Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 1 1845-1880 - From newspaper cuttings
Railway Station, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
The Audio CD is a partial transfer from cassette tapes of a recording of an interview with Clive Woods, local Saltaire bookshop owner, historian, and heritage campaigner. Clive is being interviewed by Graham Haughton of the University of Manchester. The recording of the start of the interview is of poor quality. Clive Woods talks about his part in the process of making Saltaire into a World Heritage Site. He starts by referring to the reopening of Saltaire Railway Station (closed in the 1960s) in the 1980s and claims that this was the start of the 'gentrification' of Saltaire. He goes on to talk about the campaign agains a proposed Shipley bye-pass that would have gone along the route of Coach Road next to Roberts Park. Clive also mentions some of the older inhabitants of Saltaire, church officials in the village, and Bradford Council having no interest in preserving Saltaire, but how they gradually changed their minds. He refers to the influence of the well-known historian Roy Strong of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Bradford entrepreneur Jonathan Silver. He goes on to talk about the origin of the Saltaire Village Society and the part it played in influencing English Heritage and UNESCO in the preservation and protection of Saltaire.
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Plan of Saltaire
2020.6.1: Grange Court-Baildon Lodge History
A typed article 'Grange Court-Baildon Lodge' relating to the owners and occupiers, including Titus Salt Junior compiled by Roger Clarke, October 2019
Content available under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence
Grange Court history There are several things you should know before reading the story of Grange Court:-  For most of its existence it was known as Baildon Lodge.  There are two houses called Baildon Lodge on Station Rd, and care has been taken to ensure that they have not been confused with each other in compiling this history. The other is further along Station Rd near the railway station.  Baildon Lodge is built close to another large house called Baildon House, and there are close links between the two over their history.  Press cuttings are included, to provide an insight into the lives of the occupants, along with a historical commentary. The Story In 1724, Baildon House was built. Adjacent to it was a wayside Inn called Leather Breeches, later Baildon Lodge. (It should be noted that there was a brewery at Ingfield on Slaughter Lane which also had malt kilns, supplying the Inn.) Leather Breeches is not mentioned in the list of Baildon Inns of 1823 and so presumably closed and became residential before this date. William Holden owned both Baildon House and Baildon Lodge. He died in 1809 aged 71 years. He left the properties to his only daughter who married John Lambert. The properties were then left to their two daughters. Margaret married James Bent and they lived at Baildon House. The other daughter, Caroline Ann, married Thomas Lockley, MD, aged 49, a local magistrate, and a practising physician, and they lived at Baildon Lodge. The 1861 census confirms that they were living at Baildon Lodge with their 5 year old son, Edward Holden Lockley. They had a cook, servant and a groom. They continued to live there until 1866. th York Herald – 14 April, 1880. Death of Dr Lockley. It is with deep regret that we have to announce the death of Dr Lockley which took place at his residence, Bootham, in the city yesterday morning. The deceased gentleman was the third son of the late George F Lockley of Half Moon St, London, by Margaret, youngest daughter and co-heiress of Mr Thomas Bolt of Ruswarp near Whitby. In 1852 Dr Lockley married Caroline Ann, second daughter and co-heiress of the late John Lambert of Baildon. The deceased gentleman left Baildon Lodge to reside in York in 1865 and was identified with many philanthropic institutions in the city. In 1866 Mr Titus Salt Junior and his wife Catherine moved into Baildon Lodge, and lived there until 1871. th th Titus Junior was the 7 child and 5 son of Sir Titus Salt who built Saltaire. th Titus Junior married Catherine Crossley on 15 March, 1866. Her family owned Crossley Carpets in Halifax and had a very close friendship with the Salt family. The union of Titus and Catherine increased that bond. Living at Baildon Lodge, their first 2 children were born there. Gordon Loxley Salt th nd was born on 17 December, 1866 and Harold Crossley Salt was born on 2 August, 1868. Their project to build a huge mansion at Milner Field was conceived a few months into their marriage when two farm houses came up for sale on the Milner Field estate, which they bought and demolished while they were living at Baildon Lodge. Titus Junior’s elder brother Edward had already built a mansion at Ferniehurst in Baildon. Titus Junior went on to create the Milner Field mansion which was to entertain Royalty in 1882 and 1887. Building began in 1871 and was completed in 1873. Bradford Daily Telegraph - Monday 23 August 1869 The Salt family were always keen gardeners. The gardens at Milner Field were designed by Robert Marnock, a landscape designer who adopted the gardenesque style in which emphasis was placed on exotic and non-native plants including orchids, Lapageria Rosea (“a climbing plant with drooping bells in red and white with as many as 4,000 flowers at any one time”), melons and figs. There were even pineapples grown at Milner Field which were “enclosed in pits of horse manure one foot deep”. (My gratitude to the late Alistair McKinna for publishing this information) Titus Junior died suddenly of a heart attack in 1887 aged 44 years. This was the first of many tragedies which led to the jinx of Milner Field mansion – but that’s another story. In 1871, 24 year old Harry Rouse and his wife Mary aged 19 moved into Baildon Lodge. Harry was distantly related to the Salt family since his aunt Hannah Rouse married George Whitlam Haigh whose mother was Amelia Whitlam (sister of Lady Caroline Salt). They lived there until 1877. They had 4 servants, one of whom was also their coachman. There was a long friendship between the Rouse family and the Salts. In 1822, when the Salt family came to Bradford, the seventeen year old Titus was taken on as an apprentice by William Rouse for two years to learn the wool trade. And in 1871, Sarah Amelia Rouse became the second wife of Titus Junior’s brother, Edward. The Salts, Crossleys and the Rouses were united in friendship through the textile industry, through religion (Congregationalists), politics (radical liberals), and now through marriage. Leeds Mercury th 15 December, 1870 – At Edinburgh the marriage of Harry Rouse Esq of Baildon Lodge to Mary Hogarth, only daughter of the late Alexander Cunningham Esq of the Tofts, Morebattle, Roxburghshire. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer th th 19 October, 1871 – Rouse, on 18 October birth of a son In 1881 there is an interesting twist to the story of the Lodge - John Rouse and family lived next door at Baildon House whilst at Baildon Lodge lived Elizabeth Hall, a 35 year old cook and Mary Park, a 24 year old housemaid. By the 1891 census a family had taken over Baildon Lodge. John Spink, aged 54 years, (a wine and spirit merchant, brewer and cigar importer) and his wife Elizabeth Spink aged 45 years lived there with their 5 children Catherine (23), Gertrude (21), Bernard (19 and apprentice to an iron founder), Jack (6) and Geoffrey (4). They had a cook, housemaid and a nurse. Joseph Spink and Sons were a well established Bradford business. John was a Director and partner in it. Trade Directories in 1901 and 1912 note that the head office was on Market St and the warehouse was at Rosse St. A major investment was the Boars Head Restaurant, grill and bars at 6 to 8, Market St, and the Exchange Restaurant and bars at 18, Market St. There was also an interest in the Golden Lion and the Albion Hotel on Leeds Rd, the Queens Hotel on Lumb Lane, and the Shoulder of Mutton in Girlington. Bradford Daily Telegraph th 6 July, 1887 – Baildon Local Board met yesterday evening. A letter complaining of the diversion of a stream of water which had been used by the inhabitants of Lower Baildon for domestic purposes for a great number of years was read by the Clerk. The letter stated that the stream had been taken from its course by the tenant of Baildon Lodge who had allowed it to run to waste. The Clerk was instructed to write to Mr Spink of Baildon Lodge asking that the stream be allowed to run its proper course. rd And on 23 October, 1889 - The Issue of 2,000 Preference Shares and 2,000 Ordinary Shares in the firm of Joseph Spink and Sons, Limited. John Spink and William Spink are listed amongst the Directors of the Company Wharfedale and Airedale Observer th 29 August, 1890 – Fashionable wedding at Baildon Church. The village of Baildon was the scene of great animation at noon on Wednesday, the occasion being the nuptials of Mr Oliver Firth, youngest son of Mr Thomas Firth, late of Baildon and now of Grange, and who was formerly a manufacturer at Shearbridge, Bradford, and Miss Florence Margaret Spink, second daughter of Mr John Spink (senior partner of the Bradford firm of Joseph Spink and Sons) of Baildon Lodge, Baildon. In the 1901 census Alfred W. Hoffman aged 39 years, wool and yarn merchant, with his wife Sarah 40 and daughter Irene (12) were living at the Lodge. They are still there in 1926, with the addition of John Achior Hoffman (24) also a wool and yarn merchant. They had a cook and two housemaids, one from Bergen in Norway. Alfred was a Jewish immigrant who established his office and warehouse at 8, Burnett St, Little Germany in the centre of Bradford, alongside other textile merchants who were immigrants from Germany. Achior was a prominent member of Bradford Chamber of Commerce who worked tirelessly to promote the establishment of Bradford Conditioning House which was eventually opened in 1891. It provided a scientific, laboratory examination of the 150 million lbs of foreign wool which was imported from all over the world. Most important it led to a reduction in anthrax, an infectious disease of sheep and goats passed by spores carried in their fleeces, and which was known as the wool sorters disease. There were 62 fatal cases in Bradford between 1916 and 1920, but this number fell sharply after Dr Eurich discovered a system of disinfection involving heat and formaldehyde at the Conditioning House. Bradford Daily Telegraph th 7 February, 1893 – Lost in Baildon a Fox Terrier. It answers to the name of Tyrant and has three black spots on its body. Finder to contact Baildon Lodge. th 5 September, 1894 – Accident to a Bradford gentleman. Mr Joseph Drake, son of the late Alderman Drake was yesterday out riding on a horse belonging to Mr Alfred Hoffman of Baildon Lodge, when he met with an accident. The riderless horse arrived at Shipley last evening, from the saddle of which the stirrup on one side was missing, and efforts were made to discover the rider. In the meantime Mr Drake reached home but was not, fortunately, seriously injured. th 15 July, 1896 – at the residence of her brother-in-law, Alfred W Hoffman of Baildon Lodge, the death of Emily, youngest daughter of the late Nathan Drake. th 6 December, 1899 – Mr Alfred Hoffman of Baildon Lodge, brother of Colonel Hoffman, is suffering from a severe attack of typhoid fever and has been confined to his house for several weeks. Shipley Times and Express th 12 August, 1904 – Gentleman’s valet absconds. On Thursday last, a person named Walter James, a valet on the employ of Mr A.W Hoffman of Baildon Lodge, disappeared and soon afterwards his employer found that a sum of nearly £50 has been taken. James, who was formerly in the Army, is believed to be a native of London. He is of smart, military appearance and about 46 years of age. Mr Hoffman placed the utmost confidence in him. James had been employed at Baildon Lodge for about ten years. He is reported to have got into difficulties through betting. Mr Hoffman is sorry for the betrayal of his confidence. The police have been communicated with on the subject. th 17 February, 1906 – Wanted at once, an Upstairs Maid. Good references required. Apply Mrs Alfred Hoffman, Baildon Lodge. th 16 July, 1909 – Mr A.W Hoffman won two silver rose bowls in the amateur class at the Saltaire Rose Show. Wharfedale and Airedale Observer Motor cycling at dangerous speed. Mr John A Hoffman of Baildon Lodge was summoned at Bradford on Wednesday for driving his motor cycle at a dangerous st speed. According to the evidence, on July 21 he rode up Cheapside in Bradford at an estimated speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour at a time when there was a good deal of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Mr S.E.Nixon of Headingley said that he had just stepped off a car at the bottom of Cheapside when the defendant swept past and up the hill. He spoke to the constable on point duty and this officer estimated the speed at 30 miles per hour. In the witness box the defendant said he had only ridden 15 yards when he passed the officer and, as his machine is geared abnormally high, it could not possibly have accelerated to anything like the speed mentioned. The Stipendiary Magistrate imposed a fine of £2 including costs, and expressed the opinion that motor cycles did travel too fast and steps should be taken to moderate them. Shipley Times and Express nd 2 January, 1914 – A striking illustration of the mildness of the weather experienced up to Christmas was seen in the garden of Mr A.W.Hoffman, Baildon Lodge, where there were many beautiful rose blooms. nd 2 October, 1914 – Men who have joined the Kings forces include Jack Hoffman of Baildon Lodge who has joined the West Middlesex Regiment. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer th 29 May, 1921 – The engagement is announced between John A Hoffman, son of Mr and Mrs Alfred W Hoffman of Baildon Lodge and Elizabeth (‘Betty’), only daughter of Mr and Mrs F.J. Haggas, JP, of Cliffe Lodge, Baildon. th th th 7 April, 1927 – the death is announced on April 6 in his 66 year of Alfred William Hoffman, Service at Scholemoor Crematorium, Bradford at 11-30am tomorrow, th April 8 . No flowers, no mourning, by request. In 1928 Sarah is living alone at the Lodge. Electoral Roll 1929 & 1930 – no entry (house vacant?) 1931 – William, Ann & Henry Hudson 1932 & 1933 – no entry (house vacant?) Electoral Roll - 1934 to 1940 – Edgar & Sarah Wrigglesworth Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer st 31 January, 1934 – Wanted immediately, young experienced nanny for boy two years old. Good refs. Mrs Wrigglesworth, Baildon Lodge. Wanted experienced Cook- General, to wash; housemaid kept. Mrs Wrigglesworth, Baildon Lodge, Station Rd, Baildon. In October, 1940, the Sunday Schools at the Primitive Methodist and Moravian Churches, the Picture House (opposite the Malt Shovel) and a number of large houses were commandeered by the military authorities for billeting purposes. It may be that Baildon House and Lodge were amongst the houses chosen. Mary France, in “Wartime Remembered” by Baildon Oral History Group, recalls that the seats in the Picture House (opposite the Malt Shovel on Northgate) had been removed to accommodate the soldiers and the floor was very sloping. “They went to sleep in the 1/3d and woke up in the 4d”. “Most of the soldiers attended dances at the Parochial Hall and there was no shortage of partners – but we had to develop the art of avoiding untrained feet.” A canteen for service personnel was opened in the Methodist Sunday School. Electoral Roll - 1945 to 1956 – Thomas & Eileen Briggs Electoral Roll - 1957 to 1962 – Peter & Stephanie Marbach Shipley Times and Express th 13 April, 1955 - Mr Peter Marbach of Baildon Lodge and managing director of Petmar Industries, Batley, left for a continental business tour on Monday. The tour will last for 16 days of road travel, and during that time he will visit Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. Before setting out he said “In these days the need to expand our economy, especially in the textile areas, is apparent. This can, to some extent, be achieved by increasing our exports on a national scale. I trust that my visit to Europe will have the dual effect of increasing our own sales abroad and in doing so further the country’s balance of trade position.” th 26 September, 1956 – Baildon Lodge, the beautiful home of Mr and Mrs Peter Marbach was the delightful setting for a cocktail party and reception. Lord Swinton was the principal guest. th 12 March, 1958 – Allan Binns, aged 33, a labourer of 10, Kelvin St, Bradford 4, was fined £10 after he had pleaded guilty to stealing a £1 note, the property of Alice Brullhardt at Baildon Lodge. Miss Brullhardt was the maid at Baildon Lodge, and while her employers were away in America she was in charge of the house. About nine o’clock in the morning of January this year she placed a £1 note in her purse, later putting it in her shopping bag and left it on the kitchen table. During the course of the morning the accused, who was at that time a window cleaner in the Baildon area, called at the Lodge and told her he would repair a broken window in an upstairs room. She allowed him to enter the house and he went to the window upstairs. He later came back into the kitchen. Miss Brullhardt told him that she was going to the shop and he said that he would accompany her. She went upstairs and returned five minutes later and found that he had left the house. She also found that the £1 note was missing from her purse. She reported the matter to the police, and when the accused was seen at his home he said ‘It wasn’t me, you are on the wrong man.’ He was questioned further and admitted the offence. Chief Inspector Allderidge said Binns had previous convictions for false pretences, housebreaking, larceny and forgery. The Chairman said that they were giving Binns one last chance and ordered him to pay the £10 fine at ten shillings a week. st 21 May, 1958 – A new Baildon company. New companies announced on Friday by Jordan and Sons Ltd, company registration agents, included Processed Fibres Ltd, Baildon Lodge, Baildon. Nominal capital £100 in £1 shares. Directors L.P.Marbach, Norman H Gaunt and Stephanie Marbach, all of Baildon Lodge. Electoral Roll – 1974 to 1978 – Kenneth and Sheila Blundell Electoral Roll – 1979 to 1982 – Graham and Vivian Ing In 1985 Baildon Lodge became a residential home for the elderly, owned by Dr Wozney, which closed in 1996/7. 1997 – Baildon Lodge was bought and redecorated by the Berry family. The th residential home was then re-opened as Grange Court on 4 January, 1998. There have been a number of building renovations since then, including  joining the existing house to the stable building in 1999  the conservatory was completed and a side garden landscaped in 2010  a hair salon and toilet facilities provided on the ground floor in 2011  additional rooms were created in 2018 to bring occupancy up to 30 residents. Roger Clarke (With thanks to Tish Lawson and Colin Coates for their help) October, 2019
2020.6.2: Saltaire Overlookers 1830-1914
'Saltaire Overlookers 1830-1914' by Roger Clarke, with contributions by Colin Coates: Includes items relating to individual overlookers and the social life of overlookers
Saltaire Overlookers 1830 to 1914 By Roger Clarke in collaboration with Colin Coates 1 Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Colin Coates, whose ability to use his computer skills to access information from census returns, newspaper stories, and many other sources has provided me with detailed material which would otherwise have been unavailable, especially in the biographies of Saltaire residents. His research is much appreciated. I have used Jack Reynold’s ‘The Great Paternalist’, published 1983 extensively in researching information about Saltaire in Victorian times. Part one Setting the scene th At the end of the 18 century the time was right for change, and for a different attitude towards work and employment. Calvin preached that hard work, thrift, and efficiency in one’s worldly calling were keys to eternal salvation. Profit is an end in itself, and the pursuit of profit is virtuous. Early capitalists needed a skilled and unskilled workforce disciplined to accept long hours and harsh conditions for as small a wage as possible to maximise profits. The organisation of labour in textile mills was dependent on the nature of the machinery involved, which determined the need for huge galleries and a large workforce to service the machines. Examples of early mills are:- • In 1776, Richard Arkwright, built his cotton mill at New Lanark. There were 9 rooms in the mill for preparing the raw cotton, carding drawing and roving, bobbin winding, throstle spinning, mule spinning, warping and beaming, drawing and weaving, and each was under the control of an overlooker. • In 1840, Brunswick cotton spinning mill, Ancoats, Manchester was built by David Bellhouse who employed William Fairburn to design a 7 storey block which housed 276 carding machines, 77,000 mule spindles, 20 drawing frames, 50 slubbing frames, and 81 roving frames. Overlookers The typical structure of the mill was to have a department manager and an overlooker for each of the mechanised processes involved from combing to dyeing. The following list outlines the generic role of the overlooker in all departments:- • Middle management between workers and bosses. • Maintenance of machines – regular oiling and checking, often before workers arrived. Undertake basic repairs, bringing in specialist mechanics if 2 necessary. Salts had their own specialists. Some overlookers were so good that they could tell if a machine was about to break down before it did. • Checking attendance. Workers were only allowed in at specific times and if you missed the time you might be allowed in after paying a fine. Overlookers had to make sure they had enough workers to operate the machines in their department, which included breaks and lunchtime when the machines continued to run. • Making sure that workers operated the machines efficiently and reliably. • Inspected the quality of the pieces before they left the department. • Hiring and firing. In some mills managers insisted on interviewing the overlooker’s choice. Workers could appeal to management if they felt unfairly dismissed. • Reporting accidents. • Checking use of toilets, ensuring that only one person used them at a time to prevent time wasting and gossiping. • The effectiveness of overlookers depended on their personalities and their ability to motivate workers as well as keeping control. • Training on the job. Observing the overlooker, but then had to attend evening classes 3 nights a week for a year. Then had one day a week day release and one evening a week for classes. The process could take 4 to 6 years. Bradford Mechanics Institute (between 1832 and 1882) and then Bradford Technical College offered other business classes which they could choose from. All funded by Mill. Apprentice overlookers could find that they were earning less money than mill juniors because the mill was paying for their training. Overlookers played their greatest role in spinning and weaving. In spinning they repaired machinery, inspected the final product and supervised both drawing and spinning room operatives. Each spinning room overlooker supervised about 40 workers. Weaving overlookers performed similar tasks but in addition they inspected the warps for weaving and determined the quality of the completed pieces. They were in charge of 50 to 100 looms. Overlookers were paid more than ordinary workers. They received 28/- to 30/- a week, compared with 14/- to 28/- for male workers, 9/- for female workers and 8/- to 10/- for children. Which raises the interesting question of how this payment was worked out for the most demanding overlooker role - in the weaving department. There had to be an element of technical skill here because overlookers would not only maintain the looms, they would often tune them and set up the patterns which were to be woven. But how do you calculate, in cash terms, for their exercise of authority over the workers? They were responsible for the flow of production and therefore controlled the distribution of work, the speed at which snags were overcome and the immediate discipline of the floor. One way was to put a value on the product of the worker’s labour i.e. the pieces of cloth produced – their length, complexity and density of the weave. In which case 3 their wages would vary from week to week according to piecework. Mills varied in the amount allowed for piecework and that allowed for the overlooker’s contribution. There was a ratio of 1 overlooker per 30 to 40 workers. Overlookers were invariably male in contrast to a largely female and child workforce. The complexity of the overlooker’s role is obvious from one of the few surviving examples of an overlooker’s notebook which can be found in the West Yorkshire Archive. It was the property of Fred Shackleton, an overlooker in Salts Mill in 1919. He was responsible for twisting, warping, winding and reeling. His notebook contains long handwritten lists of information about wages for a wide range of workers including takers-off, doffers, setters, jobbers, reelers, warpers, winders and hankers, and the prices of materials, all of which changed regularly and had to be updated. Overlookers had to be literate and numerate which many workers were not. Discipline of the workforce. In supervising the workers, especially children, overlookers often resorted to physical punishment. • “The overlooker gave us all a bit of the alley strap. It used to knock all the bits of wool, you know all the waste, it used to send it under the frames, so when the walking boss came round it were all tidy you see. Oh it were a big alley strap and it were all leather, and if they didn’t behave themselves they got a bit of this alley strap”. (From ‘Textile Voices’ by Tim Smith and Olive Howarth – Bradford Heritage Recording Unit. Published by Bradford Museums, Galleries and Heritage). • “Newspapers carried reports of continued violence in the work place, such as the 10 year old who died in March,1857, a week after a beating by an overlooker at Garnett’s Mill. The frequency of such violence led the ‘Textile Manufacturer’ to remark in December, 1875, that overlookers seemed to believe that they could treat children as they pleased. It recommended that notices be posted telling overlookers that they could not strike children.” • Evidence provided to the Factory Commissioners in 1832 stated “Discipline was the responsibility of the overlooker and was invariably maintained using a strap. In some mills it was not unknown for the overlooker to use a spindle from one of the machines to discipline children; particularly boys, who seem to have been dealt with more harshly than girls. One overlooker said that he had occasionally seen girls of 15 or 16 strapped, and on one occasion a woman of 20, although he had not strapped any girl over the age of 14. The same man said that he had sometimes seen parents of boys come to the mill to complain about excessive beatings. He also said that he thought that many parents did not complain about excessive beatings because they were afraid that it would encourage the overlooker concerned to find a reason to dismiss the child as quickly as possible. Interestingly, the majority of children giving evidence did not appear to feel aggrieved at having been beaten.” 4 • Sutcliffe Rhodes, frequent commentator in the local Press in the 1860s, cites “the sight of an emaciated form of a spinning girl rendered helpless by the scandalous abuse of an overlooker. And the dying spinner boy who said ‘Ellis Brook (overlooker) has pawsed me right hard”. There are many descriptions of the condition of children in mills in literature, including Disraelis ‘Sybil’ or ‘The Two Nations’ (1845) Dickens ‘Hard Times’ Charlotte Bronte ‘Shirley’ (1849) Frances Trollop ‘Michael Armstrong’ (1876) Gaskells ‘Mary Barton’ and ‘North and South’ (1854) Mrs Tonna ‘Helen Fleetwood’ (1839) I could find little evidence of extreme sexual abuse, such as that demonstrated in the 2015 film ‘Suffragette’ starring Meryl Streep as Emmaline Pankhurst and Cory Milligan as Maud Watts a laundry worker. A male supervisor has been sexually abusing girls in the laundry for years, including Maud and currently a friend’s young daughter. It may be that even when sexual abuse was known about it remained covert and was not publicised - certainly not in courts or newspapers. For example, between 1870 and 1914, 39 cases of sexual abuse came before Hamstead magistrates. Only a quarter were committed for trial. Three quarters were dealt with summarily. 60% of these received a conviction for common assault or indecent exposure and 40% were dismissed. As in other areas of the country, cases of sexual abuse were either acquitted or trivialised as minor public order offences. And from the Office of National Statistics we have • “In excess of 500 people were dealt with by the courts per year during the 1920s, rising incrementally to over 5,000 by the 1960s. • Throughout, however, this represented merely the tip of an iceberg. It is likely that the ten-fold increase was a result of changes in police and criminal justice procedure (enabling more cases to be reported and recorded) rather than an increase in prevalence. • Whilst the number of cases reported to the police increased incrementally across the period, evidence suggests there was a significant decline in the proportion that resulted in guilty verdicts. The law had been constructed as a reaction to Victorian moral anxieties – including concerns about homosexuality - rather than the need to protect and safeguard children. This means that children (as those against whom offences were committed) were only partially visible within the criminal justice statistics. In sum, the British state did not effectively monitor abuse of children. Ultimately it is only possible to conclude that the law and criminal justice system were woefully inadequate in dealing with child sexual abuse.” 5 However, there are examples of sexual harassment such as:- “There were one fellow, and we used to call him ‘Touchy’ because every time he come reckoning to look at the box he’d touch your behind. I remember one time I were on the box, and we used to warn each other when he was coming. They all used to say ‘watch him with Hilda’. And of course this day I didn’t know he were on and I was doing something with my machine and he come and put his hand right across my bottom. So I turned round, picked up a bobbin and hit him with it. So they took me to the office for it. The gentleman that was over the overlookers asked me what I hit him for. I said, ‘when he stops touching my arse I’ll stop hitting him with bobbins.” (Textile Voices) Women’s rights were very limited in the Nineteenth Century. The following is a reminder of what they were:- “1857 Matrimonial Causes Act – a man could divorce his wife for adultery, but she had to prove his adultery and also an additional ‘matrimonial offence’ such as cruelty, desertion, bigamy or incest. The reason was that a wife’s adultery ‘might introduce a spurious child into the family whereas a man’s promiscuity would have no such deleterious effects’. Under common law a married woman’s independent identity was totally subsumed in that of her husband under the doctrine of ‘coverture’. She was not able to enter into legal contacts and had no rights in her own property. All she had earned or inherited belonged to her husband. The 1870 Married Women’s Property Act was passed but inadequately gave women further rights. Husbands could gamble or drink away their wife’s earnings. Wives could not even have custody of their own children since the father was deemed to be the ‘natural’ guardian regardless of his faults. In 1878 the Matrimonial Causes Act enabled brutalised wives to obtain a Protection Order with the force of a judicial separation in the Magistrates Court to receive custody of their children and be awarded maintenance. However this did not constitute divorce and the woman could not remarry.” (From Sex, Gender and Social Change In Britain since 1880 by Lesley A Hall) Fortunately there are also examples of overlookers motivating their workers using more easy going methods. For example:- “We made a parcel up. We put orange peel, mucky bobbins, sweepings up, and made a lovely parcel and wrote on it ‘To our beloved overlooker from his doffers’. Well he got hold of it and looked at it you know, he’s looking right slyly around him, and he crept out and went into the men’s toilet. When he came out he shied the bobbins at us, orange peel, apple cores, banana skins. Anyhow he were a lovely overlooker and we loved him.” (Textile Voices) But there are other ideas about discipline and control in mills When Robert Owen took over control of the New Lanark Mill in the early 1800s he devised a new way for overlookers to control his workers in the workplace. He introduced the silent monitor. This was a four-sided piece of wood 2 inches long and one inch wide, each side coloured – one side black, one blue, one yellow and 6 one white, with a hook on top to hang it near to every person employed. The colour to the front told of the conduct of the person on the preceding day. Books of character were provided for each Department with the names of employees listed and monitor readings were noted in the book. The books were changed six times a year and were preserved. This system was similar to Jeremy Bentham’s Panoptican, a model prison featuring a central tower with several wings radiating out from it. The prisoner can always see the tower but never knows when or from where he is being observed. Prisoners self police their own behaviour because the guard may be watching, Each individual is seen but cannot communicate with the warders or other prisoners. The panopticon induces a sense of permanent visibility that ensures the functioning of power. Surveillance is permanent in its effects even if it is discontinuous in its action. Michelle Foucault was a French philosopher who had well formulated ideas about the nature of power in various social settings. He looked at diamond mines, prisons, schools, hospitals and the military, and saw common features in the way in which they impose disciplinary power in order to create ‘docile, obedient bodies’. That is, discipline must come about without excessive force through careful observation. Individual personal differences are not acknowledged unless they are related to skill, promotion or production. The Mill is divided into discrete departments and workers are classified in this way. The disciplinary power of the Mill is that it controls this system, and individuals become workers (or ‘operatives’). In Saltaire, this system of discipline is extended because the houses which the workers rented are owned by the Mill and linked with their employment . There are two local examples of this form of disciplinary surveillance. Saltaire Primary School has a balcony extending all the way around a central hall below which classrooms are situated, each with glass windows which enable a headteacher to observe the classroom from above without being seen. Salts Mill has huge open galleries (especially ‘The Lobby’) within which the textile machines were situated, enabling overlookers to observe a number of machines without actually approaching them. In a Bradford Mill Rachel Bellerby (‘Chasing the Sixpence – the lives of Bradford Mill Folk’ published by Fort Publishing Ltd) describes an overlooker who “had his own small office at the end of the weaving shed, which had glass sides so that he could always see what was happening on the floor”. Part Two The local scene in Saltaire 7 Titus Salt had mills in Bradford before starting to build Saltaire in 1851. Between 1851 and 1853 Salts Mill was built, and in 1853 house building began. Jack Reynolds notes that Saltaire had a selected population – key workers from Salt’s Bradford mills. Overlookers were amongst the first to go to Saltaire. Groups of workers were influenced by overlooker choices and followed them to the village. Warp dressers whose work was crucial at an early stage in the textile process were treated in the same way. Other groups moved more slowly. Overlookers and other senior workers formed an element in the so called workers committee which was responsible for allocating tenancies in the village. Titus Salt had seen Saltaire as being a place where the mistakes of Bradford could be rectified and a model industrial community could be created meeting his workers spiritual, moral, educational, housing, environmental and social needs – very different to the Bradford which his workers had left behind. The original plans for Saltaire specified two types of housing – workers and overlookers houses. This distinction has never narrowly determined their actual occupancy. The overlookers houses were larger and more expensive to rent and therefore more likely to be occupied by people in Jack Reynold’s ‘executive’ group of employees which includes wool buyers, designers, engineers, chief cashiers, managers, foremen and overlookers. Their size also means that they are more suitable for large families or for use of two families which wanted to live together and share the rent whatever their social position. These houses were initially on William Henry St, and George St, followed by ‘improved’ overlooker houses on Victoria Rd, Albert Rd and on Gordon Terrace and Myrtle Place. House building continued uphill towards Bradford Rd, with the improved housing of later build appealing to overlooker choices and there was a lot of tenant mobility. Reynolds says “Removals within the village were a persistent feature of village life. Of those who stayed between 1861 and 1871, over 50% moved to better or newer houses as they were completed and left older property to newcomers”. The following table shows overlooker choices over time according to Census returns. Overlookers Choice of Houses by street Street 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 Ada St 6 4 1 1 2 Albert Rd 6 4 3 4 5 Albert Ter 1 1 3 Almshouses 4 Amelia St 5 2 2 Bath Buildings 1 Caroline St 2 4 1 6 2 Constance St 1 2 5 2 2 Daisy Place 1 8 Dove St 1 2 4 2 7 Edward St 2 1 1 1 2 1 Fanny St 4 1 1 Fern Place 1 1 Garden 1 1 1 1 Cottage George St 11 10 10 9 7 11 Gordon Ter 4 4 2 3 Harold Place 1 1 1 1 1 Helen St 4 2 1 3 3 1 Herbert St 4 4 3 1 2 3 Higher School 1 1 St Jane St 2 1 6 3 Katherine St 1 1 Lockwood St 1 1 2 2 3 Lower School 1 5 2 2 St Mary St 6 3 1 1 1 3 Mawson St 3 4 4 2 2 Myrtle Place 1 1 Shirley St 2 1 8 1 1 3 Titus St 8 13 12 7 6 3 Victoria Rd 1 7 7 4 4 4 Whitlam St 4 3 4 2 1 William Henry 3 2 3 1 2 2 St This table shows one thing very clearly – that in the Mill the overlookers were part of the management structure but at home they lived on the same streets as fellow workers and were regarded as working men. I looked in detail at both overlooker and ordinary worker’s families and found very little difference in terms of number of children or lifestyle. One difference is that overlookers tended to be better educated than the ordinary workers. They had to have a better level of literacy to embark on an apprenticeship, and to follow their overlooker training. They also arranged for their children to remain in education for as long as possible, recognising that this was necessary to enter a skilled trade on leaving school. However, education was expensive at secondary level, and it is suggested that a foreman earning less than £100 per year could not afford to send their children to school beyond 13 or 14 years. The children of ordinary workers left school earlier, as soon as possible to begin work in the mill and earn a wage. Many were half-timers. Overlookers wives and families were closely involved in village life, living alongside the families of ordinary workers. Married women and their children, whatever their husband’s occupation, shared the everyday life of the village. It might not be 9 possible to know all 4,300 inhabitants of the village in 1906, but gossip was a common commodity , and Edward Stanners remarked at a later date that the women on the factory floor would often get to work half an hour early in order to ‘cal’ and catch up with the latest events in the village. The fact that Saltaire village had clear boundaries and was widely publicised as a model village gave workers of all kinds a sense of pride, belonging and a shared commitment to each other. Many employees and their families had known each other for many years working for the same firm even before moving to Saltaire and there were often kinship links. Some overlookers had worked as ordinary workers in the past. My hypothesis Overlookers were in a position to take the lead in contributing to community initiatives “Skilled men played a greater part than others in the administration of village facilities” (Reynolds) The following is a look at the evidence that this was the case. In Parliament The Nine Hours Movement. “Began with engineers and craft unions nationally, and only became a real issue when taken up by textile workers, led by overlookers. It was headed by Mundella, MP for Sheffield who consulted with the Overlookers’ Short Time Committees in Bradford and Leeds and brought a Bill before the House in 1872 to limit the working hours of women and children in factories to nine hours a day. A group of employers opposed the Bill, suggesting that although they worked longer hours than most craftsmen they did not work as hard in ten hours as the men did in nine. A deputation including Edward Salt presented their views to the Home Office. They claimed that there was no widespread desire among workers for a reduction of hours, for many textile workers were on piece rates and the prospect only faced them with diminished earnings. They claimed that the overlookers who had brought the agitation did so to bring their own hours into line with mill craftsmen who had obtained the reduction through their unions. Mundella’s Bill did not pass the House but a less generous Bill, the Ten Hour Bill was passed by the Disraeli administration.” (Reynolds) and “Working men were beginning to demand a more real political authority, either through a Radical/Labour wing of the Liberal Party or in a new Independent Labour Movement. In 1892, Saltaire men joined with Shipley working men to indicate that they were no longer willing to accept the political leadership of the local mill owners, and in particular the special authority of Salts. They produced their own Liberal/Labour candidate for the general election of 1892 – WP Byles had backed the strikers at Manningham Mills in 1890/91. He won the seat, leading to the resignation of Charles Stead as chairman of the Shipley Liberal Executive. Seth 10 Bentley, manager of Saltaire Baths, and a regular critic of the Salt authority, took Stead’s place. Among the men who supported him on the Executive were vice presidents Alex George, J Cryer, and Isaac Sanctuary. Isaac Sanctuary later joined the Bradford Independent Labour Party in 1893 when a branch was formed in Shipley, and his place on the Liberal Executive was taken by his brother Jacob.” (Reynolds) There were two political organisations in Shipley Shipley Liberal Club. Charles St, off Briggate, Shipley. Opened 1887. 400 members. Shipley Conservative Club. Atkinson St, off Westgate, Shipley with 300 members. Plus Saltaire Manhood Suffrage Association. “By 1866 there was a powerful branch of the National Reform League in Saltaire with secretary Robert Power, ‘an uncompromising radical’, son of Edward Power who had been imprisoned in 1848 in Bradford for Chartist activity. In 1866 and Easter Tuesday in 1887 the Manhood Suffrage Association turned out in force with the blessing of the firm which closed for the 1866 occasion since it was not a public holiday. The Saltaire Brass Band played the accompaniment to the march from Saltaire to Leeds. The National Reform League was a working class movement which asserted the intrinsic dignity and worth of working men as individuals and as members of a class. Unlike Chartism it did not demand social reform – it was a franchise for men who were properly ‘residential and registered”. (Jack Reynolds) In Saltaire Let’s begin by looking at organisations which provided safeguards against death and sickness. Saltaire Funeral Brief Society Open to anyone over 7 years old living in Saltaire and in good health pay 1.5d under 21, and over 21 they pay 3d as an entrance fee. Then a levy of 2d is made on those over 21 and 1d under that age. They receive £5 on death if over 21 and £4 under that age. The Society was formed in 1857 and by 1879 it had nearly 3,000 members. Originally Thomas Greenwood of 22, George St, an overlooker, was the secretary. Like the savings bank it was run by senior workers. In 1879, James Rushton was President, James Paley, (spinning overlooker) secretary, and the committee of 15 was made up of overlookers, specialist mechanics and warehouse men with only one ordinary ‘millhand’. Among the committee were men who were constantly active in the affairs of the village – Sharp Varley (weaving overlooker), Samuel Baldwin (overlooker), Edwin Cox and John Lambert. Saltaire Men’s Society 11 For relief of the sick. John Wood of 9. Mawson St, Secretary. Members above 18 and under 25 pay 6d per month, and above 25 but under 50 pay 8d per month. During sickness they are entitled to 8s per week for the first six months, 4s for the next six weeks and 2s per week after that. In addition to payments from members, Sir Titus Salt pays the Society 4d per month for each member enrolled. Saltaire Women’s Society For relief of the sick. Thomas Greenwood (overlooker), 22, George St, Secretary. Members over 16 pay 4d per month. They are then entitled to 5s for the first six months of sickness, and 3s per week afterwards. Sir Titus Salt pays the Society 6d per month for every member enrolled. Other organisations which encouraged saving to meet times of need included:- Saltaire Penny Savings Bank. Formed in 1857 by a number of senior workmen with Joseph Dawson, foreman of the wool warehouse as secretary. Post Office Savings Bank Opened in 1861 enabling the GPO to provide a simple savings scheme for ordinary wage earners. By 1914 it had more than 8.5 million accounts, almost 80% of which were under £25. Bingley, Shipley and Keighley Building Society. Established 1851. Opens in Shipley at Yorkshire Bank Chambers, Otley Rd twice a week to collect subscriptions. Branch of Bradford Old Bank. Open daily on Market Place, Shipley. Friendly Societies To ward off the effect of sickness, injury or death amongst working men. The three largest Friendly Societies were the Oddfellows, the Foresters and the Royal and Ancient Order of Buffaloes. 8% of the population in 1815 were in Friendly Societies. Legislation to encourage the formation of Friendly Societies came as early as 1793. This was consolidated in 1850 with an Act of Parliament and a government department was established to administer the Act. By the early 1830s the Oddfellows had 30,000 members and 561 lodges, increasing to 90,000 members and 3,500 lodges by 1842. There were lodges in every county of England. By 1874 there were 489,237 members and 1908 there were 868,190. The Bradford branch of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows was the richest in the West Riding and had 27 lodges, 3,382 members and paid out over £3,000 a year in death, sickness and medical benefits in 1850.’ Royal Antedeluvian Order of Buffaloes (The Buffs). Formed in 1822 as a Fraternal organisation who’s mission was Justice, Truth and Philanthropy. They aided members and their families in times of need and supported local charities. Branches were called Lodges, in imitation of Freemasons. Overlookers in Bradford had the Power Loom Overlookers Society and the Amalgamated Overlookers. They had a motto of ‘United to help, not combined to injure’. They had no connection with strikes or trade unions. Their object was to benefit each other in employment and to assist each other in sickness and death. 12 They were originally Friendly Societies. The first was in 1827, Bradford No 1 Overlookers Provident Society; the second in 1833, Bradford No 2 Managers and Overlookers Society; the third in 1862, Bradford No 3 Overlookers Provident Society. All three merged in 1911 to become Bradford and District Managers and Overlookers Society. Some Mills required apprentices to join them. But help still came mainly from relatives or the pawnshop. The peak year for pawn shops came in 1914 when there were 5087 shops operating under licence in Britain. The number declined after this point. Co-ops In the 1830s/40s chandler’s shops were popular. They advanced goods on credit but often the goods were adulterated, over priced and of poor quality – and the same with firms operating the truck system. The Rochdale Pioneers bought good quality food at wholesale prices, cutting out the middle man and avoiding adulteration. Then in 1862 the Co-operative Wholesale Society was formed with similar ideas. This also provided a dividend (a payment Society profits once a year in proportion to the buyers expenditure). It had 400,000 members in 1883, reaching 2.3 million in 1913, 3.2 million in 1923 and 6 million in 1937. Saltaire Industrial Coal Society – Formed in 1864 when W Tiffany (wool sorter) was Secretary. Offices were at 13, Victoria Rd. Members received dividends and bonuses dependant on the amount of coal sold and profits made. In 1871 it had 600 to 800 members. In 1876 and 1877 there were newspaper advertisements under the heading ‘Coal! Coal! Coal!!!’ listing all the types of coal stocked and profits made. Orders received by W Tiffany of 30, Albert Rd. Jabez Copley of 20 George St was then Secretary. With Isaac Constantine they were the organisers of the Society. Independent Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd – 6, Victoria Rd. Michael Holdsworth of 4, Gordon Terrace (overlooker and later weft room manager) was secretary. Closed in Saltaire in 1881. Leeds Co-operative Society. 8, Victoria Rd. James Wilkinson, storekeeper – Isaac Constantine, President of 33, Victoria Rd. Closed in Saltaire in September, 1885. Windhill Co-operative Society opened a branch at 30/31 Caroline St in May,1881. Abraham Barras was a director. Religion Saltaire Congregational Church. Opened for divine worship in 1859, and by 1860 had a regular weekly congregation of 400, plus a Sunday School with 110 on register. It was the elite church in Saltaire with Titus Junior as a member and principal benefactor and George Morrell and Frederick Wood, Chief Cashier, among the deacons. A number of well-to-do Shipley people also formed part of the communicant membership. Saltaire Wesleyan Methodist Chapel drew its leaders from a wider social circle than the Congregational Church, and included the manager of the wool warehouse, 13 the mill engineer, several of the overlookers and woolsorters and four or five woolcombers. Low Lane Primitive Methodist Church, off Saltaire Rd, Shipley. Opened in 1840 and closed in 1960 when it was demolished. St Paul’s Parish Church, Kirkgate, Shipley Built in 1826 St Walburger’s Catholic Church (Parish of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). Built 1878. Saltaire Society of the New Church (Swedenborgians) In his history of this Church, Bernard Leather describes that in 1870 a group of men (many of whom were Salts Mill workers), looking for rooms to rent where religious services could be held. They first used 13, Victoria Rd but in 1882/3 they “took the tenancy of two small rooms in Saltaire Rd, Saltaire which were part of the group of almshouses”. This was also known as Chapel House which held Sunday services for the Congregational Church. It was No 6, Alexandra Square (later renumbered as 29, Victoria Rd). Services were held there until 1924 and Leather describes the rooms in detail. Isaac and Jacob Sanctuary, Albert Cawthra, Robert Power, John Preston (an artist), Ben Preston (writer and poet), Abraham Holroyd (bookseller and stationer), Jonathan Mitchell (warp twister), Richard Barker (warp twister), Seth Bentley (manager Saltaire Bath-house), and James Mattack of Baildon (shopkeeper of various wares and street trader) were the founders. They were articulate, strong minded men with firm political and religious ideas. I understand that Swedenborgianism is an interpretation of the Bible which can be incorporated into other religious beliefs and so the members came from a number of religious backgrounds. In 1901, the group bought land in Park St from the Trustees of Sir Titus’ will and Sir Titus Salt Bart. Sons and Co Ltd, but never built a church there. In 1924 the Saltaire group amalgamated with the Bradford Society of the New Church and opened a New Church at Ashfield Avenue, Frizinghall. Apart from all these formal organisations, there were many societies for Saltarians to join in their leisure time. Fire Brigade – S Shackleton, Foreman, 29, Victoria Rd. Floral and Horticultural Society – Founded 1861. Renamed the Horticultural, Pig and Dog Society in 1873 and then the Horticultural, Pig, Dog, Poultry and Pigeon Society in 1876. W Tiffany, 30 Albert Rd, Secretary. “It had about 100 members, most prominent among them were long serving and skilled employees such as Eli Lambert, Isaac Constantine, John Hanson, James Ellis, Sam Baldwin and James Rushton. Men of this type were most likely to be allocated and to keep the allotments which the firm provided, though they could not establish a total monopoly since there were 100 allotments and 38 piggeries along the canal-side. It had an annual show and exhibition which was a highlight of the village social life. In addition to a produce competition (judged by the Head 14 Gardener from Methley Park) there were athletic events attracting a nationwide field and games were arranged for the children”. (Reynolds) In 1869 there were also horses jumping hurdles and a velocipede race. From 1867 to 1876 it was “held in a field owned by Mr Titus Salt situated on the Baildon side of the River Aire – the entrance to which was rather difficult and inconvenient owing to the fact that the construction of a new bridge is going on just now” (Bradford Observer). This presumably was what, since 1871, was Saltaire Park (later Roberts Park). There were no shows between 1877 and 1881, but in 1882 it was held on a recreation ground on Albert Rd. Cricket Club – William Parker, Secretary. It was destined, like the gymnastics club and the brass band, to achieve national fame. It was founded in 1865 with 140 members and promise by Salt to provide a playing area. It was reorganised in 1871 when the firm began to take a more positive interest in its affairs. The managing director, Charles Stead became President and Titus Salt was on the committee. The firm (under Sir James Roberts) provided a ground in the new park and generous financial help. The Half Moon Café was built for the Club. (There is a book by Patsy Quinn called ‘Run of the Mill’ which describes the history of the Club but which unfortunately concentrates on professional players like Sidney Banks and doesn’t mention the ordinary members at all. It does however have a photo of the Veterans team which is worth looking at). String and Reed Band – Anthony Hill of Caroline St was bandmaster. Saltaire Brass band. Challenged the already famous Black Dyke Mills band for pre-eminence in national competitions. It was originally founded in 1855 and called the Saltaire Brass Band, supported financially by Titus with £1,000 per year. There were two bands originally – a drum and fife band for the boys and a brass band for the men of the village, all of whom worked in the Mill. It began to enter national competitions, gaining first prize at the Crystal Palace in London in 1861, and second prize at the Belle Vue September Contest in 1872. There were numerous prizes at more local contests, but from the early 1870’s it was no longer entering national competitions. In 1894 it was disbanded, and the instruments were called in by the Company. Then there was a time gap until 1932 when it reformed as Salts Silver under the tuition of Mr HB Hawley, and they used to practice in the Royal Café (Salt’s old dining hall on Victoria Road). It changed its name to Salts (Saltaire) Band and was very successful on the national scene. Mr Hawley continued as its sponsor, but in 1946 he decided to form a new junior band and link this with his thriving business – he was managing director of Hammond’s Sauce Company. Some of the original senior band members transferred to this new band and Hammond’s Sauce Works Band was born, to go on to national fame and recognition. Hawley died in 1981, leading to changes in the management at Hammonds, and sponsorship was finally withdrawn in the early 1990s. Fortunately Yorkshire Building Society came in with a new offer to sponsor, and the name changed to the Yorkshire Building Society Band, and then to the YBS Band. 15 In January, 2009, the band was renamed the Hammond’s Saltaire Band. Gymnastics Club. Housed at the Institute it became a leading club in the north of England. Glee and Madrigal Society – John Johnson, Secretary. In 1869 J Giles of 47, George St was secretary. Saltaire Prize Choir Formed in 1877 as the Saltaire Wesleyan Choir, this choral group went on to achieve huge successes on the national musical scene. All over Britain, competitions were held with cash prizes, encouraging groups to form in order to win substantial rewards. The Wesleyan Choir became the Saltaire Prize Choir in 1889, and here are a few of their most notable achievements:- • Held at Hawes, the Hardraw Scar Brass Band and Choral Contest was set in an natural outdoor amphitheatre. Saltaire Prize Choir won first prize in 1890, and went on to compete here with the same success for many years. • In 1891, they performed at the Welsh National Eisteddfod in Swansea and picked up a second prize. They endured a 10 hour train ride to get there, performing before 30,000 people in a canvas tent in the rain. • At Tanfield, near Newcastle, they were invited to the mansion of Sir Frederick Milbank, Bart, there they sang and were given the freedom to explore the house and gardens. • After winning first prize at Morecambe in 1896, they returned home by train at 1-30am on Sunday morning to be greeted on the station by hundreds of supporters to welcome them back. In the pouring rain the crowd demanded a short concert on the railway bridge where the choir sang “The Sea Hath its Pearls” by Pinsuti and “Great God of Love” a madrigal in 8 parts by Pearsall – all without copies and under umbrella canopies. But perhaps the best know of their achievements was their performance at the Second Annual International Music Traders’ Exhibition, Royal Agricultural Hall, London in July, 1896, where they were awarded first prize of a Gebruder Knake white grand piano, worth 100 guineas. Angling Association – GH Bayley of 12 Victoria Rd and J Hall of Market St, Bradford were agents. Jack Reynolds notes that “There was a fishing club with one of there woolsorters as secretary which provided sport for about 100 men. It was supported by Titus Junior who established a trout farm at Milner Field and kept a stretch of the River Aire inside the Park stocked with fish”. Thirty-ninth West Riding Rifle Volunteers – J Crowther, Captain. Established in summer 1859. Edward Salt, George Salt and Titus Junior Salt held commissions in it for short periods and 90 young men in the village joined the ranks. Its armoury was located in Victoria Hall. Sir Titus provided beer for the men on manoeuvres. Shipley Musical Union Club. Wainman St. Established 1880. Gentlemen only. 16 Shipley Temperance Union. General Committee meets at Rosse St School. Established 1892, for the promotion of temperance and general moral well-being of the community, by efforts of an educational, remedial and preventative character. In 1906 the Shipley Temperance Union was located at The People's Hall, Otley Road, between Dale Street and Cross Banks. (thanks to David King for this information). President Mr George Morrell. There follows extracts from overlooker biographies, with their involvement in local organisations highlighted Baldwin, Samuel 1815 – 25 July 1888 Samuel Baldwin was born c1814 in Guiseley. He married Sarah Greenbough 2 February 1840 at Christ Church Bradford. They had five children. By 1861 they were living at 34 (renumbered 60) George Street in Saltaire with Samuel working as an overlooker. In August 1864 Samuel won a prize at the Saltaire Horticultural Show for his roses. By 1871 Samuel and his family had moved to 28 Victoria Road (renumbered 45 in 1880 then renumbered 71 in 1898) in Saltaire. In March 1879 Samuel was elected as an officer of the Saltaire Funeral Brief Society. Samuel died 25 July 1888 at 6 Mawson Street in Saltaire Barras, Abraham c1846 – 20 January 1925 Abraham married Sarah Horne 1 June 1868 at St Wilfrid’s Calverley. They had six children, with one dying as an infant. They lived all their lives in Windhill. In March 1885 Abraham was appointed to represent Windhill on the Central Committee of the Shipley Liberal Party. In February 1895 he was elected onto the Shipley School Board. He began work as a boy at Saltaire Mills in the spinning department and was a spinning overlooker for many years. On leaving Saltaire Mill he took up the insurance business for upwards of 20 years. In his early manhood was a prominent member of the Windhill Young Men's Institute. Later he became associated with the Windhill Wesleyan Mission, and for nearly 60 years was a well-known local preacher. He was also actively identified with the local cooperative movement and was a director of the Windhill Co- operative Society for 23 years. He was for many years a member of the Shipley Veterans Association, and during the absence of Mr. Hulme (chaplain) conducted the weekly services. Boddy, John 1843 – January 1915 John worked at Saltaire Mill for fifty four years in various jobs; warehouseman, weft man, worsted overlooker and clerk. He was an active member of the Saltaire Wesleyan Church and at one time or another held practically all the offices open to a layman. Amos Brear 17 Amos died 14 March 1919. Report from the Shipley Times 21 March 1919 as follows: - Originally a worker in Saltaire Mills, at which he became a spinning overlooker, he commenced in 1866, along with his brother, the drapery business in Saltaire Road. Mr. Brear was held in great respect and esteem by the tradesmen of Shipley, and this feeling found expression in 1906 when he was elected President the Tradesmen's Association. His connection with the Association dated from its formation. At the time of his death Mr. Brear was the senior deacon of the Saltaire Congregational Church, and he had served on the deaconate for 37 years. For over 20 years he was also treasurer of the church. With the church and Sunday school at Saltaire he had indeed been closely connected for over 65 years, Mr. Brear was a director for the last 15 years of the Bingley Building Society, a meeting of which he attended a fortnight before his death. A lifelong Liberal, and a member of the West Ward Liberal Club, he unsuccessfully contested two Urban Council elections in 1899 and 1913. After he was 50 years of age, he became a keen and enthusiastic cyclist, and rode many thousands of miles, Carr, John Francis 1896 – 26 October 1917 John was born c1896 in Saltaire. In 1911 he was living with his parents at 60 George Street in Saltaire. John Francis was employed as a worsted piece overlooker in Saltaire Mill. He was well known as the scorer for the Saltaire Cricket Club Second X1. He was also connected with Saltaire’s Men Own and the Saltaire Horticultural Society. Carr, Henry 1855 – 1924 During WW1 Henry served as secretary of the Shipley & District Ambulance Corps. Mr. Carr was one of the founders and the first secretary of the Shipley Gala Committee when it was formed in 1885, and up to these last few years had always taken an active part in the annual gala. He was also for several years’ secretary of the Yorkshire Voluntary Charitable Association, having to resign owing ill-health. As an ambulance worker. Mr. Carr had gained several honours for long and valued service. Constantine, Isaac 15 November 1827 – 5 November 1898 Isaac was a wool sorter, which was his occupation throughout his life. Isaac was a keen gardener. Living in Saltaire he won first prize for his potatoes at the Airedale Floral & Poultry Show 19 August 1856. This was the first of numerous awards he won for his vegetables. In the 1861 census Isaac and his family were living at 5 (renumbered 10) Edward Street in Saltaire. Isaac was active in politics and in local affairs. In April, 1866 he chaired a meeting to consider the Government’s Franchise Bill as part of the National Reform League In March, 1871 he chaired a meeting celebrating the Saltaire Branch of the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society Limited and the Saltaire Industrial Coal Society 18 Limited. Isaac was director of the Saltaire branch of the Leeds Co-Operative Society. By 1871 Isaac and his family had moved to 33 (renumbered 76) Victoria Road in Saltaire, where they remained the rest of their lives. In April 1874 at the annual meeting of the Saltaire Club and Institute Isaac was elected as one of sixteen committee members. At the funeral of Sir Titus Salt (5 January 1877) Isaac was one of twelve foremen of the works invited to officiate as a bearer, to carry the coffin into the Saltaire Congregational Church from the hearse. In July 1882 Isaac was reported as presiding at a meeting of the Saltaire Coal Society. In January 1886 Isaac was elected to and appointed auditor for the Shipley Liberal Hundred. Throughout his life Isaac was involved with Saltaire Cricket Club and in 1893 was vice chairman. Frank Dickinson Report from the Shipley Times 3 June 1953 as follows: - The award of the 0.B.E. to Mr Dickinson, of 58 Marlborough Road, Shipley in the birthday honours announced on Monday will be welcome news to many of Mr. Dickinson’s friends and business associates. He became the first full-time secretary of the Bradford and District Power-Loom Overlookers' Society in 1915. and in 1949 he was appointed a director of U.K. Wool Disposals, Ltd. Mr. Dickinson has been secretary of the Yorkshire Association of Power-Loom Overlookers ever since its inception in 1921. He was one of the founder members of the National Association of Unions in the Textile Trade 1916, was its chairman from 1943-46 and is still an Executive member. Mr. Dickinson served the Wool Control Board in both world wars; He was connected with the formation of the Wool Textile Industrial Council and has been a member of the management committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions since 1936. He has been a member of Bradford Employment Committee since 1920 and a member the Appellant Tribunal, for conscientious objectors' appeals since 1940. In Shipley Mr. Dickinson is a vice - president of Northcliffe Amateur Bowling Association and a member of Shipley Musical Union. He was born in Saltaire and commenced work at Saltaire Mills when he was 10 years of age. Frank died in 1962. Doyle, Thomas Francis c1855 – 6 March 1933 Mr Doyle lived in Shipley for well over thirty years and was a departmental manager at the firm of Messrs. Salt’s (Saltaire) Ltd. He was perhaps best known for his political activities. In 1913 he contested the West Ward as a Labour candidate and was elected a member of the Shipley Urban Council, but on four subsequent occasions he was returned unopposed as an Independent candidate for the same ward. In all he served on the Council for 14 years, and rendered valuable service as chairman of the Baths, Public Health, and Promenade Concert Committees, and vice-chairman of the Education Committee. During the war he was a member of the Military Service Tribunal. 19 A very keen musician. Mr. Doyle was a past president of the Shipley Musical Festival, with which he was associated for many years. He was also a member of the committee of the old Saltaire Institute Society, and a past president of the Mills Male Voice Choir. Mr. Doyle was also a former chairman the Shipley I.L.P, a past president of the Saltaire Mills Bowling Club: member of Laycock’s Debating Society, Bradford: a speaker on political economy; a member of the Astronomical Society; and a member of the old Shipley Operatic Society. As a young man he was an enthusiastic Rugby Union player and played wing three-quarter for the Buttershaw Club. His brother, Eddie Doyle, was the famous Bradford and Yorkshire full back. Ellis, Fred 19 Mar 1853 – 1947 He began work at eight in the Saltaire Mills and became a combing overlooker ten years later. He retired on a pension in 1927, after 66 years’ service without a break. In his younger days he was a notable cricketer. He assisted in the formation of the Saltaire Cricket Club and played with the first team as batsman and wicketkeeper until he retired from the game in 1887. In those days the club consisted largely of employees of the Saltaire Mills, and the team was known as the “Millboys in white.” In 1877 he played with the Saltaire and district “XV.,” which defeated the full Notts County team, and he scored nearly 100 runs against the bowling of Billy Barnes, Morley, and Flowers. Two years later he was selected by the M.C.C. to play with a team of All-England colts at Lord’s and scored an outstanding success. Ellis, Edwin 27 April 1855 – 19 September 1940 Edwin Ellis was the son of Joseph Ellis a wool warehouseman. In 1871 & 1881 they were living at 21 Victoria Road with Edwin working as a piece hooker then a weaving overlooker. In 1891 they lived at 14 Almshouses (renumbered 37 Victoria Road). In 1901 & 1911 Edwin was a weaving manager living with his family at 34 Albert Road (renumbered 67). Around 1914 they moved to 29 Avondale Road in Shipley where Edwin would spend the rest of his life. Report from the Shipley Times 28 May 1920 as follows: - “In the year 1864, before he was nine years of age, young “Ted” came to work in the mills as a half-timer and attended the school for half-timers held by the firm in the building now known as the Royal Café in Victoria Road. At this tender age he worked in the drawing room of the spinning department, but after a few months, and before he attained the solemnity of ten years, he became a jobber, which occupation he followed for some four years. At thirteen he was transferred to the weft room of the weaving department and was employed there in pegging bobbins. From the weft room he advanced to piece- hooking and weavers wages clerk, and at sixteen years of age, some 49 years ago, he took up the practical side of weaving. At that time the workers were employed on the noted Donskoi wool, when three pieces per day were turned off the loom. This employment lasted some six months, 20 and in 1873 his future was definitely decided, when, on Sir Titus Salt’s 70th birthday, young Ted became an apprentice weaving overlooker. For nine years, including his apprenticeship, he worked on ladies’ goods in the Dresses Department, and subsequently for eleven years was employed on men’s wear in the Coatings Department. A further period was spent in charge of the Pattern Weaving, and on December 13th, 1894, a few months after the advent of Mr. James Roberts and his co-directors, Ellis was promoted to be the manager of the whole of the Weaving Departments, which position he has held up to the present time, making a total length of service of 55 years. Natural capacity and determination resulted in a very wide and thorough technical knowledge, and this was recognised by the local authorities when, at the inception of the Shipley Technical School in 1887, Mr Ellis was placed in charge of the textile Department, and he held this position for five years. He is a well-known character in old Saltaire, and in his younger days played in the first eleven with the Saltaire Cricket Club. He was in the team on the memorable occasion when they put out Scarborough for eleven runs. Mr. Edwin Ellis is leaving with the tale of fifty-five years to his credit, and his brother, He was presented with a gold watch. Excell, John (Jack) 1 May 1879 – 6 March 1959 Mr John Excell, of 10 Springcliffe Street, Green Lane, Baildon, who died on Friday at the age of 79, retired last July after 69 years unbroken service at Saltaire Mills. He came of a family with a remarkable record of service, even at a firm where there is a tradition for generation to follow generation. His father, who lived to be 95, actually helped to build houses in Saltaire. and worked at the mill for more than 73 years. Mr. Excell’s sister worked there for 47 years, and his son, Mr. Harold Excell, has been at the mill for 50 years. Mr. John Excell was at Delph Hill, Baildon, and started working in the drawing department at the mill when only ten years old. For more than 40 years he was a carding overlooker. In his youth, Mr. Excell played cricket with Baildon Green. He was a member of the New Prosperity Lodge of the Shipley District. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Manchester Unity, and of the Wood bottom Veterans’ Association. Ferrand, William c1821 – 27 February 1903 In 1861 William was a spinning overlooker living with his family at 46 George Street (renumbered 72) in Saltaire. From 1881 they lived at The Green in Baildon where William was a wool buyer and merchant. William died 27 February 1903. Report in the Shipley Times 6 March 1903 as follows: - Mr Ferrand was well known and respected among all classes in the village, having held various public offices. He was throughout his life a sterling Liberal, and his death awakens memories of political struggles in the days before the household franchise was given to the counties, in which he took an active part. Born at Cottingley, he had early in life to begin to earn his own livelihood, which he did first in a humble way as weaver, then as hand comber in Bradford. He was 21 employed at Messrs Forster Fison’s when that firm removed from Bradford to Greenholme, Burley in Wharfedale. He graduated from one position of trust to another until about the year 1860, when he obtained the appointment of wool buyer at Saltaire Mills, a position which he held for many years, ultimately retiring from the firm to commence a business as a woolstapler on his own account in Bradford. Mr Ferrand was a member of the Baildon Local Board for about twelve years and was a district representative on the Wharfedale Board of Guardians over nine years. He was also on the executive committee of the old East Division of the West Riding Liberal Association and of the Otley Division Liberal Executive Committee, and for many years a prominent member of the Otley and Baildon Liberal Clubs. George, Alexander c1840 – 28 March 1910 Alexander was a clothier with a shop on Commercial St, Shipley. By 1874 Alexander and his family were living in Saltaire. He was very active politically and felt strongly about a number of issues. He was a staunch Liberal He was prosecuted and fined for refusing to have his children vaccinated against smallpox. In August, 1903, he presided at a mass meeting of 7,000 people welcoming home two men who had been imprisoned for refusing to have their children vaccinated. He was president of Saltaire Industrial Co-operative Society He objected to half-timer children being compelled to attend Albert Rd Board School. He presided at the Sunday Lectures held at the Temperance Hall He spoke at the meeting held at Wellcroft Field involving 2,000 attendees objecting to the House of Lords refusal to pass the Franchise Bill. He presided at a meeting of the Shipley Liberal Association to elect members of the Liberal Hundred. In January 1900 Alexander was elected President of the Shipley Tradesmen Association at their annual meeting. He supported the candidature of Tom Townsend for re-election as the Liberal representative for the West Shipley Division on the County Council. Gilbert, George 24 March 1857 – 24 August 1927 Report from Shipley Times 6 December 1901 as follows: - Employees of Saltaire Mills met at the Victoria Hotel to bid farewell to two of their older overlookers, Mr. Arthur Nutter and Mr George Gilbert who had been employed at the mill forty and thirty-six years respectively. Mr Nutter left to take charge of the weaving department at Buttershaw Mills and Mr Gilbert to an appointment at Yorkshire College. Hanson, John 1833 – 21 January 1919 John Hanson born in 1833 in Keighley. Aged just eight he worked for Daniel Salt (father of Sir Titus) in Bradford and subsequently he worked for Sir Titus too. When Saltaire Mills opened in 1853, John was the first overlooker in the spinning department. Later he would become an overlooker in drawing and combing. 22 In 1861 they were living at 6 Titus Street in Saltaire, in 1871 at 6 George Street. John was the oldest member of the Overlookers’ Union in the Bradford when he died 21 January 1919. Edwin Holdsworth c1839 – 8 April 1920 Report from the Shipley Times 16 April 1920 as follows: - Death of a Shipley Veteran. At the advanced age of 81 years, Mr. Edwin Holdsworth, 40 Victoria Road, Saltaire, died at his residence on Thursday in last week. For 46 years he was employed as a weaving overlooker at Saltaire Mills. Mr. Holdsworth was connected with the Rosse Street Baptist Church, Shipley, ever since its erection in 1866, and he was a life deacon of the church and one of the first trustees. When the Sunday School was opened, he took charge of the infants’ class, with which he kept up his connection for the long period of a quarter of century. For some years he was teacher and superintendent. In November 1878, he was appointed superintendent of the Sunday School, a position which he held until November 1906. The deceased was one the oldest members of the Shipley Veterans’ Association, member of the Tree of Life Lodge, of the Shipley District 1.0.0. F. (M.U.), and of the Saltaire Liberal Club. Holdsworth, Michael c1822 – 1896 In 1871 Michael was living with his family at 4 Gordon Terrace (renumbered 57 Bingley Road), Saltaire. In 1871 he was an overlooker; 1881 a weft room manager, and by 1891 he had retired. Chaired a public meeting of the Liberation Society in March, 1864 President of the Saltaire Band of Hope in May, 1866 President of the Saltaire Branch of National Reform League in February, 1867 which advocated residential registered manhood suffrage protected by ballot, and that the position taken by the government was vague, indefinite and unsatisfactory. Gave a lecture to the British Temperance League in February 1867. Chaired a meeting of the Shipley and District Temperance Society in July, 1868 Addressed a meeting of the Shipley and District Temperance Society which set up a Band of Hope at a tea meeting in September 1868 Was secretary of the Saltaire Independent Co-Operative and Industrial Society Limited – 6 Victoria Road; Michael Holdsworth, 4 Gordon Terrace Michael & Martha lost their son, Alfred aged 24, in May 1878. His body was found in a canal in Birmingham. He was a cabinet maker and he had found employment. At the inquest into his death an “open verdict” was recorded. Ince, John 19 December 1862 – 18 May 1926 In 1891 John was a spinning overlooker, in 1901 a worsted foreman spinner, and 1911 was spinning manager. He is active in Saltaire Wesleyan Church. Lamb, Joseph 23 27 August 1877 – 1939 His father, John, played cricket for Baildon Green, then he was a “pro” for Manningham, and he was subsequently coach to Oxford University. John died in 1918 and Harriet in 1929. In 1911 they were living at 48 George Street in Saltaire. By 1914 they had moved to 3 Myrtle Place in Saltaire, where they remained until 1934. From 1935 they lived at 13 Albert Road. Joseph worked at Salt’s Mill for over 50 years. He started as a doffer aged just 10 in 1883. He was a spinner overlooker for over 40 years. Like his father Joseph was a keen cricketer. He played for Saltaire when Sydney Barnes was captain of the club. Mansfield, Alfred c1839 – 11 September 1915 In 1871 the family were living at 19 Amelia Street in Saltaire with Alfred working as a worsted spinning overlooker. By 1881 they had moved to 4 Lockwood Street where they remained the rest of their lives. Alfred was a faithful member of the Rosse Street Baptist Chapel for many years and he was secretary of the Shipley Veterans Association. Minakin, Fred 1860 – 21 March 1903 Fred died 21 March 1903. He was a twisting overlooker at Salts Mill. As a sportsman he was on several occasions well to the front and was at one time first in the averages of the Saltaire cricket team, that being during the time of the membership of Harry Mosley and other well-known cracks. He was also owner of several prizes and medals which he had won in the sports at Saltaire Park, but his supremacy in any branch sport was only short-lived, though when he was at his best in any particular branch of athletics he was looked upon as a hero at Saltaire. At the formation the Saltaire Football Club be was installed as secretary and held that position throughout the whole career of that now defunct club, and although he did not take any part in the working of the affairs the club, he was referee in the Yorkshire Rugby Union. Joining the Shipley & District Working Men's Club as assistant secretary, which be held for 3 or years, afterwards taking over the office of secretary, which he held at the time of his death, having been 7 years in that office. He was also a member of the Shipley Brass Band Social Club and was for many years’ auditor for the Baildon Working Men’s Club. He leaves a widow and two children. Mosley, Henry (Harry) 8 March 1850 – 1 June 1922 Local cricketers who can recall the Saltaire Club in the eighties will learn with regret of the death of Mr. Harry Mosley, who about 30 years ago was a professional for Saltaire, and was regarded one of the best left-arm bowlers that time, he being associated with Dickie Barlow, who also was one of Saltaire’s professionals. Mr. Mosley was a native of Shipley, and was employed as a drawing overlooker at Saltaire Mills, and about 30 years ago he emigrated to Sanford, Maine, U.S.A., 24 where was employed a similar capacity for an American firm, where eventually he became manager over the drawing department, and retired pension some time ago. He was succeeded as manager by his son. Regarding his cricketing career, a local enthusiast informs that Mosley played as a professional for 17 seasons—from 1874 to 1890 inclusive. He was considered the most destructive left arm bowler in the whole of the Aire Valley. In 1881 he was tried for Yorkshire County, for his bowling. Pearson, Robert Crowther Wilkinson 5 April 1841 – 15 November 1897 Mr Pearson, who was 58 years of age, had followed the employment of spinning overlooker at Saltaire Mills for about twenty years. About three or four years ago he went to Manningham Mills as a sweeper out. The deceased only arrived back on Wednesday last from London, where he had been spending a month with his son. In his younger days Mr Pearson was a vigorous Radical, the interests of which party he consistently advocated and promoted up to the time of his death. He was member of the Working Men's Club Redman, Ogden 1847 – 12 October 1890 Ogden was not an overlooker. He was employed as a wool sorter at Salts Mill. His only involvement in village life was in the Saltaire Industrial Co-operative Society. He was appointed a compounder (along with Holdsworth and Stell) when a motion was put forward to wind up the Society in August 1876 he moved to Dalry in Scotland, where he was involved in the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society in 1888. Rushton, James Wilkinson 15 August 1825 – 22 September 1893 James married Sarah Whiteoak 18 January 1846 at St Wilfrid’s Calverley. They had a daughter, Ellen Elizabeth, born 23 September 1847. In 1851 they were living at One Street in Bradford with James working as an alpaca sorter. In 1861 they were living at 28 (re-numbered 54) George Street in Saltaire. Sarah, James’s wife, died in 1869. She was buried 1 September. In 1871 widowed James was a wool sorting manager living at 19 Victoria Road, Saltaire. James married widow Amelia Smith (nee Ellison) 28 March 1872 in Bradford Cathedral. They had a son, Charles, born in 1875. Amelia died in 1877. In 1881 & 1891 James was living at 74 Victoria Road in Saltaire. James married Sarah Drake 11 January 1882 at St Paul’s Shipley. Report from the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer - Friday 30 September 1887: - Presentation of a portrait on the occasion of his retirement after 53 years service in Salts Mill as foreman woolsorter. He had joined the firm before Sir Titus created Saltaire - in fact be was the oldest employer about the premises. James died 22 September 1893 aged 68 years. He lived at 32 Moorhead Crescent, Shipley (formerly of George Street, Saltaire), Sanctuary, George 1857 – 12 October 1932 25 Spinning overlooker with 60 years employment at Salts Mill. Secretary of the Prize Choir and member of Congregational Church choir. He was a staunch Liberal and his wife was one of the founder members of Shipley Women’s Liberal Association. Stell, John c1850 – November 1917 John’s father George had been a spinning overlooker, and John was a spinner in 1861. He had a varied career. He then worked as a merchant’s clerk, before becoming cashier in a worsted factory in 1891; in 1901 he was a manager in a braid factory and in 1911, he was an electrical cable manufacturer. In 1878 he was involved in Saltaire Industrial Co-op, and was appointed one of the auditors when it was decided not to close the Society. For many years he was churchwarden at St Paul’s Church in Shipley and a teacher in the Sunday School. At the annual vestry meeting of St Paul’s Shipley in April 1885, John was nominated as one of twelve sidesmen. At the annual meeting of the Shipley Conservative Association in January 1889 Edward Salt was elected as President and John Stell was elected as one of two auditors. By 1897 John was living with his family at Wellington Crescent, Shipley. At a special meeting of the Shipley District Council in May 1897 John was part of a three-man deputation who addressed the council about the condition of the back street of Wellington Crescent. In 1914 he was elected as secretary of South Ward Unionist Polling District Association William Tiffany rd th (3 October, 1835 to 27 June, 1899) Secretary of Saltaire Floral and Horticultural Society and Saltaire Industrial Coal Society. 1851 William was a spinner aged 16. 1861he was a wool sorter aged 26. 1869 he lived at 31, Helen St 1871 Census he was working as a wool sorter and living at 30, Albert Rd (renumbered 59). He was the eldest of 3 children who were employed as factory operatives. He marries Susannah Airey and they had 10 children – Joseph (1858); Susannah (1859); Emily (1862); Fred (1864); Martha (1866); George (1868); Mary Ann (1870); William Arthur (1872); Elizabeth (1874); Lavinia (1877); Edith (1879 died Dec 1879). Wife died 1884 and he remarried Sarah Locker 1881 census William still a wool sorter and living at 68, George St. Varley, Sharp c1836 – 1881 Sharp Varley was born c1836 in Bingley as Sharp Cowgill, son of Mary Cowgill, father unknown. Mary married William Varley 2 October 1836 at St Michael’s Haworth. Sharp then took the Varley name. 26 In 1851 they lived in Wilsden with William working as a labourer and Sharp as a power loom weaver. By 1861 they had moved to 1 (re-numbered 27) George Street in Saltaire with William working as a farm labourer and Sharp as a weaver. Sharp married Elizabeth Illingworth in 1866. They had four children. In 1871 & 1881 they lived at 57 Titus Street with Sharp working as a weaving overlooker. In May 1875 Sharp was reported as being a past provincial grand master of the Bingley branch of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows. In March 1879 Sharp was elected as an officer of the Saltaire Funeral Brief Society. Sharp was associated with Saltaire Cricket Club in a non-playing capacity. th Sharp died 4 Qtr. 1881. Others Bentley, Seth 28 October 1833 – 23 June 1897 Seth Bentley was the son of James Bentley. James was born c1793 in Baildon. He married Sarah Robinson 19 May 1912. Seth, the youngest of 10 children, was born 28 October 1833 in Baildon. He was baptised 10 November 1833 in Otley. Seth married Hannah Pollard in 1862. They had two children: Fred born c1864 and Sarah b c1869. In 1871 & 1881 they lived at 26 Caroline Street in Saltaire. By 1891 they had moved to 5 Bingley Road in Shipley. By 1897 the family has moved to 29 Bradford in Shipley. Seth died 23 June 1897. He was buried in Nab Wood Cemetery in Shipley. The following article was published in the Shipley Times 26 June 1897: - ‘For some years he was a worker in the Saltaire Mills, under the late Sir Titus Salt, who had a high regard for him, and who selected him for post of manager of the public baths and wash house built by the late firm. For over twenty yean Mr Bentley filled this position, which brought him in contact (often friend and helper) with nearly every family in the place. Seven or eight years ago, when the baths were closed, he went into business on his own account as a laundry proprietor. Mr Bentley was man of strong religious convictions. Many years ago, he became follower of Swedenborg, and was one of the founders of the New Jerusalem Church at Saltaire. He remained an active supporter of that church to the end, and he will be much missed by the community which meets there. In politics he was a staunch Radical, a strong anti-vaccination, and land reformer. Early in 1891 he headed an important deputation of influential working men from Shipley and district to invite Mr Byles to become a candidate for the Shipley Division, on the retirement of Joseph Craven. He was at the same time, and for the express purpose of advocating this candidate, elected a member of the Executive of the Shipley Division Liberal Association, of which he was afterwards for several year the president. Mr Bentley, who enjoyed good health during the whole his life until his last illness, left behind him widow and one daughter. His only son was killed in America in 1891’. 27 Rhodes, Sutcliffe 26 March 1837 – 19 September 1916 Sutcliffe married Alicia Ann Wallace 13 January 1862 at St Paul’s Shipley. They had five children. In 1851 he was a woolcomber. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 04 April 1867: - Sutcliffe makes a plea for woolsorters who are laid off when demand is poor and re- employed when it picks up again. He was living at Ada St. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 25 July 1867: - Sutcliffe wants investigation into anthrax – ‘clouds of dust and keenly penetrating hairs’ which cause woolsorter deaths. th And on 30 January, 1868, he reports that a philanthropic gentleman and an eminent physician are interesting themselves in the problem. Then on 12 March, 1868, he writes to praise the discussion taking place to look for solutions to this problem, albeit with the rejection of a mask. Report in the Leeds Times Saturday 26 December 1874 of a meeting at the Temperance Hall devoted to discussion of the woolsorter’s disease, at which detailed medical evidence was advanced. Sutcliffe was one of the main speakers. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 05 March 1868: - A plea for the creation of a place in Shipley for young men to meet for self improvement, similar to the Saltaire Literary Institute. Writing from Baildon. In 1871 Sutcliffe was a wool sorter living with his family at 14 Wycliffe Place in Shipley. Letter in the Bradford Observer Thursday 25 November 1875 entitled ‘Slavery in the Spinning room’. Sutcliffe deplores the practice of overworking child spinners and physically abusing them. He cites the sight of an emaciated form of a spinning girl rendered helpless by the scandalous abuse of an overlooker. And the dying spinner boy who said the ‘Ellis Brook has pawsed me right hard’. Sutcliffe is living at Mildred St, Bradford in 1875. In 1881 Sutcliffe was a commercial traveller living at 10 Orchard Street in Bradford. Alicia, Sutcliffe’s wife, died 3rd Qtr. 1890. In 1891 Sutcliffe was living alone at 130 Mildred Street, Bradford. He married Harriet Lord 9 May 1891 at All Saints, Bingley. Report from the Bradford Daily Telegraph Saturday 19 March 1892, that Sutcliffe was before the Bankruptcy Court for public examination and was allowed to pass. He admitted having appropriated money belonging to the Liverpool, Yorkshire and Lancashire Tea Company but was re-engaged by them at less salary, the difference going to pay off his defalcations. In 1901 Sutcliffe was living alone at 19 Moorhead Lane in Shipley. Sutcliffe married his third wife, Charlotte Squires, in 1910. In 1911 he was living with her family at Sibsey in Lincolnshire. (Sibsey is a village 4m north of Boston. In 1911 it had a population of 1,004). Sutcliffe died 19 September 1916 aged 79 years In conclusion There is ample evidence that overlookers performed essential management roles in Salts Mill. 28 Without their innovative and organisational skills in the community, life for Saltaire residents would have been much less rich and rewarding. They are the unsung heroes of the Saltaire story. We shouldn’t forget the broader picture too. Bringing large numbers of workers together in factories stimulated an awareness of their shared condition. It encouraged their involvement in the political process, in the growth of trade unions, in manhood suffrage and the National Reform League, and ultimately in the Independent Labour Party in 1893. The more radical and active Saltaire overlookers played a role in this journey, as their biographies reveal. Roger Clarke February, 2020 29
Clapham, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Railway Byways in Yorkshire by R,.N. Redman. Containing information on Shipley Glen Tramway
Shipley Glen, Shipley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Shipley Glen, Shipley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Switchback rollercoaster on Shipley Glen
B1-032/5/12: Salts Mill Dining Room, Victoria Road (1)
Salts Mill Dining Room, Victoria Road (1)
3 laminated copies of the photo of A close up of the entrance to Salts Mill dining room. Two young men are visible in the doorway. A railway motice board is visible to the left with a notice saying 'Earlier holidays'
Sir Titus Salt Bart. Sons & Co Limited: Front of Silver Jubillee booklet
Dining Hall building, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
B1-032/5/3: Salts Mill offices and Mill from the railway bridge (1)
Salts Mill offices and Mill from the railway bridge (1)
The top of a street lamp is visible in the foreground and some railings can be seen in the lower right of the photograph
Salts Mill, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
B1-032/5/4: Salts Mill offices and Mill from the railway bridge (2)
Salts Mill offices and Mill from the railway bridge (2)
Salts Mill can be seen on the right half of the photograph with a partial view of Salts Mill offices. A street lamp can be seen in the centre of the picture
B1-032/5/6: Salts Mill with the railway sidings (1)
Close up of Salts Mill with the railway sidings to the right of the photograph. Railways trucks can be seen. A street lamp on a wall is in the foreground.
B1-032/5/7: Salts Mill with the railway sidings (2)
Close up of the mill chimney with the railway sidings in the foreground
B1-207a-b: Workers on railway station platform
4 enlarged photographs of Salt's employees on Blackpool station platform standing as a group next to a steam train. Maximilian and Anna Wagner are identified on the image. This marked the occasion of the 100th aniversary of Salts Mill. The train is decorated to celebrate this. Maximillian worked in the Mill, as a weaver and later a Weaving overlooker after moving from Poland in 1948 until he retired.
Photograph of Salts Mill railway sidings taken in 1924
Photograph of parts of Salts Mill the new railway bridge on Victoria Road, Saltaire
Photograph of the new railway bridge being lowered into place c.1960
B1-341: Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Copy of plan of Saltaire Mill between the railway and the river. By W.Rhodes Nunn
B1-342: Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Copy of plan of Saltaire Mill between the railway and the canal
B1-343: Salts Mill: Saltaire Maps and Plans Case
Copy of outline plan of original building of Saltaire Mill between the railway and the canal (DEGW)
Photocopy of coloured postcard of Salt's Mill and the railway sidings
Photocopy of Black and White postcard of a print of an aerial perspective of Salt's Mill- showing the railway in the mill yard
B1-581: Salts Mill. A collection of photographs purchased from Burrows, Dorothy by the Salts Trust (mounted on board).
Salts Mill. A collection of photographs purchased from Burrows, Dorothy by the Salts Trust (mounted on board).
Salts Mill from the railway bridge (modern)
C2a-108: Saltaire village - Images (People)
Photocopy of a group of mill women with some railway-men in Victoria Road, prior to Blackpool trip 1953
Copy of photograph of original Saltaire Railway Station
Black and White postcard of stiles and foot-crossing of railway line in Hirst Wood near Saltaire
Hirst Wood, Shipley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Photograph of Saltaire Railway Station with steam train from about 1909
Mill & Railway sidings. One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
Saltaire Station (15). One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
Saltaire Station (76). One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
C2b-157: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Photograph of Saltaire Railway Station showing the placing of the new Victoria Road railway bridge
C2b-166: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Photograph of Saltaire Railway Station showing the booking office and footbridge
Photograph of Saltaire Railway Station c.1920s
C2b-180: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Photocopy of a sheet containing multiple images of Saltaire: canal, railway station etc.
C2b-203a-b: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Streroscopic card of photograph of Salts Mill and railway + new print
C2b-210b: Railway line through future Saltaire
1 photograph-print of the railway line through the site of the future Saltaire 1844
1 coloured photograph-print of Saltaire Station with a steam train
1 Black and White photograph-print of Saltaire Station with passengers on platform
C2b-213a: Saltaire train station with bridges
1 Black and White photograph-print of Saltaire Station showing footbridge & roadbridge
1 Black and White photograph-print of Saltaire Station showing footbridge
C2b-215a: Railway line at Hirst Wood, Saltaire
Black and White photograph (print) of the railway line from Saltaire going through 'Hurst Wood' (may be a miss spelling of Hirst Wood) with several people waiting at a crossing. Three people sat on a the top of a gate. A steam-train is in the distance.
C2b-290a: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Photograph of old Saltaire station taken from the railway bridge. c. early 20th century
C2b-320: Saltaire village Images (Places)
C2b-326: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Saltaire Railway Station with steam train (Timetables on reverse)
C2b-380b: Saltaire village Images (Places)
Photograph taken at the top of Salts Mill Chinmey - Looking down on railway & Saltaire Road School
C2b-384: Saltaire village Images (Places)
3 mounted photos of:Railway station - The Village Bakery - Salts Mill chimney & yard
C3a-015: Diary of John Unwin for the year 1897
The diary of John Unwin for the year 1897 on two two CDs. The first CD contains scans of each individual page of the diary. The second contains a transcript in a Microsoft Works document, and separate individual spreadsheets (in Microsoft Works format) containing the financial information in the diary.
Unpublished manuscript in copyright until end 2039
My Grandfather, Dave Unwin, photographed on 25th April 1925, the day he married his second wife, Alice Horler. He was handed THE DIARY in the early 1930’s on a Building Site believed to be behind the ‘Ox and Gate’ in Cricklewood Second Memoranda page at back of Diary Delivery of Passenger Luggage to their Hotels and Residences For the convenience of passengers travelling by the Mid. Rail. the Company have made arrangements for the delivery of passengers personal luggage at a prepaid charge of 6d per package:- (a) To any address within the usual free delivery limits in London, or any town in which the company delivers with their own carts. (b) To any given address in the principal towns on other company’s lines with which through bookings are in operation, particulars of which can be obtained at the stations. (c) To any cloakroom on the Midland or any other Railway in England, Scotland or Wales Metropolitan Districts excluded Luggage must be fully and legibly addressed to the place of delivery, passengers to see that it is properly booked at the time of starting, to get a voucher in exchange The passenger must produce his ticket when booking his luggage. No delivery on Sunday. - 57 -
Diary of John Unwin for the year 1897: Transcript of frontispeice
Diary of John Unwin for the year 1897: Transcript of memo page 2
Diary of John Unwin for the year 1897: Transcript of main diary
Diary of John Unwin for the year 1897: Scans of entire diary
Diary of John Unwin for the year 1897: Front cover
C3b-272a-b: The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon
The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon
2 copies of booklet: 'The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon' by Ian Watson
Salt, Titus, Sir: Portrait photograph of Titus Salt in later life
THE LAND ACQUISITIONS OF TITUS SALT by Ian Watson 1 Ian Watson (2011) 2 3 INTRODUCTION The basic story of Titus Salt building up his textile empire in Bradford, and then, at the point when he might have been expected to retire, deciding to start a whole new project, developing a gigantic mill and model village, is well known. What does not seem to have been covered within the general literature on Salt and his mill, is the story of his property purchases in this area. In particular, there is little reference to his, quite substantial acquisitions in Baildon; which, as I will show, were not only on a larger scale than his purchases in Shipley, but in one instance pre-dated them. Also, few of the authors who have covered the story of Saltaire mention Dixon Mill Lane. Neither Balgarnie nor Cudworth refer to it at all, and those authors who do mention it, do so only in passing. There is also an assumption, by some authors, that the old lane, seen in the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map, was upgraded and widened and became Victoria Rd. The evidence presented below disproves that assumption. It details the chronological developments relating to Dixon Mill Lane and Victoria Rd, and the bridging of the River Aire. This occurred between the survey for the first edition Ordnance Survey map, published in 1852 and the next series, surveyed in the 1880s, by which time the building of Saltaire had been completed. This report concentrates on previously unpublished information on the development of the village and tries to avoid repeating those well-known aspects of its history. Most of the information regarding Titus Salt’s purchases in Shipley and Baildon comes from the collection of deed copies held in the Registry of Deeds at the West Yorkshire Archive Service Office based at the West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield. The Registry is the place where property owners could have details of their freehold property and mortgage transactions recorded and covers the years between 1704 and 1970. One of the problems with these deed copies is that it is very unusual for the early ones to have any maps or plans attached, as do some of the later ones. This means that, in some cases, the precise boundaries of the purchases are not always easy to determine. 4 The description of the properties transferred in the deeds tend to be lists of field names, so I have tried to relate the information in the deeds to the details shown on the tithe maps of Shipley and Baildon, which date from the mid-1840s. However, some of the boundaries of the acquisitions that I identify may not be a hundred percent accurate, as it is not always possible to make a perfect match between the two sets of documents. A second source of information comes from the collection of Shipley and Baildon papers that can be found within the West Riding Quarter Session records, also held at Wakefield. These Quarter Sessions courts were the main system of county administration before the introduction of County Councils in 1888. Among the many issues considered by these courts were the applications to approve the transfers of public rights of way from old roads to new ones. The information contained in these records has proved particularly informative. The papers relating to Baildon [the QT series] are part of the Quarter Session papers for the Liberty of Cawood, Wistow and Otley. As the parish of Otley, of which Baildon was a part, was a ‘Peculiar’ of the Archbishopric of York, their Quarter Session records were administered separately from rest of the West Riding until 1864, when the ‘Liberty’ was brought within the West Riding. As a result, on their arrival at Wakefield, these records were recorded separately. They are now searchable via the West Yorkshire Archive Service web-site (http://www.wyjs.org.uk). The files relating to Shipley [the QS1 series] can only be accessed on- site at the Wakefield office. Many of the plans used as source material for this study have been in storage for over a 150 years. As such, they are often creased and dirty. Consequently, the illustrations used below reflect the non-pristine condition of these plans. The plans reference to the Quarter Session papers [the QS and QT series] are reproduced here by the kind permission of the West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, who own the copyright. In addition, I would like to thank the following people and organisations: The archivist and volunteers of the Midland Railway Study Centre, Derby, and Julie Woodward and the management of Shipley College for permission to copy and reproduce documents held with the Saltaire Archive Collection. Ian Watson 2011 5 THE SHIPLEY PURCHASES The full extent of Titus Salt’s land purchases in Shipley is highlighted with this aerial view. Salt’s Shipley Acquisitions (taken from Google Map) The area within the purple border, which extends from Hirst Mill and Hirst Lane in the west, to part way down Saltaire Road in the east, shows the whole of Titus Salts acquisitions in Shipley. The northern boundary is the River Aire, while the southern boundary is Bingley Road. This can be compared to the area occupied by the mill and village, which is shown in orange. Here, then, is evidence that Salt bought well over twice as much land as he needed for the village. The orange border also marks the boundary of the Saltaire World Heritage site, on the Shipley side of the river. Though Roberts/Saltaire Park, across the river in Baildon, is also included within the SWH boundary. The yellow oblong marks the one piece of quarry land, situated behind the Alms Houses at the top of Victoria Road, that was bought by his sons after Titus Salt’s death . 6 The original owners The above plan identifies all the individual blocks of land that Titus Salt bought in Shipley. The land now occupied by the mill and village was originally owned by 8 different land owners. In addition to these purchases, Salt bought land on both the east and west side of the future village from a further 6 individuals. Making a total of 14 separate purchases between 1850 and 1874. All of the fields shown in the plan, with the exception of the land between Saltaire Road and Bingley Road, consisted of conventional farmland at the time of the purchases, and contained a range of arable, pasture and grass-meadow. The fields between Saltaire Road and Bingley Road, though, had been created out of rough moorland by the Shipley Enclosure Act (1815-1825). This land contained good quality sandstone, which was suitable for quarrying. It is almost certain that, having obtained permission for quarrying from the Lord of the Manor, stone from this site, and quarries in other parts of Shipley and the surrounding area were used in the construction of the mill and village. 7 First Shipley Purchase 1850 According to the information in the deed of sale, the first purchase in Shipley appears to have been in late December 1850 when Titus Salt bought around 22 acres of land from William Crompton Stansfield of Esholt Hall, for £12,000. There appears to have been no public notice of this land being placed on sale, so it may have taken place through a private contact. This land ran between the Shipley to Bramley Turnpike Road, later Saltaire Road, and the river. This purchase, highlighted in red in the above plan, included most of the fields on either side of an ancient track called Dixon Mill Lane, along with the old corn and fulling mill down by the river. It also included a tiny piece of land on the Baildon side of the river. There had been a mill at the bottom of Dixon Mill Lane since 1635, when William Dixon had bought or leased the land on the south bank of the Aire, along with the small plot on the north bank in Baildon. This, I presume, would have been a standard requirement when someone needed to build a water-driven mill, as they would have needed control of at least some land on the opposite side of the river in order to build the weir. Following the purchase, Dixon built a water-powered corn mill and a fulling mill on the site, along with the weir and a goit. Fulling is one of the final processes in the manufacture of woollen cloth. Fulling stocks consisted of large wooden hammers, which were driven by the power from a water-wheel. They were used beat the woven cloth in order to blend the short woollen fibres together and produce a firm hard- wearing cloth. 8 The main part of Dixon’s Mill was built over the gap created by the cutting of a goit (a man-made cut) along the length of a gravel bank that lay roughly parallel to the south bank of the river. This goit allowed water to be drawn under the mill to power the water-wheels. It then ran out along the goit. A surviving plan of the complex (see page 11) shows that the mill complex consisted of relatively small buildings, and, as such, would only have employed a limited number of workers. th By the beginning of the 19 century there was a corn mill, a fulling mill and a woollen mill operating here. The whole complex was run through the power of three water-wheels; one running the corn-milling stones; one running four fulling stocks and one running the carding and scribbling, a processes involving the disentangling of the woollen fibres, prior to spinning. As the deed of purchase shows, however, at the time that Salt bought it, only the corn mill and the fulling mill were operating. The corn mill was being operated at that time by John and Joseph Knowles, and the fulling mill by James Davidson. Dixon’s Mill and the cottages 9 Just four years prior to Salt’s 1850 purchase, the new railway line from Shipley to Colne had been cut through Dixon Mill Lane. The plan above shows how the land on which the future mill and village would be constructed looked in the mid-1840s. The construction of the railway would have required some alteration to the lane as it approached the intersection with the line. It would seem that the levelling of the bed for the rail track as it passed this section had created a shallow embankment on the southern side of the line, and this would have needed to have been breached to allow the old road to descend to the track level. A level crossing was constructed at the intersection with the lane, and a cottage was built on the north side of the track for the crossing-keeper. In 1851, the crossing was manned by Joseph Goldsborough. Immediately to the north of the crossing-keeper’s cottage was a long row of cottages running parallel to the lane. It is likely that they were built sometime after 1837, following Crompton Stansfield’s purchase of the land on the west side of Dixon Mill Lane. Prior to this time the land had been owned by a wealthy Bramhope man, Christopher Driver. By 1837, it had passed into the hands of a John Morley of Dishforth, and it was Morley who sold it to Crompton Stansfield. Salt’s deed of purchase says that there were eight cottages in the row, though the census, taken in March 1851, shows that there were 11 families living in the houses. The heads of the households included a clothier, three wool combers, a cloth miller and a cloth fuller, all of whom, presumably, would have worked in the nearby mill. There was also a maltster, who might have worked in any of the many beer-houses in Shipley, two stone-quarrymen, who would probably have worked in the quarries off ‘Saltaire Rd’ and two coal miners, who may have worked in the pits of nearby Moorhead and Northcliffe. One of the cottages was occupied by a William Craven, who had nine children, which, along with his wife, meant that there were 11 people in that one small cottage. 10 Dixon’s Mill yard -The path to the stepping stones Beyond the cottages, a swing-bridge carried the old lane over the Leeds and Liverpool canal. (The base of this bridge can still be seen on the south bank of the canal, just to the east of the present canal bridge) Dixon Mill Lane, being, presumably, part of an ancient cross-valley route between Shipley, Baildon and Eldwick, was a public bridle way and public right of way. Once over the canal the public pathway led through Dixon’s Mill yard, and then towards the river bank, where a set of stepping stones allowed traveller to cross the river. (The public right-of- way is shown on the above plan by the black line) Once on the Baildon side, the traveller would then have had to wade through a shallow ford, before fully gaining the northern bank. The most famous user of these stepping-stones was the Airedale Poet, John Nicholson, who drowned at this spot in April 1843, while crossing the river, on his way to Eldwick. 11 The second Dixon Mill Lane A short time after Titus Salt had completed the purchase of this land he started the construction of a new road, that ran, more or less parallel to the old Dixon Mill Lane. In order to complete this new road, which initially became the second Dixon Mill Lane, Salt also built a set of bridges over the railway, the canal and the river. Prior to this he obtained permission from the Quarter Session Magistrates to close the public right of way on the old lane and stepping stones and transfer the rights to his new lane and bridges. (The above plan, incidentally, gives a slightly misleading impression of these roads, due to the fact that the original plan was folded and crumpled, and proved impossible to smooth out when taking the photograph of it). Salt must have recognised the necessity of constructing a new road and building bridges over both the canal and the railway, in order to facilitate the expected heavy traffic following the opening of the mill, and avoid the obvious problems of using the level crossing and a swing-bridge, 12 However, the cast-iron bridge over the railway line required the approval of two railway companies before it could be built: “We the Leeds and Bradford Railway Company being the owners and We the Midland Railway Company being the occupiers of land over and near which the Extension of the Leeds and Bradford Railway from Shipley to Colne passes, being part of the lands described in the plan hereunto annexed, through and over which part of a certain highway lying between the Shipley and Bramley Turnpike Road and the River Aire is intended to be diverted and turned, in consideration of Titus Salt of Crownest in the township of Hipperholme cum Brighouse in the Parish of Halifax in the West Riding of the County of York Esquire, his heirs or assignees, making and for ever hereafter maintaining such new Highway and the bridge by means of which the same is to cross the said railway, Do hereby consent to the making and continuing such new highway through and over the said Lands and Railway Given under our respective common seals this twenty eighth day of April One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two”. (QS1/191/10) The construction of the new road would have involved the demolition of the cottages lining the old lane, and the relocation of their tenants. It is not known what happened to the majority of these people. Census records show that by 1861 one of the hand wool-combers, Mr Else and his family, had moved to Briggate in Windhill; while Mr Goldsborough, the level-crossing keeper, had become a gardener, working at Holling Hall, at the top of Moorhead Lane. The corn miller, Mr Pickard, who had been living in Dixon Mill yard, was in the same occupation in 1861, though now living in Providence Rd, at nearby Dockfield. 13 In order for the new road to go over the railway, at the height required to allow rail traffic to pass safely under the bridge, an embankment had to be constructed to raise the road. This embankment appears to start just north of Caroline Street and increases in height as the road approaches the railway, while at the same time allowing the road to drop very gently, at the rate of seven feet between Caroline Street to the start of the bridge. The rear of the lower Victoria Road shops The extent of this ramp can best be seen by looking from Albert Terrace along the rear of the Victoria Rd shops, and noting the differing heights of the basements (see illustration above). The natural fall of the hill can be seen in the slope of the back lane. The road on the north side of the railway bridge is supported on a much shorter ramp, designed to carry the road down at a steeper angle to bring it down to the level of the mill yard within a short distance. The canal was then crossed by another new bridge, 68 feet long. (Evidence of the canal company’s approval for the canal bridge, which would have been required, has not, as yet, been located). 14 The First Bridge across the river Once across the canal, the new road was carried over the river by a new, 450 ft. long, bridge, which crossed the river at a 30-degree angle to the road. There appears to be no logical reason for the decision to build the bridge at an angle, as it would have been a much narrower span if the bridge had crossed the river in a straight line, and there is no doubt that by this time Salt owned the land directly opposite. The bridge was a type of tubular girder bridge. That is, a bridge that was not a fully enclosed box, but where the tubular element was in the sides of the bridge and consisted of narrow hollow sections locked together by a hollow box on top of each side. As can be seen in the illustration below, the box-type top sections of the two sides are a feature of the bridge. Although there is no evidence to prove it, it is possible that the bridge was designed by William Fairbairn, who had played an important part in the construction of the mill. It is known that Fairbairn had done much of the early research into the structural properties of wrought iron, the material used in the construction of the bridge. The only known fact about this first bridge is that it was constructed by Messrs. Butler of Stanningley, a firm of bridge builders. 15 First Bridge-print The print above is of that first bridge, though the angle of the view gives the appearance that the bridge is straight. We know that it is the first bridge because of its stone piers. (This print differs from the plan submitted to the Quarter Session Magistrates, shown on page15, in that it only shows four buttresses; one on the north bank of the canal, one on the south bank of the river, one in the middle of the river and one on the north bank of the river; while the plan suggests that there were as many as six, with a double pair on the north bank of the river, and an extra one between the canal bank and the river bank). Following Salt’s application to the county authorities, two West Riding magistrates, Benjamin Thompson and Richard Dyneley Chamberlain came to Shipley in May 1852, to survey the existing arrangements, and to assess the planned changes. They reported back to the Quarter Sessions on the improvements that the new road and bridges would bring compared to the old lane and stepping-stones. “ … and we certify that the said proposed intended new highway or part of a highway is nearer and more commodious to the public … as it crosses the said River Aire by a wide and permanent bridge, whereas the (existing) highway … crosses the said River Aire by a ford and stepping- stones, and is often attended with danger and is altogether impracticable 16 in consequence of the flooding of heavy rain during a considerable part of the winter months … and that the said proposed bridge is of the width th of 27 feet.” (5 May 1852: QT3/4/11) This was followed by: “It is ordered that so much of the said mentioned highway (which leads_ from the town of Shipley …. (over) the ford and stepping stones over The River Aire … (is to be) diverted and stopped up... And in its place a new highway is to be set out and made”. rd (3 July 1852: QT3/4/11) Approval for the stopping up of the old lane and the transfer of the public right of way onto the new road and bridge was sought and given at a sitting of the Quarter Session magistrates at Bradford in June 1852. Although the records show that the road and the bridge were not officially passed for public use until October 1855, it is almost certain that both were in use prior to this time. The first bridge across the river stood for about 12 years. It was then demolished, and a new bridge was built to replace it. There is little information concerning the demolition and re-building. One of the few newspaper references to the changes taking place is a newspaper report referring to an incident in May 1868, when a man, named Henry Wood, working on the demolition of the old bridge, was killed. The accident was witnessed by Titus Salt Jr, who happened to be observing the work at the time. Construction of the new bridge, 327 feet in length, and running straight across the river this time, commenced in 1867. It was completed in 1868. The new bridge was supported by cast-iron columns. The reason for the replacement of the stone buttresses with hollow, cast-iron tubes is not known. It is more than likely that the top section of the old bridge was used in the new bridge, as old photographs show that the new bridge was also a tubular girder bridge. These old photographs also imply that the caps of the supports were re-used, though they were removed some time before this second bridge was demolished. 17 Reconstruction of the two Dixon Mill Lanes relative to Victoria Road It is important to realise that the new road that Titus Salt constructed to replace the original Dixon Mill Lane was not the Victoria Road that exists today. Using the plans from the various Salt applications to the Quarter Sessions and an undated plan of the village by Lockwood and Mawson, showing the village superimposed onto the early field layout of the site, it is possible to make a reasonable calculation for the line of the two roads that preceded Victoria Road. In the plan above, the outline of the original Dixon Mill Lane is shown in purple, while Salt’s first road, which became the second Dixon Mill Lane is shown in green. The top part of the original Dixon Mill Lane is now covered by the first few dozen yards of Exhibition Rd. It then ran across the area now occupied by the end houses of Titus St and Mawson St, the rear of Victoria Hall, and the middle of Lockwood St, finally, it ran under the site of the later Congregational Church Sunday School, now the Caroline St car-park. 18 The second Dixon Mill Lane started at the end of Harold Place, then cut through the site now covered by Titus St, Mawson St and the middle of Victoria Hall, before straightening up about the end of Caroline St. The remaining part of the present-day Victoria Rd, from the junction with Caroline St, down to the river, is the surviving part of that second Dixon Mill Lane. The reason for the unusual line of this first road is not easy to interpret. It is possible that it was laid out simply as a temporary road, in order to allow heavy traffic to have easy access to the site during the construction of the new mill and village. Though why Salt did not have the road go straight up the hill from the start, given that he owned the land as far as the Shipley to Bramley Turnpike, now Saltaire Road, is something of a mystery. The terrace of shops between the railway line and Caroline St, fronting onto the present Victoria Rd, were built around 1854. At the time of the 1861 census they were described as being in ‘Victoria Street’, and they would have been the only buildings in the road south of the railway bridge. It would appear that the second Dixon Mill Lane was only in existence for around ten years. In August 1863, Titus Salt applied to the Shipley Local Board to have the southern portion of this 1853 road, between Caroline St and the turnpike road, closed, as he intended to integrate the northern portion into another new road that he had laid down. Having by this time purchased the land all the way up to the Bradford-Bingley Road. The Shipley Local Board were in favour of the scheme, though they had to get the formal approval of the West Riding Magistrates in order to confirm their decision. This was done in the Quarter Session meeting at Leeds in September of that year. The process of closing roads and transferring public rights of way allowed for public consultation and the right to object to the plans. The law required that notices of the intention of a change of use had to be posted at either end of the ‘old’ lane, and that duplicate notices were to be fixed to the door of Shipley Parish Church for four successive Sundays st after the 21 August. It was also required that notices be published in the local press. This had also occurred in 1852, in connection with the first road and bridge. The Bradford Observer ran the formal announcement about the changes in Saltaire for four weeks, from the last week in August through to the third week in September 1863. The records show that there were no objections from either Shipley or Baildon residents to any of the proposals that Salt had planned, and the transfer of rights to the new road went ahead as planned. 19 The new Victoria Road, showing its relationship to the second Dixon Mill Lane The new road was integrated into Dixon Mill Lane at Caroline Street. The legal closure of the southern section of the lane, (marked in blue on the above plan) allowed it to be eradicated and subsequently lost, by the development of the houses that constitute the eastern side of Victoria Rd, the building of which commenced in 1868, and the building of the Institute (later Victoria Hall), opened 1871. This same period also saw the development of the Alms houses and the hospital. 20 Shipley Purchase 1852 Towards the end of 1851, one year after the purchase of the Dixon Mill site, Titus Salt bought another set of fields running from the turnpike road down to the river, (shown in green on the above plan). He also bought two fields between the river and the canal at this time from Dr. John Outhwaite of Bradford. Now this situation is interesting, in that, as we can see, he now had two blocks of land, separated by another piece of land that he didn’t own. And it highlights another of the big questions regarding Saltaire. That is, why did Salt start building the mill and the village before he had bought all the land that he needed for the construction? We do know that house building for the village started in 1853. The first houses to be erected were in William Henry Street and the lower eastern side of George Street. Shortly after the first few houses had been built, work stopped for some time. There are various theories for this stoppage, though it did coincide with the period before he obtained the middle block of land, which he acquired from the Earl and Countess of Rosse, the lords of the manor of Shipley, in February 1854. Following the recommencement of the work, building then proceeded slowly, up, and across the hill, for the next 21 years, as and when the various blocks of land were purchased. The implication of this second purchase with a gap between it and the first block, is that either Salt must have been very confident about his future purchases, or he was very flexible concerning the final development of the village. It is known that there was an original plan for a much larger development than the one that took place, with the village stretching across both sides of the river. If this is evidence that Salt changed his mind at least once, 21 the implication is, therefore, that he could have changed his mind on several other occasions. Shipley Purchase 1854 - 1856 In the same year, 1854, Salt bought land on the south side of the Shipley to Bramley Turnpike Road from two members of the Denby family. This land would be used for the future development of Dove Street, Jane Street and part of Gordon Terrace. In 1857 Salt bought several plots of land between the railway and the canal from the Midland Railway Company. Shipley Purchase 1864 There was then a gap of a few years before he bought the next plot of land from a Thomas Chambers of Brighouse. This consisted of the land that lies to the east of the present Albert Road, (marked in yellow on the above plan). 22 But, even though by 1864 he now had virtually enough land for his village, he didn’t stop there. A couple of years later, in 1866, he bought the land on the south side of Saltaire Road, between the present Park Street and the rear of the top section of the present Victoria Road. Also, around this time he bought a large area of land to the east of his first acquisition from Matthew Wilson of Eshton Hall at Gargrave, one of the trustees of the estate of William Wainman of Cowling, whose family had owned Shipley Hall, now the Conservative Club in Otley Road. This new land stretched all the way down Saltaire Road to just beyond, what is now the Wycliffe Middle School, and included the site to the east of the school. Sir Titus sold the land for the school, following the 1870 Education Act. The school, which opened in 1876, was at first known as the Shipley Board School and later as Shipley Central School. In 1872, Sir Titus gave land to the east of the school to the Primitive Methodists, who built a large chapel on the site. Saltaire Road showing the Central School and the Primitive Methodist Church 23 Shipley Purchase 1871-74 That same year, 1872, Salt bought a large area of land to the east of Hirst Lane (coloured orange on the above plan), from the paper manufacturer, William Wright. The purchase also included Hirst Mill where Wright had had his manufactory. Much of this land was bought by Shipley Urban District Council in 1922 and used for the building of a new council estate. The land between the river and the railway was converted into playing fields and allotments around the same time. 24 In 1871, Salt had bought the very corner site at the junction of what later became Saltaire Road and Bingley Road. The buildings on the site, at the time of the purchase, consisted of a few cottages and a beer-house. These buildings may have included the old turnpike house, as this had been the junction of Shipley to Bramley Turnpike road and the Bradford to Keighley Turnpike, and there is some evidence of a chain bar being located in somewhere in this vicinity. But the absolute last piece in the jigsaw of Salts acquisitions of land required for the village, was the plot of land, on the eastern side of that corner plot. It had been owned by the Shipley Overseers ever since the enclosure in the 1820s and had been used for many years as a council yard, until Sir Titus obtained it from the Shipley Local Board in 1874. Corner Plot 1871-74 25 Gordon Terrace It was this final purchase that allowed Salt to complete the building of Gordon Terrace, Jane Street and Dove Street, the eastern sections of which had been built some 8 years earlier. This purchase marked the final stage in the building of the village of Saltaire, and indeed, the end of Salt’s land purchases in Shipley. In fact, Titus Salt died two years after this final purchase. The Salt’s mill company did acquire more land in Shipley after Titus Salt’s time, but that is another story. 26 BAILDON The origins of Titus Salt’s first purchase in Baildon lay in the decision of the Lord of the Manor, and the largest property owner in the township at this time, Miss Anna Jane Meek, to sell off the 750 acres of land, comprising her manor and farms in Baildon, in 1849. At the time of the sale, Miss Meek was in her seventies. In all probability, she had been born in Baildon Hall, but by this time she was not a Baildon resident. She lived in Kirk Hammerton, which lies between Harrogate and York, and so perhaps she had just lost interest in the area, or perhaps property prices were on the rise, and she decided to take advantage of the situation. Baildon Manor sale advert : Bradford Observer August 1849 27 In 1737, the lord of the manor of Baildon was Lt.Col. Francis Thompson. His Baildon lands included ‘Jowetts Farm’, now the eastern end of the Coach Road; ‘Hall Farm’, which spread from the banks of the River Aire and then up the hill between Cliffe Lane and Baildon or Barnsley Beck; ‘Brackenhall Farm’, on the Glen and the ‘Moor Farms’, better known now as Low Springs Farm, by the boundary with Hawksworth. The manor also included the possession of Baildon Hall and the Corn mill by Baildon Bridge. There were also a few isolated small farms and individual house properties scattered around the township. Thompson-Meeke-Meyer Family Tree Francis Thompson and his wife Nancy had one child Anna Jane, who had married a Paul Meyer of Pontefract in 1760. Following the death of Francis in 1741, in South America, at the battle of Cartagena, now in modern day Columbia, his widow, Nancy, married a William Meeke of Wighill Park, near York. They had a son also named William, who eventually inherited the Baildon manor and lands from his half-sister, Anna Jane, who was childless. But she left it to him, following her death in 1765, only on condition that he changed his name to that of her late husband, and he adopted the name of Meyer. th On the evening of the 18 October 1780, this same William Meeke, now William Meyer, shot dead a York court official named Joseph Spink. 28 It appears that earlier in the day Meyer had been arrested by the bailiffs of York for debt. The Sheriff of York had signed the warrant, as Meyer owed £82 in an unpaid debt to a James Beckwith, which suggests that, despite his apparent wealth, he was living beyond his means. Following the arrest, it was the intention of the officials to take Mr Meyer to the debtor’s prison on the Ouse Bridge. But he managed to persuade the bailiffs to let him remain in his lodgings in Micklegate, in order for him to try and arrange bail. So, the bailiffs left him in the care of two of their staff, one of whom was Joseph Spink. Sometime during the course of the evening, Meyer persuaded his wife to bring him his pistols from another room, and on acquiring them, he threatened his guards. As they were trying to run away, Meyer fired, and Spink was hit in the throat. (National Archives: ASSI 45/34/2) He died of his injuries the following day, and both Meyer and his wife were put on trial for murder. His wife was found not guilty, but William Meyer, who had claimed in his defence, that he had only meant to frighten the guards, and that the pistol had gone off by accident, was found guilty. He was sentenced to death, and subsequently executed at th the York Tyburn on the 6 April 1781. On his death William Meyer left a widow and two children, William and Anna Jane. William was only 9 years old when his father was executed, and it can be assumed that the family estates would have been held in trust for him until he reached legal maturity at twenty-one. What we do know is that practically the first thing he did when he finally came of age was to change his name, presumably to try and avoid the embarrassment of being connected to his notorious father. As the London Gazette for that month shows, on March 18th 1794 he legally adopted the name of Thompson. Although he had no blood connection to the Thompsons of Baildon, he claimed it was a means of honouring the old family whose lands he now possessed. On his death in 1839, he left everything to his sister, the second Anna Jane Meyer. Though by this time she had changed her name back to Meeke, in order to inherit from her Meeke grandfather. (London Gazette th 29 October 1839) And it was this Anna Jane Meeke who placed all her Baildon property up for sale in August 1849. 29 The auction, held in Bradford in October of that year, was not a complete success, and only part of the property was disposed of. The unsold land was then advertised for sale in the February 1850 issues of the Bradford Observer. And it was at this second sale that Titus Salt bought his first Baildon property, according to the date in the deed, in July of that year, 5 months before his first Shipley purchase of Dixon’s Mill. st 21 February 1850 Sales advert of Baildon property 30 Salt’s 1850 Purchase The first blocks of land that Salt bought in Baildon covered the area between Baildon Road and Cliffe Lane, as well as a large area of land between Otley Road and the river. While the block of land that Salt bought down by the river does not correspond precisely with the above sales notice, it is close enough in description and size to suggest that this is the land that was advertised in the auction notice. Now, it’s interesting to note that the February sales notice made specific reference to the riverside land being suitable for mill construction; and it raises the question of whether Salt might possibly have originally planned to build his mill and village on the Baildon side of the river. According to Balgarnie, Salt approached Lockwood and Mawson, the architects, in November of 1850, and told them that he had purchased land, ‘near Shipley’, and that he wanted them to do part of the work. He explained that the Shipley based architect and land agent, George Knowles was also to be involved in the project (p.91 Balgarnie’s Salt, Barlo and Shaw (Nemine Juvante (Saltaire Publications 2003). This story presents two problems. The evidence of the deeds suggests that Salt did not purchase the Dixon Mill site until the end of December, also, as far as I am aware, there is no evidence that George Knowles had any connection with the Dixon Mill purchase. He did, however, have some connection with at least some of the land that Salt purchased in Baildon, as he was a partner of Bailey Blackburn (see below). 31 There is, therefore, just a hint of suspicion that the land that Salt was referring to when he went to see Lockwood and Mawson, was this land in Baildon. If this was the case, then it is likely that Salt only changed his mind when the more suitable location of the Dixon Mill site in Shipley, with its closer proximity to the canal and railway, came up for sale later that year. Of course, the real problem is our lack of knowledge on Titus Salt’s thoughts at this time. And I have to say that this is simply a speculative idea on my part. Although, what else he might have wanted this land for, given that, subsequently, he did nothing with it within his own lifetime, suggests that the theory might be worth considering. Salts 1851-2-Purchase The year after his first purchase, Salt bought another large piece of land to the west of Otley Road. (This is the area marked in orange on the plan above. The area marked in black is the Midgeley Wood and Thompson Lane area, bought the following year from Richard Paul Amplett, the son in law of the Ferrands of Bingley, who had originally owned the land.) This riverside land had been part of Miss Meeke’s first sale, and had originally been bought by Bailey Blackburn, a Bradford chemist and land speculator, who lived in Baildon. George Knowles appears to have advertised this land for sale in June th 1850 (see Bradford Observer 27 June 1850), though Salt did not purchase the land until September 1851. According to Cudworth, Blackburn sold this land to Salt for £10,000, which was twice the amount he had paid for it a year earlier. 32 The new and old Green Lane 1851 A short time after buying the river-side land, Salt had a new road cut through from Otley Road up to the sharp right-hand corner of the old Green Lane. This new road replaced the old, narrow lane, that for some reason didn’t suit Mr Salt. The laying out of this new road, does suggest that Salt was planning something in the area, and it has been suggested that he had intended to build a house, and create a parkland along the riverside. The original Baildon Green Lane was a public right of way, and in 1852, Salt applied for permission to transfer that right onto his new road and eliminate the old lane. 33 Baildon-1856-Purchase In 1856, Salt bought the small wooded hill to the north-east of Green Lane, called Fairbank Wood, along with the associated farm. The Knoll In 1862 he sold this land to Charles Stead, a manager and later a director of the mill who built a house called ‘The Knoll’ at the highest point in the wood. 34 Baildon-1855-62-Purchase In 1855, Salt had bought a small group of cottages and orchards at the junction of Cliffe Lane and Otley Road. But in 1862 he transferred most of this land and the land to the north of it to his son Edward, who had the house he called ‘Ferniehurst’ built on the site. Ferniehurst 35 There are no known photographs of Ferniehurst, but as can be seen from the OS map above, it was a substantial house. It had formal gardens, several large glass-houses and from the lodge in Baildon Road, a long winding drive through a private wood. Even though Salt was buying a lot of land during this period, he also occasionally sold some. Throughout 1856 and ’57, he was selling off small plots of land around the area of Green Lane and Cliffe Lane, to various private individuals. Following these sales, several private houses, and terraces were constructed in the area. Green Lane junction It may be argued that whatever his original intentions regarding his Green Lane and Otley Road purchases, Salt had changed his mind, and he was getting rid of some of his surplus land. He did however, remain committed to most of the land lying to the west of Otley Road. A few years after laying out the new Green Lane, Salt started the construction of another brand-new road, leading from the corner of Green Lane to the bottom of Victoria Road. The plan above shows the first section of the new road, with the old riverside path highlighted in blue. And the plan below shows the continuation of the new road as far as the bridge. 36 Coach Road 2-1863 The plan above shows the continuation of the new road as far as the bridge. I also shows the relationship between Salt’s new mill and the old Dixon’s Mill. The junction of the road and bridge may look slightly strange, compared to the present Coach Road, but it’s only because there was a re-alignment of this western end of the road, when the new straight bridge was put across the river, and a new link to the bridge had to be made. It’s interesting to note that in all probability, this road, which was nearly 1 mile long, was built simply as a private carriage road to allow Salt’s son, Edward, and his manager, Charles Stead, to travel to the mill easily, rather than going around and through Shipley. And of course, he also built an extension to this road following the purchase of Milner Fields, for the benefit of Titus jnr., all of which seems to be an indication of the extravagance of Salt at this time. Having completed this eastern section of the Coach Road, Salt applied to have the ancient public right of way transferred from the river-side path up onto his new road. This meant that although the Coach Road was a private road, pedestrians and horse riders had the legal right to use it. 37 Gate house Old photographs show gates at the corner of Green Lane and the Coach Road, and there were also gates at the bottom of Victoria Road, But they were only there to stop the unauthorised entry of commercial vehicles, who needed permission to access the road and the bridge. However, various farmers and other property owners who lived within this area had certain legal rights of access, and they did have the right to use the new road and the Victoria Road bridge. The removal of the legal entitlement to use the old riverside path meant that it could now be closed, leaving the land free for some form of development, though we now know, this never happened in Salt’s lifetime. There are, of course, sections of this path still surviving on the side of the river between Otley Road and the Victoria Road bridge. Though it can be assumed that they are not officially public rights of way anymore, and their survival is presumably just a matter of luck. 38 Baildon-1865-6 purchase In 1865 Salt bought two fields just below Walker Wood, from the Dawson family of Baildon Green (marked in light green on the plan above). The following year, Richard Paul Amplett sold Salt the two Trench Farm properties. Their fields ran from the lower section of the future Saltaire Park, right up to the boundary with Bingley at Load Pit Beck (This land is marked in orange). Now these, at least as far as I have been able to identify, were the final acquisitions that Titus Salt made within Baildon. It is possible that I have missed some of the purchases while searching the indexes at Wakefield; and I should point out that, there is just one field in the centre of this picture that I have not been able to prove was bought during Titus Salt’s lifetime, though it almost certainly came into the possession of the family at some point in time. It’s also possible that his sons bought more land either before or after Titus’ death, but that is something that I have not gone into up to the present time. But what I have been able to show is that Titus Salt himself, bought at least 250 acres of land in Baildon, over a period of 16 years; and this compares with just over 100 acres that he bought in Shipley. 39 The western Coach road The western section of the Coach Road, was constructed sometime before 1870, following the purchase of the Milner Fields estate, which, of course, is in Bingley, and outside the scope of this study. The green-arrowed track on the above plan shows the line of this new road, cutting through the fields towards the eastern entrance to the Milner Fields estate. The closed lanes In March 1870, following the completion of this new road, Titus Salt applied to the Baildon Local Board of Health to close several old paths running between the bridge at Saltaire and Load Pit Beck. These are shown in green on this plan. And just as on the eastern section of the road, he wanted the old rights of way transferred onto his new road. 40 Interestingly, the public right of way on this side of the bridge was not on the river-side path, but on the lower of the two paths leading up to the Trench Farms. I can only assume that this change had been made when th the farms were built in the 18 century. After passing between the two farms, the public path then returned back down to the river-side path, which leads on towards the Seven Arches. For some reason, Salt decided to restrict access to the two Trench properties, and that section of the old way that ran between the two farms was closed to the public. Western Coach Road - New Trench Road It was replaced by a brand-new lane leading up to the junction with the ancient pack-horse route between Baildon and Bingley (marked in green on the above map). Following the construction of the new lane, the top section of the old lane was removed. Approval for all these changes was given at the Quarter Sessions held in th Bradford on the 27 June 1870. 41 Saltaire Park It would have been about this time that Salt started to develop Saltaire Park, which was opened in July 1871. Interestingly, the park was laid out across part of the old lane leading from the stepping stones to the Trench farms. And that section of the old lane survives to this day (marked in green on the above map) in the form of the path that divides the cricket field from the higher terrace and formal gardens. 42 Green Lane junction-with houses As I mentioned earlier, much of the land on the top side of Green Lane and at the bottom of Cliff Lane, had been sold off in the late 1850s. These small-scale sell-offs continued, and in the early 1870s Salt sold most of the land, fronting Otley Road, between the bridge and Green Lane, and a terrace of houses were built on the site. The corner plot, though, was not sold until 1887, by Salt’s sons. BAILDON POSTSCRIPT As far as the land on the other side of Otley Road is concerned, with the exception of a few sales, Salt did practically nothing with the bulk of this site, and it was left to later generations to dispose of it. He had sold a large plot of land (A) (see below), at the south-western end to C.F.Taylor in 1862, and Taylor built a new mill on the site. While at the other end, he sold, or maybe he gave, the land for Charlestown cemetery,(E) which was opened in 1863. Though, for some reason the deed of transfer from Salt to the Airedale Cemetery Company, does not seem to have been made until 1871. The land for the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel had been sold to the Trustees in 1870. While the Midland Railway Company had bought the land required for the viaduct, in November 1874. Nothing much then seemed to happen to this area during the remainder of the Salt’s family involvement with the mill. 43 I have not been able to determine the sequence of events regarding the one field on top side of Otley Road (F), that had been part of Salt’s original purchase, and which is now covered by the bottom of Midland Road. In 1895, the Salt’s mill company tried to sell off all their undeveloped land in both Shipley and Baildon. But the planned disposal appears to have been a failure, because most of the land advertised in the sale notice of that year was left unsold. In 1898, though, William Butterfield bought one plot on this Charlestown site (B), on which he later built a galvanising works. Nine years later, he bought the neighbouring plot (C) in order to extend his business. The remainder of the land between Butterfields and the railway viaduct (D) was bought from the mill company by Bertram Roberts, the son of Sir James Roberts, in 1910. He gave the land to the people of Baildon for recreation purposes, and it came to be known as Roberts Park. The land then seems to have remained in Baildon’s possession until 1952, when the UDC sold it to Butterfields So, that is the story of Titus Salt’s property acquisitions in Shipley and Baildon, as far as I have been able to determine it. And, it brings us back to the original question. Why did he buy so much land on both sides of the river and left so much virtually untouched. It’s probably the case that we will never know why he did what he did, but it’s this kind of question that keeps the interest in the subject of the life and work of Titus Salt alive. 44 45
C3b-401a: Saltaire village, Documents (Places)
'To Blend with the village' - Items on the new Saltaire Railway Station-1984
Copy of photograph of Saltaire Railway Station in c.1920s
Copy of photograph of Saltaire Station in 1964
D3-056: Children at Saltaire railway station in fancy dress
Children at Saltaire railway station in fancy dress
Enlarged and mounted photograph of children at Saltaire Railway Station in fancy dress by Anderson, L.
Enlarged & mounted photograph of steam train driver by Anderson, L.
Photocopy of a poster for the Midland Railway Company's branch line to Ilkley
F1b-016: Postcard showing Shipley Glen railway and Boathouse in Saltaire
Postcard showing Shipley Glen railway and Boathouse in Saltaire
Laminated copy of a postcard of Shipley showing: Glen Railway, Shipley Glen; Crowghyll Park, Shipley; River & Boat House, Saltaire
The story of Pace Microtechnology from its foundation in the early 1980s to its acqusition by Arris in the 2010s. Based on original research by Mike Farren, including extensive interviews with the founders David Hood and Barry Rubery and key manager Rob Fleming.
Pace Micro Technology: Picture of Pace SR 640 satellite dish
PACE MICRO TECHNOLOGY LTD. A Summary History Of The Digital Revolution: Bradford, Salts Mill Author: Mike Farren May 2021 1 Introduction and Acknowledgements The Saltaire Collection is not confined to Victorian history and the collection’s historians and writers are recording the important stories of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Amongst these, second only in importance to the history of Jonathan Silver, his family, and the rescue and transformation of Salts Mill, is the story of one of Jonathan’s first tenants in the mill. The tenant company was PACE Micro Technology Ltd. PACE was founded by three individuals living and working in the Bradford District: David Hood, Rob Fleming, and Barry Rubery. David had the visionary ideas; Rob was the logistics expert; and Barry a skilled sales expert. They were joined later by Graham Mitchell whose engineering expertise was invaluable to the company’s growth and product range. Others who became important members of the staff team and partners in business are noted. From its foundation in 1982, whilst the first directors were operating from David Hood’s bedroom in Scholemoor, PACE commenced business selling Apple II computer software in the UK, purchased at lower prices from Europe, then began the manufacture of data communication modems and later satellite TV receivers and Video Recorders, all products that were previously either unavailable or too costly for the UK market, rapidly establishing st themselves at the forefront of the digital revolution. By the late 1990s and into the 21 century, PACE was collaborating with major, well-known tech giants such as BSkyB and Amstrad. This local business had become an international multi-million-pound enterprise and its founders mirror the important part played by Sir Titus Salt during the earlier industrial revolution. Two of the three founders of PACE have enabled this significant history to be recorded through participating in interviews with Mike Farren and Maggie Smith, and by sharing their own archived documents, images, and promotional materials. Barry Rubery, who now resides in Monaco, is writing a book covering many details of the business and is generously sharing draft chapters to add further detail and his memories to this history. The impact of the company for Saltaire was not least in the provision of employment and at its manufacturing peak, PACE was employing 400 engineers, 450 staff in manufacturing and 70 in sales and accounts in Salts Mill. The history of PACE is a story of significant local entrepreneurship, determination, and vision and, at the heart of its growth and importance, is both the courage and foresight of its local founders and its eventual location in Salts Mill. Acknowledgements: With grateful thanks to the founding directors of PACE, who shared memories and notes. David Hood – PACE Joint Chief Executive Barry Rubery – PACE Joint Chief Executive Rob Fleming – PACE Operations Director. 2 Background The company that was to become PACE Micro Technology Ltd, (Ultimately PACE plc) was founded in 1982 and began literally in David Hood’s bedroom, Scholemoor, Bradford. David Hood had started his working life at a place in Brighouse called Stereosound Productions, as an apprentice. It was an audio / hi-fi manufacturer and he moved to Baird in the development laboratory at the time colour television became available. Baird was later known as Thorn, a television manufacturer at Beckside Road, Bradford. Whilst David was working at Baird Television he was introduced to Barry (Rubery) through friends, several years prior to the foundation of PACE. Barry had a job as a salesman for Associated Container Transportation Ltd. (ACT) Their first meeting occurred when they went with a mutual friend to see The Canadian Hell Drivers at Odsal Stadium! Subsequently, they went caving and potholing together in the Yorkshire Dales and also often cycled together. David was at Baird for a few years, then left to set up a company called Entasy Colourvision at Mountain Mills, above Queensbury, repairing and renting out TV sets and supplying ‘slot’ televisions. These were very helpful for some families, who were able to effectively rent a television by putting coins in a meter on the back of the TV in order to watch programmes. On a staged basis, the money was taken out of the apparatus and the families received a rebate. While David was working for Baird, the company had stockpiled a lot of colour TVs that were unlikely to go back into service. David did a deal to buy some of this stockpile and, by incorporating an off the shelf tuner and reconditioning the cabinets, enabled them to be rented. Mountain Mills was run down but served its purpose for the business. It consisted of a ground floor area, which was a little damp, and a room above this, of identical size, where the work was done. The only way to access the upper room was via a conveyor belt running at an angle from the ground floor to the upper floor! The Switch to Computers The founders of Apple, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak initially worked out of Jobs' garage at his home in Los Altos, California. On April 1, 1976, they debuted the Apple I, a desktop computer that came as a single motherboard, pre-assembled, unlike other personal computers of that era. The Apple II, a superior model, was introduced in 1977. Jobs and Wozniak had great difficulty in gaining initial investment finance because the market had no belief in the notion of domestic computers. Nevertheless, they became one of three companies who succeeded in producing personal computers and their Apple IIe range would become extensive, lasting for over 11 years. As his television business was progressing, David decided to purchase an Apple computer from Ram Computers on North Parade, Bradford, to help manage the television enterprise, dealing with the cash flow and the rental income. The cost was around £400. 3 When David turned on the computer he had purchased, it simply showed a ‘C’ prompt as no software had been installed. He discovered that finding the software and someone selling it who knew how the software worked was difficult, and he complained frequently about the lack of availability, service, and knowledge. Windfall Magazine (later renamed ‘Apple User’) carried advertising for third-party software, including software from Pete and Pam Computers (later P & P Computers) in Rossendale, Lancashire. This was owned by two social workers – Peter Fisher and his American wife, Pam. David bought some software from them, which he collected in person from their warehouse, and discovered they had shelves of virtually everything developed for the Apple II range: David’s Apple was the Apple IIe. Whilst they sold the products via retail, they were more interested in wholesale distribution. PACE Software Supplies David was quite taken with his Apple computer and mentioned to Barry that he thought there might be a business selling Apple software through mail order via Windfall. In discussing a name for this business, a friend of Barry suggested ‘PACE’. The shipping consortium for whom Barry worked also owned a company called Pacific America Container Express, known as PACE. Their logo was the word ‘PACE’ in a square arrow. David liked the suggestion, so a UK software company named PACE was born. The company name was David Richard Hood, trading as PACE Software Supplies, and the logo was the same as that of the shipping company, but initially without the arrow. David researched products and trade prices. At that time (June 1982), there were only a handful of businesses advertising third-party products and, based on P & P Computers’ trade prices versus what the competition were selling at, there was a reasonable margin to be made. David contacted several local bank branches and the manager of the local Barclays branch, Gordon Ormondroyd, agreed to back the business. David then got in touch with John Snowden, Advertising Manager for Europress, publishers of Windfall magazine, who agreed that his team would create an advertisement. The business model was to take the P & P trade catalogue, look at the sales prices that other companies advertising in Windfall were selling them for and undercut them. The straightforward idea was to place advertisements in Windfall, offering as many Apple Products as possible, take in orders by phone and mail, collect from P & P computers the products that had been ordered each day, then package them and get them in the post the same day. There was little need for stock and the business was immediately cash-positive, with the only overheads being advertising and petrol to and from Rossendale. PACE Software Supplier’s first advert appeared in 1982. This offered around 500 items and was an immediate success. David and his partner took the phone calls, while Barry dealt with the correspondence in the evenings, whilst still working for ACT where he remained until March 4 1983. The two men were thinking about new ideas for the business where computers with the right software would be of value. They developed a proposal about how computers might help Barry’s company ACT. One suggestion was sending updates on ship arrivals and departures to selected shippers via modem. The second was a computerized salesmen’s reporting system. The proposal involved PACE supplying the whole system for this transport company. A different company, named PACE Computer Services was created to develop this proposal. The logo was not the PACE funnel logo but a dot matrix-printed ‘PACE’. At the end of March 1982, David and Barry met Walter Marshall, Regional Sales Manager for ACT, and presented the proposition to him. David Marshall was in favour of pursuing the idea but his London-based manager, Roy Davis, was not interested. For PACE Software Supplies, it was getting more difficult to service the orders as they increased. In addition, Apple were selling more and more of the Apple II computer range and people were asking questions which David was finding it increasingly difficult to answer. At this point Robin Hudson, a student at Bradford University enquired whether there were any vacancies during the university holiday. David decided to take him on to assist with answering the questions. Robin then introduced some university friends, Adrian Barratt, and Kevin Gibson. David was living close to the friends in Scholemoor, Bradford. But another key person in the developing company was about to arrive. One afternoon in 1982, a telephone caller asked whether the company had some graphics software in stock and on being told that they did, wanted to call in to look at these, not being prepared to use mail order. David told the caller which bus would get him to his house and that, when he got off the bus, he would see a telephone box that David could see from his bedroom window and easily locate where David worked from. The caller was Rob Fleming, who at the time was a Flight Lieutenant and Medical Officer in the Royal Air Force, based at Ely. He had bought an Apple IIe, seen the advert, and had come to browse the shelves, rather than buy via mail order. The reason was that, given his RAF service, Rob moved around a lot and mail order might have had to follow him around for a long time. Rob’s parents lived nearby, and he had initially come to Bradford to see his brother, Ian, in Queensbury but, in the event when he arrived at David’s house, he became so absorbed in what David was doing that he did not make the meeting with his brother that evening. Rob was and is a self-confessed computer ‘geek’ and after talking at length with David he agreed to come back the following day, and also spent most of the rest of the week visiting and talking to David about computers and software. During one of these visits, the phone rang. The caller wanted to know about a product called Wordstar, which David did not have any knowledge about. He asked Rob whether he knew about this product and when said he did, David passed the phone to him. Rob became involved in the developing company from then onward. 5 Rob was detached by the RAF to serve in the Falklands between June and November 1982 but when able to return he continued to travel North to work with David, whilst still serving as an RAF Officer. David, Barry, and Rob were not always able to get together, but they would often all meet on Friday evenings at Cocina Restaurant, which was on Oak Lane, Bradford at the time. The business was successful, and the first year’s accounts reflected that, with almost £300,000 turnover in the first year, ending 30th June1983, with a net profit of £30,000. The business expanded further, selling peripheral memory expansion cards. Initially, PACE bought these from London-based Pynwon Computers, who acted as agents for the main manufacturer, Zoffary, in Australia. However, at a certain point, Pynwon’s owner, Dr Boshell, no longer wished to distribute them and put PACE in touch with the manufacturer with a view to taking up distribution in UK and Europe. Later Gynesh made contact from New York. They represented a number of US-based Apple software houses and asked PACE to take on their products as distributors. These products, included a four in one package – Word Processing, Accounting, Spreadsheet and Database – called ‘The Incredible Jack’; another was a relational database called Savvy and a further product, from Quark, was a word processing package. Rob took some leave from the RAF to travel to New York with Barry, to assess what Gynesh had and whether it would be saleable in the UK and Europe, and worth taking on. As Rob was generally satisfied, Barry returned to New York to complete the deal, meaning that PACE were launched in the distribution business, with software packages that would enhance the company’s reputation as well as making money. Unfortunately, no one had really tested these programs, particularly ‘The Incredible Jack’. It was reviewed positively in Windfall in March 1984 but next month, Windfall had to print a letter from the reviewer, pointing out that they had missed out of the review reference to the bugs he had found, which were numerous. The component parts did not match up to more sophisticated (though more expensive) products available at the time. In any case, at this time, there little market for individual users, while businesses wanted established, market-leading products. Savvy, on the other hand, though expensive and complicated for its day, was ahead of its time, being a relational database that recognised regular words, phrases etc., perhaps a forerunner of current Internet search engines. Similarly, Quark was a powerful program and Quark are still a major player in digital technology today. Regardless of their individual success, these products gave PACE kudos and market awareness. The retail business continued to prosper, with regular UK customers including universities, colleges, and government departments, such as the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. PACE were also approached by a school in Amersham, who wanted them to sell communications software on their behalf. One customer, Steve Lister, ran an advertising agency called Centrepoint and PACE employed his firm to create and develop advertisements for their products. Part of his initial remit was to develop full page, full colour ads for ‘Quark’, ‘The Incredible Jack’ and ‘Savvy’. In February 1984, PACE had 5 full-colour, full-page ads in 6 Windfall, a clear signal to others that the company was becoming an important player in the digital ‘revolution’ of the mid to late 1980s. At the same time, PACE started the process of becoming an Apple authorised dealer but found it hard work with the UK Apple team and never achieved full ‘Dealer’ status – achieving only ‘Re-seller’ status, which gave less margin than dealers. The business was strengthened in June 1984 with the introduction of the Apple Macintosh. The Apple software business created a cash surplus and also raised awareness of PACE as a company. Acorn and the BBC Microcomputer The two founding directors Hood and Rubery brought different skills to the PACE enterprise, David’s experience was in engineering and a certain skill in understanding what users want from a product, Barry in marketing and sales. Rob brought experience in computers, planning, and organization. After having bought IT products and re-sold them on a margin, they had a growing desire to begin to market their own products. David hit upon the initial product focus and they began to manufacture modems, the first one being designed by Bradford Instruments, whilst PACE were still operating from David’s bedroom for around 18 months. As business grew in software supplies and modem manufacture, they needed some larger premises and moved to West Bowling in Bradford and took on their own engineers to support and design a wider range of modems. The first business premises were secured at 92 New Cross Street, West Bowling, Bradford. The building they purchased had been a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and prior to that a doctor’s surgery. However, as success followed success, they were soon to outgrow these premises. They began to look at some of their customers’ needs. Bradford’s schools, alongside the majority of English schools, were using BBC micro/apple systems and PACE became their supplier of disc drives. Acorn launched the BBC Microcomputer with the idea that every school in the country would have one. At the time of the launch, it was only possible to run a program from cassette, which was a slow process. Although the motherboard had the ability to add the eleven components required to run a disc drive, Acorn had not written the software to enable it. Also, they had developed the computer around an Intel disc controller chip [8271], which Intel had discontinued. Despite all this, because they were late in launching and under pressure, they launched without a disc drive. The PACE team realised that there was a market for floppy disc drives and enlisted the help of Graham Mitchell, a former colleague of David from Baird. Graham developed a power supply, Barry sourced the disc drive mechanisms from Japan and PACE launched a disc drive, advertising it in BBC Micro User magazine, which Database Publications had just launched. Sales were initially limited because of the shortage of software. However, out of the blue, someone from Dr Challoner’s Grammar School, Amersham, contacted David and said that three 7 students had written disc interface software enabling disc drives to be used. David did a deal with the students and PACE adopted the software, which became known as the Amcom DFS. PACE also bought some computer games the students had developed, including one called Fortress, which went on to be a huge success. In the wake of the success of this game, written by three 17-year-olds, it occurred to Barry that there must have been a lot of people writing games. Therefore, he devised the marketing brand ‘Jasmine Software’ and placed a simple advert with Database Publications’ magazines, asking, “Are you a programmer? Do you program in Machine Code, have you written any games for the BBC Micro…” etc. One result was the identification of a new development known as EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory) This program allowed one computer to communicate with another. The directors eventually realised the significance of this technology and arranged to meet the developer, Andy Hood. PACE took on the program, which became Commstar, and employed Andy. Another programmer, probably sourced from the same recruitment process as Andy Hood, was Ewan Wannop, developed ‘Data Highway’ for the Apple II range. A problem at that time was that modems were few and far between and communications were in their infancy, meaning that such modems as there were, were expensive. PACE started to produce modems. Their first hardware was the ‘Nightingale’ modem, designed for PACE by Bradford Instruments. Later PACE developed their own, known as the ‘Linnet’, which was designed by an engineer called Steve Wright, who had been recruited and whom Rob has described as, “Very calm, very quiet, very considered”. David described the progression as going from “the first fairly amateurish development of a modem, which was Nightingale, onto a much more commercial platform, which was Linnet – what we called the Linnet family, because there were a few successors based on that.” For Nightingale, there was no bespoke software. Initially, it was mostly supplied to people using teletext services that were either built in or you just went to a particular address. PACE were on the way to becoming a company that others in the field began to notice. Assessing customer needs and recruiting the necessary technical expertise led to rapid growth. Whilst software and hardware were kept going in tandem for a while, to sustain cashflow, the mail order aspect providing a solid cashflow generation, Rob’s abiding memory is that the rapid growth was ‘great fun’. Founding of PACE as a Limited Company As previously noted, PACE was founded as a limited company in 1982 but with the move into production and a wider range of software in the mid 1980’s the name became PACE Microtechnology. Barry had been helping while working for a shipping company – Pacific 8 America Container Transport. Rob left the RAF in May 1985.The three all had distinctive skills. David describes Barry as “very much the sales and marketing guy and to be honest, he was the guy that really pushed us all along.” In July 1985 they moved into larger premises at the side of Prospect Mills in Allerton, very near to the Seabrook Crisps manufacturer. The new space provided 6,000 square feet of floor space with a mezzanine adding a further 1,100 square feet of space. This soon also proved inadequate and within two years, two portacabins had been added to the site and the mezzanine extended, providing a further 4,000 square feet of space. The company was manufacturing modems and disc drives and using Bentham & Holroyd, who occupied Prospect Mill and were the landlord for PACE, to shape the metal and, among others, Peatey’s at Yeadon to powder coat it. PACE advertised extensively, mainly with Database Publications, who were the publishers of dedicated magazines for the relevant products, ‘Windfall’ for Apple (which later became ‘Apple User’) ‘Micro User’ for BBC computer, and ‘Amstrad User’ for Amstrad computers. Among PACE’s modem clients was Amstrad, and the company sold them 10,000 ‘Nightingale’ Amstrad-branded modems. It was an internal card modem that PACE designed and made. When asked about packaging whether he want the PACE name on the modem, Alan Sugar1 apparently answered along the lines of, “Course I want your f***ing name on it. We don’t make modems! No one’s going to believe it’s a good modem if you haven’t made it!” So, it became the Amstrad modem by PACE. This was in 1985. PACE was foremost in manufacturing these products and, inevitably, the company was once again ‘bursting at the seams’ in the space they were occupying despite now using third party subcontractors to manufacture their range of Modem products. Companies and the public could rent modems from British Telecom at the time at a relatively huge cost, whereas PACE, with a couple of engineers, were able to make in-house, subcontract and sell modems for significantly less than the annual rental cost from BT. Satellite Technology By the middle of 1986, the business dealing with modems, disc drives and other peripherals was doing reasonably well but the market for floppy disc drives was diminishing and the writing was on the wall for the future of external modems because modem chip manufacturers were 1 Amstrad was a British electronics company founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar, at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of ‘Alan Michael Sugar Trading’. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad had a substantial share of the PC market in the UK. 9 making them smaller, and the tendency was to build them into the computers themselves. Rob recalls that he felt something new needed to happen at this point. David had heard the UK government were going to launch a satellite and transmit TV programs from space to the UK for the first time. He suggested that PACE should investigate getting into this field. David had bought a ‘Maspro’ satellite TV receiver that incorporated a mechanism that allowed the dish to be moved. For the viewer, this meant the receiver could be set to point the dish at one satellite, and then in order to watch a channel on another satellite, the user tuned to that satellite, the dish automatically turning towards the different satellite. Manufacturers had begun to make satellite ‘head end equipment’, as it was called. The first products were expensive, professional, rack-mounted pieces of equipment meant for cable operators, who would have a data centre and a massive dish. They’d receive a television channel by satellite, and had an expensive, professional piece of equipment that received it, then it would be piped down ‘co-ax’ cable to subscribers. That’s the equipment PACE got their hands on. But it was not designed for home use. These pieces of equipment were priced in the region of £2,000 or £3,000 apiece. David didn’t know why they needed to be so expensive, so the PACE team looked at the technology and re-designed it in a domestic form that it was possible to produce and sell for a few hundred pounds. David recalls that he was fascinated with the idea of ‘bringing pictures out of the sky’. There was an obvious business opportunity, but PACE didn’t have the in-house capability to develop a satellite TV receiver, so David set about trying to find a firm who had that capability. In addition, Barry contacted the Department of Trade and industry (DTI) in Leeds and, after meeting the Regional Director Gordon Bennett, he obtained a substantial innovation grant for research and development (R&D) work. However, in the market doubts were growing as to whether the British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) television company, based in London, would actually launch their service. Whilst, at PACE, the modem business appeared to be improving, so PACE drifted away from the idea of satellite technology, until Gordon Bennett called to ask why the company hadn’t called down the DTI loan. Barry explained the situation and Bennett then said he had received a letter from a satellite TV engineer in Wales who said he had designed a satellite TV receiver and was asking whether he knew anyone who might be interested. Bennett passed on the details of the engineer, Andy Coe to the company and, after an exchange of letters PACE arranged to call him at a telephone box at a pre-arranged time and, through this conversation, a visit to Bradford was set up. When Andy arrived, he had long hair and a beard and was wearing Hell’s Angel leathers and biker boots. He was carrying an old shoe box which contained his satellite TV receiver. During the interview with him, a call was received from the police. It appeared that Coe had developed the receiver on the premises of Welsh firm, specifically for them – and the firm wanted it back! PACE were asked to hold him on the premises. When 10 confronted, Coe’s version was that the Welsh company had simply let him use their premises and facilities free of charge, with no obligation regarding what he developed. However, what he had developed was of real interest to PACE. Fortunately, Coe had the (hand-drawn) circuit diagram, with the rest of the concept in his head. The equipment was de soldered and when the police arrived, they interviewed Coe and took away the cardboard box, while PACE agreed to get him a solicitor. After the solicitor wrote to the firm, they dropped the case against Andy Coe two days later. These were clearly very interesting times in the developing market for digital products. When the PACE Directors offered him a job, Coe didn’t seem terribly interested in a salary but what he did want was a company vehicle and the company vehicle had to be a Harley Davidson bike. He remained with PACE throughout its development as a company, handling software and middleware as well as hardware. His recruitment was the final element that that enabled PACE to begin to manufacture their first satellite receiver, which was first released in early 1987. In those days, because companies such as Sky Television hadn’t yet entered the market, it remained necessary to have a mechanism that moved the satellite dish to stationary satellites. The dish had to be steerable, and it had to be quite large – 2 or 3 metres in diameter – with arms that spanned it, left and right. When the viewer wanted a programme such as Cable News Network (CNN), the receiver had to know to move to this location at that angle and tune to that frequency and then tuning to another channel required another move. The first satellite receiver was called the SR640 and had capacity to connect with 64 channels of information – but there weren’t 64 channels that a user could actually access. PACE made their first satellite receiver, which was quite ‘rough-and-ready’ and then recruited a team of engineers, including Derek Oliver, who came from Thorn as a software engineer and became the software manager, with Graham Mitchell, who became the fourth company director for PACE. David already knew Graham and was aware that he would bring the professionalism into the engineering team that was needed at that point in time. Whilst manufacturing modems and supplying software products were the principal business for the company and Satellite technology was in its infancy, PACE were well placed to grow this market. Marconi, Ferguson, and Alba / Bush In the early days of satellite technology, PACE advertised in magazines such as ‘What Satellite’ and ‘Satellite TV Europe’, despite the fact that they had only ever made 2000 satellite TV receivers. Their marketing ensured that PACE received a lot of editorial coverage and Barry spent a lot of time wining and dining magazine editors and persuading them to do reviews. One magazine, Satellite T.V. Europe was published by Nick Snow, who became a good friend of Barry, with the two of them later creating awards for the satellite TV Channels being shown at that time. These were called the STEVIES (Satellite TV Europe) and gave PACE a high profile. 11 This promotional strategy paid off and was one of the trigger points in the evolution of PACE. One result was a telephone call to Barry from the Business Development Director of GPT- 2 Plessey Telecommunications , whose firm were ‘intrigued’ by the emergence of TV broadcasting via satellite. The Director requested a visit to PACE, in order to gather information for a report he was writing for his board. GPT-Plessey were a huge company compared to PACE and Barry agreed to a meeting at the Allerton premises for the following week. During the visit, the director was open about the fact that it was unlikely PACE were going to be able do business with GPT but after providing the information requested, Barry pressed him for ways that GPT could support PACE and was provided with contact details for Len Ogier, Assistant Managing Director of Marconi Electronics3. Barry was not aware at this point that, Marconi were manufacturing low-noise block downconverters (LNBs) and supplying them to Amstrad as part of a deal with Rupert Murdoch 4 to make satellite TV receivers for the emerging SKY TV service . PACE also needed a source of LNBs to incorporate into their receivers as these were a crucial component. After discussion with David, Barry called Len Ogier to arrange a meeting at Marconi’s North London base, just off the M1. On Arrival, David and Barry were escorted to the boardroom, where they met Len Ogier, his P.A., Jacqui Robbins and the Commercial Manager, Arthur Casciaro. However, when Barry asked what Marconi’s purchase price for LNBs would be, Len Ogier commenced inquiring into the PACE satellite TV receiver, requesting that the meeting continue in his office. Whilst there, Ogier and Casciaro wished to see the Costed Bill of Materials, the circuit diagram, and the code, and to be told who developed the software etc., which, understandably, concerned the PACE team as they were being asked to divulge their own product details. As a result, Barry led the team out of the meeting, afraid of being ‘ripped off’ and reasoning that there were other sources of LNBs. As the David and Barry drove back, (an early) mobile phone in their car rang. It was Len Ogier calling and he asked them to turn around and come back to speak with him. On arriving at his office, Ogier was alone. Ogier said,” We have a problem because whilst we are supplying LNB’s to Amstrad, we do not want to have just one customer and we have other, very significant customers who we know want to get into the satellite TV receiver business but do not have satellite TV receivers of their own and because of that, we cannot supply them LNB’s”. At this, Barry proposed that Marconi start to supply PACE with the LNB’s. In response, Ogier proposed that the team extend their 2 GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was a British manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and telecommunications company Plessey. The GPT name ceased to be used in the mid-1990s, and in 1998 the company was amalgamated into Siemens Communications. 3 Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of The General Electric Company (GEC). 4 BSkyB was Initially formed in 1990 by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting. BSkyB became the UK's largest digital pay television company. 12 5 stay overnight and he went on to contact Kevin Smith at Ferguson in Enfield to arrange a meeting 40 minutes later, informing the team that Ferguson were interested in buying satellite TV receivers. In the later meeting, the PACE team were introduced to Ferguson’s representatives, Ian West, and Doug Topping. West was a management trainee with the remit of understanding and taking Ferguson into the emerging world of satellite TV, while Topping was the engineer. Ferguson were owned by the large French ‘Thomson’ organisation (also the owner of Baird / Thorn) who had been ‘caught napping’ over satellite TV and needed to get into the market early, meaning their only route was via someone like PACE, who could give them an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) product. It soon emerged that Ferguson were talking about a potential 40,000 order. The discussions went on for about two hours. Ogier agreed that Marconi would supply the LNB’s to Ferguson but drop out of the negotiations between PACE and Ferguson. Smith agreed a route forward with David and Barry, and to meet again the following week. Ogier then asked David and Barry to stay overnight, as he had another potential customer who 6 might be interested in buying receivers. This company was Alba / Bush in the East End of London. In the meeting the following morning, along with David, Barry and Ogier was John Harris, the company’s founder, Melvyn Goodship, the Managing Director of Bush, in whose name the satellite receivers would be branded, and Harris’s son Daniel. They wanted twenty-six thousand receivers. PACE were about to enter not just in a major UK market but an international one. Salts Mill Given these developments, in 1988, the time had come to search for more space for the company and Rob began hunting for suitable premises. He had heard about Jonathan Silver taking on the vast Salts Mill site and arrived there on a very rainy day, finding no security staff present and went in. Jonathan Silver was sitting in the 1853 gallery (the only gallery established at the time) with Alan South who was helping with the establishment of the gallery. Jonathan took out a huge bunch of keys and began to walk Rob around the premises. There were many spaces that were either too big or too difficult, but the Mill could provide the square footage needed by PACE. Rob got on very well with Jonathan but needed to discuss the possibility of leasing space there with David and Barry, so didn’t confirm the use space in Salts Mill on that 5 Ferguson was originally an American-Canadian company making radio sets for the U.K. market based on American models. It expanded into TV and was taken over by Thorn Electrical Industries. The Ferguson name continued to be used by Thorn and its successor Thorn EMI. In 1987 it was sold to French electronics company, Thomson. 6 Alba began by manufacturing radio sets from 1922. In the late 1960s they became Alba Group. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1987 as Alba plc, buying Bush in 1988 13 first day. He had to convince both David and Barry to go and have a look. David recalls that in some areas “There was rain coming through the ceiling. It was a grim old spot!” When Rob went back to Salts Mill for a thorough look at possibilities two days later, Jonathan threw him the keys and said, ‘help yourself’, leaving him to consider what could go where. Jonathan had his office then in the old Sir Titus Salt Company Board Room and used a desk piled in papers, books, and paraphernalia, with the golden letters from the Salts sign that had been on the side of the mill hanging on the wall and an easel and canvases he used for relaxation in painting. After looking around again and a brief discussion a deal was done for PACE to use part of circa 1500sq ft of the space that had been the ‘washhouse’ in the mill to store some materials for a time. Meanwhile PACE continued at prospect Mills with around 50 employees. Several months later, the Directors decided that additional space required for their business did mean a move for the PACE company to Salts Mill. Over a period of time, they took the Canalside offices, at first half, and then the whole of the floor above the 1853 Gallery in the Spinning Block. More space was required for engineering and development and in 1993, in the midst of the mobile phone boom, coinciding with the launch of Digital Satellite TV. PACE needed greater capacity for manufacturing and was struggling to find sub-contractors with capacity that was not consumed by mobile phones. The growth in manufacturing also required space to accommodate a service department and product testing area and needed to include space to handle the comings and goings of millions of parts and products a week, in and out of Salts Mill. PACE took over most of the built space at the back of the main mill along the canal and up to the loading areas along the railway. Salts Mill’s weaving shed (circa 70,000 sq. ft) was converted in around 22 weeks to a modern electronics manufacturing facility named as PACE Manufacturing Facility (PMF), along with the ground floor of the spinning block beyond the 1853 Gallery, which became a cafeteria. The works were built as part of a handshake agreement on the lease. PACE improved the electrical installations and the fabric of these spaces within the Mill and added heating systems. The Canalside offices were soon extended into the north light behind the buildings facing Victoria Road. The company ultimately leased around 350,000 square feet of the Mill premises. There weren’t many tenants in Salts Mill at the time Rob arrived He recalls that there was the 1853 Gallery; a textile supplier for furnishings, ‘Skopos Fabrics’ in the basement, an accountancy company in the front offices and a company that supplied vaccinations and equipment for travel – down the left-hand side, toward the canal. There were tenants in the old Salts boardroom very early on but when they left, PACE used it as a boardroom for a while. The space that is now the bookshop was where Jonathan Silver’s clothing business was situated at the time. There was a wall beyond this, and at the other end was the first office space that PACE utilised for their production team, many of whom had been prior colleagues of David’s at Bairds. 14 Employment with PACE initially rose to over 700 at Salts Mill (ultimately rising to over 900 staff) and the manufacturing of Satellite TV and set top boxes began there. During the nine years it operated production in the Mill, in addition to producing product in its own name, PACE was a respected product manufacturer making units in Saltaire for almost all the most well-known names in worldwide electronics. As tenants of Jonathan Silver, who took on large amounts of space, PACE contributed significantly to Jonathan’s success in the mill and helped bring young, professional people into the village, which completely changed its image. Zoe Silver, Jonathan’s daughter, said that the Silver family can never underestimate the importance of PACE coming in. She sees it as the rock bed on which the rest of the Mill developed. Rob says the arrangement “worked well for both of us”. Expansion and Going Global At board level, David and Barry were joint Managing Directors with Barry being the Sales Director and David the Engineering and Development Director, and Rob as Operations Director. Kurt Risdon was Materials Director, reporting to Rob. Graham Mitchell was Engineering Director, reporting to David. There were several Financial Directors at different times, who worked in Barry’s directorate. As PACE broadened its range of products, manufacturing capacity was established in Wales and other sites for the United Kingdom’s local markets. Manufacturing was also established abroad leading to products being produced in Turkey, India, Mexico, Brazil, Romania, (briefly) The Czech Republic and later China. PACE had become a major international manufacturer. The company was never manufacturing more than around 24% of the products they sold in Salts Mill, Saltaire. Their early use of resale for digital products continued to ensure a healthy cashflow. The international business had grown gradually with the company starting to sell in Europe in 1988. The first European office was opened in Stuttgart in 1991. In 1992-3, there were offices in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Hong Kong, and the directors have a recollection of a South African office. There was also an American office for quite a long time. The international sales drive was due to Barry’s expertise and significant ability. There were regional directors for each ‘division’, each of these reporting to Barry, who headed a significant sales hierarchy, with quite a few deputies. Whilst the early satellite receivers were ‘just receivers’, technology developed that enabled built in methods of control allowing use of a wide range of satellite sources. This was the beginning of encryption systems either through a card system or built into the hardware. The first models were the D2-MAC ones for Scandinavia. For a time, there were two satellite systems in operation in the UK as, prior to the merger of BSB and Sky in 1990 to form BskyB, BSB had broadcast to ‘Squarial’ receivers. This was technology in which BSB had invested heavily and when the market for these receivers collapsed the company suffered significant loss. Fortunately, PACE had not chosen that high-level investment route because they had 15 already invested in existing technology. The deciding factor for the direction of the technology was the marketing of Murdoch on behalf of the content provider, Sky. One of the main reasons why PACE achieved its high market share was the formation of the joint venture with NTL – ‘Pace NTL Technology’ – arguably the most significant step PACE made, especially given that NTL had developed the Demux (demultiplexer) for digital TVs and had engagements with Irdeto, the primary developer of conditional access technology at that time. They were having discussions with emerging Digital TV broadcasters Shinawatra in Thailand and Galaxy in Australia, who were to become PACE’s first customers. It wasn’t all plain sailing in the global markets. For example, Barry recall one tense time – “Our first digital customer, Galaxy, in Australia began to experience problems. They had taken 25,000 digital satellite receivers but their backers were hesitating about continuing to invest in the product. A Pace employee in Australia, Mike Tucker called me to tell me that this order could be in jeopardy. I took the call whilst travelling with David, on the way to an important meeting with a major investor. When I heard from Mike, my heart sank because if Galaxy went under PACE was in trouble. I made an excuse when we reached the meeting, saying I was exhausted (which I was) and David took the meeting on his own. After a further conversation with Mike I got back on a plane to Australia to negotiate with Galaxy. I met them and during the meeting their investors agreed to continue funding their developments, the deal was rescued, and I flew back to do another week of roadshows.” PACE also had a huge analogue satellite TV business, making analogue satellite TVs for Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, SHARP, Philips and Thomson. David recalls that the move from a small team to a much larger group of staff and company size remained enjoyable and that he was still excited by ‘the job’. In spite of the rapid growth and occasional financial crises. There was a difficult time for the company when cable operators overstretched themselves. This resulted in many of the company’s customers owing significant sums of money. PACE were owed hundreds of thousands of pounds by companies at risk of going out of business. To mediate against this PACE sold the modem business, which had been relocated to the boiler room, close to Salts Mill Chimney (a location that is now occupied by the All-Terrain cycle shop) This element of the company was sold to employees and management. Stock Market Flotation The Directors of PACE had not spent much time considering whether or not to float their now internationally known company but thinking began to change as the ‘90s decade progressed. One thing that triggered the idea of flotation was that PACE had a subcontractor called Race Electronics, in Wales. The owner, Alf Gooding (who also owned a company called Catnic Lintels) came to visit in around 1994 and made an offer to buy PACE outright. It hadn’t previously occurred to the directors that they had a highly desirable company that could be sold. In addition, generally, the advent of the rapid development of increasingly sophisticated digital 16 products drew attention from further afield. Nevertheless, Rob wryly recalls that “Everybody was interested in buying us until you actually had a conversation with them”. The company had conversations with Motorola in America and General Instruments (GI), based in San Diego, California, who were pioneering the development of digital satellite TV receivers for the United States and other International markets, with Barry developing a relationship with one of GI’s Sales Directors, Kris Kelkar. GI and PACE were both chasing business from News Corporation’s ‘Star TV’ in Hong Kong. PACE’s relationships with National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL, the privatised UK independent broadcasting authority acquired by Cable Tel in 1996) who had developed technology PACE were using, and News Digital Systems (NDS - owned by News Corporation), who were leaders in encryption technology put PACE at a significant advantage in the emerging digital satellite market. PACE were already working with NTL and another conditional access technology partner, IRDETO, whose technology was winning favour with non-US broadcasters due to IRDETO being politically neutral, rather than NDS, who were owned by Rupert Murdoch. 7 GI had their own Conditional Access system called Videocypher which had some success in the US but wasn’t what the rest of the world wanted. As a result, GI were struggling to compete, and Barry’s contact Kelkar asked whether PACE would be interested in meeting their senior management in San Diego. David and Barry agreed to this and went to see them. At this first meeting no business agreement was reached but soon afterwards, Kelkar requested a meeting in Saltaire. During the meeting, GI made an offer to acquire PACE. However, GI wanted to pay for the company with only a proportion of cash up front, the remainder of the price being based on PACE’s future earnings. The team rejected the deal. Then a neighbouring Saltaire company came forward with a proposal. David Rhodes, a majority shareholder of the neighbouring Filtronic 8 business contacted Barry for a confidential meeting. Filtronic’s flotation had been a success and David Rhodes had heard that PACE had been talking to a US firm about a buyout. He had an idea that PACE could be integrated into Filtronic through a share exchange deal. PACE agreed to consider this, and David Rhodes gave a presentation to the PACE management team, considered the proposal but decided it wasn’t for them. When the directors informed Rhodes of their decision, he responded with a suggestion that PACE consider a flotation of their company and put the directors in touch with the brokers who initiated the Filtronic float. As a result, PACE met with 7 Keith Rupert Murdoch, Australian born American Media Mogul is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK (The Sun and The Times), in Australia (The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and The Australian), in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post). He is often considered to have too much influence on public opinion. 8 Filtronic is specialist Radio Frequency (RF) engineering business — designs, manufactures and supplies a high quality, innovative range of standard and custom filter, antenna and mmWave transceiver solutions that meet the needs of customers in market sectors ranging from mobile telecommunications network infrastructure to critical communications. The company was originally based in Saltaire, but the UK headquarters are now in Yeadon, Leeds 17 Pat O’Reilly who represented the brokers Panmure Gordon and decided to float PACE Microtechnology Ltd. The outcome was that PACE was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1996. This year coincided with a planned launch of the UK change from analogue to digital technology for broadcasting. The reason for the government to make this change was that the analogue system wasn’t an efficient use of airwaves and only had space for a limited number of channels, whereas digital used a multiplexing system to squeeze many TV channels into a single block. Although PACE were manufacturing digital equipment, 1996 was the start of a difficult time because PACE customers – Sky in particular – had made major investment in analogue and, with others, decided to put digital off for at least 12 months. PACE had manufactured the TV set top boxes, tested them, had parts coming in and were ready to go, but their customers’ decisions to delay caused problems. PACE had given their business projections based on the planned digital deals going ahead, so when these were not able to, PACE had to make a profit warning, and the share price dived. A profit warning is an official statement to the stock exchange from a publicly listed company that says that it will report full-year profits materially below management or market expectations. By becoming a public company PACE had to abide by this rule. Rob clarified the 1996 situation further by explaining that for a public company, it is imperative to state what you are expecting ‘to make’ in the coming financial year, and if you make that, your share price stays about the same or it might go down. If you exceed it by a reasonable amount, the share price might go up, but the exchange will ask ‘why didn’t you know?’ In the case for PACE that year, not being able to make the profit publicly estimated, the company had to give ‘profit warning’ and inform shareholders what was going on. This, along with further profit warnings, put a great deal of pressure onto Barry. It affected him badly and he decided to leave PACE PLC in 1997. His talents had played a significant part in PACE Microtechnology Ltd.’s success. The change to a public limited company had its effect on the other founding directors also over the next few years. Rob Fleming summed up the nature of the change- “If you’re an ordinary limited company, you don’t have to do any of this and I think one of the things that got to Barry was, we’re a company trying to do things at the leading edge. You don’t want to have to tell everybody what you’re doing. But once you’re a public company, you’ve got to say and if it’s more than a certain amount of company money you’re going to spend on a certain thing, you have to say you’re doing it. It’s counter-intuitive for a development business but once you become public, that’s the sort of thing you have to do.” 18 David stayed with PACE PLC, becoming a non-executive director for the next seven to eight years. Rob stayed as an executive director for just over six years and then took a non-executive director position for the remainder of his time with PACE PLC. David noted that after the flotation, the culture of the place changed, and the founding directors became a little uncomfortable, saying – “As a non-exec, it’s OK for a bit but you’ve got no input into it. All you can do is listen to things. And the board meetings then got transferred to London, so you had to traipse down there, and it just lost its interest.” However, even in the early days after flotation David recall that his days at PACE were still “just an exciting time”. In 2016 PACE was taken over by the American company Arris, subsequently sold once more to CommScope who have also chosen to retain offices at Salts Mill and are apparently intrigued by the setting’s history. Contribution to Saltaire Life Throughout their time at Salts Mill, PACE directors developed very good relationships with Jonathan Silver and his brother, Robin Silver. Neither side had found it necessary to have formal written leases drawn up so when PACE was about to float the company on the stock market in 1996, lawyers had to get involved and draw up lease terms etc. Jonathan and PACE had been content with a handshake. PACE, Salts Estates, and the Silver family had developed a powerful symbiotic relationship. The combination of Jonathan’s openness and enthusiasm, the local employment potential and reality of the worldwide awareness of PACE, its people and products and the opportunities provided to bring Salts once again to life, served to give weight to the direction desired by that combination and helped to deal with many of the frustrations created by the politics and sometimes very narrow outlook of officialdom. PACE always described Pace Manufacturing (PMF) a ‘facility’ rather than a factory. This was partly because at the time, Rob was a member of a Government ‘White Paper’ committee, meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry in London and trying to convince the Government to adopt a different attitude to training and stop the attitude that “if you don’t do well you will finish up working in a factory”. PACE spent significant time, energy, and money on training at PMF and in association with Bradford College, who Rob convinced to run courses specifically for PACE staff. With regard to access into Salts Mill, thankfully, Jonathan Silver negotiated some European funding to get the bridge improved, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to site any significant manufacturing there. The Victoria Road end through the village is simply not accessible for modern articulated vehicles and both Salts and PACE were very keen to keep the 19 feel of Saltaire as a village. The objective was to make sure that all manufacturing activity was at the back of the Salts Mill complex and didn’t damage Saltaire’s aesthetic. Jonathan Silver was in the forefront of that approach. Together, the contributions of the Silver family and the founding Directors of PACE Microtechnology Ltd. (later PLC) have made an enormous contribution to making Saltaire a desirable place to live, creating international interest in what is now a World Heritage site and in changing the local economy for the better. 20
2022.44: 'Bradford Railways Rembered' by Alan Whitaker
'Bradford Railways Rembered' by Alan Whitaker
A collection of photographs with text covering the railway network in Bradford district, Airedale and Wharfedale
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Coat of arms
B1-032/5/57: Aerial views of Saltaire Mill as prints (1)
Aerial views of Saltaire Mill as prints (1)
Print shows an aerial view of Saltaire Mill together with the railway sidings. There are four vehicles shown on the left side of the print.
B1-032/5/59: Aerial views of Saltaire Mill as prints (3)
Aerial views of Saltaire Mill as prints (3)
The print shows an aerial view of Saltaire Mill including the railway sidings. 'Saltaire Mill' is printed on the bottom right
Saltaire Railway station was part of the Midland Railway and opened in 1856. The nearby railway, along with the canal, was likely an important factor in Titus Salt’s decision to build his model village on this site. The station closed in 1965 as part of the widespread programme of railway closures. The orignal buildings were demolished in the 1970s. A new station was reopened in 1984 and has services to Leeds, Bradford and Skipton.
2019.46.27: 1 colour photograph of Saltaire Railway Station and college students
A book of black and white photographs from the commercial archive of Francis Frith and Company. Frith establshed a business in th 1860s to photograph every town and village in Britain and provide them for the public to buy. The book includes views of many places across Yorkshire. It includes two photographs of Saltaire on page 28: the railway station with a train arriving and Salts Mill visible in the background; Saltaire (later Roberts) Park along the promenade with the bandstand visible and two women with a pram in the foreground.
Yorkshire: Pictorial memories: Front cover
1 colour photograph of Saltaire Railway Station and college students
Photo shows Shipley College students working on Saltaire Railway Station garden early 1988
Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 1 - 1845-1880 (From newspaper cuttings)
Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 2 - 1881-1889 (From newspaper cuttings)
Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 3 - 1890-1899 (From newspaper cuttings)
Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 4 - 1900-1909 (From newspaper cuttings)
Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 5 - 1910-1929 (From newspaper cuttings)
Timeline for Saltaire and its Railway Part 6 - 1930-1959 (From newspaper cuttings) with a postscript
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
H2-208.127: Baker Letters - regarding: plans of land to Midland Railway; articles in Yorkshire Post; sale of Hirst Mill
Baker Letters - regarding: plans of land to Midland Railway; articles in Yorkshire Post; sale of Hirst Mill
Plans of land to Midland Railway; Articles in Yorkshire Post; Mr Thomas asking price for Hirst Mills
H2-208.128: Baker Letters - regarding: visit from Midland Railway
Baker Letters - regarding: visit from Midland Railway
Mr Clay representative of Midland Railway coming to Saltaire; wants Midland Railway to erect fence
H2-208.130: Baker Letters - regarding: Midland Railway Co. and siding
Baker Letters - regarding: Midland Railway Co. and siding
H2-208.141: Baker Letters - regarding: grinding room; Midland Railway land; Saltaire Park in a bad state
Baker Letters - regarding: grinding room; Midland Railway land; Saltaire Park in a bad state
Mr Thomas had finished grinding room. Mr Knowles wants land belonging to Midland Railway. The park is in a bad state. Mr Badland thinks it would take 3 or 4 men 3 years to get it back to pre-war state. Mr & Mrs Moorby mentioned.
Roberts Park, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Roberts Park, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Promenade with bandstand
H2-208.148: Baker Letters - regarding: new roof on workshop; sale of land
Baker Letters - regarding: new roof on workshop; sale of land
Normington is putting a new roof on his workshop; Land Knowles wishes to buy between railway and Normingtonâ??s building
H2-208.156: Baker Letters - regarding: cost of repairs; Midland Railway bridge repairs; repairs to Hirst Lane; repairs to gravestone
Baker Letters - regarding: cost of repairs; Midland Railway bridge repairs; repairs to Hirst Lane; repairs to gravestone
Cost of steps around £5; Midland Railway bridge repairs could be low if done temporally; Hirst Lane very bad condition and needs mending; Mr Willieâ??s headstone needs attention
H2-208.195: Baker Letters - regarding: increase of rents; allotments east of Victoria Road; boundary fences around church. plan needed for land
Baker Letters - regarding: increase of rents; allotments east of Victoria Road; boundary fences around church. plan needed for land
Enclosed cheque for £80. How much should the rents be increased to and is it worth it? Should Mr Co be given notice & allotments east of Victoria Road? Challenges the boundary fences around the church. Wants plan for land between Railway and Caroline Street.
H2-208.223: Baker Letters - regarding: pension termination; possible land purchase by Midland Railway; allotments passed to council
Baker Letters - regarding: pension termination; possible land purchase by Midland Railway; allotments passed to council
Salome Pickard, a pensioner had attained 70th year on 25th Dec when pension stops. Wondered if land bought by Midland railway to pass into council hands. Plans from Hirst bridge to John Street therefore to be handed to council. Allotments been passed to council as well.
H2-208.230: Baker Letters - dispute over boundary
Midland Railway are disputing boundary between them and Mr Normingtonâ??s land. Dunn is solicitor and wants to meet.
H2-208.231: Baker Letters - dispute over boundary
Dispute between Midland Railway and Mr. Normington
H2-208.66: Baker Letters - regarding: Insurance; purchase of estate, visit by Sir James
Baker Letters - regarding: Insurance; purchase of estate, visit by Sir James
Insurance; Mr Searle wants to buy estate; Visit by Sir James; Mr Normington wants Midland railway to put in a siding
H2-208.74: Baker Letters - regarding: Offer of land between school and railway
Baker Letters - regarding: Offer of land between school and railway
Offer of land between school and railway
H2-208.79: Baker Letters - regarding: Mr Normington offer for land purcahse
Baker Letters - regarding: Mr Normington offer for land purcahse
Mr Normington offered 8s per yd but previously stated he would pay 10s; land between school and railway fit for a shop
H2-208.84: Baker Letters - regarding: boundary posts and land sales
Baker Letters - regarding: boundary posts and land sales
Midland Estate Office, Derby & boundary - posts in John Street, Caroline Street; Dr Ellis & Mr Jackson was to sell land between Hirst lands & Albert Road; John getting a railway pass; Mr Ackroyd needs someone else to cut grass at Milner Field
H2-208.85: Baker Letters - regarding: plans of land between Caroline Street and railway; possible sale of land near Albert Road
Baker Letters - regarding: plans of land between Caroline Street and railway; possible sale of land near Albert Road
Plans to be sent to Mr Walker of Messrs Armitage & Norton of plot sold & land between Caroline Street & railway & Victoria Road. Doesnâ??t want to sell land near Albert Road as council are interested but their price is too cheap
H2-208.87: Baker Letters - regarding: John Baker's travel from Morecambe and boundary issues
Baker Letters - regarding: John Baker's travel from Morecambe and boundary issues
Railway Pass & travelling 3-4 times a week from Morecambe; boundary not settled
H2-208.93: Baker Letters - regarding: purchase of fields; boundary dispute settled; Milner Field and Hirst House
Baker Letters - regarding: purchase of fields; boundary dispute settled; Milner Field and Hirst House
Mr Anderton, architect wants to purchase fields on railway side of Hirst Bridge; Boundary with Midland Railway settled; Mr Lister & furniture at Milner Field; Mr Sircum leaving Hirst House
2024.10: Sir James Roberts leaves Saltaire (The land disposals of Sir James Roberts)
Sir James Roberts leaves Saltaire (The land disposals of Sir James Roberts)
Document describing the land holdings of Sir James Roberts in Saltaire and nearby Milner Field following his sale of the Salts textile business in 1918. The research is based mainly on letters exchanged between Sir James Roberts and his representative in Saltaire, John Baker.
THE LAND DISPOSALS OF SIR JAMES ROBERTS IN SALTAIRE AND MILNER FIELD 1918-1923 THE EARLY RETIREMENT YEARS OF SIR JAMES ROBERTS By Ian Watson-2023 Several years ago, I wrote a small booklet, and gave a talk on the subject of: ‘The Land Acquisitions of Sir Titus Salt’. In which I looked at the Salt land purchases in Shipley and Baildon from 1850 through to 1874. So, I suppose that this paper could be seen as a way of rounding off this subject. In that, I am going to show how Sir James Roberts, reluctantly, came into possession of and disposed of the surviving undeveloped land, from Sir Titus’ original purchases. Most of the information in this paper comes from a collection of letters, held by the Saltaire Collection, which is managed by the Saltaire World Heritage and Education Association (SWHEA), and held in ‘Shipley College’, Shipley. The letters are part of the ‘Roberts Family Collection’, and form part of a significant loan to the Collection by the Roberts family of Strathallan Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. The purpose of this loan was to enable the volunteers at the Collection to make fair copies of the documents and photographs. The object being to allow students of Saltaire history to gain additional insights into the various aspects of Sir James Roberts’ life and his connections with Saltaire. The particular letters that I have used for this talk were written between 1918 and 1922. The letters consist of communications between Sir James Roberts and his Saltaire representative, John Baker, who was clerk of works at the Saltaire Mills during Sir James’ time there. John Baker was born in Goatland, in the North Riding in c.1852. In 1911 he was living at 5 Albert Road, Saltaire, with his wife and two sons, and is shown in the census as ‘Clerk of Works’. He retired to Morecambe in May 1919 and commuted to Saltaire on a weekly basis, in order to take care of Sir James’ interests in Shipley, Baildon and Bingley. He died in February 1934. He is buried with his wife and a son in Nab Wood Cemetery, Shipley. The other main source of information has come from the collection of land transfer records, held in the West Riding Registry of Deeds, now housed in the Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield (WRRD). In addition, various articles and letters published in the Shipley Times and Express have added to the information on this subject. Baker Letters - Roberts papers -Saltaire Collection As the majority of these letters consist of those written by John Baker to Sir James, and only a few by Sir James in return, there are gaps in the story. Whilst one letter may refer to a particular issue, there is not, necessarily, enough information in the returning letters to obtain a full explanation of the topic in-hand. This means that there can be problems with trying to understand the full picture of some of the issues relating to this period. Following the death of Sir Titus Salt in 1876, he left the undeveloped land in Shipley and Baildon, that he had purchased between 1850 and 1874, in the hands of his Trustees. His Trustees, most of whom were his sons, had the responsibility for paying out various annuities to Sir Titus’ female relatives. These annuities were paid through loans, known as Debentures, which were secured by the income from the rents on the farm land and allotments and the assets of the mill company. The failure of these heirs to maintain the mill company as a going concern led to the sale of the company to a group of Bradford business men. Sir James Roberts – Roberts Papers-Saltaire Collection When James Roberts and his fellow directors, Isaac Smith, John Rhodes and John Maddocks took over control of the mill in 1893, they also took on the ‘Joint Beneficial Ownership’ of these undeveloped lands along with the Salt family Trustees. This meant that neither party could do anything with this land without the approval of the other interested parties. Over the years, several of these plots of land were sold. These included the land on Baildon’s Otley Road, between Baildon Bridge and Charlestown Cemetery. Also the land lying to the east of the Shipley College building, now occupied by Maddocks, Rhodes and Baker Streets. In 1901, Mr Roberts, as he then was, became the sole owner of the mill and village, following the withdrawal of his earlier partners. As such, he also came into the joint ownership, with the Salts Trustees, of all the surviving undeveloped land. From all the records available, it can be seen that Sir James had decided to retire from the Saltaire Mill business before the start of the First World War. As a consequence of this decision, and, following the award of a Baronetcy, he had bought Strathallan Castle in Perthshire in 1910. In one of his letters Sir James shows that he had intended to pass on the responsibility of running the mill business to his only remaining son, Harry. But Harry’s conscription into the army in 1916 prevented this. In the event, Harold was severely wounded and was unable to return to his management activities at Salts, leaving Sir James without a practical heir to take over the firm that he had been involved with since1893. As a result, Sir James did not officially retire from the Saltaire Mill company, that he had been in sole charge of since 1900, until 1918, at the age of 70. At which point, he sold the business and retired to Scotland. Though, as it turned out, he would remain involved in the affairs of Saltaire and Shipley until at least 1925. Mr Roberts had bought the Milner Field estate, in Bingley, from Catherine Salt, the widow of Titus Salt jnr. in 1903. Though according to John Baker, Mr Roberts got the house at a discount. It seems that Baker had told Mrs Salt that Bertram Roberts, Sir James’ eldest son, was going to build a large house in a field close to Trench farm. This was possibly a negotiating sleight of hand by Mr Baker, or perhaps a member of the Roberts’ family, but the idea seemed to horrify Mrs Salt, and, according Mr Baker, she sold the nd house at a much lower price than she had wanted to [22 March 1918]. Following his move to Scotland, Sir James’ daughter, Lily-May and his son-in-law Frederick Aykroyd seem to have had the responsibility for looking after Milner Field, until 1919 when the house was included with the Coach Road lands in the arrangement with Messer's Gaunt and Foster. Milner Field - Roberts papers - Saltaire Collection In 1911, Sir James, as he then was, had bought Hirst Wood from the Lord of the Manor of Shipley, the Earl of Rosse. One of the later letters suggest that this purchase was in order to prevent any possible development of the wood, and to protect Sir James’ view from Milner Field. Though, during the First World War, Sir James was approached by a chemical company who wanted to buy Upper Hirst Mill in Hirst Wood, in order to build a chemical plant. It is likely that one of the reason behind this was that prior to the First World War, Germany had a virtual monopoly on industrial chemicals in Europe. Following the outbreak of war, the government realised that we would have problems obtaining such chemicals for our own industries. So, they encouraged the development of a British chemical industry, in order to protect us against a future crisis. So, it is possible that this planned project would have been part of that scheme th [29 September 1918]. Fortunately, the request to buy was rejected. By the end of the First World War, the last of the Debentures were due to be repaid, and the Trustees, having fulfilled their responsibilities with regard to the annuities, offered the land to the new ‘Part Beneficent Owners’, the Salts Mill company, now led by: Arthur Hill, Ernest Gates, and Henry Whitehead, but they declined. Pressure was put on Sir James to take on the properties, and, despite some reluctance, he took over control of this land, even though by this time he was living in Perthshire. As I mentioned earlier, there are gaps in our knowledge with regards to Sir James and his business activities in Saltaire. And this situation is one of those conundrums. Given that Sir James had retired from the mill business, and left the area, why did he take on the purchase and ownership of this land? It is possible that he saw the potential benefit of amalgamating his Milner Field property with the Coach Road properties; and the profit that would be generated from the future sale of this enlarged estate. But that is speculation, as, of the present time, there is no evidence for his decision to purchase the Trustees’ land. According to the deeds in the West Riding Registry of Deeds in Wakefield, Sir James took personal possession of these lands in Baildon and Shipley in 1919 (WRRD 1919 92 897 320) for the sum of £23,233 15s 3d. This purchase consisted of the land on the Baildon Coach Road between Green Lane and the Baildon/Bingley boundary at Loadpit Beck. It included: Midgley Farm, the two Trench farms, Midgley Wood, Trench Wood, Walker Wood and Saltaire Park. The lands on the Shipley side consisted of the area to the west of Victoria Road, between the River Aire on the north and the railway line on the south, excluding the Congregational Church grounds. It also included the allotments between the river and the canal, and the land behind the Congregational church. It also included all the undeveloped land between Albert Road and Hirst Lane, at the junction of which were a set of allotments, now covered by the playground and buildings of the Clarence Road Nursery School. The transfer also included the allotments on Caroline Street opposite the mill. The division of the old Salt’s estate between the Mill company and Sir James following the withdrawal of the Trustees, led to some confusion. The reason behind this is that it would seem that there was no definitive plan of the whole estate. Indeed, the evidence suggests that there were several different plans, produced at different times, in the possession of the various parties. As a result, no one seemed certain who owned what, with regard to the land between the canal and the river at the bottom of Victoria Road. The problem over the precise details of the boundaries even led someone in the mill company to question whether or not they actually owned the Royal Café! (previously, the Dining Room) [ Letter: 22nd April 1918]. Even though the evidence of the map accompanying the deed of 1919, shows that this building was part of the mill assets and not included in this sale. The plan accompanying the deed of 1919 shows that the bridge north of the canal, the land under the bridge and the land to the west of the bridge formed a part of the assets transferred to Sir James; i.e. the area coloured pink. Although it is not obvious from this plan, there was a small area just to the west of the bridge and a section under it, which remained the property of of the mill company. This allowed them access to the New Mill. WRRD plan 1919-92-897-320 (Part of) It is also interesting to note that there is a strip of land on the north edge of the allotment garden paralleling the railway line not included in this transfer. This strip of land was bought by the railway company several years earlier in preparation for the widening of the railway cutting. A project that never took place. At the moment, I am not sure if the railway authorities still own this land or not. Almost immediately after taking full possession of this old Salt land, Sir James decided to sell it, along with the Milner Field estate; and he seems to have given Mr Baker a free hand to find a buyer. During the early discussions regarding the future sale, Sir James, talking about potential buyers, suggested to Mr Baker that: ‘……. you might point out that all the land, but particularly the 14 acres comprised in the Park, is excellent building land’ [30th June 1919]. Such a comment implies that, at this time, there was nothing ‘off the cards’, as far as the future development of this area was concerned. It can also be assumed that at this time, Sir James was considering selling off individual plots of land by auction. And apparently, an auction catalogue was in the process of being produced. This, though, was a different catalogue to the one published in 1922 for Gaunt and Foster. In July 1919, Mr Baker informed Sir James’ that he was was negotiating with a Bradford man, a th Mr Robinson, regarding the sale of the Coach Road lands and the Milner Field Estate [4 July 1919]. Initially, it was uncertain who Mr Robinson represented. Though it soon became clear that he was negotiating on behalf of a Bradford Solicitor, Norman Foster. At this point Sir James got personally involved, and the sale was finally agreed after a face-to- th face meeting between Sir James and Mr Foster in July 1919, with the price set at £72,500 [17 July 1919]. The news of this ‘sale’ was announced in the Shipley Times & Express on the 25th July. This agreement included all the land on the north side of the River Aire between Primrose Lane in Bingley and Green Lane in Baildon, that had not already been disposed of. Later deeds, relating to this transfer, show that there were two partners in the purchase: Maurice Gaunt and Norman Alexander Foster, who were in practice together as solicitors at No. 1, Cheapside, Bradford. A few weeks after the purchases, Gaunt and Foster received an offer from a ‘Bradford Gentleman’ who wanted to buy Saltaire Park, in order to save it from possible development. nd Though after this initial newspaper report of 22 August 1919, there seems to be no more information regarding this offer. The Milner Field estate and house were also included in the sale, along with those house contents not wanted by Sir James for Strathallan Castle, nor for his London home at Hyde Park Gardens. Though we have no information on exactly what Sir James removed from the house. Immediately after the sale, though, Sir James had second thoughts. He asked John Baker to have the flagpole at the house taken down and shipped to Scotland, along with a rowing boat on the lake outside the house. Mr Foster objected, saying that these two items were included as part of the original purchase. It then became necessary for Mr Baker to explain to Sir James that rd the flagpole was too large to transport economically and the boat was rather old. [23 July 1919] So that plan seems to have been dropped. Although his letter of the 17th of July, and the later newspaper reports in the following month, implies that Sir James had sold this land outright to Gaunt and Foster, later evidence contradicts this. In a letter of November 1920, for example, Mr Baker refers to Mr Foster ‘talking as if they did not already own Milner Field.’ Also, there seems to be no record of a 1919 freehold sale by Sir James to Gaunt and Foster in the West Riding Registry of Deeds in Wakefield, where records of such sales are recorded. It can also be seen that in subsequent sales of the Milner Field estate and the Coach Road lands over the next few years, Sir James was still identified as the ‘vendor’ i.e., the actual seller. While Gaunt and Foster are shown as the ‘sub-vendors’, i.e., people who had some contractual interest in the properties (WRRD 1921-1923). It would seem more than likely, therefore, that this ‘purchase’ by Gaunt & Foster was simply an ‘option to buy’. If this was the case, then, presumably, the arrangement would have been secured by a large down payment. Though the lack of sight of the relevant document means that the evidence for this probability is not yet available. In retrospect, it can be speculated that this ‘option to buy’ was probably on condition that the two solicitors would be able to obtain planning permission to develop the whole of the Coach Road and the Milner Field Estate for housing and new roads. But prior to the large project that seems to have been planned for the land, the pair seem to have been quite prepared to sell off individual sections. For example, in November 1920, Sir James was informed by Mr Baker that Gaunt and Foster were, apparently, talking to a motion picture company, who were considering the idea of turning Milner Field into a film studio [10th November 1920]. Sir James didn’t like this idea at all. As he wrote to Mr Baker, ‘-- an institution in such surroundings is bound to have a serious effect upon the morals of the neighbourhood’. In the event, the whole scheme seems to have fallen through. The company needed a large dam and a generating plant to produce the electricity require for making their silent movies. Initially, they looked at the reservoirs on the Glen to supply the water. There was also talk of the film company buying Upper Hirst Mill in order to use the existing dam on the river, but, obviously, nothing came of the scheme. In September 1922 Gaunt and Foster tried to sell off the whole of the Milner Field estate and all th the Coach Road lands. And a newspaper report of 5 September talks about plans to turn Milner Field into a ‘Garden Suburb’. A sales catalogue was produced highlighting all the different plots of land in the sale, along with an interim layout of the new roads and house plots that were to be available for sale. (A copy of this catalogue is in the Collection Room at Shipley College.) (Saltaire Collection - A2-008) Salles catalogue of Milner Field : Saltaire Collection: A2-008 For whatever reason, this proposed auction never took place. It is more than likely that Bingley UDC and Baildon UDC refused planning permission for the proposed development on the Milner Field Estate and the Coach Road. Though the evidence to confirm this theory has not yet been identified. But it can be assumed that, as a result of this, probable, failure to obtain planning permission, the proposed plan for an auction of the estate, and the Coach Road lands, which according to th the press was due to be held at the Victoria Hotel, Bradford, on 12 October 1922 fell through. From this time on, the two solicitors co-operated with Sir James in selling off individual plots of land on the Coach Road. A section of the plan from the 1922 sales catalogue of the Milner Field Estate Saltaire Collection: A2-009 In late 1922 Sir James transferred some the unsold land, valued at £3,000, as Freehold to Gaunt and Foster (WRRD 1922 91 1298 472) The value of this transfer was possibly based on the original holding deposit that Gaunt and Foster had used to secure the option to buy. This transfer consisted of several plots of land: A small piece of land just to the south of Trench Farm of 6,043 sq. yds.; a plot of 3,790 sq. yds. opposite the Primrose Lane entrance to Milner Field; another small piece of land to the north of Roberts Park of 6,283 sq. yds; a small plot of 1,000 sq. yds. at the top of the Glen Tramway; a plot of land of 2,247 sq. yds. to the north of the River Aire at Baildon Bridge; and a larger piece of land stretching between the Coach Road and the top of Midgley Wood of 21 acres. From this time on, these two solicitors were selling off these pieces of land in their own names. In 1923 the couple sold the land in Primrose Lane and two plot of land in Baildon to the Salts Mill company. And it’s from the record of this transfer of property that we get the evidence showing that Gaunt and Foster did not actually buy the Milner Field and Coach Road estates in 1919. To quote from part of the deed of transfer, “ Whereas the vendor being seised (sic) of the hereditaments hereinafter described and intended to be hereby conveyed in fee simple in possession free from incumbrances sometime since agreed with the purchasers for the sale thereof to them (amongst other hereditaments) for a like estate at the price of sixty-two thousand five hundred pounds but no conveyance of the hereditaments hereinafter described has yet been executed. Though it should be noticed there is a £10,000 difference between this quoted figure and the price mentioned in the letter of 1919. Later evidence also shows that even after this period, there were a few sales in which Sir James and Gaunt and Foster were joint sellers. This included the sale of various sections of land on the Coach Road, and the sale of the Milner Field estate to the Salts Mill company in January 1923. The Coach Road sales included: The two Trench Farms; a plot at the southern end of the Glen Tramway’ where the large shed is; a plot at the junction of Thompson Lane and the Coach Road; a plot of land to the north of Saltaire Park; and the land, at that time occupied by the Saltaire Tennis Club, on the north side of the river This plan, from that sale, (see below) shows those areas excluded from the sale marked around in red WRRD plan 1923/17/778/16 (part of) The original ‘sale’ to Gaunt and Foster had included Saltaire Park. Sir James had tried to offer the park to Shipley Council in February 1919. But, according to later newspaper accounts, two sub-committees of the Shipley Council who had considered the offer turned it down, without it going to the full Council meeting, and the public did not find out about this offer until later in the year. However, it turned out that the park had been offered to Shipley on certain conditions. These being that Sir James would remain as the owner, but that Shipley UDC would be responsible for its upkeep. He also offered to let Shipley have the boathouse on the river, and the allotments on Caroline Street and in Albert Road, though he wanted to keep the rents from these. He also wanted the council to guarantee that the public would have the right to free access to the park at all times. Anyway, it would seem that Shipley UDC took so long to decide on the offer, that when Sir James ‘sold’ Milner Field and the Coach Road lands to Gaunt and Foster he included the park in the sale. Back in August 1919, Gaunt and Foster had been in negotiations with the Salts Mill company with regard to their purchase of Saltaire Park , but the pair were asking for £12,500 which was rejected, so the park was left in their hands. In an interview for the Shipley Times & Express of the 12th of September 1919, Gaunt and Foster are reported to have said, “We feel that the estate, according to the way it is handled, might be very easily made or marred. It has been bought at a market price and upon a commercial basis, which implies we shall not be at liberty to make a present of the park to any local authority”. One of the more unusual events regarding this period was that the Shipley Times & Express reported that the park had been closed to the public on Sunday 14th September 1919, and the gates were locked. They were not re-opened until the following Wednesday. It is possible that the closure was because having ‘bought’ the park, Gaunt and Foster wanted to show that the park was now private property. Although the park had, legally, always been private property; initially, belong to the mill company and then to Sir James, the closure was, presumably to emphasis that the park was now separated from the mill company. It was probably during this period that Sir James realised that Gaunt and Foster’s plan for the development of the Coach Road might endanger the park and that there was a risked of it being destroyed and used for housing. Also, Sir James was taking a lot of ‘flack’ from the people of Shipley and Saltaire over his handling of the situation and putting the park in danger. He had obviously had a change of heart since the time when he had considered selling the park for development. Towards the end of 1919, Mr Baker reported that the park was deteriorating, as the gardeners had been dismissed and no one was taking responsibility for it [22nd November 1919]. So, In late November Sir James took the park back from Gaunt and Foster. The following year, Sir James decided to gift Saltaire Park to Bradford Corporation. The public were made aware of this move in the Shipley Times and Express edition of 5th November 1920. The park was given to Bradford Council on condition that it was renamed ‘Roberts Park’ in memory of Sir James’ eldest son, Bertram Foster Roberts who had died in 1912. Though Mr Baker complained about the placing of the memorial plaque to Bertram outside the park entrance, just by the side of the park lodge. He suggested that the plaque should have been placed inside the park by the main notice board [8th October 1920]. The Baker letters prove that in the early 1920s, there was a great deal of interest from local farmers regarding the land behind the Saltaire Congregational Church. And several people were interested in buying this ground. At that time this land consisted entirely of grass-land and cattle were kept in the fields [4th October 1920]. This information produces an interesting image of the sight of cattle moving up and down Victoria Road back in those days. WRRD plan 1919-92-897-320 (Part of) There are also numerous references in the letters of this period relating to the precise boundary between the church and the surrounding Roberts’ land. So, it would appear that there was still no definitive map of the area showing the legal boundary between the two properties. One of the main social elements to come out of the letters of 1921 was the serious economic crisis affecting both businesses and individuals. This was the time of the National Coal strike and many businesses had to shut down or go onto part-time working as they could not get coal for their mill engines. The result was a great deal of poverty in the area, and Mr Baker found it increasingly difficult collecting rents from people who were unemployed [31st May 1921]. The rents that Mr Baker collected seem to be for the cottages at Higher Hirst Mill and Hirst Wood Crescent Baker Letters - Roberts Papers - Saltaire Collection Mr Baker pointed out to Sir James that Shipley Council were planning to increase the rents of all the properties that they owned. So, he wrote to Sir James suggesting that by freezing his rents, it would make him look good and would be a way of getting his own back on Shipley Council, who had snubbed him during the last war over his son Harold’s conscription. Sir James agreed with Mr Baker and did not increase the rents at that time. There was also talk around this time of selling parts of Hirst Wood for a housing development, but there are no details of the specific locations in the relevant letter [30th July 1920]. It does suggest, though, that at that time nothing was ‘out of bounds’ with regards to the future development of the wood. Even though they had fallen out earlier; during the course of 1921 Sir James had been negotiating with Shipley UDC with regard to them buying all the undeveloped Salt land on the Shipley side of the river. By November the Council had received the approval of the Ministry of Health to borrow enough money for the purchase [9th November1921]. This transfer to Shipley included the land between the river and the canal, that later became the Saltaire Playing Fields and Tennis Courts; the land between Albert Road and Hirst Lane; the land between the canal and the railway line stretching out behind the Saltaire Congregational Church and the land between the railway and Caroline Street (WRRD1921-95-1228-492). WRRD plan 1919-92-897-320 (Part of) One of the main reasons for Shipley UDC deciding to buy all this land, was to allow them to build council houses, in preparation for a major slum clearance programme planned for the town. Once the Council had decided on how much land they needed, which was the land to the west of Albert Road, the Council sold all the surplus land to the Salts Mill company for £6,500. [WRRD 1922 54 1124 414] It was also around this same period, that Sir James gave the Hirst Wood to Shipley Council as an outright gift (WRRD 1922 8 26 10). It is possible that this move was to ease relations between Sir James and the Council that had been under some strain for some years. In January 1921, the mill company decided to convert the land between the river and canal into a park and playing fields and gave the allotment holders there notice to quit. As compensation, the Salts Mill company gave the land behind the Congregational Church to the allotment holders. This period coincided with the formation of the ‘Saltaire Mills Horticultural Society’, led by one of Saltaire’s main rose growers, Charles Houlden (ST&E August 24th 1923) By 1922, around 100 allotments had been created. It is worth a quote from the relevant text on the Saltaire village web site. This was recorded as: ‘Each allotment will have a cold frame, and every third allotment will have a greenhouse. The whole will symmetrically be laid out by the firm, who very likely will purchase the frames and greenhouses and sell them to the tenants of the allotments at a low figure. About nine greenhouses will be 9ft. by 15ft. and the remainder 6ft. by 12ft.’ [ref. saltairevillage.infoSaltaire_diary.html] See also Les Brook’s paper on the history of the Saltaire Allotments: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y967hdfl5jjhebg/SALTAIRES%20ALLOTMENTS%20A%20Second %20Draft%20of%20their%20History%20version%202.pdf?dl=0 Even after he had sold the mill and village to the new Saltaire Mill directors: Arthur Hill, Henry Whitehead & Ernest Gates in 1918, Sir James seems to have had the responsibly for paying the pensions of certain retired and disabled people. The origins of these pensions seem to date from 1909, following the presentation of a casket to commemorate Sir James’ Baronetcy. This was the same year that the government introduced a state pension for 70-year-olds. At that meeting of the mill employees, Sir James announced that he would be paying a pension to all th rd the Salts mill workers once they had reached their 65 year. [ST&E Dec. 3 , 1909] Baker Letters – Roberts Papers -Saltaire Collection Though it can be seen from the information in the letters that at least some of the recipients were younger but disabled. In one letter of February 25th, 1919, for example, there is a reference to a lady of only 37, who was placed on the pensioner’s list as she was crippled with chronic rheumatism. It seems that Mr Baker was given the responsible for paying out the pensions. However, the decision on who was to receive the payments seems to have been in the hands of a committee, chaired by Mr George Morrell. He was the Superintendent of the Saltaire Congregational Sunday School and had been the first headmaster of the Salt Factory Schools. In 1918 the pension list consisted of 19 pensioners, who received 5 shillings per week. The payments to the individuals stopped when they reached the age of 70, as they then received the st state pension. (Roberts Papers: 31 May 1918) Due to lack of other evidence, it is not easy to understand this pensioner’s list. Even in 1918, the list seems quite small, given the large number of employees of the mill at this time. Also, given that the list diminished over time, with only the occasional addition, it can only be speculated that Sir James’ obligations only related to people who had retired during Sir James’ time at the mill. By 1922 this list had been reduced to 7 pensioners. And it would seem that Sir James had decided that this was the right time to terminate all his obligations in Saltaire. So, the existing pensioners were paid a lump sum of £65, equivalent to 5 years’ worth of pension. This, then, th seems to have finalised Sir James’ commitment with regards to paying such pensions. [11 October 1922] So, that is the limit of my research on this subject, so far. The letters loaned to the Saltaire Collection only go as far as the end of 1922. As of this moment, we have no further documentary information from the Roberts’ family regarding Sir James’ involvement with Saltaire. But I would like to finish with a small ‘postscript’ to round off this paper. Postscript In November 1925, the Saltaire Rose Society invited Sir James to accept the presidency of the society for the following year. Unfortunately, the 1926 show, which was normally held in Roberts Park, had to be cancelled owing to the General Strike. Sir James had donated £100 to the th Society but declined to retain the presidency for the following year. (ST&E 12 December 1926.) As of the present time, I have not been able to identify any later contact with the village. Though Sir James obviously remained interested in local affairs. This can be seen from a letter he wrote to the Shipley Liberal Association at the time of a major meeting in 1927, in which he th talked about the profitability of the Salt’s Mill Company in the first two decades of the 20 century. He was also known to have remained a keen supporter of the Shipley Veterans Association. Sir James Roberts had given Strathallan to his grandson, James Denby Roberts. He died at his home ‘Fairlight’ near Hastings on 31st December 1935. IAN WATSON - 2023 By Ian Watson-2023 All the reproduction of photographs and plans in this paper from the Roberts Collection, are on loan to the Saltaire Collection, and are the copyright of the Roberts family.
Train time table for Cambrian Railway 1919
2024.56.10: The second Midland station at Forster Square during the late nineteenth century
The second Midland station at Forster Square during the late nineteenth century
Photograph shows the fron the Midland Railway station at Forster Square in Bradford. Several horse drawn carriages are visible in front of the building, A connected building has a sign 'Refreshment rooms'
Album with plastic pockets containing miscellaneous images and loose items. Contains 26 images in the pockets with 4 loose items. Images are a mixture of buildings, people, Salt family and mill and 2 images of Compound Engines at Salts Mill together with images of the railway station. Loose items include: poster from The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury October 19th 1956 titled 'Salts Saltaire Ltd, Saltaire a guide by D Larvin'; a photograph of Titus Salt House Sailors Children's Society 1966; and an envelope containing a black and white image of Saltaire and farmland.
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.
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
Saltaire, the mills. Coloured postcard showing front of the mill building with allotmants in foreground and railway carriages on the track in front of the mill. On the reverse it says published by the Saltaire Village Society and Saltaire Tourist Information Centre 1996
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Saltaire station. Postcard of the railway station at Saltaire in black and white. On the reverse it says published by the Saltaire Village Society and Saltaire Tourist Information Centre 1996
2025.68.94: Saltaire Railway Station at night
2025.68: Photographs of Saltaire by John Rhodes