A newspaper page on Neil Gaydon a Director of Pace, and his work at Saltaire
Pace Micro Technology: Picture of Pace SR 640 satellite dish
Salts Mill, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
B1-413: 'Pace Hotting up in TV Revolution' 26th September 1998
'Pace Hotting up in TV Revolution' 26th September 1998
Bradford Telegraph and Argus article on Pace Microtechnology
B1-414: 'Staff Shape-up for Human Landmark' 8th January 1999
'Staff Shape-up for Human Landmark' 8th January 1999
B1-415: 'Pace Makers of Cash with Digital TV Deal' 5th February 1999
'Pace Makers of Cash with Digital TV Deal' 5th February 1999
B1-416: 'Pace set to Axe 470 Jobs' 4th May 2001
B1-417: 'A Change of Pace' 5th May 2001
1of 3 copies of a 'Saltaire' A Pace sponsored illustrated map
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Plan of Saltaire
1 of 3 copies of a 'Saltaire' A Pace sponsored illustrated map
1 of 3 copies of a 'Saltaire' A Pace sponsered illustrated map
A coloured tourist map of 'Saltaire' produced by Pace
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.
Content available under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence
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
Pace Microtechnology Ltd was a Bradford-based company that originally sold software for early Apple personal computers. During the 1980s the company began designing and manufacturing data communication modems and later satellite TV receivers and video recorders. By the late 1990s and into the 21st century, PACE collaborated with major, well-known tech giants such as BSkyB and Amstrad. This local business had become an international multi-million-pound enterprise and put Pace at the front of the digital revolution. From the late 1980s Pace based its business in Salts Mill. They became the first major tenant of local entrepreneur Jonathan Silver who purchased Salts Mill in the late 1980s following its closure as a working textile mill. The huge success of Pace and the company's presence in Salts Mill played an important role in the transformation of Saltaire from an old, decaying industrial mill and village into a thriving modern enterprise and desireable place to live.
Salts Mill, Victoria Road, Saltaire, Shipley, Baildon, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, BD18 3LE, United Kingdom
2024.17: Pace Micro Technology Press Clippings Book June 1997
2024.18: Pace Micro Technology Press Clippings Book June 1997
2024.19: Pacesetter magazine Issue 37 March 2007
2024.20: Pacesetter magazine Issue 40 January 2008
2024.21: Pacesetter magazine Issue 41 May 2008
2024.22: Pacesetter magazine Issue 42, September 2008
2024.23: Pacesetter magazine Issue 43, January 2009
2024.24: Pacesetter magazine Issue 44, May 2009
2024.25: Pacesetter:Special Edition Pace, here and now : May 2008
2024.28: Aerial photograph of a white building
2024.26: Insider Magazine Vol 14 no.3 March 2011
2024.27: Pace set to top £1 billion turnover landmark
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
Pace Micro Technology Press Clippings Book June 1997
Pace Micro Technology Press Clippings Book June 1997 Collection of photocopied press cuttings.
Pace Micro Technology Press Clippings Book June 1997 Collection of photocopied press cuttings
Pacesetter magazine issued to all PACE employees worldwide Issue 37 March 2007
Pacesetter magazine Issue 40 January 2008
Pacesetter magazine issued to all PACE employees worldwide Issue 40, January 2008 Articles include 'Pace & Philips' and 'Outsourcing'
Pacesetter magazine issued to all PACE employees worldwide Issue 41, May 2008. Articles include 'Pace goes international ' and 'A new environmental strategy'
Pacesetter magazine Issue 42, September 2008
Pacesetter magazine issued to all PACE employees worldwide Issue 42 September 2008. Articles include 'Growing the business'
Pacesetter magazine Issue 43, January 2009
Pacesetter magazine issued to all PACE employees worldwide Issue 42 January 2009. Articles include 'The culture issue'
Pacesetter magazine issued to all PACE employees worldwide Issue 44 May 2009. Articles include 'The Queen's Medal for Innovation Award'
Pacesetter:Special Edition Pace, here and now : May 2008
Pacesetter:Special Edition Pace, here and now : May 2008 Slim,coloured booklet of 6 pages with fold out cover international map included
Insider Magazine Vol 14 no.3 March 2011
Insider Magazine Vol 14 no.3 March 2011 includes feature on Neil Gaydon Chief Executive
Pace set to top £1 billion turnover landmark
Article from Yorkshire Post Business Tuesday July 28 2009 called 'Pace set to top £1 billion turnover landmark' ranked third in the global market
Photograph of white building. may be David Hood's house? PACE sign can be seen on the outside of building. FH827-08 is written on the back of the image in ink
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Coat of arms
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/
2024.115.3: Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale: 3. The journey from Puno to Arequipa
Connecting the threads: From Altiplano to Airedale: 3. The journey from Puno to Arequipa
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. Part three details the difficulties of transporting alpaca wool from the remote, high Andean region of the Altiplano down to the coast of Peru where it was to be transported by ship.
Sir Titus Salt Bart. Sons & Co Limited: Front of Silver Jubillee booklet
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 3. The journey from Puno to Arequipa Steve Day 2023 3. The Journey from Puno to Arequipa Most of us are familiar with the story of Britain's industrial revolution, memorably brought to life in Danny Boyle's opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics. It is an image of factories with tall chimneys belching smoke produced by coal powered steam engines. We can add to that the coming of steam powered locomotives and ships that cut both time and distances to supercharge the global trade that helped Britain become the workshop of the world. The pace of change stepped up a gear; summed up by the phrase from Marx exclaiming that 'everything that is solid melts into air.' However, we sometimes overlook the place of continuity in history. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the trade in alpaca wool between the altiplano and Airedale was the journey down to the coast of Peru. The railway between the port of Mollendo and Arequipa did not open until January 1871. The railtrack up to Puno was not completed until 1873 and it was the mid-1870s before Puno was connected to other parts of the altiplano. Up until then, trade to and from the altiplano was conducted without carts or wagons. Such was the rugged nature of the terrain that the wheel was not a practical option. Huge packs of llamas and mules laden with goods climbed over narrow mountain passes, traversed precipitous gorges and, on the last leg, crossed the unforgiving desert between Arequipa and the coast. Then, the momentous ocean crossing was completed under the traditional power of sail. Although steam ships plied their trade along the South American coast sail remained the most cost efficient manner to carry cargo on long-haul journeys across oceans. This section will focus on the journey between the altiplano and Arequipa. The desert crossing and maritime stage of the journey will be dealt with more fully in later chapters. As we have already seen, the nature of production of the alpaca fleeces in the 19th century was atomistic, with small producers scattered over the vast spaces of the altiplano. Jacobsen estimates that there were thousands of Indian peasants supplying more than half of all raw wools as late as the 1870s. (Jacobsen, 67). Hence the need for thousands of llamas and mules to carry the goods down to Arequipa and beyond to the coast. Yet even when the rail link was established large numbers of pack animals were still required to move the fleeces to the railheads. Jacobsen, along with other historians, points to the long-term existence of what retrospectively has been called the "Andean Space" during the colonial period, before the likes of Peru and Bolivia became independent nations in the early 19th century. In the 16th century, Potosí became one of the biggest settlements in the world thanks to the boom generated by the vast quantities of silver that the mine produced. At its peak in the 17th century, Patrick Greenfield wrote in the Guardian, the population of Potosí was larger than London, Milan and Seville (https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/21/story-of-cities-6-potosi-bolivia-peru-inca- first-city-capitalism). Potosí is an extraordinary story in its own right but to avoid getting diverted down that particular siding it is enough to note that this huge population needed to be fed, watered and supplied with other goods. Potosí is located in what is now Bolivia, close to the border with Peru, and formed part of the "Andean Space" we have just referred to. Many of the products either came from the altiplano or passed through the zone on route to Potosí on the backs of llamas and mules. Image showing llamas carrying silver from Potosí https://www.niceartgallery.com/pic/646145f2/212634l.jpg In addition to this, there was the route down to the city of Arequipa in the west, which was also supplied by products from the altiplano. A further layer of movement was the exchange of produce among the indigenous communities between the various ecological zones that they occupied. Each zone, depending on altitude, soils and local climates, favoured particular crops or livestock that led to the interconnectedness of the region as the various communities exchanged products with each other. Consequently, by the time Titus Salt had perfected the art of spinning and weaving alpaca wool mechanically, the transport networks required to transport large quantities of alpaca fleeces, albeit basic, were already in place. As Jacobsen informs the reader "…this geo-economic centrality made it easier for quite a few Indian peasants from Azángaro, Lampa, Paucarcolla, and Chucuito provinces to enter the trade and transport business on a small scale. They could supplement their subsistence economy not just by selling their own livestock products and artisanal goods but also by hiring out their services as muleteers with their own llamas or mules or even by purchasing goods for later resale. This type of Indian trader was a frequent figure on the roads of the eighteenth-century altiplano" (Jacobsen 39). However, it appears that this was not the whole picture in the next century following independence. Coercion, if Charles Ledger is to be believed, was never far away. Ledger, who we met in the previous chapter, had this to say: "…the Ylacatas [indigenous chiefs] are ordered to supply, the requisite numbers of llamas for the carriage of wool to its destination. Any resistance on the part of the Indians to supply the wool and the llamas for its carriage is met by the governador [government official] by imposition of most harassing gratuitous service to the State, such as repair of roads, foot postmen, domestic servitude…" (Ledger, 214) Whatever the details of the arrangements of the transport might have been, the nature of the journey presented the same challenge to the traveller. In broad terms, the 19th century traveller Clements Markham describes the region to be traversed thus: But the southern part of the interior of Peru, and the northern portion of Bolivia, present a very different character. From the Vilcallota mountains the Andes separate into two distinct chains, namely, the cordillera or coast-range, and the Eastern Andes, which include the loftiest peaks in South America, ... The region between these two ranges contains the great lake of Titicaca, and consists of elevated plains intersected by rivers flowing into the lake, at a height never less than 12,000 feet above the sea. (Markham, C. 88) Below is a cross section of the altiplano (high plateau) that gives an idea of the terrain to be negotiated. The journey that we are interested in is across the altiplano from east to west, with a descent to Arequipa from the heights of the western cordillera. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-and-cross-section-showing-regional-topography-of-the-central-Andes-including- the_fig5_230483511 Zegarra, in his study of transport costs in Peru from 1820-1920, outlines the respective contrasts between the different terrains confronting the traveller. In the first instance, given the mountainous aspect of the region, there were no navigable rivers and thus none of the advantages that were enjoyed in Britain. He writes of long steep ascents, deep canyons, almost vertical hillsides and narrow roads. Such were the conditions that the use of the wheel was all but impossible, while in places the roads were so narrow two mules could not pass at the same time. (istock photo) Zegarra draws on a travelogue, originally published in 1851, written by Lady Emmeline Stuart-Wortley. In Chapter XII of the third volume of her account, she introduces her readers to the problems of Peru's internal communications. Peru labours under very considerable disadvantages, with regard to inland communication. The elevated plateaux and table-lands, separated by deeply- embosomed valleys, and the gigantic mountains that intervene between the coast and the table-land, render travelling tedious and difficult. Roads and bridges, in many parts, are entirely wanting; and in places where rude and scarcely-distinguishable paths are found, they lie along the perilous edges of overhanging and rugged precipices, perpendicularly steep; and these tracks, moreover, are almost always so dangerously narrow, that the sure-footed mule can alone tread them with any security. (cited by Zegarra, L F, 366) The vital importance of mules and llamas in the transportation of all types of goods and materials in the altiplano should not be underestimated. While Zegarra points us to Wortley for insights regarding the strengths of mules for negotiating difficult terrain, with regard to the qualities of the llama, he then draws the attention of the reader to the experiences of S S Hill who, in an account published in 1860, explains that This useful animal will carry about one hundred and twenty-five pounds, but a hundred weight is generally considered a full load. He will rarely accomplish more than twelve or thirteen miles during the day; but…it must be remembered that this docile creature requires hardly any care. Moreover, he feeds upon almost every species of herbage found upon the sides of the mountains, and be driven in flocks or herds of several hundreds, which are all obedient to the voice of the driver. He has spongy hoofs and claws, which enable him to pass over beds of ice with ease, and is well protected from any cold to which he might be exposed. Hill continues by noting that "Their journeys are sometimes long on the higher lands but, they rarely descend to the lower where the heat is too great, and the atmosphere too dense, for their delicate constitutions." (Hill, S S, 101-102) While the llamas might have been slower than mules but they were cheaper to buy and maintain. An advantage was that llamas could eat on the go but would not feed at night. According to Tschudi, a Swiss traveller writing in the 1840s, the llamero [llama driver], had to pause during the day to allow the llamas to graze, thus reducing the speed and distance covered. (Tschudi 1847, 308). Flora Tristan was visiting Arequipa in the autumn of 1833. Born in France to a French mother and Peruvian father she was in Arequipa to visit her deceased father's family. While in Arequipa she found time to comment on the role of the llama as follows: As llamas offer the only means of communication with the Indians of the mountains they are very important for trade, but one is tempted to think that the almost superstitious reverence in which thay are held is due to something more than a sense of their usefulness…Yet they are very strong, climb nimbly up the mountains, endure cold, snow and every kind of fatigue…No other man save the Indian of the Cordilleras would have enough patience or gentleness to make use of llamas. (Tristan, F 130-32) https://archive.org/details/travelsinperudu00tschgoog/page/n9/mode/1up Tschudi exclaimed that "a flock of laden llamas journeying over the tablelands is a beautiful sight." He went to remark: They proceed at a slow and measured pace, gazing eagerly around on every side. When any strange object scares them, the flock separates, and disperses in various directions, and the arrieros have no little difficulty in reassembling them. The Indians are very fond of these animals. They adorn them by tying bows of ribbon to their ears, and hanging bells round their necks; and before loading, they always fondle and caress them aflfectionately. If, during a journey, one of the llamas is fatigued and lies down, the arriero kneels beside the animal, and addresses to it the most coaxing and endearing expressions. But notwithstanding all the care and attention bestowed on them, many llamas perish on every journey to the coast, as they are not able to bear the warm climate. (Tschudi, von J J, 307-310) George Squier, an archaeologist from the USA, does not inform us as to how the sight of more than a thousand llamas impacted on his senses, but he does provide us with an indication of the scale of the enterprise that we are investigating: The merchants of Tacna have built here a rude enclosure for the droves of llamas that come from the interior with products for the coast, and here also is a little cluster of buildings for persons connected with the trade, homely and poor, but a welcome refuge for the tired traveller. As we rode up, a troop of more than, a thousand llamas, with proudly curved necks, erect heads, great, inquiring, timid eyes, and suspicious ears thrust forward as if to catch the faintest sound of danger, each with its hundred pounds of ore secured in sacks on its back, led, not driven, by quaintly costumed Indians, filed past us into the enclosure of the establishment. (Squier, E G 245) Llamas then, were better adapted to conditions in the highlands whereas mules coped better in the coastal desert environment. However, mules had the capacity to cover double the mileage of the llamas. This is an important factor when it came to the distances that had to be covered. The route from Cuzco to Arequipa, pre-railway, was around 415 miles and took 10 days. To reach Arequipa from Puno it took 6 days to cover 184 miles. Having considered the overall picture of the movement of goods in southern Peru we can now turn to the experience of undertaking the actual journey. What follows is a description of the journey likely to have been followed by the alpaca wool from Puno to Arequipa. The wool that would eventually find its way to Saltaire. I have chosen this section from among other possible routes in order to make a later comparison following the arrival of the railway to Puno. It is based on the 6 day journey undertaken by S S Hill (17-26) in the autumn of what appears to be1860. However, it will include contributions from other travel accounts such as those of Clements Markham and George Squier. Markham travelled the route in both directions but his most detailed account concerned the conditions he faced while travelling from Arequipa to Puno for the period from March to May. He seems to have taken 7 days, while he appears to have made the return trip in late May in 6 days for which he provided only the briefest outline. As the reader will have realised by now, this recreation of the journey relies exclusively on the travelogues of foreign travellers rather than Peruvians familiar with the terrain. However, in the course of my investigations I have discovered several of these travelogues while reading the work of professional historians indicating that these are the only primary sources available to any would be researcher. Here is what Deustua, writing about routes connected to the silver trade further north, has to say on the matter: Methodologically it would be preferable to use the accounts of arrieros or llameros to gain a precise picture of the road conditions and the routes of trade and transportation. Such testimonies, unfortunately, are scattered, and not descriptive at all. Travellers, by contrast, are very observant, and they portray in detail the roads and the incidents of their journeys. The obvious reason in this case is that the travellers were almost always foreigners, amazed by the discoveries they were making on these, their first trips to (for them) unknown regions of the Andes. The mestizo or Indian muleteers, accustomed to their routine trips, knew perfectly the areas they were travelling and were not surprised by them. Furthermore, they did not write, while the foreign traveller had the aim of producing a literary or scientific testament to the trip. Thus, for the historian of today the surprised newcomer left vivid accounts and descriptions of the Andean roads, while the frequent traveler, the person who knew well the landscape and the locales, left only scattered records. In his conclusion, Deustua makes this evaluation of the sources: The accounts of travellers who followed the trade routes at different times fill out in rich detail the picture of the internal market organized by the silver trade. They describe all the localities they passed, the haciendas, estancias, towns, Indian villages, and peasant communities; the types of landscape and production found there; and the links established with these suppliers as well as “mineral towns,” suppliers of mining inputs, and peasant Indian communities, suppliers of livestock, pack animals, and other products. They also convey the state of those roads and the conditions of transportation in nineteenth-century Peru before the advent of the railroad. (Deustua, J. There are no page numbers available) While we should keep in mind the possible bias that foreign observers might be bringing to their accounts, professional historians have established that these are our major sources for an understanding of the travelling conditions on the altiplano during the period that we are focusing on. Taken from Gootenburg, P. Between Silver and Guano (Accessed online) That said, we need to remember that these travellers are part of small group expeditions travelling by mule. So far I have not encountered any first hand detailed accounts describing large mule-trains or packs of llamas carrying products to and fro; only brief encounters such as that of the one thousand llamas referred to above. The arrieros [muleteers] or llameros [llama drivers] would have been well adapted to the terrain and prevailing weather conditions and perhaps more likely would have been given to more prosaic comments regarding their journeys. Nonetheless, these are the workers who would have been toiling in similar conditions experienced by these Victorian travellers. We should not forget either that these travellers had local guides with them. Personnel who are rarely mentioned in the travelogues never mind praised for their assistance. It is thanks to these intrepid travellers sharing their experiences for posterity that we are able to recreate this journey. However, it is the nameless arrieros and llameros of the altiplano that we should be keeping in mind. They might not have recorded their experiences to help us with our investigations, but without them, the alpaca wool would never have reached the less hostile environment of Saltaire. They are the first link in a global commodity chain that takes us from the altiplano to Airedale. From Puno to Arequipa At around 12,500 feet Puno rests on the shore of Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. According to Markham it is "hemmed in by an amphitheatre of mountains" and owes its origins to the silver-ore to be found there. Beyond the lake on his descent into Puno he could see the snow capped mountain range. He considered the streets to be clean and well paved while on several corners there were drinking fountains. The water he declared to be excellent. (Markham, C 94-95) Day 1 Upon leaving Puno, whether with mules or llamas, there was a steep zig-zag slope to be negotiated leaving the town and the lake behind. Having arrived in Puno from Cuzco, Hill considered the country during the earlier part of the journey, to be far more agreeable than any over which we had passed since leaving Cuzco; and in some parts he found it to be 'tolerably cultivated'. After a distance of six leagues from Puno (18 miles) he arrived at the small village of Vilque, where a fair is held annually. The same fair that we learned about in the previous chapter as described by Markham. According to Langer, the fair was also important for the sale of mules, many of which came all the way from central and northern Argentina. (Langer, 19) Taken from: Squier, EG (239) Day 2 After waiting overnight in Vilque the wool was ready to depart on the second day of the journey. It is a day of climbing and descending stony hills that Hill describes as tedious but not without dangers. However, the animals that were with them were well used to dealing with the perils of challenging terrain and undertook the difficulties with what he judged to be indifference. Nonetheless, upon arriving at the Tambo of Comhorta (possibly a different spelling of La Compuerta where Markham stopped over) after travelling ten leagues (30 miles) the mules were fatigued and in need of sustenance. Unfortunately, for his party, there was a lack of fodder available at the Tambo. The tambo system was a legacy of the Incas. They were a kind of service station along the road system for travellers to stop over. Hill reports meeting up with a merchant and his wife who were from Arequipa with whom they shared the accommodation. Accounts from travellers tend to describe them in terms of their basic facilities although they might vary in size depending on the volume and frequency of traffic. Sometimes staff providing rudimentary services attended them or they might be unattended and thus more like a refuge to provide overnight shelter. Here is a description from Squier, writing in the 1860s, of his experience of a tambo: Often these tambos are without keepers, occupants, or furniture of any kind ; but that of Tacora had a resident, who occupied the principal building, in which he had a scant store of wilted alfalfa, and a few articles of food, principally the flesh of the vicuna. Another building served as a kitchen ; a third for the storage of cargo and as a dormitory for the arrieros [muleteers]; while the fourth was reserved for travellers. It had no entrance or opening except the door-way, elevated two feet above the ground, and barely large enough to permit a full-grown person to squeeze through. This was closed with a flap of raw hide. The interior was dark and dirty beyond description. I doubt if it had been swept, or if any- attempt had been made to cleanse it, for many months. This den had no furniture whatever, only there was the usual mud-bank on every side, whereon the traveller might spread his bed. (Squier, E G 252) Day 3 We can be confident that the arrieros knew what to expect from the tambo and were well accustomed to such conditions. After getting their heads down for the night they were ready for departure the following morning. The route however, according to Hill, was extremely rough, ascending steep hills almost all day, with nothing but the perpetual variation of the scenery to offer distraction from the rigours of journey. In the afternoon one such distraction was the appearance of two lakes on either side of the road, although the continual ascending seemed to be taking its toll as Hill records that he was experiencing more than his usual difficulty in breathing. After an estimated stage of seven leagues (21 miles) the tambo of Apo must have been a welcome sight in order to recover from a difficult day. Breathing problems did not only affect humans but the mules too. Although Squier was not describing the route we are following he had this to say regarding a particularly arduous ascent during his travels: …we began to climb the steep mountain-side on our right, zigzagging towards the cumbre, or crest. Two hours were occupied in this slow and painful ascent, the mules suffering much, and frequently stopping to recover breath. (Squier, E G 244) The glare from snow in the sun was another challenge. While the locals were probably well adapted to the rarified atmosphere it seems that their eyes suffered from the reflection of the snow. According to Tschudi Europeans protected their eyes with green spectacles and veils (Tschudi, von J J, 298) whereas the locals apparently did not have such eye protection. Day 4 During the first part of the following day's journey, the group were still ascending stony mountains, the sterility that reigned everywhere around being without the smallest relief, according to Hill. This description appears to be supported by the observations of Markham who bemoaned having to traverse the 'cheerless desolation of the plains' (89). Whether the llameros or arrieros of the altiplano thought of them as 'sterile', ‘cheerless' or desolate is an intriguing thought. This is their terrain in which they would have been very familiar and most probably felt at home. A landscape that probably had meaning for them but carried little for a European traveller. https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/preview/M/M083/M083501_Llama-Train-on-the-Andes.jpg Perhaps they would have been less enamoured of sandstorms, for when Hill's party reached the summit of this Cordillera, they came upon an undulated pampa, where the cold was excessive, but there was neither damp nor snow. The ground was covered with loose sand, which as we proceeded became violently agitated by the wind, and drifted with great force, in circles similar to those caused by a whirlwind; so that we had some difficulty in keeping together, and without the use of our pocket compasses could not have found our way. Having reached the summit the descent on the other side brought its rewards to the weather beaten traveller. The gusts of wind ceased, and the breeze died gradually away, until, Hill remarks, perfect stillness allowed a moment to contemplate the vast ranges of mountains capped with snow within view. Also in sight was Mount Misti, a powerful volcano that forms part of the skyline as seen from Arequipa, emitting its thin vapour that mingled with light clouds. We should keep in mind that these travelogues were intended for a reading public which wanted to learn of spectacular landscapes and epic journeys. Like any book today that wants to sell copies, the trick is to help the reader connect to the travellers and wanting to turn the page. According to Mary Louise Pratt, these travelogues had a large readership of armchair travellers in Europe. These are the experiences of travellers on an adventure writing for a European audience and not the perspective of the arrieros engaged in their more humdrum lives. As the descent progressed it was important to reach the next tambo as soon as possible owing to the weak condition of several of the mules becoming increasingly apparent. At this stage Hill's group was still more than twenty leagues (??miles) from Arequipa, but finally arrived for that evening's stop at the tambo of Pati feeling satisfied, even though they have covered only seven leagues (?? miles) that day. One of the hazards facing these travellers was encountering the very mule trains that we are interested in following. That is to say, meeting up with them on some of the narrow paths, on steep slopes with precipitous drops to the side. Although recounting his experiences on a different route Squiers explains the procedure for dealing with such encounters: These atajos [mule trains]are always led by an educated horse, with a sonorous bell attached to his neck, to warn approaching travellers to stop at some spot where the road is wide enough to prevent their being run down outright, or toppled over the precipices, by the heavily laden train that plunges down behind the equine leader. The fear of being thus run down is what most disturbs the traveller in the Sierra, where there are many long and dangerous passes, with paths so narrow as not to admit of two animals passing each other. It is customary to shout or to blow a shrill blast on a pandean pipe, which every arriero carries for this purpose, before entering on these dangerous sections of road, which is responded to by whoever happens to be struggling along it. If not answered, the road is supposed to be clear. (Squiers, 242) Tschudi, writing of his experiences earlier in the century, gives us an example of one of his encounters that also goes some way to explaining why these journeys were so slow, quite apart from the challenging ascents and descents over difficult terrain: …long trains of mules are frequently met coming from the Sierra. The traveller, at their approach, seeks some little recess into which he may creep, and there stand closely jammed against the mountain until the train passes by. This is attended by great loss of time, owing to the slow and cautious pace at which the mules proceed. On such an encounter in a narrow moimtain path, I was once obliged to wait for several hours, whilst two hundred mules passed by; and at the spot where I and my horse stood, the laden animals had scarcely space sufficient to set down their feet at the very edge of the pathway. In some places it is perfectly impossible either to go on one side or to turn back ; and when horses or mules meet at these difficult points, one of the animals is obhged to plunge into the stream, before the other can have room to pass. The numerous curvatures, of the road, and the projecting masses of mountain, render it impossible to see advancing objects in sufficient time to avoid collision. (Tschudi 273- 4) While we might not have direct reports from the arrieros themselves as to their experience of managing 200 heavily laden mules in such circumstances, these travel diaries give us an insight into the scale of the operation and the day to day hazards faced by the workers. It would have have been interesting to be able to eavesdrop on the conversations among the arrieros at one of the tambos at the day's end as they complained of the inconvenient hold-ups caused by the nuisance of foreign adventurers obstructing their way. Day 5 The first part of the next day's journey was described in similar terms to that of the previous afternoon. The entry for this stage was brief but does record that they had covered fifteen leagues (52 miles) upon reaching the tambo of Cangallo. Although it was just five leagues from Arequipa, there was clearly not enough time to make it to the city so the party opted to rest overninght. (Hill, S S. 24). They did report that they had crossed several vales. Markham, whose account was for the journey towards Puno, wrote of having to ford the River Chile, which flows past Arequipa, more than a dozen times. (Markham, C. 89) None of the accounts covering the route from Puno to Arequipa mention bridges but it is hard to imagine that there were none on the route. In other parts of Peru, travellers describe bridges of various types, some of which were not for the faint hearted. Traversing these structures also offers another explanation as to why these journeys sometimes proceeded so slowly. Tschudi describes one such structure was called a 'soga bridge' which were often crossed with the aid of a puentero. The Spanish for bridge is 'puente' so a puentero is a guide who helps travellers cross the bridge. Tschudi describes the 'puente de soga' as a large hanging bridge. These bridges are composed of four ropes (sogas), made of twisted cow-hide, and about the thickness of a man's arm. The four ropes are connected together by thinner ones of the same material, fastened over them transversely. The whole is covered with branches, straw, and roots of the Agave tree. On either side, a rope rather more than two feet above the bridge serves as a balustrade. The sogas are fastened on each bank of the river by piles, or rivetted into the rock. During long continuous rains these bridges become loose and require to be tightened ; but they are always lower in the middle than at the ends, and when passengers are crossing them they swing like hammocks. It requires some practice, and a very steady head to go over the soga bridges unaccompanied by a Puentero. However strongly made, they are not durable ; for the changeableness of the weather quickly rots the ropes, which are made of untanned leather. They frequently require repairing, and travellers have sometimes no alternative but to wait for several days until a bridge is passable, or to make a circuit of 20 or 30 leagues. The Puente de Soga of Oroya is fifty yards long, and one and a half broad. It is one of the largest in Peru ; but the bridge across the Apurimac, in the province of Ayacucho, is nearly twice as long, and it is carried over a much deeper gulph. (Tschudi von J J p287-288) https://archive.org/details/gri_peruincident00squi/page/558/mode/2up Taken from Squier E G (558) A less terrifying experience would seem to be the balsa bridge encountered by Squier. It is a floating bridge, not unlike that across the Rhine at Cologne, except that, owing to the entire absence of timber in the country, the floats are of dried reeds, bound together in huge bundles, pointed at the ends like canoes. These are fastened together side by side by thick cables of braided reeds, anchored to firm stone towers on both banks. The roadway is also of reeds resting on the floats, about four feet wide, and raised above the floats about the same height — a rather yielding and unsteady path, over which only one or two mules are allowed to pass at a time. The causeways leading to both extremities of the bridge are barred by gates at which a toll is collected. When the river is swollen and the current very strong, it is usual to cut the cables at one extremity or the other, and let the bridge swing down the stream so as to prevent it being swept away. https://archive.org/details/gri_peruincident00squi/page/264/mode/2up Taken from Squier, EG (265) Our arrival in Arequipa with our cargo of alpaca wool is now not so far away. A night of rest with one final day of travel will see us arrive in the city where we will hopefully find some comfort after the hardships of trekking over the altiplano. Day 6 Hill's party had a prompt departure and arrived at the ridge of Mount Misti at an early hour with the sun rising behind them as they looked west. The welcome sight of the destination perhaps distracted him from telling us any more about this ridge so we cannot be sure that it is the same one as described by Markham who, to be fair, was heading in the opposite direction having only recently departed from Arequipa. The ridge Markham tells us about was called, he informs us, the 'alto de los huesos' the southern spur of the volcano, so called from the bones [huesos]of thousands of mules which are met at every turn. (Markham ??) Another matter of fact reminder of the suffering that these poor animals endured and without whom trading would have been even more limited. Life might have been hard for the arrieros but some of these animals were worked to death. At times they were also conscripts during the numerous conflicts that afflicted Peru following independence. In a report made from the Port of Islay by Consul Wilthew for 1865 he remarks that "More wool would have been shipped had there been more beasts of burden to bring it down from the interior." The report continues: On account of the revolution that broke out in the month of February in Arequipa, and lasted until November, when the revolutionary forces entered Lima, it is only astonishing that commerce should have progressed as it has done; for as everything in this country is transported on mules, and as so many of these animals were impressed for the transport of the army, all trade has languished, the carriers afraid to move from their homes until they were sure of not being molested; not wishing to expose themselves or their beasts to be in danger of being recruited for the service of either the revolutionary party or that of the government. Wilthew had intelligence that 2,000 mules were taken from the department of Cuzco by revolutionary forces on march to Lima. Few of the creatures had found their way back to their owners and he claimed and that in a majority of cases they have not been, and probably never will be, paid for. (Report of Consul Wilthew 1865) Such concerns regarding the ultimate fate of the mules were not front and centre on the mind of Hill and his party nor probably on the part of the arrieros either, other than, perhaps, the economic cost of a lost beast of burden. However, we now begin our final descent to reach the destination of Arequipa where the merchants will be anticipating the arrival of the cargo. Hill recounts gradually descending the mountains and after passing through rude paths, where we rarely caught a glimpse of the country around, we arrived at a village a little more than a league from Arequipa, and here dismounted to refresh our jaded animals…After a short repose, we remounted, and soon entered the city of Arequipa from which I had now been absent about two months and a half, and I had once more the pleasure of meeting my excellent friend Mr, Jack, and the rest of my kind friends in the town. Mr Jack was a British merchant from Scotland who ran the Arequipa Office of the House of Jack & Cº. This house played a big part in our story and we shall learn more of him, and his family who also ran the business office in Liverpool. While the mules and the arrieros take a well earned rest, we are going to enter the world of Jack & Cº, along with the other merchant houses in Arequipa, and the characters who facilitated the trade in wool between the altiplano and airedale. Following that, we will resume our journey by crossing the desert to the Pacific Coast from where the wool will be taken on the maritime leg of the journey across the ocean to Liverpool. References Deustua, J. Routes, Roads, and Silver Trade in Cerro de Pasco, 1820-1860: The Internal Market in Nineteenth-Century Peru, 1994 (accessed online) https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/74/1/1/145679/Routes-Roads-and-Silver-Trade-in-Cerro-de-Pasco Gootenburg, P. Between Silver & Guano 1989 (accessed online) https://books.google.es/books?id=SRkABAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Paul+Gootenberg+Between+Silver+and+Guano&hl=en&s a=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Paul%20Gootenberg%20Between%20Silver%20and%20Guano&f=false Hill, S S, Travels in Peru and Mexico Volume 2 1860 (accessed online) https://archive.org/details/travelsinperuan02hillgoog/page/n8/mode/2up Jacobsen, N. Mirages of Transition: The Peruvian Altiplano, 1780-1930. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft3v19n95h/ Langer, E D. Indian Trade and Ethnic Economies in the Andes 1780-1880 (Accessed online) https://eialonline.org/index.php/eial/article/view/825/904 Ledger, George: The Alpaca: Its Introduction into Australia and the Probabilities of its Acclimatisation There in the Journal of the Society of Arts from February 22nd, 1861; (Accessed via Google Books: https://books.google.es/books?id=SQ_SAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA212&dq=George+Ledger,+The+Alpaca:+Its+Introduction+into+Australia&h l=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvz9SS54vqAhWE2eAKHXrbAVQQ6AEIMDAB#v=onepage&q=George%20Ledger%2C%20The%20Alpac a%3A%20Its%20Introduction%20into%20Australia&f=false) Markham, Clements R. Travels in India and Peru, John Murray, 1862 (Accessed online) https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22706/page/n13/mode/2up> Tristan, F. Peregrinations of a Pariah, 1833-1834 1986 edn (accessed online) https://archive.org/details/peregrinationsof0000tris/mode/2up Tschudi, Von J J. Travels in Peru: During the Years 1838-42 (Accessed online) https://archive.org/details/travelsinperudu00tschgoog/page/n8/mode/2up Squier, E G. Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas, 1877 Accessed online) https://archive.org/details/peruincidentsoft00squi/page/n9/mode/2up Zegarra, L F. Transport Costs and Economic Growth in a Backward Economy: The Case of Peru 1820-1920. 2011 (Accessed online) https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/rest/api/core/bitstreams/973ef6a5-5495-4e3c-a93f-7e9e78485d2f/content