided that it should be lawful for the said Earl and Countess and the survivor of them in manner therein mentioned to charge all or any part of the said undivided moiety with any sums for portions for any of their children other than an eldest or only son for the time being entitled to the said moiety for an estate tail in possession or in remainder immediately expectant on the decease of the survivor of the said Earl and Countess not exceeding in the whole if but one such child the sum of £20,000 and if two such children the sum of £30,000 and if three or more such children the sum of £40,000 as therein more fully expressed And it thereby also by the said Indenture then in recital provided that it should be lawful for the said Countess after the decease of the said Earl if she should happen to survive him to borrow at interest any sum not exceeding the whole £10,000 on the security of all or any part of the said undivided moiety for her own use and benefit or for the benefit of any other persons as therein also more fully expressed And Reciting that it appeared from the Indenture next thereinafter recited that since the date and execution of the said Indenture of Settlement it had been discovered that a small portion that was to say 7 acres 2 roods 5 perches of land or thereabouts part of the lands in Heaton aforesaid numbered 88, 124, 259, and 260 in the said schedule thereto and therein particularly described and which was by the said Indenture of Settlement considered and treated as freehold was in fact of leasehold tenure and held for the residue of the term th granted by an Indenture dated the 7 of November 1654 whereof 317 years were unexpired at the date of the said Indenture of Settlement subject to the payment of a yearly rent of £2 and that a cottage or tenement and garden in Heaton aforesaid containing 1 rood 17 perches or thereabouts formerly in the occupation of JOHN FIRTH or JOHN CRAVEN his undertenant was also of leasehold tenure and was held for the unexpired residue of a term of 999 years granted th thereof by a certain Indenture dated the 11 of November 1686 at the nominal rent of a red rose [2] th And Reciting that by an Indenture of appointment and Release dared the 12 day of May 1840 duly grounded as a Release on the therein mentioned Bargain and Sale or Lease for a year and made between the said Earl and Countess then and therein called LORD OXMANTON and MARY LADY OXMANTON his wife of the first part the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and HARDESS LLOYD of the second part the said ARTHUR DUNCOMBE and DELIA his wife of the third part THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM LORD FAVERSHAM then and therein called THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM DUNCOMBE and SIR THOMAS DIGBY LEGARD Baronet of the fourth part and CHARLES EVANS Gentleman of the fifth part amongst other hereditaments the entirety of the freehold manors messuages farms lands and other hereditaments comprised or mentioned in the said Schedule thereto save and except the coal and other mines and minerals and veins and seams of coal and ironstone and other minerals except stone under such of the same hereditaments as were situate at Heaton and Shipley aforesaid and exclusive also of such small parcel thereof as had then since been purchased as thereinafter mentioned with the appurtenances was duly appointed granted and otherwise assured To the several uses therein mentioned that was to say subject as to certain parts thereof a term of years thereby limited for raising or securing a moiety of the said jointure rent charge of £700 per annum which had then since determined as aforesaid To such uses upon and for such trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to such power of appointment by the said Earl and Countess and other powers provisoes limitations and agreements as were in and by the thereinbefore recited Indenture of Settlement of the 6th day of June 1387 limited declared or expressed of and concerning the undivided moiety thereby granted and released of and in the freehold hereditaments therein and in the said Schedule thereto mentioned And by the Indenture then in recital all the said leasehold cottage or tenement lands gardens and premises thereinbefore mentioned as comprised in and demised by the said several th th Indentures of Demise or Lease dated respectively the 7 day of November 1654 and the 11 day of November 1686 with the appurtenances were appointed assigned and otherwise assured unto the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and HARDRESS LLOYD their executors administrators and assigns for all the respective residues of the several terms of years for which the same respectively were held under the several Indentures of Lease by which the same respectively were granted nevertheless under and subject to the payment of the rents and the observances and performance of the several covenants and agreements reserved and contained in and by the several Indentures of Lease under which the same respectively were held but in trust for such person or persons as should from time to time by virtue of the limitations thereinbefore and in the said thereinbefore recited Indenture of Settlement contained or referred to be entitled in possession to the said freehold hereditaments and premises in Heaton aforesaid and other the freehold hereditaments mentioned and described in the said Schedule thereto and for such or the like Estates or Interest Estates or Interests as such person or persons should then have or be entitled to in the same freehold hereditaments and under and subject to such or the like powers of appointment and other powers provioses declarations and agreements as were thereinbefore declared or referred to of and concerning the same freehold hereditaments. And Reciting that by an Indenture endorsed upon the therein last recited Indenture and which endorsed Indenture is dated 23rd of June 1840 and made between the said ARTHUR DUNCOMBE and DELIA his wife of the first part the said EARL and COUNTESS of the second part and the said [3] LAWRENCE PARSONS and HARDRESS LLOYD of the third part all the mines beds veins and seams of coal and other minerals which (as thereinbefore mentioned) were by the said therein last recited Indenture excepted out of the appointment and assurance thereby made were appointed and otherwise assured to such uses upon and for such trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to such power of appointment by the said Earl and Countess and other powers provisoes limitations declarations and agreements as were in and by the said Indenture of Settlement of the 6th day of June 1837 limited declared or expressed of and concerning the undivided moiety thereby granted and released of and in such of the freehold hereditaments therein mentioned as were comprised in the said Schedule thereto And Reciting that the said HARDESS LLOYD died in and about the month of And Reciting that certain Freehold Estates which were comprised in the thereinbefore th recited Indenture of the 12 day of May 1840 and thereby settled as thereinbefore mentioned but which were not mentioned in the said Schedule thereto had then since been sold and disposed of by the said Ear and Countess And Reciting that the reversion in fee of that small portion of the hereditaments mentioned in the said Schedule thereto which was comprised in the thereinbefore mentioned Ancient Lease of the 7th day of November 1654 was some years then since purchased by the said Earl and the same portion and also the said Leasehold interest therein were thereupon with the concurrence of the said Earl and Countess conveyed so as to merge the said Leasehold interest therein and so freed therefrom to the uses of the said Indenture of th Settlement of the 6 day of June 1837 And Reciting that another small portion or parcel of the said hereditaments mentioned in the said Schedule thereto consisting of the Ox-close and Strip of Woodland adjoining the same in Shipley aforesaid was then lately purchased by the said Earl and by his direction conveyed to (in effect) the then subsisting uses of the said last mentioned Indenture of Settlement. And Reciting that the said Earl and Countess then had issue four children only and no more namely their eldest son THE HONORABLE LAWRENCE PARSONS commonly and thereinafter called LORD OXMANTOWN and THE HONORABLE RANDALL PARSONS THE HONORABLE RICHARD CLERE PARSONS and THE HONORABLE CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS of whom the said LORD OXMANTOWN had attained full age but the other three were then still under age And Reciting that the said Earl and Countess considered it advisable that the said manors messuages farms lands and hereditaments comprised in the said Schedule thereto and all other hereditaments if any in the County of York then subject to the uses or trusts of the same hereditaments should then be resettled in manner thereinafter mentioned and that the said LAWRENCE PARSONS party thereto and JOHN GILBERT KING had consented to become Trustees for the purpose of such Re-Settlement. At is by now abstracting Indenture witnessed that in consideration of the premises and pursuant to and virtue and in exercise of the powers or authorities to the said Earl and Countess for th the that purpose given or limited by the thereinbefore recited Indentures of the 6 day of June 1837 th rd and the 12 day of May 1840 and the 23 day of June 1840 or any of them and of all other powers and authorities (if any) [4] Enabling them or either of them in that behalf they the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE and MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE his wife Did and each of then Did by now abstracting Deed or Instrument in writing sealed and delivered by them in the presence of and attested by the two credible persons whose names were intended to be endorsed thereupon as witnesses in that behalf jointly and irrevocably direct limit and appoint That All and singular the manors and freehold messuages farms lands and other hereditaments comprised or particularly mentioned or referred to in the Schedule thereunder written or thereunto annexed and all which freehold farms and lands and also the leasehold premises comprised in the same Schedule were or were intended to be delineated and shewn in a plan draw upon or annexed to now abstracting Indenture And generally all other if any freehold hereditaments in the County of York which whether by original settlement or by partition purchase exchange allotment or otherwise howsoever were then subject either at law or in equiry to the then subsisting uses or trusts of the freehold hereditaments comprised in the said Schedule thereto. Together with all and singular houses outhouses buildings yards gardens ways paths passages waters watercourses lands meadows pastures feedings woods underwoods commons common of pasture mines minerals rights profits privileges advantages and appurtenances whatsoever to the manors messuages farms lands and other hereditaments thereinbefore appointed or intended so to be or any of them or any part thereof respectively belonging or in anywise appertaining or to and with the same or any part thereof then or theretofore demised used occupied or enjoyed And the reversion and reversions remainder and remainders yearly and other rents issues and profits of all and singular the aforesaid hereditaments Should thenceforth go remain and be and the several thereinbefore recited Indentures should so far as respected the same premises operate and enure to the uses upon and for the trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to the powers provisos and declarations thereinafter declared and contained of and concerning the same hereditaments that was to say To such uses upon and for such trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to such powers provisos and declarations as the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE and MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE his wife by any deed or deeds writing or writings with or without power of revocation to be by them sealed and delivered in the presence of a witness or witnesses should from time to time jointly direct limit or appoint and in the meantime and until and also in default of any such direction limitation or appointment and so far as no such direction limitation or appointment should extend then [5] To such uses upon and for such trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to such powers privisoes and declarations as the survivor of them the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE and MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE his wife should at any time or times after the decease of the other of them by any deeds or deeds writing or writings with or without power of revocation and new appointment to be by him or her sealed and delivered in the presence of a witness or witnesses direct limit or appoint and in the meantime and until and also in default of any such direction limitation and appointment as last mentioned and so far as no such direction limitation or appointment should extend then To the use of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS ANS JOHN GILBERT KING their executors administrators and assigns for the term of 99 years to be computed from the day of the date of now abstracting Indenture and thenceforth next ensuing and fully to be complete and ended without impeachment of waste but upon and for the trusts and purposes and with under and subject to the powers and privisoes thereinafter declared and contained concerning the same Remainder To the use of the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE and his assigns during his life without impeachment of waste Remainder To the use of the said MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE and his assigns during her life without impeachment of waste Remainder To the use of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERYT KING their executors administrators and assigns for a term of 500 years to commence and be computed from the day of the decease of the survivor of the said Earl and Countess and fully to be complete and ended without impeachment of waste But upon and for the trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to the powers and provisoes thereinafter declared and contained of and concerning the same Remainder To the use of the said LAWRENCE LORD OXMANTOWN and his assigns during his life without impeachment of waste Remainder To the use of the first and every other Son of the said LAWRENCE LORD OXMANTOWN severally and successively in remainder one after another according to their respective seniorities and the heirs male of their respective bodies with like remainders over for the benefit of the said RANDALL PARSONS RICHARD CLERE PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS respectively and the heirs male of their respective bodies With divers remainder over and an ultimate remainder To the use of the said MARY COUNTESS of ROSSE her heirs and assigns for ever [6] Declaration of Trusts of the terms of 99 years and 500 years respectively Proviso and Declaration that it should be lawful for the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING and the survivor of them and the executors or administratiors of such survivor at any time or times during the life of the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE LAWRENCE LORD OXMANTOWN RANDALL PARSONS RICHARD CLERE PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS or the survivors or survivor of them or within 21 years next after the decease of such survivor at such request or with such consent or at such discretion as thereinafter mentioned to dispose of all or any part of the said manors messuages farms lands and other hereditaments thereby assured or intended so to be and the fee simple and inheritance thereof either by absolute sale for such price or prices in money or in exchange for any such manors messuages lands or hereditaments of equal or greater value held for an estate of inheritance in fee simple in possession and to be situate somewhere in England or Wales as to them the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING or the survivor of them or the executors or administrations of such survivor should seem reasonable and particularly to dispose as aforesaid of any lands forming part of the hereditaments and the mines and minerals under the same either together or separately and in such order as they or he should think fit and also to dispose as aforesaid of the freehold and inheritance of any copyhold hereditaments parcel or held of any manor for the time being subject to the uses of the now abstracting Indenture in order to the enfranchisement of the same hereditaments and to accept a sufficient part of any copyhold hereditaments for or on account of the consideration for the enfranchisement of the residue thereof And for the purpose of completing any such Sale or Exchange or enfranchisement as aforesaid by any deed or deeds writing or writings to be sealed and delivered by them or him in the presence of and attested by two or more witnesses absolutely to revoke the uses which under or by virtue of the now abstracting Indenture should be then subsisting in the estates which should be so sold or given in Exchange or agreed to be enfranchised and to declare such new or other use or uses of the same as the person or persons by whom the same should be respectively purchased or taken in Exchange or agreed to be enfranchised should direct And that upon any such Exchange as aforesaid it should be lawful for the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING and the survivor of them and the executors or administrators of such survivor to give or take any money by way of equality of Exchange and to raise any money to be by them or him so given for the same out of and charge the same upon all any part or parts of the hereditaments to be taken in Exchange and any other hereditaments which under or by virtue of the now abstracting Indenture should stand and be limited to the uses which pursuant to the now abstracting Indenture should be limited in the hereditaments so taken in Exchange And also that upon payment of any moneys to arise by sale or enfranchisement or to be received for equality upon an Exchange of all or any of the said hereditaments thereby assured or intended so to be it should be lawful for the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING the survivor or them and the executors or administrators of such survivor to give receipts in writing for the same And that such receipts should be sufficient discharges to the person or person making such payments respectively so that he or they or his or their heirs or assigns should not afterwards be answerable or accountable for any loss misapplication or nonapplication or be concerned to see to the application of the money thereby acknowledged to be received Declaration that it should not be lawful to make any such sale or enfranchisement or exchange as thereinbefore was authorised of any of the said manors messuages farms lands and other hereditaments without the consent in writing or the person or persons for the time being entitled under the now abstracting Indenture to the freehold and to the possession or enjoyment of the rents and profits of the estate or hereditaments proposed to be sold [7] Enfranchised or given in Exchange as aforesaid under the powers of the now abstracting Indenture if such person or persons should be of full age and not under any mental incapacity or if he she or they should be under the age of 21 years or under any mental incapacity then not without the consent and approbation of his her or their guardian or guardians appointed by Testament or by the High Court of Chancery or the direction or sanction of a Court of Equity or the Lord High Chancellor save that Sales to any Public Companies or other persons who might be authorised and enabled by Act of Parliament to purchase any of the said hereditaments and also any Exchange of small pieces of land for obtaining regular boundary lines or for other purposes of minor improvements or convenience might be made at the discretion of the persons or person for the time being entrusted with the said powers of Sale and Exchange without any such consent or consents as aforesaid if there should not be any person or persons competent to give the same And it is by the now abstracting Indenture also witnessed that in consideration of the premises of the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE and MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE in exercise of the powers for the purpose given by the thereinbefore recited Indentures of the 6th day June 1837 and th the 12 day of May 1840 or either of them and of all other powers and authorities if any enabling them or either of them in that behalf Did and each of then Did by the now abstracting Deed or Instrument in writing so sealed and delivered by them and so attested as in that behalf thereinbefore mentioned jointly and irrevocably direct limit and appoint and the said LAWRENCE PARSONS by the direction etc. testified etc. Did thereby assign and set over unto the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING their executors and administrators ALL and Singular the said leasehold cottage or tenement garden and premises thereinbefore particularly mentioned as comprised in and demised th by the said Indenture of Demise or Lease of the 11 day of November 1686 and all other if any the Leasehold hereditaments in the County of York which whether by original settlement or by partition purchase exchange allotment or otherwise howsoever then were subject to the then subsisting trusts of the said last mentioned premises Together with all and singular ways etc. And all the Estate etc. To have and to hold the same unto the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING their executors administrators and assigns for all the respective residues then to come and unexpired of the several terms of years for which the same respectively were held under the several Indentures of Lease by which the same respectively were granted nevertheless at under and subject to the payment of the rents and observance and performance of the several covenants and agreements reserved and contained in and by the same Indentures of Lease respectively Declaration that the said Leasehold hereditaments should be held upon and for such and the like trusts intents and purposes and with under and subject to such and the like powers privisoes and declarations as were thereinbefore declared of and concerning the same freehold hereditaments so far as the different natures and tenures of the said Estates and hereditaments and the Rules of Law and Equity would admit of and allow [8] Covenants by the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE with the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING that notwithstanding the Acts of himself and the Countess or any person th claiming under them the power by the said Indenture of the 12 day of May 1840 given or limited to them as foresaid was well and effectually created and was then in full force and that said hereditaments as well as leasehold as freehold should thereafter go and remain to upon with and subject to the uses etc. thereinbefore declared For quiet enjoyment Free from incumbrances and for further assurance Covenant by the said LAWRENCE PARSONS as to said Leasehold hereditaments that he had done so act to incumber Proviso and Declaration that if the trustees for the time being for any of the several purposes of the now abstracting Indenture thereby appointed or any of them should die or go to reside beyond the seas or should be desirous of being discharged from or decline or become incapable to act in the trusts or powers thereby in them reposed or in them given respectively as aforesaid the said trusts or powers should be fully executed or at an end then and in every such case as often as the same should happen it should be lawful for the said WILLIAM EARL OF ROSSE and MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE his wife jointly during their lives and after the decease of either of them for the survivor of them during his or her life and after the decease of such survivor then for the person if any who under or by virtue of the now abstracting Indenture or any appointment thereby authorised should for the time being be tenant for life in possession of the freehold estates of inheritance for the time being comprised in or subject to the uses of the now abstracting Indenture by any writing or writings under their his or her hands and seals or hand and seal executed in the presence of a witness or witnesses from time to time to substitute or appoint any one or more person or persons to be a trustee or trustees in the place of any and every trustee so dying going to reside beyond the seas desiring to be discharged or declining or becoming incapable to act as aforesaid or any one person in the vacant places of the several trustees who should have been put in the place of one trustee yet so only that by substituting two or more persons in the place of one trustee the whole body of trustees for one purpose should not at any time be made to exceed four in number And that when and so often as any new trustee or trustees should be appointed as aforesaid all the estate moneys and premises if any which should then be subsisting and held upon or subject to the trusts for the performance whereof such new trustees or trustee should be appointed should be conveyed assigned surrender and transferred respectively in such manner that the same should be vested in the persons or person who after such appointment should be the trustees or trustee thereof respectively upon and for such sand so many of the trusts thereinbefore declared or authorised of and concerning the same estates moneys and premises as should or might be then subsisting or capable or taking effect And that every such new trustee should and might at any time after his appointment whether the trust premises should or should not have been vested as last mentioned in all things act and assist in the management and execution of the trusts or powers to or for the purposes of which he should be appointed as effectually and should have all the same powers authorities and discretions as if had been thereby nominated a trustee Executed by all partied (except the said JOHN GILBERT KING and duly attested (as to the execution by the said Earl and Countess by two witnesses) Registered at Wakefield the 15th November 1866 Book ZL. Page 255 No.290 [9] The Schedule referred to in the above abstracted Indenture comprises (inter alia) Township of Shipley Parish of Bradford Hirst Farm Hirst ??? (inter alia) Description Tenant’s Name A R P Contents 125 House Barn Stable Yard & Samuel Mortimer late John - 1 10 Croft Ratcliffe 123 Round Hill & Near Ing --“----- 3 2 10 124 Pasture --“----- 1 1 13 122 Cranless?? --“----- 1 1 20 132 Cinder Hill --“----- 1 0 0 133 ---Ditto--- --“----- - - 34 130 ---Ditto--- --“----- - - 14 129 New Hirst Mill and Wm Rookes Crompton 31 3 35 Cottages Stansfield Esq 126 Part of Hirst Wood In Hand 131 Cinder Hill ----“_---- 2 4 127 - Holme - Samuel Mortimer late John 2 2 19 Ratcliffe 128 Small wood between In Hand 2 0 4 Canal and River 45 0 3 th 20 August 1870 Indenture of this date made between the said MARY COUNTESS OF Stamp £1.15.0 ROSSE widow of RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM the then late EARL OF ROSSE 3 followers of 10/- each then deceased of the first part the RIGHT HONOURABLE LAWRENCE the then present EARL OF ROSSE of the second part and the said LAWRENCE PARSONS therein described as of Beenham House near Reading in the county of Berks and JOHN GILBERT KING of the third part Reciting the last abstracted Indenture And Reciting that the said then late Earl died in the month of October 1867 And Reciting that the said Countess had issue then living be the said late Earl four children only and no more viz. the said then present EARL and the HONORABLE RANDALL PARSONS the HONORABLE RICHARD CLERE PARSONS and the HONORABLE CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS And Reciting that a Marriage has been agreed upon and was intended to be then shortly had and solemnised between the said present Earl and the HONORABLE FRANCS CASSANDRA HARVEY HAWKE And Reciting that it had been arranged between the said Countess and the said present Earl that she should in exercise of the thereinbefore recited paramount general power then vested in her under the said Indenture of Settlement of Appointment over the hereditaments remaining subject to the uses thereof reserve or limit to herself such power as thereinafter mentioned of charging the said settled hereditaments with moneys for the benefit of her children and their issue as thereinafter mentioned other than himself and his issue and that subject as aforesaid she should release the said paramount general power of appointment in manner thereinafter appearing and subject to the provision thereinafter contained As it Witnessed that in the pursuance of the said arrangement in that behalf and in exercise of the said paramount general power by the said Indenture of Settlement then vested in the said Countess of Appointment over the hereditaments then subject to the uses or trusts of the said Settlement and of all other powers and authorities (if any) enabling her in that behalf She the said MARY COUNTESS OF ROSSE did by that deed or writing by her sealed and delivered in the presence of the person or persons whose name or names were or was intended to be endorsed thereon as a witness or as witnesses in that behalf direct and appoint as followed that was to say That from and after the solemnisation of the said then intended Marriage in case the same should be solemnised within six calendar months from the day of the date of now abstracting Indenture [10] All and every the hereditaments moneys premises comprised in or subject or to become subject to the uses or trusts of the said Indenture of Settlement Should remain and be To the use that she the said Countess might from time to time and at any time thereafter and whether covert or sole exercise such powers as it was thereinafter declared it should lawful for her to exercise And subject thereto To the uses upon the trusts subject to the powers and in the manner to upon subject to and in which the same hereditaments moneys and premises would stand limited and settled in case the paramount general power of Appointment had been omitted from the said Indenture of Settlement Agreement and Declaration that it should be lawful for the said Countess at any time or times thereafter and whether covert or sole and notwithstanding any coverture she might be under by any deed or deeds writing or writings with or without power of revocation and new appointment to be by her sealed and delivered in the presence of a witness or witnesses or by her last Will or any Testament instrument in writing to be executed by her in the presence or two or more subscribing witnesses to subject and charge all or any of the hereditaments comprised in and then subject to the uses or trusts of the said Indenture of Settlement or which thereafter should become subject to the uses or trusts thereof to and with the payment of any sum or sums of money not exceeding in the whole the sum of £20,000 sterling to all or such one or more exclusively of the other or others of the children then living of the said Countess by the said late Earl and the issue to be born in her lifetime or within 21 years next after her decease of all or any of such children other than and except the said present Earl and his issue together with interest at any rate not exceeding £4 for every £100 by the year for the sum or sums so to be charge with such interest to be computed from the time when such charge should actually take effect as thereinafter mentioned or any subsequent time or times and the same sum or sums to be an interest vested or interests vested in and to be paid and payable to or shared and divided between or among all and every or any one or more exclusively of the other or others of the persons objects of that power at such age day or time or respective ages days or times and if more than one in such shares and proportions and with such provisions for the maintenance and education advancement or preferment of any such person either at the discretion of any Trustee or Trustees to be appointed in that behalf or otherwise with such annual sum or sums of money and limitations over (such annual sum or sums of money and limitations over to be for the benefit of one or more of the persons objects of this now abstracting power) and in such manner as the said Countess should deem meet and also for providing for the raising of such sum or sums and interest for the same respectively to direct or appoint all or any part of the hereditaments so to be charged as thereinbefore was mentioned with their appurtenances to any person or persons whomsoever for any term or terms of years with or without impeachment of waste to take effect as thereinafter mentioned and with such provisions as she might think fit for the appointment of new Trustees thereof from time to time upon any usual or reasonable trusts to raise by mortgage sale or otherwise the money so to be charged and the interest thereof so that the estate or estates so to be limited or appointed should be made to cease (subject and without prejudice to any disposition or dispositions which might be made under the trusts to be [11] declared thereof as aforesaid) or be made redeemable on full payment by the person or persons for the time being entitled to the same hereditaments in reversion expectant upon the determination of the term or terms so to be created as aforesaid of the sum or sums of money so to be charge and the interest thereof and the costs charges and expenses (if any) to be incurred in or about the execution of the trusts Declaration that the powers thereinbefore limited to the said Countess as aforesaid should be read and construed in the same manner as nearly as might be as if the same powers had been originally inserted in the said Indenture of Settlement and further that any provision which the said Countess should under the said power to charge thereinbefore limited to her make for any of her children or other issue objects of the same power should in default of and subject to any direction by her to the contrary be in addition to and not in substitution for any other provisions which such children or issue respectively might under the said Indenture of Settlement or otherwise be entitled to Further Declaration and the said Countess in exercise of her said paramount general power did thereby appoint that the powers which were thereinbefore reserved and expressed to be given to the said Countess over the aforesaid hereditaments in order or with a view to sell for building purposes to advantage should also with such consent or at such discretion as was by the said Indenture of Settlement required for the exercise of the powers of sale and exchange therein contained be exercisable from time to time by the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of the same powers And also that the same Trustees or Trustee might with such consent or at such discretion as last aforesaid from time to time apply out of any trust moneys which should come to their or his hands any sum or sums which they or he might think fit in making roads upon any parts of the said hereditaments laid out for building purposes or sewers or drains in or under or to or from the same Proviso and Declaration that inasmuch as the said Countess had already either by herself or her Agents entered into several contracts in writing for sales to divers parties of parties of parts of the said settled hereditaments the particulars of which contracts were briefly set forth in the Schedule thereto and such contracts or some of them had not then yet been completed it should be lawful for the said Countess under her said paramount general power of appointment to carry out the same contracts or any of them and to deal with and for her own absolute benefit dispose of all or any of the purchase or other moneys received or receivable under the same contracts or any of them in the same manner to all intents and purposes as she might have done if the now abstracting Indenture had never been made or executed The Schedule therein referred to Date of Contract Property Purchaser’s Name Amount of Purchase Money £ s d th 18 June 1869 853 yards Road to Keighley Jabez Copley £170 0s 0d th 28 April 1870 895 yards Rosse Street West Riding Justices £447 0s 0d 3rd June 1870 1250 yards Kirkgate W. Barrett £312 10s 0d Do. 2470 yards Barrett Street and Do. £432 5s 0d Alexandra Road Do. 5990 yards Albert Road Do. £1013 5s 0d Barrett Street and Alexandra Road th 25 June 1870 1410 yards Abraham Hainsworth £282 0s 0d £2657 0s 0d [12] Executed by the said COUNTESS OF ROSSE and LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LAWRENCE PARSONS in the presence of and attested by two Witnesses Registered at Wakefield the 10th July 1872 Book 675 Page 481 No. 539 ------------------ th N.B. – LORD ROSSE (Lawrence 4 Earl of Rosse) and THE HONORABLE MISS HAWKE were married on st the 1 September 1870 at Womersley Church Pontefract THE DOWAGER COUNTESS OF ROSSE died 22nd July 1885 and was buried at Parsontown King’s County Ireland She died without having exercised the power of charging with £20,000 THE HONORABLE LAWRENCE PARSONS died on the 22nd November 1894 at Winkfield Place Winkfield Windsor (he was brother to William Parsons 3rd Earl of Rosse) ------------------ 1895 May 29th Indenture of this date made between the said RIGHT HONOURABLE Stamp £1 LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE of the first part the said JOHN GILBERT KING of the second part THE HONOURABLE AND REVERED RANDAL PARSONS of Sandhurst Rectory Wokingham in the County of Berks Clerk in Holy Orders and THE HONOURABLE CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS of Holeyn Hall Wylam-on-Tyne in the County of Northumberland of the third part Reciting the hereinbefore abstracted Indenture dates 25th September 1866 And Reciting the death of the said then late EARL and that all his said children had attained the age of 21 years And Reciting certain deeds and other matters not material for the purposes of this Abstract And Reciting the death of the said COUNTESS OF ROSSE And Reciting the death of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS And Reciting that he said JOHN GILBERT KING was desirous of being th discharged from the trusts of the principal Indenture of the 25 September 1866 and the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE was desirous of appointing the said RANDAL PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS to be Trustees thereof in the place of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING and the said RANDAL PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS had consented to become such Trustees It is Witnessed that in exercise of the power for that purpose under the principal Indenture vested in the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and of every or any other power enabling him in that behalf he the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE Did thereby appoint the said RANDAL PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS to be Trustees in the place of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS and JOHN GILBERT KING of and for all purposes of the principal Indenture or such of them as might be then subsisting and capable of taking effect Declaration by the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE that all such of the hereditaments (whether of freehold or leasehold tenure) comprised in the principal Indenture as remained unsold and all other lands and hereditaments (if any) which by any means whatsoever had become or were the comprised in or subject to the uses or trusts of the principal Indenture should forthwith vest in the said RANDAL PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS their heirs executors administrators and assigns respectively (according to the nature of the property) as joint tenants for all such estates and interests as the said JOHN GILBERT KING had therein immediately before the execution of the now abstracting Indenture and upon the trusts and subject to the powers and provisions applicable thereto respectively by virtue of the principal Indenture [13] Executed by all the said parties and attested Registered at Wakefield the 19th day of July 1895 in Vol. 23 Page 1001 No. 494 ------------------ 1898 June 23rd Indenture of this date made between the said RIGHT HONOURABLE Stamp 10/- LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE of the first part THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM EDWARD PARSONS commonly and thereinafter called LORD OXMANTOWN of the second part and RICHARD BETTON FOSTER of 2 Gray’s Inn Square in the County of Middlesex Esquire of the third part After Reciting (inter alia) the hereinbefore abstracted Indenture dated 25th September 1866 and the death of the said late Earl without having joined with the late Countess in exercising either of the joint powers of appointment reserved to them by the said Indenture of Settlement as thereinbefore recited And Reciting that there were seven children and no more of the marriage of the said late Earl and Countess (that was to say) the said LAWRENCE present EARL OF ROSSE THE HONOURABLE RANDALL PARSONS THE HONOURABLE RICHARD CLERE PARSONS and THE HONOURABLE CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS all of whom attained the age of twenty-one years and three others who died in infancy th And Reciting the hereinbefore abstracted Indenture dates 29 August 1870 And Reciting the death of the said MARY LATE COUNTESS OF ROSSE on the 22nd July 1885 without having exercised any of the powers of appointment vested in her th under the said Indenture of Settlement and the said Indenture of the 29 August 1870 further or otherwise than as thereinbefore recited And Reciting the death of the said LAWRENCE PARSONS on the 22nd November 1894 th And Reciting the hereinbefore abstracted Indenture dated 29 May 1895 And Reciting that the said LORD OXMANTOWN was the first son of the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and attained the age of twenty-one years on the 14th June 1894 And Reciting that the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN were desirous of barring the estate in tail male and all other estates in tail of the said LORD OXMANTOWN in the said hereditaments monies and premises and all estates interests and powers to take effect after the determination or in defeazance thereof and of assuring and limiting the same in manner thereinafter expressed It was witnessed that in pursuance of such desire and in consideration of the premises the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and the said LORD OXMANTOWN with the consent of the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE as Protector of the settlement according to their respective estates and interests in the premises Did respectively thereby grant unto the said RICHARD BETTON FOSTER [14] All and singular the manors and freehold messuages farms lands and hereditaments situate or arising in the County of York comprised in or assured by the said Indenture of Settlement Save and except such part of parts of the said hereditaments and premises as by means of any sale exchange partition enclosure award or otherwise had been disposed of or parted with or become extinguished And Also (by way of conveyance and not of exception) ALL other freehold hereditaments which by means of any conveyance assurance exchange partition enclosure award allotment or otherwise had become subject to the uses or trusts of the said Indenture of Settlement And all other (if any) freehold hereditaments of which the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE was then by any means tenant for life and the said LORD OXMANTOWN was tenant in tail male at law or in equity under or by virtue of the said Indenture of Settlement To hold the same unto the said RICHARD BETTON FOSTER and his heirs Discharged from all estates in tail male or in tail of the said LORD OXMANTOWN at law or in equity and all estates rights interests and powers to take effect after the determination or in defeazance of such estates in tail male or in tail To such uses upon such trusts and subject to such powers and provisions as the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN should at any time or times thereafter by any deed or deeds revocable or irrevocable jointly appoint and in default of and subject to any such joint appointment To the uses upon the trusts and subject to the powers and provisions to upon and subject to which under or by virtue of the said Indenture of Settlement the same premises respectively stood limited and settled immediately before the execution of the now abstracting Indenture or such of the same uses trusts powers and provisions as might be subsisting or capable of taking effect and so as to restore and confirm the same use trusts powers and provisions Testatum affecting the personalty Executed by the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN and duly attested th Registered at Wakefield 25 June 1898 Vol.28 Page 435 No. 210 [15] Enrolled in the Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature the 7th July 1898 pursant to the Act of Parliament 3rd and 4th William the th 4 Cap.74 ------------------ 1898 June 24th Indenture of this date made between the said RIGHT HONOURABLE LAWRENCE st Stamp 10/- EARL OF ROSSE of the 1 part and the said HONOURABLE WILLIAM EDWARD PARSONS (commonly and thereinafter called LORD OXMANTOWN) of the second part and the said HONOURABLE AND REVEREND RANDAL PARSONS and the said HONOURABLE CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS of the third part After Reciting (inter alia) that by virtue of the abstracted Indenture of Settlement th rd dated the 25 September 1866 and the abstracted Indenture of the 23 June 1898 and of divers other deeds and assurances recited or referred to in the said Indentures or one of them and by virtue of the exercise of certain powers in the said Indenture of Settlement contained and in the events which had happened the hereditaments of freehold tenure comprised in the first Schedule of the now abstracting Indenture then stood limited To such uses upon such trusts and subject to such powers and provisions as the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN should at any time or times thereafter by any deed or deeds revocable or irrevocable jointly appoint and in default of and subject to any such joint appointment To the uses therein expressed or referred to After Reciting that under or by virtue of the said Indenture of Settlement of the th th 25 of September 1866 and the abstracted Indenture of the 29 May 1895 certain leasehold hereditaments therein comprise or referred to or such parts thereof as had not been sold or otherwise disposed of were then vested in the said RANDAL PARSONS AND CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS for the respective residues then unexpired of the several terms of years for which the same respectively were held under the Lease or respective Leases by which the same respectively were granted subject to the rents covenants and conditions reserved by and contained in such Lease or respective Leases In trust for such person or persons as should from time to time by virtue of the limitations contained in the said Indenture of Settlement be entitled in possession to the freehold hereditaments thereby settled and for such of the like estate or interest as such person or persons should the have or be entitled in the same freehold hereditaments and under and subject to such powers and provisions as were therein declared of and concerning the same freehold hereditaments and by virtue of which trust the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE was then tenant for life in possession of the same premises And subject thereto and to the powers thereinafter referred to the said LORD OXMANTOWN was absolutely entitled to the same hereditaments And Reciting that under or by virtue of the said Indenture of Settlement of the 23rd September 1866 certain powers of jointure and charging portions (which had not thitherto been exercised) and other powers were vested in the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE And Reciting that the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE AND LORD OXMANTOWN had agreed to make such resettlement as was thereinafter contained of the said freehold hereditaments described in the said First Schedule thereto and the said leasehold hereditaments and all other if any the hereditaments of whatever tenure in the County of York which were then subject to their joint power of Appointment [16] It was witnessed that in pursuance of the said Agreement and in consideration of the premises they the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN as Settlors in exercise of the power vested in them by the said Indenture of the 23rd June 1898 and of every or any other power enabling them or either of them in that behalf did and each of them did thereby direct and appoint that All and singular the manors and freehold messuage farms lands and other hereditaments specified in the said first Schedule thereto (and delineated on the plan annexed to the now abstracting Indenture) And all other (if any) the hereditaments of freehold tenure in the County of York which were subject to the joint power of appointment vested in the said LAWRENCE EARLOF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN as aforesaid Should thenceforth go and remain To the Uses following (that was to say) To such uses upon such trusts and with and subject to such powers and provisions as the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN should from time to time by any deed or deeds revocable or irrevocable jointly appoint and in default of and subject to any such appointment To the use that the said LORD OXMANTOWN should during the joint lives of himself and the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE receive the yearly rent charge of £300 to commence from the 24th June 1898 and to be charged upon and issuing out of all the hereditaments thereby settled and to be considered as accruing from day to day but to be payable quarterly as therein mentioned And subject and charged as aforesaid To the use of the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and his assigns during his life without impeachment of waste in restoration and by way of confirmation of the life estate of the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE limited to him by the th said Indenture of Settlement of the 25 September 1866 and of the powers annexed to such life estate Remainder To the use of the said LORD OXMANTOWN and his assigns during his life without impeachment of waste Remainder To the uses therein mentioned Agreement that it should not be necessary for any person intending to exercise any powers conferred by the Settled Land Acts of 1882 to 1890 in relation to any hereditaments for the time being subject to the uses or trusts of the now abstracting Indenture to give any notice of such intention to the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of the same Indenture or to their or his Solicitors [17] And further that such dispensation from the necessity of giving such Notice should be applicable in the case of any exercise of any such powers by the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE as tenant for life th under the said Indenture of Settlement on the 25 September 1866 Proviso and Agreement extending the powers of the Settled Land Acts 1882 to 1890 as to leasing sale and other matters including a power to appropriate and lay out or to authorise the Lessee or Lessees or Grantee or Grantees in any Lease or Grant in fee made under any of the powers of the now abstracting Indenture or of the said Acts to appropriate and lay out any part of the hereditaments and premises thereby settled as sites for and to erect build and make thereon at the cost of the trust estate or to authorise any such Lessee or Lessees or Grantee or Grantees as aforesaid to erect build and make thereon any churches chapels schools houses or other buildings parks squares gardens or other open spaces roads paths sewers drains water-courses waterworks water pipes gas works gas pipes electric lights works or any other works which might tend to the adaptation and improvement or development of the hereditaments thereby settled or any part or parts thereof as a building estate and either to dedicate the same to the public or to convey or demise the same in fee simple or for any term of years to any Corporation or public body or Authority for any purposes for which they were or might be authorised to accept the same or to any person or Trustees upon the trust to be declared concerning the same for the public or for the residents on or Lessees of the hereditaments or premises thereby settled or any part or parts thereof or the residents or owners of any adjoining property or to demise the same to any such Lessee or lessees as aforesaid and so that any such Convenance or demise might be made either gratuitously or for such consideration in money either in gross to be received by the said Trustees or Trustee and applied as if the same had arisen from a sale of the said premises or by way of rent to be received by the person or persons for the time being entitled to the rents and profits of the said premises or in land easements rights or hereditaments to be conveyed or assured to the uses or upon the trusts of the now abstracting Indenture as if the same had been purchased with monies arising from a sale of the said premises or otherwise to be annexed in enjoyment to the hereditaments for the time being settled to the uses of the now abstracting Indenture or some part or parts thereof or partly for one or partly for any other of such consideration and with such reservations and restrictions and generally on such terms as the person or persons exercising that power shall think fit And it was also witnessed that in further pursuance of the said Agreement and in consideration of the premises The said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE and LORD OXMANTOWN as Settlors Did and each of them Did thereby according to their respective estates and interest in the premises direct and declare that the said RANDAL PARSONS and CHARLES AGERNON PARSONS their Executors administrators and assign should stand possessed of All and singular the leasehold hereditaments and premises thereinbefore referred to And all other (if any) the leasehold hereditaments in the County of York which whether by original settlement or by partition exchange allotment or otherwise howsoever than were subject to the trusts of the said Indenture of Settlement on the 25th September 1866 for the several residues remaining unexpired of the respective terms or estates for which the same were respectively held and subject to the rents covenants and conditions reserved by and contained in the said respective leases [18] Upon Trust that he said RANDAL PARSONS AND CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS or the survivor of them should by and out of the rents and profits of the said respective leasehold premiss pay the rents (if any) and perform and observe the covenants (if any) by the several Lessees and conditions (if any) by and in the said several Leases reserved and contained and subject thereto Upon such Trusts and subject to such powers and provisions as should correspond with the uses trusts powers and provisions thereinbefore declared and contained concerning the freehold hereditaments thereby settled or as near thereto as the nature of the premises would permit but not so as to increase or multiply charges or powers of charging and so that the said leasehold premises should not vest absolutely in any person thereby made tenant in tail male or in tail by purchase unless he or she should attain the age of 21 years but on his or her death under that age should devolve in the same manner as if the same had formed part of the freeholds inheritance thereby settled Proviso and Agreement that nothing therein contained should in anywise prejudice or affect the powers of jointuring and charging portions and other powers annexed to the life estate of the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE or the powers exercisable by the respective Trustees or Trustee with the consent of the said LAWRENCE EARL OF ROSSE contained in the said Indenture of Settlement of the th 25 day of September 1866 or the statutory powers incident to the said life estate or which would have been incident thereto but for the now abstracting presents or any of the such respective powers and that the uses estates and powers limited or created by the now abstracting presents or by any exercise of the powers therein contained should from time to time be over-reached by the exercise of the said powers contained in the said Indenture of Settlement or the said statutory powers in the same manner as if the estates uses and powers limited or created by the now abstracting presents had th been limited or created by the said Indenture of Settlement on the 25 day of September 1866 Agreement that he said RANDAL PARSONS and CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS and the survivor of them or other the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of those presents should be and they were thereby appointed Trustees of the now abstracting Indenture and of any compound settlement consisting of the now abstracting Indenture and any other instrument or instruments for the purposes of the Settled Land Acts 1882 to 1890 and of any powers by the now abstracting Indenture or thereby conferred by reference to or by way of extension or enlargement of the powers of the said Acts And that a sole Trustee for the time being of the now abstracting Indenture should be competent to act for all purposes of the said Acts or such powers as aforesaid including the receipt of capital money and notices thereunder Proviso that any and every reference therein contained to the Settled Land Acts 1882 to 1890 or any of such Act should be deemed to extend to and include any Act or Acts from time to time in force extending amending or re-enacting the same but not so as to abridge or restrict any of the powers thereby conferred by reference thereto [19]
Abstract of land transfers: Transcription of indenture
The handwritten conveyance, dated 5th January 1921, is an original deed, transferring Hirst Mills and Hirst House, and land behind the house between the river and the canal, to Glyn Thomas. Registered at the West Riding Registry of Deeds 17th January 1921. The conveyance includes a coloured plan of the land referenced in the deed
No copyright restrictions. Please acknowledge the work's author (if known) and the item's source
The original handwritten conveyance, dated 5th January 1921, is an original deed, transferring Hirst Mills and Hirst House, and land behind the house between the river and the canal, to Glyn Thomas. Registered at the West Riding Registry of Deeds 17th January 1921. The conveyance includes a coloured plan of the land referenced in the deed
B1-032/5/14: Salts Mill :Volume Five : Collections of photographs of Saltaire Mill
Salts Mill :Volume Five : Collections of photographs of Saltaire Mill
Sir Titus Salt Bart. Sons & Co Limited: Front of Silver Jubillee booklet
Salts Mill, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
B1-032/5/15: Canal barge by the New Mill (2)
A photograph of a canal barge moored in the front of the New Mill. Two men can be seen on the barge with three others standing behind the beside it and one man leaning on the railings.
Photograph of New Mill from the canal bridge
Photograph showing canal barges unloading coal on the Leeds and LIverpool canal
B1-342: Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Copy of plan of Saltaire Mill between the railway and the canal
B1-343: Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Copy of outline plan of original building of Saltaire Mill between the railway and the canal (DEGW)
B1-576: Salts Mill. A collection of photographs purchased from Burrows, Dorothy by the Salts Trust (mounted on board).
Salts Mill. A collection of photographs purchased from Burrows, Dorothy by the Salts Trust (mounted on board).
Coal barge on canal. One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
Canal barge. One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
C2b-102/4/10: Aerial view of mill, river & canal
Aerial view of mill, river & canal. One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
C2b-180: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Photocopy of a sheet containing multiple images of Saltaire: canal, railway station etc.
Ink drawing of a view of Saltaire from Hirst Lock on the Leeds to Liverpool canal.
C3b-272a-b: The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon
The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon
2 copies of booklet: 'The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon' by Ian Watson
Salt, Titus, Sir: Portrait photograph of Titus Salt in later life
THE LAND ACQUISITIONS OF TITUS SALT by Ian Watson 1 Ian Watson (2011) 2 3 INTRODUCTION The basic story of Titus Salt building up his textile empire in Bradford, and then, at the point when he might have been expected to retire, deciding to start a whole new project, developing a gigantic mill and model village, is well known. What does not seem to have been covered within the general literature on Salt and his mill, is the story of his property purchases in this area. In particular, there is little reference to his, quite substantial acquisitions in Baildon; which, as I will show, were not only on a larger scale than his purchases in Shipley, but in one instance pre-dated them. Also, few of the authors who have covered the story of Saltaire mention Dixon Mill Lane. Neither Balgarnie nor Cudworth refer to it at all, and those authors who do mention it, do so only in passing. There is also an assumption, by some authors, that the old lane, seen in the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map, was upgraded and widened and became Victoria Rd. The evidence presented below disproves that assumption. It details the chronological developments relating to Dixon Mill Lane and Victoria Rd, and the bridging of the River Aire. This occurred between the survey for the first edition Ordnance Survey map, published in 1852 and the next series, surveyed in the 1880s, by which time the building of Saltaire had been completed. This report concentrates on previously unpublished information on the development of the village and tries to avoid repeating those well-known aspects of its history. Most of the information regarding Titus Salt’s purchases in Shipley and Baildon comes from the collection of deed copies held in the Registry of Deeds at the West Yorkshire Archive Service Office based at the West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield. The Registry is the place where property owners could have details of their freehold property and mortgage transactions recorded and covers the years between 1704 and 1970. One of the problems with these deed copies is that it is very unusual for the early ones to have any maps or plans attached, as do some of the later ones. This means that, in some cases, the precise boundaries of the purchases are not always easy to determine. 4 The description of the properties transferred in the deeds tend to be lists of field names, so I have tried to relate the information in the deeds to the details shown on the tithe maps of Shipley and Baildon, which date from the mid-1840s. However, some of the boundaries of the acquisitions that I identify may not be a hundred percent accurate, as it is not always possible to make a perfect match between the two sets of documents. A second source of information comes from the collection of Shipley and Baildon papers that can be found within the West Riding Quarter Session records, also held at Wakefield. These Quarter Sessions courts were the main system of county administration before the introduction of County Councils in 1888. Among the many issues considered by these courts were the applications to approve the transfers of public rights of way from old roads to new ones. The information contained in these records has proved particularly informative. The papers relating to Baildon [the QT series] are part of the Quarter Session papers for the Liberty of Cawood, Wistow and Otley. As the parish of Otley, of which Baildon was a part, was a ‘Peculiar’ of the Archbishopric of York, their Quarter Session records were administered separately from rest of the West Riding until 1864, when the ‘Liberty’ was brought within the West Riding. As a result, on their arrival at Wakefield, these records were recorded separately. They are now searchable via the West Yorkshire Archive Service web-site (http://www.wyjs.org.uk). The files relating to Shipley [the QS1 series] can only be accessed on- site at the Wakefield office. Many of the plans used as source material for this study have been in storage for over a 150 years. As such, they are often creased and dirty. Consequently, the illustrations used below reflect the non-pristine condition of these plans. The plans reference to the Quarter Session papers [the QS and QT series] are reproduced here by the kind permission of the West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, who own the copyright. In addition, I would like to thank the following people and organisations: The archivist and volunteers of the Midland Railway Study Centre, Derby, and Julie Woodward and the management of Shipley College for permission to copy and reproduce documents held with the Saltaire Archive Collection. Ian Watson 2011 5 THE SHIPLEY PURCHASES The full extent of Titus Salt’s land purchases in Shipley is highlighted with this aerial view. Salt’s Shipley Acquisitions (taken from Google Map) The area within the purple border, which extends from Hirst Mill and Hirst Lane in the west, to part way down Saltaire Road in the east, shows the whole of Titus Salts acquisitions in Shipley. The northern boundary is the River Aire, while the southern boundary is Bingley Road. This can be compared to the area occupied by the mill and village, which is shown in orange. Here, then, is evidence that Salt bought well over twice as much land as he needed for the village. The orange border also marks the boundary of the Saltaire World Heritage site, on the Shipley side of the river. Though Roberts/Saltaire Park, across the river in Baildon, is also included within the SWH boundary. The yellow oblong marks the one piece of quarry land, situated behind the Alms Houses at the top of Victoria Road, that was bought by his sons after Titus Salt’s death . 6 The original owners The above plan identifies all the individual blocks of land that Titus Salt bought in Shipley. The land now occupied by the mill and village was originally owned by 8 different land owners. In addition to these purchases, Salt bought land on both the east and west side of the future village from a further 6 individuals. Making a total of 14 separate purchases between 1850 and 1874. All of the fields shown in the plan, with the exception of the land between Saltaire Road and Bingley Road, consisted of conventional farmland at the time of the purchases, and contained a range of arable, pasture and grass-meadow. The fields between Saltaire Road and Bingley Road, though, had been created out of rough moorland by the Shipley Enclosure Act (1815-1825). This land contained good quality sandstone, which was suitable for quarrying. It is almost certain that, having obtained permission for quarrying from the Lord of the Manor, stone from this site, and quarries in other parts of Shipley and the surrounding area were used in the construction of the mill and village. 7 First Shipley Purchase 1850 According to the information in the deed of sale, the first purchase in Shipley appears to have been in late December 1850 when Titus Salt bought around 22 acres of land from William Crompton Stansfield of Esholt Hall, for £12,000. There appears to have been no public notice of this land being placed on sale, so it may have taken place through a private contact. This land ran between the Shipley to Bramley Turnpike Road, later Saltaire Road, and the river. This purchase, highlighted in red in the above plan, included most of the fields on either side of an ancient track called Dixon Mill Lane, along with the old corn and fulling mill down by the river. It also included a tiny piece of land on the Baildon side of the river. There had been a mill at the bottom of Dixon Mill Lane since 1635, when William Dixon had bought or leased the land on the south bank of the Aire, along with the small plot on the north bank in Baildon. This, I presume, would have been a standard requirement when someone needed to build a water-driven mill, as they would have needed control of at least some land on the opposite side of the river in order to build the weir. Following the purchase, Dixon built a water-powered corn mill and a fulling mill on the site, along with the weir and a goit. Fulling is one of the final processes in the manufacture of woollen cloth. Fulling stocks consisted of large wooden hammers, which were driven by the power from a water-wheel. They were used beat the woven cloth in order to blend the short woollen fibres together and produce a firm hard- wearing cloth. 8 The main part of Dixon’s Mill was built over the gap created by the cutting of a goit (a man-made cut) along the length of a gravel bank that lay roughly parallel to the south bank of the river. This goit allowed water to be drawn under the mill to power the water-wheels. It then ran out along the goit. A surviving plan of the complex (see page 11) shows that the mill complex consisted of relatively small buildings, and, as such, would only have employed a limited number of workers. th By the beginning of the 19 century there was a corn mill, a fulling mill and a woollen mill operating here. The whole complex was run through the power of three water-wheels; one running the corn-milling stones; one running four fulling stocks and one running the carding and scribbling, a processes involving the disentangling of the woollen fibres, prior to spinning. As the deed of purchase shows, however, at the time that Salt bought it, only the corn mill and the fulling mill were operating. The corn mill was being operated at that time by John and Joseph Knowles, and the fulling mill by James Davidson. Dixon’s Mill and the cottages 9 Just four years prior to Salt’s 1850 purchase, the new railway line from Shipley to Colne had been cut through Dixon Mill Lane. The plan above shows how the land on which the future mill and village would be constructed looked in the mid-1840s. The construction of the railway would have required some alteration to the lane as it approached the intersection with the line. It would seem that the levelling of the bed for the rail track as it passed this section had created a shallow embankment on the southern side of the line, and this would have needed to have been breached to allow the old road to descend to the track level. A level crossing was constructed at the intersection with the lane, and a cottage was built on the north side of the track for the crossing-keeper. In 1851, the crossing was manned by Joseph Goldsborough. Immediately to the north of the crossing-keeper’s cottage was a long row of cottages running parallel to the lane. It is likely that they were built sometime after 1837, following Crompton Stansfield’s purchase of the land on the west side of Dixon Mill Lane. Prior to this time the land had been owned by a wealthy Bramhope man, Christopher Driver. By 1837, it had passed into the hands of a John Morley of Dishforth, and it was Morley who sold it to Crompton Stansfield. Salt’s deed of purchase says that there were eight cottages in the row, though the census, taken in March 1851, shows that there were 11 families living in the houses. The heads of the households included a clothier, three wool combers, a cloth miller and a cloth fuller, all of whom, presumably, would have worked in the nearby mill. There was also a maltster, who might have worked in any of the many beer-houses in Shipley, two stone-quarrymen, who would probably have worked in the quarries off ‘Saltaire Rd’ and two coal miners, who may have worked in the pits of nearby Moorhead and Northcliffe. One of the cottages was occupied by a William Craven, who had nine children, which, along with his wife, meant that there were 11 people in that one small cottage. 10 Dixon’s Mill yard -The path to the stepping stones Beyond the cottages, a swing-bridge carried the old lane over the Leeds and Liverpool canal. (The base of this bridge can still be seen on the south bank of the canal, just to the east of the present canal bridge) Dixon Mill Lane, being, presumably, part of an ancient cross-valley route between Shipley, Baildon and Eldwick, was a public bridle way and public right of way. Once over the canal the public pathway led through Dixon’s Mill yard, and then towards the river bank, where a set of stepping stones allowed traveller to cross the river. (The public right-of- way is shown on the above plan by the black line) Once on the Baildon side, the traveller would then have had to wade through a shallow ford, before fully gaining the northern bank. The most famous user of these stepping-stones was the Airedale Poet, John Nicholson, who drowned at this spot in April 1843, while crossing the river, on his way to Eldwick. 11 The second Dixon Mill Lane A short time after Titus Salt had completed the purchase of this land he started the construction of a new road, that ran, more or less parallel to the old Dixon Mill Lane. In order to complete this new road, which initially became the second Dixon Mill Lane, Salt also built a set of bridges over the railway, the canal and the river. Prior to this he obtained permission from the Quarter Session Magistrates to close the public right of way on the old lane and stepping stones and transfer the rights to his new lane and bridges. (The above plan, incidentally, gives a slightly misleading impression of these roads, due to the fact that the original plan was folded and crumpled, and proved impossible to smooth out when taking the photograph of it). Salt must have recognised the necessity of constructing a new road and building bridges over both the canal and the railway, in order to facilitate the expected heavy traffic following the opening of the mill, and avoid the obvious problems of using the level crossing and a swing-bridge, 12 However, the cast-iron bridge over the railway line required the approval of two railway companies before it could be built: “We the Leeds and Bradford Railway Company being the owners and We the Midland Railway Company being the occupiers of land over and near which the Extension of the Leeds and Bradford Railway from Shipley to Colne passes, being part of the lands described in the plan hereunto annexed, through and over which part of a certain highway lying between the Shipley and Bramley Turnpike Road and the River Aire is intended to be diverted and turned, in consideration of Titus Salt of Crownest in the township of Hipperholme cum Brighouse in the Parish of Halifax in the West Riding of the County of York Esquire, his heirs or assignees, making and for ever hereafter maintaining such new Highway and the bridge by means of which the same is to cross the said railway, Do hereby consent to the making and continuing such new highway through and over the said Lands and Railway Given under our respective common seals this twenty eighth day of April One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two”. (QS1/191/10) The construction of the new road would have involved the demolition of the cottages lining the old lane, and the relocation of their tenants. It is not known what happened to the majority of these people. Census records show that by 1861 one of the hand wool-combers, Mr Else and his family, had moved to Briggate in Windhill; while Mr Goldsborough, the level-crossing keeper, had become a gardener, working at Holling Hall, at the top of Moorhead Lane. The corn miller, Mr Pickard, who had been living in Dixon Mill yard, was in the same occupation in 1861, though now living in Providence Rd, at nearby Dockfield. 13 In order for the new road to go over the railway, at the height required to allow rail traffic to pass safely under the bridge, an embankment had to be constructed to raise the road. This embankment appears to start just north of Caroline Street and increases in height as the road approaches the railway, while at the same time allowing the road to drop very gently, at the rate of seven feet between Caroline Street to the start of the bridge. The rear of the lower Victoria Road shops The extent of this ramp can best be seen by looking from Albert Terrace along the rear of the Victoria Rd shops, and noting the differing heights of the basements (see illustration above). The natural fall of the hill can be seen in the slope of the back lane. The road on the north side of the railway bridge is supported on a much shorter ramp, designed to carry the road down at a steeper angle to bring it down to the level of the mill yard within a short distance. The canal was then crossed by another new bridge, 68 feet long. (Evidence of the canal company’s approval for the canal bridge, which would have been required, has not, as yet, been located). 14 The First Bridge across the river Once across the canal, the new road was carried over the river by a new, 450 ft. long, bridge, which crossed the river at a 30-degree angle to the road. There appears to be no logical reason for the decision to build the bridge at an angle, as it would have been a much narrower span if the bridge had crossed the river in a straight line, and there is no doubt that by this time Salt owned the land directly opposite. The bridge was a type of tubular girder bridge. That is, a bridge that was not a fully enclosed box, but where the tubular element was in the sides of the bridge and consisted of narrow hollow sections locked together by a hollow box on top of each side. As can be seen in the illustration below, the box-type top sections of the two sides are a feature of the bridge. Although there is no evidence to prove it, it is possible that the bridge was designed by William Fairbairn, who had played an important part in the construction of the mill. It is known that Fairbairn had done much of the early research into the structural properties of wrought iron, the material used in the construction of the bridge. The only known fact about this first bridge is that it was constructed by Messrs. Butler of Stanningley, a firm of bridge builders. 15 First Bridge-print The print above is of that first bridge, though the angle of the view gives the appearance that the bridge is straight. We know that it is the first bridge because of its stone piers. (This print differs from the plan submitted to the Quarter Session Magistrates, shown on page15, in that it only shows four buttresses; one on the north bank of the canal, one on the south bank of the river, one in the middle of the river and one on the north bank of the river; while the plan suggests that there were as many as six, with a double pair on the north bank of the river, and an extra one between the canal bank and the river bank). Following Salt’s application to the county authorities, two West Riding magistrates, Benjamin Thompson and Richard Dyneley Chamberlain came to Shipley in May 1852, to survey the existing arrangements, and to assess the planned changes. They reported back to the Quarter Sessions on the improvements that the new road and bridges would bring compared to the old lane and stepping-stones. “ … and we certify that the said proposed intended new highway or part of a highway is nearer and more commodious to the public … as it crosses the said River Aire by a wide and permanent bridge, whereas the (existing) highway … crosses the said River Aire by a ford and stepping- stones, and is often attended with danger and is altogether impracticable 16 in consequence of the flooding of heavy rain during a considerable part of the winter months … and that the said proposed bridge is of the width th of 27 feet.” (5 May 1852: QT3/4/11) This was followed by: “It is ordered that so much of the said mentioned highway (which leads_ from the town of Shipley …. (over) the ford and stepping stones over The River Aire … (is to be) diverted and stopped up... And in its place a new highway is to be set out and made”. rd (3 July 1852: QT3/4/11) Approval for the stopping up of the old lane and the transfer of the public right of way onto the new road and bridge was sought and given at a sitting of the Quarter Session magistrates at Bradford in June 1852. Although the records show that the road and the bridge were not officially passed for public use until October 1855, it is almost certain that both were in use prior to this time. The first bridge across the river stood for about 12 years. It was then demolished, and a new bridge was built to replace it. There is little information concerning the demolition and re-building. One of the few newspaper references to the changes taking place is a newspaper report referring to an incident in May 1868, when a man, named Henry Wood, working on the demolition of the old bridge, was killed. The accident was witnessed by Titus Salt Jr, who happened to be observing the work at the time. Construction of the new bridge, 327 feet in length, and running straight across the river this time, commenced in 1867. It was completed in 1868. The new bridge was supported by cast-iron columns. The reason for the replacement of the stone buttresses with hollow, cast-iron tubes is not known. It is more than likely that the top section of the old bridge was used in the new bridge, as old photographs show that the new bridge was also a tubular girder bridge. These old photographs also imply that the caps of the supports were re-used, though they were removed some time before this second bridge was demolished. 17 Reconstruction of the two Dixon Mill Lanes relative to Victoria Road It is important to realise that the new road that Titus Salt constructed to replace the original Dixon Mill Lane was not the Victoria Road that exists today. Using the plans from the various Salt applications to the Quarter Sessions and an undated plan of the village by Lockwood and Mawson, showing the village superimposed onto the early field layout of the site, it is possible to make a reasonable calculation for the line of the two roads that preceded Victoria Road. In the plan above, the outline of the original Dixon Mill Lane is shown in purple, while Salt’s first road, which became the second Dixon Mill Lane is shown in green. The top part of the original Dixon Mill Lane is now covered by the first few dozen yards of Exhibition Rd. It then ran across the area now occupied by the end houses of Titus St and Mawson St, the rear of Victoria Hall, and the middle of Lockwood St, finally, it ran under the site of the later Congregational Church Sunday School, now the Caroline St car-park. 18 The second Dixon Mill Lane started at the end of Harold Place, then cut through the site now covered by Titus St, Mawson St and the middle of Victoria Hall, before straightening up about the end of Caroline St. The remaining part of the present-day Victoria Rd, from the junction with Caroline St, down to the river, is the surviving part of that second Dixon Mill Lane. The reason for the unusual line of this first road is not easy to interpret. It is possible that it was laid out simply as a temporary road, in order to allow heavy traffic to have easy access to the site during the construction of the new mill and village. Though why Salt did not have the road go straight up the hill from the start, given that he owned the land as far as the Shipley to Bramley Turnpike, now Saltaire Road, is something of a mystery. The terrace of shops between the railway line and Caroline St, fronting onto the present Victoria Rd, were built around 1854. At the time of the 1861 census they were described as being in ‘Victoria Street’, and they would have been the only buildings in the road south of the railway bridge. It would appear that the second Dixon Mill Lane was only in existence for around ten years. In August 1863, Titus Salt applied to the Shipley Local Board to have the southern portion of this 1853 road, between Caroline St and the turnpike road, closed, as he intended to integrate the northern portion into another new road that he had laid down. Having by this time purchased the land all the way up to the Bradford-Bingley Road. The Shipley Local Board were in favour of the scheme, though they had to get the formal approval of the West Riding Magistrates in order to confirm their decision. This was done in the Quarter Session meeting at Leeds in September of that year. The process of closing roads and transferring public rights of way allowed for public consultation and the right to object to the plans. The law required that notices of the intention of a change of use had to be posted at either end of the ‘old’ lane, and that duplicate notices were to be fixed to the door of Shipley Parish Church for four successive Sundays st after the 21 August. It was also required that notices be published in the local press. This had also occurred in 1852, in connection with the first road and bridge. The Bradford Observer ran the formal announcement about the changes in Saltaire for four weeks, from the last week in August through to the third week in September 1863. The records show that there were no objections from either Shipley or Baildon residents to any of the proposals that Salt had planned, and the transfer of rights to the new road went ahead as planned. 19 The new Victoria Road, showing its relationship to the second Dixon Mill Lane The new road was integrated into Dixon Mill Lane at Caroline Street. The legal closure of the southern section of the lane, (marked in blue on the above plan) allowed it to be eradicated and subsequently lost, by the development of the houses that constitute the eastern side of Victoria Rd, the building of which commenced in 1868, and the building of the Institute (later Victoria Hall), opened 1871. This same period also saw the development of the Alms houses and the hospital. 20 Shipley Purchase 1852 Towards the end of 1851, one year after the purchase of the Dixon Mill site, Titus Salt bought another set of fields running from the turnpike road down to the river, (shown in green on the above plan). He also bought two fields between the river and the canal at this time from Dr. John Outhwaite of Bradford. Now this situation is interesting, in that, as we can see, he now had two blocks of land, separated by another piece of land that he didn’t own. And it highlights another of the big questions regarding Saltaire. That is, why did Salt start building the mill and the village before he had bought all the land that he needed for the construction? We do know that house building for the village started in 1853. The first houses to be erected were in William Henry Street and the lower eastern side of George Street. Shortly after the first few houses had been built, work stopped for some time. There are various theories for this stoppage, though it did coincide with the period before he obtained the middle block of land, which he acquired from the Earl and Countess of Rosse, the lords of the manor of Shipley, in February 1854. Following the recommencement of the work, building then proceeded slowly, up, and across the hill, for the next 21 years, as and when the various blocks of land were purchased. The implication of this second purchase with a gap between it and the first block, is that either Salt must have been very confident about his future purchases, or he was very flexible concerning the final development of the village. It is known that there was an original plan for a much larger development than the one that took place, with the village stretching across both sides of the river. If this is evidence that Salt changed his mind at least once, 21 the implication is, therefore, that he could have changed his mind on several other occasions. Shipley Purchase 1854 - 1856 In the same year, 1854, Salt bought land on the south side of the Shipley to Bramley Turnpike Road from two members of the Denby family. This land would be used for the future development of Dove Street, Jane Street and part of Gordon Terrace. In 1857 Salt bought several plots of land between the railway and the canal from the Midland Railway Company. Shipley Purchase 1864 There was then a gap of a few years before he bought the next plot of land from a Thomas Chambers of Brighouse. This consisted of the land that lies to the east of the present Albert Road, (marked in yellow on the above plan). 22 But, even though by 1864 he now had virtually enough land for his village, he didn’t stop there. A couple of years later, in 1866, he bought the land on the south side of Saltaire Road, between the present Park Street and the rear of the top section of the present Victoria Road. Also, around this time he bought a large area of land to the east of his first acquisition from Matthew Wilson of Eshton Hall at Gargrave, one of the trustees of the estate of William Wainman of Cowling, whose family had owned Shipley Hall, now the Conservative Club in Otley Road. This new land stretched all the way down Saltaire Road to just beyond, what is now the Wycliffe Middle School, and included the site to the east of the school. Sir Titus sold the land for the school, following the 1870 Education Act. The school, which opened in 1876, was at first known as the Shipley Board School and later as Shipley Central School. In 1872, Sir Titus gave land to the east of the school to the Primitive Methodists, who built a large chapel on the site. Saltaire Road showing the Central School and the Primitive Methodist Church 23 Shipley Purchase 1871-74 That same year, 1872, Salt bought a large area of land to the east of Hirst Lane (coloured orange on the above plan), from the paper manufacturer, William Wright. The purchase also included Hirst Mill where Wright had had his manufactory. Much of this land was bought by Shipley Urban District Council in 1922 and used for the building of a new council estate. The land between the river and the railway was converted into playing fields and allotments around the same time. 24 In 1871, Salt had bought the very corner site at the junction of what later became Saltaire Road and Bingley Road. The buildings on the site, at the time of the purchase, consisted of a few cottages and a beer-house. These buildings may have included the old turnpike house, as this had been the junction of Shipley to Bramley Turnpike road and the Bradford to Keighley Turnpike, and there is some evidence of a chain bar being located in somewhere in this vicinity. But the absolute last piece in the jigsaw of Salts acquisitions of land required for the village, was the plot of land, on the eastern side of that corner plot. It had been owned by the Shipley Overseers ever since the enclosure in the 1820s and had been used for many years as a council yard, until Sir Titus obtained it from the Shipley Local Board in 1874. Corner Plot 1871-74 25 Gordon Terrace It was this final purchase that allowed Salt to complete the building of Gordon Terrace, Jane Street and Dove Street, the eastern sections of which had been built some 8 years earlier. This purchase marked the final stage in the building of the village of Saltaire, and indeed, the end of Salt’s land purchases in Shipley. In fact, Titus Salt died two years after this final purchase. The Salt’s mill company did acquire more land in Shipley after Titus Salt’s time, but that is another story. 26 BAILDON The origins of Titus Salt’s first purchase in Baildon lay in the decision of the Lord of the Manor, and the largest property owner in the township at this time, Miss Anna Jane Meek, to sell off the 750 acres of land, comprising her manor and farms in Baildon, in 1849. At the time of the sale, Miss Meek was in her seventies. In all probability, she had been born in Baildon Hall, but by this time she was not a Baildon resident. She lived in Kirk Hammerton, which lies between Harrogate and York, and so perhaps she had just lost interest in the area, or perhaps property prices were on the rise, and she decided to take advantage of the situation. Baildon Manor sale advert : Bradford Observer August 1849 27 In 1737, the lord of the manor of Baildon was Lt.Col. Francis Thompson. His Baildon lands included ‘Jowetts Farm’, now the eastern end of the Coach Road; ‘Hall Farm’, which spread from the banks of the River Aire and then up the hill between Cliffe Lane and Baildon or Barnsley Beck; ‘Brackenhall Farm’, on the Glen and the ‘Moor Farms’, better known now as Low Springs Farm, by the boundary with Hawksworth. The manor also included the possession of Baildon Hall and the Corn mill by Baildon Bridge. There were also a few isolated small farms and individual house properties scattered around the township. Thompson-Meeke-Meyer Family Tree Francis Thompson and his wife Nancy had one child Anna Jane, who had married a Paul Meyer of Pontefract in 1760. Following the death of Francis in 1741, in South America, at the battle of Cartagena, now in modern day Columbia, his widow, Nancy, married a William Meeke of Wighill Park, near York. They had a son also named William, who eventually inherited the Baildon manor and lands from his half-sister, Anna Jane, who was childless. But she left it to him, following her death in 1765, only on condition that he changed his name to that of her late husband, and he adopted the name of Meyer. th On the evening of the 18 October 1780, this same William Meeke, now William Meyer, shot dead a York court official named Joseph Spink. 28 It appears that earlier in the day Meyer had been arrested by the bailiffs of York for debt. The Sheriff of York had signed the warrant, as Meyer owed £82 in an unpaid debt to a James Beckwith, which suggests that, despite his apparent wealth, he was living beyond his means. Following the arrest, it was the intention of the officials to take Mr Meyer to the debtor’s prison on the Ouse Bridge. But he managed to persuade the bailiffs to let him remain in his lodgings in Micklegate, in order for him to try and arrange bail. So, the bailiffs left him in the care of two of their staff, one of whom was Joseph Spink. Sometime during the course of the evening, Meyer persuaded his wife to bring him his pistols from another room, and on acquiring them, he threatened his guards. As they were trying to run away, Meyer fired, and Spink was hit in the throat. (National Archives: ASSI 45/34/2) He died of his injuries the following day, and both Meyer and his wife were put on trial for murder. His wife was found not guilty, but William Meyer, who had claimed in his defence, that he had only meant to frighten the guards, and that the pistol had gone off by accident, was found guilty. He was sentenced to death, and subsequently executed at th the York Tyburn on the 6 April 1781. On his death William Meyer left a widow and two children, William and Anna Jane. William was only 9 years old when his father was executed, and it can be assumed that the family estates would have been held in trust for him until he reached legal maturity at twenty-one. What we do know is that practically the first thing he did when he finally came of age was to change his name, presumably to try and avoid the embarrassment of being connected to his notorious father. As the London Gazette for that month shows, on March 18th 1794 he legally adopted the name of Thompson. Although he had no blood connection to the Thompsons of Baildon, he claimed it was a means of honouring the old family whose lands he now possessed. On his death in 1839, he left everything to his sister, the second Anna Jane Meyer. Though by this time she had changed her name back to Meeke, in order to inherit from her Meeke grandfather. (London Gazette th 29 October 1839) And it was this Anna Jane Meeke who placed all her Baildon property up for sale in August 1849. 29 The auction, held in Bradford in October of that year, was not a complete success, and only part of the property was disposed of. The unsold land was then advertised for sale in the February 1850 issues of the Bradford Observer. And it was at this second sale that Titus Salt bought his first Baildon property, according to the date in the deed, in July of that year, 5 months before his first Shipley purchase of Dixon’s Mill. st 21 February 1850 Sales advert of Baildon property 30 Salt’s 1850 Purchase The first blocks of land that Salt bought in Baildon covered the area between Baildon Road and Cliffe Lane, as well as a large area of land between Otley Road and the river. While the block of land that Salt bought down by the river does not correspond precisely with the above sales notice, it is close enough in description and size to suggest that this is the land that was advertised in the auction notice. Now, it’s interesting to note that the February sales notice made specific reference to the riverside land being suitable for mill construction; and it raises the question of whether Salt might possibly have originally planned to build his mill and village on the Baildon side of the river. According to Balgarnie, Salt approached Lockwood and Mawson, the architects, in November of 1850, and told them that he had purchased land, ‘near Shipley’, and that he wanted them to do part of the work. He explained that the Shipley based architect and land agent, George Knowles was also to be involved in the project (p.91 Balgarnie’s Salt, Barlo and Shaw (Nemine Juvante (Saltaire Publications 2003). This story presents two problems. The evidence of the deeds suggests that Salt did not purchase the Dixon Mill site until the end of December, also, as far as I am aware, there is no evidence that George Knowles had any connection with the Dixon Mill purchase. He did, however, have some connection with at least some of the land that Salt purchased in Baildon, as he was a partner of Bailey Blackburn (see below). 31 There is, therefore, just a hint of suspicion that the land that Salt was referring to when he went to see Lockwood and Mawson, was this land in Baildon. If this was the case, then it is likely that Salt only changed his mind when the more suitable location of the Dixon Mill site in Shipley, with its closer proximity to the canal and railway, came up for sale later that year. Of course, the real problem is our lack of knowledge on Titus Salt’s thoughts at this time. And I have to say that this is simply a speculative idea on my part. Although, what else he might have wanted this land for, given that, subsequently, he did nothing with it within his own lifetime, suggests that the theory might be worth considering. Salts 1851-2-Purchase The year after his first purchase, Salt bought another large piece of land to the west of Otley Road. (This is the area marked in orange on the plan above. The area marked in black is the Midgeley Wood and Thompson Lane area, bought the following year from Richard Paul Amplett, the son in law of the Ferrands of Bingley, who had originally owned the land.) This riverside land had been part of Miss Meeke’s first sale, and had originally been bought by Bailey Blackburn, a Bradford chemist and land speculator, who lived in Baildon. George Knowles appears to have advertised this land for sale in June th 1850 (see Bradford Observer 27 June 1850), though Salt did not purchase the land until September 1851. According to Cudworth, Blackburn sold this land to Salt for £10,000, which was twice the amount he had paid for it a year earlier. 32 The new and old Green Lane 1851 A short time after buying the river-side land, Salt had a new road cut through from Otley Road up to the sharp right-hand corner of the old Green Lane. This new road replaced the old, narrow lane, that for some reason didn’t suit Mr Salt. The laying out of this new road, does suggest that Salt was planning something in the area, and it has been suggested that he had intended to build a house, and create a parkland along the riverside. The original Baildon Green Lane was a public right of way, and in 1852, Salt applied for permission to transfer that right onto his new road and eliminate the old lane. 33 Baildon-1856-Purchase In 1856, Salt bought the small wooded hill to the north-east of Green Lane, called Fairbank Wood, along with the associated farm. The Knoll In 1862 he sold this land to Charles Stead, a manager and later a director of the mill who built a house called ‘The Knoll’ at the highest point in the wood. 34 Baildon-1855-62-Purchase In 1855, Salt had bought a small group of cottages and orchards at the junction of Cliffe Lane and Otley Road. But in 1862 he transferred most of this land and the land to the north of it to his son Edward, who had the house he called ‘Ferniehurst’ built on the site. Ferniehurst 35 There are no known photographs of Ferniehurst, but as can be seen from the OS map above, it was a substantial house. It had formal gardens, several large glass-houses and from the lodge in Baildon Road, a long winding drive through a private wood. Even though Salt was buying a lot of land during this period, he also occasionally sold some. Throughout 1856 and ’57, he was selling off small plots of land around the area of Green Lane and Cliffe Lane, to various private individuals. Following these sales, several private houses, and terraces were constructed in the area. Green Lane junction It may be argued that whatever his original intentions regarding his Green Lane and Otley Road purchases, Salt had changed his mind, and he was getting rid of some of his surplus land. He did however, remain committed to most of the land lying to the west of Otley Road. A few years after laying out the new Green Lane, Salt started the construction of another brand-new road, leading from the corner of Green Lane to the bottom of Victoria Road. The plan above shows the first section of the new road, with the old riverside path highlighted in blue. And the plan below shows the continuation of the new road as far as the bridge. 36 Coach Road 2-1863 The plan above shows the continuation of the new road as far as the bridge. I also shows the relationship between Salt’s new mill and the old Dixon’s Mill. The junction of the road and bridge may look slightly strange, compared to the present Coach Road, but it’s only because there was a re-alignment of this western end of the road, when the new straight bridge was put across the river, and a new link to the bridge had to be made. It’s interesting to note that in all probability, this road, which was nearly 1 mile long, was built simply as a private carriage road to allow Salt’s son, Edward, and his manager, Charles Stead, to travel to the mill easily, rather than going around and through Shipley. And of course, he also built an extension to this road following the purchase of Milner Fields, for the benefit of Titus jnr., all of which seems to be an indication of the extravagance of Salt at this time. Having completed this eastern section of the Coach Road, Salt applied to have the ancient public right of way transferred from the river-side path up onto his new road. This meant that although the Coach Road was a private road, pedestrians and horse riders had the legal right to use it. 37 Gate house Old photographs show gates at the corner of Green Lane and the Coach Road, and there were also gates at the bottom of Victoria Road, But they were only there to stop the unauthorised entry of commercial vehicles, who needed permission to access the road and the bridge. However, various farmers and other property owners who lived within this area had certain legal rights of access, and they did have the right to use the new road and the Victoria Road bridge. The removal of the legal entitlement to use the old riverside path meant that it could now be closed, leaving the land free for some form of development, though we now know, this never happened in Salt’s lifetime. There are, of course, sections of this path still surviving on the side of the river between Otley Road and the Victoria Road bridge. Though it can be assumed that they are not officially public rights of way anymore, and their survival is presumably just a matter of luck. 38 Baildon-1865-6 purchase In 1865 Salt bought two fields just below Walker Wood, from the Dawson family of Baildon Green (marked in light green on the plan above). The following year, Richard Paul Amplett sold Salt the two Trench Farm properties. Their fields ran from the lower section of the future Saltaire Park, right up to the boundary with Bingley at Load Pit Beck (This land is marked in orange). Now these, at least as far as I have been able to identify, were the final acquisitions that Titus Salt made within Baildon. It is possible that I have missed some of the purchases while searching the indexes at Wakefield; and I should point out that, there is just one field in the centre of this picture that I have not been able to prove was bought during Titus Salt’s lifetime, though it almost certainly came into the possession of the family at some point in time. It’s also possible that his sons bought more land either before or after Titus’ death, but that is something that I have not gone into up to the present time. But what I have been able to show is that Titus Salt himself, bought at least 250 acres of land in Baildon, over a period of 16 years; and this compares with just over 100 acres that he bought in Shipley. 39 The western Coach road The western section of the Coach Road, was constructed sometime before 1870, following the purchase of the Milner Fields estate, which, of course, is in Bingley, and outside the scope of this study. The green-arrowed track on the above plan shows the line of this new road, cutting through the fields towards the eastern entrance to the Milner Fields estate. The closed lanes In March 1870, following the completion of this new road, Titus Salt applied to the Baildon Local Board of Health to close several old paths running between the bridge at Saltaire and Load Pit Beck. These are shown in green on this plan. And just as on the eastern section of the road, he wanted the old rights of way transferred onto his new road. 40 Interestingly, the public right of way on this side of the bridge was not on the river-side path, but on the lower of the two paths leading up to the Trench Farms. I can only assume that this change had been made when th the farms were built in the 18 century. After passing between the two farms, the public path then returned back down to the river-side path, which leads on towards the Seven Arches. For some reason, Salt decided to restrict access to the two Trench properties, and that section of the old way that ran between the two farms was closed to the public. Western Coach Road - New Trench Road It was replaced by a brand-new lane leading up to the junction with the ancient pack-horse route between Baildon and Bingley (marked in green on the above map). Following the construction of the new lane, the top section of the old lane was removed. Approval for all these changes was given at the Quarter Sessions held in th Bradford on the 27 June 1870. 41 Saltaire Park It would have been about this time that Salt started to develop Saltaire Park, which was opened in July 1871. Interestingly, the park was laid out across part of the old lane leading from the stepping stones to the Trench farms. And that section of the old lane survives to this day (marked in green on the above map) in the form of the path that divides the cricket field from the higher terrace and formal gardens. 42 Green Lane junction-with houses As I mentioned earlier, much of the land on the top side of Green Lane and at the bottom of Cliff Lane, had been sold off in the late 1850s. These small-scale sell-offs continued, and in the early 1870s Salt sold most of the land, fronting Otley Road, between the bridge and Green Lane, and a terrace of houses were built on the site. The corner plot, though, was not sold until 1887, by Salt’s sons. BAILDON POSTSCRIPT As far as the land on the other side of Otley Road is concerned, with the exception of a few sales, Salt did practically nothing with the bulk of this site, and it was left to later generations to dispose of it. He had sold a large plot of land (A) (see below), at the south-western end to C.F.Taylor in 1862, and Taylor built a new mill on the site. While at the other end, he sold, or maybe he gave, the land for Charlestown cemetery,(E) which was opened in 1863. Though, for some reason the deed of transfer from Salt to the Airedale Cemetery Company, does not seem to have been made until 1871. The land for the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel had been sold to the Trustees in 1870. While the Midland Railway Company had bought the land required for the viaduct, in November 1874. Nothing much then seemed to happen to this area during the remainder of the Salt’s family involvement with the mill. 43 I have not been able to determine the sequence of events regarding the one field on top side of Otley Road (F), that had been part of Salt’s original purchase, and which is now covered by the bottom of Midland Road. In 1895, the Salt’s mill company tried to sell off all their undeveloped land in both Shipley and Baildon. But the planned disposal appears to have been a failure, because most of the land advertised in the sale notice of that year was left unsold. In 1898, though, William Butterfield bought one plot on this Charlestown site (B), on which he later built a galvanising works. Nine years later, he bought the neighbouring plot (C) in order to extend his business. The remainder of the land between Butterfields and the railway viaduct (D) was bought from the mill company by Bertram Roberts, the son of Sir James Roberts, in 1910. He gave the land to the people of Baildon for recreation purposes, and it came to be known as Roberts Park. The land then seems to have remained in Baildon’s possession until 1952, when the UDC sold it to Butterfields So, that is the story of Titus Salt’s property acquisitions in Shipley and Baildon, as far as I have been able to determine it. And, it brings us back to the original question. Why did he buy so much land on both sides of the river and left so much virtually untouched. It’s probably the case that we will never know why he did what he did, but it’s this kind of question that keeps the interest in the subject of the life and work of Titus Salt alive. 44 45
C3b-305a-e: Apollo canal leisure cruises
'Apollo Day and Evening Canal Cruises' (5 separate leaflets)
C3b-312: Leeds & Liverpool Canal leaflet
Leeds & Liverpool Canal Guide & map (1986)
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Coat of arms
Photocopy of postcard of Canal Ironworks (Shipley) Silver Band 1935
F1b-015: Workers on holiday at Butlin's holiday camp
Workers on holiday at Butlin's holiday camp
Photograph of men from The Canal Iron Works (of J. Parkinson and Son Ltd.), Shipley at Skegness 1938. Inlcudes Charles Pitts. Taken at Butlin's Holiday Camp, Skegness
F1b-156: Canal barge full of people (on Shipley section of canal?)
Canal barge full of people (on Shipley section of canal?)
A large city in West Yorkshire, about 15 miles from Saltaire and connected to it by canal, rail and road. Leeds became a major centre for woollen textile production during the nineteenth century.
C3b-123: Factors Influencing the Programming of Combined Arts Festivals
2024.77: The History of Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme by J Horsfall Turner
2024.78: The Cinemas of Bradford by GJ Mellor
2024.95: Saltaire a village of Parliamentarians from Sir Titus Salt to the 21st century
2024.74: The Story of Saltaire written, produced and directed by David Weber
2018.75: Saltaire: a village of parliamentarians
D1-140: Cancellation of the 1965 Saltaire Conversazione
D1-129: Decorations for the Saltaire Conversazione
D1-131: Leisure - Groups and Societies: Victoria Hall
D1-138: Cancellation of Victoria Hotel booking for Saltaire Conversazione
D1-128: Saltaire Conversazione on 13th January 1965
2018.9.1.2.5: Invitation cards for Women's Suffrage meeting
Liverpool is a major city on the north western coast of England. Liverpool is an important port, rising in prominence during the Industrial Revolution. Many raw materials and finished goods for the Salt textile business were routed through Liverpool. The Leeds-Liverpool canal was built during the late eighteenth century and siting Saltaire next to the canal was an important point for Titus Salt when deciding the location of his new mill and village.
2022.6: Decorations with Duresco Water Paint
The story of Pace Microtechnology from its foundation in the early 1980s to its acqusition by Arris in the 2010s. Based on original research by Mike Farren, including extensive interviews with the founders David Hood and Barry Rubery and key manager Rob Fleming.
Pace Micro Technology: Picture of Pace SR 640 satellite dish
PACE MICRO TECHNOLOGY LTD. A Summary History Of The Digital Revolution: Bradford, Salts Mill Author: Mike Farren May 2021 1 Introduction and Acknowledgements The Saltaire Collection is not confined to Victorian history and the collection’s historians and writers are recording the important stories of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Amongst these, second only in importance to the history of Jonathan Silver, his family, and the rescue and transformation of Salts Mill, is the story of one of Jonathan’s first tenants in the mill. The tenant company was PACE Micro Technology Ltd. PACE was founded by three individuals living and working in the Bradford District: David Hood, Rob Fleming, and Barry Rubery. David had the visionary ideas; Rob was the logistics expert; and Barry a skilled sales expert. They were joined later by Graham Mitchell whose engineering expertise was invaluable to the company’s growth and product range. Others who became important members of the staff team and partners in business are noted. From its foundation in 1982, whilst the first directors were operating from David Hood’s bedroom in Scholemoor, PACE commenced business selling Apple II computer software in the UK, purchased at lower prices from Europe, then began the manufacture of data communication modems and later satellite TV receivers and Video Recorders, all products that were previously either unavailable or too costly for the UK market, rapidly establishing st themselves at the forefront of the digital revolution. By the late 1990s and into the 21 century, PACE was collaborating with major, well-known tech giants such as BSkyB and Amstrad. This local business had become an international multi-million-pound enterprise and its founders mirror the important part played by Sir Titus Salt during the earlier industrial revolution. Two of the three founders of PACE have enabled this significant history to be recorded through participating in interviews with Mike Farren and Maggie Smith, and by sharing their own archived documents, images, and promotional materials. Barry Rubery, who now resides in Monaco, is writing a book covering many details of the business and is generously sharing draft chapters to add further detail and his memories to this history. The impact of the company for Saltaire was not least in the provision of employment and at its manufacturing peak, PACE was employing 400 engineers, 450 staff in manufacturing and 70 in sales and accounts in Salts Mill. The history of PACE is a story of significant local entrepreneurship, determination, and vision and, at the heart of its growth and importance, is both the courage and foresight of its local founders and its eventual location in Salts Mill. Acknowledgements: With grateful thanks to the founding directors of PACE, who shared memories and notes. David Hood – PACE Joint Chief Executive Barry Rubery – PACE Joint Chief Executive Rob Fleming – PACE Operations Director. 2 Background The company that was to become PACE Micro Technology Ltd, (Ultimately PACE plc) was founded in 1982 and began literally in David Hood’s bedroom, Scholemoor, Bradford. David Hood had started his working life at a place in Brighouse called Stereosound Productions, as an apprentice. It was an audio / hi-fi manufacturer and he moved to Baird in the development laboratory at the time colour television became available. Baird was later known as Thorn, a television manufacturer at Beckside Road, Bradford. Whilst David was working at Baird Television he was introduced to Barry (Rubery) through friends, several years prior to the foundation of PACE. Barry had a job as a salesman for Associated Container Transportation Ltd. (ACT) Their first meeting occurred when they went with a mutual friend to see The Canadian Hell Drivers at Odsal Stadium! Subsequently, they went caving and potholing together in the Yorkshire Dales and also often cycled together. David was at Baird for a few years, then left to set up a company called Entasy Colourvision at Mountain Mills, above Queensbury, repairing and renting out TV sets and supplying ‘slot’ televisions. These were very helpful for some families, who were able to effectively rent a television by putting coins in a meter on the back of the TV in order to watch programmes. On a staged basis, the money was taken out of the apparatus and the families received a rebate. While David was working for Baird, the company had stockpiled a lot of colour TVs that were unlikely to go back into service. David did a deal to buy some of this stockpile and, by incorporating an off the shelf tuner and reconditioning the cabinets, enabled them to be rented. Mountain Mills was run down but served its purpose for the business. It consisted of a ground floor area, which was a little damp, and a room above this, of identical size, where the work was done. The only way to access the upper room was via a conveyor belt running at an angle from the ground floor to the upper floor! The Switch to Computers The founders of Apple, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak initially worked out of Jobs' garage at his home in Los Altos, California. On April 1, 1976, they debuted the Apple I, a desktop computer that came as a single motherboard, pre-assembled, unlike other personal computers of that era. The Apple II, a superior model, was introduced in 1977. Jobs and Wozniak had great difficulty in gaining initial investment finance because the market had no belief in the notion of domestic computers. Nevertheless, they became one of three companies who succeeded in producing personal computers and their Apple IIe range would become extensive, lasting for over 11 years. As his television business was progressing, David decided to purchase an Apple computer from Ram Computers on North Parade, Bradford, to help manage the television enterprise, dealing with the cash flow and the rental income. The cost was around £400. 3 When David turned on the computer he had purchased, it simply showed a ‘C’ prompt as no software had been installed. He discovered that finding the software and someone selling it who knew how the software worked was difficult, and he complained frequently about the lack of availability, service, and knowledge. Windfall Magazine (later renamed ‘Apple User’) carried advertising for third-party software, including software from Pete and Pam Computers (later P & P Computers) in Rossendale, Lancashire. This was owned by two social workers – Peter Fisher and his American wife, Pam. David bought some software from them, which he collected in person from their warehouse, and discovered they had shelves of virtually everything developed for the Apple II range: David’s Apple was the Apple IIe. Whilst they sold the products via retail, they were more interested in wholesale distribution. PACE Software Supplies David was quite taken with his Apple computer and mentioned to Barry that he thought there might be a business selling Apple software through mail order via Windfall. In discussing a name for this business, a friend of Barry suggested ‘PACE’. The shipping consortium for whom Barry worked also owned a company called Pacific America Container Express, known as PACE. Their logo was the word ‘PACE’ in a square arrow. David liked the suggestion, so a UK software company named PACE was born. The company name was David Richard Hood, trading as PACE Software Supplies, and the logo was the same as that of the shipping company, but initially without the arrow. David researched products and trade prices. At that time (June 1982), there were only a handful of businesses advertising third-party products and, based on P & P Computers’ trade prices versus what the competition were selling at, there was a reasonable margin to be made. David contacted several local bank branches and the manager of the local Barclays branch, Gordon Ormondroyd, agreed to back the business. David then got in touch with John Snowden, Advertising Manager for Europress, publishers of Windfall magazine, who agreed that his team would create an advertisement. The business model was to take the P & P trade catalogue, look at the sales prices that other companies advertising in Windfall were selling them for and undercut them. The straightforward idea was to place advertisements in Windfall, offering as many Apple Products as possible, take in orders by phone and mail, collect from P & P computers the products that had been ordered each day, then package them and get them in the post the same day. There was little need for stock and the business was immediately cash-positive, with the only overheads being advertising and petrol to and from Rossendale. PACE Software Supplier’s first advert appeared in 1982. This offered around 500 items and was an immediate success. David and his partner took the phone calls, while Barry dealt with the correspondence in the evenings, whilst still working for ACT where he remained until March 4 1983. The two men were thinking about new ideas for the business where computers with the right software would be of value. They developed a proposal about how computers might help Barry’s company ACT. One suggestion was sending updates on ship arrivals and departures to selected shippers via modem. The second was a computerized salesmen’s reporting system. The proposal involved PACE supplying the whole system for this transport company. A different company, named PACE Computer Services was created to develop this proposal. The logo was not the PACE funnel logo but a dot matrix-printed ‘PACE’. At the end of March 1982, David and Barry met Walter Marshall, Regional Sales Manager for ACT, and presented the proposition to him. David Marshall was in favour of pursuing the idea but his London-based manager, Roy Davis, was not interested. For PACE Software Supplies, it was getting more difficult to service the orders as they increased. In addition, Apple were selling more and more of the Apple II computer range and people were asking questions which David was finding it increasingly difficult to answer. At this point Robin Hudson, a student at Bradford University enquired whether there were any vacancies during the university holiday. David decided to take him on to assist with answering the questions. Robin then introduced some university friends, Adrian Barratt, and Kevin Gibson. David was living close to the friends in Scholemoor, Bradford. But another key person in the developing company was about to arrive. One afternoon in 1982, a telephone caller asked whether the company had some graphics software in stock and on being told that they did, wanted to call in to look at these, not being prepared to use mail order. David told the caller which bus would get him to his house and that, when he got off the bus, he would see a telephone box that David could see from his bedroom window and easily locate where David worked from. The caller was Rob Fleming, who at the time was a Flight Lieutenant and Medical Officer in the Royal Air Force, based at Ely. He had bought an Apple IIe, seen the advert, and had come to browse the shelves, rather than buy via mail order. The reason was that, given his RAF service, Rob moved around a lot and mail order might have had to follow him around for a long time. Rob’s parents lived nearby, and he had initially come to Bradford to see his brother, Ian, in Queensbury but, in the event when he arrived at David’s house, he became so absorbed in what David was doing that he did not make the meeting with his brother that evening. Rob was and is a self-confessed computer ‘geek’ and after talking at length with David he agreed to come back the following day, and also spent most of the rest of the week visiting and talking to David about computers and software. During one of these visits, the phone rang. The caller wanted to know about a product called Wordstar, which David did not have any knowledge about. He asked Rob whether he knew about this product and when said he did, David passed the phone to him. Rob became involved in the developing company from then onward. 5 Rob was detached by the RAF to serve in the Falklands between June and November 1982 but when able to return he continued to travel North to work with David, whilst still serving as an RAF Officer. David, Barry, and Rob were not always able to get together, but they would often all meet on Friday evenings at Cocina Restaurant, which was on Oak Lane, Bradford at the time. The business was successful, and the first year’s accounts reflected that, with almost £300,000 turnover in the first year, ending 30th June1983, with a net profit of £30,000. The business expanded further, selling peripheral memory expansion cards. Initially, PACE bought these from London-based Pynwon Computers, who acted as agents for the main manufacturer, Zoffary, in Australia. However, at a certain point, Pynwon’s owner, Dr Boshell, no longer wished to distribute them and put PACE in touch with the manufacturer with a view to taking up distribution in UK and Europe. Later Gynesh made contact from New York. They represented a number of US-based Apple software houses and asked PACE to take on their products as distributors. These products, included a four in one package – Word Processing, Accounting, Spreadsheet and Database – called ‘The Incredible Jack’; another was a relational database called Savvy and a further product, from Quark, was a word processing package. Rob took some leave from the RAF to travel to New York with Barry, to assess what Gynesh had and whether it would be saleable in the UK and Europe, and worth taking on. As Rob was generally satisfied, Barry returned to New York to complete the deal, meaning that PACE were launched in the distribution business, with software packages that would enhance the company’s reputation as well as making money. Unfortunately, no one had really tested these programs, particularly ‘The Incredible Jack’. It was reviewed positively in Windfall in March 1984 but next month, Windfall had to print a letter from the reviewer, pointing out that they had missed out of the review reference to the bugs he had found, which were numerous. The component parts did not match up to more sophisticated (though more expensive) products available at the time. In any case, at this time, there little market for individual users, while businesses wanted established, market-leading products. Savvy, on the other hand, though expensive and complicated for its day, was ahead of its time, being a relational database that recognised regular words, phrases etc., perhaps a forerunner of current Internet search engines. Similarly, Quark was a powerful program and Quark are still a major player in digital technology today. Regardless of their individual success, these products gave PACE kudos and market awareness. The retail business continued to prosper, with regular UK customers including universities, colleges, and government departments, such as the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. PACE were also approached by a school in Amersham, who wanted them to sell communications software on their behalf. One customer, Steve Lister, ran an advertising agency called Centrepoint and PACE employed his firm to create and develop advertisements for their products. Part of his initial remit was to develop full page, full colour ads for ‘Quark’, ‘The Incredible Jack’ and ‘Savvy’. In February 1984, PACE had 5 full-colour, full-page ads in 6 Windfall, a clear signal to others that the company was becoming an important player in the digital ‘revolution’ of the mid to late 1980s. At the same time, PACE started the process of becoming an Apple authorised dealer but found it hard work with the UK Apple team and never achieved full ‘Dealer’ status – achieving only ‘Re-seller’ status, which gave less margin than dealers. The business was strengthened in June 1984 with the introduction of the Apple Macintosh. The Apple software business created a cash surplus and also raised awareness of PACE as a company. Acorn and the BBC Microcomputer The two founding directors Hood and Rubery brought different skills to the PACE enterprise, David’s experience was in engineering and a certain skill in understanding what users want from a product, Barry in marketing and sales. Rob brought experience in computers, planning, and organization. After having bought IT products and re-sold them on a margin, they had a growing desire to begin to market their own products. David hit upon the initial product focus and they began to manufacture modems, the first one being designed by Bradford Instruments, whilst PACE were still operating from David’s bedroom for around 18 months. As business grew in software supplies and modem manufacture, they needed some larger premises and moved to West Bowling in Bradford and took on their own engineers to support and design a wider range of modems. The first business premises were secured at 92 New Cross Street, West Bowling, Bradford. The building they purchased had been a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and prior to that a doctor’s surgery. However, as success followed success, they were soon to outgrow these premises. They began to look at some of their customers’ needs. Bradford’s schools, alongside the majority of English schools, were using BBC micro/apple systems and PACE became their supplier of disc drives. Acorn launched the BBC Microcomputer with the idea that every school in the country would have one. At the time of the launch, it was only possible to run a program from cassette, which was a slow process. Although the motherboard had the ability to add the eleven components required to run a disc drive, Acorn had not written the software to enable it. Also, they had developed the computer around an Intel disc controller chip [8271], which Intel had discontinued. Despite all this, because they were late in launching and under pressure, they launched without a disc drive. The PACE team realised that there was a market for floppy disc drives and enlisted the help of Graham Mitchell, a former colleague of David from Baird. Graham developed a power supply, Barry sourced the disc drive mechanisms from Japan and PACE launched a disc drive, advertising it in BBC Micro User magazine, which Database Publications had just launched. Sales were initially limited because of the shortage of software. However, out of the blue, someone from Dr Challoner’s Grammar School, Amersham, contacted David and said that three 7 students had written disc interface software enabling disc drives to be used. David did a deal with the students and PACE adopted the software, which became known as the Amcom DFS. PACE also bought some computer games the students had developed, including one called Fortress, which went on to be a huge success. In the wake of the success of this game, written by three 17-year-olds, it occurred to Barry that there must have been a lot of people writing games. Therefore, he devised the marketing brand ‘Jasmine Software’ and placed a simple advert with Database Publications’ magazines, asking, “Are you a programmer? Do you program in Machine Code, have you written any games for the BBC Micro…” etc. One result was the identification of a new development known as EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory) This program allowed one computer to communicate with another. The directors eventually realised the significance of this technology and arranged to meet the developer, Andy Hood. PACE took on the program, which became Commstar, and employed Andy. Another programmer, probably sourced from the same recruitment process as Andy Hood, was Ewan Wannop, developed ‘Data Highway’ for the Apple II range. A problem at that time was that modems were few and far between and communications were in their infancy, meaning that such modems as there were, were expensive. PACE started to produce modems. Their first hardware was the ‘Nightingale’ modem, designed for PACE by Bradford Instruments. Later PACE developed their own, known as the ‘Linnet’, which was designed by an engineer called Steve Wright, who had been recruited and whom Rob has described as, “Very calm, very quiet, very considered”. David described the progression as going from “the first fairly amateurish development of a modem, which was Nightingale, onto a much more commercial platform, which was Linnet – what we called the Linnet family, because there were a few successors based on that.” For Nightingale, there was no bespoke software. Initially, it was mostly supplied to people using teletext services that were either built in or you just went to a particular address. PACE were on the way to becoming a company that others in the field began to notice. Assessing customer needs and recruiting the necessary technical expertise led to rapid growth. Whilst software and hardware were kept going in tandem for a while, to sustain cashflow, the mail order aspect providing a solid cashflow generation, Rob’s abiding memory is that the rapid growth was ‘great fun’. Founding of PACE as a Limited Company As previously noted, PACE was founded as a limited company in 1982 but with the move into production and a wider range of software in the mid 1980’s the name became PACE Microtechnology. Barry had been helping while working for a shipping company – Pacific 8 America Container Transport. Rob left the RAF in May 1985.The three all had distinctive skills. David describes Barry as “very much the sales and marketing guy and to be honest, he was the guy that really pushed us all along.” In July 1985 they moved into larger premises at the side of Prospect Mills in Allerton, very near to the Seabrook Crisps manufacturer. The new space provided 6,000 square feet of floor space with a mezzanine adding a further 1,100 square feet of space. This soon also proved inadequate and within two years, two portacabins had been added to the site and the mezzanine extended, providing a further 4,000 square feet of space. The company was manufacturing modems and disc drives and using Bentham & Holroyd, who occupied Prospect Mill and were the landlord for PACE, to shape the metal and, among others, Peatey’s at Yeadon to powder coat it. PACE advertised extensively, mainly with Database Publications, who were the publishers of dedicated magazines for the relevant products, ‘Windfall’ for Apple (which later became ‘Apple User’) ‘Micro User’ for BBC computer, and ‘Amstrad User’ for Amstrad computers. Among PACE’s modem clients was Amstrad, and the company sold them 10,000 ‘Nightingale’ Amstrad-branded modems. It was an internal card modem that PACE designed and made. When asked about packaging whether he want the PACE name on the modem, Alan Sugar1 apparently answered along the lines of, “Course I want your f***ing name on it. We don’t make modems! No one’s going to believe it’s a good modem if you haven’t made it!” So, it became the Amstrad modem by PACE. This was in 1985. PACE was foremost in manufacturing these products and, inevitably, the company was once again ‘bursting at the seams’ in the space they were occupying despite now using third party subcontractors to manufacture their range of Modem products. Companies and the public could rent modems from British Telecom at the time at a relatively huge cost, whereas PACE, with a couple of engineers, were able to make in-house, subcontract and sell modems for significantly less than the annual rental cost from BT. Satellite Technology By the middle of 1986, the business dealing with modems, disc drives and other peripherals was doing reasonably well but the market for floppy disc drives was diminishing and the writing was on the wall for the future of external modems because modem chip manufacturers were 1 Amstrad was a British electronics company founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar, at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of ‘Alan Michael Sugar Trading’. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad had a substantial share of the PC market in the UK. 9 making them smaller, and the tendency was to build them into the computers themselves. Rob recalls that he felt something new needed to happen at this point. David had heard the UK government were going to launch a satellite and transmit TV programs from space to the UK for the first time. He suggested that PACE should investigate getting into this field. David had bought a ‘Maspro’ satellite TV receiver that incorporated a mechanism that allowed the dish to be moved. For the viewer, this meant the receiver could be set to point the dish at one satellite, and then in order to watch a channel on another satellite, the user tuned to that satellite, the dish automatically turning towards the different satellite. Manufacturers had begun to make satellite ‘head end equipment’, as it was called. The first products were expensive, professional, rack-mounted pieces of equipment meant for cable operators, who would have a data centre and a massive dish. They’d receive a television channel by satellite, and had an expensive, professional piece of equipment that received it, then it would be piped down ‘co-ax’ cable to subscribers. That’s the equipment PACE got their hands on. But it was not designed for home use. These pieces of equipment were priced in the region of £2,000 or £3,000 apiece. David didn’t know why they needed to be so expensive, so the PACE team looked at the technology and re-designed it in a domestic form that it was possible to produce and sell for a few hundred pounds. David recalls that he was fascinated with the idea of ‘bringing pictures out of the sky’. There was an obvious business opportunity, but PACE didn’t have the in-house capability to develop a satellite TV receiver, so David set about trying to find a firm who had that capability. In addition, Barry contacted the Department of Trade and industry (DTI) in Leeds and, after meeting the Regional Director Gordon Bennett, he obtained a substantial innovation grant for research and development (R&D) work. However, in the market doubts were growing as to whether the British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) television company, based in London, would actually launch their service. Whilst, at PACE, the modem business appeared to be improving, so PACE drifted away from the idea of satellite technology, until Gordon Bennett called to ask why the company hadn’t called down the DTI loan. Barry explained the situation and Bennett then said he had received a letter from a satellite TV engineer in Wales who said he had designed a satellite TV receiver and was asking whether he knew anyone who might be interested. Bennett passed on the details of the engineer, Andy Coe to the company and, after an exchange of letters PACE arranged to call him at a telephone box at a pre-arranged time and, through this conversation, a visit to Bradford was set up. When Andy arrived, he had long hair and a beard and was wearing Hell’s Angel leathers and biker boots. He was carrying an old shoe box which contained his satellite TV receiver. During the interview with him, a call was received from the police. It appeared that Coe had developed the receiver on the premises of Welsh firm, specifically for them – and the firm wanted it back! PACE were asked to hold him on the premises. When 10 confronted, Coe’s version was that the Welsh company had simply let him use their premises and facilities free of charge, with no obligation regarding what he developed. However, what he had developed was of real interest to PACE. Fortunately, Coe had the (hand-drawn) circuit diagram, with the rest of the concept in his head. The equipment was de soldered and when the police arrived, they interviewed Coe and took away the cardboard box, while PACE agreed to get him a solicitor. After the solicitor wrote to the firm, they dropped the case against Andy Coe two days later. These were clearly very interesting times in the developing market for digital products. When the PACE Directors offered him a job, Coe didn’t seem terribly interested in a salary but what he did want was a company vehicle and the company vehicle had to be a Harley Davidson bike. He remained with PACE throughout its development as a company, handling software and middleware as well as hardware. His recruitment was the final element that that enabled PACE to begin to manufacture their first satellite receiver, which was first released in early 1987. In those days, because companies such as Sky Television hadn’t yet entered the market, it remained necessary to have a mechanism that moved the satellite dish to stationary satellites. The dish had to be steerable, and it had to be quite large – 2 or 3 metres in diameter – with arms that spanned it, left and right. When the viewer wanted a programme such as Cable News Network (CNN), the receiver had to know to move to this location at that angle and tune to that frequency and then tuning to another channel required another move. The first satellite receiver was called the SR640 and had capacity to connect with 64 channels of information – but there weren’t 64 channels that a user could actually access. PACE made their first satellite receiver, which was quite ‘rough-and-ready’ and then recruited a team of engineers, including Derek Oliver, who came from Thorn as a software engineer and became the software manager, with Graham Mitchell, who became the fourth company director for PACE. David already knew Graham and was aware that he would bring the professionalism into the engineering team that was needed at that point in time. Whilst manufacturing modems and supplying software products were the principal business for the company and Satellite technology was in its infancy, PACE were well placed to grow this market. Marconi, Ferguson, and Alba / Bush In the early days of satellite technology, PACE advertised in magazines such as ‘What Satellite’ and ‘Satellite TV Europe’, despite the fact that they had only ever made 2000 satellite TV receivers. Their marketing ensured that PACE received a lot of editorial coverage and Barry spent a lot of time wining and dining magazine editors and persuading them to do reviews. One magazine, Satellite T.V. Europe was published by Nick Snow, who became a good friend of Barry, with the two of them later creating awards for the satellite TV Channels being shown at that time. These were called the STEVIES (Satellite TV Europe) and gave PACE a high profile. 11 This promotional strategy paid off and was one of the trigger points in the evolution of PACE. One result was a telephone call to Barry from the Business Development Director of GPT- 2 Plessey Telecommunications , whose firm were ‘intrigued’ by the emergence of TV broadcasting via satellite. The Director requested a visit to PACE, in order to gather information for a report he was writing for his board. GPT-Plessey were a huge company compared to PACE and Barry agreed to a meeting at the Allerton premises for the following week. During the visit, the director was open about the fact that it was unlikely PACE were going to be able do business with GPT but after providing the information requested, Barry pressed him for ways that GPT could support PACE and was provided with contact details for Len Ogier, Assistant Managing Director of Marconi Electronics3. Barry was not aware at this point that, Marconi were manufacturing low-noise block downconverters (LNBs) and supplying them to Amstrad as part of a deal with Rupert Murdoch 4 to make satellite TV receivers for the emerging SKY TV service . PACE also needed a source of LNBs to incorporate into their receivers as these were a crucial component. After discussion with David, Barry called Len Ogier to arrange a meeting at Marconi’s North London base, just off the M1. On Arrival, David and Barry were escorted to the boardroom, where they met Len Ogier, his P.A., Jacqui Robbins and the Commercial Manager, Arthur Casciaro. However, when Barry asked what Marconi’s purchase price for LNBs would be, Len Ogier commenced inquiring into the PACE satellite TV receiver, requesting that the meeting continue in his office. Whilst there, Ogier and Casciaro wished to see the Costed Bill of Materials, the circuit diagram, and the code, and to be told who developed the software etc., which, understandably, concerned the PACE team as they were being asked to divulge their own product details. As a result, Barry led the team out of the meeting, afraid of being ‘ripped off’ and reasoning that there were other sources of LNBs. As the David and Barry drove back, (an early) mobile phone in their car rang. It was Len Ogier calling and he asked them to turn around and come back to speak with him. On arriving at his office, Ogier was alone. Ogier said,” We have a problem because whilst we are supplying LNB’s to Amstrad, we do not want to have just one customer and we have other, very significant customers who we know want to get into the satellite TV receiver business but do not have satellite TV receivers of their own and because of that, we cannot supply them LNB’s”. At this, Barry proposed that Marconi start to supply PACE with the LNB’s. In response, Ogier proposed that the team extend their 2 GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was a British manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and telecommunications company Plessey. The GPT name ceased to be used in the mid-1990s, and in 1998 the company was amalgamated into Siemens Communications. 3 Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of The General Electric Company (GEC). 4 BSkyB was Initially formed in 1990 by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting. BSkyB became the UK's largest digital pay television company. 12 5 stay overnight and he went on to contact Kevin Smith at Ferguson in Enfield to arrange a meeting 40 minutes later, informing the team that Ferguson were interested in buying satellite TV receivers. In the later meeting, the PACE team were introduced to Ferguson’s representatives, Ian West, and Doug Topping. West was a management trainee with the remit of understanding and taking Ferguson into the emerging world of satellite TV, while Topping was the engineer. Ferguson were owned by the large French ‘Thomson’ organisation (also the owner of Baird / Thorn) who had been ‘caught napping’ over satellite TV and needed to get into the market early, meaning their only route was via someone like PACE, who could give them an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) product. It soon emerged that Ferguson were talking about a potential 40,000 order. The discussions went on for about two hours. Ogier agreed that Marconi would supply the LNB’s to Ferguson but drop out of the negotiations between PACE and Ferguson. Smith agreed a route forward with David and Barry, and to meet again the following week. Ogier then asked David and Barry to stay overnight, as he had another potential customer who 6 might be interested in buying receivers. This company was Alba / Bush in the East End of London. In the meeting the following morning, along with David, Barry and Ogier was John Harris, the company’s founder, Melvyn Goodship, the Managing Director of Bush, in whose name the satellite receivers would be branded, and Harris’s son Daniel. They wanted twenty-six thousand receivers. PACE were about to enter not just in a major UK market but an international one. Salts Mill Given these developments, in 1988, the time had come to search for more space for the company and Rob began hunting for suitable premises. He had heard about Jonathan Silver taking on the vast Salts Mill site and arrived there on a very rainy day, finding no security staff present and went in. Jonathan Silver was sitting in the 1853 gallery (the only gallery established at the time) with Alan South who was helping with the establishment of the gallery. Jonathan took out a huge bunch of keys and began to walk Rob around the premises. There were many spaces that were either too big or too difficult, but the Mill could provide the square footage needed by PACE. Rob got on very well with Jonathan but needed to discuss the possibility of leasing space there with David and Barry, so didn’t confirm the use space in Salts Mill on that 5 Ferguson was originally an American-Canadian company making radio sets for the U.K. market based on American models. It expanded into TV and was taken over by Thorn Electrical Industries. The Ferguson name continued to be used by Thorn and its successor Thorn EMI. In 1987 it was sold to French electronics company, Thomson. 6 Alba began by manufacturing radio sets from 1922. In the late 1960s they became Alba Group. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1987 as Alba plc, buying Bush in 1988 13 first day. He had to convince both David and Barry to go and have a look. David recalls that in some areas “There was rain coming through the ceiling. It was a grim old spot!” When Rob went back to Salts Mill for a thorough look at possibilities two days later, Jonathan threw him the keys and said, ‘help yourself’, leaving him to consider what could go where. Jonathan had his office then in the old Sir Titus Salt Company Board Room and used a desk piled in papers, books, and paraphernalia, with the golden letters from the Salts sign that had been on the side of the mill hanging on the wall and an easel and canvases he used for relaxation in painting. After looking around again and a brief discussion a deal was done for PACE to use part of circa 1500sq ft of the space that had been the ‘washhouse’ in the mill to store some materials for a time. Meanwhile PACE continued at prospect Mills with around 50 employees. Several months later, the Directors decided that additional space required for their business did mean a move for the PACE company to Salts Mill. Over a period of time, they took the Canalside offices, at first half, and then the whole of the floor above the 1853 Gallery in the Spinning Block. More space was required for engineering and development and in 1993, in the midst of the mobile phone boom, coinciding with the launch of Digital Satellite TV. PACE needed greater capacity for manufacturing and was struggling to find sub-contractors with capacity that was not consumed by mobile phones. The growth in manufacturing also required space to accommodate a service department and product testing area and needed to include space to handle the comings and goings of millions of parts and products a week, in and out of Salts Mill. PACE took over most of the built space at the back of the main mill along the canal and up to the loading areas along the railway. Salts Mill’s weaving shed (circa 70,000 sq. ft) was converted in around 22 weeks to a modern electronics manufacturing facility named as PACE Manufacturing Facility (PMF), along with the ground floor of the spinning block beyond the 1853 Gallery, which became a cafeteria. The works were built as part of a handshake agreement on the lease. PACE improved the electrical installations and the fabric of these spaces within the Mill and added heating systems. The Canalside offices were soon extended into the north light behind the buildings facing Victoria Road. The company ultimately leased around 350,000 square feet of the Mill premises. There weren’t many tenants in Salts Mill at the time Rob arrived He recalls that there was the 1853 Gallery; a textile supplier for furnishings, ‘Skopos Fabrics’ in the basement, an accountancy company in the front offices and a company that supplied vaccinations and equipment for travel – down the left-hand side, toward the canal. There were tenants in the old Salts boardroom very early on but when they left, PACE used it as a boardroom for a while. The space that is now the bookshop was where Jonathan Silver’s clothing business was situated at the time. There was a wall beyond this, and at the other end was the first office space that PACE utilised for their production team, many of whom had been prior colleagues of David’s at Bairds. 14 Employment with PACE initially rose to over 700 at Salts Mill (ultimately rising to over 900 staff) and the manufacturing of Satellite TV and set top boxes began there. During the nine years it operated production in the Mill, in addition to producing product in its own name, PACE was a respected product manufacturer making units in Saltaire for almost all the most well-known names in worldwide electronics. As tenants of Jonathan Silver, who took on large amounts of space, PACE contributed significantly to Jonathan’s success in the mill and helped bring young, professional people into the village, which completely changed its image. Zoe Silver, Jonathan’s daughter, said that the Silver family can never underestimate the importance of PACE coming in. She sees it as the rock bed on which the rest of the Mill developed. Rob says the arrangement “worked well for both of us”. Expansion and Going Global At board level, David and Barry were joint Managing Directors with Barry being the Sales Director and David the Engineering and Development Director, and Rob as Operations Director. Kurt Risdon was Materials Director, reporting to Rob. Graham Mitchell was Engineering Director, reporting to David. There were several Financial Directors at different times, who worked in Barry’s directorate. As PACE broadened its range of products, manufacturing capacity was established in Wales and other sites for the United Kingdom’s local markets. Manufacturing was also established abroad leading to products being produced in Turkey, India, Mexico, Brazil, Romania, (briefly) The Czech Republic and later China. PACE had become a major international manufacturer. The company was never manufacturing more than around 24% of the products they sold in Salts Mill, Saltaire. Their early use of resale for digital products continued to ensure a healthy cashflow. The international business had grown gradually with the company starting to sell in Europe in 1988. The first European office was opened in Stuttgart in 1991. In 1992-3, there were offices in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Hong Kong, and the directors have a recollection of a South African office. There was also an American office for quite a long time. The international sales drive was due to Barry’s expertise and significant ability. There were regional directors for each ‘division’, each of these reporting to Barry, who headed a significant sales hierarchy, with quite a few deputies. Whilst the early satellite receivers were ‘just receivers’, technology developed that enabled built in methods of control allowing use of a wide range of satellite sources. This was the beginning of encryption systems either through a card system or built into the hardware. The first models were the D2-MAC ones for Scandinavia. For a time, there were two satellite systems in operation in the UK as, prior to the merger of BSB and Sky in 1990 to form BskyB, BSB had broadcast to ‘Squarial’ receivers. This was technology in which BSB had invested heavily and when the market for these receivers collapsed the company suffered significant loss. Fortunately, PACE had not chosen that high-level investment route because they had 15 already invested in existing technology. The deciding factor for the direction of the technology was the marketing of Murdoch on behalf of the content provider, Sky. One of the main reasons why PACE achieved its high market share was the formation of the joint venture with NTL – ‘Pace NTL Technology’ – arguably the most significant step PACE made, especially given that NTL had developed the Demux (demultiplexer) for digital TVs and had engagements with Irdeto, the primary developer of conditional access technology at that time. They were having discussions with emerging Digital TV broadcasters Shinawatra in Thailand and Galaxy in Australia, who were to become PACE’s first customers. It wasn’t all plain sailing in the global markets. For example, Barry recall one tense time – “Our first digital customer, Galaxy, in Australia began to experience problems. They had taken 25,000 digital satellite receivers but their backers were hesitating about continuing to invest in the product. A Pace employee in Australia, Mike Tucker called me to tell me that this order could be in jeopardy. I took the call whilst travelling with David, on the way to an important meeting with a major investor. When I heard from Mike, my heart sank because if Galaxy went under PACE was in trouble. I made an excuse when we reached the meeting, saying I was exhausted (which I was) and David took the meeting on his own. After a further conversation with Mike I got back on a plane to Australia to negotiate with Galaxy. I met them and during the meeting their investors agreed to continue funding their developments, the deal was rescued, and I flew back to do another week of roadshows.” PACE also had a huge analogue satellite TV business, making analogue satellite TVs for Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, SHARP, Philips and Thomson. David recalls that the move from a small team to a much larger group of staff and company size remained enjoyable and that he was still excited by ‘the job’. In spite of the rapid growth and occasional financial crises. There was a difficult time for the company when cable operators overstretched themselves. This resulted in many of the company’s customers owing significant sums of money. PACE were owed hundreds of thousands of pounds by companies at risk of going out of business. To mediate against this PACE sold the modem business, which had been relocated to the boiler room, close to Salts Mill Chimney (a location that is now occupied by the All-Terrain cycle shop) This element of the company was sold to employees and management. Stock Market Flotation The Directors of PACE had not spent much time considering whether or not to float their now internationally known company but thinking began to change as the ‘90s decade progressed. One thing that triggered the idea of flotation was that PACE had a subcontractor called Race Electronics, in Wales. The owner, Alf Gooding (who also owned a company called Catnic Lintels) came to visit in around 1994 and made an offer to buy PACE outright. It hadn’t previously occurred to the directors that they had a highly desirable company that could be sold. In addition, generally, the advent of the rapid development of increasingly sophisticated digital 16 products drew attention from further afield. Nevertheless, Rob wryly recalls that “Everybody was interested in buying us until you actually had a conversation with them”. The company had conversations with Motorola in America and General Instruments (GI), based in San Diego, California, who were pioneering the development of digital satellite TV receivers for the United States and other International markets, with Barry developing a relationship with one of GI’s Sales Directors, Kris Kelkar. GI and PACE were both chasing business from News Corporation’s ‘Star TV’ in Hong Kong. PACE’s relationships with National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL, the privatised UK independent broadcasting authority acquired by Cable Tel in 1996) who had developed technology PACE were using, and News Digital Systems (NDS - owned by News Corporation), who were leaders in encryption technology put PACE at a significant advantage in the emerging digital satellite market. PACE were already working with NTL and another conditional access technology partner, IRDETO, whose technology was winning favour with non-US broadcasters due to IRDETO being politically neutral, rather than NDS, who were owned by Rupert Murdoch. 7 GI had their own Conditional Access system called Videocypher which had some success in the US but wasn’t what the rest of the world wanted. As a result, GI were struggling to compete, and Barry’s contact Kelkar asked whether PACE would be interested in meeting their senior management in San Diego. David and Barry agreed to this and went to see them. At this first meeting no business agreement was reached but soon afterwards, Kelkar requested a meeting in Saltaire. During the meeting, GI made an offer to acquire PACE. However, GI wanted to pay for the company with only a proportion of cash up front, the remainder of the price being based on PACE’s future earnings. The team rejected the deal. Then a neighbouring Saltaire company came forward with a proposal. David Rhodes, a majority shareholder of the neighbouring Filtronic 8 business contacted Barry for a confidential meeting. Filtronic’s flotation had been a success and David Rhodes had heard that PACE had been talking to a US firm about a buyout. He had an idea that PACE could be integrated into Filtronic through a share exchange deal. PACE agreed to consider this, and David Rhodes gave a presentation to the PACE management team, considered the proposal but decided it wasn’t for them. When the directors informed Rhodes of their decision, he responded with a suggestion that PACE consider a flotation of their company and put the directors in touch with the brokers who initiated the Filtronic float. As a result, PACE met with 7 Keith Rupert Murdoch, Australian born American Media Mogul is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK (The Sun and The Times), in Australia (The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and The Australian), in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post). He is often considered to have too much influence on public opinion. 8 Filtronic is specialist Radio Frequency (RF) engineering business — designs, manufactures and supplies a high quality, innovative range of standard and custom filter, antenna and mmWave transceiver solutions that meet the needs of customers in market sectors ranging from mobile telecommunications network infrastructure to critical communications. The company was originally based in Saltaire, but the UK headquarters are now in Yeadon, Leeds 17 Pat O’Reilly who represented the brokers Panmure Gordon and decided to float PACE Microtechnology Ltd. The outcome was that PACE was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1996. This year coincided with a planned launch of the UK change from analogue to digital technology for broadcasting. The reason for the government to make this change was that the analogue system wasn’t an efficient use of airwaves and only had space for a limited number of channels, whereas digital used a multiplexing system to squeeze many TV channels into a single block. Although PACE were manufacturing digital equipment, 1996 was the start of a difficult time because PACE customers – Sky in particular – had made major investment in analogue and, with others, decided to put digital off for at least 12 months. PACE had manufactured the TV set top boxes, tested them, had parts coming in and were ready to go, but their customers’ decisions to delay caused problems. PACE had given their business projections based on the planned digital deals going ahead, so when these were not able to, PACE had to make a profit warning, and the share price dived. A profit warning is an official statement to the stock exchange from a publicly listed company that says that it will report full-year profits materially below management or market expectations. By becoming a public company PACE had to abide by this rule. Rob clarified the 1996 situation further by explaining that for a public company, it is imperative to state what you are expecting ‘to make’ in the coming financial year, and if you make that, your share price stays about the same or it might go down. If you exceed it by a reasonable amount, the share price might go up, but the exchange will ask ‘why didn’t you know?’ In the case for PACE that year, not being able to make the profit publicly estimated, the company had to give ‘profit warning’ and inform shareholders what was going on. This, along with further profit warnings, put a great deal of pressure onto Barry. It affected him badly and he decided to leave PACE PLC in 1997. His talents had played a significant part in PACE Microtechnology Ltd.’s success. The change to a public limited company had its effect on the other founding directors also over the next few years. Rob Fleming summed up the nature of the change- “If you’re an ordinary limited company, you don’t have to do any of this and I think one of the things that got to Barry was, we’re a company trying to do things at the leading edge. You don’t want to have to tell everybody what you’re doing. But once you’re a public company, you’ve got to say and if it’s more than a certain amount of company money you’re going to spend on a certain thing, you have to say you’re doing it. It’s counter-intuitive for a development business but once you become public, that’s the sort of thing you have to do.” 18 David stayed with PACE PLC, becoming a non-executive director for the next seven to eight years. Rob stayed as an executive director for just over six years and then took a non-executive director position for the remainder of his time with PACE PLC. David noted that after the flotation, the culture of the place changed, and the founding directors became a little uncomfortable, saying – “As a non-exec, it’s OK for a bit but you’ve got no input into it. All you can do is listen to things. And the board meetings then got transferred to London, so you had to traipse down there, and it just lost its interest.” However, even in the early days after flotation David recall that his days at PACE were still “just an exciting time”. In 2016 PACE was taken over by the American company Arris, subsequently sold once more to CommScope who have also chosen to retain offices at Salts Mill and are apparently intrigued by the setting’s history. Contribution to Saltaire Life Throughout their time at Salts Mill, PACE directors developed very good relationships with Jonathan Silver and his brother, Robin Silver. Neither side had found it necessary to have formal written leases drawn up so when PACE was about to float the company on the stock market in 1996, lawyers had to get involved and draw up lease terms etc. Jonathan and PACE had been content with a handshake. PACE, Salts Estates, and the Silver family had developed a powerful symbiotic relationship. The combination of Jonathan’s openness and enthusiasm, the local employment potential and reality of the worldwide awareness of PACE, its people and products and the opportunities provided to bring Salts once again to life, served to give weight to the direction desired by that combination and helped to deal with many of the frustrations created by the politics and sometimes very narrow outlook of officialdom. PACE always described Pace Manufacturing (PMF) a ‘facility’ rather than a factory. This was partly because at the time, Rob was a member of a Government ‘White Paper’ committee, meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry in London and trying to convince the Government to adopt a different attitude to training and stop the attitude that “if you don’t do well you will finish up working in a factory”. PACE spent significant time, energy, and money on training at PMF and in association with Bradford College, who Rob convinced to run courses specifically for PACE staff. With regard to access into Salts Mill, thankfully, Jonathan Silver negotiated some European funding to get the bridge improved, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to site any significant manufacturing there. The Victoria Road end through the village is simply not accessible for modern articulated vehicles and both Salts and PACE were very keen to keep the 19 feel of Saltaire as a village. The objective was to make sure that all manufacturing activity was at the back of the Salts Mill complex and didn’t damage Saltaire’s aesthetic. Jonathan Silver was in the forefront of that approach. Together, the contributions of the Silver family and the founding Directors of PACE Microtechnology Ltd. (later PLC) have made an enormous contribution to making Saltaire a desirable place to live, creating international interest in what is now a World Heritage site and in changing the local economy for the better. 20
Railway Station, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Saltaire Railway station was part of the Midland Railway and opened in 1856. The nearby railway, along with the canal, was likely an important factor in Titus Salt’s decision to build his model village on this site. The station closed in 1965 as part of the widespread programme of railway closures. The orignal buildings were demolished in the 1970s. A new station was reopened in 1984 and has services to Leeds, Bradford and Skipton.
C2b-213a: Saltaire train station with bridges
2019.46.27: 1 colour photograph of Saltaire Railway Station and college students
D3-056: Children at Saltaire railway station in fancy dress
Hirst Wood was a large estate of land on the westernmost edge of Shipley, adjacent to Saltaire.
2021.4.3: Original conveyancing document for strip of land near Hirst Mill
2021.4.9.1.2: Part of a Mortgage contract
2021.4.9.2.2: Part of a Mortgage contract
C2a-050.21: Saltaire village - Images (People).
2021.4.5.1: Two schedules relating to plots of land 113 and 114 near Hirst Wood, Shipley
C2b-215a: Railway line at Hirst Wood, Saltaire
H2-208.43: Baker Letters - letter from James Roberts concerning acreage of land near Hirst Mill
2021.4.5.2: Apportionment of rentals to Sir James Roberts
F1b-092: Hirst Wood-Cottingingley Bar (016)
H2-208.108: Baker Letters - regarding: Hirst Lane fields
H2-208.118: Baker Letters - regarding: payment for sand; sale of Hirst Mill
H2-208.120: Baker Letters - regarding: field in Hirst Lane; Clarence Park for sale; bill for sand; greenhouses in park
H2-208.127: Baker Letters - regarding: plans of land to Midland Railway; articles in Yorkshire Post; sale of Hirst Mill
H2-208.129: Baker Letters - regarding: Met Midland engineer; workshop; Hirst Mill and cottages; sale of stables and fields; sale of land between river and canal
H2-208.140: Baker Letters - regarding: sale of the two mills and land, and boat house and land; new mill owners purchase houses
H2-208.149: Baker Letters - regarding: Rents for allotments and cottage tenants; death of John Baker's son
H2-208.159: Baker Letters - regarding: Tender for repair of Hirst Lane
H2-208.160: Baker Letters - regarding: Plans are mentioned; tenders for road
H2-208.162: Baker Letters - repairs on Hirst Lane
H2-208.164: Baker Letters - regarding: plans sent; plans for Hirst Wood and Milner Fields Estate
H2-208.167: Baker Letters - request for stone from quarry
H2-208.168: Baker Letters - Tender for repairs
H2-208.169: Baker Letters - regarding: Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co; tender for Hirst Lane; repair of water pipes
H2-208.183: Baker Letters - regarding: query about Hirst Farm
H2-208.187: Baker Letters - regarding: trees at Higher Hirst Woo
H2-208.197: Baker Letters - regarding: Higher Hirst houses
H2-208.209: Baker Letters - regarding: payment of rent and repairs; Jowett's land holding; sale of Higher Hirst Mills
H2-208.210: Baker Letters - regarding: Higher Hirst Mill; Milner Fields as a Picture Palace; Glyn Thomas sale; allotment rents; value of Hirst Farm
H2-208.211: Baker Letters - regarding: sale of Hirst Mills; value of land; possible sale of allotments
H2-208.218: Baker Letters - regarding: threat to water weir; cost of houses in Bradford; sale of Higher Hirst Mill
H2-208.219: Baker Letters - regarding: rent level for Hirst cottages and allotments
H2-208.228: Baker Letters - regarding: plans of Hirst Wood Estate
H2-208.236: Baker Letters - regarding: Hirst Lock tenants; Lloyds bank cheque;
H2-208.243: Baker Letters - regarding: rent arrears at Lower Hirst Locks
H2-208.248: Baker Letters - regarding: Stephenson keeps Hirst Farm
H2-208.258: Baker Letters - regarding: arrears on Hist Lock cottages
H2-208.47: Baker Letters - regarding: fire at Hirst Mill
H2-208.50: Baker Letters - regarding: insurnace claim for Hirst Mill
H2-208.51: Baker Letters - regarding: potential sale of land
H2-208.53: Baker Letters - invoice for work
H2-208.54: Baker Letters - regarding: purchase of the Mill by Mr Hill
H2-208.61: Baker Letters - regarding: Fire at Hirst Mill
H2-208.62: Baker Letters - regarding: repairs to Hirst Mill and John Baker's move to Morecambe
H2-208.65: Baker Letters - regarding: Hirst Mill fire and insurance
H2-208.66: Baker Letters - regarding: Insurance; purchase of estate, visit by Sir James
H2-208.70: Baker Letters - regarding: Mr Normington; rebuilding of Mill
H2-208.84: Baker Letters - regarding: boundary posts and land sales
H2-208.93: Baker Letters - regarding: purchase of fields; boundary dispute settled; Milner Field and Hirst House
H2-208.96: Baker Letters - regarding: Mr Robinson and water for Mill; possible sale of land on Coach Road
2024.67: The Schedule of Sites of Scientific Interest in West Yorkshire 1990 Site name Hirst Wood.
2024.68: Second tier sites of ecological importance in West Yorkshire. Site name Shipley Glen
C4a-015.4: Saltaire History Club Meeting for May 2007
2022.72: Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries
Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries
Black and white photographic postcards of various scenes in and near Saltaire and Shipley. Includes: a view of Salts Mill from the United Reformed Church; the bandstand and the status of Sir Titus Salt in Roberts Park; the canal lock near Hirst Wood (about a mile from Saltaire); Market Place in Shipley; the Otley Road bridge over the river AIre in Shipley.
Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries: Salts Mill from tower of United Refromed Church
Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries: Bandstand and statue of Sir Titus Salt in Roberts Park
Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries: Canal locks near Hirst Wood near Saltaire
Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries: Market Place in Shipley
Photographic postcards of Saltaire and Shipley from the early twentieth centuries: Otley Road bridge over the River Aire in Shipley
2022.74: Saltaire's Allotments: A second draft of their history
Saltaire's Allotments: A second draft of their history
A history of the various allotments in Saltaire researched by Les Brook with major contributions from Colin Coates and James Roberts. A detailed history of the provision and use of allotments in Saltaire, including many changes to their extent and location.
Copyright Les Brook, James Roberts, Colin Coates
SALTAIRE’S ALLOTMENTS A second draft of their history Compiled and edited by Les Brook with major contributions from Colin Coates, James Roberts and Ian Watson 1 November 2023 2 1 In this paper, footnotes are numerical, and endnotes, alphabetical. The Club welcomes comments that query or correct any part of this paper – or adds to our understanding of the allotments’ history. Email saltairehistorymail@gmail.com 2 Aerial view of Saltaire dating from ~2005. 1 Introduction The allotments in Saltaire are amongst the many public facilities that have elevated this small ‘village’ from a Victorian curiosity to a World Heritage Site. Yet - like the engineer who designed the mill, the horny-handed sons of toil who built it, and the women whose labours at home and at their machines were crucial to its success - the allotments rarely get a mention in histories. How odd, because these “allotment gardens” are so conspicuous 3. Today, a favourite spot for photographers is on Victoria Road from which the mill’s magnificent frontage can be admired - as you look across the rhubarb, flowers, shrubs and greenhouses of allotments. Moreover, it’s odd that the allotments are neglected by historians since a principal reason for Saltaire’s global status is that it is not only “an outstanding and well-preserved example of a mid-19th century industrial town” but that it “exert[ed] a major influence on the development of the 4 "garden city" movement” . 3 Sometimes rendered as “garden allotments”, this was a common term in Victorian times. See the wording on the early maps and plans in this paper. 4 From UNESCO’s World Heritage inscription. For more on this movement, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_city_movement. (As far as I can see, there’s no evidence for UNESCO’s claim!) 2 Allotments in industrial settings and model towns In historical context, Saltaire’s allotments are far from unique. The village’s sister World Heritage Site and mill village, New Lanark, also had them, 50 years before Saltaire. Its owner/manager, the famous Robert Owen, believed that health could generally be improved by a clean living environment and fresh air and provided residents with allotments to grow their own fruit and vegetables as well as planting woodlands and laying out paths on the hillside above the village, to be enjoyed by the villagers 5. That could be the founder of Saltaire speaking. Yet the histories of Titus Salt provide no evidence to demonstrate that Salt ever visited New Lanark or supported Owen’s vision of utopian socialist communities. It would, 6 however, be very unlikely that Salt had no knowledge of Owen’s work… . Closer to home, in Leeds, during the depression of 1838-42, the sons of the pioneering millowner Benjamin Gott made “a benevolent gesture” by converting the tenter ground of their Bean Ing mill into allotments for 7 their workers . Daniels notes that Allotments were intended to promote in leisure time the industrious habits that William Chambers admired when he saw the Bean Ing employees at work in 1841: ‘Throughout the different large buildings containing the workmen you do not hear a word spoken. Every individual is busy as a bee at his own peculiar work; no such thing as straggling out is observable, and the whole system seems perfect in point of concentrated 8 industry and organization’. 5 https://www.newlanark.org/introducing-robert-owen. Notwithstanding this assertion, I have asked our New Lanark counterparts for evidence and have not received a reply. 6 https://www.saltairecollection.org/saltaire-history/saltaire-foundation-and-legacy/ 7 ‘Tenter ground’ was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. Bean Ing was on the western edge of Leeds city centre. 8 Stephen John Daniels Moral Order and the Industrial Environment in the Woollen Textile Districts of West Yorkshire, 1780-1880 3 Daniels goes on to observe that allotments were a feature of two other 9 West Yorkshire ‘model villages’, Copley and Akroydon . These post-date Saltaire. The allotments in front of Salts Mill As we shall see later, the allotments in front of the mill are not the only ones in the past and present village - but they are the earliest and, historically, the most interesting. Their date is not known but they were certainly in place by the time Caroline Street’s eastern extension was built, 10 probably in late 1868 into 1869 , and all the indications suggest a much earlier date, maybe soon after the completion of 11 the mill in 1853 . These allotments were deliberately designed both in location and form, and that they sit immediately in front of the mill is striking. Why would they be designed and why would this location be chosen? Salt’s chosen location for his mill and small town was in the countryside, in the pristine Aire valley. The choice was deliberately rural: one of the most beautiful and picturesque in the neighbourhood of Bradford… charmingly situated on the banks of the Aire… an extensive landscape of hill and 12 dale . 9 Ibid. The Copley allotments appear to be on Copley Lane Halifax HX3 0RD. The Akroydon allotments are next to York Terrace, Halifax HX3 6LZ. Both are small scale. 10 We shall see later that Lockwood Street and (part of) Caroline Street were constructed on part of the original allotment space. For evidence of the dates here, see Les Brook 16 BUILDING CONTRACTS critical appraisal v210622 (unpublished). 11 These indications will be addressed later in this paper. They include various plans; the early foundation (1861) of the Floral and Horticultural Society; the evidence on later OS maps of a unique allotment layout which clearly preceded constructions with known dates, the dates of which are known; the date of the Garden Cottage; and the 1887 W and R Mawson plan. And why not early, since they required little effort or money to construct? 4 Creating a colossal factory in such a setting was an act of vandalism… or so it might seem. So would it not be appropriate to re-create ‘rural’ outdoor space within the village? And would it not also facilitate a splendid view of the 13 mighty mill? That the optics of this space were important and that the space was designed is evidenced by its layout. The two early plans here show the allotments organised around a symmetrical guitar 14 pattern of pathways . And what is striking is that subsequent Ordnance Survey (OS) maps confirm that this elaborate arrangement was actually built. 12 Balgarnie’s Salt with commentary and additions by Barlo and Shaw 13 A: This is not a silly question. Saltaire village has many designed vistas. Try looking down George Street to the URC Church and beyond. Glorious! B: Hopefully to be added to a future draft: material from Ruth Quinn’s PhD thesis. See summary here: https://heritageconsortium.ac.uk/current-students-2/2017-cohort/ruth- quinn/ 14 Unfortunately, these are plans and not maps. Maps are reliable sources of information, of what existed or exists. Plans may be just that: plans. For example, in the present cases: the top plan shows a layout for Saltaire Park (now Roberts Park) that was not implemented, and neither plan depicts the Sunday School. Unlike maps, plans can be very difficult to date. However, the top one is from Reports on the Paris Universal Exhibition, 1867. Thanks to Jo Lintonbon for this info. The document can be read at https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/UQgtfl3kA20C?hl=en. The lower image is later than 30 October 1869. We know that because the second has Salt as a baronet, and he was ennobled on that date. 5 Here's the evidence – an extract from the 1891 OS map - that the guitar layout was adopted. By the time of this map, considerable construction had taken place on the allotments’ southern edge but this cannot hide the remnants of the more extensive, guitar-emblazoned, set of plots. Look back at the first, earlier plan. It shows the allotments to be enclosed within an area north of Caroline Street. But if we look at the later plan, and more importantly the later, authoritative OS maps like the one above, it is clear that initially these allotments occupied a greater area. The red line is a rough estimate of the original (~1853 to ~1868) 15 boundary of this larger area . 15 1868 because, in October of that year, Lockwood and Mawson sought builders for the houses on each side of the Saltaire Institute (Victoria Hall), including the eastern end of Caroline Street. The latter group of houses feature at the bottom right of the area marked within red lines above. Bradford Observer..8 October 1868. 6 That the first area of allotments was more extensive is not entirely surprising if we look back at the plots of land which the village occupied to the east of Victoria Road. The analysis that follows makes considerable 16 use of research by Ian Watson in The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt . Saltaire was built on many separate fields with multiple owners, and they 17 were purchased by Salt over a lengthy period . Indeed, much of Saltaire was built well before significant areas were in Salt’s hands. Immediately below is Ian’s map showing the first purchase. It involved many fields, was made in 1850, and is hatched in red. Fields 542 and 541 occupy the area immediately south of the railway line in front of the mill which were to host the allotments. Note the area’s roughly triangular shape. If fields 542 and 541 in front of the mill were all given over to allotments in the 10 or more years after the mill opened (1853) – and I believe they were – the area they covered would have been greater than their area in the first of the early plans above. In fact, it would have been roughly the same as the red-boundaried, rough-estimate area in the map above. Not a coincidence. There is no reason for not converting both of these fields into allotments. The implementation of the building plan (the earliest of the plans above) could not proceed until field 543 was purchased. 16 Ian’s booklet is available at https://www.saltairecollection.org/wp- content/uploads/THE-LAND-ACQUISITIONS-OF-TITUS-SALT-IW-2018.pdf. 17 Ibid. Almost all the land consisted of conventional farmland at the time of the purchases, and contained a range of arable, pasture and grass-meadow. 7 Below are two more maps from the period before Salt had purchased any land in the area. The enclosure map is not dated but clearly pre-dates the 18 OS map which was surveyed in 1848 . The roughly triangular shape is in evidence on both. The railway line is the upper boundary of these two fields and the western boundary is a track or road, Dixon Mill Lane. 18 It was published in 1852 and is usually referred to as the 1852 OS map. 8 Back to Salt’s land acquisitions. Fields 542 and 541 did not share a common owner with the land to the south, and notably, field 543. Watson shows that it took until 1866 – 16 years after the purchase of 541 and 542! – for the deal to be clinched. Over that pre-1866 period, Saltaire was being built according to the plan drawn up by Salt’s architects, Lockwood and Mawson. However, after April 1860, there’s reason to believe that they ran out of land: no 19 invitations to tender for new housing were issued until March 1866 . The conversion of the whole of fields 542 and 541 into allotments was probably not meant to last for ~13 years but that is what happened, and now we know why. Although it can be argued that this front-of-mill allotment space was a significant and deliberate part of Saltaire’s design, it was far from invincible. Indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, the first of our plans can be seen to spell out the architects’ intentions: the allotments were always destined to have Caroline Street as their southern boundary. However, this destiny was breached in the final couple of years of Titus Salt’s life when the Sunday School was erected on the allotments. The Bradford Observer reported that The Sunday schools [sic] attached to [the Congregational, now URC, Church] have hitherto been held in the day school and institute, but, with that munificent elaboration which distinguishes [Titus Salt] the founder of this model town, a distinct building is to be reared, which will also contain distinctive features and appliances specially adapted for Sunday school teaching. The building is being erected on a portion of the allotment 20 gardens in front of the factory… . 21 It seems that planning for a Sunday School , and specifically planning for its location, was poor to non-existent – and the allotments suffered from that. Perhaps a Sunday School was an afterthought, and although that seems very unlikely in the model village of a very committed Christian, it may indeed be the case, as Jack Reynolds suggests: 19 Les Brook op cit. They had issued more than 10 in the years 1853 to 1860. 20 Bradford Observer 27 May 1875. Balgarnie’s Salt confirms this report: The [Sunday] schools stand upon a portion of the allotment gardens… 21 We’re talking about a Sunday School building here. For many years before the construction of a dedicated building, the church ran Sunday School classes both under the church and in the Dining Hall. 9 The last building of all to be put up was the Congregational Sunday School, built at the corner of Caroline Street and Victoria Road in 1875. Originally, the space had been reserved for a hotel, but the idea had been abandoned and the space re-allocated for use as allotment gardens. The Congregationalists decided that the basement of the church, which they had used as a Sunday school, was cramped and unsuitable and asked Salt for a site on which to place a new purpose-built structure. Salt agreed and gave in addition £7,000, provided they raised £500 towards 22 the interior decorations. The trouble with Reynolds’ statements is that they are largely misleading or inaccurate: • This building was a very late addition to the village. “Contract 16” for “New SUNDAY SCHOOL and CLASS-ROOMS” was only published 23 in the press on 18 February 1875 and the building opened on 29 April 1876, the last building for which Salt himself was responsible 24 . • As we have shown, there is good reason to believe that the allotments in front of the mill were there right from the start – and there is no evidence of a hotel being planned, there or elsewhere. • Whilst the Congregationalists used their basement for Sunday School classes, their principal location was the Dining Hall. This means that Reynolds’ tale of pressure from the congregation may be correct, but not for the reasons suggested. 22 Reynolds Jack The Great Philanthropist 23 Lockwood and Mawson were the architects of Saltaire. Their invitations to tender for Saltaire’s buildings were usually called ‘contracts’. See Les Brook op cit. 24 In December of 1876, he died. The building was demolished in 1972. https://saltairevillage.info/Saltaire_WHS_Demolished_buildings.html 10 The Garden Cottage in the allotments in front of Salts Mill A rather odd and mysterious addition to the allotments in front of Salts Mill is the Garden Cottage. It was located in the far eastern corner and features on the second Lockwood and Mawson plan of Saltaire… … and on the 1887 Mawson plan (of 25 which more later) . 25 This is the most graphic image of construction over the allotments. Note the damage to the guitar pattern. Note also the curvature of the southern boundary of the allotments. This is entirely consistent with the southern boundary of fields 542 and 541, as is the cut-off eastern end of the triangle. 11 The cottage is much more prominent on the 1891 OS map, directly south of the mill chimney and across the railway line. And it is named. Two further images may show this same building. The first is on a well-known drawing of Salts Mill in the Illustrated London News of 1 October 1853. This is the full 1853 drawing… and this is a crop from it, showing the building, much-enlarged, to the right of the mill chimney. We know that, at some point, a signal box was constructed close by, but this is not a Victorian signal box. They were typically 2 storey and did 26 not have chimneys . This building’s footprint is also similar to that of the Garden Cottage on the 1891 map. If this 1853 building is a house, it is the first, the 27 oldest, house in Saltaire . 26 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_boxes_that_are_listed_buildings_in_England 12 But leaving aside that intriguing possibility, census records from 1861 to 1901 confirm that Garden Cottage was a house, and had occupants. The first four of these censuses show Joseph and Maria Kitchen and as many 28 as three daughters living there. Joseph was not employed in gardening . He was a power loom overlooker who had retired by 1891. Newspaper records show that he was a keen flower grower who won a number of 29 prizes . In the 1901 census, the cottage was occupied by Bramley Badland, a wool sorter, his wife Hannah and their two young children. In the 1911 census Garden Cottage is not listed. Indeed, it probably disappeared (was 30 demolished?) by 1908 as it is not shown on the 1908 OS map . UNESCO failed to recognise this corner of Saltaire when it delineated the boundaries of the historic village. That was a significant omission. The evidence shows that the cottage and the nearby allotments were part and parcel of the original village. There is a strong case for this cottage having been built as early as 1853, but even if it wasn’t, the census returns show that it was in place before a very significant fraction of the houses in the 31 village . 27 There’s no record of Garden Cottage amongst the Lockwood and Mawson ‘contracts’, most probably because contracts were for large groups of houses or single large buildings such as the Congregational Church. See Les Brook op cit. 28 Which scotches the idea that this cottage was built to accommodate an allotments’ supervisor. 29 Joseph Kitchen won “the best cultivated Cottage Garden” at the 1856 Airedale show, described below. This surely indicates that Garden Cottage was built by 1856 and adds value to the argument that the allotments were up and running by that date. 30 Thanks to Jack Hargreaves for this observation. 31 Les Brook op cit. 13 The allotment holders and others combine: the Horticultural, Pig, Dog, Poultry and Pigeon Society Within 7 years or so of the construction of the first streets in Saltaire, a Floral and Horticultural Society had been formed. Its changes of name reflect the range of uses of gardens and allotments that we have 32 uncovered above . Founded in 1861 as the Floral and Horticultural 33 Society , it was renamed as the Horticultural, Pig and Dog Society in 1873, and in 1876 became the Horticultural, Pig, Dog, Poultry and Pigeon Society. It had about 100 members, most prominent among them being long serving and skilled mill employees such as Eli Lambert, Isaac Constantine, John Hanson, James Ellis, Sam Baldwin and James Rushton. Men with local status were most likely to be allocated and to keep the allotments which the firm provided, though they could not establish a total monopoly 34 since there were 100 allotments and 38 piggeries along the canal side . It had an annual show and exhibition which was a highlight of the village social life for many years. Notwithstanding the importance to Saltaire of this local organisation and its show, it was not unique and it didn’t appear from nowhere. In 1856, the Bradford Observer ran an article on the second annual 35 exhibition of the Airedale Floral and Horticultural Society in “Mr 36 A Darlington’s park, Shipley” . At >3,000 words long, this news article is encyclopaedic and indicates that gardening and related activities were of substantial local importance well before the existence of Saltaire. 32 This short summary about the Society is based on text in Saltaire Overlookers 1830 to 1914 by Roger Clark in collaboration with Colin Coates. Roger acknowledges that much of the information is from Reynolds op cit pp303/4 33 Bradford Observer Thursday 23 June 1870. Announcement of the ninth annual show of the Saltaire Floral and Horticultural Society. 34 Bradford Observer of 27 August 1863 according to Reynolds op cit 35 Though the event was described as an “exhibition”, at its heart was a comprehensive competition. 36 Bradford Observer 21 August 1856. Mr Darlington was almost certainly John Darlington, the resident of Shipley Hall which was in the middle of Shipley, more or less where Wetherspoon’s is today. See map in endnote. The “park” is almost certainly the grounds of Shipley Hall. These can be seen on the map. 14 The author tells us that a “large and commodious marquee” was erected and it held examples of the following produce: Acacia Cauliflowers Kidney Beans Peas Stocks Achimenes Cherries Kidney Petunias Stove Plants African Cineraria Potatoes Picotees Strawberries Marigolds Coxcombs Lettuce Plums Verbenas Antirrhinums Cucumbers Lilium Potatoes White Apples Dahlias Melon Raspberries Turnips Asters Eschalots Mosses Red And White, Red, Autumn- Nectarines White Grapes Yellow and Sown Onions Ferns Green Onions Redcurrants Gooseberries Beans French Yellow Marigolds Orchid Rhubarb Turnips Blackcurrants Frontignac Pansies Roses Cabbage Fuchsias Parsley Round Campanula Garlic Parsnips Potatoes Carnations Gloxinia Peaches Spring Carrots Onions And in addition to all these vegetables and flowers, there was poultry: Bantams Fowls of the Silver Pencilled or Cochin China or Sultan Chittapratt Brama Pootro Golden Spangled Silver Spangled Dorking Hamburgh Hamburgh Ducks Polands Spanish fowls and pigeons: Common Tumblers Antwerps Jacobins Carriers Fantails Turbites 37 and game too! 37 Doyle, Martin The Illustrated Book of Domestic Poultry George Routledge & Company, 1854 is a splendid reference book on Brahma Pootros and Chittaprats! Download it free from https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dgBLAQAAMAAJ&source=gbs_slider_cls_metadata _7_mylibrary 15 This remarkable range of fruit, veg, flowers and domesticated animals does not tell us what would have been cultivated and kept in Saltaire’s allotments – but it is surely indicative. It may also provide evidence of the gender balance in gardening in mid-C19 West Yorkshire. Amongst the very long list of successful competitors, only one (Mrs Sharp, a poultry keeper) appears to be female. The attendance at the 1856 event also tells a story. It drew people from across the largest county in England. Folk came from Bingley, Bradford, Leeds, Skipton, Holmfirth, York, Wakefield, and Otley. And Titus Salt was amongst the distinguished guests. An indication of what we suspect from our study of Saltaire’s founder’s allotment plans – that he was firmly committed to allotment gardening being a feature of his model village. Though we have little direct evidence that Titus was also enamoured of allotmenteering itself, one snippet does suggest he was supportive, and it is dated May 1848, pre-dating Saltaire: 38 The allotments at the Exhibition grounds By the late 1880s, the allotment gardens in front of the mill occupied a much larger area than that long thin triangle shown on the earliest plans. Here’s a drawing which dates from the late 1880s/mid-1890s. The large 39 building bottom right is Exhibition Building , constructed for the 1887 Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition. Below the drawing is an extract from the 1889 OS map. Both evidence a greatly increased area of allotments. 38 Bradford Observer 24 May 1848 39 This is its modern name. 16 It appears that the closure of the 1887 Exhibition prompted a discussion on the use of its extensive grounds which, on the map above, are to the east of the ‘Technical Schools’ (now called Exhibition Building). On 13 April 1889, the Shipley Times reported: We understand that the trustees of the late Sir Titus Salt are prepared to lay out the ground on which the greater part of the [The Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition] stood in 1887 for garden allotments. It is hoped that this will meet an admitted want amongst the population of Shipley and part of Saltaire. There are several acres of ground, and, if the desire for allotments equals the quantity of land, the trustees will proceed to enclose the land suitably 17 and substantially. Practically, it is proposed to build a stone wall from the corner of the Technical School to the boundary wall of the Board Schools [now Wycliffe CE Primary School]. The intervening space between this wall and the railway will be staked out for allotment pieces, and if required, the ground alongside the railway up to the Primitive Methodist Chapel [today, the site of a Tesco Local] will also be taken in. The ground is certainly well adapted for garden plots, and the soil is abundant and suitable for the raising of garden produce, as well as for fancy gardening. In these days of demand for allotments throughout the country, it is satisfactory to know that the growing population of this district have an opportunity keeping pace with their fellows in more distinctly rural districts. Of course we are not in a position to state the terms on which the trustees will be willing to let the allotments, but we are assured that, in keeping with the desire to meet a felt want, there is no intention of fixing terms such as would preclude cottagers taking advantage of the offer. At present the trustees leave the matter in the hands of Mr Samuel Barber, than whom no one is better qualified to know the needs of the district. Seeing that gardening operations are in their inception for the produce of the present year, Mr Barber is anxious to know as early as possible what demand there be may for the allotments in order to enable the trustees to make final arrangements. In other words, those who wish 40 to have allotments should see Mr Barber [ ] and state their wishes to him. Within two months, the Shipley Times indicated that most of the plots were taken: We are informed that there are still a few garden plots for disposal in the Exhibition Grounds, which Sir Titus Salt Bart., & Co., have laid out for allotment gardens. Mr. S. Barber has the matter in hand and is prepared 41 to receive applications. So where are these allotments now? In the decade that followed this major increase in plot numbers, Salts Mill and Saltaire changed hands. In 1892 the Salt family left the scene and a consortium took over. The four principals were Isaac Smith, John 40 From c1866 to his retirement in 1888, Samuel Barber was clerk of works at Saltaire Mills. He lived at 50 Victoria Road. He was a member of the Shipley Local Board (the local council) from 1874 to 1890. 41 Shipley Times 22 June 1889 18 42 Maddocks, James Roberts and John Rhodes . Roberts would go on to 43 become the sole owner and, by the 1901 census , three streets had been built on the former Exhibition grounds – and thus on a swathe of the 1889 garden allotments. It is worth noting that, in 1889, the decision to create these allotments would have been made by the son of Titus Salt. The new proprietors appear not to have shared the same commitment to allotment gardens as the Salt family and, unsurprisingly, two of the streets were named after Maddocks and Rhodes. A further set of allotments, between canal and river On 18 October 1870, the Leeds Mercury reported that Saltaire is noted for pig keeping, and between the river and the canal a long range of neat pig-styes have been erected, close to the allotment gardens, for the use of the residents who have a taste for home fed ham and bacon. The most plausible location for these “styes”, “between the river and the canal”, is the area behind and to the west of what is now the Boathouse 42 Maggie Smith and Colin Coates Salts Mill: The Owners and Managers 1853 to 1986 43 Based on Colin Coates’ research to be found at https://saltairevillage.info/ 19 pub and restaurant. This extract from the OS map, surveyed in 1889 and published in 1893, appears to confirm this as the location of Saltaire’s piggeries. There is what may be “a long range of neat pig-styes” directly south of the Boat Hose and immediately alongside the canal. In the Merthyr Telegraph of 8 December 1871, these allotments get a very honourable mention by a Saltaire visitor-cum-correspondent: Returning to the working man's paradise on the south bank of the river Aire, we observe that even the pigs are well cared for. They occupy what may be called a little street, if not a colony, of their own. Sty is too bad a name to apply to the clean little dwellings which the Saltaire grunters inhabit. They are so substantially and tastefully built, and withal so scrupulously clean. The Saltaire piggery is a collection of stying styes, soaring far above the filthy holes in which animals of the hog kind are usually brought up. Every sty has its own number, so that one passing along the row is almost tempted to imagine himself in a street of Lilliputians, only that an occasional grunt from some inhabitant, who probably mistakes him for a relative, wakes him from his reverie. Two years later, on 29 May 1873, the Bradford Observer described Saltaire’s allotments in some detail: Turning my eyes from the factory, I notice a square tract of allotment gardens, let out to such Saltairites as are desirous of growing their own vegetables. The gardens are fresh and bright; flowers blending sweetly with the more useful plants and roots which form so necessary a part of the British workman's dinner. 20 There is a profusion of peas, cabbages, rhubarb, gooseberries, and other vegetables and fruits familiar in the mouth of the perambulating greengrocer, and the walks and beds are kept with scrupulous care and neatness. These allotments appear to be those in front of Salts Mill, but our journalist walks on: Pushing forward still further down this main street (Victoria Road) I come upon the canal where the great iron bridge begins. Here I have a view, to the right, of the north end of the factory buildings, and to the left of another series of allotment gardens. These allotments appear to be the piggeries. That Saltaire was “noted for pig keeping” suggests these allotments had been there for some time before the earliest newspaper reference in 1870. This implies that they were a relatively early feature of the village – and maybe they were because Titus himself approved of pig (and poultry) husbandry. The newspaper snippet cited above supports this view: in 1848, he was already President of the Bradford Pig and Poultry Society. There is further reason to believe that pig-keeping in Saltaire started early. Local historian Ian Watson has demonstrated that Salt did not buy the land for Saltaire in one fell swoop. Quite the opposite, explains Ian in his excellent The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt, and he dates to 44 1851/1852 the purchase of the fields that made up the bulk of this “between the river and the canal” allotment land which housed a 45 concentration of piggeries . This is very early amongst Salt’s acquisitions, coinciding with the construction of the mill itself. Though we can’t claim to know the exact date when these allotments were established, we do have some clues as to when the piggeries expired. 44 Numbered 561 and 562 45 Ian’s booklet is available at https://www.saltairecollection.org/wp- content/uploads/THE-LAND-ACQUISITIONS-OF-TITUS-SALT-IW-2018.pdf. Ian tells me that plot 561 was owned by W R Crompton Stansfield of Esholt Hall and was part of Salt's first purchase in late 1850. The sale was finalised in 1851. Plot 562 was a small field owned by Dr John Outhwaite of Bradford. It was sold to Salt in 1852. The neighbouring plots (to the west) are 578/9. These were owned by William Wright, a manufacturer of paper at Hirst Mill. They were purchased by Salt in 1854. 21 They were reported as “rapidly disappearing” in 1901. The same 46 newspaper making that claim also spoke of “their removal” . Was this a decision of the mill which owned the land or the local authority or a court? 47 Whatever, the closure was highlighted because of the alleged stealing of a pig trough in which the protagonists were all from Saltaire or thereabouts. The Shipley Times ran the story on 13 July 1901. The victim of the crime was Whitaker Clough of Caroline Street, Saltaire, who “had rented pig- cotes, which were being pulled down”. A witness, Benjamin Read, who lived at Constance Street, Saltaire, said he was “employed in pulling down the pig cotes on 19 & 20 June”. Alfred E. Jackson, a second witness, also said that he was “employed in pulling down the piggeries”. But were the allotments closed? Or was it just the piggeries? 48 In January 1922 , the Shipley Times reported the purchase by “Sir Titus 49 Salt. Bart., Sons and Co., Ltd., Saltaire Mills” from Shipley Council of a substantial area of land including that behind the Congregational church. We shall look at this acquisition in more detail later, but for the moment we’re focusing on the “between the river and the canal” area and the report includes this: the allotments lying near the boathouse opposite Saltaire Park [ie 50 “between canal and river”] are to be done away with , and the Caroline Street Allotments will probably share a similar fate… A most comprehensive scheme for the laying-out of the land between the canal and the river Aire has been drawn up. The allotments situate near the boathouse are removed because of their unsightly appearance… Well, we know that the Caroline Street allotments (ie those in front of the mill) survived – but the first part of this quotation makes clear that the “between canal and river” allotments were still in existence in January 1922. They had survived the 1901 dissolution of the piggeries and may well have been closed completely in the early 1920s “because of their 46 Shipley Times 13 July 1901 47 Note the involvement of the police, the courts and the Salts Mill company in the stories that follow. 48 Exact date not known. 49 At this time, the Salt name was still in use, even though it was 30 years since the family lost ownership. 50 This is confirmed as the intention by the 1923 Estate Office plan (which can be seen at Endnote C). The land between canal and river is shown as landscaped. 22 unsightly appearance”. And as we shall see below, a significant number of new allotments, behind the church, would more than compensate for their demise. Clearly there was a plan in the early 20s to close these “between canal and river” allotments. But was it implemented? At this point we do not know - but fast forward to 1937. Close inspection of this aerial photo shows no allotments “between canal and river” by then. Before becoming “unsightly”, the piggeries (if not the allotments) had an unsavoury history. On 27 April 1881, the Yorkshire Post reported that An alarming outbreak of swine fever has just been discovered in the Saltaire piggeries on the canal bank at Saltaire, near the mills of Sir Titus Salt, Sons. & Co… it is feared that the disease may spread amongst the large number of pigs stored in the piggeries, which number altogether nearly 100. Further cases were reported by the Post on 2 May and, less than 2 weeks later, the Shipley Times, said that During the past week, the police authorities have deemed it necessary to 51 slaughter three pigs believed to be suffering from swine fever . The involvement of the police is notable, as is that of “the firm of Sir Titus Salt, Sons, & Co.” who 51 14 May 1881 23 have issued the following notice regarding their piggeries [my emphasis]: Pigs are not to be brought direct from any public market, but only from places ascertained to be free from disease, and where the pigs have been for at least fourteen days immediately preceding. Further outbreaks of swine fever were reported by the Shipley Times on 13 August and 3 September 1881 and “the district has been declared an infected area”. This most destructive disease still continues its direful work at the Saltaire Piggeries was the Times judgement on 1 October, and … at present there are one-third of the thirty seven styes empty. It was no better 5 weeks later: Swine Fever has once more broken out at Saltaire piggeries. This time a young pig belonging to Jabez Giles has been slaughtered, and the place 52 has been declared an infected locality . This whole episode was repeated in 1885: Information was given to Sergeant Bradbury on Tuesday (30 June), by William Walker of the dining rooms, Saltaire, that he had a pig suffering from swine fever. The animal was visited and subsequently slaughtered 53 … Constable Russell has reported receiving information about five o'clock p.m. on 11 July, from William Buck, of 32 Ada Street, Saltaire, that he had a pig on his premises at the piggeries, Saltaire, which he supposed to 54 be suffering from swine fever. The animal has since been destroyed . Further outbreaks occurred in 1887 and then in 1890. In 1887: The premises of the following persons in the Saltaire Piggeries have been declared, by a sub-committee for the East Morley Petty Sessional Division, under the above Act to be infected with swine fever - William Camm, 52 Shipley Times 5 November 1881 53 Shipley Times and Express 4 July 1885 54 Shipley Times and Express 18 July 1885 24 Martin Furnish, Samuel Hall, Holland Crabtree, Wm. Buck, Richard 55 Newsome, John Milton, Samuel Beanland, and Albert Hargreaves . In 1890: On Saturday 25 January, Mr Jonathan Foster, of Constance Street, Saltaire, night watchman at Saltaire Mills, reported to the police that one of his pigs in the piggeries at Saltaire was ill. Inspector Bielby visited the place and found three pigs in the cote, one apparently suffering from fever. The matter was reported to Supt. Symonds, and his direction Mr Collins, veterinary surgeon, of Bradford, visited the place on Sunday morning, and declared two pigs to be suffering from swine fever. On the following day both pigs were destroyed, and the stye was declared to infected area under the Contagions Diseases (Animals) Act. On Thursday the magistrates further declared the whole of the piggeries at Saltaire to be an infected area, and the owners would not be permitted 56 to remove any of the animals without a licence . By February 1890: In reference to the outbreak of swine fever at the Saltaire piggeries, reported a week ago, several more pigs have succumbed this week, and under order of the police have been buried. The piggeries within the infected area are in the occupation of the following persons: Jonathan Foster, Luke Pedley, John Milton, James Jackson, William Buck, Thomas Mawson, Joseph Pitts, William Camm, Richard Newsome, Samuel Beanland, Albert Milton, George Shuttleworth, Jonas Bower, James Brook, 57 Thomas Clarke, Jabez Giles, and Michael O'Donnell . But by April 1890, Jonathan Foster’s piggery was free from infectious 58 disease so we might assume that all was well. Unfortunately, 1892 saw disaster strike again. The Nelson Chronicle ran a piece: an extensive outbreak of swine fever has occurred at the piggeries near the allotment gardens, Saltaire. The whole of the piggeries have been declared within an infected area, and many of the animals have had to be 59 slaughtered. The consequent loss to pigkeepers is somewhat serious. 55 Shipley Times and Express 27 August 1887 56 Shipley Times and Express 1 February 1890 57 Shipley Times 8 February 1890 58 Leeds Times 12 April 1890 59 17 June 1892 25 Less than three weeks later the Yorkshire Evening Post announced that 60 “the number of cases of swine fever at Saltaire was decreasing”. Did these regular outbreaks of swine fever lead to the demise of the piggeries? It seems possible but not probable. The closure (in the early 20s?) seems to have happened some years after the last reported outbreak. Porcine postscript… This section of our exploration of Saltaire’s piggeries would not be complete without a twist in the curly tail. And here it is. An allotment holder from the front-of-mill allotments has just told us (June 2022) that his plot frequently yields pig bones. The allotment gardens in Albert Road, Saltaire In 1887, W and R 61 Mawson published a plan showing “The Town and Works of Saltaire”. 1887 was over 10 years after the end of the construction of the original village so we can take it that it is more of a map than a plan. 60 4 July 1892 61 The successor architects to Lockwood and Mawson. 26 In the bottom left corner was the top (southern) end of Albert Road and to its left were the Shipley School Boards Mixed and Infant schools. To their south were “Messrs Edward & Titus Salt Allotment Gardens”. This - on a plan drafted by the successor to the architects of Salts Mill, on 62 land owned by Salts Mill - surely means that the Albert Road allotments were 100% part of Saltaire. Regrettably, the 1891 OS map covering this area and which was surveyed in 1889 to 1891 fails to identify a group of allotments as such. 63 The first intimation we have of these allotments is to be found in a Shipley Times article dated 1 July 1893. A few days before 1 July, at the Bradford County Police Court, Thomas Laycock, labourer, of Saltaire, was brought up on suspicion of being concerned in the theft of pigeons from the allotment gardens in Albert Road…Constable Fuller saw the prisoner near to the Rosse Hotel [64], at 6.30 on Sunday morning. There were blood stains and other marks on the prisoner’s clothing and hat, and also marks of tar. The officer could not find the pigeons, but the prisoner’s boots corresponded exactly with the footprints in the gardens, and there was tar on the railings there. When apprehended, the prisoner said, “I know nothing of the b______ pigeons”, The prisoner denied the allegation… 62 See the later information about the successors to the Salts trying to sell this land. 63 … and of any of Saltaire’s allotments being used for the keeping of pigeons! 64 Just across the main road from the Albert Street allotments… suspicious! 27 The prisoner’s mother was called, and she declared that her son on Saturday night went to bed at 11.30, and she was quite sure he was not up on Sunday morning before 9 or 10 a.m.… The police were always on to him because he took a drop of beer. The Bench concluded that there was insufficient evidence to convict and the prisoner was discharged. Two years later, the consortium which had bought Saltaire in 1892 were off-loading land in this same part of the village. …Wooller Jennings, auctioneer, of Bradford, offered for sale by auction, at the Sun Hotel, about fifty acres of land, which formed part of the Saltaire Estate, and was submitted by order of the Saltaire Syndicate. Lots 49,50, and 51… contained 6100 square yards extending from the top 65 of Albert Road to Hirst Lane, and now occupied as allotment gardens. Since no offers were made, we may assume that the allotments were spared… but not for long. In 1902, a tramshed was built towards the top of Albert Road, and some allotments were lost. The tramshed still exists, as a brewery and restaurant called Salt Bar and Kitchen. The Shipley Times’ editor was sympathetic to the allotment holders for their loss: One result of the erection of the intended tramway-car shed at Saltaire will be the displacement of some of the tenants of the gardens at the top of Albert Road, which will be a pity, as I know that these garden plots have been greatly valued, as well as been a great convenience to those residing near, who could get a fresh salad or a few tomatoes and other things in season. I believe steps will be taken to bring before the District Council the question of the provision of gardens under the Allotments Act. Several years ago, a committee of the Council was formed to deal with the matter, but nothing was done, I think, beyond making a few inquiries to suitable land for the purpose. The destruction of some of the gardens at Saltaire, however, seems likely to bring the subject once more to the front, and if a sufficient number of applicants come forward, there ought not to be much difficulty in 65 Shipley Times 29 June 1895. “There is no set standard size but the most common plot is 10 rods, an ancient measurement equivalent to 302 square yards or 253 square metres” says https://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment-information/allotment- history/. This means that the Albert Road allotments consisted of ~20 plots. 28 providing ground for the encouragement of such a healthy and desirable 66 recreation. It transpired that many allotments were lost. But not all, as we can see from this extract from an October 1923 Saltaire estate office 67 68 plan. . Much later however, a housing estate was built on the area formerly occupied by allotments – and on land to the west and north. Nonetheless, two very small allotment gardens remain in the area today - at the southern (‘top’) end of Hirst Lane (H) and the western end of Carlton 69 Avenue (C) . However, only H is in the original location, ie on land labelled “Allotment Gardens” on the 1890 OS map. 66 Shipley Times 5 September 1902 67 A copy of the full plan can be found at endnote C. 68 The closeness to the school of this residual and small piece of allotment land prompts an interesting question. Had it become a school garden? After all, by 1918, 51 Bradford schools were growing potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, beans and peas. See Telegraph and Argus 25 July 2020 69 Personal observations by James Roberts and Les Brook. James thinks they may have survived because of their location, over a water main. 29 Solving the food problem in the First World War - by creating allotment gardens The 1914/18 world war demanded an increase in domestic food production and on 7 January 1916, the Shipley Times reported that The Shipley District Council have decided to put into cultivation the vacant land in the area suitable for growing potatoes and other vegetables… The Shipley Council is probably the first authority in the Riding to undertake what will doubtless be called a municipal potato supply. The experiment will be watched with a good deal of interest not only at Shipley, but in other parts of the Riding. The responsible committee, of which Coun. H. Hirst is chairman, and the officials of the Council will, we are convinced, put forth every effort to make the scheme a success. By 1917, there is evidence that Shipley District Council had a Food Production Committee. An indication that food production was becoming a pressing issue? The Clerk reported that, under the Lands Cultivation Order, the committee had taken control of 15 acres 2 roods 35 perches. Of these, 9 acres 2 roods 24 perches had been let off in allotments, leaving 6 acres 11 perches for cultivation by the Council's men under Mr. Newby. The allotments were divided as follows: Redburn Estate 78, Hirst Wood 67, Moorhead 42, Dockfield 22, making a total of 209 allotments, which are held by 160 persons. Applications for additional allotments at Hirst Wood by present allotment holders were considered, but it was decided that the land now being cultivated by the Council should be kept by the 70 Council for another year. For whatever reason, the allotments in Saltaire were not included in this inventory, perhaps because they were already established, but Saltaire was the subject of Council action by January 1918. Notice SHIPLEY DISTRICT COUNCIL ALLOTMENTS 71 The Council having acquired Land in Albert Road , Saltaire Road, and Manor Lane for Allotment purposes, The Food Production Committee are 70 2 November 1917 71 As noted elsewhere, the Council did not own the Albert Road land until 1921 – so I assume that in 1918 this ‘acquisition’ meant it was temporarily commandeered to assist the war effort. 30 Open to Receive Applications from Ratepayers for Plots for the Cultivation of Vegetables, &c. The area of each Allotment would be approximately 2OO square yards, and Applications should be forwarded to the Undersigned not later than 72 31 January. ISAAC LINDOW, Clerk of the Council… The Council’s attention to increased food production – and thus more allotment land – continued: It was reported that at meeting of the Food Production Committee 19 February the committee had before them a petition from residents at Crag End asking for allotments to be provided in that part of the district… A report was made that new areas of land had been taken over by the committee and the following allotments provided: Manor Lane, 16; Saltaire Road, 28; Albert Road, 70. There were also 45 additional plots available on the Redburn Estate. The committee agreed to place a plot of 100 square yards in Saltaire Road at the disposal of the Education Committee for a class of mentally defective 73 children... At a meeting of the Shipley Urban Council on Tuesday (26 March), the Clerk reported that there had been several meetings of the Food Production Committee, and that efforts had been made to get additional allotments in all parts of the town. The following new allotment areas had been obtained: Fernhill, 25 plots; Albert Road, 70; Kitson St„ 21; Manor Lane, 16; Saltaire Road, 28; Wrose Brow Road, 2. Altogether about 9 acres had been added for allotment purposes, and about seven eight additional acres had been ploughed for corn growing. Coun. Shakespeare said that 75 allotment holders would take up land on Fernhill Road and Coun. Rhodes said there was Kendall’s field. 74 The Clerk said he had written to Mr. Kendall that day. 72 Shipley Times 25 January 1918 73 Shipley Times 1 March 1918 74 Shipley Times 29 March 1918. The number of Albert Road allotments does not seem to square with the relatively small area that was left as allotments following the building of the tramshed so it seems likely that other land close by was being utilised. Long-time resident of Saltaire Anthony Briggs says that the Saltaire Road allotments were between the road and railway, east of what is now the Tesco convenience store. 31 A group of new allotments, behind the Congregational Church 1918 saw Sir James Roberts sell Salts Mill to a syndicate of local 75 businessmen . But when he walked away from the mill and the village, in his pocket was a significant acreage of local land. It included the Milner Field estate, Saltaire Park and a swathe of land from the Congregational Church to Hirst Wood, bordering the canal. Over the following years, Roberts disposed of it. Saltaire Park was given to the people of Bradford and became Roberts Park, in memory of Sir James and Lady Roberts’ son Bertram, and, in early 1921, Shipley Council bought the ‘Church to Hirst Wood’ swathe of land. For some weeks past the Shipley Urban District Council has been in correspondence with Sir James Bart., of Strathallan Castle (formerly of Milner Field), with regard to the purchase of certain land at Saltaire which the Council considers very suitable for public schemes, the provision of allotment gardens, sites for houses, and playing fields. The result of this correspondence was disclosed when, at a special meeting of the District Council Wednesday (12 January) evening last week, a resolution was unanimously adopted accepting an offer from Sir James Roberts under which the Council become the owners of the whole of the remaining portion of Sir James’s estate, south of the River Aire, and extending from Saltaire Mills to the boundary of the district at Hirst Wood, an area comprising approximately 95 acres… While [the purchase of the land by the Council] was receiving consideration a further letter was received from Sir James, who was anxious that the question should be settled, stating that, should the Council decide to purchase what is known as the Saltaire estate at a price which he named, he would make the Council a free gift of the estates which he purchased in 1911 at the sale of the Rosse properties. The Council… has unanimously decided to accept this offer of Sir James, and an intimation to that effect has been conveyed to him. The purchase price for what is described as the Saltaire estate is £13,000. This estate consists of certain allotment plots in front of the Saltaire Mills, in Caroline Street, Saltaire, the Albert Road allotments, the land extending from Albert Road to Hirst Lane, the land lying between the railway and the canal west of the Saltaire Congregational Church, the land lying between the canal and the river extending from Victoria Road to 75 Smith and Coates op cit 32 Hirst Mill, and the boathouse situate on the opposite bank of the river to Roberts Park. The total area of this estate is 52 or 53 acres. The portion of the Rosse estate which the Council receives from Sir James as a free gift has an area of just over 43 acres and extends from Hirst Lane to the river boundary at Seven Arches. It comprises the whole of the area between the Midland Railway and the river west of Hirst Mill… No scheme in regard to the lay-out of the estate has yet been finally prepared by the Council, and when the plans are completed the schemes will have to be submitted to the Ministry of Health, which will be asked to grant the necessary borrowing powers. The general public of Shipley, will, in the meantime, however, be gratified to know that they have secured the control of a valuable estate, a considerable portion of which will be 76 available for all time for public recreative purposes. But it was not long before the Council sold “a considerable portion” of this land to Salts Mill, who planned to use it for allotments and sports facilities. Note that the local council already thought the land “very suitable for… the provision of allotment gardens”. Which is rather fortunate since the Saltaire Times report reveals that the front-of-mill allotments were part of the Roberts’ package and that they were in the lot purchased by Salts Mill: It is announced that the directors of Sir Titus Salt. Bart., Sons and Co., Ltd., Saltaire Mills, have acquired from the Shipley District Council a considerable portion of the Saltaire Estate recently purchased by the Council from Sir James Roberts, Bart., the former owner of Saltaire Mills. The directors intend to use the land for the provision of allotments and recreation fields for their employees. The Saltaire Estate bought by the District Council from Sir James Roberts comprised: The land between the river Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from Victoria Road, to Hirst Mill, an area over 21 acres. The land between the canal and the Midland Railway (9 acres). 76 Shipley Times ? Jan 1921. The article goes on to make a comment which, 100 years later, reflects a continuing debate: When Shipley possesses such lands of public usefulness [as] this estate, and the portion of the Rosse estate recently given to the town by Mr. H. Norman Rae (M.P. for the Shipley Division), it is no wonder that Bradford looks with envious eyes upon Shipley, and Sir James’ generosity should add stimulus to Shipley people to try at all costs to maintain the independence of the town, and to resist the annexation proposals of the city of Bradford. 33 The allotments facing Victoria Road and Caroline Street. The land between Albert Road and Hirst Lane (18 acres), a total of 49 acres. In addition, Sir James presented to the Council as a free gift the lands extending from Hirst Lane to the boundary at Seven Arches, comprising the whole of the area between the Midland Railway and the river west of Hirst Mill. The total area of the estate was about 83 acres. The land which the directors of Saltaire Mills have now acquired includes the land lying between the river Aire and the canal from Victoria Road bridge and Hirst Mill (17½ acres, excluding the river), and that between the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Midland Railway line from the Congregational Church to Hirst Lane (8½ acres) and the Caroline Street Allotments (1¾ acres). The purchase price, it is understood, is about £6,500. The whole of the land purchased lies on the south side of the river Aire and, in addition to the boathouse the opposite side of the river from the Saltaire Park, it includes several old buildings. Of its original 83-acre estate the Council will retain about 62 acres. The idea of the directors, in addition to the providing of recreative facilities for their employees, is to beautify the immediate surroundings of the mills. Several old buildings situated on the land acquired will probably be removed, the allotments lying near the boathouse opposite Saltaire Park are to be done away with, and the Caroline Street Allotments will probably share a similar fate. The land lying behind the Congregational Church and Hirst Lane is to be laid out as allotments. About 100 allotments, from 260 to 400 superficial yards in area, have already been mapped out, and some of these will probably be ready for occupation early in February. Each allotment will have a cold frame, and every third allotment will have a greenhouse. The whole will symmetrically be laid out by the firm, who very likely will purchase the frames and greenhouses and sell them to the tenants of the allotments at a low figure. About nine greenhouses will be 9ft. by 15ft. and the remainder 6ft. by 12ft. Certain lands, probably about two-thirds of an acre in extent, lying between the canal and the Congregational Church on the east of the church, and on the north side of the church, are to be given to the trustees of the church, and will undoubtedly prove useful for open-air functions, such as picnics. 34 A most comprehensive scheme for the laying-out the land between the canal and the river Aire has been drawn up. The allotments situate near the boathouse are removed because of their unsightly appearance, and most of this site will be laid out as a sort of pleasure garden or little park. Following this, tennis courts will be constructed, while the central portion of the land will be laid out as a cricket field, which will be larger in area than that of the Saltaire Club. In addition, hockey fields, etc., will be provided. The District Council is laying a footpath from Victoria Road near Saltaire Bridge to Hirst Mill on the south side of the river Aire and intend fencing off a strip of land 15ft. wide for this purpose, the length of the river to that point, at the centre of this 15ft. strip they intend laying a footpath 4ft. wide. The scheme is being drawn up and supervised Mr. William Rhodes Minn, M.S.A., architect and clerk of works Saltaire Mills, and will be proceeded with as soon as the land can be secured from the existing tenants. When completed, through the generosity the Saltaire firm, the playing fields and allotments will doubtless enhance the spirit of goodwill which already 77 exists between the employers and workpeople of Saltaire Mills. The fact that the present-day allotments behind the Congregational Church were brought into existence suggests that Minn’s plan was implemented. An aerial photograph from 1937 shows both the allotments by the church and the original front-of- 78 mill group . 77 Shipley Times ?January 1921 78 From https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW054197 35 However, this does not tell the whole story. Remember that the Shipley Times reported that “About 100 allotments, from 260 to 400 superficial yards in area, have already been mapped out” and that “the remaining portion of Sir James’s estate, south of the River Aire [extended] from Saltaire Mills to the boundary of the district at Hirst Wood, an area comprising approximately 95 acres…”. It transpires that what was proposed was far, far bigger than the ~28 allotments which now exist behind the church. The Salts Estate map dated October 1923 reveals all. The proposal was for no fewer than 95 allotments stretching from the church to Hirst Lock! At the time of writing, we have no evidence that this very ambitious plan was implemented but text and other features on the 1935 OS map suggest that it was not, and that all that was created in ~1923 was what we see today. 79 79 1934 revised 1935 published. Unfortunately this area is split across two OS maps which does not help the researcher. 36 The history of Saltaire’s allotments continues to evolve History never ends, and in recent years there have been developments in communal gardening that deserve a mention here. Concerned that the land on Caroline Street, formerly occupied by the village wash house, was neglected, the Saltaire Village Society used the 2008 Saltaire Festival to ask people what they thought should be done with it. The idea of a Wash House Garden emerged from this and around 2011, funds were made available from a pot of money managed by ward councillors – and the result was, and is, this delight. Three raised beds in the garden are now maintained by Veg on the Edge, a new mode of communal gardening which made its Saltaire entrance in 80 2012 . Local volunteers work together to create opportunities for community food growing. A key objective is to reclaim areas of underused land. Today the group also look after the Sunday School Garden in Caroline Street car park, raised beds at the junction of Caroline Street and Baker Street a plot at the railway station, and the Japanese Edible 81 Garden on Exhibition Road, supported by Shipley College . 80 https://vegontheedge.org/ 81 Thanks to Caroline Perry, Molly Kenyon and Rob Martin for much of the information in this section of the paper. A deadline for publication prevents the author from including information in this draft about the important role of the College in horticulture education and in a significant part of the front-of-the-mill allotments. 37 Saltaire continues to have a significant number of traditional allotments - in front of the mill and to the rear of the United Reform Church. As a result of the creation of a Shipley Town Council, governance of the former has recently transferred from Bradford District to Shipley. The ‘behind the church’ land is owned by Hartley Properties, the property vehicle of Alan Lewis, formerly chair and chief executive of Illingworth Morris who owned 82 and then closed Salt Mill in 1985 . Lewis’s ownership of the land echoes Roberts’ in the period after 1918. As we said above, “when he [Roberts] walked away from the mill and the village, in his pocket was a significant acreage of local land”. 82 Maggie Smith and Colin Coates op cit 38 ENDNOTES A 1852 OS map of the old halls of Shipley C October 1923 Saltaire estate office plan 39 40
Saltaire's Allotments: A second draft of their history: Second draft
Baker Letters - regarding: Met Midland engineer; workshop; Hirst Mill and cottages; sale of stables and fields; sale of land between river and canal
Met Midland engineer; Mr Normington erected workshop; Glynn Thomas occupies Higher Hirst Mill & cottages & may buy mill; Mr Feather, butcher, wants to buy stables & fields; man who bought Clarkeâ??s greengrocer also wants land between river & canal
Baker Letters - request for stone from quarry
Letter from the Leeds & Liverpool Canal company wanting a few boat loads of stone from quarry near Hirst Wood
Baker Letters - regarding: Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co; tender for Hirst Lane; repair of water pipes
Sent letter from Leeds & Liverpool Canal Co; Tender for Hirst Lane is high so asking Mr Wilks of Shipley Council for recommendations - Mr Obank & sons or Mr Starkey; a gardener wants his water pipes repairing
H2-208.174: Baker Letters - Wanting a reply for letter dated 10th April
Baker Letters - Wanting a reply for letter dated 10th April
Wanting a reply for letter dated 10th April
H2-208.175: Baker Letters - regarding: wanting reply to Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co request
Baker Letters - regarding: wanting reply to Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co request
Wanting reply to Leeds & Liverpool Canal Co request
H2-208.176: Baker Letters - regarding: Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co possible lease
Baker Letters - regarding: Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co possible lease
Draw the new plan; Already wrote to Leeds & Liverpool Canal Co asking if they wanted to rent
H2-208.267: Baker Letters - regarding: rent payments to collect; repairs in Caroline Street; sale of allotment land
Baker Letters - regarding: rent payments to collect; repairs in Caroline Street; sale of allotment land
3 payments to collect. Repaired wall in Caroline Street. Allotments in front of mill and between river and canal are to give notice as council sold land. Land to be used for cricket and football.
H2-208.277: Baker Letters - regarding: rent arrears; pleasure grounds and allotments; condition of Roberts Park; Willieâ??s grave.
Baker Letters - regarding: rent arrears; pleasure grounds and allotments; condition of Roberts Park; Willieâ??s grave.
No rent from Mr Baguley. Men working at new pleasure grounds between river and canal with allotments holders on notice to leave. Roberts Park is looking well. Asks about Willieâ??s grave.
2024.10: Sir James Roberts leaves Saltaire (The land disposals of Sir James Roberts)
Sir James Roberts leaves Saltaire (The land disposals of Sir James Roberts)
Document describing the land holdings of Sir James Roberts in Saltaire and nearby Milner Field following his sale of the Salts textile business in 1918. The research is based mainly on letters exchanged between Sir James Roberts and his representative in Saltaire, John Baker.
THE LAND DISPOSALS OF SIR JAMES ROBERTS IN SALTAIRE AND MILNER FIELD 1918-1923 THE EARLY RETIREMENT YEARS OF SIR JAMES ROBERTS By Ian Watson-2023 Several years ago, I wrote a small booklet, and gave a talk on the subject of: ‘The Land Acquisitions of Sir Titus Salt’. In which I looked at the Salt land purchases in Shipley and Baildon from 1850 through to 1874. So, I suppose that this paper could be seen as a way of rounding off this subject. In that, I am going to show how Sir James Roberts, reluctantly, came into possession of and disposed of the surviving undeveloped land, from Sir Titus’ original purchases. Most of the information in this paper comes from a collection of letters, held by the Saltaire Collection, which is managed by the Saltaire World Heritage and Education Association (SWHEA), and held in ‘Shipley College’, Shipley. The letters are part of the ‘Roberts Family Collection’, and form part of a significant loan to the Collection by the Roberts family of Strathallan Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. The purpose of this loan was to enable the volunteers at the Collection to make fair copies of the documents and photographs. The object being to allow students of Saltaire history to gain additional insights into the various aspects of Sir James Roberts’ life and his connections with Saltaire. The particular letters that I have used for this talk were written between 1918 and 1922. The letters consist of communications between Sir James Roberts and his Saltaire representative, John Baker, who was clerk of works at the Saltaire Mills during Sir James’ time there. John Baker was born in Goatland, in the North Riding in c.1852. In 1911 he was living at 5 Albert Road, Saltaire, with his wife and two sons, and is shown in the census as ‘Clerk of Works’. He retired to Morecambe in May 1919 and commuted to Saltaire on a weekly basis, in order to take care of Sir James’ interests in Shipley, Baildon and Bingley. He died in February 1934. He is buried with his wife and a son in Nab Wood Cemetery, Shipley. The other main source of information has come from the collection of land transfer records, held in the West Riding Registry of Deeds, now housed in the Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield (WRRD). In addition, various articles and letters published in the Shipley Times and Express have added to the information on this subject. Baker Letters - Roberts papers -Saltaire Collection As the majority of these letters consist of those written by John Baker to Sir James, and only a few by Sir James in return, there are gaps in the story. Whilst one letter may refer to a particular issue, there is not, necessarily, enough information in the returning letters to obtain a full explanation of the topic in-hand. This means that there can be problems with trying to understand the full picture of some of the issues relating to this period. Following the death of Sir Titus Salt in 1876, he left the undeveloped land in Shipley and Baildon, that he had purchased between 1850 and 1874, in the hands of his Trustees. His Trustees, most of whom were his sons, had the responsibility for paying out various annuities to Sir Titus’ female relatives. These annuities were paid through loans, known as Debentures, which were secured by the income from the rents on the farm land and allotments and the assets of the mill company. The failure of these heirs to maintain the mill company as a going concern led to the sale of the company to a group of Bradford business men. Sir James Roberts – Roberts Papers-Saltaire Collection When James Roberts and his fellow directors, Isaac Smith, John Rhodes and John Maddocks took over control of the mill in 1893, they also took on the ‘Joint Beneficial Ownership’ of these undeveloped lands along with the Salt family Trustees. This meant that neither party could do anything with this land without the approval of the other interested parties. Over the years, several of these plots of land were sold. These included the land on Baildon’s Otley Road, between Baildon Bridge and Charlestown Cemetery. Also the land lying to the east of the Shipley College building, now occupied by Maddocks, Rhodes and Baker Streets. In 1901, Mr Roberts, as he then was, became the sole owner of the mill and village, following the withdrawal of his earlier partners. As such, he also came into the joint ownership, with the Salts Trustees, of all the surviving undeveloped land. From all the records available, it can be seen that Sir James had decided to retire from the Saltaire Mill business before the start of the First World War. As a consequence of this decision, and, following the award of a Baronetcy, he had bought Strathallan Castle in Perthshire in 1910. In one of his letters Sir James shows that he had intended to pass on the responsibility of running the mill business to his only remaining son, Harry. But Harry’s conscription into the army in 1916 prevented this. In the event, Harold was severely wounded and was unable to return to his management activities at Salts, leaving Sir James without a practical heir to take over the firm that he had been involved with since1893. As a result, Sir James did not officially retire from the Saltaire Mill company, that he had been in sole charge of since 1900, until 1918, at the age of 70. At which point, he sold the business and retired to Scotland. Though, as it turned out, he would remain involved in the affairs of Saltaire and Shipley until at least 1925. Mr Roberts had bought the Milner Field estate, in Bingley, from Catherine Salt, the widow of Titus Salt jnr. in 1903. Though according to John Baker, Mr Roberts got the house at a discount. It seems that Baker had told Mrs Salt that Bertram Roberts, Sir James’ eldest son, was going to build a large house in a field close to Trench farm. This was possibly a negotiating sleight of hand by Mr Baker, or perhaps a member of the Roberts’ family, but the idea seemed to horrify Mrs Salt, and, according Mr Baker, she sold the nd house at a much lower price than she had wanted to [22 March 1918]. Following his move to Scotland, Sir James’ daughter, Lily-May and his son-in-law Frederick Aykroyd seem to have had the responsibility for looking after Milner Field, until 1919 when the house was included with the Coach Road lands in the arrangement with Messer's Gaunt and Foster. Milner Field - Roberts papers - Saltaire Collection In 1911, Sir James, as he then was, had bought Hirst Wood from the Lord of the Manor of Shipley, the Earl of Rosse. One of the later letters suggest that this purchase was in order to prevent any possible development of the wood, and to protect Sir James’ view from Milner Field. Though, during the First World War, Sir James was approached by a chemical company who wanted to buy Upper Hirst Mill in Hirst Wood, in order to build a chemical plant. It is likely that one of the reason behind this was that prior to the First World War, Germany had a virtual monopoly on industrial chemicals in Europe. Following the outbreak of war, the government realised that we would have problems obtaining such chemicals for our own industries. So, they encouraged the development of a British chemical industry, in order to protect us against a future crisis. So, it is possible that this planned project would have been part of that scheme th [29 September 1918]. Fortunately, the request to buy was rejected. By the end of the First World War, the last of the Debentures were due to be repaid, and the Trustees, having fulfilled their responsibilities with regard to the annuities, offered the land to the new ‘Part Beneficent Owners’, the Salts Mill company, now led by: Arthur Hill, Ernest Gates, and Henry Whitehead, but they declined. Pressure was put on Sir James to take on the properties, and, despite some reluctance, he took over control of this land, even though by this time he was living in Perthshire. As I mentioned earlier, there are gaps in our knowledge with regards to Sir James and his business activities in Saltaire. And this situation is one of those conundrums. Given that Sir James had retired from the mill business, and left the area, why did he take on the purchase and ownership of this land? It is possible that he saw the potential benefit of amalgamating his Milner Field property with the Coach Road properties; and the profit that would be generated from the future sale of this enlarged estate. But that is speculation, as, of the present time, there is no evidence for his decision to purchase the Trustees’ land. According to the deeds in the West Riding Registry of Deeds in Wakefield, Sir James took personal possession of these lands in Baildon and Shipley in 1919 (WRRD 1919 92 897 320) for the sum of £23,233 15s 3d. This purchase consisted of the land on the Baildon Coach Road between Green Lane and the Baildon/Bingley boundary at Loadpit Beck. It included: Midgley Farm, the two Trench farms, Midgley Wood, Trench Wood, Walker Wood and Saltaire Park. The lands on the Shipley side consisted of the area to the west of Victoria Road, between the River Aire on the north and the railway line on the south, excluding the Congregational Church grounds. It also included the allotments between the river and the canal, and the land behind the Congregational church. It also included all the undeveloped land between Albert Road and Hirst Lane, at the junction of which were a set of allotments, now covered by the playground and buildings of the Clarence Road Nursery School. The transfer also included the allotments on Caroline Street opposite the mill. The division of the old Salt’s estate between the Mill company and Sir James following the withdrawal of the Trustees, led to some confusion. The reason behind this is that it would seem that there was no definitive plan of the whole estate. Indeed, the evidence suggests that there were several different plans, produced at different times, in the possession of the various parties. As a result, no one seemed certain who owned what, with regard to the land between the canal and the river at the bottom of Victoria Road. The problem over the precise details of the boundaries even led someone in the mill company to question whether or not they actually owned the Royal Café! (previously, the Dining Room) [ Letter: 22nd April 1918]. Even though the evidence of the map accompanying the deed of 1919, shows that this building was part of the mill assets and not included in this sale. The plan accompanying the deed of 1919 shows that the bridge north of the canal, the land under the bridge and the land to the west of the bridge formed a part of the assets transferred to Sir James; i.e. the area coloured pink. Although it is not obvious from this plan, there was a small area just to the west of the bridge and a section under it, which remained the property of of the mill company. This allowed them access to the New Mill. WRRD plan 1919-92-897-320 (Part of) It is also interesting to note that there is a strip of land on the north edge of the allotment garden paralleling the railway line not included in this transfer. This strip of land was bought by the railway company several years earlier in preparation for the widening of the railway cutting. A project that never took place. At the moment, I am not sure if the railway authorities still own this land or not. Almost immediately after taking full possession of this old Salt land, Sir James decided to sell it, along with the Milner Field estate; and he seems to have given Mr Baker a free hand to find a buyer. During the early discussions regarding the future sale, Sir James, talking about potential buyers, suggested to Mr Baker that: ‘……. you might point out that all the land, but particularly the 14 acres comprised in the Park, is excellent building land’ [30th June 1919]. Such a comment implies that, at this time, there was nothing ‘off the cards’, as far as the future development of this area was concerned. It can also be assumed that at this time, Sir James was considering selling off individual plots of land by auction. And apparently, an auction catalogue was in the process of being produced. This, though, was a different catalogue to the one published in 1922 for Gaunt and Foster. In July 1919, Mr Baker informed Sir James’ that he was was negotiating with a Bradford man, a th Mr Robinson, regarding the sale of the Coach Road lands and the Milner Field Estate [4 July 1919]. Initially, it was uncertain who Mr Robinson represented. Though it soon became clear that he was negotiating on behalf of a Bradford Solicitor, Norman Foster. At this point Sir James got personally involved, and the sale was finally agreed after a face-to- th face meeting between Sir James and Mr Foster in July 1919, with the price set at £72,500 [17 July 1919]. The news of this ‘sale’ was announced in the Shipley Times & Express on the 25th July. This agreement included all the land on the north side of the River Aire between Primrose Lane in Bingley and Green Lane in Baildon, that had not already been disposed of. Later deeds, relating to this transfer, show that there were two partners in the purchase: Maurice Gaunt and Norman Alexander Foster, who were in practice together as solicitors at No. 1, Cheapside, Bradford. A few weeks after the purchases, Gaunt and Foster received an offer from a ‘Bradford Gentleman’ who wanted to buy Saltaire Park, in order to save it from possible development. nd Though after this initial newspaper report of 22 August 1919, there seems to be no more information regarding this offer. The Milner Field estate and house were also included in the sale, along with those house contents not wanted by Sir James for Strathallan Castle, nor for his London home at Hyde Park Gardens. Though we have no information on exactly what Sir James removed from the house. Immediately after the sale, though, Sir James had second thoughts. He asked John Baker to have the flagpole at the house taken down and shipped to Scotland, along with a rowing boat on the lake outside the house. Mr Foster objected, saying that these two items were included as part of the original purchase. It then became necessary for Mr Baker to explain to Sir James that rd the flagpole was too large to transport economically and the boat was rather old. [23 July 1919] So that plan seems to have been dropped. Although his letter of the 17th of July, and the later newspaper reports in the following month, implies that Sir James had sold this land outright to Gaunt and Foster, later evidence contradicts this. In a letter of November 1920, for example, Mr Baker refers to Mr Foster ‘talking as if they did not already own Milner Field.’ Also, there seems to be no record of a 1919 freehold sale by Sir James to Gaunt and Foster in the West Riding Registry of Deeds in Wakefield, where records of such sales are recorded. It can also be seen that in subsequent sales of the Milner Field estate and the Coach Road lands over the next few years, Sir James was still identified as the ‘vendor’ i.e., the actual seller. While Gaunt and Foster are shown as the ‘sub-vendors’, i.e., people who had some contractual interest in the properties (WRRD 1921-1923). It would seem more than likely, therefore, that this ‘purchase’ by Gaunt & Foster was simply an ‘option to buy’. If this was the case, then, presumably, the arrangement would have been secured by a large down payment. Though the lack of sight of the relevant document means that the evidence for this probability is not yet available. In retrospect, it can be speculated that this ‘option to buy’ was probably on condition that the two solicitors would be able to obtain planning permission to develop the whole of the Coach Road and the Milner Field Estate for housing and new roads. But prior to the large project that seems to have been planned for the land, the pair seem to have been quite prepared to sell off individual sections. For example, in November 1920, Sir James was informed by Mr Baker that Gaunt and Foster were, apparently, talking to a motion picture company, who were considering the idea of turning Milner Field into a film studio [10th November 1920]. Sir James didn’t like this idea at all. As he wrote to Mr Baker, ‘-- an institution in such surroundings is bound to have a serious effect upon the morals of the neighbourhood’. In the event, the whole scheme seems to have fallen through. The company needed a large dam and a generating plant to produce the electricity require for making their silent movies. Initially, they looked at the reservoirs on the Glen to supply the water. There was also talk of the film company buying Upper Hirst Mill in order to use the existing dam on the river, but, obviously, nothing came of the scheme. In September 1922 Gaunt and Foster tried to sell off the whole of the Milner Field estate and all th the Coach Road lands. And a newspaper report of 5 September talks about plans to turn Milner Field into a ‘Garden Suburb’. A sales catalogue was produced highlighting all the different plots of land in the sale, along with an interim layout of the new roads and house plots that were to be available for sale. (A copy of this catalogue is in the Collection Room at Shipley College.) (Saltaire Collection - A2-008) Salles catalogue of Milner Field : Saltaire Collection: A2-008 For whatever reason, this proposed auction never took place. It is more than likely that Bingley UDC and Baildon UDC refused planning permission for the proposed development on the Milner Field Estate and the Coach Road. Though the evidence to confirm this theory has not yet been identified. But it can be assumed that, as a result of this, probable, failure to obtain planning permission, the proposed plan for an auction of the estate, and the Coach Road lands, which according to th the press was due to be held at the Victoria Hotel, Bradford, on 12 October 1922 fell through. From this time on, the two solicitors co-operated with Sir James in selling off individual plots of land on the Coach Road. A section of the plan from the 1922 sales catalogue of the Milner Field Estate Saltaire Collection: A2-009 In late 1922 Sir James transferred some the unsold land, valued at £3,000, as Freehold to Gaunt and Foster (WRRD 1922 91 1298 472) The value of this transfer was possibly based on the original holding deposit that Gaunt and Foster had used to secure the option to buy. This transfer consisted of several plots of land: A small piece of land just to the south of Trench Farm of 6,043 sq. yds.; a plot of 3,790 sq. yds. opposite the Primrose Lane entrance to Milner Field; another small piece of land to the north of Roberts Park of 6,283 sq. yds; a small plot of 1,000 sq. yds. at the top of the Glen Tramway; a plot of land of 2,247 sq. yds. to the north of the River Aire at Baildon Bridge; and a larger piece of land stretching between the Coach Road and the top of Midgley Wood of 21 acres. From this time on, these two solicitors were selling off these pieces of land in their own names. In 1923 the couple sold the land in Primrose Lane and two plot of land in Baildon to the Salts Mill company. And it’s from the record of this transfer of property that we get the evidence showing that Gaunt and Foster did not actually buy the Milner Field and Coach Road estates in 1919. To quote from part of the deed of transfer, “ Whereas the vendor being seised (sic) of the hereditaments hereinafter described and intended to be hereby conveyed in fee simple in possession free from incumbrances sometime since agreed with the purchasers for the sale thereof to them (amongst other hereditaments) for a like estate at the price of sixty-two thousand five hundred pounds but no conveyance of the hereditaments hereinafter described has yet been executed. Though it should be noticed there is a £10,000 difference between this quoted figure and the price mentioned in the letter of 1919. Later evidence also shows that even after this period, there were a few sales in which Sir James and Gaunt and Foster were joint sellers. This included the sale of various sections of land on the Coach Road, and the sale of the Milner Field estate to the Salts Mill company in January 1923. The Coach Road sales included: The two Trench Farms; a plot at the southern end of the Glen Tramway’ where the large shed is; a plot at the junction of Thompson Lane and the Coach Road; a plot of land to the north of Saltaire Park; and the land, at that time occupied by the Saltaire Tennis Club, on the north side of the river This plan, from that sale, (see below) shows those areas excluded from the sale marked around in red WRRD plan 1923/17/778/16 (part of) The original ‘sale’ to Gaunt and Foster had included Saltaire Park. Sir James had tried to offer the park to Shipley Council in February 1919. But, according to later newspaper accounts, two sub-committees of the Shipley Council who had considered the offer turned it down, without it going to the full Council meeting, and the public did not find out about this offer until later in the year. However, it turned out that the park had been offered to Shipley on certain conditions. These being that Sir James would remain as the owner, but that Shipley UDC would be responsible for its upkeep. He also offered to let Shipley have the boathouse on the river, and the allotments on Caroline Street and in Albert Road, though he wanted to keep the rents from these. He also wanted the council to guarantee that the public would have the right to free access to the park at all times. Anyway, it would seem that Shipley UDC took so long to decide on the offer, that when Sir James ‘sold’ Milner Field and the Coach Road lands to Gaunt and Foster he included the park in the sale. Back in August 1919, Gaunt and Foster had been in negotiations with the Salts Mill company with regard to their purchase of Saltaire Park , but the pair were asking for £12,500 which was rejected, so the park was left in their hands. In an interview for the Shipley Times & Express of the 12th of September 1919, Gaunt and Foster are reported to have said, “We feel that the estate, according to the way it is handled, might be very easily made or marred. It has been bought at a market price and upon a commercial basis, which implies we shall not be at liberty to make a present of the park to any local authority”. One of the more unusual events regarding this period was that the Shipley Times & Express reported that the park had been closed to the public on Sunday 14th September 1919, and the gates were locked. They were not re-opened until the following Wednesday. It is possible that the closure was because having ‘bought’ the park, Gaunt and Foster wanted to show that the park was now private property. Although the park had, legally, always been private property; initially, belong to the mill company and then to Sir James, the closure was, presumably to emphasis that the park was now separated from the mill company. It was probably during this period that Sir James realised that Gaunt and Foster’s plan for the development of the Coach Road might endanger the park and that there was a risked of it being destroyed and used for housing. Also, Sir James was taking a lot of ‘flack’ from the people of Shipley and Saltaire over his handling of the situation and putting the park in danger. He had obviously had a change of heart since the time when he had considered selling the park for development. Towards the end of 1919, Mr Baker reported that the park was deteriorating, as the gardeners had been dismissed and no one was taking responsibility for it [22nd November 1919]. So, In late November Sir James took the park back from Gaunt and Foster. The following year, Sir James decided to gift Saltaire Park to Bradford Corporation. The public were made aware of this move in the Shipley Times and Express edition of 5th November 1920. The park was given to Bradford Council on condition that it was renamed ‘Roberts Park’ in memory of Sir James’ eldest son, Bertram Foster Roberts who had died in 1912. Though Mr Baker complained about the placing of the memorial plaque to Bertram outside the park entrance, just by the side of the park lodge. He suggested that the plaque should have been placed inside the park by the main notice board [8th October 1920]. The Baker letters prove that in the early 1920s, there was a great deal of interest from local farmers regarding the land behind the Saltaire Congregational Church. And several people were interested in buying this ground. At that time this land consisted entirely of grass-land and cattle were kept in the fields [4th October 1920]. This information produces an interesting image of the sight of cattle moving up and down Victoria Road back in those days. WRRD plan 1919-92-897-320 (Part of) There are also numerous references in the letters of this period relating to the precise boundary between the church and the surrounding Roberts’ land. So, it would appear that there was still no definitive map of the area showing the legal boundary between the two properties. One of the main social elements to come out of the letters of 1921 was the serious economic crisis affecting both businesses and individuals. This was the time of the National Coal strike and many businesses had to shut down or go onto part-time working as they could not get coal for their mill engines. The result was a great deal of poverty in the area, and Mr Baker found it increasingly difficult collecting rents from people who were unemployed [31st May 1921]. The rents that Mr Baker collected seem to be for the cottages at Higher Hirst Mill and Hirst Wood Crescent Baker Letters - Roberts Papers - Saltaire Collection Mr Baker pointed out to Sir James that Shipley Council were planning to increase the rents of all the properties that they owned. So, he wrote to Sir James suggesting that by freezing his rents, it would make him look good and would be a way of getting his own back on Shipley Council, who had snubbed him during the last war over his son Harold’s conscription. Sir James agreed with Mr Baker and did not increase the rents at that time. There was also talk around this time of selling parts of Hirst Wood for a housing development, but there are no details of the specific locations in the relevant letter [30th July 1920]. It does suggest, though, that at that time nothing was ‘out of bounds’ with regards to the future development of the wood. Even though they had fallen out earlier; during the course of 1921 Sir James had been negotiating with Shipley UDC with regard to them buying all the undeveloped Salt land on the Shipley side of the river. By November the Council had received the approval of the Ministry of Health to borrow enough money for the purchase [9th November1921]. This transfer to Shipley included the land between the river and the canal, that later became the Saltaire Playing Fields and Tennis Courts; the land between Albert Road and Hirst Lane; the land between the canal and the railway line stretching out behind the Saltaire Congregational Church and the land between the railway and Caroline Street (WRRD1921-95-1228-492). WRRD plan 1919-92-897-320 (Part of) One of the main reasons for Shipley UDC deciding to buy all this land, was to allow them to build council houses, in preparation for a major slum clearance programme planned for the town. Once the Council had decided on how much land they needed, which was the land to the west of Albert Road, the Council sold all the surplus land to the Salts Mill company for £6,500. [WRRD 1922 54 1124 414] It was also around this same period, that Sir James gave the Hirst Wood to Shipley Council as an outright gift (WRRD 1922 8 26 10). It is possible that this move was to ease relations between Sir James and the Council that had been under some strain for some years. In January 1921, the mill company decided to convert the land between the river and canal into a park and playing fields and gave the allotment holders there notice to quit. As compensation, the Salts Mill company gave the land behind the Congregational Church to the allotment holders. This period coincided with the formation of the ‘Saltaire Mills Horticultural Society’, led by one of Saltaire’s main rose growers, Charles Houlden (ST&E August 24th 1923) By 1922, around 100 allotments had been created. It is worth a quote from the relevant text on the Saltaire village web site. This was recorded as: ‘Each allotment will have a cold frame, and every third allotment will have a greenhouse. The whole will symmetrically be laid out by the firm, who very likely will purchase the frames and greenhouses and sell them to the tenants of the allotments at a low figure. About nine greenhouses will be 9ft. by 15ft. and the remainder 6ft. by 12ft.’ [ref. saltairevillage.infoSaltaire_diary.html] See also Les Brook’s paper on the history of the Saltaire Allotments: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y967hdfl5jjhebg/SALTAIRES%20ALLOTMENTS%20A%20Second %20Draft%20of%20their%20History%20version%202.pdf?dl=0 Even after he had sold the mill and village to the new Saltaire Mill directors: Arthur Hill, Henry Whitehead & Ernest Gates in 1918, Sir James seems to have had the responsibly for paying the pensions of certain retired and disabled people. The origins of these pensions seem to date from 1909, following the presentation of a casket to commemorate Sir James’ Baronetcy. This was the same year that the government introduced a state pension for 70-year-olds. At that meeting of the mill employees, Sir James announced that he would be paying a pension to all th rd the Salts mill workers once they had reached their 65 year. [ST&E Dec. 3 , 1909] Baker Letters – Roberts Papers -Saltaire Collection Though it can be seen from the information in the letters that at least some of the recipients were younger but disabled. In one letter of February 25th, 1919, for example, there is a reference to a lady of only 37, who was placed on the pensioner’s list as she was crippled with chronic rheumatism. It seems that Mr Baker was given the responsible for paying out the pensions. However, the decision on who was to receive the payments seems to have been in the hands of a committee, chaired by Mr George Morrell. He was the Superintendent of the Saltaire Congregational Sunday School and had been the first headmaster of the Salt Factory Schools. In 1918 the pension list consisted of 19 pensioners, who received 5 shillings per week. The payments to the individuals stopped when they reached the age of 70, as they then received the st state pension. (Roberts Papers: 31 May 1918) Due to lack of other evidence, it is not easy to understand this pensioner’s list. Even in 1918, the list seems quite small, given the large number of employees of the mill at this time. Also, given that the list diminished over time, with only the occasional addition, it can only be speculated that Sir James’ obligations only related to people who had retired during Sir James’ time at the mill. By 1922 this list had been reduced to 7 pensioners. And it would seem that Sir James had decided that this was the right time to terminate all his obligations in Saltaire. So, the existing pensioners were paid a lump sum of £65, equivalent to 5 years’ worth of pension. This, then, th seems to have finalised Sir James’ commitment with regards to paying such pensions. [11 October 1922] So, that is the limit of my research on this subject, so far. The letters loaned to the Saltaire Collection only go as far as the end of 1922. As of this moment, we have no further documentary information from the Roberts’ family regarding Sir James’ involvement with Saltaire. But I would like to finish with a small ‘postscript’ to round off this paper. Postscript In November 1925, the Saltaire Rose Society invited Sir James to accept the presidency of the society for the following year. Unfortunately, the 1926 show, which was normally held in Roberts Park, had to be cancelled owing to the General Strike. Sir James had donated £100 to the th Society but declined to retain the presidency for the following year. (ST&E 12 December 1926.) As of the present time, I have not been able to identify any later contact with the village. Though Sir James obviously remained interested in local affairs. This can be seen from a letter he wrote to the Shipley Liberal Association at the time of a major meeting in 1927, in which he th talked about the profitability of the Salt’s Mill Company in the first two decades of the 20 century. He was also known to have remained a keen supporter of the Shipley Veterans Association. Sir James Roberts had given Strathallan to his grandson, James Denby Roberts. He died at his home ‘Fairlight’ near Hastings on 31st December 1935. IAN WATSON - 2023 By Ian Watson-2023 All the reproduction of photographs and plans in this paper from the Roberts Collection, are on loan to the Saltaire Collection, and are the copyright of the Roberts family.
A research document from local historian Les Brook on the history of Sir Titus Salt before the move of his business to Saltaire in 1853. In four parts: Part 1: The investigation starts with snippets of evidence […in Part 2 onwards, I try to make sense of these] 3 Part 2: The Salts’ Early Years in Bradford 12 Part 3: Titus Salt’s Bradford mills 16 Part 4: A Cartographic Summary of Titus Salt’s Bradford before Saltaire
SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 1 Salt before Saltaire Notes on Salt’s Bradford mills and other Salt-related locations in the city 1 Les Brook Saltaire History Club April 2024 These notes were motivated by a question. “Titus Salt had five or so mills in Bradford, but where were they?”. Then it grew: “What other places were important to Titus in his Bradford years?”. And then it grew again, but this time veering sidewards: “What’s the story of this goit alongside which so much of early industrial Bradford developed?”. This may explain any tendencies to rambling that the 2 reader might notice. > SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 2 Contents Part 1: The investigation starts with snippets of evidence […in Part 2 onwards, I try to make sense of these] 3 Part 2: The Salts’ Early Years in Bradford 12 Part 3: Titus Salt’s Bradford mills 16 Part 4: A Cartographic Summary of Titus Salt’s Bradford before Saltaire 36 THANKS and POSTSCRIPT 37 APPENDIX: THE BRADFORD GOIT AND GOITSIDE 38 ENDNOTES AND REFERENCES 41 SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 3 Part 1: The investigation starts with snippets of evidence […in Part 2 onwards, I try to make sense of these] Daniel Salt, father of Titus Salt, from numerous sources 3 1822: “In the year 1822, Titus Salt came with his parents to Bradford, he being then about nineteen years of age” . 1822: 4 “[Bradford]… [List of] Woolstapler[s]... Salt Daniel, Market street…” . But was 1822 the year the Salts arrived? Hannah Salt, the youngest child of Daniel Salt, Sir Titus’ father, and sister to Sir Titus, was baptised at Horton Lane Congregational Chapel on 27 June 1821, having been born on 14 October 1820. The abode of the parents is given as ‘Bradford’. So the Salts were in Bradford by June 1821 at the latest. Turning to Baines’ ‘History and Gazetteer of The County of York’, the dedication to which is dated by the author as 1 January 1822, Daniel Salt is listed as a woolstapler in Market Street, Bradford. The data in the Gazetteer must have taken at least a whole year, probably more, to 5 assemble and print, so it is possible that Titus Salt arrived with his parents in Bradford as early as 1820 . 6 7 1829: “[List of] Woolstapler[s]... Salt Daniel & Son, 20 Cheapside” . “There is some evidence that the firm went into yarn spinning about 1829 in order to demonstrate to conservative customers the suitability of [Donskoi wool from Russia]” 8. 1834: 9 10 Daniel retired . 1843: died . 1845: “Salt, Daniel and Son, worsted spinners, Lilly croft mill, Manningham, warehouse, 11 Piccadilly, res[idence]. North parade [sic]” . 12 From the Saltaire Collection Salt and his father had started a spinning department of their wool stapling business, using rooms in Thompson’s Mill at 13 Goitside, Thornton Road, Bradford . They had been joined in the business by Edward Salt in 1834 and shortly after this Daniel Salt retired. Within a few months Titus had also left the firm and started to work on his own account. The family partnership was dissolved in 1835. Titus Salt started his new venture at Hollings Mill and quickly acquired premises on or near Hope Street. In 1836 he took over a large mill in Union Street, whose previous owner had been Daniel Illingworth, and this 14 became the headquarters of his rapidly expanding Alpaca manufacturing. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 4 15 William Cudworth Round about Bradford Daniel Salt afterwards settled in Bradford as a wool dealer, and was for many years one of the most extensive dealers in that trade. In this business he was joined by his son Titus, the firm thenceforward being " Daniel Salt & Son". Donskoi wool was at that time exclusively used in the woollen manufacture, and the Salts were very large dealers in it. It occurred, however, to Mr. Titus Salt that it might with equal advantage be introduced into the worsted trade. He accordingly went round to the Bradford spinners, but they " turned up their noses" at it; at any rate, none of them could be induced to believe that what would make cloth was equally applicable to other descriptions of goods. Nothing therefore remained but to give up the scheme altogether, or else undertake it himself, and this Mr. Salt resolved to do. He accordingly commenced business as a spinner and manufacturer at Thompson's Mill, Silsbridge Lane, Bradford, subsequently occupying Hollings' Mill, Brick Lane Mill, Beecroft Mill, and Union Street Mill, besides giving out weaving by commission. It will thus be seen that Mr. Salt's commercial experiment with the Donskoi wool led to most important results, inasmuch as on leaving Bradford he had become one of the principal employers in the worsted trade. 16 Balgarnie’s Salt with commentary and additions by Barlo & Shaw What was to be done with the [Donskoi wool] on hand, was the problem that perplexed the [Daniel Salt] firm, and which Mr. Titus set himself to solve. He resolved that instead of asking the manufacturers to purchase it, he would utilise it himself. For this purpose he took “Thompson’s Mill,” Silsbridge Lane, Bradford, and having fitted it with suitable machinery, he proceeded to spin the Donskoi wool into yarn, and weave it into fabric. The result of the experiment was entirely successful; the fabric produced was such as to astonish and convince the most sceptical of its commercial value, and to place him in an enviable position before his fellow-townsmen. Successful in this first experiment, he added a larger factory in Union Street. Trade grew so rapidly under his hands that in a few years he was carrying on, not only the two mills above mentioned, but also Hollings’ Mill, Brick Lane Mill, and one in Fawcett Court. His intention when he commenced the manufacturing business, was to confine himself to spinning. This course he pursued for some time, and disposed of his yarns to the Messrs. Fison; but some misunderstanding having arisen with that firm, he, with his characteristic decision, resolved “to spin and weave for himself.” This is probably the source of the commonly quoted assertion that Salt had five mills in Bradford before moving to Saltaire. However, I have found no evidence that Salt used five mills simultaneously. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 5 Moreover, I have found no evidence that Salt owned all the mills referred to. (It is clear from general reading about the mills in Bradford at this time that it was commonplace for industrialists to use mills owned by others and indeed, that several mills were built in order to be let). An 1871 article by James Burnley includes the statement that, before Saltaire, “[Titus Salt] was carrying on at two or three 17 18 small factories in Bradford”, not five . This ties in with reports in two 1849 editions of the Bradford Observer . They tell us that “The Workpeople of Mr. Titus Salt, at Holling’s Mill…”, at Union Street Mills and at Beecroft’s Mill had made donations to Bradford Infirmary. No mention of Thompson’s or Brick Lane or Hope Street. However, in Collinson’s West Riding Worsted Directory of 1851 (see below), Hope Street is added to the list. 19 1849: Salt instals smoke-reduction apparatus in two mills According to a Bradford Observer correspondent, these improvements were made to Salt’s mills in Union Street and Nelson Street. 1851 Collinson, Burton & Co’s West Riding worsted directory ALPHABETICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE WOOLSTAPLERS, SPINNERS, MANUFACTURERS, MERCHANTS, DYERS, MACHINE MAKERS, &c., &c., RESIDING IN THE BOROUGH OF BRADFORD, AND OTHERS ATTENDING THE BRADFORD MARKET... Salt Titus, spinner, mohair, alpaca, and stuff manufacturer: works, Union-street, Hope-street, Beecroft and Hollings' mills : office Union-street, res. Crow-nest, 20 Lightcliffe. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 6 21 Jack Reynolds The Great Paternalist 22 In summary, Reynolds tells us that Daniel Salt (aged 41) moved to Bradford in 1822 . House on North Parade. Had money to invest from sale of 100 acre farm at Crofton, Wakefield. Woolstapler: took office in Market Street. 1823: with brother (Leeds 23 24 ironfounder) bought land in Cheapside and built warehouse in Cross Street . Later built another warehouse in Piccadilly. 25 His was one of the largest in Bradford . Later (after 1834) had house further out on Manningham Lane (a continuation of North Parade). 26 After Titus’s marriage (1829 ), Caroline and he also had a house in North Parade, “a continuation of Manor Row, quite near to his father’s house”. Then, between 1836 and 1843, they had a home at the junction of Thornton Road and Little Horton 27 Lane . 28 Titus Salt came to Bradford in ~1821 after working in Wakefield with woolstapler “Mr. Jackson” . He then spent 2 years working for William Rouse and Sons under the instruction of John Hammond. Balgarnie is eloquent about the very close 29 30 relationship between Salt and Hammond, and with the Rouse family . William Rouse and Sons 1815: partnering with James Wade and Son, William Rouse and Sons built Bradford’s ninth mill (in this context, ‘mill’ means 31 32 ‘factory powered by steam’), at Canal Side . In 1829, Pigot records “Wade James, Son & Co. Mill street, Canal side” . Mill Street is later linked to Rouse. It was located close to the Bradford Canal – so we can take it that the 1815 mill was in Mill Street. 1822: “Wm. Rouse & Son”, located at ‘Canal Side’, appears in the 1822 Baines’ Gazetteer. This also records “Manufacturers attending the Piece Hall with their Inns houses [sic] in Bradford… 33 Rouse William & Son, Nag's Head… Salt, Daniel Do. [ie Nag’s Head]” 1824: the 18th mill in James’ list of 1833 mills is a Rouse mill: “When built: 1824-26. Situation: Canal Side. Occupiers in 34 1833: William Rouse & son… [Mill]18.-built and occupied by William Rouse & Son” . 1829: “Worsted Manufacturers… Rouse William & Son, 36 Commercial street” “Worsted Spinners… Rouse William & Son, 36 35 Commercial street” . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 7 1833: “in the Factory Commission report of 1833 data was collected from three Rouse Mills [my emphasis], the oldest at 36 Canal Side being built in 1815” . 1845: “Rouse, William and Sons, worsted spinners and stuff manufacturers, Mill street, res[idence]. Eastbrook House… 37 38 39 Worsted Spinners, &c… Rouse, Wm. and Sons, Mill street, Canal road, and Market st.” . 1847: “in the 1840s, after the death of old William Rouse, a long and costly Chancery suit, following a dispute between the three remaining Rouse brothers, caused the mill to be closed down for two years and created much distress among the hands. By order of the Court the mill was divided and auctioned in 1847, the larger part being knocked down to Titus Salt who, to everyone's surprise, was found to be simply bidding on behalf of William Rouse Junior. The mill once again flourished and 40 James Hammond became William Rouse's partner” . 41 Bradford’s “unconsidered trifles” records this about old William Rouse and his successors: William Rouse snr. (1765-1843) was a significant name in Bradford textile history. He developed a wool combing factory in the years before this process was mechanised. With his son John (1794-1838) he employed hundreds of hand combers who worked for him producing the wool ‘tops’ that were needed for the worsted process. By the time of William’s death the writing was on the wall for the poorly paid hand combers whose trade was effectively destroyed by mechanical combs in the 1850s. It is known that the business continued despite the deaths of William and John. The 1853 White’s Leeds & the Clothing District Directory does not record Holdsworth Street as a Bradford thoroughfare name, but does mention a William Rouse, spinner & manufacturer, of West Lodge, Great Horton Road. His company is Wm. Rouse & Sons, Old Market & Canal Road. So there clearly was a William Rouse jnr. (1809-1868) who succeeded his father. In the 1851 census Rouse reported employing 400 combers, 100 boys & 150 girls… By the time of the 1879 PO Bradford Directory Holdsworth Street did exist but an unnamed ‘mill yard’ is the only relevant entry it boasts. Wm. Rouse & Sons, manufacturer, are still trading and are now placed at North Brook Street Mills… North Brook Street joins Canal Road… North Brook Mills are mentioned in Yorkshire Textile Mills 1779-1930… Unfortunately it had already been demolished when the mill survey was undertaken in the early 1990s. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 8 42 Jack Reynolds The Great Paternalist (again) In summary: Salt and his father started a spinning department of their woolstapler’s firm in rooms in “Thompson’s Mill at the Goitside” where they shared facilities with Jowett and Smith and Robert Waud. Shortly after, Daniel retired and soon after that, Titus Salt started up on his own account (probably) at Hollings Mill in the Goitside. He quickly acquired further premises in or near Hope Street. By 1836, he had taken over a large mill in Union Street, just inside the Horton township. “It became the headquarters of a rapidly increasing alpaca empire to which were added three other mills before 1850”. ”He seems to have concentrated the work of the various mills by process or by product”. “… preliminary processes, including sorting and machine and hand combing, were controlled from Union Street where administration and financial matters were also seen to”. 43 Bradford Council’s Goitside Conservation Area Assessment The area around the goit and beck formed the site of Bradford’s earliest industrial development, which was the basis of the settlement’s wealth, influence and prestige during much of the 19th century. Holme Mill, the first factory in Bradford, was 44 constructed alongside the goit , on a meadow known as the Holme, at the turn of the 19th century. Following this a number of mills, factories and foundries, along with associated housing, were constructed in the vicinity… 45 According to James, Thompson’s Mill is likely to have been the second mill built in Bradford . This was constructed on the piece of land between Silsbridge Lane and the mill goit, which was purchased by Matthew and William Thompson in 1800, with the mill opening in around 1803. The Thompsons were the nephews of Benjamin Peile, who owned a dyeworks on Bradford Beck. The mill was originally a spinning mill, though expansion and redevelopment of the site over the course of the 19th 46 century mean that nothing of the original spinning mill remains (Sheeran, 2005 ). Thompson’s Mill, and consequently the goitside, had a strong association with Titus Salt. The weaving shed to the south of the goit provided room and power for the 47 weaving department of Salt’s firm, when it was still based in Bradford proper . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 9 48 John James History of the Worsted Manufacture in England James gives us this wonderful table of Bradford’s early mills. In addition: * “On the 25th of March, 1804, Messrs. Ramsbotham and Swaine's extensive worsted-mill (the first 49 erected at Bradford) was nearly destroyed by fire” . Re-built, it was sold to Richard Fawcett soon after. * Thompson’s Mill was built by the dyer Peile “at two different periods, being in fact two mills”. * “3.- Union Street mill, built by Mr Richard Fawcett, and occupied by him until about the year 1832. The mill built in 1830 adjoins to the other, and was erected by Messrs. Illingworth & Murgatroyd”. *“11- Union Street mill was built by Messrs. Wroe and occupied by them” * Note that this means there were three ‘Union 50 Street mills’ * Note also that William Rouse & Sons’ Canal Side mills appear in the table. * The 1826 “Silsbridge Lane” mill is Holling’s Mill. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 10 51 Ibbetson’s Directory 1850 “Worsted Spinners and Manufacturers… Salt Titus, spinner (mohair and alpaca), and stuff manufacturer, Brook street; works Union street, and Silsbridge lane ; house Crow Nest, Lightcliffe”. 52 Reports of the 1851 Great Exhibition’s juries . Occasionally, sources (such as Ibbetson) make minimal reference to raw materials (eg alpaca) used by Salt as well as some broad product categories (eg worsted), but in 1851, just as the construction of his Saltaire mill commenced, an external body summarised and assessed Salt’s principal products. 1851 was also the year of the Great Exhibition, the Exhibition of The Works of Industry of All Nations, at the Crystal Palace in London. Salt submitted a range of products in Class XII, Woollen and Worsted Manufactures. Subsequently, the reports of all the juries were published. The Class XII jury said this about the entry of Salt, Titus, Manufacturer, Bradford, Yorkshire: For a complete series of alpaca and mohair manufactures - (a branch of business carried on almost exclusively in England, - which illustrate, very strikingly, the great capabilities of these materials. The articles are of much variety, including fabrics composed of alpaca with cotton warps, and with silk warps yarn-dyed, and dyed in the piece: they are plain, twilled, figured, and Chinés, or made with printed warps. There are, also, goods composed of mohair with similar combinations. All are characterised by peculiar lustre and brilliancy, equal in many cases to silk; they are also remarkable for regularity of texture, softness, and fineness. It may be confidently stated that similar goods have never before been produced; and the great increase in the consumption of articles of this description among all classes of the community, renders the display an interesting and important one. Mr. Salt was one of the first to introduce alpaca wool into the Bradford trade, and by his enterprise and skill has mainly contributed to the extent and perfection which this department of industry has attained. In addition to the articles already mentioned, Mr. Salt exhibits an assortment of moreens used for furniture hangings; one series being made from English wool, and the other from the Russian Donskoi fleece wool. Both are worthy of notice for the perfection of their manufacture; the latter, especially so, considering the difficulties in the way of successfully working up so coarse a material, which had never been combed prior to Mr. Salt having effected that object. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 11 Not quite ‘Salt before Saltaire’… After Salts Mill was built, Titus Salt and Sons Co maintained a 53 warehouse at Well Street in the centre of Bradford which was close to, and to the SW of, St Peters Church/Bradford Cathedral (see 54 map, right ) In 1861, we know that Salts shared number 30 with several other firms, including the Fosters of Black Dyke Mill (see 55 below) . 56 Below right is 30 Well Street today though the buildings pictured 57 are likely to be those designed by Eli Milnes in ~1865 . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 12 Part 2: The Salts’ Early Years in Bradford In this, and Part 3, I will now try to make sense of the evidence presented so far. Titus Salt at William Rouse and Sons and Daniel Salt and Son 58 As we have seen , Daniel Salt, woolstapler and Titus’s father, moved to Bradford around 1820. Reynold says that his office 59 was in Market Street . Titus probably came to Bradford in 1820 and worked for the Rouses before joining his father’s firm two years later. It seems reasonable to assume that the 17-year-old Titus lived with his family at their house, no doubt the one on North Parade where we know Daniel and Grace were living 60 when they first arrived and where they 61 were still living in 1829 . After their marriage in 1829, Titus and Caroline took a house in North Parade, quite near his parents. By 1836, they were living at the junction of Thornton Road and Little Horton Lane. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 13 In 1823, Daniel and his brother bought land. In this same year, there is a reference to Daniel purchasing land in Cheapside, and he is 62 said to have built a small warehouse in Cross Street . It seems likely that these all refer to just one land purchase, by the Salt brothers, in one location: as the map (right) shows, Cross Street and Cheapside are connected. Daniel is recorded as working at number 20 Cheapside in 1829. Nine other woolstaplers and many other trades were amongst his 63 64 neighbours . By 1845 , when he had been retired for ~11 years, his company “Salt, Daniel and Son, worsted spinners” was at Lilly 65 Croft Mill, Manningham , with a warehouse in Piccadilly. This warehouse seems to have been built well before 1845 and was his major business location. I suspect this was the warehouse which Reynolds says “was one of the largest in Bradford at the time”. We can be confident that Daniel’s son Titus would have been familiar with all of these locations. William Rouse and Sons, the company that Titus joined, was well established. In 1815, they already had a factory, at Canal 66 Side. When Titus joined, the company was “rapidly rising into prosperity” . This was Bradford boomtime and by 1824 the Rouses would be building a further mill, Bradford’s 18th. It too was at Canal Side. This place name appears to refer to the Bradford end of the Bradford Canal where there are four locations linked to their firm. These are Canal Road, Holdsworth Street, Commercial Street and North Brook Street, the latter three being streets near the canal’s terminus and close to Bradford city centre. All three adjoined Canal Road, a major thoroughfare which still exists today. Titus must have spent much of his two Rouse years at Canal Side which was only a 10 minute walk from his North Parade home. He may also have worked at Old Market (the company’s office?), in effect the junction of Westgate and Kirkgate, right in the centre of the city and only 5 minutes from home. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 14 Titus retained a great regard both for the Hammonds and William Rouse jr. Early in his solo career he offered John Hammond a partnership. Later, when the Rouse family were at war, he put his own money on the line to secure significant Rouse property for Rouse jr, who then brought John Hammond into partnership. The Salts’ Congregational Chapels 67 “On coming to Bradford, [Titus Salt’s] family connected themselves with Horton Lane Chapel” says Balgarnie and for both 68 Daniel and Titus, this was not mere churchgoing. Both were very active lay members of congregations that became pivotal in Bradford’s political and municipal development. Both chapels were cornerstones of their Bradford lives. (Little) Horton Lane Congregational Chapel (?1782 - ~1960s) Little Horton Lane Congregational Chapel was opened in 1782 and demolished in the 1960's. Glyde House (below left) was originally the 69 Sunday School with the Chapel immediately to its north-east . 70 A rare image of the church is on the right , looming above Queen Victoria’s statue. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 15 Salem Chapel (built 1834-6) “The increase of the congregation in Horton Lane Chapel and the consequent insufficiency of accommodation had been long felt before, in 1835, a new chapel was resolved on. The building was opened in 1836, by sermons from Rev. R. W. Hamilton, 71 Theophilus Lessey, and Dr. Raffles. The cost of the building was about £7,000” . “Salem Chapel opened in 1835 and among 72 its first members were the Salts…” . At the junction of Manor Row and Salem Street, Salem Chapel is now Kenburgh House. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 16 Part 3: Titus Salt’s Bradford mills Thompson’s Mill This was the Salt family’s first mill, the location of Daniel Salt and Son’s spinning department. Whilst it was the first mill that they used, there’s no evidence that they owned it. The date of the Salts’ move to Thompson’s is not known, but Reynolds says it was probably around 1829 - and it was certainly before 1834 because that was when Edward Salt joined the family firm at 73 this same mill. Around 1835, Titus left both the firm and Thompson’s Mill . Curiously, I have not been able to find ‘Thompson’s Mill’ on any Bradford maps. Nor does it appear in the many lists that name, and then explain in some detail, the location of mills that are often of much less historical significance than Thompson’s 74. However our search for Thompson’s gets a helping hand from the sources quoted above and from Cudworth’s piece on the history of Thompson’s below. The mill was 75 • on Silsbridge Lane, Bradford 76 • at Goitside, Thornton Road, Bradford 77 • at the Goitside 78 • on the piece of land between Silsbridge Lane and the mill goit 79 • in the fields on the high side of the Goit . These references are not at odds. The goit runs along land with a pronounced incline. Silsbridge Lane was on the high side of the goit. However, the distance between goit and Lane is over 150m in most places 80 so the mill could have been situated some distance from the Lane – and actually much nearer to another significant thoroughfare, Thornton Road. Whilst our sources are not identifying the location of the mill precisely, the area in which it will be found is clear and it is not large. Moreover we have a detailed description of the mill’s origins. William Cudworth - the local historian writing about C19th Bradford in the C19th - identifies Thompson’s Mill in his Round About Bradford and tells its story. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 17 Matthew and Benjamin Thompson were the sons of the Rev. John Thompson, incumbent of Castleford… At about the 81 ages of fourteen and twelve respectively, the brothers Matthew and Benjamin were sent to Bradford , there to take part in the active business of life, being entrusted to the care of their uncle, Mr. Benjamin Peile, who was a dyer. To this business Matthew Thompson was brought up, while his brother Benjamin was apprenticed with Mr. Richard Fawcett to the worsted trade. That business, which has since so conduced to Bradford's greatness, was, however, then in the "day of small things." [sic] The work, such as it was, was done by hand, and there was not a single factory in the town! In 1798 Messrs. Ramsbotham & Co. erected one in Thornton Road of fifteen-horse power, and three years after one was erected in the Holme for Mr. Richard Fawcett. In 1803 the brothers Thompson, having acquired a knowledge sufficient to justify them in "setting up" business, commenced worsted spinning in partnership with their uncle in a mill built for them by Mr. Peile, who, being a bachelor, had in a measure adopted them, and chose this mode of furthering the interests of his charge. The mill was of twenty-horse power, and was situate in the fields on the high side of the Goit. These premises, still called Thompson's Mill [in 1876], have been greatly extended by the present owner, Mr. M. W. Thompson 82 . There is much overlap here with what is said in the Goitside Conservation Area Assessment. Not surprising, because Cudworth is a much-quoted, unique and trusted source. But the Assessment adds that “… Thompson’s Mill is likely to have been the second mill built in Bradford” and not the third as Cudworth implies. Early historian John James certainly identifies Thompson’s 83 Mill as second which makes it historically significant. And the fact that the mill was so early means that, if there are maps of the early 1800s when Bradford was very small and large factories were few and far between, we are likely to gather some helpful prompts from them. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 18 This is from a map of Bradford 84 dated 1800 . Silsbridge Lane is marked 1, the “MILL RACE OR 85 GOIT” 2, and Bradford Beck 3 . On Silsbridge Lane, there are a few buildings. On the top side of the goit, there’s a solitary building (or buildings?) G, and a further building or buildings B on the Beck. We will explore Thompson’s Shed next but at this stage note that its future site shares with G a distinctive rectangular parcel of land, most likely a farm field and perhaps, “the piece of land between Silsbridge Lane and the mill goit” referred to in the Goitside Conservation Area 86 Assessment ? Reader, please note… This map and its numbers/letters will be referred to again later. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 19 Thompson Shed In the evidence presented above, no mention is made of Thompson Shed – but since we have so little to go on to pin-point Thompson’s Mill, the name ‘Thompson’ and the location of the Shed cannot be ignored. It is a large building which is named on the 1908 25” OS 87 map . It stood on Silsbridge Lane, by this time re-named 88 as Grattan Road. What do we know about the Shed? Not much, though a couple of sources identify it 89 as a mill . And we know (from the ~1800 map) that it shares the same, distinctive, rectangular parcel of land as G - but the Shed was not there in ~1800 whilst G was. 90 On this 1908 map, G (immediately south of the Shed) is identified as “Woollen Mills” . The original parcel of land stretched from the Lane to the goit, the line of which is here named (in the tiniest of letters) as “GOIT SIDE”. The parcel would likely have been purchased as a unit and therefore there’s a chance that the Shed and the building immediately to its south originally had 91 common ownership . We may be closing in on the location of Thompson’s Mill! SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 20 Because it (uniquely?) features Thompson’s Shed, we have already looked at the 1908 OS map. Now we need to look at an 92 earlier OS map (~1850 ) to see what this area was like when Salt’s entire business was located in Bradford. The area is heavily urbanised, much changed since ~1800. The known location of Thompson Shed (red block, on Silsbridge Road in green) is occupied by several buildings which are not identified. Immediately to the south of that red block is B, Thompson’s Mill. It is labelled Mill with what I take to be Wor, an abbreviation for 93 ‘worsted’. Also worthy of note on this map is a mill immediately across the goit to the south of Thompson’s Mill (B). Watch out for WS below! SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 21 “Salt and his father had started a spinning department of their wool stapling business, using rooms in 94 Thompson’s Mill at Goitside, Thornton Road, Bradford” The Saltaire Collection’s website gives “Goitside, Thornton Road” as the location of Thompson’s Mill. In Salt’s day the course of Thornton Road was much as it is now - between the 95 goit 2 and Bradford Beck 3 . No doubt the Collection found this address in John James’ list (on the right) identifying all the 96 mills that existed in Bradford in 1833 . James has the “SITUATION” of Matthew Thompson’s mill not on Silsbridge Lane but on “Thornton Road”. This is plausible because of what was said earlier. Silsbridge Lane is on the high side of the goit but the distance between goit and Lane is over 150m in most places. So Thompson’s Mill may have been situated some distance from the Lane. Indeed, if it were on the goit itself, the mill would have been closer to Thornton Road than to the Lane. This adds weight to the proposition that the solitary building or buildings at location G on the goit itself on that very early (1800) map, is Thompson’s Mill. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 22 Holme Mill: Bradford’s first There appears to be no connection between Salt and Bradford’s first mill, Holme Mill, but whilst undertaking this research it was difficult not to discover information about Holme. And as it happens, that information may help us to firm up the location of Thompson’s Mill. James’ list of mills (copied above) is spectacularly unhelpful in identifying where Holme Mill was. Holme Mill’s “SITUATION” is said to be ‘Holme Mill’! But James also tells us that “the land adjoining between the Mill-race and the Beck was anciently called the Holme (signifying a piece of 97 ground enclosed by water) [sic]” . “Enclosed by water” does not describe location G: there is no water to the north of G. But it does describe B which sits on the Beck with the goit to the north. Unfortunately, that conflicts with what the Assessment says: that “Holme Mill, the first factory in Bradford, was constructed alongside 98 the goit” . However, the Assessment is in turn contradicted by a further source, a list of mills which supplies co-ordinates for what it believes is the 99 actual location of Holme Mill . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 23 The left-hand image applies those co- ordinates, the blue teardrop pin-pointing the alleged mill site. Note that it is south of Thornton Road and on the Beck not the goit. But then the Assessment says that “Holme Mill was constructed by Messrs Ramsbottom [sic], Swaine and Murgatroyd in 1800, close 100 to the present Holmfield Street” and, as the right-hand map shows, that suggests Holme Mill’s location is north of Thornton Road! The right-hand map also shows that there are two ‘Holme’ streets. Westholme Street is south of Thornton Road and close to the Beck. Moreover, ‘close to the present Westholme Street’ is consistent with the location shown on the left-hand map. It seems to me that the blue teardrop is likely 101 to give the best indication of Holme Mill’s actual location not least because of the existence on the ~1800 map of a literally outstanding building (B) in exactly that position – and no building at all in the location favoured by the Assessment. Metaphorically outstanding too. Bradford’s first mill would surely have a claim to a place on that map. But perhaps the most telling evidence for the Assessment being wrong is that, fixed to the Culture Fusion building (see right- 102 hand map above), there is a heritage plaque commemorating Holme Mill ! Having rejected some of its account, I am not above cherry-picking one further Assessment statement which sounds plausible: “Following [the building of Holme Mill] a number of mills, factories and foundries, along with associated housing, were 103 constructed in the vicinity” . And if Bradford’s second mill, Thompson’s was located at G, it would appear to be very much “in the vicinity”. 104 G is only ~125m from Holme . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 24 Thompson’s Mill continued: “when [Salt’s firm] was still based in Bradford proper”, “Thompson’s Mill, and consequently the goitside, had a strong association with Titus Salt. The weaving shed to the south of the goit 105 provided room and power for the weaving department” This statement has the potential to give us the final piece of the Thompson’s Mill jigsaw. The Assessment indicates that part of Thompson’s Mill - the weaving shed - was south of the goit. This is plausible, not least because the 1852 OS map on the right shows there is a large building (marked WS by me on this extract to the right) south of the original site of Thompson’s Mill (G). It stands between the goit and Thornton Road. If Thompson’s had the need to expand, what better than doing so next door? There is therefore this possibility: that in the early 1830s, the spinning department of Daniel Salt and Son was located in Thompson’s Mill (G) and that, at a later unknown date, Titus Salt’s company occupied the building (WS) next door to Thompson’s Mill for the purposes of weaving. After ‘discovering’ this, I found that others had gone before me: [Thompson's Mill] was built over two separate periods, the first, a worsted spinning mill was built to the North of the mill goit and commenced production in 1803. The second half was a worsted weaving shed and built [later] to the South of the spinning mill on the opposite side of the mill goit… [Titus Salt] leased part of Thompson's spinning mill, whilst working for his fathers [sic] business, and successfully spun the [Donskoi] wool…Eventually he would spin it under his own name at Hollings Mill…, his first mill when he went into business on his own account following his father’s retirement in 1834…Titus went on to weave worsted cloth at Thompson's Mill weaving shed under a 'Room and Power' agreement before eventually moving his entire workforce out of Bradford to the new model industrial village of 106 Saltaire... . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 25 107 Moreover, the 1852 OS town plan of Bradford seals the deal as it were. Both ‘Thompson’s Mill (Worsted)’ and ‘Thompson’s Mill (Worsted) Weaving Shed’ are marked on either side of the goit, and even more important ‘Thompson’s Buildings’ is splashed north to south along the rectangular parcel of land. It could not be much clearer that, earlier in the century and/or late in the last, the Thompson dynasty purchased the lot as they became key players in the founding of Worstedopolis. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 26 Thompson’s Mill: Summary We now return to the ~1800 map with a cartographic summary of what has been found. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 27 Thompson’s Mill: A researcher’s lament I started the Thompson’s section of these notes with this statement: Curiously, I have not been able to find ‘Thompson’s Mill’ on any Bradford maps. Nor does it appear in the many lists that name, and then explain in some detail, the location of mills that are often of much less historical significance than Thompson’s. As a result, I have spent a great deal of time using multiple scraps of information to identify the mill’s location to my satisfaction. As soon as that was completed, a fellow local historian wrote to me about the goit. Rose Reeve included a document in which 108 she described what she found when walking the goit west to east in 2012 . And when she reached the neighbourhood of Tetley Street, formerly Prospect Street, the western boundary of that early C19th, small, rectangular parcel of land, she recorded this: At Soho Street walk down to Thornton Road, turn left, and then left again into Tetley Street, where the other end of the gated stretch [of the goit] can be found. Opposite this is the site of Thompson’s Mill, which burned down in October 2011. This site is being demolished and cleared, and the works have exposed a length of the goit between Tetley Street and the NCP car park which is at the top of Goit Side. The goit is gated at Tetley Street The goit is visible on the Thompson’s Mill site SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 28 So author Rose not only visited Thompson’s Mill (G, on the high side of the goit) in 2012 but (unlike me) she knew precisely where Thompson’s Mill was – and that it had been destroyed in 2011. This in turn led to further searches, this time for images of Thornton’s Mill . And what a bonanza, starting with a heritage plaque! Photographer Mark Davis took a series of photos just before arson assassinated G 109.The plaque was on the northern side of 110 the mill, on Sunbridge Road . Mark’s interior photos paint a vivid picture of the workplaces that launched Bradford on the road to Worstedopolis. And you are looking at an actual room in which young Titus embarked on the road to legendary status! In this image, Thompson’s is the taller, darker building to the left. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 29 111 And finally, a fellow historian then drew to my attention a 1936 aerial view of Goitside on which I was able to identify Thompson’s Mill (G) and show it in a context which will be reasonably familiar to today’s Bradfordians. The other features in the photo are • three principal streets, 1 Grattan Road (formerly Silsbridge Lane) 2 Sunbridge Road 3 Thornton Road • and two significant buildings that still exist, O the Odeon cinema, now re-purposed as Bradford Live WW Woolston Warehouse (now flats). For non-Bradfordians, the Odeon is very much part of central Bradford. Its frontage (to the right in the photo) is at the very end of Thornton Road and you can walk from there to City Hall in less than 4 minutes. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 30 In search of Union Street… “In 1836 he took over a large mill in Union Street, whose previous owner had been Daniel Illingworth” “[Titus Salt] added a larger factory in Union Street… Trade grew so rapidly under his hands that in a few years he was carrying on, not only the two mills above mentioned [Thompson’s and Union Street], but also Hollings’ Mill, Brick Lane Mill, and one in Fawcett Court” 112 “He quickly acquired further premises in or near Hope Street” Union Street features three times in James’ list of Bradford’s oldest mills. These include the third oldest in Bradford 113 (construction started 1807), the eleventh (1818), and finally one in 1830 . It seems clear that it is this last Union Street mill that Titus Salt occupied. It was built and initially occupied by Illingworth and Murgatroyd. Salt had strong political connections 114 with both . 115 Reynolds says that the premises in Union Street became “the headquarters of a rapidly increasing alpaca empire” . 116 Ibbetson’s 1845 directory confirms Salt to be at Union Street in that year . In 1856, an advertisement in the Bradford Observer shows Salt offering some of these 117 premises “TO BE LET” . This indicates that a significant amount of Union Street property - an 80 horse power factory, “extensive warehouses” and a “large new” warehouse - was owned by Salt. The last two premises were “lately in the occupation of Messrs. Titus Salt, Sons and Company”. So now we have evidence that, 3 years after the completion of the mill at Saltaire, Salt had “lately” been operating a mill and 118 warehouses in Bradford. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 31 Not only that but the advert makes clear that ‘Union Street’ was big, and the maps of the time suggest that the term ‘Union Street’ may well have been used to refer to part or all of a large, more or less self-contained, industrial estate. On this extract from the 1852 OS town map Bradford 119, I have outlined it in yellow. It was big enough to include: 3 worsted mills at least 3 chimneys warping rooms 8 combing rooms a sorting room a wash house 2 weighing machines 2 reservoirs a cistern a boiler shed a timber yard stables and a large building called Bolton’s Place, plus the Neptune Inn and the Sion 120 chapel and school! This map also reinforces that ‘Union Street’ was very close to other Salt mills - at Fawcett Court (F), Nelson Street (N), and 121 “in or near Hope Street” (H) . It was also close to Titus Salt’s family house in the 1830s (in the area marked TS) and his 122 beloved (Little) Horton Lane Chapel (HC) . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 32 But Union Street may have had even greater significance for Salt than simply being his Bradford HQ. In May 1845, the Bradford Woolcombers Society set up a committee to report on their trade’s housing conditions. In June 1845, the Bradford Observer wrote about the meeting at which the evidence was presented 123. As can be seen from this cutting, it included references to Union Street and Nelson Court, locations closely connected with Salt - and its content was stark. The report had an immediate effect. Several prominent men called for a town meeting and from that a committee was established. Salt was a member. Regrettably, concerns over other matters, such as the proposed 10-hour Bill, were to steal the subsequent 124 headlines . But, for Salt, it was conditions like these that were a key factor in his migration to Saltaire – and most importantly, in the construction of a ‘model village’ which was the polar opposite of Bradford’s appalling conditions. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 33 125 Hollings’ Mill or Holling's Mill or Hollings Mill? Firstly, Hollings’ Mill. This version of the name is found in Balgarnie but elsewhere I have only been able to find references to Holling’s Mill and Hollings Mill. So, to Holling’s Mill. The location of this mill, north of Legrams Lane 126 (see map to left ), does not commend it as a Salt’s mill. It is in a very different part of town from the Union Street complex. 127 Thirdly, Hollings Mill, pictured right . This is highly significant in Titus Salt’s career as an entrepreneur: his first mill working on his own account. Moreover, as the 128 photo above shows, it still exists – the only Salt’s mill left in the City of Bradford! It is on Lower Grattan Road, ie part of . 129 what was Silsbridge Lane, the latter being the “SITUATION” quoted by James . If more evidence were needed, the area it inhabits adds to the conviction that this is the Hollings Mill used by Salt. It is in Goitside, sitting only 0.5m from those Salt’s mills in Bradford the locations of which we can identify with some confidence. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 34 The view of Hollings Mill above, seen from Lower Grattan Road, belies its size. The mill is uphill from Thornton Road, and looking at it from there (right) shows it to be very large indeed. However, the mill has changed significantly since the mid-C19th. The 1852 OS map of Silsbridge Lane (above) suggests that the western end of this complex was not the rectangular building we see here. And there is a problem with this being a Salt’s mill, in 1845 at least. Adolphus Tremel, stuff manufacturer and a resident of Eldon Place, occupied Hollings Mill in that year, which might suggest that Salt did not. Moreover, in that year, Salt is recorded in Ibbetson’s directory as 130 occupying Union Street and only Union Street . This does not seem plausible and a report in an 1849 edition of the Bradford Observer tells us that “The Workpeople of Mr. Titus Salt, at Holling’s Mill…” (and at Union Street Mills and Beecroft’s Mill) made donations to Bradford 131 Infirmary . In addition, we learn from the testimony of Henry Stolworthy that his father John was working for Salt at Hollings from ~1843 right through to ~1853. Moreover, Henry tells us that from 1843 his family actually “lived in the [Hollings] mill yard, and the keys of the mill used to be left at our house”. The Stolworthy/Salt link was not broken in ~1853. Both John and Henry went to 132 work at Saltaire and the family moved there . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 35 Brick Lane Mill 133 Brick Lane Mill, pictured right , is marked on the 1852 OS map below. Although close to Thornton Road, it was further out of Bradford than any of Salt’s mills, half a mile from Hollings, and just under a mile from Union Street. We have the two statements above indicating Salt used this mill – but there is no evidence in support of them. 134 Beecroft Mill I cannot find this mill. Could it be Beehive Mills? This was very close to both Hollings and Thompson’s, but it was not a Salt’s mill. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 36 Part 4: A Cartographic Summary of Titus Salt’s Bradford before Saltaire 135 This summary map can be viewed in greater detail by following the link in this endnote . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 37 THANKS and POSTSCRIPT Many people have helped me put this together. They include Derek Barker, Colin Coates, Mark Davis, Chris Hand, Mark Hill, Rose Reeve and Dave Shaw as well as the authors of the numerous books/booklets/websites etc that I’ve consulted. Thank you! A couple of issues arose as I learned more about Bradford in the C19th and, in an ideal world, they would have been tackled in these notes. The first is that there were innumerable warehouses in Bradford at the time and that they were of considerable importance. For example, woolstaplers like Daniel Salt were key players in the city’s textile industry and operated from warehouses, not mills. But (as we have seen) the great millowners like Salt also had warehouses. In the case of Salts Mill which was a vertical mill – meaning it encompassed all the clothmaking processes - warehousing was a feature of the mill itself, and I can’t imagine that was any different to a very significant number of the later, second and third generation mills. The second issue that I haven’t tackled is the multi-occupation of mills, and warehouses for that matter. It’s common to come across mills in multi-occupation – and that links to a further issue: that use and ownership are not one and the same. James knew this: it is reflected in his table of the earliest of mills which includes an ‘Occupied by’ column. And it has become clear to me that, as the C19th progressed, many entrepreneurs went into industrial property – and that included buildings factories specifically to rent. It would also be valuable to identify those locations that were of significance to the public Salt… the philanthropist, the campaigner, the mayor, the MP etc etc. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 38 APPENDIX: THE BRADFORD GOIT AND GOITSIDE The Bradford goit or mill race is a fascinating feature that makes an appearance several times in our search for Salt’s Bradford mills. It deserves its own section in this story. The goit is mediaeval in origin. Its purpose was to redirect water from Bradford Beck to power the water wheels of one or more manorial water 136 mills. The ‘soke mill’ which was later called Queen’s Mill “stood above Aldermanbury for centuries”. This was in the very heart of old, and new, Bradford. Remarkably, given C19th Bradford’s dramatic urbanisation, it was not until 1870 that Bradford Corporation bought out the feudal rights from the Ladies of the Manor, Mary and Elizabeth Rawson. The 137 138 mill was only demolished in 1871 . This 1828 map shows a building clearly marked ‘Soke Mill’. However, Industrial Heritage Online says that there was a fulling mill alongside – and we shall see later that this is correct. The map shows the tailrace returning water back to the Beck. And it is, I think, unique both in identifying the mill’s dam and that the 139 Soke Mill was built on the mill pond . SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 39 Unfortunately for the researcher wishing to present a consistent picture, two other maps from the period just before and after 140 the Soke Mill was demolished, do not fit neatly with the 1828 map . 141 The left-hand map shows the ‘Queen’s Mills’ to include ‘worsted’ and ‘corn’ which confirms there were two mills. However, it is difficult to work out the relationship between mills and mill race/goit. The ‘Soke Mills’ map to the 142 right shows the mills below the wide ‘Soke Mill Goit’ which looks to be the dam on the earlier map. It is not known precisely when the first water mill was built in Bradford but the manor’s accounts show repairs were made to a 143 mill in 1295 . It is plausible that the mill was built in the C13th since in 1246 Edmund de Lacy obtained a charter for holding a market. This was ratified in 1251 and thus Bradford gained manorial status. With that came feudal rights, for example the right of the lord to have a ‘soke mill’, a cereal-milling monopoly. The 1277 inquisition for the Hundred Rolls does not mention 144 a mill . This evidence implies that the first mill may have been built between ~1280 and ~1290. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 40 Within ancient Bradford, I’m not aware of any water mill locations other than that above Aldermanbury. Nor of any that get their power directly from the Beck. So if there were a mill in that location in ~1280 to ~1290, it was presumably getting its water power from the goit – which must therefore be a C13th century creation. The early existence of two mills supports that. 145 By the 1311 inquisition, there was a ‘water mill’ and a fulling mill in the parish of Bradford and Empsall agrees that by the 146 C14th there were two mills, one for corn and the other for fulling cloth . This challenges the proposition by Ared and Brown that the goit was constructed to power a mill built around 1530 in Millergate, ie above Almondbury. The prior existence of two 147 mills suggests that the goit was constructed much earlier and it seems probable that the 1530 creation could be a 148 replacement . After all, the original mill was likely to have been over 200 years old. The goit was (is!) more than 800m in 149 length and as we have seen above, the ~1800 map of Bradford shows it clearly as it largely runs through farmland. But even as Bradford grew exponentially, it could still be recognised as the 1852 OS map shows. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 41 Today, it has been swamped by buildings, culverted over virtually all of its length, and many stretches have been gated and rendered inaccessible . But its route can still be seen occasionally as this GoogleMaps satellite image shows. The top middle car park has been identified as the former location of 150 Thompson’s Shed and the aerial shot exposes the line of the ancient goit in the blocks to the south and south-west of the Shed site - and 151 especially on the grass in the southern block , the upper part of which was the site of Thompson’s Mill (G). But this exposure is unusual. More numerous and obvious indications of the goit’s route are the streets, ginnels, boundaries and building lines that pay homage to a feature that may be 800 years old. One example which can also be seen on this map is ‘the top of the T’ in the T-shaped street called Goit Side. That top aligns almost perfectly with the goit’s route. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 42 ENDNOTES and REFERENCES 1 Don’t be afraid to get in touch with the author with comments. Additions, criticisms and corrections will be welcomed. Email les.brook@yahoo.com 2 http://www.mark-davis-photography.com/explore/thompsons-mill-bradford/. Big thanks to Mark for allowing me to use his excellent photos. The image to the right is of Thompson’s Mill. Read on and all will be revealed! 3 Balgarnie’s Salt with commentary and additions by BARLO & SHAW 2003 p28. The original publication date of Balgarnie’s book – Sir Titus Salt Baronet His Life and Lessons - was 1877. 4 Edward Baines Baines’ Directory: History, Directory & Gazetteer of Yorkshire Vol. I: West Riding 1822 p155. A woolstapler (or wool-stapler) was a dealer in wool. 5 David King Who was your grandmother, Titus, and when did you arrive in Bradford? https://saltairevillage.info/saltaire_history_0070_Debunking_myths_concerning_Sir_Titus_Salt_050620.html. I think David may be wrong to assume Titus “arrived with his parents”. I also think there is no evidence for the 1820 arrival of the entire family, and good reason to think that Titus might have been otherwise engaged: in 1820, he was 17 years of age and recently employed by a Mr Jackson in Wakefield. 6 Pigot and co.'s national commercial directory for 1828-9: extracts to be found at https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Bradford/Bradford29Dry 7 The locations in red in these early, reference pages are those I will seek to identify. I return to each of them later. 8 Jack Reynolds The Great Paternalist Titus Salt and the Growth of Nineteenth-Century Bradford 1983 p47 John Reynolds, always known affectionately as Jack, was one of the most highly respected of Bradford's twentieth-century local historians. Keith Laybourn Jack Reynolds (1915-1988) First published in 1991 in volume 5, pp. 91-93, of the third series of The Bradford Antiquary, the journal of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society https://www.bradfordhistorical.org.uk/reynolds.html 9 Ibid p70 10 Balgarnie op cit p58 11 Ibbetson's General and Classified Directory of the Borough of Bradford 1845 p71 SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 43 12 Website of the Saltaire Collection https://www.saltairecollection.org/portfolio-item/sir-titus-salt-1803-1876/ 13 The goit and Goitside will appear many times in these notes. A goit or mill race is a small artificial channel carrying water taken from a stream or river. This water is then used (usually in mills or factories) for power and/or for water-hungry processes like washing raw wool. In the present case, ‘the goit’ is a specific channel from Bradford Beck at a point to the west of the centre of Bradford. It passed through an area that became known as Goitside. See the APPENDIX for more, including a map. 14 On the Saltaire Collection’s website, this information is presented without a reference so the sequence of mills may not be accurate. 15 William Cudworth Round about Bradford A Series of Sketches 1876 p310 16 Balgarnie op cit p46. On this page, Barlo and Shaw have a footnote. In summary, they observe that an ~1854 map by Rapkin (in Bradford libraries’ Local Studies department) shows the location of all the mills mentioned in the extract. They go on to indicate these locations in broad terms. I failed to spot this before embarking on my research but have rectified that mistake by contacting the department. I’m told in an email from them that on the map catalogued at BRA 1854 RAP “there are no specific mills indicated or mill names”. 17 James Burnley A Yorkshire Colony in All The Year Round Vol.5 Charles Dickens (ed) January 21 1871 p185. Burnley was a prolific Bradford writer working in the second half of the C19th and contributing many articles to local newspapers. Amongst other books, he wrote Sir Titus Salt And George Moore. https://biblio.co.uk/james-burnley/author/79834 18 Bradford Observer 19 July 1849 and 23 August 1849 19 This letter appeared in the Halifax Guardian on 20 January 1849 but refers to its previous publication in the Bradford Observer 20 1851 Collinson, Burton & Co’s West Riding worsted directory https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dple2AjuarcC&pg=PA363&dq=samuel+ellis+ossett+cloth+manufacturer&hl=en&sa=X& ved=0ahUKEwjxvPOlz8rpAhUQM8AKHYIgBXk4HhC7BQhDMAM#v=onepage&q=samuel%20ellis%20ossett%20cloth%20manuf acturer&f=false 21 Reynolds op cit pp 41 onwards 22 Reynolds follows Balgarnie’s lead 23 Later, we’ll see that Reynolds got this wrong. It was Daniel’s father who supported the purchase. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 44 24 It seems very likely that Cheapside and Cross Street refer to the same location. On the 1852 OS map, Cross Street runs at a right angle, eastwards from Cheap Side. 25 But which one of his warehouses was the largest? 26 Reynolds op cit p47 says the marriage was in 1829 but Balgarnie says 21 August 1830 (op cit p43). It was 1829. 27 Reynolds op cit p47 28 Thompson identifies Salt’s first employer as “Jo Jackson”, “an important woolstapler”, who had a warehouse in King Street. W J Thompson (ed) A Brief Guide to the Industrial Heritage of West Yorkshire (1989). Joseph Jackson appears in Baines's Directory and Gazetteer Directory of 1822 which can be found at https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Wakefield/Wakefield22Dry 29 Balgarnie op cit p 30: “For his practical knowledge of wool-sorting he was chiefly indebted to John and James Hammond, two brothers, in the employment of the firm. He once acknowledged this in our hearing, when the name of Hammond was mentioned. “It was John Hammond,” he said, “who taught me to sort wool.” As evidence of the value attached to the services of these two brothers, by the firm, they were both remembered in Mr. John Rouse’s will, and one became afterwards a partner in the business”. Balgarnie op cit claims that the Hammond connection continued after he left the Rouses to join his father’s business, Salt frequently travelled to buy wool: “To him was entrusted the duty of attending the public wool sales in London and Liverpool, and effecting purchases from farmers in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, after the season of sheep-clipping. John Hammond, who travelled on behalf of the Rouse’s [sic], was frequently his companion in these journeys, and his judgment was sought in any emergency” p31. Little wonder then that, not long after Titus left his father’s firm, he “made overtures to John Hammond to join him in partnership… But these overtures were respectfully declined on the ground that the Rouses having always treated him with kindness and liberality, he must remain in their employment as long as he lived. It was in Garraway’s coffee rooms, London, that these two early friends had the interview for the consideration of the above proposal, which ended by Mr. Titus Salt saying “Well, John, I am going into this alpaca affair right and left, and I’ll either make myself a man or a mouse” ”. Balgarnie op cit p49. 30 Titus Salt’s son Edward would marry Sarah Amelia Rouse, daughter of William. 31 John James History of the Worsted Manufacture in England 1857 [hereafter James 1857] available free at https://archive.org/stream/historyofworsted00jame/historyofworsted00jame_djvu.txt James’s list of mills and his comments on that list will be referenced throughout these notes, often in detail. On p 592 of James 1857, he uses the words “wrought by steam” to describe the mills in the list. The table and comments are repeated in other James books and other editions of these books. His The History of Bradford and its Parish 1866 [hereafter James 1866] is particularly useful. Can be downloaded from SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 45 https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qad8i94XjtYAeaOC2lCkeNs5i9DsMTChudW5WRrylteALUEiOjFY fONSlGJACoiKv0XDDqH2N5iz8DhJaq_lmy7bRiOcFmB1VkRRMv_- NYhdcYQ2hkL059rn_201QMQv0xMc1x3UOP0C12T5TZ0x9etfkwTRdlFc-77zKnM_Ls7- jXr06EPLHbqLgeUjm9hOVrtLVDvjcEHazQOmvkUpHfKIon8sRMSar8LDaTbOZ8HwPQ4jlh_NksrwySeR1GzZnjrmhRGaFA8IakbG- lVXB6BrHoiqzVqhZt1_vC1prHqnbtNWMYQ 32 Pigot op cit 33 Baines op cit p157. ‘Inn houses’ refers to the pubs that they used for business meetings 34 James 1857 p605 35 Pigot op cit. Commercial Street no longer exists but it appears to follow the route of today’s Valley Road, to the east of Forster Square station and sharing a junction with Canal Road. Very close to many other Rouse addresses. 36 https://bradfordlocalstudies.wordpress.com/tag/industry/ 37 Ibbetson’s op cit p70 and p131 38 Mill Street was parallel to Commercial Street and only metres away. Holdsworth Street was very close and all shared a junction with Canal Road 39 Eastbrook House was located east of Bradford Cathedral and close to the extant Paper House. With extensive grounds, it is clearly major and is probably the grandest house close to the city centre. It stands out on the 1852 OS map. For more, see https://bradfordunconsideredtrifles.wordpress.com/2018/04/11/eastbrook-house/ 40 Catherine Thackray Brunswick Place – Bradford A study based on the Census 1841 to 1881 in The Bradford Antiquary 1986. Available at http://www.bradfordhistorical.org.uk/brunswick.html. It is unclear in Thackray’s account which of the Rouse mills was being auctioned. 41 https://bradfordunconsideredtrifles.wordpress.com/tag/bradford/ 42 Reynolds op cit pp 69 on 43 Bradford Metropolitan District Council Goitside Conservation Area Assessment (hereafter, BMDC GCAA) 2005 https://www.bradford.gov.uk/media/3237/goitsideconservationareaassessment.pdf 44 This is incorrect. It was built by Bradford Beck as we shall see later. 45 In James 1866, it is also reported that “in 1798 Messrs. Ramsbotham , Swaine, and Murgatroyd erected [a worsted mill] in the “Holme.” [sic] The engine which supplied the propelling force was of fifteen horses' power”. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 46 46 George Sheeran The Buildings of Bradford: An Illustrated Architectural History 2005 47 This is not an explicit statement that the weaving shed was part of Thompson’s Mill – but I think that is implied 48 The table and the statements made on this page are from James 1857 pp605-606 unless stated otherwise 49 James 1866 op cit p161 50 XXX 51 Ibbetson's General and Classified Directory, Street List and History of Bradford, 1850 52 The full title of this document is Exhibition of The Works of Industry of All Nations 1851 Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided. London. Printed for the Royal Commission, by William Clowes & Sons, Stamford Street and Charing Cross. MDCCCLII. Available online at https://library.si.edu/digital- library/book/reportsjurieson00grea 53 The Builder 19 February 1898 54 OS 1852 map. Image is from GoogleMaps 55 White’s Directory and Topography of the Borough of Bradford 1861 available at https://www.bradfordfhs.org.uk/_resources/tradedirectories/white-directory-for-bradford-1861.pdf 56 Image from GoogleMaps street view 57 See Bradford Heritage Trail at https://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/YS- Brad/cms/pdf/Bradford%20Heritage%20Trail.pdf 58 See evidence presented earlier. In this section, I have duplicated some of the info already given but not all of the references 59 Baines op cit seems to confirm this 60 Reynolds op cit p42 61 Pigot’s op cit 62 Thackray op cit “Among the many Deeds relating to the Cousen & Thackray quarries is one of 1823 recording the sale of land to Titus Salt of Hunslet and his son, Daniel, grandfather and father of Sir Titus, respectively. The Salts had opened a small warehouse in Bradford in 1822”. It seems this transaction might have been for the Cheapside/Cross Street land. Thackray’s reference to Titus’s grandfather is a mistake. At this time, the grandfather would have been ~100 years old. The error probably occurred because the grandfather and Daniel’s brother were both called Titus. It was brother Titus who put money into the 1823 transaction. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 47 63 Pigot op cit 64 Ibbetson’s op cit p71 65 BMDC GCAA op cit “In 1837 Ellis Cunliffe Lister [father of the more famous Samuel Cunliffe Lister] built his last mill, a factory in Manningham, Manningham Mill (known as Lilly Croft Mill on some maps) for Lister and his elder brother John. Lister supervised the on site building and the quarrying of the stone from his father’s quarry at Daisy Hill. The mill opened in 1838 and had been fitted out by James Ambler who was made a partner with Lister and his brother John, the company being named Lister and Co. There are no clear records of what this mill looked like, although it was large by local standards…. Ellis Cunliffe Lister then built a row of 12 cottages to the east of the mill and a year later added another row facing onto Heaton Road …. The mill and two rows of housing are clearly visible on the Ordnance Survey Map published in 1852 as an island of development to the northwest of Manningham village”. See extract from 1852 OS map after the conclusion of these endnotes. 66 Balgarnie op cit p 30: “The manufactory of Messrs. Rouse and Son had commenced in 1815, and was rapidly rising into prosperity”. 67 Balgarnie op cit p32 68 Reynolds op cit pp 42 and 47 69 https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2669351/congregational-chapel 70 https://photos.bradfordmuseums.org/view-item?i=2402 71 https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Bradford/Bradford-SalemChapelCongChurch 72 Thackray op cit 73 There are some differences between the sources on which was the first mill Titus occupied when working on his own account. Balgarnie quoted above does not explicitly say that Titus struck out on his own and moved into Thompson’s, but that’s certainly implied. In the passage quoted at length above, Cudworth appears categorical - He accordingly commenced business as a spinner and manufacturer at Thompson's Mill. Since there is considerable agreement that Daniel Salt and Son started their spinning business at Thompson’s and that this was several years before Titus set up a business of his own, I’m inclined to think that Reynolds is right: Titus certainly worked for Daniel at Thompson’s but Hollings was the son’s first mill. 74 However ‘Thompson’s Shed’ does appear… more of that later 75 Balgarnie op cit 76 Website of the Saltaire Collection op cit and Cudworth op cit 77 Reynolds op cit SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 48 78 BMDC GCAA op cit 79 Cudworth op cit 80 Calculated using GoogleMaps 81 I have not found dates for these brothers – but the tale of their setting up business in a new mill in 1803 suggests that they may have been born around 1780. So they probably came to Bradford at the very start of its factory era. 82 Cudworth op cit pp424-425 83 James 1857 p606 84 From Bradford and District Libraries Map Collections https://bradfordlibrariesmap.wordpress.com/ and see Bradford Local Studies Library Local History from Maps and Plans at https://www.bradford.gov.uk/media/2926/local-history-from-maps-and- plans.pdf The map here was actually published much later than 1800 with some additions (notably, more buildings) but these do not alter the specific area in which we are interested. 85 I have marked the approximate route of Thornton Road which is not on the original map. This is odd because it surely existed by 1800 as it is on the Jefferey map of 1775. John Jefferey made the first large scale map of Yorkshire, published 1771-72. The map’s new edition of 1775 which I rely on is in the Bradford Local Studies Library. 86 BMDC GCAA op cit 87 This map contains the first (and only?) documentary mention of it. 88 This paragraph needs some qualifying (and perhaps further research). It is highly unlikely that this is one building. Firstly, because the map shows the outlines of several smaller buildings. Secondly, because we know that later maps show several buildings on the site, most if not all of which were built before this 1908 map. And thirdly, because the goit goes through the parcel of land, and certainly at a date most likely before 1908, there were two separate buildings above and below the goit. Why then does the map show a single building? Simply because it is a small scale map. So what was Thompson’s Shed? Probably a local name for a bundle of buildings on a distinct parcel of land that was owned by Thompson. 89 http://yorkshire.u08.eu/bradford/62494/ and https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=List_of_mills_in_Bradford&params=53.79476_N_1.75874_W_&tit le=Thompson+Shed 90 Given the dramatic developments in Bradford during the C19th, it is highly likely that the building on this map is not that on the 1800 map – and in any event the shapes of the buildings are different. On the 1893 6” OS map, the buildings that are here “Thompson’s Shed” and two “Woollen Mills” appear much the same as on this map but they are not named. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 49 91 I say “likely have been purchased as a unit” because of what I’ve learned from Ian Watson’s research published in The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in 2011. Ian describes how one major capitalist (Salt), driving the transformation of agricultural into industrial land (in what became Saltaire), did so field by field. In Bradford, a ~1800 plan of the area (which we shall see later) shows the land south of Silsbridge Lane to be a patchwork of narrow rectangular fields, each stretching from north to south. 92 Published 1852 but surveyed from 1847 to 1850, ie it shows the area as it was before Salts Mill’s construction started. It is available from the National Museum of Scotland’s website, https://nls.uk/maps/. The town plan is especially large-scale and detailed. For Goitside, see Bradford Sheet 4 at https://maps.nls.uk/view/229405260 93 Though it does not prove or disprove anything, it is not possible to reconcile what we see here with James’s statement that Thompson’s Mill was built “at two different periods, being in fact two mills” – though later (on the 1908 map) two mills can certainly be seen on the original parcel of land. 94 12 See endnote 95 A very short stretch to the northwest does not run between them and beyond that, the road leaves both behind. 96 James 1857 p606. Whilst in this list Holme Mill is said to have been built in 1800, as we have seen elsewhere (James 1866) 1798 is also given. 97 James 1866 p288 98 BMDC GCAA op cit. My emphasis. 99 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mills_in_Bradford#Bradford 100 BMDC GCAA op cit. The 2007 BMDC Goitside Conservation Area Appraisal repeats the ‘near Holmfield Street’ proposition. 101 … and BMDC GCAA op cit was wrong when it stated that “the Holme Mill, the first factory in Bradford, was constructed alongside the goit”. 102 Sighting reported to me by Rose Reeve 103 BMDC GCAA op cit 104 Calculated using GoogleMaps 105 BMDC GCAA op cit 106 www.industrialhistoryonline.co.uk/yiho/shortform.php?Trans_ID=WYK02352 Note ‘leased’ - an indication that Salt did not own the mill. 107 https://maps.nls.uk/view/229405260 SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 50 108 Rose Reeve Tracing the Bradford Goit 2012. Unpublished report. 109 http://www.mark-davis-photography.com/explore/thompsons-mill-bradford/. Davis quotes from the Telegraph and Argus 10 October 2011: “A blaze which destroyed one of Bradford’s oldest mills was started deliberately, fire chiefs confirmed today. The fire ripped through the five storeys of Thompson Mill in Tetley Street, off Thornton Road, last week, leaving it so badly damaged that it had to be demolished. Traffic was brought to a standstill as firefighters fought the blaze last Tuesday night. Crews were able to prevent it spreading to nearby properties but could not save the mill”. 110 Personal communication from Mark Davis 111 Thanks go to Chris Hand. The photo can be found at https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW052165 112 These three quotations are included in earlier parts of this paper, and they are referenced there 113 Copied from the text above: “3.- Union Street mill, built by Mr Richard Fawcett, and occupied by him until about the year 1832. The mill built in 1830 adjoins to the other, and was erected by Messrs. Illingworth & Murgatroyd”. “11- Union Street mill was built by Messrs. Wroe and occupied by them”. James 1857 pp605-606 114 Based upon other research undertaken by myself. 1837 Dec 28 Bradford Observer (BO): death near Salt's dam in Union Street. 1838 Apr 19 BO: ref to death at work of washing machine engine tender in the employ of Messrs D Salt & Son in Union St. Caught in belts. 1839: room&power ad for Providence Mill by D Illingworth also mentions Edward Salt acting as one of assignees of bankrupt James Holdsworth. 1839: Salt's employees have Blaize 'do' at Union Street pub. 1851: "Titus Salt, Esq., it is rumoured, is about making most extensive improvements, in regard to his property in Union Street". 115 Reynolds op cit 116 Ibbetson's op cit: “Salt, Titus, Union street mill” and “Salt, Titus, spinner of mohair and alpacha [sic] yarns, and manufacturer of moreens, Union st. mill, res. Hipperholme [sic].” Hipperholme is very close to Salt’s beloved Crow Nest. 117 Bradford Observer 19 June 1856, 118 The advert also tells us that there are “TWO good PIECE ROOMS in Peel Place” to let. My guess is that a ‘piece room’ was a place where customers could inspect pieces of material produced by a textile firm. So, some years after his move to Saltaire, Salt was still keeping hold of this Bradford property too. But we knew that. See what was said about Well Street above – and after consulting the maps of the time, I have concluded that ‘Peel Place’ and ‘Well Street’ refer to the same location. 119 OS Bradford town map published 1852 but surveyed in 1848 120 I am not arguing that Salt occupied, let alone owned, the entire Union Street complex. Indeed, the 19 June 1856 ‘to let’ advert suggests just the opposite. SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 51 121 On this map, close to N and F, there are two images labelled ‘Worsted Mill’. It is tempting (and maybe correct) to identify these as Salt’s Nelson Street and Fawcett Court mills. 122 Reynolds op cit p42. The connection with this Chapel starts with Titus’s father. There are many other refs in Reynolds. 123 Reynolds op cit p126-127. I find the alleged speed of compiling/publishing the report unconvincing, but there is no doubt that it was published in June 1845. 124 Reynolds op cit p128 125 Hollings appears to be a well-established Airedale, landed-family name. It appears in Cudworth op cit on p102 (dated c1660) and on many other pages. It is closely associated with the Aire valley in locations including Shipley, Baildon and Cullingworth. In the 1800s, the Hollings were also linked to the worsted trade. Cudworth calls Hollins Hill, one of Baildon main roads, Hollings Hill, and https://www.bradford.gov.uk/media/2046/tongparkdamwalk.pdf tells us that close by it is Hollings Head. Later note: more or less parallel to Hollins Hill is a road called Old Hollings Hill. 126 https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=List_of_mills_in_Bradford&params=53.79308_N_1.77378_W_&tit le=Holling%E2%80%99s+Mill 127 The mill is identified by James as the 19th mill built in Bradford. James 1857 op cit p606. It dates from 1826 and was most likely the work of Thomas Hollings and Sons since James says they were occupying it in 1833. 128 … though it is highly likely to have been amended in the last ~170 years! 129 This location is also confirmed by https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=List_of_mills_in_Bradford&params=53.79441_N_1.76163_W_&tit le=Hollings+Mill and https://www.thebradfordsockcompany.co.uk/ 130 Ibbetson's op cit The directory offers a further variation on Hollings – Hollings’s. It also tells us that William Maud was the mill manager for “A. Tremel, worsted spinner &c., Holling [sic] mill, Silsbridge lane [sic]” 131 Bradford Observer 23 August 1849 132 Shipley Times 31 August 1923. The Stolworthys’ house “in the [Hollings] mill yard” also still exists! Further information on the Stolworthys can be found at https://saltairevillage.info/Mill_workers_biography_S.html 133 This image is from https://www.flickr.com/photos/93176113@N03/8666027826/in/album-72157633124214092/ and there is a brilliant set of photos of the derelict Brick Lane Mills at https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/threads/brick-lane-mills- bradford.17752/ SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 52 134 Beecroft is a family name. Cudworth op cit references a couple of Beecrofts and they are associated with Leeds/Pudsey. G S Beecroft was MP for Leeds in mid-century. 135 To see this map in all its glory, go to https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/e3i157rznjq1mtdplosbr/1852-OS-MAP-Bradford-crop- feat-Salt-mills-v33-cropped-annotated.jpg?rlkey=7gqolmwan3x2sgcdwkp4qt6zn&dl=0 This version can be enlarged significantly without losing clarity. 136 “the right of soke – that is, the right to charge the villagers for grinding their grain”. Mills were owned by the monarchy, although day-to-day control was delegated downward, eventually resting in the hands of the lord of the manor http://www.castlefordheritagetrust.org.uk/TheMill.php. Local people were bound by law to take their corn to the soke mill for grinding, giving a portion of the grain in payment to the Lord of the Manor. HTTPs://www.ossett.net/beyond/Horbury_Junction.html 137 https://bradfordunconsideredtrifles.wordpress.com/tag/bradford/ 138 The illustration is from William Scruton Pen and Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford 1889. Thanks to Derek Barker. 139 www.industrialhistoryonline.co.uk/yiho/shortmedia.php?Image_ID=WYK02339.877: “Extract from a map of the land belonging to the Rev. Godfrey Wright drawn by Joseph Smith, Land Surveyor of Bradford in 1828. This shows the Soke Mill and goit very clearly. Many thanks to Bradford Libraries for permission to reproduce this”. 140 “after”, because an older map which show the mills was used as a base for illustrating planned highway changes 141 https://bradfordlibrariesmap.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/the-development-of-late-nineteenth-century-bradford/ 142 https://bradfordlocalstudies.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/map-of-the-week-goitside/ 143 Kathleen Ared and Jean J K Brown Manorial mills of Bradford and the people connected with them 2006. I am relying on notes made by Rose Reeve when she read this book. 144 Ibid 145 Scruton op cit 146 T Empsall Bradford in the middle of the 14th century 1888. http://www.bradfordhistorical.org.uk/fourteenth.html. However, there were places where two mills occupied the same building: “two mills of Castleford under one roof” (http://www.castlefordheritagetrust.org.uk/TheMill.php) 147 Ared op cit says that the new 1530 mill was a second mill which seems to be contradicted by the evidence for two earlier mills. They also say that it involved creating a dam at Brownroyd, ~1.2 miles further along Thornton Road out of central SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 53 Bradford. This seems to be confusing the goit/dam for the Bradford mill(s) with the goit/dam for Manningham soke mill? This was very close to Brownroyd. 148 www.industrialhistoryonline.co.uk/yiho/shortform.php?Trans_ID=WYK02339 has it that the mill demolished in 1871 was that built in 1530. 149 Calculated using GoogleMaps 150 http://yorkshire.u08.eu/bradford/62494/ 151 I have picked out the route by adding three blue marks SALT BEFORE SALTAIRE April 2024 v1 54
2024.34: 1872: When samurai came to Saltaire
A research document from local historian Les Brook on the visit in 1872 of the Japanese Iwakura Embassy visit to Saltaire. The Iwakura Embassy was a high-level governmental group from Japan who toured the world to investigate the latest developments in industry and technology. They visited Saltaire to view the renowned Salts Mill and the model village of Saltaire. Contents include: What was the Iwakura Embassy? The Embassy’s historical backstory The members of the Embassy The Embassy in the USA Four months in Britain The visit to Bradford and Saltaire DAY 1: Thursday 24 October 1872 DAY 2: Friday 25 October 1872 DAY 3: Saturday 26 October 1872 DAY 4: Sunday 27 October 1872 DAY 5: Monday 28 October 1872 From Yorkshire to London The Embassy in continental Europe, and beyond
1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE The Iwakura Embassy’s visit to Bradford and to Titus Salt’s model village Compiled and edited by Les Brook with support from members of the Saltaire History Club Special thanks to Colin Coates and to Tomoe Murai of the Iwakura Mission Society March 2024 1 Leaders of the Iwakura Embassy photographed in San Francisco in 1872 L-R: Kido Takayoshi, Yamaguchi Masuka aka Yamaguchi Naoyoshi, Iwakura Tomomi, Itō Hirobumi, Ōkubo Toshimichi 1 https://www.historyofjapaneseinny.org/blog/artifacts/iwakura-mission/ 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 2 CONTENTS PREFACE ................................ ................................ ......................... 3 What was the Iwakura Embassy?................................ ........................ 4 The Embassy’s historical backstory ................................ ..................... 5 The members of the Embassy ................................ .......................... 14 The Embassy in the USA ................................ ................................ . 16 Four months in Britain ................................ ................................ .... 18 The visit to Bradford and Saltaire ................................ ..................... 20 DAY 1: Thursday 24 October 1872 ................................ ............... 20 DAY 2: Friday 25 October 1872 ................................ .................... 22 DAY 3: Saturday 26 October 1872 ................................ ................ 30 DAY 4: Sunday 27 October 1872 ................................ .................. 31 DAY 5: Monday 28 October 1872 ................................ .................. 32 From Yorkshire to London ................................ ................................ 32 The Embassy in continental Europe, and beyond ................................ 33 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING ................................ ................... 37 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 3 PREFACE This paper summarises what we know of a remarkable event that occurred in 1872, when Titus Salt’s now universally-celebrated Saltaire 2 played host to a group of Japanese dignitaries. However, Saltaire’s ‘remarkable event’ was just one small episode in the extraordinary story of the Iwakura Embassy. Whilst I shall set out the details of the Embassy’s visit to Bradford and Saltaire, it is essential that readers understand what the Embassy was and the context of its many visits, in order to appreciate the high significance of the Embassy, for Japan and for the world. The original account of the Iwakura Embassy’s global odyssey was compiled by Kume Kunitake (pictured), secretary to the Embassy’s leader and chronicler of its travels. In 1878, it was published in Japanese in five volumes under the title Tokumei Zenken Taishi Bei-O Kairan Jikki 「特命全権大使米欧回覧実記」. In this paper, Kume’s account is often mentioned or quoted and this invariably refers to text from the full English translation, also in five volumes. A full translation into English was published by The Japan Documents in 2002. It was edited by Graham Healey and Chushichi Tsuzuki and entitled The Iwakura Embassy 1871-73. A True Account of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary's Journey of Observation through the 3 United States of America and Europe . The translators were Andrew Cobbing, Martin Collcutt, Graham Healey, P F Kornicki, Eugene Soviak and Chushichi Tsuzuki. Japan Rising, Cambridge University Press 2009, is a one-volume abridgement of the English translation. It was prepared by Chushichi Tsuzuki with the assistance of R. Jules Young. It includes an introduction 4 by Ian Nish. 2 now universally-celebrated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 3 I believe this to be a faithful translation of the original title. 4 I acknowledge a heavy reliance on Nish’s introduction in drafting The Embassy’s historical backstory. I have not made multiple individual references to that work. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 4 What was the Iwakura Embassy? ‘Iwakura Embassy’ (or ‘Iwakura Mission’) refers both to a group of leading Japanese statesmen and their support staff, and also to their round-the- world diplomatic voyage that lasted for more than 20 months, from 23 December 1871 to 13 September 1873. The aims of the Embassy were threefold: • to gain recognition for the new Japanese imperial dynasty under the Emperor Meiji • to begin preliminary renegotiation of unequal treaties with the dominant world powers and • to make a comprehensive study of modern industrial, political, military and educational systems and structures in the United States and Europe. ‘Iwakura’ refers to Iwakura Tomomi, the Embassy’s leader. He was 5 Japan’s Foreign Minister . He was also Minister of the Right: in effect, the 6 Deputy Prime Minister . For the purposes of the Embassy’s journey, he was ‘Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Europe and the United States’. 5 When the Embassy set out, Taneomi Soejima was made Japan’s Foreign Minister. Thanks to Tomoe Murai for this information, and for that in the next footnote. 6 At this point in history, the most senior ministerial post was the Daijō-daijin (Grand Minister) and his deputies were the Minister of the Left (Sadaijin) and Minister of the Right (Udaijin). The Sadaijin was the more senior of the two, but the post was vacant. As a result, Iwakura was second in command of Japan’s government. His importance and qualities are made plain in the following, from https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e- culture/sannomaru/zuroku-79.html : The young Emperor still in his teens, was to face many difficult situations, supported by [Grand Minister] Sanjo Sanetomi… and Iwakura Tomomi… [Iwakura] was from a family not so highly ranked [as the Grand Minister], but he stood out with his brilliance and became a close advisor of [the Emperor]. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 5 The Embassy’s historical backstory 7 The Embassy’s backstory is one of national revolution. Until 1867-1868 - and for 700 years!- Japan was governed by the shōgun 8 based at Edo, later called Tokyo. The shōgun was the representative of a warrior family which kept Japan under strict control. Not the same family: there were three distinct periods in which different families held sway. At the time of the revolution, the Tokugawa family was at the helm – as it had been since 1603. The shōgun was the lord at the apex of a feudal system (the han system) of roughly 280 hereditary land holdings (domains or fiefdoms) throughout 9 Japan . Power was split between the shōgunate in Edo and the feudal lords. The lords had a degree of local sovereignty in exchange for loyalty to the shōgun who was responsible for foreign relations, national security, coinage, weights, and measures, and transportation. The extent of Japan’s revolutionary change can be gauged from the fact that the han system was abolished. Roughly 280 fiefdoms were turned into 72 prefectures, each under the control of a nationally-appointed governor, not a local lord. The dramatic incident which precipitated upheaval in the years building to revolution was the visit, on 8 July 1853, of the US East India Squadron. The expedition was commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry, under orders from President Millard Fillmore. The USA’s primary goal was to force an end to Japan's 220-year-old policy of isolation and to open Japanese ports to American trade - through the use of gunboat diplomacy if necessary. Perry's 'Black Ships' sailed into a small port at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. The vessels were symbols of the technological progress being made in other nations. It scared the Japanese. The shōgun accepted a US presidential letter brought by Perry. 7 Note that the Japanese do not use the term ‘revolution’ for this change – but looked at from a European standpoint, the scale of the changes were certainly ‘revolutionary’. 8 Shōgun (= Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians) was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Though nominally appointed by the Emperor, shōgun s were the de facto rulers of the country. Shōgun ate = government of the shōgun . 9 Han = fiefdom or domain. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 6 By this bold step, the USA broke the seclusion which had marked Japan for over two hundred years. Equally dramatically, the event lit the fuse for 10 huge national, social and constitutional change in the country. Perry returned on 13 February 1854 with eight vessels and 1600 men. By the time of Perry's return, the Tokugawa shōgunate had decided to accept 11 virtually all the demands in Fillmore's letter. 12 10 Pulitzer prize-winning US historian John Dower has described the two Perry missions as a moment when the world stood on the cusp of phenomenal change. Note ‘the world’. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Mission_of_Commodore_Perry_to_Japan_i n_1854_%28BM_2013%2C3002.1_105%29.jpg 11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Expedition 12 Perry’s fleet. A contemporary image. Wikipedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ca._1853_Kawaraban_- _Commodore_Perry%27s_Arrival_in_Edo_Bay.jpg 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 7 13 Perry called for a response to US President Fillmore's letter and presented a draft treaty. Though impressed by the opulence and resources of the Americans, the shōgunate was not inclined to talk, and procrastinated. As a result, it took until 31 March 1854 to conclude the US-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity (the Convention of Kanagawa). The main provisions were for two small ports to be opened, primarily for refuge, and for the opening of a US consulate in Japan. A further US-Japan treaty was concluded in 1858. It opened five more ports to international trade. Within six months of the earlier treaty, the fears of the Japanese about yet more foreign intrusions were confirmed. The British Far East Squadron visited Tokyo Bay. Pursuing Russian ships in East Asian waters as part of the Crimean War of 1854, they asked for access to Japanese ports for the repair of their vessels and the shōgunate opened the ports of Nagasaki and Hakodate. Within months, the Dutch, Russian and French governments sent their representatives to negotiate treaties. 13 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Commodore-Perry-Visit- Kanagawa-1854.jpg 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 8 But the shōgunate ’s compliance with the foreigners ran into domestic 14 opposition, especially from the emperor's court in Kyoto . Attacks took place on foreigners and their Japanese associates. The samurai of the Chōshū and Satsuma fiefdoms in Japan’s far southwest were heavily implicated in these attacks. In 1863, following the killing of a British merchant in Satsuma, the British government authorised the bombardment of Kagoshima, Satsuma’s capital. Later, in retaliation for attacks on American and French ships off Shimonoseki, Western powers took punitive action against this Chōshū port too. 14 Since the late C12th until this period, there were two ruling classes in Japan: the emperor who acted as ‘chief priest’ of Shinto, the official religion, and the shōgun , head of the army who also enjoyed civil, military, diplomatic and judicial authority. Although in theory the shōgun was the emperor's servant, the shōgun was the power behind the throne. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 9 15 The response of the clans was surprising: they changed their attitude. Sonnō jōi (尊王攘夷), ‘Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians’, was the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s. But with the increasing number of incursions by foreign ships, the 16 17 sakoku (‘closed country’) policy came increasingly into question. The ‘expel the barbarians’ portion of sonnō jōi, changed into a reaction against the Convention of Kanagawa which opened Japan to foreign trade. Signed under duress, it was vehemently opposed, not least in the Imperial court. The Tokugawa shōgunate was seen to be powerless against the foreigners, and this was taken as evidence that ‘revere the Emperor’ was not being observed. The conclusion? That the shōgunate must be replaced by a government loyal to the Emperor. This philosophy was thus adopted as the battle cry of the rebellious regions of Chōshū and Satsuma. And surprisingly, from being seclusionist and hostile to foreigners, they developed a desire to catch up with the West. They even started to send their ambitious young men overseas to learn foreign skills – and they sought help from Western experts. 15 I find confusing the use of the term ‘clans’ in the literature. There were “ancient clans” which appear to have faded into history by the C19th, a “royal clan”, and four “noble clans” (see https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_clans) – but in descriptions of the revolutionary period, ‘clan’ appears to be used to mean people from a particular fiefdom. 16 The key points of the 1635 edict included: • The Japanese were to be kept within Japan’s own boundaries. Anyone trying to leave the country, or who managed to leave and then returned, was to be executed. Europeans who entered Japan illegally would face the death penalty too. • Catholicism was strictly forbidden. Those found practising the Christian faith were subject to investigation. Prevention of missionary activity was also severely restricted. • Trade restrictions and strict limitations on goods were set to limit the ports open to trade, and the merchants who would be allowed to trade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku_Edict_of_1635 17 Japanese passports only became freely available in 1866 after the long-standing ban on leaving the country was removed. The Iwakura Mission in Britain, 1872 John Breen, Oliver Checkland, Andrew Cobbing and Akiko Ohta 1998 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 10 In 1865, the Satsuma fiefdom sent a mission to England, one of the aims of which was to request assistance from Platt Brothers of Oldham to instal a modern cotton textile factory. Thus, the first mechanized cotton spinning and weaving mill in Japan started operating in Kagoshima in 18 1867. 19 In his introduction to the story of the Iwakura Embassy in Japan Rising, Nish sees this as “an essential ambiguity about the Embassy itself”: On the one hand, the Japanese leaders of the time were fearful and suspicious over the imperialist ambitions of the West. On the other, they admired the West and wanted to learn from it. So their fundamental object was to study the West in order to resist the West. 18 As the visit to Bradford/Saltaire shows, the Embassy was deeply interested in mechanised textile production. A very interesting reference is https://galleryoldham.org.uk/oldhams-incredible-mark-on-japanese-industry/. See also Andrew Cobbing The Satsuma Students in Britain: Japan's Early Search for the essence of the West, and Serguey Braguinsky and David A. Hounshell Spinning Tales about Japanese Cotton Spinning: Saxonhouse (1974) Then and Now 19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platt_Brothers 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 11 This action by Satsuma clearly challenged sakoku and this confrontation was typical of Japan in the late 1860s. The shōgun was losing control but still in power: • in January 1868, the court proclaimed the restoration of imperial rule; • agreements between the shōgunate and the rebels were made and then collapsed; • the fiefdoms on the periphery of the country took up arms against the shōgun and civil war (the Boshin War) ensued; • it was November 1868 before the shōgun resigned, but his followers 20 resisted and were not defeated until late 1869. 21 The Tokugawa family handed power to a coalition of rebellious clans. Mutsuhito, the teenager occupying the national throne, was invited to become head of state. The court of the emperor had for centuries been in Kyoto. Mutsuhito moved his capital to Edo which was renamed Tokyo. He 22 was given the title of Meiji (‘enlightened rule’). 20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Meiji 21 Image from the civil war aka the Boshin War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ueno 22 For the non-Japanese observer, the use of Meiji is a little confusing. As well as being used as Mutsuhito’s imperial name, it refers to a period and to the emperor Mutsuhito’s ‘posthumous name’. ”On 23 October 1868 the era was changed from Keiō to Meiji, or "enlightened rule", which was later used for the Emperor's posthumous name”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Meiji 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 12 23 This tumultuous change of government, after centuries of tranquility, was (and is) described in Japan as the ‘Meiji Restoration'. It heralded a 24 transformation, from the old to the new Japan . But the impact of the Meiji Restoration would not be confined to the homeland. It was global: 25 today, Japan has the fourth largest economy in the world . On the domestic front, the new government made huge and fundamental social changes, abolishing the han system, ending feudalism and bringing 26 an end to the role of the samurai . It centralized national administration. Feudal lords, court nobles and government officials were pledged to support the Charter Oath which set out the programme of modernization. The Restoration government felt confident that its new progressive measures to abolish feudalism would be welcomed in Western countries. As early as February 1868, the head of Japan’s Board of Foreign Affairs 23 The palanquin and procession of Emperor Meiji, from Kyoto to Edo/Tokyo. https://www.lesleydowner.com/jsnw-online-talk-on-17th-september/ 24 The New York Times summarized this transformation at the emperor's funeral in 1912: "the contrast between that which preceded the funeral car and that which followed it was striking indeed. Before it went old Japan; after it came new Japan". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Meiji 25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Japan. The extent and speed of Japan’s modernisation during this period is well described at http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_meiji.htm 26 Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early- modern Japan from the late 12th century. They were the well-paid retainers of the great feudal landholders. They had high prestige and special privileges. Many of the Iwakura Embassy had been samurai. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 13 called together the diplomatic corps at the port of Kobe and informed them of the restoration of rule by the emperor. Foreign governments duly recognized the new administration. The new government thought that the treaties of earlier years were humiliating and 'unequal'. It blamed the Tokugawa rulers for their weakness in agreeing to them and emphasized its desire to renegotiate them. The idea had been maturing that an exploratory embassy from the new government to its treaty partners was necessary. On 29 August 1871, Iwakura Tomomi - an aristocrat and former court official who had come to accept the need to open Japan to trade - was appointed Foreign Minister. He announced that he would head a special mission to observe Western countries at first hand and exchange views on treaty revision. The Embassy set off on 23 December 1871, carrying letters from the Emperor to heads of state. Iwakura was clearly charged with the task of discussing the treaties, but the authority he had was somewhat ambiguous. This led to complications, especially in the United States. 27 27 The ship in the background is the SS America which carried the Embassy to the USA. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 14 The members of the Embassy The members of the Iwakura Embassy were young. Apart from Iwakura, their average age was 32 – but the revolution had given them government experience. Although Kume’s report refers to these members as ‘we' and tends to omit mention of individuals by name, they were significant statesmen and strong-minded individualists. They were not always in agreement over policy, and they squabbled. Ambassador Extraordinary Iwakura was supported by Vice-Ambassadors: • Kido Takayoshi and Ōkubo Toshimichi represented the Restoration government. They were the most prominent politicians from Chōshū and Satsuma respectively; • Itō Hirobumi of Chōshū was from the Ministry of Public Works. The most Westernised of his senior colleagues, Itō had already spent 28 time as a student in London , and six months in Washington in 1870 as a finance official. As a result, he was able to speak passable English and was the deputy ambassador often called upon to deliver formal addresses at receptions; and • Yamaguchi Masuka aka Yamaguchi Naoyoshi of the Hizen clan was assistant vice minister of foreign affairs. Itō Hirobumi’s participation in the Embassy indicates its heft and the longevity of its impact on Japan. As a 29 young man, he was the samurai we see here , but by the early days of the Meiji era, he was leading the writing of a constitution for the newly-formed Empire of Japan. He has been described as “the most powerful figure in the Meiji government”. Little wonder: he was Japan’s first Prime Minister and went 30 on to become Prime Minister, a further three times! In addition to these leaders, there were staff charged with writing specialist reports, and junior officials and students who ran errands. The retinue of councillors and officials from various ministries totalled forty- 31 eight in all . In total, 108 people left Japan's shores – but it would be inaccurate to say that the Embassy consisted of that number. For 28 See the UCL references listed in SOURCES AND FURTHER READING below. 29 In the 1860s, when in his early 20s? 30 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%C5%8D_Hirobumi 31 This figure is somewhat flexible! 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 15 example, 6 year old Tsuda Ume (later, Tsuda Umeko) was on board, 32 destined to be schooled in the USA. 33 It was remarkable that, in a country like Japan which had recently come through civil war and revolution, so many important leaders could be spared for such a lengthy journey. At the point of departure, of course, it could not be foreseen that the Embassy would encounter the very lengthy delays that occurred in both the United States and Britain. But the sheer size of the group was amazing, and created many administrative problems. It goes without saying that there were acute jealousies between those who were able to join the deputation and those who were left behind in Tokyo. 32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuda_Umeko 33 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuda_Umeko 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 16 34 The Embassy in the USA On the morning of 15 January 1872, the SS America, a US-owned mail steamer, arrived at San Francisco with its 108 Japanese passengers. That the Embassy could start in the USA was facilitated by the fact that its advancing frontier had by this time reached California, a neighbour of Japan on the coastline of the Pacific Ocean and one that was, from 1869, linked by a trans-continental railroad to the States’ eastern seaboard. This spectacular railroad gave the ambassadors their first major experience of the advanced technology of the outside world. Unfortunately, the Union Pacific railroad on which they embarked in February could not cope with the heavy snowfalls in the Rocky Mountains and beyond. The ambassadors were snowed up in Salt Lake City for eighteen days, visiting the famous Mormon Tabernacle and meeting Brigham Young. Despite the snow and the floods that followed, Kume reported enthusiastically that Thanks to the admirable engineering achievement of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, we were able to cross much of this vast territory in a train, comfortably relaxing or sleeping. Japan was not industrialised and had only small-scale agriculture. The delegates were astonished at the agricultural states they passed through. But they were equally amazed at the smoke rising from chimneys of factories in the urban centres. They unquestionably suffered culture shock. The delegation arrived in Washington DC at the end of February. On 4 March, ten of its principal members met US President Ulysses S. Grant. When they had arrived in San Francisco, the Embassy had received a warm and generous welcome: Kume wrote that The citizens of San Francisco had learnt of the Embassy’s visit from newspaper reports, and the news of our actual arrival was telegraphed from the Golden Gate to City Hall and to our consul. As a result, when we passed Alcatraz Island we were greeted with a fifteen-gun salute from the battery on its cliffs. 34 The main focuses of this paper are on the Embassy, its historical context, and the visits to Bradford and Saltaire, so the Embassy’s journey through the USA is not described in detail. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 17 Now, they were in the US capital and the doors of the White House were open to them. Their status and importance had been recognised from the start – and was now confirmed, at the pinnacle of US power. But there was a problem. Whilst there appeared to be a distinct possibility that the State Department might be responsive to the idea of revising the 1858 treaty, the Embassy had not been given a specific mandate to negotiate and had not brought adequate powers of accreditation. The crucial decision was made that two senior members, Okubo and Itō, should return to Japan in order to procure the necessary documents. They left Washington on 20 March for their daunting journey of 8,000 miles by land and sea. This meant a significant hiatus which Mission members filled by taking what Kume entitled 'The Journey Through the Northern States'. On their return to Washington on 22 June, they found that diplomatic business was almost at a standstill. Such a lengthy stay for such an enormous retinue was a burden for the Americans. However, Congress had made an appropriation of $50,000 for the purpose and so part of the Embassy's expenses was paid by American leaders who clearly saw great potential in looking after a delegation which was likely to include the next generation of Japanese leaders. Okubo and Itō did not return until 20 July. They brought better credentials but were given instructions not to conclude a new treaty solely with the United States, and to propose convening an international conference on the subject. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish would not agree to negotiations alongside other powers, especially if they were to be held in Europe. The result was that the Embassy did not pursue re-negotiation during the rest of its world tour: its members ventilated the issue but merely explored the views of the countries they were visiting. Two days later Iwakura went to the White House and announced that his party would soon be leaving the country. On 6 August, after short visits to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, the ambassadors left from Boston for Liverpool. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 18 35 Four months in Britain The Mission landed in Liverpool on 17 August 1872. It had travelled from a pioneering society moving rapidly towards industrialisation to a country which had already experienced an industrial revolution - and its dire consequences. No sooner had Kume reached the south bank of the Mersey than he records: [T]he smoke of coal fires billowed up in dense clouds [over Liverpool] to a height of two or three hundred feet, permanently darkening the blue sky. Our escorts pointed to this and said, 'The people of the city have to breathe in the midst of that black haze.' Between September and early November the delegates travelled over 2,000 miles and visited twenty British cities - either individually or in groups. It is important to note this last point, because whilst Kume might record that ‘we’ visited a particular place, it might have indicated that only a handful of ambassadors and/or junior staff did so. Young-Suk Lee of South Korea’s Guangju University has written an overview of the Embassy’s itinerary in Britain – and perhaps most importantly, has set out solid information on how this itinerary was 36 devised . Lee tells us that it was immediately after their arrival in Liverpool that the Iwakura Embassy left for London by special train. On August 20, Iwakura visited Lord Granville, the British Foreign Minister, and requested a formal audience with Queen Victoria. At the time, the Queen was at Balmoral Castle, her Summer residence. The mission decided to stay in Britain until the Queen’s return… and, with a different timetable in mind, began to amend the existing itinerary. The new itinerary would reflect the Embassy’s latest priorities. As a result of their frustrating experience of treaty revision in the USA, many had almost given up on revision of the UK-Japan trade treaty. Their interests were pivoting towards the collection of information on industry, technology, or commerce in the major industrial cities of Britain. 35 Much of this section of the paper relies on Kume’s account. This is supplemented by local newspaper reports when we get to Bradford and Saltaire. 36 Young-Suk Lee The Iwakura Embassy and British Industrial Cities…Gwangju University, South Korea …Downloaded from Brill.com 12/07/2022 09:49:41PM via free access. I have drawn extensively from the work, and what follows in this section, in italics, is an edited version. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 19 The re-planning of their itinerary was largely the work of Sir Harry Parkes, the British envoy to Japan, and William Aston, a diplomat who had been 37 translator to the British legation in Japan since 1865… On June 3, before the Mission arrived in Britain, there had been an exchange in the House of Commons. Arthur Kinnaird MP asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, George Byng, “whether the Government are preparing to take steps to receive the eminent Japanese statesman Iwakura and the other distinguished persons composing the Japanese Embassy”. Byng’s reply was that “Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Aston, interpreter to the Legation in Japan, have been appointed to attend to the Japanese Embassy on their arrival and during their stay in 38 this country”... Meanwhile, Parkes was selecting the cities and factories that the Mission could visit, and organising a schedule of all the events that they would attend. This cannot have been easy for him because his personal life was demanding. His health was very poor and his wife was pregnant. His elder son hung between life and death, suffering from a fever during his return home, and his elder daughter died of diphtheria immediately after her mother’s delivery. In spite of this misery, he continued the planning and then accompanied the Mission throughout their round-Britain journey. After they had stayed in London from August 17 to September 28, the Mission started out. Between September 29 and November 9 they visited 39 Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Highlands , Newcastle, Bradford, Sheffield, Staffordshire, Coventry, Birmingham, and Cheshire, 40 and returned to London. 37 On May 22, 1871, writes Lee, Parkes left Japan by steamship for America and he only reached Britain on 8 August. He emphasized to the Foreign Office that, in Japan, Britain’s trade rival would not be European countries but the United States. The National Archives (Kew), Foreign Office 391/15, Hammond Papers, June 15, 1871. ‘Parkes to Hammond’. William George Aston (9 April 1841 – 22 November 1911) was a British diplomat, author and scholar-expert in the language and history of Japan and Korea. He wrote Shinto (“the way of the gods”). Shinto is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people and as old as Japan itself. It remains Japan’s major religion alongside Buddhism. 38 In addition to Parkes and Aston, the Foreign Office asked G G Alexander, Major- General of the Royal Marines, to act as escort to the Mission. However, he does not appear to be travelling with them when the Mission arrived in Bradford. 39 When they reached Edinburgh, they were so exhausted by the daily round of receptions, factories and offices that their escort urged them to visit the Scottish Highlands and relax says Lee op cit 40 Kume reported that The view of the flat English landscape and of the Scottish lowlands was one of unrelieved monotony. The hills of Edinburgh were pretty enough, but there was more than this to the beauties of the Scottish landscape. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 20 The visit to Bradford and Saltaire 41 DAY 1: Thursday 24 October 1872 Kume tells us that, at 10 in the morning, the Embassy left Newcastle and travelled ninety miles south through County Durham to West Yorkshire, arriving in Bradford at 2.30 in the afternoon. 42 In the C19th, Bradford became ‘Worstedopolis’ , the worsted capital of the world. Its global pre-eminence in woollen textiles made it a required place for an Embassy visit. Kume described Bradford thus: The city of Bradford… lies in Yorkshire… [and] is rich in coal and iron… manufacturing is carried on there on a very large scale… In prosperity it rivals Lancashire, which lies on the other side of the mountain range… [It is] possible to transport goods by water all the way to the sea… Bradford is noted in Britain for the spinning and weaving of wool and the production of sheepskins… We saw that all round the city, on the hills and in the valleys, were great heaps of spoil from the mines, staining all the earth black, and that a forest of factory chimneys darkened the sky with black smoke. Bradford’s much smaller but very close neighbour, Saltaire, is today a World Heritage Site, but in 1872 it was not even complete! However, it was gaining a reputation for the innovative approach of its capitalist founder, the recently-ennobled Sir Titus Salt. Alongside a colossal factory, he was only 4 years away from completing the construction of an entire village, primarily for his workers. Saltaire had good quality services and a remarkable range of splendid public facilities. That Parkes chose to include Saltaire in the itinerary surely indicates he regarded it as amongst the best of Britain. The Embassy was welcomed at Bradford’s station by the town’s leading citizen, the Mayor, Matthew William Thompson - indicating the importance Bradford accorded this encounter. 41 The Bradford Daily Telegraph 25 October 1872 is a significant source of the text that follows. 42 A word coined by Bradford historian William Cudworth in 1888 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 21 43 The visitors then went by carriage to the Victoria Hotel . Bills had been posted in the streets announcing Japanese Ambassadors Will Arrive On Thursday, Escorted By The Mayor and, both inside the station itself and lining the street leading to the hotel, was what Kume describes as an uninterrupted throng of onlookers. Crowds turned out to see us in every other city we visited, both before and after, but this was the largest such reception we received. When they arrived at the hotel, the ambassadors found lunch had been prepared for them at the Mayor's behest and, after the meal, he came in person to present an address of welcome. “His hospitality knew no bounds”, Kume reports. In the evening, the Mayor hosted a formal dinner at the hotel and there were speeches. In reply to addresses by Bradford Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce, the “Chief Ambassador” responded in Japanese. He expressed gratitude for the cordial welcome the Embassy had received and said he realised that one nation cannot maintain the highest prosperity without the co-operation and sympathy of others. He said that the Embassy was charged with searching out the sources of the wealth and prosperity now enjoyed to so great a degree by “our brethren of a Western Civilisation”. The Japanese had made their journey in order to select, from amongst the various institutions in “enlightened nations”, which of them are best suited to Japan’s present condition. They planned to adopt them through gradual reforms and improvement. But they were not there just to examine factories, mines and shipbuilding. 43 Almost certainly the present Great Victoria Hotel in Bridge Street (pictured). According to the hotel’s current administration, the building dates from 1867 and is the oldest in Bradford. Its first name was The Great Northern Victoria Hotel. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 22 They wanted to make personal contact with the people in order to establish relations of peace and friendship and a feeling of lasting brotherhood between the two countries. DAY 2: Friday 25 October 1872 Kume records that At ten o'clock in the morning we travelled about [three] miles by train to the village of Saltaire, and his co-traveller Kido Takayoshi tells us in his diary that The scenery is superb [and the] most 44 famous woollens [sic] factory in England is here. Introducing Saltaire, Kume noted that Until twenty years ago this had been open moor-land, used only for the pasturing of sheep and cattle. But since Sir Titus Salt had built a mill for weaving the wool of the animal called the 'alpaca', industrial and commercial enterprises had flocked there from all quarters, eventually creating a village. It was now a considerable town with a population of 5,000. Kume explains what an alpaca is before recounting the story, popularised 45 by Dickens , of how Titus came across “useless” alpaca wool in a warehouse in Liverpool and went on to work out how it could be used to make cloth. This innovation was to make him immensely rich. Kume explains the building of Salt’s Mill and the village, and Salt’s elevation to the baronetcy. 46 The Bradford Daily Telegraph reported that The members of the Embassy left the Midland Station at twenty minutes to ten and travelled by special train to Saltaire. Considerable preparations had been made for their reception but the number of people who assembled was not large. The station platforms were kept clear, and the crowd was therefore confined to the lodge and Albert Terrace. Comparatively few men were present, they being mostly 44 Kido Takayoshi The Diary of Kido Takayoshi. For more on ambassador Kido, see https://alchetron.com/Kido-Takayoshi#Early-life 45 A footnote in the translation of Kume’s A True Account… says this: “The story of how Salt, having examined a handful or two of alpaca from bales which he had found abandoned and rotting on the Liverpool docks, bought up the whole consignment - to the gratified astonishment of the owner - for eightpence a pound, first gained wide currency in a version by Charles Dickens, embellished with characteristic comic effects, published in Household Words”. 46 Bradford Daily Telegraph 25 October 1872. The report has been lightly edited. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 23 at work in the mill, which was kept running all day. Titus Salt’s son Edward, and Charles Stead, partner and senior director of Sir Titus Salt and Co, received the Embassy on the platform. Their Excellencies were accompanied by Matthew Thompson, the Mayor of Bradford, and Alderman Law, president of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce. After the formal introductions, the Mayor and his Excellency the Chief of the Embassy, took the lead and proceeded to view the village and then repaired to the schools. They first visited the boys’ school, where they found all the scholars at work - some ciphering, some reading, some writing, but all clean and orderly. Mayor Thompson, who was with Iwakura, drew His Excellency’s attention to a map of Asia that hung on the wall, and pointed out Japan with his umbrella. His Excellency was evidently pleased with the compliment the Mayor had paid him. The Ambassadors were delighted with the orderly and intelligent appearance of the children, and asked several questions of Messrs. Edward and George Salt, who accompanied the party, answers to which were given by the interpreter. Before leaving the room, the lads gave three hearty cheers. The party then went to the infant school in which they seemed particularly interested. Some of the children are fine looking. When a question had been asked by the Ambassador and answered by the schoolmistress, one little girl was called out, and the whole of the children lifted their hands as she did, clapped, cheered, and were silent at her command. The girls' school was then visited, and here as in the other departments considerable interest was taken by the Ambassadors in the occupations of the children. After leaving the school the party repaired to the almshouses, and visited the domicile of Elizabeth Gill, No. 26. Her sitting room, bedroom, &c., were each viewed, and some surprise was felt when it was explained to the Ambassador and his associates that these buildings were endowed for ever by the munificence of Sir Titus Salt, and that the only thing required to fit for entrance [sic] was good 47 moral character. 47 Colin Coates informs me that number 26 Almshouses in 1872 is 30 Victoria Road today. In this photo, it is through the left arch of the facing pair of cottages in the very middle of the photo. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 24 48 The Infirmary was the next place of interest that was visited. There are only two patients present, and both of these were seen. The party afterwards went through the Saltaire Institute [now Victoria Hall], beginning with the reading room. They appeared to take great interest in the Gymnasium, and a remark from Sir Harry Parkes to one of the members of the Embassy, that if he had been brought up to exercise his muscles he would have been twice as big, seemed to be relished extremely. The gentleman addressed was the most diminutive of the 49 party. The visitors afterwards went to the Dining Hall adjoining the station, over the entrance of which the Japanese flag was hoisted, and then the whole party went to the works where they were shown the whole process, from carding up to 50 finishing. 48 Some of the almshouses at Saltaire today. Author’s photograph. 49 !!! 50 Not an image from 1872 of course, but a playful view of what the Dining Hall might have looked like. Author’s photograph, photoshopped by Judy Robinson. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 25 Note that Sir Harry Parkes was with the Embassy on this visit, and actively participating. Earlier, this paper mentioned him as a key player in developing the British itinerary which the Embassy adopted, and it will be remembered that Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Aston, interpreter to the Legation in Japan, have been appointed [by the British government] to attend to the Japanese Embassy on their arrival and during their stay in this country. We now have evidence that he was doing just that in late October 1872 in West Yorkshire. The party then lunched with Sir Titus Salt, reports the Bradford Daily Telegraph. But maybe it didn’t!? Kume tells us that on the day of our visit he was away from Bradford and we were not able to meet him. [However] we were conducted round [the mill] by Sir Titus's sons. And Kume’s record is supported by fellow ambassador Kido: Salt was 51 absent today. Kume adds details the Bradford Daily Telegraph omits. Lunch was in the boardroom52, and afterwards they walked to a park on the edge of the village [Saltaire Park, now Roberts Park]. This, too, had been provided by Sir Titus as a gift to the workers. It occupied a sloping site on the banks of the river Aire, backed by rolling hills, and presented a very fine prospect. Kume is full of admiration for what Salt has done: “At none of the factories we saw before or after [my emphasis] were there such provisions as these” he writes, in a lengthy eulogy: Sir Titus had built a primary school in the village and arranged that the villagers' children, both boys and girls, went to the factory to work at their trades for half of each day and for the rest of the day attended school to receive an education. By this excellent method, practical skills and theoretical understanding progressed side by 51 Kido Takayoshi op cit 52 Like so many of the Saltaire locations visited by the Embassy, the Mill’s boardroom still exists. The fact that the C19th village is largely intact was one of the reasons it was awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 26 side. Moreover, not only did the children benefit by receiving a wage from the mill, but their work there was, in return, of benefit to the enterprise. The British regard it as a point of honour to look after their employees and to do their utmost to succour the poor [sic]. The provisions made by this factory-owner are to be admired… In front of the school were the almshouses. Those among the workers who were no longer able to work because of old age were placed there to be cared for. There were [sic] also a hospital, which treated those in the village who were ill, and a church, which the residents of the village attended in order to hear sermons and thus 53 rectify their moral natures . At none of the factories we saw before or after were there such provisions as these. Every one of the five thousand inhabitants of the village looked up to the Salt family. This way of organising the town in which the mill-hands were housed was of great significance as a way of encouraging work. At the end of their visit to Saltaire, the ambassadors boarded a train which took them to Manningham station in north Bradford, and then a carriage to Manningham Mills (better known today as Lister, or Lister’s, 54 Mill) . Kume notes that the mill, which had stood on this site for 27 years, had been destroyed by fire in the previous year and there were 55 plans to re-build it on a larger scale. Indeed, whilst the Embassy was visiting, building work must have been continuing and well advanced. The fire took place in February 1871 and 56 building was completed two and a half years later . The new mill was opened, complete with a magnificent coat of arms and the completion year. 53 The positioning of this reference to a church suggests Kume is referring to the small chapel that was in one of the almshouses. Indeed, it was next door to Elizabeth Gill at No. 26 and was for almshouse residents’ use. 54 This, and most of what follows, is from an article headlined The Ambassadors at Manningham Mills in the Bradford Daily Telegraph, 26 October 1872 55 The resulting factory was colossal, and along with its huge chimney, dominated and still dominates the skyline in the north of Bradford. 56 The original was called Lilycroft Mill. A very good newspaper article tells the story of the 1871 fire and the re-build: https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/19891658.look-back-lilycroft-mill-fire/ 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 27 Notwithstanding the building work, it is clear from Kume’s account that the Mission was able to see a factory which was in production. Moreover, this visit must have been particularly interesting because Lister’s was a silk mill. Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853 played a key role in taking Japan’s silk market on to the international stage. At the same moment that Japan was opening its ports, the demand for its raw silk greatly increased. In 1855, French silkworm nurseries became infested with disease which eventually spread across Europe. In addition, China was experiencing the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) in which the sericulture regions were greatly damaged. Thus, at this time, Japan had hardly any competition in the silk 57 markets and profited tremendously. The Bradford Daily Telegraph 58 tells us that The Embassy was welcomed by several partners of the firm - but not by [the firm’s founder and owner] Mr Lister who was confined to his office with a sprained ankle. The party went to his office to meet him. 57 https://samurairevolution.omeka.net/exhibits/show/vtj/section2/cmo 58 Bradford Daily Telegraph 26 October 1872 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 28 They then visited the store-house where the raw materials were kept, as they are received from the East Indies, China and Japan. The Ambassadors had in this department the pleasure of seeing several bagfulls [sic] of cocoons, which had been exported from their own country. This must have been of special interest to the visitors! The tour lasted 2.5 hours and encompassed every stage of silk/velvet production – and 59 included inspection and explanation of the very latest machinery. Kume’s description of the use of silk to make textiles is typically technical and detailed. Little wonder that, as the Bradford Daily Telegraph reports, One of the [Japanese] party took voluminous notes during the walk through the works, and he seemed to write with considerable rapidity. This description starts with a link to a Salt innovation: This mill wove velvet in particularly large quantities. The ingenuity of the process exceeded even that of the process used to weave 60 alpaca… and continues with an epic, 1,000 word description of spinning waste cocoons and waste silk yarn… 59 I have deliberately included some long passages, in part to indicate what accurate observers and note-takers Kume and his team were, but also to demonstrate just how much detail was reported. Goodness knows how much was actually recorded! For example, There were several kinds [of raw wool]…First, the hair of the 'angora' goat, which is also called ‘mohair’. This is produced in 'Asia Minor' (a region which belongs to Turkey…). Its price was from three to four shillings a pound. It has a long staple and a high gloss. Second, 'alpaca' wool, which comes from South America. Its value was three shillings and sixpence a pound. It resembles mohair, but its lustre is somewhat inferior…… and so on, and so on… 60 Titus Salt solved the problem of how to use alpaca wool in the production of textiles. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 29 … concluding with the revelation that, currently, Lister’s eldest son had gone to Yokohama in Japan to acquire silk raw material! 61 The party returned to central Bradford and in the evening, Alderman Law, President of the Chamber of Commerce and the members of the Council entertained their Excellencies the Japanese Ambassadors. the Mayor and Corporation of Bradford and a select 62 party of gentlemen, to dinner in the Victoria Hotel. The President of the Chamber of Commerce occupied the chair, supported on the right by his Excellency the Chief Ambassador, and on the left by his Worship the Mayor of Bradford, Matthew William Thompson, Esq. Among the guests at the dinner table were Sir 63 Harry Parkes KCB, Gen Henderson, Major Aston… Amongst the “select party of gentlemen” was one of Bradford’s most 64 famous, Jacob Behrens , plus the German Consul, the President of the Halifax Chamber – and Titus Salt… but not ‘Sir Titus’ so I assume it was Titus Jr. It appears that the meal itself was very special: “The dinner was of the most recherché description” according to the local news report. 61 What follows (in italics) is a lightly-edited version of the report headed The Banquet at the Victoria Hotel in the Bradford Daily Telegraph of the 26 October 1872. 62 James Law was the President of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce according to ambassador Kido Takayoshi in his diary, referenced above. I assume that ‘Alderman Law’ indicates that he was also a Bradford Council alderman, but the ‘Council’ referred to here was the Council of the Chamber. 63 I cannot identify Gen[eral] Henderson but he could be a soldier assigned by the British Government to support/protect the Embassy. Major Aston must be William Aston mentioned earlier. 64 https://behrens.co.uk/our-story/biography-of-sir-jacob-behrens/ 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 30 DAY 3: Saturday 26 October 1872 At five to ten in the morning we boarded a train near our hotel to travel 8 miles to Halifax… Law [James Law?] took us to Halifax at 9.30… [We] returned to the 65 [Bradford] hotel at 3… The Embassy’s target was Dean Clough, the famous and huge carpet factory of John Crossley and Sons. It sits in the very centre of Halifax. 66 They returned to Bradford in the afternoon and then three of the ambassadors - Yamaguchi Masuka aka Yamaguchi Naoyoshi and Hayashi Tadasu aka Hayashi Touzaburō, together with scribe Kume Kunitake – took themselves off to Bolton Abbey, a local beauty spot. Kume says that it was Parkes who “invited us to have a short excursion” and they left at 67 4pm by train, and stayed in the Bolton Bridge Hotel , now the Devonshire Arms. That Parkes recommended Bolton Abbey is unsurprising: it is a beautiful and very interesting spot. But it is also the property of the Duke of Devonshire. Only a few days later, the Embassy would visit Chatsworth in Derbyshire, one of Britain’s most famous ‘stately homes’ - and the home of the Duke of Devonshire! A coincidence perhaps, but it is not improbable that, when Parkes was in London and planning the Embassy’s itinerary, the Duke (or one of his household) had shown an interest in the Iwakura Embassy and had offered hospitality at two of his properties. 65 The first quotation is from Kume. The second, from Kido Takayoshi op cit 66 https://www.visitcalderdale.com/attachment/david-glover-crossley-sons-1200x800/ 67 This excursion is confirmed by The Times, October 28, 1872, quoted by Lee op cit 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 31 DAY 4: Sunday 27 October 1872 From 10 am, ‘Team Bolton’ visited the (then) 700 year old Bolton Abbey 68 (where they attended a service), then walked upstream along the River Wharfe and its “fall” (probably the Strid 69). 70 Further upstream, we rounded a bend in the river where the banks rose to a considerable height above the stream, and here we came upon an old ivy-clad bridge across the river. Before us was revealed a high hill. Midway up it stood an old castle, a thread of smoke rising from it. This was also an entrancing view… [The Duke of Devonshire] had planted trees and laid out paths so that they were in harmony with nature, and had thus created by human artifice a landscape of great natural beauty. 68 Bolton Abbey takes its name from the ruins of the 12th-century Augustinian monastery now known as Bolton Priory. The monastery was founded close by at Embsay in 1120. Led by a prior, Bolton Abbey was technically a priory. It was founded in 1154 by the Augustinian order. The priory was closed during the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasteries. 69 Where the River Wharfe is dramatically, and very dangerously, funnelled into a very narrow, 2m wide, set of rocks, pictured on the screenshot. 70 This screenshot is from the Iwakura Mission Society’s online exhibition celebrating the th Embassy’s 150 anniversary. https://youtu.be/sAzaqEzo7Rs?t=4373 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 32 Kume’s description is suitably lyrical for such a lovely corner of the Yorkshire Dales. Sadly, the three visitors were not told that the “old castle” was actually the (remarkably large and ancient) hunting lodge called Barden Tower. DAY 5: Monday 28 October 1872 Kume reports that th The next morning [ie on Monday the 28 ] at half past ten we left the village of Bolton Abbey by the eleven o'clock train, arriving back in Bradford at one o'clock in the afternoon. Just in time! At 1:30pm, the Embassy left Bradford, arriving in Sheffield at 4pm. From Yorkshire to London The Embassy proceeded onwards to London, but by a very lengthy and roundabout route. They took in Chatsworth in rural Derbyshire and major industrial locations in Cheshire and the English West Midlands. In London, Iwakura met Foreign Secretary Lord Granville on 22 November and again five days later, making it clear that Japan's ultimate objective was to negotiate certain modifications to the existing treaties in order to bring them into line with the political transformations that had taken place in Japan since 1868. He also asked for the British troops stationed in Yokohama to be withdrawn. For his part, Granville complained about the lack of religious toleration in Japan and the inability of foreigners to go upcountry... The delegation, which had waited long for Queen Victoria's return from Balmoral, eventually had an audience with her at Windsor 71 72 Castle on 5 December and presented a letter from the Emperor Meiji. The Embassy also met the Prince of Wales at Sandringham on 9 73 December. A week later, on 16 December, they left for France. 71 Japan Rising op cit 72 These Glanville/Iwakura meetings are also addressed in John Breen, Oliver Checkland, Andrew Cobbing and Akiko Ohta The Iwakura Mission in Britain, 1872 March 1998 http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/is/IS349.pdf 73 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwakura_Mission 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 33 The Embassy in continental Europe, and beyond Although the major purposes of this paper are to indicate the significance of the Iwakura Embassy and to document in detail its time in Bradford/Saltaire, it would be remiss not to complete the story of the Embassy’s circumnavigation of the globe. The introduction to Japan Rising offers a masterly summary of the post- Britain part of their journey. So good that I make no apology for copying 74 much of it below : The Embassy arrived in Calais from Dover on 16 December at the start of its tour of Europe. Rather than deal with its visit to continental Europe country by country, let us examine in particular the general map of their travels and try to analyse what aspects interested them. The timing of their arrival in France over the Christmas period was not ideal. The initial of their activities was on Paris; and the visitors took part in talks with officials on treaty revision and on religious freedom for Japanese Christians. This was followed by shorter visits to Belgium and Holland, which naturally had a special link with Japan because of the existence of a Dutch settlement at Deshima in Kyushu island over the previous centuries. The Embassy allocated three weeks for its initial stay in Germany but it in fact returned to tour the north and south of the country later in its schedule. The delegates' stay included influential interviews with Otto von Bismarck who gave them a memorable speech which was transcribed by one of the commissioners and reproduced in full in Kume's report… The impact of the German Chancellor certainly had a considerable effect on the thinking of politicians of the Meiji period on military, constitutional and other matters. By late spring the domestic situation in Japan was causing the government that remained there some alarm. It was sufficient for them to call for the return of the deputy leaders, first Okubo and then Kido. The latter, the intellectual of the Embassy, did not want to miss visiting Russia and delayed his departure accordingly. The main party continued its circuit to Russia, which was only allocated two weeks because it was not thought to have much relevance to the problems of the emergent Japan. After this Iwakura led his members to Sweden, while Kido's group travelled round Austria-Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and France at a leisurely pace before arriving at Marseilles to board the ship for home. Iwakura with Kume went to Italy and Austria-Hungary where they 74 Japan Rising op cit 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 34 paid several visits to the Vienna Universal Exposition. This was the first exhibition in which Japan had taken part, albeit in a modest way, and was to have a great influence on its attitudes towards exhibitions later in the century. Kume expresses pride in the Japanese artifacts on view. The full Mission received instructions to return to Japan on 9 June so it could not complete its coverage of Europe by visiting Spain and Portugal. After spending a few weeks in Switzerland and southern France, it joined its ship on 20 July at Marseilles. As representatives of a new nation born out of a civil war, the Japanese were anxious to visit countries with similar experiences. While in the United States they had seen changes brought about by the civil war of 1861-5, they were the witnesses of more dramatic changes in Europe. As Kume observed, they arrived in Paris in 'France's hour of deepest mis-fortune'…. It was its defeat by Prussia which brought about the fall of the empire of Napoleon Ill. When President Thiers received his guests, he was beset by the problem of pushing through a republican constitution which would address the concerns of the Paris Commune and the urgent issue of raising the indemnity payable to Germany in order to secure the evacuation of German troops from French soil. Meanwhile Prussia used her victory over France to declare the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. This German unification brought together the various divergent principalities which made up the German Confederation. But, if German unification had been the result of a short, sharp shock, that of Italy had been created slowly over the previous decade. It reached its culmination when the Papal territories, the last link in the chain, were brought within the fold of a new Italy and Rome became the new national capital. These radical changes were very relevant to Japan where the problems of creating a nation out of a congeries of clans and the centralization of government in a new national capital at Tokyo were very much in the minds of Iwakura's delegates. Although European countries approached these issues differently, the members of the Iwakura team took pains to study their common problems… On its return journey the party travelled through the Suez Canal. They paused at Aden and the port of Galle in Sri Lanka (then British Ceylon). After they were forced to pass by Singapore because of an outbreak of typhoid, they did manage to visit hotels in Saigon, Hong Kong and Shanghai. This afforded them the opportunity to see 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 35 colonialism and the spread of the great European empires at first hand. By 13 September 1873 when the main body reached Yokohama, most of the other delegates had already returned. They found Japan in a dangerous state and not very welcoming. They made it clear that they favoured the cause of reform but found that Japan had to establish peace and stability before they could deal with the implementation of the findings reached during their travels. Kido, the deputy leader of the group, prepared an important memorandum in October advocating constitutional government, perhaps the single most significant outcome of the Mission. But reforms took time, and the leaders were determined not to rush them. In any case, Kido, who returned home as a sick man, retired from politics in 1874 and died three years later. His colleague, Okubo, died at the hands of an assassin in 1878. Prince Iwakura, who survived an attempt on his life in 1874, died in 1883. It was, therefore, the youngest of the leaders, Itō Hirobumi, who became an imperial councillor and steered through the developments in Japanese politics and industrialization for the rest of the century. Itō had had a large hand in the preparation of the Mission and was able through his public-works connections to make significant appointments of foreign nationals to posts in Japan. After four decades of public service, his life eventually ended in assassination in 1909 by a Korean. Japan itself remained a dangerous place to be a politician… Kume's report had an impact on a Meiji Japan which was ambitious for change. The lessons he drew came not from any one country but from the cumulative impression of the countries which the Embassy had visited. These formed the database for the remarkable grassroots transformation that took place in Japan as the reign of the Emperor Meiji progressed. Apart from Kume's work, but associated with it, were the many specialized reports compiled by the junior officials who accompanied the Mission. It seems to have targeted certain countries on its itinerary as special areas for study, e.g. Britain for information on the industrial revolution, and Germany for military information. In the United States it would appear that the officials were particularly trying to understand its forms of government, local, state and national, and its educational methods. They painstakingly studied the basic laws of the American constitution with the help of Japanese scholars already at US universities and paid many visits to legislatures. These comparative studies, ranging over the northern hemisphere, were to lead in time 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 36 to far-reaching constitutional amendments and to the introduction of universal education which was vital to nation-building in Japan… Kume himself merits a final word. His report was an outstanding piece of work, containing shrewd analysis and compelling observations. This was recognized by the Japanese government; and he was appointed to various official posts connected with compiling Japan's national history. 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 37 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Kume Kunitake Tokumei Zenken Taishi Bei-O Kairan Jikki 「特命全権大使 米欧回覧実記 1878 Graham Healey and Chushichi Tsuzuki (eds) Translation by Andrew Cobbing, Martin Collcutt, Graham Healey, P. F. Kornicki, Eugene Soviak and Chushichi Tsuzuki The Iwakura Embassy 1871-73. A True Account of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary's Journey of Observation through the United States of America and Europe The Japan Documents 2002 Chushichi Tsuzuki with the assistance of R. Jules Young with an introduction by Ian Nish Japan Rising Cambridge University Press 2009 … W G Beasley Japan Encounters the Barbarian: Japanese Travellers in America and Europe New Haven: Yale University Press 1995 Serguey Braguinsky and David A. Hounshell Spinning Tales about Japanese Cotton Spinning: Saxonhouse (1974) Then and Now 1974 John Breen, Oliver Checkland, Andrew Cobbing and Akiko Ohta The Iwakura Mission in Britain, 1872 LSE STICERD Research Paper No. IS/1998/349 1998 Download free from http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/is/IS349.pdf Sidney Devere Brown and Akiko Hirota (translators) The Diary of Takayoshi Kido vol 2 1871-1874 Tokyo: Tokyo University Press 1985 Sydney Checkland The Elgins, 1766-1917 Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press 1988 Andrew Cobbing The Satsuma Students in Britain: Japan's Early Search for the essence of the West Routledge 2000 Martin Colcutt Education for a New Japan: Kume Kunitake's Observations on Education in 1872 America in Collcutt, Kato and Toby (eds) Japan and Its Worlds Tokyo: International House Press 2007 1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE 38 Asia for Educators, Columbia University The Meiji Restoration and Modernization http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_meiji.htm Gordon Daniels, Sir Harry Parkes, British Representative in Japan, 1865- 83 Folkestone: Japan Library 1996 Negley Harte, John North, and Georgina Brewis (eds) The World of UCL 2018 Takaaki Inuzuka (translated by Haruko Laurie) Alexander Williamson A Victorian chemist and the making of modern Japan 2021 Iwakura Mission Society Online exhibition celebrating the Embassy’s th 150 anniversary https://www.jacar.go.jp/english/iwakura_en/index.html Kido Takayoshi The Diary of Kido Takayoshi 1983 https://archive.org/details/diaryofkidotakay0000kido Shigekazu Kondo Kume Kunitake as a Historiographer in Ian Nish (ed) The Iwakura Mission in America and Europe: A New Assessment Folkestone: Japan Library, 1998 Charles Lanman The Japanese in America New York: University Publishing 1872 Young-Suk Lee The Iwakura Embassy and British Industrial Cities Gwangju University, South Korea Download from Brill.com Marlene Mayo The Western Education of Kume Kunitake 1871-6 in Monumenta Nipponica 28 1973 William McOmie The Opening of Japan, 1853-5 Folkestone: Global Oriental 2006 Hiroshi Mitani Escape from Impasse: The Decision to Open Japan Tokyo: International House Press 2006 Masao Miyoshi As We Saw Them: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860) Berkeley: University of California Press 1979 Samuel Mossman New Japan: The Land of the Rising Sun London: John Murray 1873 Ian Nish The Iwakura Mission: The Issue of Treaty Revision Japan Society, Proceedings (London) 122 1993 th University College London UCL celebrates 150 anniversary of Japan’s Choshu five https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2013/jul/
Various tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village, including: - Saltaire United Reformed Church Guide - 1982 - Saltaire United Regormed Church - A future in Your Hands - Leaflet for Apollo Canal Cruises - Saltaire Yorkshire Visitor Guide - Leaflet Welcome to Salts Mill - Saltaire Trail -1996 - Salts Mill - A short history & guide - A Complete Guide to Saltaire Victorian Village - 1983 - The Tourist Guide to Saltaire - 1996 - Visitors Guide Salts Mill - Leaflet Saltaire World Heritage Site - Self guided walks in and around Saltaire - Plan of propsed Saltaire Conservation Area - Saltaire a guide by D. Larvin - 1976 - Leaflet Listed Buildings in the Saltaire World Heritage Site, 2004 & 2009 - Magazine - Conservation Area Assessment from Bradford Council
C4a-017.1: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.2: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.3: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.4: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.5: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.6: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.7: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.10: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.11: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.12: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.13: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.14: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.15: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.16: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.8: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
C4a-017.9: Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
Tourist information leaflets about Saltaire Village
Leaflet for Apollo Canal Cruises on Leeds-Liverpool Canal containing list of prices
2024.115.1: Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale: 1. Introduction
Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale: 1. Introduction
One of a set of research documents on the production of alpaca wool in Peru and its subsequent journey to the United Kingdom for use in the textile industry. The Introduction gives information on the sources used, and sets the scene for telling the story of how a few firms in West Yorkshire made a huge imapct in a remote part of Peru.
2024.115: Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale
Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale: Map of route from Peru to UK
Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale 1. Introduction Steve Day 2022 Connecting the Threads: From Altiplano to Airedale Steve Day 2022 Introduction Although I used to live little more than a hop skip and a jump from Saltaire village for just over 20 years it was not until I moved to the Spanish region of Extremadura in 2013 that I got the idea to research the alpaca connection. Not far from where I live in Cáceres is the small town of Trujillo, the home of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro who led the conquest of the Inca Empire. By an accident of residence, I now had two connections to Peru and the altiplano region high in the Andes Mountains. Thanks to the work of previous scholars, the efforts of the Saltaire History Club members and volunteers of Saltaire Collections we already have a comprehensive knowledge of Saltaire and its founder Sir Titus Salt. It is not my intention to try to add to the sum of knowledge about Saltaire's history in the locality but to add a global dimension to the story. Saltaire is, after all, a World Heritage Site so the aim here is to place Saltaire in a wider global setting. That being said I have limited my focus to the alpaca trade. For a fully global perspective, we might have included the Donskoi wool trade with what is now Turkey. According to Reynolds, Bradford first successfully combined wool with cotton to produce worsted cloth in 1837 (Reynolds, Jack 1983, 50 ). Famously, Titus made his successful breakthrough with alpaca wool by combining it with cotton. To date I have not been able to establish the precise source of the cotton used at the mill but in all probability it came from the slave plantations of the USA, prior to the Civil War in that country, or possibly India or Egypt. In the case of the former, this would be ironic given the motivation on the part of Titus to improve the lot of his mill workers and families in the village. We should celebrate Titus' contribution to improving the work conditions and welfare of his workers. He set an example that earned global reach. However, as we will come to see, the conditions under which the indigenous population in the Andes produced the alpaca wool under the hands of local merchants were less than ideal. Life on board for the merchant seamen who carried the alpaca wool left much to be desired too. The purpose of this contribution then is to tell the story of the journey of the alpaca wool from its origins in the altiplano of Peru to Airedale in Yorkshire. It is an account of a commodity chain and the unsung workers who made it possible. From the indigenous peasants high up in the Andes tending the alpacas to those transporting the cargo across rugged terrain to the Peruvian coast. In the early days of the trade that was on the backs of llamas and mules and then, several years later, by rail. Facilitating the progress of the epic journey over land and then sea by sail were the merchants and brokers on either side of the Atlantic, albeit the journey began on the Pacific Ocean. Of course, the wool would not have arrived in Liverpool, or London, without the toiling of the merchant seamen braving the stormy waters of Cape Horn. After arriving in Liverpool, the final stage of the journey would originally have been along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal and was then most likely superseded by rail. Although to date, I have not been able to locate any direct evidence to be more precise on that matter. The Sources That was the problem. Where to start? Apart from the book I already had by Jack Reynolds (1983) on Titus Salt and the enterprise of Saltaire, a couple of introductions to Saltaire by Gary Firth (2001, 2010) and short guides published for tourists that I'd collected over the years, there was only the slightest of nods to the journey followed by the alpaca wool. Various email enquiries nearly all led me to members of the Saltaire History Club who were generous with their help and encouragement. Indeed, thanks are also due to the club for inviting me to make this contribution. In fact, I should stress at the outset that I wouldn't have got this far had it not been for the generosity of many people, including published university academics, who gave freely of their time and advice and also directed me to valuable sources and archives. I would not have got this far either without the encouragement and gentle nudging of my nominated supervisor and good friend Professor Graham Roberts. However, as is customary to declare, any errors belong to me. For an outline of this alpaca journey, we could turn to Eric Sigsworth's 1950s study of Fosters’ Black Dyke Mills in Queensbury. In his study of the great rival to Salt and his enterprise in Bradford (Sigsworth, Eric M, 1958) Sigsworth includes a brief account of the alpaca trade in Peru. Unfortunately, no archives from Salts Mill have survived. Sigsworth informs us in the introduction to his study that business archives had disappeared at an alarming rate. Many disappeared during World War 2 when companies cleared out their old records in response to an appeal for scrap paper in order to help with the war effort. Whether that is what happened to the paperwork from Salts will probably never be known. However, the archives of Black Dyke Mills are still safely stored at the Special Collections of the Brotherton Library at Leeds University where I was able to make several visits during trips to see friends and family. Not surprisingly, there are many documents related to Titus and the mill and the co-operation and rivalry between the two enterprises. What Sigsworth didn't have access to, or possibly not the time, were any business records from Peru. Thanks to the internet I came acoss the work of business historian Rory Miller, of Liverpool University, who has published widely on the history of Peruvian business and economy. During a meeting with Rory I learnt the names of British merchants based in Arequipa, to the south of Peru, during the 19th century. That led to a second hand copy of a book about the Jack family, originally from Scotland, but more importantly also to the London Metropolitan Archive, which, Rory informed me, held the surviving archive of Gibbs and Co., a major company of the time with global reach. The letters from Arequipa offices of Gibbs and Co., sent to the head office in Lima by a Mr Harrison, give us a unique first hand insight into the work of these merchants in general, and specifically into the Peruvian alpaca trade itself. I was also advised to visit the Britsh Library where it was possible to access the consular reports from the Port of Islay, from where the alpaca wool and other products were despatched. These reports were submitted annually by British Consuls from across the world to Westminster, and are contained in the British Parliamentary Papers. One further indispensable source online is the book by Nils Jacobsen, Mirages of Transition: The Peruvian Altiplano 1780-1932 published by University of California Press (1993). https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3v19n95h;query=;brand=ucpress The book is freely available online with a fully functioning hyperlinked index and references section. It is a scholarly academic work not designed especially for a general readership. However, it is readable and includes a couple of references to Titus (Jacobsen, N. 1993, 60, 163). Just go to Salt, Titus in the index and click on the page numbers. I will be drawing on this text for my future account on the production and transportation of alpaca wool from the altiplano to the coast, and the role of the peasants, muleteers, middlemen and merchants involved in this process. There are many other sources to draw on both primary and secondary. Colin Coates, of the Saltaire History Club, drew my attention to the marvellous and extensive online British Newspaper Archive. (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/). It is not free but it is an excellent resource that can be easily searched and has enough rabbit holes to keep any would be Alice entertained for a lifetime. In some of the letters from the Arequipa office of Gibbs and Co. I discovered the names of some ships carrying the alpaca wool back to Liverpool. By searching through Liverpool newspapers of the era in the British Newspaper Archive I was able to find short reports concerning the arrival of those ships to the port. Connecting the various threads to try to tell a coherent story has been a fascinating experience. Another valuable resource online is the google book project through which anyone can access the accounts of 19th century travellers in Peru. One such book is by Clements Markham that records his trip through Peru and India. The expedition's objective was to source saplings of the Chinchona tree, which were then smuggled out to create plantations in India. The tree bark was the source of quinine that was vital to the fight against malaria. It's an important part of the story of the British Empire but for our purposes Markham's account gives us some first hand observations of what it was like to travel through Peru in the mid-19th century relying only on mules for your transport. (Markham, Clements R. 1862). https://ia800307.us.archive.org/26/items/travelsinperuan02markgoog/travelsinperuan02mark goog.pdf. Many other sources can be drawn on, such as works of fiction. One such example by a Peruvian writer Clorinda Matto de Turner, is 'Torn from the Nest', a work that examines the exploitative relationship between merchants descended from the original Spanish colonialists and the indigenous peasants involved in the production of alpaca wool. We don't get descriptions of shepherds out in the fields but the reader is given a perspective on the social relations in mid-19th century Peruvian Andes. It has a sympathetic take on the plight of the indigenous populace albeit from the perspective of an educated liberal writer. A Rationale Telling the story of this long distance journey by connecting the many threads I have located is my intention, but not to be spinning any yarns. For this is a remarkable story of moving alpaca wool from high up on the Altiplano to Airedale. A journey of thousands of miles that, certainly in the earliest stages, relied on transportation by llama and mules and then the power of wind in the sail. Next from Liverpool on horse drawn barges, we must assume, before this mode of transport gave way to the rail system. The journey takes us from the high Andes to the city of Arequipa. From there across a desert to the coast and then on round Cape Horn to Liverpool. Remember, this is during the 'Industrial Revolution'. There were no railways and no telegraph to begin with, and only an ad hoc trans-oceanic postal service. There was no Panama Canal until 1914. My aim is to tell the story up until the end of the 1870s. I decided upon this arbitrary date since this is when the letters from Mr Harrison in Arequipa come to a halt just before the outbreak of The Pacific War in 1879. It is also not long after the death of Titus himself in 1876 and the subsequent decline of the fortunes of the mill. This was a world in transition. Our story begins with goods being moved overland at the speed at which a human could comfortably walk alongside pack animals and ends with goods hurtling along rails in steam powered trains. Taken from: William Walton, Peruvian Sheep 1811 (Google books) However, I would also like to think that with this story we are beginning to put the 'world' into our World Heritage site. For it is partly thanks to global adventurers like the Scottish merchant James Jack and his family that the alpaca wool arrived on these shores. The Leeds- Liverpool Canal connected Saltaire to the Atlantic System and beyond to the Pacific. We hear much talk of the upheavals caused by globalization in the 21st century yet here is a story of globalization in the making. Is it too much to suggest that Saltaire was not just the product of but also a maker of globalization? For example, Reynolds states that Salts, Black Dyke Mills and Turners between took most of the alpaca wool imported from Peru for their own use (1983, 57). Given that nearly all of the exported alpaca coming to the UK arrived in Bradford the impact on lives in the altiplano made by just these three companies must have been considerable. A Sense of Place: From the Local to the Global This then, is also a tentative step to explore how local history might be presented in a global context. How does it help give us a sense of place not only locally but also globally? My first serious steps with this project began in the summer of 2016 when I was visiting the UK and first met with members of the Saltaire History Club and later with the academic Rory Miller. My initial intention was simply to tell the story of how the wool got from A to B. In the midst of my visit Brexit happened and the debate about being a citizen of nowhere or being rooted in a place began to emerge. The idea that in a cosmopolitan world we are losing the latter. This reminded me of a book I had read about walking called ‘The Old Ways’ by Robert MacFarlane. Towards the end, he plays with the idea of the tension between ‘homing’ and ‘roaming’. The desire to be rooted – like a tree by the wayside – and the urge to roam – to follow the path and leave the tree behind. (2013, 322-23). This made me think about Saltaire. A classic working class community rooted around the mill. Now that community has gone, changed as a result of globalisation. Many of the residents are on the platform every morning on their way to work in Leeds or beyond. However, perhaps the local history the Club produces can help to give us a sense of place. To feel rooted here, even though locals might work somewhere else. In his essay ‘Local History: A Way to Place and Home’ (also covered in his book about local history called ‘Rethinking Home’) the American historian Joe Amato (2002) stresses this importance of local history in creating a sense of place, or belonging. However, he also suggests that the local can be connected to the global. Local history can help us reflect on our place in a globalised world. So while me might think of the combers, spinners, weavers and dyers who lived and worked in this village; who over a period of years became rooted here, the 'homers' if you like; should we not also think of the 'roamers' who also helped make Saltaire possible. The people like the Jacks and Harrisons who left their homes for Arequipa. All the sailors who plied their trade back and forth across the oceans carrying the alpaca wool. The itinerant barge workers too, who shuttled up and down the canal delivering the raw materials to the mills. It is not one or the other. We needed then, and still do, both the homers and the roamers. Let us not forget those other homers though. The indigenous peoples of the Altiplano, represented in the painting above now on display in Salts Mill, without whom there would have been no alpaca wool to export in the first place. We begin the journey high up in the Andes and begin to connect the threads that will take us from the altiplano to Airedale. References Amato, Joseph. Rethinking Home, University of California Press, 2002 (ebook edn) Firth, Gary. Salt and Saltaire, Tempus, 2001 Firth, Gary and Malcolm Hitt. Saltaire Through Time, Amberly, 2010 Jacobsen, Nils. Mirages of Transition: The Peruvian Altiplano, 1780-1930. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft3v19n95h/ MacFarlane, Robert. The Old Ways, Penguin 2013 Markham, Clements R. Travels in India and Peru, John Murray, 1862 (google Books online) Matto de Turner, Clorinda. Torn from the Nest, Oxford University Press, 1988 (ebook edn) Reynolds, Jack. The Great Paternalist, University of Bradford 1983 Sigsworth, Eric M. Black Dyke Mills, Liverpool University Press 1958. © Copyright Steve Day
2025.45: West Yorkshire Canals and Navigations on old picture postcards
West Yorkshire Canals and Navigations on old picture postcards
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
A selection of picture postcards featuring scenes during the past century, with informative captions. Part of 'Yesterday's Yorkshire' series no.13. Contains information and photographs on the canal at Shipley
Only viewable in the Saltaire Collection
West Yorkshire Canals and Navigations on old picture postcards: Front cover
2024.150.1: Activities planned for the Conversazione
Activities planned for the Conversazione
A typewrittenlist of activites in Victoria Hall as part of the 2015 Conversazione. The list is arranged by rooms and includes displays, comeercial and social group stalls, and various practical activities. Also includes some activities hosted elsewhere in the village including music performances in Roberts Park and a 'Boat fair' near the canal.
Saltaire Conversazione - gathering in Victoria Hall
Victoria Hall, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Copyright Saltaire World Heritage Education Association operating as Saltaire Stories)
2024.150: Documents related to the 2015 Conversazione in Victoria Hall