SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN 
 
Imperial i6mo, cloth, with 8 full-page Illustrations, 
 35. 6d. each. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. Short 
 
 Accounts of the Rise of Famous Firms, with Sketches 
 of the Founders. By A. H. JAPP, LL.D., Author of 
 "Industrial Curiosities," " Leaders of Men," &c. 
 
 HEROES OF OUR DAY. An Account of 
 
 Recent Winners of the Victoria Cross. By WALTER 
 RICHARDS, Author of " Her Majesty's Army." 
 
 A NEW DAME TROT. By C. A. JONES. 
 
 New Edition. 
 
 LONDON : J. S. VIRTUE & CO., LIMITED, 
 26, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 
 
w> 
 
THE LATE RIGHT HON. W. H. SMITH, M.P. 
 'from a'photograph by Messrs. Lombard! & Co., 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W. 
 
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS-MEN 
 
 SHORT A CCO UNTS OF THE RISE OF FAMO US FIRMS 
 WITH SKETCHES OF THE FOUNDERS 
 
 ALEXANDEB H. JAPP, LL.D. 
 
 AUTHOR OP "INDUSTRIAL CURIOSITIES," "LEADERS OP MEN," ETC., ETC. 
 
 ASSISTED BY 
 
 F. M. HOLMES. 
 
 WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON 
 J. S. VIRTUE & CO., LIMITED, 26, IVY LANE 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW 
 1892 
 
LONDON t 
 
 PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, 
 CITY ROAD. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE aim of this work is to present in a short succinct 
 form the story of the rise of some of the more famous 
 firms with the names of which the public is familiar. 
 The writers have not limited themselves to dry facts 
 and figures, but have been desirous to give as much 
 life and movement and reality as they could to the 
 sketches by anecdote, incident, or the record of 
 characteristic habit or utterance on the part of the 
 originators, or those who were instrumental in build- 
 ing up the businesses, or of putting their mark upon 
 them in their earlier stages. In nearly all cases the 
 writers have been in communication with one or 
 other of the principals ; and though they have exer- 
 cised their own discretion about selection of facts and 
 style of treatment, most of the sketches have been sub- 
 mitted to those concerned, and have received a general 
 approval. 
 
 It has been felt to be proper to say this at the 
 outset, in order to emphasise the statement that it 
 was no part of the Editor's intention to dwell upon 
 the exact position of the businesses at the present 
 moment, to publish any secrets either as to machinery 
 or to methods, or to contrast rival businesses in any 
 way. The work is more a retrospect than a report, 
 which, even if it could be given, would be to all, save 
 those immediately and practically interested, very dry, 
 and but little instructive ; but, looking back to a time 
 when many of those who were actively concerned have 
 
 ivi834c::5 
 
VI PKEFACE. 
 
 now passed away, there can be no violation of con- 
 fidence in putting, as far as may be, on record in a 
 popular form the traits and turn of individual charac- 
 ter which mainly it was that enabled them to do what 
 they did ; and this the more especially as, in not a few 
 cases, circumstances almost of a romantic character 
 arose out of their enterprise and business aptitude. 
 
 The field is so wide new firms every day pushing 
 to the front, sometimes to the disadvantage of the 
 old and long-standing, and in a manner which vividly 
 illustrates the push and restless eagerness of the 
 present century that it has been found very difficult 
 to select. Two ideas have, however, been, as we may 
 say, guiding ones : First to present various instances 
 of success in different and contrasted industries ; and, 
 next, in no case to present alongside each other 
 businesses which could in the most remote way be 
 regarded as competing ones. If the wideness of the 
 field has been felt to be oppressive, in the sense of the 
 limited view that in one such volume as the present 
 can be taken of it, this compensatory reflection arises 
 that if the public give the necessary encouragement, 
 there is still an ample store to draw on for materials 
 for further volumes. 
 
 With regard to the illustrations in the volume, it 
 may be well to explain that the original intention was 
 to present portraits of the founders of the firms, the 
 rise and progress of which have been traced ; but it 
 was found impossible to carry out this idea completely, 
 owing to the fact that portraits of some of them were 
 not in existence. 
 
 ALEXANDER H. JAPP. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON & Co '1 
 
 W. H. SMITH & SON 26 
 
 SMITH, PAYNE & SMITHS 35 
 
 THOMAS COOK & SON 46 
 
 BRYANT & MAY . .87 
 
 SALT & SONS .98 
 
 MUDIE'S LIBRARY 118 
 
 ALLSOPP & SONS 130 
 
 BUTTON & SONS 142 
 
 PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED , . , .153 
 
 SIR JOSIAH MASON . . .173 
 
 CHUBB & SON 193 
 
 BROWN & POLSON 212 
 
 ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL & Co., LIMITED 222 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 THE LATE EIGHT HON. W. H. SMITH, M.P. . . Frontispiece. 
 
 GEOEGE MOOEE To face page 1 
 
 SIR TITUS SALT ,, 98 
 
 CHAELES E. MITDIE ,, ,, 118 
 
 LOED HlNDLIP ,, ,,130 
 
 MAETIN HOPE SUTTON ,, ,,142 
 
 SIE JOSIAH MASON " 173 
 
 LOED AEMSTRONG , 222 
 
GEORGE MOORE. 
 
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS 'MEN, 
 
 COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, 
 CKAMPTON & CO., 
 
 IN the year 1825 two young men, who were not 
 blessed with much capital, but had the fullest faith 
 in their own energy and capacity to build up a busi- 
 ness, opened a small room over a trunk-shop at 
 No. 7, Cheapside. There was room to spare even in 
 this small room. Their stock was small. They did 
 not need clerks or warehousemen. While the one 
 partner was out travelling, the other remained in the 
 warehouse, and by-and-by they engaged a young 
 man as clerk and porter. The partners were well 
 matched : what the one it may be lacked the other 
 had, and so they got on well together. In these 
 days travelling was slow, and the coach and sailing- 
 ship fares were heavy, so that at first they did not 
 go very far afield. London had first to be worked 
 up ; and with persistency and perseverance this was 
 done. 
 
 B 
 
2 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN". 
 
 The two young men were Mr. Groucock and Mr. 
 Copestake, the founders of the great lace firm of 
 Groucock, Copestake & Co., later Groucock, Copestake 
 & Moore, and now the well-known firm of Copestake, 
 Lindsay, Crampton & Co. of Bow Churchyard. As 
 progress was made working London and the towns 
 nearest to it, the young men soon found that the one 
 room was not large enough. Mr. Groucock was not 
 only an active traveller ; he had the turn for humour- 
 ing people, and each time he went round he brought 
 back large orders. The stock increased so much, that 
 they were literally crowded out. They looked about for 
 more suitable premises, and after not a little difficulty 
 they found them at No. 62, Friday Street. There 
 they established themselves in 1829. Fortune went 
 with them. Their trade increased in a wonderful 
 manner, though yet but a small affair in comparison 
 with what in a very few years it would be ; and the 
 two partners agreed that it would be well if they 
 could find a young man of the right stamp to join 
 them in the business. This was not so easy : but 
 before long that is, just about a year after their 
 removal to Friday Street, they received the lucky 
 accession so much desired : and he had been pre- 
 pared to play his part with the most remarkable and 
 in some points romantic experience. We must, in 
 the most rapid way, traco this new partner's career 
 from the first, for, though the older partners might 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 
 
 have slowly built up a great business without him, it 
 is hardly possible they could by themselves have 
 secured so wonderful and speedy a development ; and 
 with the name of George Moore, the great success of 
 the firm, at a turning-point and crisis, will be most 
 closely associated by the outside public. There was 
 so much of romance and adventure, too, associated 
 Avith his career, tensely practical and shrewd as it 
 was, that a short outline of his life can only be illus- 
 trative and interesting here. 
 
 George Moore was born on the 9th of April, 1806, 
 at Mealsgate, a farm of about sixty acres between 
 Wigton and Cockermouth, in Cumberland. The 
 family had been settled in that district for several 
 centuries, and belonged to the class of "statesmen," 
 or yeomen, who hold their land in consideration of 
 some special service. They are full of character, 
 shrewd and kindly, and disinclined to changes. 
 Under a somewhat rough and prosaic exterior, great 
 elevation of character and true kindliness are often 
 hidden ; they are hospitable and in some respects 
 clannish. The sons followed the fathers in their 
 simple and healthy ways of life, seldom dreaming of 
 anything beyond. Nowadays the class is dying out ; 
 but in the beginning of the century many fine speci- 
 mens were still to be found ; and it is clear that 
 George Moore's father was one of these. His one 
 weakness, we are told, was willingness to help his 
 
4 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 neighbours ; and he had thus reduced the family 
 means. " My father," says George Moore, " was one 
 of the most straightforward of men. He had as great 
 moral courage as any man I ever knew. I can well 
 remember his ordering a man out of his house who 
 had come in drunk, and reprimanding others who had 
 done some bad deed." He had lost his first wife about 
 six years after the birth of his son George ; and for 
 five years remained a widower, when he married a 
 well-meaning woman of some education, who, however, 
 does not seem to have exercised much influence over 
 the strong and healthy natures of her stepsons. The 
 lack of a discreet and loving mother's care may per- 
 haps account for a good deal in the boyish days of 
 George Moore. 
 
 At the age of eight he was sent to school. But, 
 unfortunately, the schools in Cumberland in those 
 times were not much to boast of. That to which he 
 was sent was kept by a man who was both morally 
 and intellectually disqualified for the post he held, and 
 would certainly not have satisfied any school-inspector 
 of our day. Yet he had some accomplishments which 
 boys are apt to admire ; amongst others he could imi- 
 tate the song of almost any bird, and could whistle so 
 like a blackbird that he got the name of " Blackbird " 
 Wilson. He drank deeply, and the scholars were sent 
 out for the drink three or four times a day. Georgo 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 5 
 
 Moore says : "He used to drive the learning into us 
 with a thick ruler, which he brought down sharply 
 upon our backs. He often sent the ruler flying amongst 
 our heads. He never attempted to make learning 
 attractive. He did not cultivate the understanding, 
 or endeavour to teach us the good of knowledge." 
 
 As he so completely failed to inspire love of learning, 
 it is not unreasonable to suppose that he was not very 
 vigorous in his efforts to defeat the scholars in such 
 customs as that of the " barring oot," by which, on 
 the first beginning of harvest work, they barricaded the 
 teacher out of his school till he declared himself defeated, 
 and granted them a holiday. George Moore was more 
 proud of evading his lessons than of mastering them. 
 He thought that if he had had a better teacher it 
 would have been otherwise. He was fond of play, 
 often went bird-nesting, soon became a good wrestler, 
 and knew the art of " takin' hod " as well as any of 
 his age ; he passionately loved horses, and while yet 
 a schoolboy cherished the ambition of following the 
 hounds, which it was easy even for a boy to do then 
 in Cumberland. One day he got hold of his father's 
 half-blind mare, and mounted her barebacked. He 
 could not take the saddle, for that might be missed. 
 But away he went in search of John Peel and his 
 hounds, and found them and had his run with the 
 rest. For a few months before leaving home he 
 
6 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 attended a better school, and there learned for the 
 first time to feel how ignorant he was. 
 
 His father was at first adverse to allowing his son 
 to go into a shop, but one of his best friends strongly 
 urged him to take advantage of a fair offer that had 
 been made him, and George Moore accordingly became 
 the apprentice of a draper at Wigton in his fourteenth 
 year. There the boy's virtue was severely tried. His 
 master became very dissipated ; he was left often in 
 sole charge; he was lodged at an inn, amid the drinking 
 and the excitement inseparable from such a place, and 
 had no proper restraining influence. He did fall 
 under a temptation to gambling, and might have 
 completely yielded himself to it ; but under the power 
 of what he regarded as a special warning, he resolved 
 to abandon the bad habit, which he did. He now 
 found lodgings away from the inn, and tried hard to 
 improve himself. 
 
 When about nineteen he came up to London to seek 
 a situation. His sole capital was a sound constitution, 
 a good character, and decided capacity for work. 
 Though he was by no means a lad of great intellectual 
 quickness, he had a look of character about him ; but 
 this was overbalanced by his roughness, his home- 
 made clothes, and his broad Cumberland speech, 
 which were much against him. For a whole week he 
 wandered from one end of London to the other, calling 
 at every place where there was the least hope of a 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CHAMPION AND CO. 7 
 
 draper's assistant being wanted ; but only to meet with 
 rebuff and disappointment, and sometimes even with 
 gratuitous taunts. " The keenest cut of all I got," he 
 says, "was from Charles Meeking, of Holborn. He asked 
 me if I wanted a porter's situation. This almost broke 
 my heart." He began to think himself a very " un- 
 marketable commodity," indeed. At length, however, 
 he got a situation in the house of Messrs. Flint, Ray 
 & Co., which before long he nearly sacrificed through 
 an innocent error of 1 in a bill. Mr. Ray was a 
 Cumberland man, who knew his father and took some 
 interest in him. Whilst here there came tripping 
 into the shop one day a bright fair-haired little 
 girl, whose look and presence brought a peculiar charm 
 to George Moore ; for, though only a young shopman, 
 he was bold enough to say that if he ever married, he 
 would marry that girl that girl being his master's 
 daughter. This somewhat remote possibility, as most 
 people would have thought it, brought a further 
 impulse to self-improvement ; for George Moore had 
 begun to feel that he was far behind the young men he 
 met here in education and in refinement, and it was 
 certainly a good thing for him that he was thus 
 spurred on to make exertions. Besides, he fancied 
 that he would suit the wholesal etrade better than the 
 retail, and was resolved to try it. Mainly through the 
 recommendation of Mr, Ray he found a situation in 
 the house of Messrs. Fisher, Stroud, & Robinson, of 
 
8 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Watling Street, then the first lace-house in the City. 
 George Moore entered it in the beginning of 1826, at 
 a salary of 40 a year, and wrote home to his father 
 that he felt himself to be " a made man." 
 
 Here his energy and his determination to master all 
 the details of the business soon made themselves felt. 
 He was more and more impressed with the need for 
 education, and went to an evening school ; often sit- 
 ting up half the night to read and to prepare for it. 
 
 Under George's advice, his brother William had 
 been educated with more care than he had been, and 
 had come up to London to serve in the house of Mr. 
 Kay. He did not have George's practical mind and 
 energy, and was in great difficulties at first. He 
 almost broke down, mainly through his want of know- 
 ledge of the streets of London. George believed in 
 his brother, and was not slow with his help. After 
 his own work was over the hours in the wholesale 
 houses being shorter than those of retail houses at 
 the West End he would put on an old coat, and go 
 West to help in delivering his brother's parcels. 
 " Many a winter night," says Mr. Smiles, "did he walk 
 through wind and rain with heavy parcels on his 
 shoulders, to deliver them to the customers thus 
 literally bearing his brother's burdens." 
 
 By-and-by George Moore was made town traveller 
 for his employers, and showed such capacity and 
 indefatigable industry that he was, in about eighteen 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CHAMPION AND CO. 9 
 
 "months, transferred to the Liverpool and Manchester 
 circuit. This district had been badly worked, but 
 George Moore soon pulled it together again. " He 
 worked early in the morning and late at night. 
 Sometimes he worked a town before breakfast, making 
 early appointments with the drapers beforehand. 
 After breakfast he packed up his goods, drove off to 
 another place (for there were no railways in those 
 days), and finished his work at a third town within 
 the day." His fellow travellers on the road could not 
 but admire his power and dispatch, and would say in 
 surprise to any one who didn't know him, " Don't 
 you know the NAPOLEON OF WATLING STREET ? Let 
 me introduce you." 
 
 Then, in the course of a year or two, he had Ireland 
 given him to work, in much the same circumstances, 
 along with his old circuit. His energy and his ability 
 to outdo very active and somewhat unscrupulous 
 competition approved themselves in this new field. 
 Overtures were made to him by other houses, with a 
 great increase of salary ; his answer was, " For no 
 other house than Fisher's will I travel." Of course 
 it was only natural that he should begin to think that 
 as he could be so influential in building up the busi- 
 ness of others, he might be justified in trying to build 
 up a business of his own. At length he entered into 
 the partnership, of which we have spoken, with Mr. 
 Groucock who had been a "foeman worthy of his 
 
10 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 steel" on the Irish journey and Mr. Copestake ; and 
 thus was formed the firm of Groucock, Copestake & 
 Moore. 
 
 George Moore now travelled for his own firm, doing 
 for it what he had done for Fisher's. Things pros- 
 pered greatly with him, and this in spite of the fact 
 that during the first year trade was bad, owing to 
 the great distress and reform agitation, and the returns 
 hardly what was expected. His rule was to work 
 sixteen hours a day. The thought of resting to take 
 a few hours' pleasure never entered his mind. The 
 means he took of finding his way to the good- will of 
 customers often showed great discernment and know- 
 ledge of human nature, as well as a good deal of 
 humorous suggestion. Here are a few instances of 
 his happy way with customers : 
 
 " A tenacious draper in a Lancashire town refused 
 to deal with him. The draper was quite satisfied 
 Avith the firm that supplied him, and he would make 
 no change. This became known among the com- 
 mercial travellers at the hotel, and one of them made 
 a bet of 5 with George Moore that he would not 
 obtain an order. George set out again. The draper 
 saw him entering the shop, and cried out, ' All full, 
 all full, Mr. Moore ; I told you so before.' ' Never 
 mind,' said George; 'you won't object to a crack?' 
 ' Oh, no,' said the draper. They cracked about many 
 things, and then George Moore, calling the draper's 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTOST AXD CO. 11 
 
 attention to a new coat he wore, asked, ' What he 
 thought of it.' ' It's a capital coat,' said the draper. 
 ' Yes, first-rate ; made in the best style by a first- 
 class London tailor/ The draper looked at it again, 
 and again admired it. 'Why,' said George, 'you 
 are exactly my size ; it's quite new I'll sell it you.' 
 ' W T hat's the price ? ' ' Twenty-five shillings.' ' W T hat ! 
 that's very cheap.' ' Yes ; it's a great bargain.' ' Then 
 I'll buy it,' said the draper. 
 
 " George went back to his hotel, donned another 
 coat, and sent the ' great bargain ' to the draper. 
 George calling again the draper offered to pay him. 
 * No, no,' said George, ' I'll book it ; you've opened 
 an account.' Mr. Moore had sold the coat at a loss, 
 but he was recouped by the 5 which he had won, 
 and he afterwards obtained an order besides. The 
 draper soon became one of his best customers." 
 
 A second illustration is, perhaps, even more charac- 
 teristic still. 
 
 " A draper at Newcastle-upon-Tyne was called upon 
 many times without any result. He was always 
 ' full.' In fact, he had no intention of opening an 
 account with the new firm. Mr. Moore got to know 
 that he was particularly fond of a certain kind of 
 snuff rappee with a touch of beggar's brown in 
 it. He provided himself with a box of this kind 
 in London. When at Newcastle he called upon the 
 draper, but was met as usual with the remark, ' Quite 
 
12 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 full, quite full, sir.' ' Well/ said Moore, ' I scarcely 
 expected an order, but I called upon you for a refer- 
 ence.' ' Oh, by all means.' In the course of con- 
 versation, George took out his snuff-box, took a pinch 
 and put it in his pocket. After a short interval he 
 took it out again, had another pinch, and said, ' I 
 suppose you're not guilty of this habit ? ' ' Some- 
 times,' said the draper. George handed him the box, 
 he took a pinch with zest, and said, ' Well, that's very 
 fine.' George had him now. He said, ' Oh, well, 
 let me present you with the box ; I have plenty more/ 
 The draper accepted it. No order was asked ; but 
 the next time George Moore called he got an order, 
 and the draper long continued to be one of his best 
 customers." 
 
 The record of his dangers and hairbreadth escapes 
 also furnishes exciting reading. Once he was nearly 
 thrown out of a boat by the waves in a heavy 
 surf when going out to join a vessel at Dublin. 
 At another time he was almost swamped in 
 driving along the nine miles of sandy cirtus that 
 lies between Cartmel and Poulton in Morecambe 
 Bay, in order to save a drive of some fifty miles 
 round. 
 
 " He was driving his own two-horse conveyance 
 containing a large quantity of valuable lace. Being 
 unwilling to lose a moment, he determined to make 
 a short-cut across the sands to Lancaster, where he 
 

 COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 13 
 
 was next due. But he was not aware of the danger 
 of the attempt. 
 
 " When the tide at that part of the coast is low, 
 the sea runs very far out. Only a little strip of blue 
 is seen in the distance. A large extent of sand and 
 mud is laid bare at the head of the bay. From 
 Cartmel to Poulton is about nine miles across. If 
 the journey can be accomplished in that way, it saves 
 a distance of about fifty miles round the rivers Kent 
 and Leven. The sands have long been used as a sort 
 of desert highway. It was the custom to have a 
 chartered guide, called the Carter, to attend to and 
 conduct the stranger across the sands, which were 
 constantly shifting. As late as the spring of 1857, 
 a party of ten or twelve young men and women, who 
 were proceeding to the herring market at Lancaster, 
 were overtaken by the tide, and the whole of them 
 were drowned. 
 
 " George Moore reached Cartmel towards evening. 
 He did not take time to inquire as to the state of the 
 tide, but drove off at once towards the sands. It was 
 a reckless venture, as he soon found out. He drove 
 along with every speed. But he was scarcely half- 
 way across the sands before he saw the tide was turn- 
 ing. The man who was with him in the carriage 
 jumped out and went back. But George, believing that 
 he was on the right road, drove on. The water was 
 now approaching. It was coming on like a mill-race. 
 
11 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 IJut still he drove on. He flogged the horses as he 
 had never flogged horses before. The sand shifted 
 under the horse's feet. A mirage rose before him, 
 and h o seemed to see the land ; but it disappeared 
 and reappeared again and again. The situation 
 became terrible. The water was now upon him, and 
 the boxes behind were swimming. He drove first 
 this way then that. The firm ground failed him. 
 He was driving towards destruction, for he was driv- 
 ing towards the open sea. 
 
 " At length he heard a shout ; it proceeded from 
 some person to the left. He looked round and dis- 
 covered through the haze a man on horseback shout- 
 ing and waving his hands. It was one of the mounted 
 guides stationed on the shore to watch the dangerous 
 tracks. The man spurred his horse into the water, 
 suddenly turned round, and waved to the man in the 
 carriage to come onwards in that direction. Moore 
 understood his position at once. His horses were 
 swimming. He pulled them round by sheer force 
 in the direction of the land, and by dint of flogging 
 and struggling, the horses at length touched the 
 ground ; they dragged the carriage up the bank, and 
 Moore's life was saved." 
 
 Another illustration arose on one of his Irish 
 journeys. 
 
 "On one occasion George Moore embarked at 
 Plymouth for Dublin. The vessel by which he was 
 
COPESTAKE, LIXDSAY, CHAMPION AND CO. 15 
 
 to sail, lay at anchor some distance from the shore. 
 It was a wild winter's night, and the sea was running 
 high. The captain at first refused to weigh anchor, 
 but at Moore's urgent request he consented to take 
 him on board. His next difficulty was to induce 
 the sailors to face the sea in an open boat ; but at 
 length he had hired a sufficient number of men to 
 row him to the ship. The boxes containing his stock 
 were brought down to the shore and hoisted into the 
 boat lying high and dry upon the beach. Moore 
 had a servant with him, much older than himself, to 
 look after the boxes. The man's fear so far over- 
 came him that he lost all self-command, and entreated 
 his master not to endanger his life and his lace in 
 that open boat. ' Stop behind, then/ said Moore, 
 ' for I am determined to go.' He then sprang into 
 the boat and signalled the sailors to start. It was, 
 however, thought necessary to lash them together 
 with ropes to prevent them being washed into the 
 sea. 
 
 " The boat was then launched through the surf, 
 and for some moments it was hidden from sight by 
 the waves. It was more than an hour before the 
 boatmen fought their way to the vessel through one 
 of the wildest storms that ever broke along that 
 rocky coast. Eager and friendly eyes watched them 
 until they reached the ship at anchor. The lace 
 boxes were hoisted in, Moore followed last, and at 
 
 
16 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 length, when the storm had somewhat abated, the 
 ship sailed for Dublin, and reached the port in 
 safety." 
 
 Some of these experiences are hardly to be cited 
 for imitation ; but they show the spirit of the man. 
 Mr. Smiles, to whose life of Moore we have been 
 indebted, gives others. 
 
 Such incidents as these are good to be told, a? 
 they impart an air of novelty and freshness to the 
 narrative ; but one thing has to be remembered 
 always that one of the true conditions of selling well, 
 other things being equal, is to buy well. A man 
 who had done a great deal of business in his day, 
 declared that there might be a great deal of showy 
 work in selling, but that the great power, after all, 
 was buying power a quick insight, application, and 
 quickness in comparison and exact judgment of 
 superiority, alike as regards quality of material and 
 tastes of customers. Messrs. Copestake & Co. have 
 always known the art of buying well an art which 
 has been well distributed among their various part- 
 ners, and is now as strong as ever. 
 
 At the end of three years Mr. Moore was placed on 
 an equal footing with the other partners, taking his 
 third share of the profits. He continued to go over 
 the old ground, regarding his journey to Ireland as 
 his rest for the month. In the midst of all his activity 
 and hard work he never forgot the little fair-haired 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 17 
 
 girl whom he had said he would marry if he ever did 
 marry. As he expressed it, "he had served for 
 her with an aching heart longer than Jacob served 
 for Kachel." And at length his patience and per- 
 severance were rewarded. On the 12th of August, 
 1840, he led her to the altar. 
 
 For a time after his marriage he continued "on 
 the road," but by-and-by he dropped it, contented 
 himself with drilling the new men, and, later, confined 
 himself to the work of the counting-house. Whether 
 it were that the manner in which, when travelling, 
 he had overworked himself, had left the seeds of 
 weakness in his constitution, or that the change told 
 upon his health, he at all events fell into ill-health, 
 and had to consult a physician. He was told, " You 
 are working your brain too much and your body too 
 little. Your medicine must be the open air. If you 
 ride, you should go to Brighton and ride over the 
 Downs, or join a hunt, but you must take care not to 
 break your neck in taking fences." He did join a 
 hunt, soon enjoyed the exercise and the excitement ; 
 he visited America, and derived great profit and 
 pleasure from the journey. Before the year was out 
 he confessed that Dr. Lawrence had been right : 
 " Nothing could have done so much to restore my 
 health as out- door exercise." 
 
 But the spare time now thrown on George Moore's 
 hands was not filled up by hunting ; nor could it fully 
 
 c 
 
18 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 satisfy his mind and heart. He began more and 
 more to be interested in his young people at Bow 
 Churchyard, and was eager on schemes to improve 
 their condition. This was his first concern. Then, 
 gradually extending his interests, he devoted himself 
 to increasing the influence of the Cumberland Bene- 
 volent Institution, and improving the schools of 
 Cumberland, and found another work that awaited 
 him in setting on a broader basis the Commercial 
 Travellers' Schools. As the class were specially ex- 
 posed to perils, and were often cut off early, it struck 
 him that an orphanage was specially needed in which 
 to place the children so often left behind but poorly 
 provided for. He put his heart into the work, called 
 on friends and City men, collecting subscriptions, and 
 soon saw the fruit of his toils in the erection of a 
 handsome building which, before two years were over, 
 sheltered some sixty children, and was soon to receive 
 some twelve more. He travelled to some of the chief 
 towns on behalf of it, as formerly he had done to 
 solicit orders, and was indefatigable in his efforts to 
 make the institution a worthy one for its purpose. 
 He told the commercial travellers that, no matter 
 what their salary, whether it might be 100 or 150, 
 they ought to subscribe to the school ; if not, they 
 were very poor-hearted creatures indeed. He told 
 their employers that they did not pay their travellers 
 with sufficient liberality, for the calling of a com- 
 

 COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 19 
 
 mercial traveller was a very bad one, especially when 
 they travelled on commission. Of the good works in 
 which George Moore by-and-by engaged, it would be 
 difficult to give even a list here. He was treasurer 
 to the Cumberland Benevolent Society, treasurer to 
 the Commercial Travellers' Schools, trustee to the 
 Warehousemen and Clerks' Schools, trustee to Nichol- 
 son's Charity, governor and almoner of Christ's Hos- 
 pital, trustee to the Penny Bank in Milton Street, 
 chairman and trustee of the Young Men's Christian 
 Association in Marlborough Street, chairman of the 
 general committee of the Koyal Free Hospital, trustee 
 of the Metropolitan Commercial Travellers and Ware- 
 housemen's Association, member of the board of 
 management of the Eoyal Hospital for Incurables ; 
 and, later, one of .the chief promoters of the Cabmen's 
 Mission, and the builder of one of the Houses at the 
 Home for Little Boys. In fact, there was hardly a 
 genuine and earnest movement for the good of others 
 that he did not willingly aid, and in most cases his 
 help was not money merely, but genuine interest 
 taken in their success. He spent a little fortune 
 quite secretly, through the City missionaries, in 
 marrying couples who were living in a disreputable 
 social position, their children growing up illegitimate. 
 The Kagged School anci Reformatory movements 
 found in him an earnest and wise supporter, and will 
 greatly miss him. He took a deep interest in the 
 
20 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 cabmen, and was often surprised to find his fares or 
 his excess fares returned by those whom he had 
 benefited. "You have paid me more than the fare, 
 and you are George Moore," was the answer in one 
 case when the excess fare was returned to him. One 
 of the funniest meetings must have been that muster 
 of cabmen, invited and uninvited, amounting to over 
 four hundred, who took supper at his house in Ken- 
 sington Palace Gardens, and listened to speeches and 
 songs and recitations of original poems from himself, 
 Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Colonel Henderson, and others. 
 And we should not omit to remark that the first 
 guests in that house were his own young people in 
 the City ; for he said, " As our young men and women 
 at Bow Churchyard had been instrumental in help- 
 ing to gain the wealth for building such a house, I 
 determined they should be the first to visit us." 
 
 Among the many visitors, in the later years of his 
 life, to Whitehall, the house which he had bought in 
 Cumberland, his young people were always included ; 
 a point which suggests the remark that George 
 Moore's kindly interest in young men in search of 
 situations and the trouble he took on their behalf is 
 another of his beautiful and kindly traits of character. 
 Though he was a member of the Church of England, 
 he was most liberal in religious feeling ; and nothing 
 pleased him better than to bring the ministers or 
 missionaries of the different evangelical churches 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 21 
 
 together. He was often urged to enter public life, 
 but invariably declined. When " pricked " for sheriff 
 of London, he paid the fine of 400 to relieve him 
 from serving. He was asked repeatedly to stand for 
 Parliament for the City, for Middlesex, for Notting- 
 ham, and for other places, but would not consent 
 in one instance thus frankly giving his reasons : 
 1. That my education is not equal to the position, 
 and I have a great dislike to public speaking. 2. That 
 I can do much more good in other directions than 
 by representing Nottingham in Parliament. 3. That 
 it would keep me more and more from serving God 
 and reading my Bible. He devoted more labour to 
 philanthropic work than Parliament need have in- 
 volved ; but he loved this work in and for itself, and 
 not a little of Parliamentary work he would not have 
 loved ; and his decision, no doubt, was wise. His 
 great organising capacity and his loving zeal were 
 seen in nothing more than in the part he took in the 
 relief of Paris after the siege was raised. At once 
 he set out with some others, carrying money and food 
 supplies to the famished city, working unweariedly 
 night and day in the distribution of it, and earning 
 the eternal remembrance and gratitude of the French 
 people. 
 
 These points we have the greater pleasure in 
 noting, because they show how a man may be in- 
 stant and successful in business, and yet in no way 
 
22 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 neglect the higher calls of benevolence. " Prayer 
 and provender," said Franklin, "hinder no man's 
 journey"; and the case of George Moore suggests 
 that a steady mind may recover its spring by change 
 of interest, and more especially if that interest is of 
 a character at once to elevate and satisfy the mind 
 and heart. 
 
 The strangest and most laughable stories have 
 been told, and no doubt there is some ground for 
 them, of George Moore's remarkable combination of 
 wide views and close attention to what might be 
 called trifles. In this he is in company with many 
 of the greatest merchants of earlier and later times. 
 An eye for small details needs, indeed, to go along 
 with big views and benevolent intentions, on the 
 principle that, if you look after the pence, the pounds 
 will take care of themselves. We ourselves knew 
 one of the most extensive and successful provincial 
 merchants, who was in the front with regard to any 
 and every good work in the town where he dwelt, 
 and yet he was often made the butt of those who, as 
 boys, had been in his. service because he was dis- 
 tressed to see bits of string, pins, and such things 
 being swept out with the waste ; and insisted on 
 their being carefully collected, and would now and 
 then surprise the youngsters by himself coming down 
 of a morning to see that this was done. He was 
 nicknamed by them " Pins-and-Strings " ; but most 
 
COFESTAKE, LINDSAY, CRAMPTON AND CO. 23 
 
 of the lads when they grew older held a high opinion 
 of him. 
 
 Opposed as the two tendencies may seem at first 
 view, the surprise might have been moderated a 
 little if past examples had been more carefully 
 considered. Howard was most orderly and exact, 
 scrupulously careful in business details ; and he found 
 that his philanthrophy was vastly aided by his carry- 
 ing into it the same conscientious care and scrupulous 
 attention to small things as had distinguished him in 
 trade. Samuel Budgett, the Bristol philanthropist, 
 was another instance ; and Walter Powell was a 
 third. Biography abounds in them ; and, indeed, 
 the union of the two tendencies may be regarded as 
 illustrative of a great law. It has been well said, 
 that to "work a miracle of beneficence and to gather 
 up the fragments that remain, are but different sides 
 of the same divine order." Where the sense of duty 
 is strong, and the sense of order also, the smallest 
 thing is always regarded, though it may be but half 
 consciously, in relation to the highest, which is and 
 must be opposed to all that is wasteful and dis- 
 orderly. When, therefore, we listen to expressions 
 of astonishment that George Moore, a millionaire, 
 Avho had in - the course of his life given away for 
 good objects a large fortune, would throw all the 
 clerks in the great establishment in Bow Churchyard 
 into excitement, because a 'bus-fare of 3d. had been 
 
#4 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 charged for which no voucher could be found, the 
 grotesque aspect of the isolated case may be regarded 
 as having hid the significant illustration of a general 
 principle in his characteristic exactitude and reso- 
 lution. These apparently opposing qualities, so 
 nicely mixed in him as they were, made him what 
 he was ; and when we consider that he attained his 
 high position through the persistent cultivation of 
 such commonplace qualities, he is all the sounder 
 and safer an example to be quoted for others. 
 
 George Moore died suddenly at Carlisle, in 1876, 
 from the effects of an accident. Genuine sorrow was 
 felt amongst all classes at the news of his death. 
 Lord Lytton uttered the general feeling with respect 
 to his character and work when, referring especially 
 to his labours in connection with the Commercial 
 Travellers' Schools, he said that George Moore threw 
 himself heart and soul into movements of that nature 
 with as much ardour as if he were building up a 
 fortune for his own children. And we shall fail to 
 do him justice if, when we contemplate him so zealous 
 in his business, we for a moment forget that later, 
 even after his health was broken, he was as energetic 
 and indefatigable in good causes as he had ever been 
 in his business, willing to spend and to be spent in 
 aiding and elevating others. 
 
 Soon after George Moore's death, his name dis- 
 appeared from the firm with which he had been so 
 
COPESTAKE, LINDSAY, CHAMPION AND CO. 25 
 
 closely identified ; but* scarce any change of this 
 kind, however radical, could do away with the cha- 
 racter he had been the means of imparting to the 
 business. It is now, as we have said, Copestake, 
 Lindsay, Crampton & Co., and continues to expand, 
 but we do not go beyond the fact when we say the 
 development is rather that of expansion than creation 
 the leading lines and principles having been 
 effectively laid down, first by Mr. Groucock and then 
 by George Moore. 
 
W. II. SMITH & SON. 
 
 To enable newspaper readers in the country to peruse 
 their broadsheets on the very day after publication 
 such was the audacious idea which made the business 
 of the great news-agency in the Strand known as W. 
 H. Smith & Son. 
 
 When the nineteenth century was young, the giant 
 steam had not put forth his strength. Great towns 
 in the North had to wait for their papers two days 
 after issue. The journals were only carried by the 
 night coaches, which occupied from twenty to thirty 
 hours in their journeys, and consequently papers 
 were sometimes two days after date. To avoid this 
 delay the energetic and enterprising proprietor of a 
 newspaper business in the Strand, to wit Mr. W. H. 
 Smith, father of the second representative of that 
 name, established a system of messengers on saddle- 
 horses, and of express carts, to dash full speed after 
 the early morning coaches and overtake them at 
 certain points with that day's papers, thus getting 
 them by the morning instead of the evening coaches, 
 and enabling them in many cases to be delivered 
 
T/. II. SMITH AND SOX. 27 
 
 next day. For a time this scheme scarcely paid 
 its enterprising originator, and it seemed doomed to 
 failure. But Mr. Smith was a man of daring and 
 perseverance ; he persisted in running his expresses 
 notwithstanding all the difficulties that thronged 
 around him. As printing was slow, and as earlier 
 copies were despatched to a distance, the good folks 
 in town often had to wait till after breakfast for their 
 papers. Mr. Smith felt that if he could only provide 
 the newspaper before breakfast, it would be a great 
 boon to many public men. So he organized a system 
 by which, for special terms, a number of papers were 
 early delivered in town to his clients. We may 
 imagine that people, even in those days, were not 
 slow to discover the advantage and satisfaction of 
 reading their papers a day earlier than before, and 
 only some twenty-four hours after publication, so that 
 more customers would gradually gather around the 
 daring news distributor. Thus Mr. Smith came to 
 acquire the largest business of the kind in London, 
 to which he eventually gave himself up entirely, 
 relinquishing a stationery trade with which it had 
 been previously connected. 
 
 When, in process of time, the railway superseded 
 the coach we may be sure that so energetic and clear- 
 sighted a man would not permit such an opportunity 
 to slip, but adapted his business to suit the change 
 in rapid locomotion. 
 
28 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Mr. Smith was born in London in 1792. He 
 appears to have early entered into the newspaper 
 business, and was at one time in partnership with his 
 brother. He must have been a man of more than 
 ordinary abilities, for at an early age he had the 
 management of a newspaper trade in the Strand, his 
 brother having the control of the West End branch, 
 and, according to a tradition, the papers from this 
 latter department were sometimes late in arriving for 
 the morning expresses. We can imagine how annoyed 
 the energetic Mr. Smith must have been when he 
 found his messengers waiting, and feeling that every 
 minute took the coaches farther away, and yet those 
 papers came not. The West branch was situated in 
 King Street or Duke Street, St. James's, and, when 
 the deliveries came, then through the leafy lanes of 
 summer, or along the muddy ways of winter, off they 
 would soon go at top speed to overtake the coach. It 
 may be taken as characteristic of the man that he used 
 to superintend the despatch of the messengers himself. 
 
 Another enterprise in which this energetic man 
 engaged, and which might almost be said to fore- 
 shadow the famous library established later, was a 
 public reading-room. No fewer than a hundred and 
 fifty newspapers were supplied here for the benefit of 
 subscribers. An advertisement in John Bull of 
 December 9th, 1821, helps us to fix the date and 
 place. The announcement sets forth that Messrs. H. 
 
W. H. SMITH AND SON. 29 
 
 and W. Smith have open at 192, Strand a reading- 
 room, supplied with the aforesaid number of papers, 
 for an annual subscription of a guinea and a half. 
 So then we are able to judge that, about the date 
 mentioned, Mr. W. H. Smith had three branches of 
 business engaging his attention, viz. : the despatch 
 of the morning messengers ; the reading-room, which, 
 for those days, we imagine to have been very exten- 
 sive and useful ; and the ordinary newspaper agency. 
 But of these the despatch of the news- expresses was 
 the most daring and characteristic, and, though 
 altered in form, has remained the marked feature of 
 the house ever since. 
 
 A few years later and we are able to note another 
 change. On the occasion of the funeral of the great 
 Duke of Wellington in 1852 a card is issued on 
 which Mr. Smith alone not Messrs, H. and W. Smith 
 invites friends to 136 Strand, to see the pageant. 
 So, by that date, we observe that he has the 
 business entirely in his own hands, arid it has been 
 removed to fifty numbers from its present address. 
 
 But about that same time he retired from active 
 part in it, and resided for a few years at Bournemouth, 
 where he was very active in good works. The firm 
 became W. H. Smith & Son, and has to-day the 
 largest business of the kind in the country. 
 
 Yet another development is to be noted shortly 
 after the retirement of the first Mr. W. H. Smith. 
 
30 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 In I860 or thereabouts the circulating library was 
 founded. We have not been able to discover the 
 exact date, but it was between 1860 and 1865, in 
 which year, by-the-bye, died W. H. Smith the first, 
 leaving behind him a monument in his business, itself 
 greater than that of sculptured marble. 
 
 The library was a natural growth of the older 
 business, and, like it, has assumed large proportions. 
 To country subscribers especially it must offer great 
 facilities for speedily obtaining the best books of the 
 day. From any of the firm's agents, or at any of 
 their numerous bookstalls, which have become such 
 a marked feature of our railway stations, the leading 
 volumes of the time may be obtained. 
 
 Advertising also forms part of the vast business, 
 but the speedy circulation of newspapers still remains 
 its special characteristic. 
 
 The bookstall branch was devised by the second 
 Mr. W. H. Smith, the son of the founder, who at 
 the time of writing had won an honourable position 
 as a well-known statesman and led the House of Com- 
 mons, as the First Lord of the Treasury. Born in 1825, 
 for some time he worked hard with his father, and 
 helped to consolidate and develop the business. It 
 is said that he was wont to share in all the hard work 
 himself, and took part even in details. When, in. 
 1883, he was given the freedom of the Grocers' 
 Company he acknowledged that both fame and fortune 
 
W. H. SMITH AND SON. 31 
 
 had come to him as a result of steady attention to 
 duty in every event and position of life. There can 
 be little doubt but that the vast administrative 
 faculty needed in the management and development 
 of his enormous business has been of great value in 
 his public career, and that very much of the firm's 
 continued success is due to his great ability and 
 arduous toil. 
 
 Yet another remarkable development remains to 
 be noticed, viz., the early newspaper train. It an- 
 swers somewhat in our day to the fleet horses of nigh 
 a century ago. There it stands at five o'clock in the 
 morning at the London terminus waiting for its load 
 of literature hot from the press, and it has not long 
 to wait. Up dash huge vans full of papers, printed, 
 in fact, within the last hour or so. Pile after pile is 
 thrown into the train vans, where, as it speeds on its 
 way, the journals are made up into parcels for the 
 various towns. 
 
 One morning the Times was late. Mr. W. M. 
 Acworth was at Euston that morning, and recounts 
 the remarkable occurrence in his interesting work on 
 "English Railways." 
 
 "The clock," he says, "points to twelve minutes 
 past the hour, the papers are all in the train, but the 
 chief sorting clerk looks anxiously at the clock, and 
 then out into the station yard. The Times, we learn, 
 does not come with the other papers from the office 
 
32 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 in the Strand, but is sent direct from Printing House 
 Square, and it has not yet arrived. The minute-hand 
 reaches the quarter : time waits for no man, not even 
 for the editor of the Times ; the guard blows his 
 whistle, we step in, and the train moves off. At the 
 same moment is heard a ' rushing of horse-hoofs from 
 the east,' the train is stopped before it has gone 
 twenty yards, the van gallops into the 3 7 ard, and every 
 official in the place, from the inspector and the sorting 
 clerks to the lampman, precipitates himself upon it 
 before there has been time to pull the horses on 
 to their haunches. In less time than it takes to 
 describe, the bundles of papers are transferred, and 
 by 5.17 we are again underway, having been lucky 
 enough to see a sight that we are assured has never 
 before been seen by mortal eyes." 
 
 When the train is off and away sorting commences. 
 Counters are placed in position, and the big bundle 
 of papers divided. Then these are made up into 
 packages for the places served off the train, and finally 
 the parcels are weighed by the railway company's 
 servants, and the carriage charged to the account of 
 Messrs. W. H. Smith & Son. Weekly papers are 
 carried in this way as well as dailies ; and so it happens 
 that persons in some of the provincial towns may get 
 copies of a favourite weekly even before the dwellers 
 in some parts of suburban London! Truly, we say, 
 a remarkable development of the first Mr. W. H. 
 

 W. H. SMITH AND SON. 33 
 
 Smith's express messengers to catch the early morning 
 coaches. 
 
 The firm's vans have to fetch the papers in the 
 early morning from the various publishing offices, so 
 that work begins early at the fine business premises 
 in the Strand. About three o'clock or in the latter 
 part of the week, half-past two, when the bulk of the 
 weekly papers are issued is the time of commence- 
 ment, and one of the first things is to wrap up and 
 despatch newspapers by the post. These have to be 
 at the General Post Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand 
 before four o'clock, and away they go by the early 
 morning mails for delivery that day. 
 
 Work continues at high pressure until, long before 
 the great stream of business folks flows citywards, the 
 day's papers are on their way over a large part of the 
 country. Indeed, so admirable are the arrangements, 
 mid so great the facilities offered by the early trains, 
 Jhat we have heard it said a certain weekly paper 
 could be obtained earlier in a Midland town than in 
 London itself not far from the printing or publishing 
 office. 
 
 Extensive and handsome new buildings have re- 
 cently been erected in Arundel Street behind and 
 joining with the well-known grey-fronted structure 
 in the Strand. These fine new buildings form quite 
 a handsome business palace, and were occupied by the 
 firm in the spring of 1891. They are a wonderful 
 
 D 
 
34 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 blossoming and development of the early idea which 
 made the house. The firm, too, has branches in 
 certain of the larger towns. 
 
 The number of periodicals dealt with is extra- 
 ordinary. According to the Newspaper Press Direc- 
 tory for 1891 there are published in London no fewer 
 than 470 newspapers, and in the provinces 1,293, 
 with a grand total for the British Isles of 2,234. 
 The magazines, including the quarterlies, number 
 1,778, and of these latter over 448 are distinctly 
 religious in character. It has been calculated that 
 about a third of these publications pass through the 
 hands of W. H. Smith & Son, which indicates at once 
 even if the astonishing numbers cannot be realised 
 the vast quantity of letterpress-printed paper with 
 which the firm has daily to deal. The facility and suc- 
 cess with which the business is accomplished is the best 
 tribute to its skilful organisation, while the proud posi- 
 tion occupied by the firm is a remarkable illustration 
 of the power and value of a sound idea well worked, 
 energetically carried out, and admirably adapted to 
 suit changing circumstances, the idea in this case 
 being the despatch of papers and periodicals with the 
 utmost promptitude to distant parts of the country. 
 This idea has been maintained from the first, and it 
 is this idea which was at once the mainspring and 
 foundation of the firm's success. 
 
 [Mr. W. H. Smith died as these pages were passing through the 
 Press.] 
 

 SMITH, PAYNE & SMITHS, 
 
 BANKERS. 
 
 THE fear of footpads seems to have been the origin of 
 Smith, Payne & Smiths' Bank. The blaze of the high- 
 wayman's pistol, and the black of the dark-masked 
 figure are seen in its early beginnings. It was started 
 first at Nottingham, in the early years of the eighteenth 
 century by a certain draper, a Mr. Smith, in whose shop 
 there was often much ominous talk of the dangerous 
 state of the roads. Smith, as we learn from Martin's 
 "Stories of Banks and Bankers," was a respectable and 
 well-trusted man, patronised largely by the farmers' 
 wives, who came with their husbands to market. 
 The pigs and what not having been sold, the ladies 
 would bring their husbands to Smith's and gossip 
 would go forward while laces and caps, or threads and 
 dress stuff were being bought. 
 
 Now, in those delightful days, Dick Turpin was 
 very much abroad. The stout farmers feared for 
 their cash, and long and loud, no doubt, were their 
 complaints. To bring up pigs or cattle, to drive 
 them to market over bad and dangerous roads, to 
 
36 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 sell the livestock well and then, returning home with 
 your wife, to be fired upon and robbed in the darksome 
 lane, and after being half killed, to have nothing 
 wherewith to purchase supplies or pay your rent; 
 what misery, what trouble was this ! No wonder 
 there were loud complaints when gossiping in the 
 draper's shop. Such was a phase of English life in 
 those days, and Mr. Smith, being smart and shrewd, 
 and wishful to oblige his customers, said at last : 
 
 " I will guard your cash. Trust me with it and 
 draw it when you like, or take goods as you may 
 want them." 
 
 Clever Mr. Smith ; we can imagine how the stolid 
 farmers would stare at him with wide open eyes when 
 they first heard his suggestion. Their breath must 
 have been taken quite away for the moment. Then, 
 as the value of the offer began to dawn upon them, 
 they would consider the matter, and one and then 
 another would decide to deposit their money with 
 the genial Mr. Smith, and so cheat the footpads. 
 Dick Turpin might come now and blaze his pistol ; 
 Ha ! ha ! there was no money for him. He wasted 
 powder for nothing. 
 
 But Smith did not waste his powder the money 
 for nothing ; he was a shrewd one, was this 
 Nottingham tradesman, and a good man to boot, we 
 think. Sensible, certainly, for finding that he could 
 make good use of the money, he took the wise and 
 
SMITH, PAYNE AND SMITHS. 37 
 
 just course of giving interest slight, no doubt, but 
 something to his customers, and so, we consider, his 
 business grew. 
 
 The farmers would be delighted to trust their 
 money to Mr. Smith, instead of risking it with foot- 
 pads, and depositing it in the proverbial old stocking 
 in the snug farmhouse, where it would only come 
 out of the same value as it went in. So Smith, 
 doubtless, attracted more and more capital. He 
 began to think at length that his drapery business 
 had become a hindrance to his banking, and so he 
 bade a long farewell to ribbons and fal-lals, and 
 devoted himself entirely to dealing in money 
 instead. 
 
 Thus Smith's bank became established at Notting- 
 ham. His son, being an enterprising man like his 
 father, extended his business to Lincoln and to Hull, 
 while his son again bethought him of taking it to 
 London. 
 
 But he did not get to the great City himself. His 
 idea was to find a correspondent there, and so he 
 sought and discovered a certain Mr. Payne, who, like 
 Mr. Smith the first, was a shrewd man withal. A 
 partnership was struck, and in the London Directory 
 of 1759 first appears the banking firm of Smith & 
 Payne, as it was then called. Their place of business 
 was near Coleman Street, and they removed some 
 seven years later to 18, Lombard Street. 
 
38 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Now, concerning this Mr. Payne's family we have 
 something to say. From an old pocket-book of his 
 father's, picked up some forty years ago in the cellar 
 of the Lombard Street bank, and described by 
 Mrs. Pollard in Longmans Magazine, we gather that 
 there came up to London, in the year 1695-6, a 
 certain John Payne, the second son of a grazier, of 
 Cottesbrooke, Northampton, and was bound apprentice 
 to one John Jenkins, a haberdasher, for seven years. 
 
 From a supplementary paper by Mr. John Orlebar 
 Payne, on the same subject, we gather that this John 
 Jenkins had his shop in Fetter Lane, doubtless a 
 different sort of street then from what it is to-day, 
 though some of its quaintly-fronted houses a few 
 only of those of the kind now left in London streets 
 may have seen the future prosperous merchant, as 
 he went to and fro and up and down the lane. 
 
 His father was a boy when the famous fight of 
 Naseby was fought, and in after years he tilled the 
 very land where the fierce struggle took place, and 
 monumental records of the Paynes may still be seen 
 in Welford parish church So is one generation 
 linked with another. 
 
 Well, then, John being a second son, comes up to 
 London to learn the haberdashery business. He 
 was to be an apprentice for seven years, which shows 
 that they did such things thoroughly in those days. 
 The accounts he kept begin in January, 1696, which 
 
SMITH, PAYNE AND SMITHS. 39 
 
 seems to indicate that he was apt to be careful and 
 precise, and to keep a good account of his money, 
 all of which is wise, and suitable especially for a 
 future big merchant. 
 
 In the book. Mrs. Pollard informs us, there is much 
 about "linsayes, dyapers, Westfalia linen, &c," and 
 young John Payne appears to have frequently sent 
 dress goods and house linen to his friends at home. 
 
 This pocket-book is divided into two parts ; in 
 the first, he says, is entered " what I have layd out 
 since I came to London on my father's charge " ; in 
 the other, his payments from the money he brought 
 with him (4 8s.), cash sent him afterwards and 
 given by friends. 
 
 How history repeats itself ! How like as well as 
 unlike is life to-day to that of yesterday and the day 
 before ! Here is the young country lad, the second 
 son of a farmer, coming to the great town to learn his 
 business, even as do lads to-day. And like others, 
 we suspect, he soon found " the cut of his jib," or, in 
 other words, his clothes and personal appearance were 
 too countrified and not smart enough for town life 
 for, on the first page of the book, says Mrs. Pollard, 
 " we have distinct suggestions of visits to his tailor 
 and the barber," but after the first few weeks he was 
 not extravagant, which again befits a future careful 
 merchant. Keferences are made to colds, and we get 
 a curious side-light on the doctoring of that day, 
 
40 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 when we find that they appear to have been mostly 
 treated by the heroic and drastic remedy of blood- 
 letting. 
 
 His hairdresser seems to be his greatest expense, 
 and may make us thankful that fashion does not now 
 order us to wear "wiggs" and ''perukes"; in fact, 
 when he visited his home in 1699, his " wigg and its 
 mending " cost him no less than 1 4s. 
 
 On the other hand he could be very economical, 
 and one item shows us he had a "waistcoate turned 
 to breeches" for 2s. Id. only ! The "waistcoate," 
 we imagine, was one of those long affairs reaching 
 down over the hips, and really a waist coat, while 
 the breeches probably ended at the knees ; so there 
 might have been ample cloth for the sartorial 
 change. 
 
 Without, however, er 4 ering further into the items 
 of expenditure, we may note that his accounts are 
 kept with wonderful regularity, and his expenditure 
 is remarkably steady, which, again we may observe, 
 was worthy of the future East India director. 
 
 Presently the universal fate overtook him he fell 
 in love. Precise and methodical he might be, but he 
 fell a victim to the charms of the other sex, and had 
 his romance like the rest. 
 
 In the little pocket-book was found one of his 
 love-letters, time-stained and yellow with age, yet 
 speaking eloquently of the human feeling and life 
 
SMITH, PAYNE AND SMITHS. 41 
 
 of the past. How it came to have been placed by the 
 original writer in his little book we cannot say, " but 
 there it was," said Mrs. Pollard. It was written on 
 thin, rough, large square notepaper of the period, 
 sealed with a monogram and elaborately addressed to 
 a Mrs. Lydia Durrani 
 
 It must not be supposed that this lady was a widow. 
 In those days ladies unmarried were addressed as 
 Mistress, and this one seems to have been quite 
 young. We must not quote the quaint epistle entire, 
 for, after all, it is not of the romance of business of 
 which it treats, and Mrs. Pollard may think we are 
 trenching too much on her preserves, but one sen- 
 tence we must quote, which shows that our future 
 banker could turn a pretty sentence for his mistress' 
 joy. He had been visiting her at Goudhurst, in 
 Kent, and this letter told of his return, and after 
 speaking of the roads and the weather important, 
 indeed, when one is travelling by horseback, coach, 
 or carrier he remarks, " My greatest trouble was to 
 think ye nearer I was to my journeys end, yt I was 
 still ye farther from yr Dear Self." 
 
 Now that was very pretty, John, and it sounds 
 genuine, too. No doubt Lydia's eyes those eyes 
 that now for years and years have turned to dust 
 sparkled brightly as she read that nice sentence. 
 
 John was at this time out of his apprenticeship. 
 That would cease in 1703, but he seems to have 
 
42 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 remained at the house of business at a stipend of 5 
 per week. Very good, John ; very good indeed. Three 
 years later he was married to his Lydia. The tell-tale 
 pocket-book records that half a year had not rolled 
 away after the letter just quoted when, on Septem- 
 ber 4th, 1706, he entered "ye state of Matrimony." 
 The young couple lived in London, and the faithful 
 pocket-book contains some records of their house- 
 keeping, into which, however, we need not enter. 
 
 Now, how came the energetic and prosperous 
 haberdasher's little pocket-book to lie for a century 
 in the cellar of the Lombard Street bank ? We have 
 already given some inkling of the answer ; and at the 
 very time when young John Payne was pushing his 
 way in London, Mr. Smith, the draper, may have 
 been taking care of his customers' cash at Notting- 
 ham. It was the son and grandson, apparently, of 
 these two men who entered into partnership and 
 founded the bank of Smith & Payne. John Payne 
 throve and prospered, and became an East India 
 director, and passed away in 1747 ; his eldest son, 
 also John Payne, died in 1764, and his will indicates 
 that he was a wealthy man. As Mr. John Orlebar 
 Payne, to whom we have referred, says, " the address 
 from which he dates his will would seem to favour 
 the conjecture that he ' was personally connected with 
 the bank which still bears his name.' " 
 
 Both Smith & Payne, it will be remembered, were 
 
SMITH, PAYNE AND SMITHS. 43 
 
 drapers, and it may have been that some business had 
 passed between the two families, and that the grand- 
 son Smith, who extended the bank to London, knew 
 something of the Paynes one of whom, at all 
 events, was known as an East Indian director when 
 he sought out a London correspondent. 
 
 So then, quite out of the necessities of the time, 
 arose the great banking-house of Smith, Payne & 
 Smiths. But of the crowds who daily pass by that 
 Lombard Street house, who thinks of the Nottingham- 
 shire farmers and their fears, the bold highwaymen 
 and their dastardly robberies, which gave rise, first of 
 all to the bank; who thinks of the shrewd haber- 
 dasher and his son, who became the London partner 
 of the great firm? Hoare's Bank at 37, Fleet Street, 
 arose, it is said, in somewhat the same way. There 
 is a story told that the founder was a publican, near 
 Covent Garden, who kept his customers' cash for 
 them, as they were in fear of highwaymen. His 
 customers would, no doubt, be very glad to have 
 their deposit safely in town, without running the 
 risk of the masked robber on Hounslow Heath. 
 
 The publican became a citizen of London, and his 
 son James followed the trade and craft of a gold- 
 smith. He took a bottle as his sign, because his 
 father was a cooper and citizen of the great city, and 
 his business was conducted at the sign of the " Golden 
 Bottle," inCheapside, removing to Fleet Street about 
 
44 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 1680. The "Golden Bottle" still hangs over the 
 entrance. 
 
 Whatever may be the truth of this story, it is 
 incontestable that several of the important provincial 
 banks sprang from a humble origin. An Act passed 
 in 1708, prohibiting partnerships of over six persons, 
 caused several joint-stock banks to wind-up, while it 
 encouraged small tradesmen to start banks, and 
 actually to issue notes. The " Old Gloucester Bank" 
 is an instance of this. It is the oldest established 
 provincial private bank in England, and was started, 
 in 1716, by Mr. James Wood, a chandler. Mr. Wood 
 sold cheese and soap, but he also discounted bills, 
 and his descendants did likewise. They grew rich, 
 but did not give up the chandlery business, and the 
 grandson sold even mousetraps and slices of bacon. 
 But he does not seem to have been happy the 
 poor rich banker-chandler, and when he died, a 
 Chancery suit ate up much of his wealth. 
 
 But his business, like Smith's, may be said to 
 have grown out of the necessities of the time. 
 Francis Child, who established the famous bank in 
 Fleet Street, was the first private banker in England. 
 He is an instance of the industrious apprentice 
 marrying his master's daughter. For years a family 
 named Wheeler were goldsmiths, and also transacted 
 banking business at the same house, and the last 
 man of the race dying in 1663, his sometime appren- 
 

 SMITH, PAYNE AND SMITHS. 45 
 
 tice, Francis Child, who had married his daughter, 
 carried on the business; but he perceived that 
 banking was better than "goldsmitherie," and so he 
 discarded the latter. Others did the same, and soon 
 we hear of Hoare's, and Snow's, and Stone, Morton & 
 Stone's. Smith & Payne's, as we have seen, came to 
 London later, but though joint-stock banks have 
 now largely superseded private concerns, Smith, 
 Payne & Smiths' still retains its honourable position, 
 not far from the old lady of Threadneedle Street 
 hersel 
 
THOMAS COOK & SON, 
 
 SCARCELY any passage in history has struck us more 
 than the following, from the fifth volume of Mr. 
 Spencer Walpole's " History of England." 
 
 "There is one circumstance connected with the 
 application of steam to locomotion which has, perhaps, 
 received insufficient notice. The railway, when it 
 was first introduced, was administered on aristocratic 
 principles. The steamer, from its first introduction, 
 was worked on a democratic plan. Eailway directors 
 could not imagine that it would pay to carry 
 passengers at high speed and low fares ; and their 
 best trains were therefore reserved for the rich, while 
 the poor were carried at slow rates, at inconvenient 
 times, and in uncomfortable carriages. It was other- 
 wise with the steamer. The shipowner had the 
 wisdom to see that, if the vessel ran at all, it would 
 pay him to carry every one that he could attract to 
 it ; and he did not commit the folly of providing a 
 comfortable and fast steamer for the rich and an un- 
 comfortable and slow steamer for the poor. But, in 
 the course of forty years, a mighty change occurred 
 

 THOMAS COOK AND SON. 47 
 
 in the ideas of railway directors. They discovered 
 that if their enterprise was to be successful it must be 
 supported by the shillings of the poor, and not the 
 sovereigns of the rich. With rare exceptions the 
 poor man can now travel at the same speed and with 
 almost the same comfort as his richer neighbours, 
 and the wisest railway managers are annually en- 
 deavouring to provide more and better accommodation 
 for the many. . . . If the working classes had remained 
 in the abject poverty in which Peel found them they 
 would not now be travelling in third-class carriages 
 in express trains. It was their increasing wealth 
 which gave them means to travel, and, indeed, the 
 railway companies to make adequate provision for 
 their accommodation." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Cook, the founder of the firm of 
 Thomas Cook & Son, is not mentioned in this con- 
 nection by Mr. Walpole, but well he might have been. 
 It is his great merit, and will redound to his honour, 
 securing for him a place in the history of the nineteenth 
 century, 'that, in following out ideas that were really 
 philanthropic, he first discovered and announced the 
 truly democratic policy which railway directors had not 
 only overlooked, but on principle were opposed to. 
 And not only so ; by his great foresight, tact, and 
 capacity for organisation, he demonstrated in practice 
 that it was so. If railway lines are laid down, and 
 trains run on them, it is for the benefit of all con- 
 
48 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 cerned t^zt the many instead of the few should be 
 transported over them. That was his position, and 
 to him is due the great reform which would have 
 come in time, but by his movement was inaugurated 
 at least twenty years earlier than it might otherwise 
 have been. 
 
 He went about the matter in the most practical 
 way as we have said, doing it little by little, a step at 
 a time ; and this, not with any idea of forming a great 
 business but only at first with the purpose of getting 
 at a cheap rate innocent recreation and change of 
 scene and air for working people, and spreading as 
 far as he could temperance principles. It is a case of 
 a great worldly good following a man who was prima- 
 rily seeking only the good of others. In the letter 
 which Mr. Gladstone wrote regretting that, through 
 illness, he was denied medical permission to attend 
 the jubilee banquet on the 22nd July, 1891, as he 
 would like to have done, he emphasised this fact ; "I 
 desire simply to say that I do not regard your festival 
 as a mere celebration of commercial success and of 
 the active qualities which produced it. I conceive 
 that the idea which your house was, I believe, the first 
 to conceive and patiently to work out, has distinctly 
 placed you in the rank of public benefactors ; and 
 the competitors who have sprung or may yet spring 
 up around you are so many additional witnesses to 
 the real greatness of the services you have rendered." 
 

 THOMAS COOK AND SON. 49 
 
 " The world is full of wants, and loves only those 
 who can satisfy them," wrote the wise Pascal. It is 
 surely something exceptional to find one of the 
 greatest of modern wants supplied effectively and 
 successfully, with the most unwearying persistence and 
 practical forecast, by one who set forth on the enter- 
 prise with no idea of profit or self-serving ; a fresh 
 testimony surely, if such were needed, that chivalry 
 and the principle of pour vivre altrui is not dead in these 
 modern prosaic days of competition, profit and the 
 haste to be rich. The task of tracing out the steps 
 by which the great business of Thomas Cook & Son 
 grew must, therefore, be peculiarly pleasant and also 
 elevating. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Cook came of poor people. He was 
 born at Melbourne, in Derbyshire, on the 22nd 
 November, 1808. He was only four years old when 
 his father died, and his early life was a struggle. He 
 enjoyed only a few years' schooling, and at ten began 
 to work in the garden at Melbourne. His wages 
 were at the incredibly low rate of a penny a day. 
 He was the only child of his mother, and she kept 
 a small shop, and needed all the aid that her child 
 could give her to keep the house going. But hard as 
 was his lot and stinted his fare, ambitions early began 
 to stir in him. He thought that he could do something 
 better than manual labour, and that the way to get 
 on in life was to gain skill in something or other. He 
 
 E 
 
50 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 had an uncle, John Pegg, who was a wood- turner, and, 
 as nothing better offered, he became an apprentice to 
 his uncle. His mind was in the work and he soon 
 became skilful. The work was sedentary, however, 
 and exercise was essential to him. He formed a 
 great love of fishing, and, as no other time was avail- 
 able, he acted on the maxim of Thomas Moore and 
 " stole a few hours from the night " or morning ; he 
 used to rise to go fishing in the Trent at two or three 
 in the summer months. Save by such a process 
 he could not enjoy the gentle craft. Here we have an 
 instance of resolution and self-denial to attain an 
 object. 
 
 As the wood-turning hardly brought the reward or 
 opening he expected, he left Melbourne and went to 
 Loughborough in Leicestershire. Here he got employ- 
 ment with a Mr. .Winks, a printer and publisher of 
 books in connection with the General Baptist Asso- 
 ciation. His religious views already fixed received 
 great stimulus, and he was led to enter the field of 
 missionary labour. 
 
 In 1828 he became Bible-reader and village 
 missionary for the county of Rutland. He was 
 eager, earnest, and assiduous in following this call- 
 ing. In a diary which he kept during 1829 he 
 records that he travelled 2,692 miles in that year in 
 pursuing his missionary work, and that out of these 
 he had walked 2,162 miles. Thus he went on for 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 51 
 
 some years, having much proof of the acceptability of 
 his labour among the people, and the sense of the 
 growth of new powers in himself. 
 
 In 1832 he married Miss Mason, the daughter of 
 a Rutland farmer, and settled in Market Harborough, 
 where he began business as a wood-turner. But he 
 purposed still to carry on his missionary work, and 
 retained his position in the Baptist Association. Just 
 about this time the great temperance work which 
 Father Mathew had been carrying on in Ireland 
 extended to England, and Thomas Cook was one of 
 the first to engage in the crusade. He was active 
 and emphatic, a good speaker, and was soon regarded 
 as a powerful influence. By-and-by he was ap- 
 pointed secretary to the Midland Temperance Asso- 
 ciation at Market Harborough. His zeal grew with 
 the evidences of good done. At his own risk he 
 printed and published pamphlets relating to tem- 
 perance, and founded the Children's Temperance 
 Magazine, the first of the kind issued in England. 
 
 A journey which Mr. Cook undertook on foot was 
 the means of awakening in his mind a new idea. A 
 great temperance meeting was to be held in the Lei- 
 cester Amphitheatre ; and Mr. Cook, as he walked along, 
 was fain to shorten the way by reading the newspaper. 
 In it was an account of the opening of an extension 
 of the Midland Counties Eailway ; and, as he read, it 
 flashed upon him that the railways might be turned 
 
52 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 to great account in furthering the temperance cause. 
 By-and-by an arrangement was made to hold a large 
 public meeting at Loughborough. Mr. W. Bagot had 
 offered the use of his park. If the railway company, 
 thought Mr. Cook, could only be persuaded to run a 
 special train from Leicester to Loughborough on the 
 occasion great results might be obtained. He men- 
 tioned the matter that evening at a meeting in 
 Leicester, and his idea was received in such a spirit 
 as made him anxious to carry it into execution. He 
 remained in Leicester to arrange with the railway 
 company. He saw its secretary, Mr. John Fox Bell, 
 and his reply was : "I know nothing of you or your 
 society, but you shall have the train ; " and he handed 
 Mr. Cook a contribution towards the preliminary 
 expenses. 
 
 The excursionists would have to be fed as well as 
 entertained there, and Mr. Cook immediately pro- 
 ceeded to Loughborough to make the necessary 
 arrangements. On the 5th of July, 1841, the train 
 was duly run, carrying 570 passengers from Leicester 
 to Loughborough and back at one shilling a head 
 the first publicly-advertised excursion train run in 
 England. A shilling is the charge still made by 
 excursion trains between the two places. When the 
 excursionists returned to Leicester at 10.30 P.M. the 
 town was all excitement. The music of the band 
 could scarcely be heard for the cheers of the people. 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 53 
 
 The success of the experiment was undoubted, and 
 it proved the turning-point in Mr. Cook's life. He 
 was applied to for advice about excursion trains from 
 all quarters. He answered them all with great pains 
 and fulness. But, by-and-by, as his experience 
 grew, this laid a severe tax on his time and energy. 
 He had to abandon his wood-turning ; but for a time 
 he continued to print and publish books at Leicester, 
 to which town he had removed. The summer months 
 were, of course, the most fully occupied in this busi- 
 ness. His time during this season in the years 1842, 
 1843, 1844, was completely filled up in planning and 
 carrying out excursions of temperance societies and 
 Sunday-school children. Rugby, Leicester, Derby, 
 Nottingham, and Birmingham were visited, as well as 
 rural spots of beauty and interest, such as Matlock 
 and Mount Sorrel. The cost per head was very 
 small ; the return fare between Rugby and Derby, a 
 distance of a hundred miles, was sixpence for children 
 and a shilling for adults ; the charge being the same 
 for the longer journey from Leicester to Birmingham 
 and back by way of Derby. In September, 1843, he 
 conveyed the teachers and school-children of Leicester, 
 to the number of 4,600, at the time of the races. He 
 now began to realise that planning and conducting 
 excursions might form a business of its own, and be 
 carried on so as at once to benefit the passengers and 
 remunerate the organisers. 
 
54 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN, 
 
 " With this end in view," says Mr. Fraser Eae, in 
 the jubilee volume, "he applied to the directors of 
 the Midland Railway to make arrangements to place 
 trains at his disposal while he provided the passengers. 
 Having arrived at an understanding with them, he 
 advertised a pleasure-trip from Leicester to Liverpool 
 in 1845. On this occasion more was contemplated 
 than a mere trip to Liverpool and back. Stoppages were 
 to be made on the way, while arrangements were 
 effected for crossing to the Isle of Man or to Dublin ; 
 the steamer Eclipse was chartered to convey excur- 
 sionists to the Welsh coast. Mr. Thomas Cook 
 compiled, printed, and published a small guide, con- 
 taining notices of places of interest on the way, and 
 the sights which were to be visited. An inducement 
 held out by him, which doubtless led many to apply 
 for tickets, was that a pleasure trip of 500 miles 
 would be made at the very small cost of fourteen 
 shillings first-class, and ten shillings second. 
 
 " The handbook . of the trip to Liverpool, which 
 is now a curiosity in the literature of travel, is note- 
 worthy for the minuteness of the information which 
 its compiler supplied ; everything is laudably precise 
 and clear. . . . 
 
 " This train, which left Leicester at five o'clock in 
 the morning of Monday, the 4th of August, 1845, 
 was the forerunner of many which now start from 
 stations in different parts of the world throughout the 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 55 
 
 year, yet it was an entire novelty at the time as great 
 a novelty, indeed, as the first train which was drawn by 
 Stephenson's locomotive 'Rocket' over the first railway 
 specially designed to transport p'assengers as well as 
 goods. This tour, for which Mr. Thomas Cook sup- 
 plied tickets and provided accommodation in a train, 
 was not confined to one line of railway as other tours 
 have been. The receipts from the sale of passenger 
 tickets had to be apportioned, through the Railway 
 Clearing House, among four companies : the Midland 
 Counties, the North Midland, the Lancashire and 
 Yorkshire, and the Manchester and Liverpool. The 
 public fully appreciated the advantages which Mr. 
 Thomas Cook had provided for its benefit. All the 
 tickets were sold a week before the day appointed for 
 the pleasure-trip, and so great was the desire to be one 
 of the party that many persons bought tickets from 
 the original holders, paying double the price for them. 
 In consequence of the demand a second train was run 
 on the 20th of August, under the same conditions as 
 the first, and was as crowded." 
 
 Mr. Cook's success in catering for his clients in the 
 way of refreshments and hotels, in gaining before- 
 hand exact knowledge of the sights to be seen on the 
 way, so as to economise time to the utmost degree, 
 was as great as his success in arranging with the 
 railway companies. When the pleasure trains 
 brought many hundreds of passengers to a tokw-/ 
 
56 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 in one day it required no little tact and craft so to 
 conciliate different parties as to secure all available 
 vehicles to convey those who wished to see something 
 of the surrounding country as well as the town itself. 
 Mr. Cook's success in this respect was very marked 
 also. Those who joined his pleasure trips were mostly 
 persons to whom every shilling was an object to live 
 cheaply at an inn was as essential as to travel cheaply 
 in a train. The conviction of this led Mr. Cook to 
 devise the plan of hotel coupons now so familiar 
 to thousands who travel with Messrs. Cook's tickets. 
 
 One idea led to another, as one experiment led to 
 another. What had been done in a narrow field could 
 be achieved in a larger. The principle was firmly 
 seized, and was capable of almost indefinite expansion. 
 When in North Wales he had written in his diary : 
 "From the heights of Snowdon my thoughts took flight 
 to Ben Lomond, and I determined to try Scotland." 
 
 But new obstacles arose with this. The English 
 railways at that time went no farther northward than 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne. Beyond that the journeys had 
 to be continued by road or by sea. At first he had 
 intended to proceed from Newcastle to Leith or 
 Grant on in a steamer, but he failed to make favour- 
 able arrangements ; and the only course left was to 
 convey his passengers to Fleetwood by rail, thence 
 to Ardrossan by steamer, and from Ardrossan by 
 rail to Glasgow and Edinburgh. A handbook was 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 57 
 
 prepared for this trip, and as the title-page shows 
 how comprehensive the little work was, it may be 
 copied in full : " Handbook of a Trip to Scotland : 
 including Railway Glances from Leicester, via Man- 
 chester, to Fleetwood ; Views on the Lancashire Coast 
 and the Lakes of Cumberland ; Voyage from Fleet- 
 wood to Ardrossan ; Trip on the Ayrshire, and Edin- 
 burgh and Glasgow Railways ; Scottish Scenery, and 
 Descriptions of Edinburgh, Glasgow, &c., &c." The 
 compiler wrote towards the end of the preface : 
 
 " Having undertaken the arrangements of an ex- 
 cursion to Scotland, he cheerfully steps forward to 
 communicate such information as he conceives will 
 be found most useful for those who avail themselves 
 of a privilege which no previous generation ever had 
 offered to them an opportunity of riding from 
 Leicester to Glasgow and back, a distance of about 
 eight hundred miles, for a guinea." 
 
 "The inducements held out by Mr. Thomas 
 Cook were sufficient to cause 350 persons to make 
 the trip, which was unmarred by any drawback 
 save the inadequacy of the steamboat accommo- 
 dation between Fleetwood and Ardrossan. Any 
 discomfort which had then to be borne was com- 
 pensated for when the party reached Glasgow. There 
 its members were treated as persons of note. Guns 
 were fired in their honour when they entered the 
 railway station; a band of music was in readiness to 
 
58 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 escort them to the Town Hall, where they were wel- 
 comed in enthusiastic speeches. When they reached 
 Edinburgh by special train from Glasgow, the citizens 
 of the Scottish metropolis greeted them with extreme 
 cordiality. An entertainment was given in their 
 honour, over which Mr. William Chambers, the 
 eminent publisher, presided. They were addressed 
 in words of warm eulogy, and the chairman's speech, 
 in response to a suggestion from Mr. Thomas Cook, 
 was published soon afterwards with the title, " The 
 Strangers' Visit to Edinburgh." Visits were made to 
 Stirling and the parts of Ayrshire specially associated 
 with Burns, and the party was afforded ample oppor- 
 tunities for seeing the land which was a strange one 
 to its members, while the presence of the English 
 visitors was hailed as a happy augury of closer in- 
 timacy between the Northern and Southern inhabi- 
 tants of Great Britain. The occasion was memorable 
 in every respect. It was the first excursion of the 
 kind ever planned, and it was the beginning of a 
 series which was conducted under the auspices and 
 with the tickets of its originator, without intermission, 
 until the year 1863." 
 
 The year 1847 saw an increased number of excur- 
 sions, and the year 1848 is notable for the warm 
 recognition of the beneficent character of the work 
 from those high in station and influence. One of the 
 most successful excursions of that year was one by 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 59 
 
 coach, from Leicester to Belvoir Castle, and the late 
 Duke of Kutland wrote the following letter regarding 
 it: 
 
 " LONGSHAW LODGE, September 4, 1848. 
 
 " Sir, I delayed to acknowledge your letter of the 
 17th August until I heard of the trip to Belvoir 
 by some of the inhabitants of Leicester, to which it- 
 related, having been successfully and satisfactorily 
 accomplished. I rejoice to hear that such has been 
 the case, and I hope that proper attention was paid 
 to the party by those who have charge of the castle 
 and grounds during my absence. 
 
 " I fully concur with you in the desire which you 
 express to see the different classes of our great com- 
 munity bound together by ties of increasing strength. 
 For many years it has been a source of great happi- 
 ness to me to mingle with the various classes of 
 society, to study their various conditions, and to 
 endeavour to be of assistance when assistance was 
 likely to be useful, and the knowledge both of the 
 character and of the disposition of those with whom 
 I have thus mingled which I have gained in my inter- 
 course with them, has increased my desire to mark, 
 whenever an opportunity may offer itself, my regard 
 toward them. But it would indeed be extraordinary 
 if I did not desire that the inhabitants of Leicester 
 should receive courteous attention on such an occasion 
 
60 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 as that which occasioned you to write to me, for I 
 have invariably received from them a kind and 
 friendly welcome whenever I have been called by 
 duty or pleasure to their town. 
 " I remain, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 (Signed) " RUTLAND." 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire, too, about this time 
 showed the same spirit of kindly interest as the Duke 
 of Rutland, and readily gave Mr. Cook permission to 
 arrange for pleasure parties visiting Chatsworth. 
 Many excursion trains were run for this purpose, the 
 Duke being always ready to render help in making 
 the excursionists enjoy their visit. 
 
 The excursions to Scotland year by year grew more 
 extensive and numerous as they were invariably suc- 
 cessful. At the end of the year 1850, Mr. Cook was 
 enabled to reflect with satisfaction upon the amount 
 of work done since 1841. He had in that time 
 established a new industry ; and this is how he re- 
 cords his impressions so far : 
 
 "By the end of the season 1850, I had effected 
 arrangements with almost all the railway companies 
 of the Midland, the North of England, the North- 
 Western, the Eastern Counties, and some of the 
 Southern lines. Interchanges of traffic had been 
 made with numerous companies, and, in addition to 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 61 
 
 the established system for Scotland, I was extensively 
 engaged in conducting local trains and opening out 
 more comprehensive plans for visiting watering-places 
 and tourist districts, including Ireland, the Isle of 
 Man, &c. These openings and facilities had familiar- 
 ised the people of the Midland counties with the 
 most celebrated places in the district, and the various 
 railway companies had begun to make excursion 
 traffic a great feature in their regular travelling 
 arrangements, and the necessity for local agency was 
 greatly diminished. But though circumscribed in plans 
 for local operations, I had become so thoroughly im- 
 bued with the tourist spirit that I began to contem- 
 plate foreign trips, including the Continent of Europe, 
 the United States, and the Eastern Land of the Bible." 
 America was to be the first enterprise on Mr. Cook's 
 plan. But he had to defer this for a time. The 
 great Exhibition of 1851 would soon be open; and 
 it was represented to him by the greatest railway 
 managers that he would do well to stay at home and 
 attend to that. He did stay at home and attend 
 to it. He organised a plan by which excursionists 
 could be carried from Leicester to London and back 
 for fifteen shillings. Competition was soon in play 
 among the different companies, and passengers were 
 carried from Bradford, Leeds, and Sheffield to 
 London and back for five shillings. Mr. J. M. 
 Cook, by this time associated with his father in the 
 
62 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 work, thus recalls the leading facts of this busy 
 period : 
 
 " It was a time of intense excitement, and all the 
 trains on the line, except the day express, were made 
 available for excursion tickets. Frequently the night 
 mail would be run in from two to six divisions. At 
 the call of a band of music, I saw workpeople come 
 out of factories in Bradford, pay five shillings for a 
 ticket, and with a very few shillings in their pockets, 
 start off on Saturday night to spend Sunday and 
 Monday in London, returning to work on Tuesday 
 morning. The people of Yorkshire were thus 
 educated to travel, and my returns at the end of the 
 season showed 165,000 who had taken the excursion 
 tickets. It was a lively time from May to November, 
 and I closed my season engagement by taking from 
 Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester 3,000 Sunday- 
 school children to see the Exhibition." 
 
 Mr. Fraser Eae writes of this time : 
 
 " It was characteristic of Mr. Thomas Cook's fore- 
 sight that he had formed clubs of working-men some 
 months beforehand, who, by making small weekly 
 pa} 7 ments, were qualified for being taken to London, 
 and boarded while staying there. This arrangement 
 proved to be exceedingly popular." 
 
 Nor was there any lack of clear personal super- 
 vision. Mr. Cook or his son accompanied every party, 
 with the result that there was no mishap in any one 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 63 
 
 case ; the children even returning without record of 
 mischance. This meant very hard work. Father 
 and son, in fact, then worked day and night five days 
 out of the seven. 
 
 The same remarks apply to the Exhibitions of 
 1853 and 1855, and to the French ones of 1856 and 
 1867, only with this difference, which demands to be 
 noted, that with the trip to the first Paris Exhibition 
 Mr. Cook associated a "grand circular tour on the 
 Continent." He conducted a party which started 
 from Harwich to Antwerp, on the 4th July, 1856; 
 the party visiting in succession Brussels, the Field of 
 Waterloo, Cologne, the Rhine, Mayence, Frankfort, 
 Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strassburg, and Paris. The 
 return journey was made by way of Havre and 
 Southampton. So many applications were made 
 that a second party, numbering fifty, was organised, 
 and left Harwich on the 16th of August of the same 
 year. When a Fine Art Exhibition was held in Man- 
 chester in 1857, Mr. Cook's services were invoked, 
 and he saved the exhibition from being an utter 
 failure. During the first month the attendance was 
 very small, the visitors being limited almost altogether 
 to those belonging to the town and its immediate 
 neighbourhood. As soon as he could free himself 
 from attendance on tours in Scotland, he arranged 
 to run excursion trains from many parts of the 
 country, thus bringing some 50,000 persons to the 
 
64 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Exhibition, which saved the finances. Mr. Cook 
 received thanks and a testimonial for this great 
 service. 
 
 In 1861 an influential committee had arranged to 
 promote a working-man's demonstration in Paris, and 
 Mr. Cook carried 1,673 working-men to attend it, 
 though with regret it must be said that, through the 
 hard terms of the South-Eastern Kailway Company, 
 Mr. Cook was a heavy loser by the service he rendered. 
 Ever since that time, as Mr. Cook considered himself 
 inequitably treated, he has acted in association with 
 the rival line. 
 
 This was the beginning of new difficulties of the 
 same sort, and it says much for Mr. Cook's persistence 
 and enterprise that to these difficulties we mainly 
 owe the greatest of all the extensions of the Cook 
 system. The arrangement Mr. Cook had made with 
 the Scotch railways came to an end in 1863, and the 
 managers of these lines declined to enter into any 
 further arrangement with him. They hoped to profit 
 by the lessons he had given them, while wholly dis- 
 pensing with him. This was a hard blow, as Cook's 
 tours in Scotland were then at the height of their 
 popularity. But it was not Mr. Cook's habit to sink 
 under any such injustice. He only turned his energies 
 into another and a wider field. The continent of 
 Europe was all before him, and after no little difficulty 
 and negotiations, a start was made, and a train run 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 65 
 
 to Paris, with no fewer than 578 persons, who were 
 well provided for at hotels, &c., for a fixed sum 
 which was less than their fathers would have paid to 
 journey by coach from the capital of England to that 
 of Scotland. 
 
 " Having thus made a beginning in foreign travel, 
 Mr. Cook resolved to extend his tourist system over 
 other parts of the Continent. With that object he 
 visited Switzerland in this year, and he endeavoured 
 to provide facilities for tourists visiting Geneva, 
 Chamonix, Martigny, and all the places comprised in 
 what is now commonly known as the regular Swiss 
 round. He found the managers of the railways and 
 the proprietors of the hotels ready to entertain and 
 further his projects. Having matured his plans, he 
 advertised a personally-conducted tour to Switzerland. 
 As many as 500 persons responded, the result being 
 that two parties were brought together the one 
 starting on the 31st of July, and the other on the 
 1st of August. 
 
 " It was a special feature in this system of tours for 
 each party to be accompanied by some one who should 
 convey information, and also see that the programme 
 was punctually carried out. In England and Scotland 
 it was made a condition of the excursions that the 
 manager should accompany them. In a foreign 
 country the necessity for personal supervision was 
 even greater, as few of those who composed the parties 
 
 F 
 
66 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 headed by Mr. Cook were acquainted with any 
 language but their own. Mr. Cook was accompanied 
 by a guide and interpreter, whose services were at the 
 disposal of his party, and the tourists were thus 
 enabled to enjoy what they saw in a way which they 
 might not have done had they travelled singly, and 
 to do so at a far less cost than if they had been 
 obliged to hire guides and interpreters for themselves 
 wherever a halt was made. 
 
 "Yet the system, though excellent, had its detractors, 
 and the personally-conducted party was written about 
 as if those who composed it ought to be ashamed of 
 themselves, and he who headed it ought to be 
 punished. Those who wrote and spoke in this strain 
 betrayed as much ignorance as spite. Persons of rank 
 and wealth, who had made the grand tour, did so in 
 much the same manner. The nobleman and his 
 family were as much * personally conducted ' as any 
 of Mr. Cook's parties, the only difference being that 
 the latter were larger. The conductor of the former 
 was called a courier. The courier rendered services 
 to his employers resembling those Mr. Cook rendered 
 to those who joined him. What constituted the 
 essential difference between the two was that Mr. 
 Cook's parties were taken more quickly over the 
 ground, were enabled to see more in a shorter time, 
 and to make the trip and visit the sights at a much 
 lower cost than a family party traversing the same 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 67 
 
 ground under the guidance of a courier. Moreover, 
 those who did not choose Mr. Cook's party might 
 obtain their tickets from him and travel independently. 
 The earliest trips to Switzerland caused Mr. Cook 
 great anxiety, but everything went smoothly. Writ- 
 ing from Paris on the 4th of August, he says : ' France 
 and Switzerland now present to me new and almost 
 unlimited fields of tourist labour. At this moment 
 I am surrounded in Paris with some 500 or 600 
 enterprising tourists, and am expecting an addition 
 of 400 or 500 more to-night. Already a party of 
 100 has started for Switzerland, and I expect to follow 
 them to-morrow with 260 to 300 more. . . . This 
 is, I believe, the largest party that ever left England 
 for a tour in Switzerland, and to myself it is an event 
 of unbounded satisfaction, attesting, as it does, the 
 undeviating attachment of old tourist friends from 
 all parts of England and Scotland.' ' 
 
 So delighted had been the travellers by the two 
 tours of July 31st and August 1st, and their report 
 to their friends brought so many requests for tickets, 
 that a third party left for Switzerland on the 15th 
 of September. By-and-by the same process was 
 applied to Italy, and with the same comparative 
 success. 
 
 Hitherto Mr. Cook's headquarters had been in 
 Leicester. A boarding-house for the convenience of 
 tourists had been established in Kussell Street. 
 
68 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Bloomsbury, but, under the terms of the lease, no 
 trade could be carried on in it, nor any business notice 
 affixed. Early in 1865 Mr. Cook opened an office in 
 London. Mr. J. M. Cook was shortly after taken 
 into partnership, and thus the now familiar style of 
 Thomas Cook & Son came into existence. This move, 
 however, was thought to be somewhat bold and hazard- 
 ous, and in order to aid the finances, it was deemed 
 prudent to add to the sale of tickets the supplying 
 of guide-books and all requisites for travellers, and 
 also to engage in the forwarding and delivery of 
 parcels. Mr. J. M. Cook had a hard time of it then. 
 He was placed in charge of the London office, but as 
 the Excursionist, which had now been published 
 for some time, was printed and published at Leicester, 
 to see that all was right there, he had to leave London 
 the night before publication, and return to London 
 by the mail train in the morning. He had to plan 
 fresh tours on the Continent, and make all prelimi- 
 nary arrangements no light matter, for already the 
 firm had pretty well included the whole Continent 
 not only France, Switzerland and Italy, but also 
 Belgium, the Netherlands, along the Ehine, and in 
 most of the German states, and in Austria. Further 
 facilities were offered for tours in Ireland, and the 
 excursions to Scotland had been resumed on a new 
 and improved basis. 
 
 As for the London office, it was soon seen that it 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 69 
 
 would pay. Before long, too, it became the centre of 
 far wider agencies. Having now an able and respon- 
 sible partner to leave behind him in his son, Mr. 
 Cook was more free than he had been to enter on 
 new ground. In 1865 he went to America, to 
 arrange for tours there, carrying with him letters of 
 introduction to influential men from distinguished 
 men in this country. Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P., and 
 Mr. John Bright, M.P., may be specially named. 
 Mr. Bright wrote thus : 
 
 " I have read your circular with great interest. 
 Your project is one which will involve care and 
 responsibility but with your long experience I do not 
 doubt its success. If you could assist some hundreds 
 of Englishmen to visit the United States in the 
 course of a year, and as many Americans to visit 
 England, you will be of service to both countries. 
 I am quite sure that much of the unfriendly feeling 
 which has existed here towards the United States 
 during the last four years has arisen from the strange 
 ignorance which has prevailed among our people on 
 all American matters, and this ignorance, so dis- 
 creditable and so injurious, you will do much to 
 remove. 
 
 " I wish your scheme every success. From all I 
 have heard of you I feel the greatest confidence in 
 your power to carry out your undertakings to the 
 satisfaction of those who confide in you. I believe 
 
70 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 you will find in the United States a disposition to 
 co-operate with you, and to lessen your difficulties 
 in every possible way." 
 
 In spite of some discouragements Custom-house 
 exactions and other things he did not return till he 
 had made arrangements for trips over 4,000 miles of 
 railway at a uniform rate of two cents, or two-thirds 
 of a penny a mile. But the first tour, in the spring 
 of 1.866, which consisted of about 60 persons, was a 
 disappointment, through railway managers and others 
 refusing to keep the engagements into which they 
 had entered with Mr. Cook. But so rapidly were 
 fresh arrangements made that not a single day was 
 lost to the party. And not only so, but Mr. J. M. 
 Cook then made such agreements as laid the foun- 
 dation of the extensive travel now conducted by the 
 firm in America. The first trips across the Atlantic, 
 however, were so deeply disappointing to Mr. Cook 
 that he wrote thus : 
 
 " Jealousy and competition of companies and agents 
 defeated my purposes and destroyed my hopes. In 
 the following winter [1866-7] my son again crossed the 
 Atlantic with the view of promoting travel to the 
 Paris Exhibition. He thought he had laid his plans 
 securely, and several great companies promised their 
 aid in giving effect to the arrangements, but our 
 plans were again thwarted, after printing thousands 
 of posters and tens of thousands of explanatory bills. 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 71 
 
 The information benefited others, but left us unre- 
 munerated." 
 
 Much of the labour which Mr. J. M. Cook had 
 undergone during this visit to America was lost, 
 through the recurrence of breaches of faith on the 
 part of the railway companies. 
 
 Encouragement, however, came from other points. 
 That same year a new arrangement was made with 
 the Midland Kailway Company whereby all the 
 advertising of their cheap excursions was to be in 
 Messrs. Cook's hands, and this, combined with through 
 booking to all parts of the Continent, was much to 
 the benefit of the public. The dwellers in the Northern 
 and Midland counties could take tickets available 
 for all the stations on the Midland line and the chief 
 points of interest in France, Switzerland, and Italy. 
 This year also saw the first of the Cook excursions to 
 Rome during Holy Week. A system of through 
 booking, at reduced fares, between the chief railway 
 stations in the United States and Canada, and Paris, 
 was also successfully carried through in 1866. 
 
 During the Paris Exhibition of 1867 much good 
 work was done ; the Emperor looked so favourably 
 on his enterprise that Mr. Cook leased open spaces 
 at Passy, on which he built structures for the housing 
 of the excursionists in Paris ; and, on the close of the 
 Exhibition, he could report that he had conveyed 
 20,000 persons to Paris, and had housed more -than 
 
 
72 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 one-half that number. On this point Mr. "W. Fraser 
 Rae writes : 
 
 "Mr. Cook was highly gratified to observe the 
 success of his plans for enabling his poorer fellow- 
 countrymen to visit this great Exhibition in Paris, 
 and he was as proud of this achievement as of his 
 pecuniary gains. His lifelong desire had been to 
 bring the people of all countries into closer associa- 
 tion, and his belief was that if the inhabitants of his 
 native land were brought into personal contact with 
 those of other lands, both parties would be benefited. 
 He had reason to believe, as well as to hope, that the 
 English working-men who visited Paris in 1867 
 would afterwards entertain truer notions about France 
 and the French than they had previously done, and 
 he was justified in assuming that, with more accurate 
 knowledge, a kindlier feeling would prevail." 
 
 The next great work was the perfecting of the 
 coupon system, which has been found of such enor- 
 mous benefit. These coupons, as well as the railway 
 tickets, could be used by persons though they 
 travelled by themselves and not with the tourist 
 party. The holder of such coupons had no trouble 
 about his hotel bill, nor could he have any dispute 
 about charges. He had simply to hand over coupons 
 for so many days' board and lodging. If he had been 
 served with anything extra, he had, of course, to pay 
 the price ; but he was under no obligation to pay 
 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 73 
 
 anything in excess of the amount he had paid to 
 Messrs. Cook & Son before leaving home. 
 
 In 1868 began those tours to the Holy Land of 
 which so many have every year since availed them- 
 selves. Mr. Cook had most carefully surveyed the land 
 beforehand, and so exhaustively arranged everything 
 that, from the first, these trips were declared a success. 
 Notwithstanding the fickleness and the greed of Arab 
 chiefs, the plans of travel laid down in London are, 
 and have been, carried out to the letter and the day 
 in all the Eastern regions which are traversed. The 
 element of danger, too, has been completely eliminated, 
 and " those who would have hesitated to trust them- 
 selves in Palestine as it was a generation ago, now 
 go thither without fear, and their confidence in the 
 measures taken by Messrs Cook is fully justified." 
 The business has increased by leaps and bounds. 
 Every year sees a marked increase. In 1870 Mr. J. M. 
 Cook was appointed by the Khedive as agent of his 
 Government for passenger traffic on the Nile. This 
 was an immense step, as it made impossible interference 
 of certain kinds apt to become troublesome. 
 
 The Franco- German War of 1870 was a sad inter- 
 lude. It threatened to put a stop to Messrs. Cook's 
 business altogether. But the great confidence felt 
 in the firm stood for something. They were appealed 
 to by many, who otherwise, perhaps, would not have 
 had recourse to them, for assistance in the exceptional 
 
74 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 condition of things. The late Dr. Tait, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, was seriously ailing, and his medical 
 advisers ordered him to proceed to the Riviera. How 
 to get there puzzled him, and he applied to Messrs. 
 Cook for advice. The only route then open was 
 through Belgium, Germany, Austria, over the Brenner 
 Pass to Genoa, and thence to the Riviera. At his 
 express request, Mr. Thomas Cook acted as conductor 
 of the Archbishop and his family to their destination. 
 At the same time Mr. J. M. Cook was active in work- 
 ing the route to the Continent which he had laid open. 
 He was invited by the representatives of the German 
 railway companies to meet them in conference at 
 Frankfort, to consider how far passenger traffic to 
 Brindisi might be conducted by way of Harwich, and 
 through Germany, and over the Brenner. This had 
 formerly been opposed by the Continental railway 
 companies, but it was now unanimously adopted, 
 and Mr. J. M. Cook was appointed agent for all the 
 railway companies and that with a salary. One 
 fruit of this was that through tickets from London to 
 Brindisi were issued. 
 
 We need not refer to an unfortunate co-partnery 
 with an American gentleman in respect to American 
 traffic, which did not prosper. The next great deve- 
 lopment of Messrs. Cook's business was the "gird- 
 ling of the globe," the tour round the world, which 
 was from the first planned as much with the idea of 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 75 
 
 educational effects as of anything else. Mr. Cook gave 
 the impressions of his first journey in letters to the 
 Times, which were widely read. He made his country- 
 men understand, says Mr. Fraser Kae, what the world 
 was like as a whole how greatly human beings on 
 its surface resembled each other, and if he dispelled 
 many illusions he replaced them with as many facts. 
 Our sketch would indeed be incomplete if we did not 
 refer to the Indian tours which Messrs. Cook have 
 organised and carried out with so much success. In 
 1880, Mr. J. M. Cook proceeded to India to survey 
 the ground, and in 1881, the first trip took place. 
 Politicians of the highest rank recorded their approval, 
 and gave the scheme encouragement among them 
 Mr. Gladstone, then Prime Minister, Lord Hartington, 
 and the Marquis of Salisbury, who, in an interview, 
 said : 
 
 "Mr. Cook, I do not hesitate to say that the 
 Government ought to render you every possible 
 assistance to enable you to carry out your ideas, as 
 it is impossible to calculate what benefit you will 
 ultimately be to the nation. If you can only induce 
 a number of wealthy Englishmen to visit India, and 
 see for themselves the value of that country to Eng- 
 land, and also induce even a small number of the 
 wealthy Hindoos to visit England and enable them to 
 realise who and what the people are at home who 
 govern them in India, you will certainly be of great 
 
76 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 service from a social and international point of view, 
 and, it may be, politically." 
 
 Messrs. Cook's idea had always been that, while 
 it would be well to arrange for the visits of English- 
 men to India, it would be even more serviceable if 
 the wealthy natives of India could be induced to 
 visit Europe. 
 
 The further development of Messrs. Cook's business 
 is mostly extension and expansion on the lines we 
 have endeavoured to indicate. The details may be read 
 in Mr. Eraser Kae's book, to which we have been much 
 indebted, though we have had the privilege of later 
 facts from Messrs. Cook's headquarters. We cannot 
 close, however, without referring to a few of the 
 more remarkable testimonies accorded to the firm 
 in recent years. When it was resolved that Prince 
 Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales should 
 travel in Palestine, the arrangements were placed in 
 Messrs. Cook's hands, and they afterwards received 
 the following testimonial : 
 
 "MARLBOROUGH HOUSE, PALL MALL, 
 
 "September 20th, 1882. 
 
 " DEAR SIRS, All the arrangements made for tin 
 convenience of the two Princes and their companions 
 during their forty days' stay in the Holy Land gave 
 their Royal Highnesses and every member of the 
 party the utmost satisfaction. Mr. F. H. Cook, 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 77 
 
 whose company we enjoyed the greater part of the 
 time, and your agent or representative at Jerusalem, 
 were most indefatigable in doing everything they 
 possibly could to conduce to the success of the expe- 
 dition, which went over nearly six hundred miles, 
 and some of the day's marches were longer than so 
 large a party usually accomplishes. But what was 
 designed was always carried out, spite of weather and 
 other drawbacks, and we owe you every thanks for 
 the energy and promptitude with which each diffi- 
 culty as it arose was always faced and overcome. 
 " Believe me, dear Sirs, 
 
 " Yours very faithfully, 
 
 "JOHN N. DALTON." 
 
 The next is for services of an important kind 
 rendered during the Egyptian Campaign. It is dated 
 from the War Office, Pall Mall, 8th February, 1883 : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, The Lieutenant-General command- 
 ing the troops in Egypt having forwarded, for the 
 information of Field Marshal the Commander-in- 
 Chief, a report of the cordial assistance rendered by 
 your firm in conveying convalescents, for sanitary 
 reasons, on your steamers on the Nile, I have now 
 the honour, by desire of His Koyal Highness, to con- 
 vey to you an expression of thanks for the admirable 
 arrangements made by you on these occasions, by 
 
78 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 which, the troops have greatly "benefited. His Eoyal 
 Highness fully appreciates the public spirit evinced 
 by you in conducting the various services on which 
 you have been employed for military purposes in the 
 above country. 
 
 "ARTHUR HERBERT, Lieutentant-General, 
 
 " Quartermaster- General." 
 
 Messrs. Cook gave the most valuable aid in the 
 transport of camels, &c., in this war. 
 
 The firm also conveyed General Gordon to the 
 Soudan in January, 1884; and before Gordon mounted 
 his camel at Korosko, on his last journey to Khar- 
 toum, he wrote the following letter to Messrs. Cook, 
 bearing date the 1st February : 
 
 "GENTLEMEN, Before leaving for Berber I would 
 wish to express to you my own and Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Stuart's thanks for the admirable manner in 
 which we have been treated while on your steamers. 
 Your agents also have on every occasion shown them- 
 selves kind and obliging, and have in every way 
 assisted us to the best of their ability. Hoping that 
 I may, perhaps, again have the pleasure of placing 
 myself under your guidance, 
 " I remain, 
 
 " Ever yours truly, 
 " C. E. GORDON, Major-General and 
 " Governor-General." 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 79 
 
 When the expedition was organised for the relief 
 of Gordon, Messrs. Cook & Son were entrusted 
 with the conveyance of troops and stores. To fulfil 
 their contract, they had 28 large steamers running 
 between the Tyne and Alexandria ; they had 6,000 
 railway trucks in use between Alexandria and Boulak 
 or Assiout, and 7,000 for the transport of military 
 stores. On the Nile they had 27 steamers running 
 day and night, and 650 sailing-vessels, of from 70 
 to 200 tons burthen. They employed for this service 
 about 5,000 men and boys, being the fellaheen of 
 Lower Egypt, and Mr. Cook publicly avowed that 
 no men ever worked more willingly or continuously, 
 so long as they received fair pay and fair treatment. 
 Over and above the ordinary supply according to 
 contract, Mr. J. M. Cook was required suddenly to 
 bring up a further supply of coal for the use of railways 
 and steamers used by the Government. Great diffi- 
 culties were in the way, but he promised to bring 
 the further supply in the shortest time possible for 
 an extra ten shillings per ton. The officer in com- 
 mand, who signed the contract, said, after doing so, 
 "Mr. Cook, the Government ought to be thankful 
 that they have an honest firm to deal with, because 
 you might just as well have ten pounds as ten 
 shillings." 
 
 The history of this house, even in the summary 
 way in which we have been able to trace it, shows 
 
80 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 with the utmost clearness the great value of a moral 
 idea in enabling a man to conquer difficulties in 
 business. It is possible that Mr. Thomas Cook and 
 his son might, by mere force of character, by persever- 
 ance, resolution and organising tact, have carried the 
 excursion business to a certain point, because cheap 
 and quick transit for the masses was one of the wants 
 of which the world is full, as Pascal has it ; but it is 
 impossible that they could have succeeded in their 
 more extensive schemes had it not been that their 
 high character and great public spirit secured them at 
 the right moment the suffrages of the most powerful 
 men of the time. All alike men of all political parties 
 agreed that their work had not been a source of 
 private enrichment primarily, but a great public 
 benefit ; and were ready at the right point to aid 
 them. It has been pleasant to follow the various 
 steps in a successful business career so decisively 
 shaped by influences that are commonly conceived to 
 be outside business, and we trust that our readers 
 may find it the same. 
 
 During recent years a fiction gained currency that 
 there was no member of the family in the famous 
 firm of Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son ; that the whole 
 business had passed into the hands of strangers alike 
 to the name and to the family ; and that the main- 
 tenance of the name of Cook was a mere device to 
 sustain a credit no longer deserved. While this was 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 81 
 
 the case, the very irony of commercial success was 
 reached in the supposititious members of the firm 
 being personated in more than one instance ; so that 
 the members of the firm had to give token of their 
 actual existence in ways that were not so pleasant 
 to them as they might have liked. This goes a 
 degree, or even two degrees, beyond the imaginary 
 Mr. Price, of the firm of Price's Candle Company, of 
 which we shall speak by-and-by. 
 
 But the members of the firm of Thomas Cook & 
 Son bearing the name of Cook are still, happily, 
 very real and very active in the business. The 
 original founder of the firm, Thomas Cook, yet lives 
 at a great age, with his intellect still clear, though 
 unfortunately he has long been almost blind and 
 partially deaf; so that his son, Mr. J. M. Cook, as 
 president at the jubilee banquet given so recently as 
 July 22, 1891, in returning thanks for the toast 
 " Health, prosperity, and long life to the firm of 
 Thomas Cook & Sons," proposed by Sir James 
 Allport thus apologised for his father's absence, 
 or, rather, explained the imperative cause of it : 
 
 " The task that I have before me now is far more 
 difficult than the whole of those that I have hitherto 
 undertaken, simply because the English language will 
 not give me words sufficient to express to you my 
 heartfelt gratitude, first, for assembling here to-night, 
 and, secondly, for the very kind manner in which 
 
 G 
 
82 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 you have spoken of the work of which for many 
 years now I have had the whole responsibility. 
 (Cheers.) But there are some regrets to express. 
 The chief one in this I am sure many of you will 
 agree with me is the fact that the founder, Mr. 
 Thomas Cook, my father, who still lives (cheers) 
 although some of our friends of the press long since 
 reported him dead, and gave accounts of his life and 
 history is absent from us this evening. Unfortu- 
 nately, if he were here, he could not see any of us. 
 The last time I spoke to him he did not recognise 
 my voice. It is only upon a very imperative certifi- 
 cate from his medical adviser that he has been pre- 
 vented from coming into this room for a short time 
 to-night. But I know that whatever is reported as 
 having been said so kindly will be read to him and 
 appreciated by him very sincerely." 
 
 Sir James Allport, in proposing this toast, had 
 given this very efficient certificate to the reality, 
 activity, and enterprise of Mr. J. M. Cook, the more 
 effective from being the result of long acquaintance. 
 
 " I happen to be not, perhaps, the oldest man here 
 I am ready to give way to my friend, Sir Edward 
 Blount but I claim to be Messrs. Cook's oldest Eng- 
 lish railway friend. I have known Mr. Thomas Cook 
 close upon fifty years. I have known Mr. John Cook 
 ever since he came into active life. I knew him as a 
 boy. I believe that the Midland Kailway Company 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 83 
 
 were the first to appoint Thomas Cook & Son as 
 railway excursion and tourist agents: I have 
 watched their progress since that time. I will not 
 repeat all the praise which you have so justly heard 
 bestowed upon Mr. Cook by his Eoyal Highness (the 
 Duke of Cambridge), by General Grenfell, Sir John 
 Gorst, and others. Everything that they have said 
 I can personally confirm in my experience of Mr. 
 Thomas and Mr. John Cook ; and, of late years, espe- 
 cially of Mr. John Cook, as to his ability, his inte- 
 grity, his judgment and his capacity to undertake 
 even the largest business in connection with travel- 
 ling. I could have gone through the history of rail- 
 way tourists, for I remember perfectly well the first 
 train that was run by Mr. Thomas Cook from Leicester 
 to Loughborough. I believe I was one of the first to 
 run an excursion train in connection with the Midland 
 Railway Company. But time will not permit me to 
 go through all the details to which I had intended to 
 refer. It" is marvellous to look back to the first period 
 of tourist arrangements in this country, and then- to 
 look at the magnitude of the work now carried on by 
 Mr. John Cook, for I am bound to say that the whole 
 burden of the business is, and has been for many 
 years, upon his shoulders. I think it is one of the 
 marvels of the day. There is scarcely a civilised 
 country in the world where the name of Messrs. 
 Thomas Cook & Son is not familiarly known. They 
 
84 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 have conquered the world in regard to travelling. 
 A great civilising, beneficent system like theirs per- 
 haps never could employ the word conquest, but I 
 am sure they may vie with Alexander. There is, 
 however, a very great contrast between his work and 
 theirs ; the one being a work of war, bloodshed, mas- 
 sacre and tyranny, and the other a work of peace, 
 beneficence and goodwill to mankind. There is only 
 one part of the world that remains for them to con- 
 quer, and I sincerely hope that the peaceful rivalries 
 of the nations of Europe will enable Thomas Cook 
 & Son to open up even that dark spot in Central 
 Africa. I cannot speak too highly of Mr. John Cook's 
 talent as an organiser of traffic, and as a conductor of 
 the largest transactions that have ever come under 
 my notice in connection with private individuals. I 
 sincerely propose the health of Messrs. Thomas Cook 
 & Son. May they continue for many years to pros- 
 per in the future as they have done in the past ; and 
 I hope that the mantle of the grandfather and the 
 father will fall upon the shoulders of the sons, whom 
 I see here to-night, that they may continue for gene- 
 rations to come the name of Cook & Son as the 
 pioneers of travel throughout the civilised world." 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Fraser Rae has well written : 
 
 " Mr. Thomas Cook began life with more enthu- 
 siasm and energy than capital, and he inspired his 
 
THOMAS COOK AND SON. 85 
 
 only son with the feelings which influenced him, the 
 father and son rapidly transmuting their enthusiasm 
 and energy into capital, and being able, after the 
 lapse of a few years, to give effect to their wishes on 
 a scale which is truly gigantic. . . . The existing 
 magnitude of the firm is in such contrast to its 
 small beginnings that it is difficult to believe so 
 much has been accomplished during the lifetime of 
 the two partners, and as the result of their personal 
 exertions. The whole story resembles a fairy tale." 
 It is no part of our plan to give details respecting 
 the management or position of business at the present 
 moment : with respect to Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son 
 we may say, however, that Mr. John Cook and his 
 three sons are all actors in it. The former exercises 
 exclusive supervision over the whole : his three sons 
 Mr. F. H. Cook, Mr. E. E. Cook, and Mr. T. A. Cook 
 taking different departments. Mr. F. H. Cook, the 
 eldest, has personally taken part in conducting tourist 
 traffic in America, India, and Egypt ; he has travelled 
 through the Caucasus and Persia (being accompanied 
 in these last by his brother, Mr. E. E. Cook), Aus- 
 tralia and New Zealand, and parts of the world little 
 known, to see how far the ground could be prepared 
 for tourist trips. The younger brothers have also been 
 initiated into the practical working of the business, 
 more particularly in Palestine and Egypt, and they 
 have been taught how each department is managed. 
 
86 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 The whole three have been trained to be travellers, 
 says Mr. Fraser Rae : they have seen more of the 
 world than many men famed as explorers ; and they 
 have learned what those persons require who journey 
 in foreign regions, either for amusement or in quest 
 of health. 
 
BEYANT & MAY. 
 
 WHOEVER hears or speaks the name of Bryant & May 
 thinks or speaks also of " safety matches." The 
 two seem inseparable, and indeed they are so ; for the 
 safety matches have made Bryant & May, even as 
 Bryant & May, in a different sense, have made the 
 safety matches : they are their title to fame. 
 
 Lucifer matches are only about fifty years old. Yet 
 so completely have they superseded the old-fashioned 
 flint- and-steel and tinder-box with which our grand- 
 parents used to grope in the dark, that such means 
 of striking a light are now quite archaic. 
 
 In its turn the lucifer itself is now eclipsed by 
 improved rivals, and has departed, or is fast departing, 
 with its suffocating sulphurous smell into the limbo 
 of the past. Well is it that the lucifer has done so. 
 We say good-bye with no regret. It brought light, but 
 it was not delightful. Frequently accounts appeared 
 in that generally faithful mirror of everyday life, the 
 comprehensive newspaper, of accidents happening 
 by reason of children playing with these dangerous 
 
88 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 " lucifers." Coroners' courts also bore grim witness 
 to the same danger. " These 'ere loosiffers," we can 
 well imagine some yokel of a past day remarking, 
 " be mortal risky ! " And mortal risky, no doubt, 
 they were. 
 
 Now, over the lurid light of their " mortal riski- 
 ness " arose the white splendour of the safety match 
 of Bryant & May. Much of the danger of the lucifer 
 resulted, of course, from the fact that it would ignite 
 almost anywhere. The patent safety, however, would 
 only strike light on the box. It might be trodden 
 upon, but still it was safe ; sandpaper could not 
 provoke its fire, metal kept it dumb ; only a prepared 
 surface bade it yield its light. This was the great 
 idea which, like some other great ideas that have 
 afterwards blossomed out into immense results, have 
 met a genuine and popular want. 
 
 Much curious speculation arose on the appearance 
 of the safety match ; but it held its own. It answered 
 to its description ; it did what was claimed for it, and 
 the public were not slow to perceive its utility, and 
 showed appreciation by purchase. To-day it seems 
 common indeed. 
 
 The invention appears to have been a joint affair. 
 A Swede, named Lundgren, and Mr. William Bryant, 
 the founder of the firm of Bryant & May, seem to 
 have carried it out together. No doubt the number 
 of accidents happening turned attention to the need 
 
BRYANT AND MAY. 89 
 
 of a more harmless match, and in time this one was 
 produced. 
 
 Mr. William Bryant was one of the first makers of 
 lucifers, and in those days his place of business was 
 at Plymouth. He patented the discovery, and, of 
 course, the firm enjoyed the monopoly until the 
 patent rights expired. To this day we believe the 
 precise constituents of the compound, or compounds, 
 are secret. This much, however, may be said : there 
 is no phosphorus in the composition of the matches 
 themselves, but the red or amorphous phosphorus 
 forms a constituent of the igniting surface on the 
 boxes. 
 
 Mr. Bryant had four sons, and all of them in due 
 time came to assist their father in the development of 
 the business. One of them, Mr. Wilberforce Bryant, 
 is chairman of the board of directors to-day of the 
 limited liability company into which the firm was 
 formed in 1884. 
 
 The company has now most extensive works, occu- 
 pying about ten acres, at Fairfield Road, Bow, East 
 London, but a great part of the timber pine-wood is 
 cut at their own mills on Bow Common. Several 
 beautiful machines for saving labour, and of the 
 firm's own invention, are in operation, and it is 
 because of these that the necessary match can be 
 sold at such low prices. 
 
 The output is enormous. It has been calculated 
 
90 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 that, of what may be called ordinary wood matches 
 alone, the company manufacture annually upwards of 
 two and a half million gross of boxes, i.e., 360 million 
 boxes, which, at the rate of 100 matches in each, 
 gives the enormous and unrealisable total of 36 billion 
 of matches, besides the special safeties manufactured 
 per annum. In addition there are the famous safety 
 matches the speciality of the firm which are a 
 seventh of this gigantic number, or, say, 52 million 
 boxes. Further, there are the flaming vesuvians, 
 of which 52,000 gross of boxes are turned out 
 per annum; and, lastly, the wax vestas, which are 
 rapidly superseding the vesuvians, and of which 
 10,500 millions per annum are produced, requir- 
 ing 750 tons of wax and 250 tons of cotton per 
 annum. 
 
 This enormous number of vestas manufactured 
 indicates a striking and praiseworthy change in the 
 popular taste. They are being used for household 
 purposes as well as by the worshippers of the goddess 
 Nicotine, and they appear to be rapidly becoming 
 one of the most popular forms of match. Every 
 day that rolls its round sees 35 millions of 
 these useful and cleanly articles manufactured by 
 Bryant & May, requiring no less than three tons of 
 wax and 850 miles of the waxed tapers, making 
 255,000 miles per annum. This enormous con- 
 sumption of vestas is, perhaps, one of the most 
 
BRYANT AND MAY. 91 
 
 remarkable developments in the match industry at 
 the Fairfield Works. 
 
 In striking contrast to these enormous quantities 
 appears the seemingly small amount of phosphorus 
 used. People appear to have a vague idea that an 
 immense bulk of this element enters into the com- 
 position of matches. As a matter of fact, only one 
 and a half tons of amorphous phosphorus are used 
 here per annum, and thirty tons of the vitreous 
 phosphorus ; the fact being that since the invention 
 of the safety match less phosphorus is used in the 
 industry altogether. 
 
 This enormous output of goods is produced by 
 some 2,000 hands, ten per cent, only of whom are 
 men, the remainder being women and boys. A ten- 
 hours day, in shifts of five hours each, rules through- 
 out, except on Saturday, when six and a half hours 
 constitutes a day. The women earn from thirteen to 
 fifteen shillings, and the boys from seven to twelve 
 shillings weekly, according to skill and attendance. 
 
 But, we may repeat, one of the marked features 
 of the Fairfield Works is the great amount of excellent 
 labour-saving machinery in use. Much, therefore, of 
 the work consists in the watching and tending of such 
 machinery, and not in hard manual employment. 
 
 Take the manufacture of the vestas. The cotton 
 is wound upon revolving drums, and passes through 
 a bath of melted wax. After hardening, it is again 
 
92 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 wound on a large cylinder, and subsequently cut into 
 the required lengths by a beautiful machine. They 
 are then placed in frames, and the ends dipped into 
 the igniting composition. The work of the girls, 
 all through, therefore, seems comparatively light and 
 easy. 
 
 So also with much of the other work, the men 
 being engaged in the most laborious part. First of 
 all is the cutting of the wooden splints. Some of 
 this is done in Canada, but the greater part is accom- 
 plished at the firm's own works at Bow Common. 
 The wood is cut into pieces to fit a machine for 
 splitting it into splints double the length of the 
 match ; this machine has a knife with direct down- 
 ward action, and several lancets. Being split, the 
 splints are bound into bundles and dried in a hot 
 chamber, when they are ready to be sent on to Fair- 
 field. No cutting or storing of wood takes place 
 here a wise arrangement, which keeps the timber 
 quite separate from the inflammable materials. 
 
 Arrived at the Fairfield Works, the splints are 
 bound into rings by a beautifully-contrived and 
 accurate machine. This has a hopper, into which 
 the splints are placed, and which delivers them with 
 great accuracy to a couple of bands, one running over, 
 and the other running under, a revolving wheel, 
 around which the bands bind the splints tightly 
 into a series of circles or rings. The result, when the 
 
BRYANT AND MAY. 93 
 
 bands are fastened, is a set of circles of splints bound 
 into a solid coil, and with their tips protruding on 
 either side. 
 
 These tips are then dipped into a compound called 
 "paraffin," and then into the composition for igniting 
 the match. This composition is somewhat like a 
 stiff paste in consistency. It is brought from the 
 department where it is mixed, and spread on a slab ; 
 upon which the coils can be easily dipped into it. 
 They are then taken to an air-chamber, where they 
 are dried by revolving fans. 
 
 The coils are unwound also by machinery, and the 
 manufactured matches, as they are released, travel 
 down an inclined slide, whence they are taken to the 
 box fillers. There are women who, by practice, can 
 grasp directly the requisite quantity for filling the 
 box. The handful is put into a little apparatus. 
 A pull of a handle cuts the bundle of splints in the 
 middle, and makes them of the right length. They 
 are hustled into the box, and away they go to the 
 packers, who make them up into packages, and paste 
 on them their bright labels. 
 
 This, briefly, is the process of match manufacture, 
 and it is but little different with the vestas. For these 
 a mixture of gum and white wax is melted in huge 
 cauldrons. The " wicks " are, as we have indicated, 
 wound in enormous lengths over big "drums" or 
 cylinders, passing on the way through a hot bath of 
 
94 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the wax composition, the length, no doubt, giving the 
 composition time to cool, and become firm before 
 reaching the drum. The thread has three or four 
 baths before it is finally wound off to become quite 
 hard. 
 
 Machinery cuts it into lengths as required for 
 vestas or tapers, and machinery also fills the vestas 
 into frames, leaving the end of each one protruding 
 for dipping. This being accomplished, as in the 
 case of matches, the vestas are dried by air set in 
 motion by fans. A feature to be noticed is the 
 stiffness or " wiriness " of the vesta and the absence 
 of brittleness. 
 
 The manufacture of vesuvians is again somewhat 
 different, and, indeed, is more complicated than, per- 
 haps, the public suppose. The splints are rounded, and 
 are of hard wood, the idea in the use of the latter being 
 to prevent its ignition, which, of course, is a different 
 object than in the case of matches. Two compositions 
 are to be fixed the igniting and the flaming ; and, 
 further, the latter compound has to be retained 
 while burning, otherwise it would be liable to drop 
 and become dangerous. Messrs. Bryant & May have 
 adopted an ingenious way of doing this by placing 
 thin wire on either side, and keeping the wire in 
 position by cotton fixed on by a braiding machine. 
 The vesuvians have to be several times dipped into 
 the compound for flaming, until the amount is of the 
 
BRYANT AND MAY. 95 
 
 required size, and then they have to be again dipped 
 into the igniting composition, intervals for drying 
 being, of course, permitted. A combination is also 
 made between the vesuvian and the vesta, the waxed 
 " splint " of the latter being used instead of the 
 braided wood of the ordinary vesuvian. The result is 
 known as the flaming vesta, and it certainly yields a 
 fine flame, lasting long enough, even in bad weather 
 for the votaries of the pipe to ignite their weed. Like 
 the other varieties, these flaming vestas are supplied 
 in very pretty boxes, and sold at low prices. 
 
 This leads us to mention a fact which is not, perhaps, 
 generally known that the firm supply all kinds of 
 fancy tin boxes, including tea-canisters and biscuit- 
 tins, many being made from one piece of metal. 
 Several designs adorning the boxes, decorated by 
 their patent process, are very artistic, though the 
 prices are said to be low. This work is carried on at 
 Heading. It may at first seem strange that match 
 manufacturers should embark on such a branch of 
 labour; but it appears to us illustrative of the 
 manner in which the business has been conducted, in 
 the readiness to .constantly adopt improvements, all 
 grouping round the central ideas. No doubt it is the 
 safety match which has given the firm its great 
 celebrity and success, but would the latter have been 
 so great but for the collateral improvements in 
 machinery in attractive and superior metal boxes 
 
96 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 and so forth ? Making their own metal boxes, it can 
 easily be seen that the same or similar process could 
 turn out attractive canisters for other purposes than 
 matches. 
 
 And now about the wooden boxes. These are 
 largely made by workers in their own homes, though 
 a few comparatively are manufactured at the Bow 
 Common works. In spite of encouragement to the 
 contrary, the box-makers prefer to make them at home, 
 although Bryant & May have a large, well- ventilated 
 and healthy factory. Apparently this is due to the 
 fact that the workers can take up the work and 
 put it down as they like. At the factory they would 
 have to continue steadily during the working hours, 
 but would then have, of course, to leave their homes 
 and domestic duties. 
 
 The works at Fairfield Road are, we say, very 
 extensive. They are also solidly built and, we under- 
 stand, as absolutely fire-proof as they can be made. 
 The system of ventilation seems remarkably good, and 
 the air-shafts are covered on the top with contrivances 
 for regulating the admission of air according to tem- 
 perature; further, the workshops seem remarkably 
 free from smell, considering the manufacture that is 
 carried on. 
 
 Since the invention of the safety match a great 
 revolution has taken place in the industry. Time was 
 when, no doubt, it was a noxious one. The immense 
 
BRYANT AND MAY. 97 
 
 quantity proportionally of phosphorus used was 
 harmful, especially when the manufacture was carried 
 on in a confined space. But the fact that a match 
 can be made without phosphorus must have opened 
 people's eyes to the feasibility of new and improved 
 methods. 
 
 From these Fairfield Works matches go forth all 
 over the civilised world. The Fiji Islanders are 
 now taking to the use of them, which, indeed, marks a 
 wonderful difference from the old savage method of 
 producing fire by the friction of wood. So has that 
 idea of the safety match worked with great skill 
 blossomed forth and borne much fruit. 
 
T. SALT & SONS, SALTAIRE. 
 
 IN the year 1822 a young man of nineteen came to 
 Bradford from Morley. He had no money, and no 
 influence to speak of nothing but his own brain and 
 hands ; and yet he soon became one of the leading 
 agents in making Bradford what it now is. It was 
 then only a small, struggling town, with something 
 over 9,000 inhabitants; now it has over 200,000. 
 That means that men of invention, enterprise and 
 skill took up their abode within its borders, found new 
 industrial devices, set up machinery, and drew people 
 there from other quarters. We shall get a very good 
 notion of how manufacturing towns grow by following 
 from the first for a little the career of the young man 
 of nineteen, of whom we have spoken, who came to 
 Bradford in 1822. 
 
 His name was Titus Salt, and he was come of very 
 respectable people. His father had been an iron- 
 founder by trade, but had turned drysalter in the 
 then little village of Morley ; it had about 2,000 in- 
 
SIR TITUS SALT. 
 From a photograph by Messrs. Appleton & Co., Bradford. 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 99 
 
 habitants, but now it also is a busy manufacturing 
 town, whose bristling mill stacks and chimneys are 
 seen from afar. But in Titus Salt's boyhood it was a 
 very primitive place, and did not boast even an 
 Established Church. It may be that the authorities 
 did not think it worth while to settle a parson there ; 
 for the bulk of the people were Nonconformists, but 
 not of a fiery type, and exceedingly sedate and well- 
 behaved. Daniel Salt, the father of Titus, was a 
 good-humoured man, much liked by his neighbours, 
 but really and unaffectedly religious, observing family 
 worship day by day ; while his mother, who was of a 
 very bustling temperament, but happily also of a 
 sunny temper, was here of one mind with her hus- 
 band. She had great influence on Titus, and he was 
 deeply attached to her from the earliest age. He 
 was a healthy, active boy, but by no means clever, as 
 appeared ; getting through his school-tasks faith- 
 fully, but with no brilliant results. There was no 
 very good school in Morley, and so Titus after a 
 while was sent to a school in Batley, kept by the 
 Rev. J. Sidgewick, a clergyman, curate of the parish ; 
 which shows that old Daniel's Nonconformity was 
 not so intense, or his prejudice so great, as to lead 
 him to deprive his son of the best chance there was 
 of getting a good education. And Titus had to go a 
 long way. The distance was six miles from home to 
 school, and Titus had to walk it at first, setting forth 
 
100 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 every morning at half-past eight, in fine weather or 
 foul, having already with his own hand drawn the 
 milk from the cow for his dinner which he carried 
 with him, as well as a small parcel of oatcake. 
 
 When Titus was about thirteen the family re- 
 moved to a farm near Crofton, about three miles 
 from Wakefield, on the Doncaster road. Though the 
 farm was small, there was a comfortable house and 
 offices. To school the boy had still to go ; but now 
 a donkey was got for him, on which he rode, the 
 donkey being left at the Nag's Head till it was time 
 to return. 
 
 The farm did not prove a success in Daniel Salt's 
 hands ; and then the question arose about Titus' s 
 start in life. It was resolved that he should go to 
 Bradford to learn the wool-stapling business, as he 
 might afterwards join his father there in that line. 
 After some difficulty a place was found for him in the 
 house of Messrs. Eouse & Son. Here he found two 
 brothers, John and James Hammond, who were expert 
 hands, and they soon became very friendly with Titus 
 Salt ; they evidently were large-minded fellows, above 
 small jealousies, and were keen to assist him in every 
 way in their power. They were good men, and both 
 exercised a good influence. Titus was fortunate in 
 having the friendly companionship of such seniors. 
 The partners, too, were the right sort, and could 
 appreciate and gratefully remember faithful service. 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 101 
 
 Their maxim, we are told, was, " Those who have 
 helped us to make our money shall help us to enjoy 
 it," a maxim Titus Salt, as we shall see, did not 
 forget when he himself became a large and successful 
 employer of labour. 
 
 Titus, then, was very fortunate in his start. He 
 had good masters and fellow- workmen here ; and he 
 soon learned to sort and comb a fleece with the best 
 of them. He had begun at the foot of the ladder ; 
 by his own efforts he raised himself rung by rung. 
 It was well for him that he had to do so ; if he had 
 not had to turn his fingers into a combing-machine 
 it is doubtful if he would ever have discovered the 
 virtues of staples, with which other people could do 
 nothing. 
 
 In practical life things are, as Emerson well said, 
 the more educative the more harsh they seem. 
 What is hard discipline for the boy is not seldom 
 the fortune of the man. Good habits are not only 
 thus formed, but the powers are drawn out. Use 
 legs and have legs, is an old motto ; but it is no 
 truer than this other the harder you work, if the 
 spirit is right, the more you increase the capacity 
 for work. And this certainly was the case with 
 Titus Salt. 
 
 He remained with Messrs. Rouse for fully two years, 
 keeping his eyes open, missing nothing ; and then, 
 as had been intended from the first, he joined his 
 
1C2 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 father under the style of Daniel Salt & Son. He 
 threw his whole soul into the business ; difficulties 
 only whetted his ardour and determination. The 
 firm soon secured credit and influence. He travelled 
 to Halifax, Huddersfield, and Dewsbury to do busi- 
 ness. A gentleman in the latter town thus recalled 
 Titus Salt's first visits : 
 
 " Titus Salt came to my warehouse, and wanted to 
 sell wool. I was greatly pleased with the quiet 
 power of the young man and his aptitude for busi- 
 ness, but most of all was I struck with the resolute 
 way in which he expressed his intention of taking 
 away with him that day 1,000 out of Dewsbury. 
 . . . Before he left I had myself given him a bill for 
 that amount." 
 
 He lived with his parents, and in the most simple 
 way. He was able week by week to lay by a little. 
 He hated all show and expense. He would not 
 gratify his desire in the purchasing of a gold watch 
 till he had thus saved 1,000. This same watch 
 was worn by him to the end. Though he was 
 very careful of his money, he then acted on the 
 wise maxim that it was cheapest in the end to buy 
 a good thing when you were about it. 
 
 Keen as he was on business, he had leisure for 
 some other things. He was a Sunday-school teacher, 
 and took the warmest interest in everything con- 
 nected with the improvement of the condition of the 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 103 
 
 working- classes. When a strike took place among 
 the wool- combers of Bradford and neighbouring 
 towns in 1825, and when, owing to their short- 
 sighted objections to the introduction of machinery, 
 there threatened to be a riot, he went boldly into the 
 midst of the rioters, and reasoned the matter with 
 them. All to no purpose. But when they proceeded 
 to violence, he stood up for law and order. 
 
 " I remember," says an eye-witness, " seeing 
 William Eand and Titus Salt hurrying up and down, 
 trying to induce their fellow-townsmen to come for- 
 ward as special constables. When the military were 
 called out, one of them dashed down the street, 
 warning the inhabitants to keep within doors, as 
 there was danger." 
 
 The mob was not dispersed till the Iliot Act was 
 read and several persons were killed or wounded. 
 
 As the business grew, he went further and further 
 afield to do business ; both to sell wool and purchase 
 raw material. It was on one of these journeys that he 
 first saw the lady who was afterwards to become his 
 wife. She was the daughter of Mr. Whittam, one of 
 his former friends a well-to-do farmer ; and he from 
 the first favoured Mr. Salt, though he was cautious, 
 and urged delay till Titus was more secure in busi- 
 ness. This now formed another incitement, if such 
 were needed. He developed new ideas ; had a thought 
 that with some new machinery he could do wonders ; 
 
104 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 and had to contend against the somewhat old-fashioned 
 views of his father. 
 
 Many attempts had already been made to turn to 
 account the rough Donskoi wool of South-eastern 
 Kussia, but none of them had succeeded. Titus 
 Salt had looked at it again and again, submitted the 
 fibre to some quiet experiments by himself, and 
 believed he could do something with it if he only had 
 his own way. He bought a considerable quantity of 
 it, combed it and offered it for sale. Nobody would 
 look at it. He was in an awkward position, for a 
 large lot of it lay on his hands, locking up his 
 capital. He could not acknowledge failure. He got 
 machinery after his own plan in order to spin it him- 
 self, since no other house would do it. The result 
 was a great success a beautiful thread was obtained. 
 The material was soon in demand now, and by-and- 
 by he took a large factory, and soon another was 
 added to it. But as difficulties had risen with the 
 spinners, such misunderstanding arose before long 
 with the weavers, and he was compelled in self-defence 
 to take up the weaving as well as the spinning. He 
 was a busier man than ever ; but he had activity, 
 method, and indomitable resolution ; and before very 
 long he was in a position to take his bride home to 
 Bradford. 
 
 To the man who can work and invent, opportuni- 
 ties will never be wanting. As the world is wide so 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 105 
 
 the rude products termed waste ever keep pace with 
 the progress of manufacture and industry, and await 
 their liberator. Nothing is useless or unavailable for 
 some great end if you can only see its hidden capa- 
 bility ; Lord Palmerston aptly remarked that dung 
 was only gold in the wrong place. The year 1836 
 was a very memorable one with Titus Salt. A long, 
 rough, hairy-looking stuff that nobody would touch 
 had lain for a long time several years indeed in 
 the warehouses of Messrs. Hegan, Hall & Co., of 
 Liverpool. It was alpaca wool. Titus Salt happened 
 to see it ; he pulled out a handful from one of 
 the bales and examined it as a practical woolstapler 
 would do, A second time in Liverpool, and he 
 took occasion to examine the stuff in greater bulk. 
 Mr. Balgarnie, his biographer, says : 
 
 " It was evident that, during the interval, a new 
 idea had taken possession of him, and he was now 
 seriously revolving it ; but in this instance he not 
 only examined the material, but took away a small 
 portion of it in his handkerchief and brought it to 
 Bradford to ascertain if anything could be made of it. 
 In furtherance of this inquiry, he shut himself up in 
 a room, saying nothing to anyone. The first act was 
 thoroughly to scour the material he had brought, 
 which he did with his own hands. He then carefully 
 examined the fibre, testing its strength and measur- 
 ing its length. He saw before him a long glossy wool, 
 
106 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 which, he believed, was admirably adapted for those 
 light fancy fabrics in the Bradford trade which were 
 then in general demand." 
 
 But he did not get much encouragement from those 
 whom he had to take into his confidence before pro- 
 ceeding further. His father was decided and not to 
 be moved. He advised him to have nothing to do 
 with "the nasty stuff." John Hammond, a practical 
 man and true friend, was dead against it. But he 
 held to his own opinion that, properly treated, the 
 staple was capable of being turned into fine fabrics. 
 He went back to Liverpool, and offered eighteenpence 
 a pound for "the nasty stuff." Even the brokers 
 tried to dissuade him. They fancied he had gone 
 mad, and would ruin himself. At last, the wool was 
 made over at the price offered. He had to get special 
 machinery made for working it after his own designs, 
 and one may imagine his anxiety, after having com- 
 mitted himself to so great a risk, to see the result. 
 Happily that did not disappoint him. " Imagine his 
 delight when, out of the unsightly material, he saw 
 the beautiful fabric which has since carried his name 
 far and wide, and is now prized and worn by rich and 
 poor in all parts of the civilised world." 
 
 Soon the fame of alpaca was spread abroad, its 
 beautiful lustre and its long- wearing qualities combin- 
 ing to place it in the front rank of fabrics. Luckily for 
 Titus Salt, the Queen had been presented with two 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 107 
 
 alpaca sheep, which were kept at the home-farm at 
 Windsor ; and, hearing of Titus Salt's industry, she 
 sent the fleeces of the two to him to be combed and 
 sorted, spun and woven into cloth. The fleeces 
 weighed 16 J Ibs., and when combed and sorted, 
 yielded 1 Ib. white and 9 Ibs. of beautiful black wool. 
 He wove an apron for her Majesty, which, we are told, 
 was a marvel of beauty and fineness ; a striped figured 
 dress, the warp of which was rose-coloured silk, the 
 weft white alpaca, and the flowers thrown up in the 
 pattern were alternately of one material and of the 
 other. There was also a plain dress, fifteen yards in 
 length, for which only 2J Ibs. of alpaca was used. 
 There was also a woollen alpaca dress among the 
 articles sent back to Windsor. From these facts we 
 see, not only that alpaca had won a name for itself, 
 but that Titus Salt, with his unresting ingenuity, 
 had learned how to combine alpaca with silk and 
 cotton and wool, and had so secured variety of 
 appearance to suit all tastes in his fabrics. 
 
 It needs hardly to be said that her Majesty ex- 
 pressed herself greatly delighted with the new fabrics, 
 and the fact led to a great extension of the trade, 
 increasing the demand in many directions. 
 
 Within three years the import of the staple had 
 risen to 2,186,480 Ibs., and another five years brought 
 it to 4,000,000 Ibs., while the price had risen to two 
 shillings and sixpence per pound. All this added to 
 
108 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the cares and duties that lay on Titus Salt's shoulders. 
 But he never forgot public affairs either. He was 
 active in every movement for municipal improve- 
 ment, was a warm partisan of railway extension, and, 
 never forgetting the welfare of the operatives, was 
 forward in the endeavour to secure a Saturday half- 
 holiday. He was elected an alderman of Bradford in 
 1844, and became Mayor in 1848. His period as 
 Mayor was marked by the greatest judgment and 
 economy, and he did not fail in the dues of hospi- 
 tality. Bradford was one of the most successful 
 of English towns at this time ; and the citizens, 
 recognising the great share Titus Salt had had in 
 bringing this about, were anxious to elect him to 
 represent them in Parliament a thing he would not 
 then hear of. 
 
 Year by year the trade had grown ; he had had 
 to add here a bit and there a bit as he could, and 
 some of the works were at some distance from each 
 other. The disadvantage of this now began to be 
 more and more felt, and the idea grew upon him 
 that, could a suitable site be found, it would be 
 advantageous in every way to have the whole brought 
 together. He would, in fact, build an industrial 
 settlement. His people should all live close to their 
 work, amid such conditions of fresh air, pure water, 
 and cleanliness as could hardly be secured in a town. 
 He had seen too much of the evils of overcrowding 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 109 
 
 not to mourn over the circumstances that led to it ; 
 and he would do what he could to lift his people out 
 of such surroundings. He had at one time resolved 
 that, if, at the age of fifty, he had secured a compe- 
 tence, he would retire, leaving the field to younger 
 and needier men ; but this idea it was mainly that 
 restrained him, and led him not only to remain 
 at the head of affairs, but to become, if that were 
 possible, a busier man than ever. The great and 
 crowning work of his life, he felt, was yet to do, and 
 he could not retire to enjoy rest and ease till it was 
 completed. 
 
 He had much difficulty in finding a site for his 
 industrial village. He went here, and he went 
 there, only to return disappointed, if not sometimes 
 chagrined. But, at last he settled on a pretty site on 
 the river Aire, and very soon the works were set on 
 foot. It was a plan that deserved to succeed, and it 
 was a great success. In a report prepared in 1 8 6 6 for 
 the Commissioners of the Paris Exhibition, the medical 
 officer tells how the people are proud of their houses, 
 and decorate them tastefully ; how many of them are 
 fond of music, while others devote their leisure to 
 natural history, taxidermy, and the making of philo- 
 sophical models and articles of domestic comfort ; 
 how the baths and wash-houses have greatly promoted 
 health, so that the diseases peculiar to poverty are 
 almost unknown, namely, typhus fever, rheumatic 
 
110 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 fever, and cutaneous affections ; and he bears testi- 
 mony, " as one moving about the town day and night, 
 tc the great absence of drunkenness." 
 
 Titus Salt always had in view objects beyond the 
 merely commercial one, and this, perhaps, was one of 
 the great secrets of his success. The building of the 
 works was begun in the end of 1850, and in Sep- 
 tember, 1853, they were opened by a ceremonial 
 alike fitting and magnificent. But the mills, though 
 the necessary foundation of the whole, were not deemed 
 to be the only essential. The scheme embraced what 
 was equally, if not more dear to the founder, "the pro- 
 vision of comfortable dwellings, churches, schools in 
 fact, every institution which could improve the moral, 
 mental, and religious conditions of the work-people." 
 Mr. Salt's thought and ingenuity were as much seen 
 in the construction of the eight hundred odd houses 
 as in anything. There are altogether twenty-two 
 streets, besides places, terraces, and roads. There 
 are forty-five almshouses, making a total of eight 
 hundred and ninety-five dwellings, covering an area 
 of twenty-five acres. There are excellent schools for 
 the children, under Government inspection ; Sunday- 
 schools, which cost 10,000; an infirmary, where 
 provision is made for the immediate treatment of any- 
 one injured ; libraries, halls, wash-houses, and baths 
 for men and women, which latter cost some 7,000. 
 Titus Salt was no sectarian there is a Church of 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. Ill 
 
 England as well as a Congregational Church, and 
 Baptists and Wesleyans alike had a site presented to 
 them. 
 
 Too many of our large employers of labour seem 
 only too practically to illustrate the axiom of a certain 
 great general, who said that the more ignorant the 
 soldier the better he was for fighting purposes. This 
 was not Titus Salt's idea. He believed that an intelli- 
 gent and cultivated work-people, with genial and inno- 
 cent interests outside their work, was better than an 
 ignorant and degraded one better for the employer 
 and for the public, too. When on September 20th, 
 1856, his work-people presented him with a beautiful 
 marble bust and pedestal, with tasteful and suitable 
 devices, to be set up in Saltaire, they said in the 
 course of their address : 
 
 "And, sir, your attention has not been entirely 
 absorbed in providing for the physical wants of your 
 work-people, but a higher and nobler purpose has had 
 a share of your attention, viz., the cultivation of the 
 mind ; and though Saltaire has been so recently built, 
 we have had a library and reading-room in operation 
 more than twelve months, the library containing more 
 than 1,200 volumes of well-selected works, which 
 are enjoyed and appreciated by a great number of 
 work-people. Sir, if we look back at the seasons of 
 commercial depression which have from time to time 
 visited the West Riding, entailing heavy losses upon 
 
112 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the manufacturers and distress upon a great portion 
 of the working population, we are not unmindful that 
 you, sir, have nearly counteracted the effect of such 
 seasons of distress upon your work-people by keeping 
 them fully employed ; for, however long the storm 
 may have lasted, a diminution in the hours of work, 
 and a consequent loss to the operatives in wages, has 
 never taken place in your establishment. We think, 
 sir, that these are circumstances characteristic of your 
 efforts which you may look back upon with pride and 
 satisfaction, and which we remember with feelings 
 of gratitude ; and the benevolent spirit which has 
 been manifested to those who have been unfortunate, 
 and the efforts that have been made to render at all 
 times your work-people happy and contented, have 
 given rise to feelings of affection and love which will 
 be lasting as our lives, and have laid upon us a debt 
 of gratitude which cannot be repaid. But, sir, we beg 
 that you will accept the testimonial we offer, not for 
 its pecuniary worth or artistic merit, but as a tribute 
 of our love." 
 
 This expresses, and honestly expresses, the feelings 
 that prevailed at Saltaire on the part of the workers 
 towards their employer. 
 
 Alpaca is not the only manufacture at Saltaire. 
 Mohair, the wool of the Angora goat, was introduced 
 soon after the opening of the works. From it is 
 manufactured the beautiful fabric called Utrecht 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 113 
 
 velvet, which is used extensively for upholstering 
 purposes, curtains, &c., &c. 
 
 Now that Mr. Salt had seen his great idea so far 
 realised, and his sons and partners able to conduct 
 the business, he found more leisure for political 
 and public matters. At the earnest wishes of his 
 friends and neighbours, he at last consented to stand 
 for Bradford in 1859, and was returned. But he was 
 too old, and too confirmed in his habits to adapt him- 
 self easily to a Parliamentary life, and retired in 1861. 
 His benefactions were incessant no list of them could 
 be completely given. He gave 5,000 towards the 
 enlargement of the Lacton Orphanage Home at Hull ; 
 5,000 to the Congregational Memorial Hall ; and 
 2,500 for the erection of a church at Scarborough. 
 He gave away in his lifetime no less a sum than 
 250,000. When an old man, he convinced himself 
 of the evils of smoking, and gave it up. 
 
 As public-houses had been from the first prohibited 
 in Saltaire, every kind of innocent recreation and 
 amusement was encouraged. Mr. Salt did not believe 
 in making men moral by mere command or by prohi- 
 bition. He rather acted on the principle that you may 
 overcome an amusement or indulgence that carries 
 danger with it by an amusement or indulgence which 
 is wholly innocent and carries no risk of danger with 
 it. All manner of games and gymnastic exercises 
 were encouraged, to wean the people from drink. 
 
 I 
 
114 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Mr. Salt knew human nature too well to disbelieve 
 in the axiom that " all work and no play makes Jack 
 a dull boy." He did not wish dull boys, but bright 
 ones. In all his benevolence, prudence tempered 
 impulse. This was particularly seen in the regula- 
 tions for the dining hall, which forms one of the most 
 valued adjuncts of Saltaire. It was started on the 
 Glasgow penny-dinner system, we are told ; a fixed 
 tariff is published, of which the following is a speci- 
 men : a good plate of meat, 2d. ; a cup of coffee or 
 tea, Jd. ; a bowl of soup, Id. The work-people who 
 perfer to bring their own food may have it cooked, 
 and dining accommodation is provided free of charge. 
 The manager of the establishment has a fixed salary, 
 independently of the profits ; so that all temptations 
 to stint the allowance is avoided. The " crumbs " that 
 fall from the table are sold to a feeder of pigs, by 
 which a sum of 50 is realised towards the funds of 
 the dining-hall. 
 
 Though age and fortune might well have justified 
 a life of perfect leisure and idleness at Crow Nest 
 during the later years, Titus Salt was always busy. 
 He kept up a large correspondence, and delighted 
 to entertain public men of note. In 1869 her 
 Majesty created him a baronet, an honour which he 
 only accepted after much hesitation. In 1871 he 
 presented his people with a beautiful park of four- 
 teen acres, tastefully laid out one half in walks and 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 115 
 
 flower-beds. This is separated from the other portion 
 by a broad gravelled terrace, a pavilion for a band of 
 music occupying the centre of it. The largest por- 
 tion of it is devoted to cricket, croquet, and archery. 
 The river Aire within the area is widened, so that 
 boating, bathing, and swimming may be enjoyed with 
 safety. There is no charge for admission ; but, in 
 consistency with his great principle, no intoxicated 
 person is allowed to enter, and no intoxicating drinks 
 are allowed to be used there. 
 
 The last few years of Sir Titus Salt's life were 
 brightened by many pleasant tokens of gratitude and 
 regard. His work-people presented him with his 
 portrait, painted by J. P. Knight, K.A., and a public 
 statue was erected to him in Bradford at a cost of 
 3,000, in face, however, of his earnest remon- 
 strances. While it was being unveiled by the Duke 
 of Devonshire, he was busy at home among his 
 flowers. From the beginning of 1876 his health 
 very perceptibly declined, and he passed away on 
 the 29th of December in that year. 
 
 "There are persons now living," writes his bio- 
 grapher, " who remember that in driving between 
 Crow Nest and Bradford he would not unfrequently 
 give a ' lift ' to a poor woman with a child in her 
 arms, or stop to take up a dusty pedestrian who 
 seemed fatigued with travel ; and this was done with 
 a kindness of look and tone that made the recipient 
 
116 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 of the favour feel that there was no condescension 
 in it." 
 
 Energy, prudence, determination, frugality, gene- 
 rosity, and self-denial were combined in him in a 
 remarkable degree. He was a great philanthropist ; 
 but he did not forget persons in systems, and was 
 rich in the memory of many of those 
 
 "Little unremembered acts of kindness and of love," 
 
 which Wordsworth regards as " the best portion of a 
 good man's life." 
 
 A very busy man, he was yet master of that 
 method by which, as Goethe says, the wise man 
 gains time. One of the secrets of this was his 
 persistence to the end of a very early-formed habit 
 early rising. " Once," says Mr. Balgarnie, " I was 
 leaving the hospitable mansion of Crow Nest at five 
 o'clock A.M., and to my surprise I found my host in 
 the hall waiting to say ' Good-bye/ He was in the 
 works every morning at six. It need hardly be said 
 that this exercised a wonderful effect in procuring 
 punctuality from the ' hands.' If any of them were 
 late, it was the master's rebuke they feared. He 
 knew well how to reward regularity and constant 
 application." 
 
 The business which he formed has been success- 
 fully carried on by his sons, who have in some points 
 further developed their father's ideas. In every 
 
T. SALT AND SONS. 117 
 
 respect the establishment is kept up to the high mark 
 Sir Titus Salt originally put upon it, and the members 
 of the firm follow his example in availing themselves 
 quickly of every advance in machinery. Fashions, 
 change, and public taste is fickle; but the vast 
 machinery at Saltaire can very quickly be so modified 
 as to enable those who are at the head of it to adapt 
 their productions to prevailing tastes. This was the 
 secret of Sir Titus Salt's success ; it remains the 
 principle which guides his successors. 
 
MUDIE'S LIBEAEY. 
 
 " IF you would like to read this volume, I should 
 have much pleasure in lending it you." 
 
 In some such sentence often, we trow, on the lips 
 of the late Mr. C. E. Mudie we find the germ of his 
 world-famous library. A great reader himself, he 
 was wont to lend his volumes to friends. A praise- 
 worthy practice but how he must have trusted his 
 friends ! Imagine a book-lover's copy returned dog- 
 eared and stained ! oh, horror ! But he continued 
 the habit, that others might enjoy what he had 
 enjoyed, and out of that kindly custom grew his 
 great establishment. 
 
 He had a bookseller's business at 28, Upper 
 King Street, Holborn a thoroughfare now known 
 as Southampton Kow and we may presume that 
 his courteous loans of sound literature became so 
 valued and known and needed that in 1842 he very 
 wisely determined to add book-lending to his book- 
 selling. Others have done the same, no doubt, but 
 still there is only one Mudie' s Library. 
 
CHARLES E. MUDIE. 
 From a photograph by Messrs. Maull & Fox, London. 
 
MUDIE'S LIBRARY. 119 
 
 Now in those days the circulating libraries ap- 
 parently contained little else but novels. Mr. 
 Mudie's idea was different. He began without novels. 
 His library contained books of travel, history, bio- 
 graphy in fact, all kinds of good literature, except 
 fiction. Hence the term "select," used by him 
 from the first and of course still retained meant 
 not selected books, but volumes which are not works 
 of fiction. And notwithstanding what may be the 
 popular opinion that novels now form the bulk of 
 the library business, the fact remains that at Mudie's 
 the " select " books i.e., the works not of fiction 
 retain the preponderance. Anyone who chooses can 
 verify this statement by reference to the Library 
 Catalogue. 
 
 It was, perhaps, somewhat unfortunate that the 
 late Mr. Mudie should have used the word " select " 
 in this sense, inasmuch as it is, no doubt, misunder- 
 stood by the general public; but it is, perhaps, a 
 " growth " rather than a deliberate adoption, and it 
 remains to this day. 
 
 In fact, it is such a well-understood term at the 
 large headquarters of the library at New Oxford 
 Street that the first classification of the thousands 
 of books there is into the two divisions of " Select " 
 and " Fiction." 
 
 In glancing back, therefore, at the beginnings of 
 this gigantic establishment, we are met by two great 
 
120 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 principles the idea of lending from Mr. Mudie's 
 own library works which he had himself enjoyed, and 
 secondly, the lending of volumes not of fiction. 
 
 We are not altogether surprised at the success of 
 this latter idea. A person knowing he could see 
 new volumes, perhaps bearing on his profession, or 
 books of travels and biography, by subscribing, would 
 be quite as likely to recognise the advantage of joining 
 the library as any one desiring only to see the last 
 new novel. It is quite evident there was a demand 
 for seeing such and Mr. Mudie supplied it. Further, 
 reading grows by what it feeds on, and Mr. Mudie's 
 volumes no doubt stimulated the demand for others. 
 
 A few facts may be mentioned in support of these 
 statements. Mr. Mudie took at once no fewer than 
 2,500 copies of Volumes III. and IY. of Macaulay's 
 "History of England " in December, 1855, when 
 they were first published and when the library had 
 only been thirteen years in existence. 
 
 The public were astounded. But Mr. Mudie knew 
 what he was about. A greater number, however no 
 fewer than 3,000 volumes, in fact of M'Clintock's 
 " Voyage in Search of Franklin " were at one time in 
 circulation from the Library; while a still larger num- 
 ber of Livingstone's " Travels in Africa " were in 
 demand, the circulation at one period reaching 3,250 
 copies. "Essays and Reviews" at first hung fire. Fifty 
 copies remained unread in the Library, but the idea 
 
MUDIE'S LIBRARY. 121 
 
 became current that the book was unorthodox and to 
 be looked upon askance. Theologic discussion arose, 
 and Mr. Mudie had to lay in a stock of 2,000 
 copies. Coming to more recent times, no fewer than 
 3,400 copies of Stanley's "Darkest Africa" were pur- 
 chased. The number is enormous for a work at that 
 price more, indeed, than the entire issue of some 
 works. These books belong to the "Select" side of the 
 house, and the figures could, no doubt, be matched by 
 other instances. But they are sufficient to show that 
 the principle of circulating works other than fiction 
 has been fully carried out. And from the immense 
 reserve stocks of Stanley's "Congo" and "Darkest 
 Africa " and Mr. Montagu Williams's " Leaves of a 
 Life," as well as from the numerous titles in the 
 catalogue, it is clear the principle is acted upon still. 
 At the same time, it must not be supposed that 
 Mr. Mudie set his face against novels or that 
 fiction is neglected. Thus, considerably over 3,000 
 copies of " The Mill* on the Floss " were taken ; 
 also over 3,000 copies of "Endymion," by the 
 late Lord Beaconsfield; and 2,000 of Hugh Conway's 
 " Called Back." All the standard novelists are here 
 in great profusion, and are still in great demand. 
 Thackeray, Trollope, Dickens, George Eliot, and 
 Walter Scott, &c., still keep their hold on Mudie' s 
 subscribers. It is the fashion to say these are 
 "going out." Mudie could tell a different tale. The 
 
122 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 great novelists of this century still retain their posi- 
 tion at this Library. 
 
 As for any secrets concerning demands for living 
 novelists, wild horses will not drag them forth. It 
 would be sad indeed to light the fires of jealousy 
 between the amiable Miss A. and the charming 
 Miss B., and to stir up strife in the genial Kepublic 
 of Letters. Therefore, let not these things be touched. 
 
 From the appearance of the Library buildings in 
 New Oxford Street one would never guess at their 
 actual size and capacity. Vaults, for storing huge 
 piles of books or quire stock, stretch away under- 
 ground beneath the new Talbot Mansions behind; 
 rooms and shelves of books reach up high above our 
 heads. But it must be remembered that thousands 
 of volumes are always in circulation at one time ; 
 therefore, if all were gathered in, extensive as the 
 premises are, they would not be able to contain 
 them. As it is, the building seems as though it 
 could not hold many more, and periodical clearances 
 are necessary, when volumes which have had their 
 day are sold in tons to make room for newer stock. 
 
 Entering from New Oxford Street, one sees a light 
 and pleasant saloon, where town subscribers can 
 exchange their books. Ladies and gentlemen drive up 
 in state, and bright, intelligent faces throng the counter 
 to get out another volume. It is difficult to give with 
 accuracy the number exchanged each day, but some 
 
MUDIE'S LIBRARY. 123 
 
 time ago it was calculated that no fewer than 3,000 
 volumes were transferred, in addition to those ex- 
 changed at branch establishments, and for suburban 
 and country subscriptions. Customers differ greatly 
 in their demands, some taking but one book for their 
 subscription, while others again will canter through 
 a couple of hundred pounds' worth of volumes. The 
 saloon is a fine hall, adorned with Ionic columns, and, 
 of course, walled with books in gay and attractive 
 bindings. These form quite a harmonious glow of 
 colour for the eye, and sufficiently furnish the hall. 
 
 Access to high shelves is gained by light galleries 
 of iron, while light iron staircases lead to rooms above 
 and to the vaults below, stored, piled and packed 
 with books. 
 
 " Oh, surely," says some one, " this novel might be 
 sold off. Who wants now to read ' The Courtship of 
 Tickleberry Snooks' ? And yet here is a heap of 
 copies in the preposterous three volumes." 
 
 Well, nobody, perhaps, wants to read that particular 
 book just now. The author is not Dickens, Thackeray 
 or Scott. But he has been fairly successful, and 
 should he write a book to-morrow or next week which 
 comes into vogue, why, there will be demands again 
 for your despised, "Tickleberry Snooks." And, of 
 course, there will be numbers of subscribers to exclaim, 
 " How provoking ! Mudie's have not got that sweet 
 Tickleberry Snooks.' " 
 
124 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 So, then, at once the great difficulty in managing 
 the Library will be seen. It will never answer to sell 
 off to-day, as waste paper, books that by-and-by may 
 have to be bought back at publishers' prices. So an 
 author must not be buried as an author any more 
 than in the flesh until he is really dead. 
 
 The reserve books are stocked in the warm, well- 
 lighted and capacious vaults. Down there, too, is 
 one room where some valuable first editions are 
 kept under lock and key. These, of course, are 
 increasing in worth every week. Thick, solid, con- 
 creted walls are here, iron doors and, of course, no 
 naked lights. It seems impossible for a fire to occur, 
 the precautions are so complete. 
 
 Very complete also is the system for the classifica- 
 tion of the volumes, and the arrangements for the 
 working of the business. The huge establishment 
 appears to be seamed with call-bells and lifts, and 
 messengers are trotting about in all directions. 
 
 Now, the first main division for arranging and 
 stacking books is, as we have said, into " Select " and 
 " Fiction." Then comes size, the three sizes being 
 post, octavo, and royal. Shelves and boxes are made 
 to suit these three. Lastly comes the alphabetical 
 arrangement. By these complete and common- 
 sense classifications, books can be found directly, 
 and stored away almost as soon, a desideratum of 
 the utmost value when the immense number daily 
 
MUDIE'S LIBRARY. 125 
 
 flowing out from, and passing in to, headquarters is 
 remembered. 
 
 Turn we now to the infirmary. What ! is the work 
 so dangerous that special provision for accidents is 
 required ? Yes ; the business is very dangerous for 
 books. Oh, the broken backs and the torn limbs 
 leaves, we mean ! But Messrs. Mudie's binders are 
 very clever, and the spoiled volumes come out stout 
 and strong, and, unlike the patients from many 
 infirmaries, clothed anew. Very bright and beaming 
 do some of these patients look on their reappearance. 
 Ruskin's works, we may say, have been bound over 
 and over again. 
 
 The infirmary has immensely developed. It is 
 now a great bookbinding establishment. Sheets of 
 oooks are bought in quires, i.e., as they come from the 
 press, and Mudie's bind them themselves. Thus, in 
 addition to the Library, the company for the busi- 
 ness now belongs to a company owns one of the 
 biggest bookbinding establishments in London. 
 Very light, airy, and cleanly are the workrooms, and 
 some of the binding is first-class. Certainly there is 
 room for improvement in choice and chaste English 
 bookbinding, though we are better now than a few 
 years ago. 
 
 Mudie's have a remarkably clever man in their 
 employ at marbling or staining the covers of books 
 with colours as in veined marble. We havo seen a 
 
126 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 volume looking exactly as though marble bound. 
 Preferences may differ, of course, and some persons 
 may like good first-class coloured calf or morocco, 
 but some of the tinted leathers look very well. 
 As to the excellence of the work there can be no 
 question. 
 
 The secret of producing these effects is, of course, 
 the firm's, but we may say it has something to do 
 with skilful and delicate finger-tips. In addition to 
 the main library of English books for adults there is 
 a department for children and young people, and, 
 marvellous to relate, there are more than six rooms 
 full of foreign books ! French, German, Italian, and 
 Spanish are the languages stocked here. These are 
 not only for English people, but for foreigners in 
 England. A plan is to be pursued of binding each 
 language in a different colour, so that the messenger- 
 boys may more readily find the volume in request. 
 French is, of course, the foreign language most in 
 demand. 
 
 Thus, as in other businesses, it will be seen that 
 the managers adapt their main principles to changing 
 circumstances, and are ever making improvements as 
 occasion arises. 
 
 We can notice this again in the variety of sub- 
 scriptions now charged. Mr. Mudie's first label, 
 bearing the address: 28, Upper King Street, set forth 
 also the subscription at a guinea per year, or seven 
 
MUDIE'S LIBRARY. 127 
 
 shillings per quarter. Now there are all kinds of 
 subscriptions ; yachting subscriptions, foreign sub- 
 scriptions, and wholesale subscriptions, for which 
 several, or even scores of new books can be obtained. 
 This latter class are of immense service to smaller 
 libraries and to literary societies, which can obtain 
 numbers of new volumes from Mudie instead of pur- 
 chasing them for themselves ; thus they can supply 
 members with more books at the same price. 
 
 Numbers of cases are kept for country subscriptions, 
 but the idea that novels in three volumes are valued 
 at Mudie' s to fill them up is a mistake. 
 
 We have no intention of entering into a new 
 " Battle of the Books" ; but the fact is that Mudie's 
 hate the three-volume system. Three volumes are 
 bulky and expensive. They take up much room, 
 and, if worth anything, a cheap edition is certain to 
 be soon issued to compete with them. Further, they 
 are difficult to get rid of after the demand ceases. 
 For one second we lift the veil on estimates of living 
 writers to say that Mr. Eider Haggard is much 
 appreciated at Mudie's, because quite apart from 
 literary excellences or the reverse his books are 
 issued in one volume. Still, if more than one must 
 be issued, the neat two-volume form at twelve 
 shillings introduced, we believe, by Messrs. Mac- 
 millan gives great satisfaction. The three-volume 
 works do not, as a rule, yield a profit to the Library. 
 
128 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 It may be asked, Do the managers read all the 
 books offered for circulation by publishers? The 
 answer is, that such a course would be impossible, 
 considering the floods of literature that pour from the 
 press. To some extent, therefore, names of author 
 and of publisher must be taken as a guarantee, but, 
 nevertheless, some supervision is exercised. It 
 would be well-nigh impossible, we imagine, for a 
 really objectionable book to find its way to Mudie's 
 shelves. Magazines and reviews, of course, are in- 
 cluded, and form a very useful department. A 
 special room is set apart for the reception of the 
 stocks of books from the publishers ; ranging from 
 the thin shilling octavo to the bulky three volumes, 
 or large royal. There they are labelled, preparatory 
 to going forth on their travels ; and very wide and 
 varied are those travels. From yachts to drawing- 
 rooms, and from English country-houses to snug 
 suburban dwellings, and to regions abroad. Different, 
 also, the fate with which they meet, some being read 
 to rags, and some, to put it gently, not much in 
 demand. In another department the stout boxes 
 for the country are packed, despatched, and received. 
 These cases are made to suit the sizes of works before 
 mentioned, and into these boxes they will be neatly 
 packed. Everywhere appear order, organisation, and 
 wise arrangement. Not otherwise, indeed, could the 
 
MUDIE'S LIBRARY. 129 
 
 ebb and flow of these myriads of volumes be efficiently 
 carried on and regulated. 
 
 The vast business is now a limited liability com- 
 pany, but at the head of it is Mr. Arthur 0. Mudie, a 
 worthy son of a worthy father. He is assisted by his 
 cousins under one of whom, Mr. Alfred Mudie, the 
 new West London branch, opened in 1889, has been 
 worked up to a very great success. Mr. C. E. Mudie 
 died in October, 1890, but the impulse which he has 
 given to the spread of good literature, and to the deve- 
 lopment of sound reading, must have been immense. 
 His name has become a household word, and his great 
 " Select " Library, with the system he so skilfully and 
 energetically developed, is his great monument and 
 title to fame. 
 
 K 
 
ALLSOPP & SONS. 
 
 HAS the reader ever been in Bur ton- on- Trent ? If he 
 has, he will realise the difficulty of giving any proper 
 idea of it ; if not, he may appreciate a brief though 
 inadequate description. It is in every respect a town 
 unlike other towns. The flavour of malt and hops is 
 everywhere ; barrels full, barrels empty, barrels rolled 
 about everywhere, too, are present to the eye wherever 
 the spectator may turn. Here they are stacked up in 
 great pyramids, ready to be overhauled before going 
 again on their travels ; there they lie in great lines 
 covering immense yards, full and ready to be despatched 
 to all parts of the world. Trains flash by you laden 
 only with barrels, or, it may be, occasionally one bears 
 grain for malting, or hops in "pockets," or wood whereof 
 barrels are to be made ; but all the main traffic bears 
 more or less directly on malting and brewing. Here 
 one realises anew what a power lies in malted liquor, 
 and wonders how it was, as Dr. E. B. Tylor tells in his 
 " Anthropology," that man was, after all, so long in 
 inventing it. But, once invented, he everywhere 
 knew how to appreciate it, and never forgot its use ; 
 
LORD HINDLIP. 
 
 (Died 1887.) 
 From a photograph by A. Bassano, London. 
 
ALLSOPP AND SONS. 131 
 
 so that even Hinduism, which has made a god of the 
 soma or fermented drink, has to raise its voice against 
 intoxicating drinks, as did also Buddha and Ma- 
 hommed. 
 
 Then in Burton-on-Trent you seem never to escape 
 from the vicinity of breweries. They are scattered 
 all over the town. Allsopp's firm have several, 
 Bass's firm have several, and Ind, Coope's firm 
 have certainly two. The stacks rise high around 
 you ; and what is surprising is that the trains run 
 along sidings in the streets and cross and cross each 
 other ; so that a stranger, if he is not wary, may find 
 himself in a very awkward position. A bell rings, 
 and suddenly before you a gate flies open. The bell 
 is a signal for the advance of a train ; and you had 
 better pause till you see the direction in which it is 
 moving. 
 
 Nothing is more curious than the reasons which 
 have led to the settlements of certain trades in 
 certain localities. * Why did the fellmongers and 
 tanners, for example, settle in Bermondsey, and stick 
 there ? Was it because the water was handy to fill 
 their pits, or was it because of proximity to the 
 shipping, or because there was any facility there in 
 old days for procuring oak -bark, or was it that, in 
 ancient times, as with the Jews, they were by law 
 compelled to do their work outside the walls, and, 
 being conservative, or finding necessity became con- 
 
132 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 venience, have never in days of more freedom desired 
 to change ? Why, again, are hop-dealers confined to 
 the Borough ; and watchmakers almost to Clerken- 
 well ? They say Burton-on-Trent was favoured by the 
 brewers because the water is excellent for brewing. 
 That may be one good reason, but doubtless there 
 were others too. We may not find them all out ; but 
 one thing is clear that Burton owes everything to 
 brewing. It is a place of importance because of its 
 ales ; and is likely to hold it for long, irrespective of 
 what may happen to individual firms. 
 
 There has been something of shadow over the 
 great firm of Allsopp & Sons recently, from which we 
 hope that it will emerge ; our reason for choosing 
 it is that it is the oldest of existing firms at Bur- 
 ton, and that its course of progress may be traced 
 with the greatest definiteness. The Bass firm cele- 
 brated its centenary in the year 1877; but the 
 Allsopp business, if not the firm under the style of 
 Allsopp, goes back more than one hundred and fifty 
 years. In those days the town of Burton-on-Trent 
 must have looked very different from what it is now 
 no railways, no steam power, none of the things that 
 nowadays, indeed, go far to give it its peculiar cha- 
 racter. Everything then must have been carried by 
 road, or by water in slow canal-boat style. It needs 
 to be said, however, that Burton was soon as well 
 connected as those days knew with the rest of the 
 
ALLSOPP AND SONS. 133 
 
 country. By its river and its canal it had connection 
 on the one side with the Mersey, and with the 
 Humber on the other ; and if the Burton men early 
 learned concentration in aim and purpose in their 
 production, their thoughts never travelling to aught 
 but beer, they were keen enough to open intercourse 
 with other places as outlets for their goods. From a 
 drawing but old drawings are not much to be trusted 
 it looked a very small, old-fashioned, sleepy place 
 indeed. It grew, and was, because of the enterprise 
 of its sons, ready for the great impulse steam gave to 
 everything, and became transformed as by the touch 
 of a fairy giant. 
 
 In an old map of Burton-on-Trent, of date 1720, 
 there is a small brewery which was then owned by Mr. 
 Benjamin Wilson, who, from all we can learn, was a 
 very astute, energetic, and persevering man. He was 
 born of decent farming people, or had been much 
 among this class, and had a very keen eye for good 
 barley. He started with small capital ; but he made 
 it go far ; and before he had been in business many 
 years he was what is known as a solid man, good to be 
 acquainted with and to do business with. He himself 
 was ever on the move, on his rounds for buying, or his 
 rounds for selling ; and, if old accounts can be trusted, 
 he laid the greatest weight on the former, acting on 
 the maxim that to buy well and make well was the 
 best part of selling. In nothing does this hold more 
 
134 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 than in anything pertaining to drink. You may put 
 a little cotton into your woollen fabrics, and yet the 
 pattern may be pretty, and the thing take the eye ; 
 but in any kind of drink you will find it hard to 
 change people. They know exactly what they want ; 
 their tastes have been formed to it. And the taste is 
 much surer than the eye. There is no good giving a 
 man half ale and half water for ale ; nor in presenting 
 him with a coloured chemical compound instead of 
 brewing from good malt and hops. Mr. Benjamin 
 Wilson knew this, and acted upon it, and his brewery 
 flourished. 
 
 One of Mr. Wilson's daughters became the wife of a 
 Mr. James Allsopp, a man of energy and skill ; and 
 her son Samuel became the father of Mr. Henry 
 Allsopp, who became Lord Hindlip some years ago. 
 One of the sons of Benjamin Wilson, having no 
 children of his own, took his nephew Samuel into the 
 business, a movement which was looked on with great 
 disfavour by Samuel's father, who was anxious for his 
 son to go into the Church. Samuel took his own 
 way, and perhaps judged himself and his chances 
 better than his father had done. He might have 
 turned out a great light in the Church, or he might 
 have remained to the end an obscure curate ; but 
 what is certain is that he was no sooner admitted a 
 partner in the Wilson business, which was now 
 christened Wilson & Allsopp, than he saw the way to 
 
ALLSOPP AND SONS. 135 
 
 improve and extend it. When the younger Benjamin 
 Wilson died, the business passed entirely into the 
 hands of Samuel Allsopp. He carried it on under 
 the style of Wilson & Allsopp till the year 1822, 
 when it was changed to that of Samuel Allsopp & SoriB. 
 
 Mr. R. Parker, a Burton man, long of the London 
 office, who had been connected with the firm from 
 boyhood, recollected the time, some five-and-forty 
 years ago, when the barrels were carried away by 
 hand-trucks, so limited comparatively was the scale 
 of operations. Now the output taxes the capacity 
 of railway trucks, locomotives, and sidings, all arranged 
 to secure facility and rapidity of transport. We have 
 noted the peculiarity of the private railway lines 
 running along the streets, connecting the various 
 breweries with the main lines. There was rather a 
 stiff battle about these at one time ; beer, and what 
 was regarded by many as pedestrian comfort and 
 safety, fought it out, and beer won. This system of 
 private railways running through a considerable town 
 is quite unique in England, perhaps in Europe ; but 
 had it not been for these connections, it is not too 
 much to say that the Burton trade could never have 
 attained its present great, almost incredible propor- 
 tions. 
 
 We had the opportunity some time ago of looking 
 over some of the largest breweries at Burton, Messrs. 
 Allsopp's amongst them. As we entered the brewery 
 
136 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 proper, in the first instance, our conductor reminded 
 us that in Messrs. Allsopp's works only two articles 
 besides water are used malt and hops. But it 
 should be borne in mind that nowadays this could 
 not be said of most breweries ; for scientific know- 
 ledge, which has changed so many things, has also 
 suggested many elements and expedients which are 
 found to prove cheaper than the genuine malt and 
 hops. One provincial brewer, indeed, not so long 
 ago was so short-sighted as to define beer as a solu- 
 tion of saccharine matter, flavoured with hops or a 
 bittering principle. That suggests a great deal. 
 One of the great complaints that the barley-growing 
 farmers urge is that there is no production which is 
 more hopelessly given over to adulteration in the 
 very manufacture than beer. They say that brewers 
 now all brewers save the very highest class use 
 sugar and other things instead of malt and hops, or 
 as supplements to them ; and that most often when 
 a man buys his glass of beer at a public-house bar, 
 he pays for what, in a very large proportion of cases, 
 is in no true sense beer at all, but a miserable 
 decoction of chemical devices and makeshifts, which 
 goes to his head, and has none of the nutritive 
 properties beer should have. 
 
 Good sound beer should, they say, feed a man, but 
 a very large quantity should be needed to send him 
 raving, reeling drunk. They would, if they had the 
 
ALLSOPP AND SONS. 137 
 
 power, make the use of all such substitutes in brewing 
 illegal, and would have a very heavy tax put upon all 
 materials used in the brewing of beer except malt and 
 hops, or else a very strict Act of Parliament to stop it 
 altogether. And this, they allege, would not only be 
 in the interest of their industry, but in the interests 
 of society, good order and true temperance. 
 
 Messrs. Allsopp and Messrs. Bass, both in this 
 respect, show a good example. Jealousies and rival- 
 ries in trade, however, are sometimes answerable for 
 evil reports. Here is a case. Some thirty years ago 
 Mr. Henry Allsopp had to meet great difficulties, 
 when it was reported that several noxious materials 
 were used in the manufacture of Allsopp' s pale ale. 
 This report had to be met and put an end to, and 
 Mr. H. Allsopp announced through the public press, 
 and in every way possible, that their breweries were 
 open to the inspection of any and every one who 
 wished to satisfy himself as to the manner in which 
 the beer was manufactured. This may account for 
 the ease with which at this day the curious visitor to 
 Burton can procure access to the Messrs. Allsopp's 
 breweries, and the courtesy and willingness to answer 
 any questions which may be put to those who 
 accompany them round. 
 
 As the cook in a great establishment is a most 
 important personage, so much depending on her 
 skill and effort, so the great man in a brewery is the 
 
138 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 brewer. All that precedes him tends towards him, 
 and all that follows him must inevitably tend back- 
 ward to him again. For him the malt is ground, and 
 the hops bought and stored, the casks manufactured, 
 and horses, drays, canal-boats, railway lines, tele- 
 graphs, and telephones, kept going. Immense stores 
 of malt and hops the latter, indeed, in fire-proof 
 buildings, so precious are they are at his command, 
 and are sent from the warehouses to the brewery by 
 long wooden pipes with a sufficient incline to keep 
 the material for the transport of which they are con- 
 structed in constant motion. Casks trundle down to 
 the vaults beneath his feet, and trundle back again 
 charged with pale ale. Merely to come into contact 
 with such a man must be informing and suggestive ; 
 and we must confess we found it so. 
 
 The first process is to grind the malt ; the second 
 to mix it with water, and extract from it the saccha- 
 rine and other juices to " wash " it, that is, in the 
 " wash-keeves." The washing-room, where the sac- 
 charine matter is extracted from the malt, and where 
 processes of great delicacy are brought into play to 
 secure the desired clearness, is an immense place, 
 suggesting some odd reflections. 
 
 During the process of malting, the barley is first 
 made to germinate, and then, to check the germina- 
 tion, the grain is dried in kilns. It is next placed in 
 sacks, and conveyed in trucks drawn by specially 
 
ALLSOPP AND SONS. 139 
 
 designed locomotives. Hydraulic hoists take the 
 sacks at almost lightning speed to the top floors, 
 where they are emptied into hoppers of immense 
 size, clean and bright as tea-urns, with a capacity of 
 a hundred quarters. From the hoppers the grain 
 passes over screens, which eliminate all foreign sub- 
 stances, to the mills, where it is crushed. It is then 
 conveyed by Archimedean screws to another hopper, 
 from which the mash-tuns are fed. Great skill is 
 essential to the successful treatment of the material 
 at this stage. Water of a certain temperature is 
 mixed with the prepared grain, the resulting com- 
 pound being termed " wort," which is run into great 
 copper cauldrons, where the hops are added, and the 
 whole boiled together for some considerable time. 
 The liquid then passes through a perforated vessel, 
 which retains the hops, and it is next pumped into 
 the coolers large wooden pans erected at the top of 
 the brewery. Atmospheric influences act upon the 
 " wort," and, after it has attained a certain coolness, 
 it is passed through refrigerators. Yeast is then 
 added for the purpose of starting and perfecting the 
 fermentation, which is indispensable for the after 
 soundness and keeping quality of the beer. From 
 fermenting vessels the beer is passed into casks, in 
 which the fermentation of the beer is completed. 
 Having been kept until it is bright, the beer is 
 allowed to flow into large square wooden vessels, 
 
140 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 termed "racking-squares," in order that the clarifi- 
 cation process may be continued. 
 
 When the fermentation and cleansing are finished, 
 the manufacture is complete, and the liquor is 
 pumped into vats, where it remains for some time to 
 " acquire age and tone," and then all that remains is 
 to pump it to the vaults below and direct into the 
 casks for use. There are close upon 100 vats in the 
 brewery, and the larger ones hold as much as 1,782 
 hogsheads of 52 imperial gallons each. Passing 
 along the tops of them is like going along the 
 roof of a house ; and, of course, falling into one of 
 them would almost be like falling into the sea, so 
 far as chance of unassisted escape was concerned. 
 The heads, however, are made very secure, and are 
 covered with fine sand we suppose to keep the 
 liquid from possibility of exposure to the air. The 
 vats are all connected with pipes, and those pipes, 
 carried on to the cellar and direct into the casks, 
 prevent the necessity of any hand-filling, or, indeed, 
 any meddling in any way dependent on the cleanli- 
 ness of workmen. All is done by pipes and pumps. 
 The liquor goes into the vats by pumps, and out of 
 them by the same processs. This, in general terms, 
 is the process of manufacture of Ailsopp's and Bass's 
 ale. 
 
 We need scarcely add that brewing is chiefly done 
 in winter. The brewing of stock ales at Burton is 
 
ALLSOPP AND SONS. 141 
 
 from October to March, only light ordinary ales being 
 brewed at other times of the year ; but still the tem- 
 perature is regulated by means of cold water in pipes, 
 as before described. The ale can then be run off 
 direct to the casks, 30,000 being there in the vaults 
 ready for filling when required. 
 
 What contributed most to the great position which 
 Messrs. Allsopp's firm attained was the ready adop- 
 tion of every improvement, close attention to every 
 detail of organisation, and the aptness of the heads 
 of the firm themselves to hit upon improvements 
 and expedients which it would not be fair here to 
 particularly specify. 
 
BUTTON & SONS. 
 
 Do day-dreams come true ? Are boyish fancies ever 
 realised ? Sometimes. There was once a quiet lad 
 about the town of Reading whose ideal was to own a 
 garden nursery. To-day his firm's seed-grounds and 
 nurseries occupy fifty acres of ground, and the seed 
 establishment bearing his name is the largest in the 
 world. Little thought the youth's father, a corn mer- 
 chant and miller at Reading, what the dabblings of his 
 son in garden-seed raising and selling were likely to 
 become But those dabblings, which were regarded 
 as too insignificant to be a part of the business, and 
 which were undertaken at the youth's own risk, have 
 risen to completely overshadow and supersede the 
 other part, while Button's seeds are to be found in 
 pretty well every part of the globe; 
 
 When that son, Mr. Martin Hope Button the 
 virtual founder of the present gigantic establishment 
 was born in Waterloo year, his father was involved 
 in great loss by reason of a bank failure. But, with 
 characteristic British energy, he named his boy 
 " Hope," in anticipation of a better day dawning 
 
SUTTON AND SONS. 143 
 
 after that troublous time. Yet, even he, we imagine, 
 in his hopeful day- dreams, never saw exactly the 
 kind of magnificent future which has now been 
 realised ; for, though he indulged the boy in the 
 botanical love the lad evinced as he grew up, yet he 
 seems at first to have somewhat pooh-poohed it as 
 a business. 
 
 Young Sutton used to travel many miles on foot 
 to engage in his botanical studies, for funds were 
 short. On one occasion he is said to have tramped 
 twenty-one miles at night, after spending three days 
 among flowers at various places, in order that he 
 might be at his post in his father's business in time 
 next morning. For, at seventeen years of age, he 
 had left school and entered his father's counting- 
 house. We are not surprised to find that now he 
 soon obtained a small piece of ground, and opened a 
 nursery garden, where a fine bed of tulips soon 
 bespoke attention a gay forerunner of the splendid 
 and large trial grounds of the firm, which may now 
 be seen by travellers by the Great Western Kail way, 
 near Reading. 
 
 Thus the enthusiasm of a botanist, enshrined in 
 a boy's day-dream, was at the root of the business 
 destined to become so vast. In 1832 Mr. Sutton 
 joined his father in business, and Mr. Alfred Sutton 
 also became a partner, and the firm turned their 
 attention increasingly to seed. 
 
144 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 Now, though the love of flowers was at the root of 
 the matter, yet another and very important element 
 has contributed largely to their success. This 
 element or idea, which, brought into action, seems 
 to have run through the business like a golden 
 thread, has been the principle of selling pure and 
 unadulterated seed only. 
 
 " Seedsmen," said a friend of ours, " seem to 
 think they have a licence to sell rubbish." 
 
 However that may be, young Mr. Sutton deter- 
 mined he would not sell rubbish. When he entered 
 business he found a practice in operation against 
 which, from the first, he set his face like a flint. 
 This was no less than the regular adulteration of 
 seed by the mixing of useless and withered seed with 
 that which was good. It does not appear to have 
 oven been regarded as reprehensible to do this. 
 
 '" Oh, people always sow too thickly ; three- 
 quarters or two-thirds of good seed is quite enough, 
 and no real loss or failure will be felt." 
 
 So ran the argument. And if a purchaser really 
 desired unadulterated or net seed, as it was called 
 he would have to specially ask for it, and pay a 
 higher price. 
 
 This, we say, was the state of affairs when Mr. 
 Sutton began business. He would not have any- 
 thing to do with the practice. He determined to 
 make the selling of pure, unadulterated seed the rule 
 
MARTIN HOPE BUTTON. 
 
SUTTON AND SONS. 145 
 
 of his trade. In those days it was not easy to obtain 
 supplies of seed. Growers in counties about London 
 had been accustomed for long to supply wholesale 
 houses in the metropolis exclusively, and these were, in 
 truth, practically monopolists. But, in 1 8 3 9, Mr. Sutton 
 went on the war-path. He persuaded certain growers 
 to raise crops for him, for which he offered higher 
 prices than they had usually received, and the idea 
 was successful. Keputation and trade alike increased. 
 It became known that the seed sold by the firm was 
 uniformly good, and the introduction of the railway 
 led to further developments. But it was from the 
 date of the Irish famine in 1847 that the trade of 
 the firm developed greatly. The potato disease led 
 the Suttons to turn their attention to root and plant- 
 culture. Could not a potato be found or produced to 
 stand the difficulties of our climate better ? Experi- 
 ments in cross-fertilisation led to a great number of 
 varieties being formed, and specially suited to different 
 soils and climates. The late Mr. Darwin had dis- 
 covered a potato which he believed to be the Solanum 
 Haglia, growing in damp and cold districts of South 
 Chili, seedlings from which it was hoped would 
 thrive in the capricious British climate. It was 
 found, however, that the Maglia was not the true 
 plant, and to put the matter briefly other experi- 
 ments were conducted, which have been crowned 
 with success. Consequently we have now, as a 
 
 L 
 
SUTTON AND SONS. 145 
 
 of his trade. In those days it was not easy to obtain 
 supplies of seed. Growers in counties about London 
 had been accustomed for long to supply wholesale 
 houses in the metropolis exclusively, and these were, in 
 truth, practically monopolists. But, in 1 8 3 9, Mr. Sutton 
 went on the war-path. He persuaded certain growers 
 to raise crops for him, for which he offered higher 
 prices than they had usually received, and the idea 
 was successful. Eeputation and trade alike increased. 
 It became known that the seed sold by the firm was 
 uniformly good, and the introduction of the railway 
 led to further developments. But it was from the 
 date of the Irish famine in 1847 that the trade of 
 the firm developed greatly. The potato disease led 
 the Suttons to turn their attention to root and plant- 
 culture. Could not a potato be found or produced to 
 stand the difficulties of our climate better ? Experi- 
 ments in cross-fertilisation led to a great number of 
 varieties being formed, and specially suited to different 
 soils and climates. The late Mr. Darwin had dis- 
 covered a potato which he believed to be the Solanum 
 Maglia, growing in damp and cold districts of South 
 Chili, seedlings from which it was hoped would 
 thrive in the capricious British climate. It was 
 found, however, that the Maglia was not the true 
 plant, and to put the matter briefly other experi- 
 ments were conducted, which have been crowned 
 with success. Consequently we have now, as a 
 
 L 
 
146 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 nation, through the efforts of Messrs. Sutton, several 
 important kinds of potatoes endued with greater 
 disease-resisting power than we had, say, half a cen- 
 tury since, and therefore we are better armed against 
 the dread foe of famine. 
 
 Further, Mr. Sutton also introduced the mangold- 
 wurzel, as a food for cattle, to the southern counties, 
 and the varieties selected by him are now extensively 
 used. Almost every vegetable is experimented upon, 
 and no fewer than 120 new varieties have been intro- 
 duced by this one firm, apart from roots for agricul- 
 tural purposes. The firm have also added over sixty 
 varieties of flowers to our British stock. This has 
 been done by rearing plants from the finest seed 
 only, and by cross-fertilisation or hybridisation. Thus, 
 in 1873, but six varieties of the Primula Sinensis 
 were known ; now there are thirty ! The subject of 
 hybridisation of plants is too large and too technical 
 for discussion here. It must be sufficient to say that the 
 method of its accomplishment is by placing the pollen 
 of one variety on the pistils of another, the stamens of 
 the latter flower being cut away, and all other pollen 
 excluded. It will be seen at once that experiments 
 of this nature require the most careful, delicate, and 
 sagacious manipulation, and it is not to be wondered 
 at if the successful conduct of such experiments, and 
 the introduction of new and valuable varieties of roots 
 and vegetables and flowers should have contributed 
 
SUTTON AND SONS. 147 
 
 largely to the reputation and prosperity of the 
 firm. 
 
 It may be taken for granted, too, that such an 
 enterprising house would be quite prepared to take 
 advantage of the railway and, later, of the parcel post. 
 By the help of illustrated and descriptive catalogues, 
 persons at a distance were enabled to select their 
 seeds, which the railways speedily brought to their 
 doors. 
 
 Some years passed, however, before the firm could 
 arrange with enough growers to secure adequate sup- 
 plies. In time Sutton & Sons were able to make 
 arrangements whereby seeds are grown for the firm, 
 not only in this country more particularly in the 
 counties of Kent, Essex, Lincoln, and Cambridge 
 but in France and Germany ; and now the produce 
 in seeds of thousands of acres passes through their 
 establishment at Reading to farmers and gardeners 
 all over the civilised world. It may be added 
 here that an Act has now been passed by Parliament 
 forbidding the adulteration of good seed with that 
 which is worthless, showing how sound was the 
 principle for which Mr. Sutton contended. 
 
 Occupying a central situation in the town, Sutton' s 
 establishment faces three streets, and covers almost 
 seven acres. It has a frontage to the railway, to the 
 market-place, and to Abbey Street. Entering a cor- 
 ridor, the visitor finds that the firm has a post office 
 
148 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 of its own, through which no fewer than 10,000 
 letters can be despatched in a few hours to all parts 
 of the globe, and, as a matter of fact, the enormous 
 number of 18,000 packets of seeds have been posted 
 there in one day ! 
 
 The business is, of course, divided into various 
 departments. One of the largest is the vegetable 
 seed room an apartment of immense size. It is 
 159 feet in length by 30 feet wide and 20 feet in 
 height. Here millions of packets are made up, and 
 as many as two millions can be seen at once in view 
 of the busy time of the year. The seeds are cleaned 
 by particular machinery, to which the most careful 
 attention is paid in the application of the firm's prin- 
 ciple to send out sound seed only. 
 
 Beans, peas, parsnip, carrot seed, &c., are all stored 
 in a long series of rooms leading to the farm seed 
 order room. This is a larger apartment even than 
 the other, for it is 180 feet long by 60 feet wide. 
 Here are sacks of seeds for farmers in seemingly end- 
 less number. Several rooms near are stored with 
 bags and sacks, of which hundreds of thousands are 
 used yearly. Then there is the farm seed warehouse, 
 giving about 305,000 cubic feet of space, and afford- 
 ing storage accommodation for immense quantities of 
 grass, turnip, mangold, clover, and other seeds. When 
 the season commences sufficient seed is on hand to 
 sow literally hundreds of thousands of acres. There 
 
BUTTON AND SONS. 149 
 
 are stores also for swedes and turnips, rye-grass, man- 
 golds, and seed potatoes. Every variety seems to be 
 here, with special growths, such as Button's Magnum 
 Bonum potato, Button's Abundance potato, and 
 Button's Beading Hero potato, noted for flavour and 
 power of resisting disease. 
 
 The flower seed and bulb department contains 
 again every variety of seeds, some costing a few pence 
 only, and others two hundred guineas per ounce. In 
 the export packing department may be seen packages 
 and cases destined for pretty well every part of the 
 world, and the firm's export trade is very large. Special 
 arrangements are in operation for ensuring the safety 
 of seeds in transit. For the Antipodes and for India 
 seeds are dried and packed in large iron receptacles 
 which are not returned as empties, but used abroad 
 as water-tanks. The more valuable seeds are placed 
 in tin boxes before being packed in the cases, the tin 
 boxes having screw air-tight lids. The method of 
 drying these seeds and the screw boxes are the firm's 
 own inventions. 
 
 Perhaps few things will give such an idea of the 
 immense extent of the business as the enormous 
 number of ledger accounts ; of these there are no 
 fewer than 70,000. Like other departments of this 
 gigantic establishment, the ledger office is large. 
 Three sets of desks extend the whole of its length. 
 On the books are nearly a thousand Smiths, and a 
 
150 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS HEX. 
 
 proportionately large number of Browns and Joneses. 
 Great care is, of course, necessary in the keeping of 
 all these accounts separate, for Mr. W. Smith, of 
 Little Pedlington, would be excessively annoyed at 
 receiving Mr. W. Smith's account, of Great Pedling- 
 ton, with a sharp demand for payment. There is 
 also a correspondence room, for the number of letters 
 upon all sorts of questions, from the naming of plants 
 to the sowing of pastures, is very great ; in the busy 
 time about 2,000 are received and some 700 pack- 
 ages of seed are despatched during the day. 
 
 Now, it must be obvious that Messrs. Sutton & Sons 
 cannot grow themselves all the enormous quantity of 
 seeds which they sell. And, as we have previously 
 indicated, the firm have made arrangements with cer- 
 tain seed farmers in different places and. not in this 
 country alone to grow for them. But every consign- 
 ment is carefully tested on being received at the 
 establishment. There is a building, known as the seed 
 trial house, in which this is done. A sample of the 
 seed is taken from each bag received, and subjected 
 to several separate trials. In one case they are care- 
 fully sown in earth in boxes, pans, or pots ; in 
 another they are put between sheets of wet blotting- 
 paper, which are placed on felt, lying on perforated 
 zinc or glass trays, or on bricks standing in water ; 
 these tests taking place in special germinating appa- 
 ratus, the whole being kept at a fixed temperature. 
 
SUTTON AND SONS. 151 
 
 The results are examined each day, and a minute 
 record is kept of the seeds that sprout during the 
 twenty-four hours. Trials are not only carried out 
 in the trial house on arrival of the seeds from Messrs. 
 Button's growers, but at the proper season of the 
 year samples of everything that come in are taken 
 to the trial grounds, and grown as a test of vitality 
 and character. 
 
 The seed grounds occupy, as we have said, about 
 fifty acres. The land is arranged into suitable por- 
 tions, and all the various kinds of grasses, vegetables, 
 farm seeds, and garden seeds are here tested. Special 
 grounds for the flower seeds are provided, and beauti- 
 ful, indeed, do these plots appear in due season, with 
 their masses of glowing colours and exquisite fra- 
 grance. A number of artists are also employed on 
 the premises engaged in producing exact models of 
 vegetables, roots, &c. These have been much admired 
 at exhibitions, and have been contributed by the firm 
 to some of the museums, not only in England but 
 in the Colonies and in India. Several books have 
 been published by the house, one by Mr. Martin J. 
 Sutton, on " Permanent and Temporary Pastures," 
 being a standard authority on the subject. The three 
 beautifully illustrated year-books of the firm Sut- 
 ton' s " Amateurs' Guide," " Autumn Catalogue," and 
 " Farmers' Year-Book " together approach an im- 
 mense circulation of 150,000 copies. 
 
152 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN". 
 
 We cannot enumerate the numerous and varied 
 prizes the firm has obtained, one being a decoration of 
 the French Legion of Honour. But the greatest prize 
 of all is their great reputation a reputation honestly 
 won by steady good work, intimate botanical know- 
 ledge, and sagacious scientific experiment. If to 
 make two blades of grass grow where one had flour- 
 ished before is to add to a nation's wealth and to 
 benefit mankind, what shall we say of those who, like 
 Sutton's, have made new and improved varieties to 
 blossom in our midst. The love of flowers and of the 
 study of botany, together with the legitimate desire 
 to thrive in business, have been leading principles 
 throughout, and those glowing fields of beauty at 
 the trial grounds, with that extensive establishment 
 in the centre of the town, afford a magnificent realisa- 
 tion of a youth's day-dream. 
 
PEICE'S PATENT CANDLE 
 COMPANY, LIMITED. 
 
 CUKIOUSLY enough, there never was a Mr. Price as 
 founder of this firm. The name is an assumed one 
 entirely ; and the world-wide fame which has accrued 
 to the mythical Price really belongs to others. Alas ! 
 what a waste of renown is here. Some men, we 
 suppose, would give almost their left hand for cele- 
 brity such as that of the non-existent Price, and 
 behold, here it passes off into air like the exhausted 
 steam of the Company's own factory. 
 
 But there is a waste of nothing else at the extensive 
 works of Price's Company at Battersea. Everything 
 there seems to be utilised. The organisation is so com- 
 plete, and the application of chemical knowledge so 
 successful, that a use appears to be found for all 
 remainders and residuums, and for all snippirigs and 
 shavings. 
 
 Now, it was just that principle which made the 
 house ; or, to be more explicit, it was the successful 
 application of chemical facts regarding oils and fats 
 discovered by the great French chemist, Chevreul, 
 
154 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 that seems to have been its backbone, if not the actual 
 cause of its origin. He himself, together with Gay- 
 Lussac, endeavoured to apply those principles com- 
 mercially, but did not obtain such success as he 
 probably expected, and another gentleman, M. de 
 Milly, laid, in 1832, the basis of the stearine candle 
 industry. 
 
 But before this date a certain Mr. William Wilson 
 entered into partnership with a certain Mr. Lancaster, 
 to work a patent of one Mr. James Soames, for 
 separating cocoanut oil by pressure into its two parts 
 of solid which was used for making candles and 
 liquid, which was used as lamp oil. 
 
 Mr. Soames procured his patent in 1829, and 
 sold it to Wilson and Lancaster, say, in the next 
 year. These gentlemen improved the patent in details 
 for manufacturing purposes, and used it to produce 
 candles and lamp oil. These two personages, then, 
 we may regard as really forming the mythical and 
 original Price ; and they later on decided to trade 
 under the name of Edward Price & Co. 
 
 Now, Chevreul had, in 1823, published his dis- 
 coveries concerning oils and fats. Briefly, these were 
 as follows : He found that instead of being simple 
 substances, oils and fats were really of a complex 
 nature. Tallow i.e., animal fat contains stearine, 
 a solid fat, and oleine, a liquid fat ; and the former 
 contains stearic acid (a fatty acid) and glycerine ; while 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 155 
 
 oleine contains oleic acid (also a fatty acid) and glyce- 
 rine. Neither the liquid oleine nor the glycerine is 
 suitable for candles ; but the harder and solid stearine 
 is very suitable, and it may be said that all good 
 modern candle-making dates from these discoveries 
 of the great French savant. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of the crude tallow candle, which 
 guttered and wasted, because of the soft, easily melting 
 oleine, and of low illuminating power, by reason of the 
 glycerine, we now have harder and more luminous 
 candles, because of the elimination of these two sub- 
 stances. Price & Co. were among the first to apply 
 these discoveries of Chevreul in manufacture, and if 
 Soames's patent was caused by those discoveries they 
 were the ultimate cause of the firm's existence, since 
 it was originated to work that patent. At the present 
 time Price & Co. claim to send out a larger and more 
 varied selection of goods than any other firm of 
 candle manufacturers in Britain, while as for excel- 
 lence in manufacture, it is a simple fact that no other 
 firm has ever taken a higher place at exhibitions. 
 
 The principle of applying chemical discoveries 
 appears to have ruled throughout the Company's 
 existence ; and in the course of years over eighty 
 patents have been acquired and worked by them. 
 Thus, very shortly after its origin, the firm substituted 
 cocoa-nut fibre mats for canvas wherewith to press 
 fats. This may appear a very small matter, but, in 
 
156 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 fact, these mats have never been superseded for use 
 in several sorts of work with screw or hydraulic 
 presses. 
 
 The removal of the excise duty on candles in 1831, 
 which then amounted to some 500,000 yearly, 
 enabled great progress to be made in candle-making, 
 and the use of the plaited wick, which needed no 
 snuffing, and which Cambaceres had patented in 
 1825 in France, was another great improvement. 
 
 But an immense impetus to the business of Price 
 & Co. was given by the invention of the composite 
 candle in 1840. Mr. J. P. Wilson, desirous of 
 making a cheap snuffless candle for the public illumi- 
 nation in honour of the Queen's marriage, succeeded 
 in doing so by a composition of cocoanut stearine 
 and stearic acid. The "composite" candles, as they 
 were called, because of their composite nature, became 
 very popular. They were cheap, snuffless, and yielded 
 a good light. The sale became almost phenomenal, 
 and the term " composite " has now become a house- 
 hold word, and is applied to all cheap snuffless candles 
 composed of fatty acids. Its success was so great that 
 we might almost say that it was this invention which 
 brought prominently and popularly before the public 
 all the new discoveries regarding the art of making 
 candles. 
 
 Before this date, however, the business had so 
 increased that in 1835 Mr. Lancaster sold his part, 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 157 
 
 and Mr. Wilson and two sons conducted it until, 
 in 1847, it became "Price's Patent Candle Com- 
 pany, Limited," by which name it has since been 
 known. The firm seem never to have rested on 
 their oars, but followed improvement by improve- 
 ment. Thus the very year that saw the success of 
 the composite witnessed also the patent of Mr. George 
 Gwynne, improved by the important patents of 
 Mr. George F. Wilson and Mr. William C. Jones, for 
 distilling fatty acids and producing a white and in- 
 odorous substance eminently suited for candle manu- 
 facture. These patents greatly increased the range 
 of materials, and, more particularly, brought palm-oil 
 into use for the purpose of candle-making. The 
 dark colour of candles made from this material had 
 hitherto hindered its use, but by these patents a white 
 and very suitable substance was produced from it. 
 
 Before this date, also, besides wax and spermaceti, 
 tallow of the better qualities was the only substance 
 on which the candle manufacturer could freely work. 
 But now, with these patents, various fats, even fish- 
 oils, and above all, palm-oil, could be used. 
 
 The effect of these inventions upon the diminution 
 of slavery on the West Coast of Africa was very 
 remarkable. The chiefs in those distant climes found 
 that it answered their purpose better to set their 
 subjects to collect palm-oil than to sell them into 
 slavery. In 1840, when Gwynne's patent was taken 
 
158 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 out, the importation of this article was about 19,800 
 tons. It had then been chiefly used for soap-making ; 
 some thirty years later it had risen to about 50,000 
 tons, and at a little below this quantity it now 
 stands. 
 
 At first sight there is not much connection between 
 African slavery and candle -making in London, any 
 more than between the Queen's marriage and the 
 popularisation of a new candle. Yet so it is, and the 
 inventions of G. F. Wilson and Jones are reputed to 
 have led largely to the abandonment of slavery on the 
 burning West Coast of Africa, and may be presumed 
 to have added to the happiness of the dusky natives 
 there. 
 
 Briefly, these important inventions were the dis- 
 tillation of fatty acids by the use of steam, and their 
 treatment by sulphuric acid and subsequent pressure, 
 producing a hard white substance, well suited for 
 candle-making. Other improvements have since 
 followed, especially in the great reduction in the 
 amount of acid used. 
 
 Passing rapidly onward in the history of the 
 Company, the next step of considerable importance 
 was the establishment of the Bromborough Works, 
 near Liverpool. To that port most of the palm-oil 
 was and is brought, and to save carriage, it was decided 
 to manufacture candle-material from it there rather 
 than bring it to London. A tract of about sixty 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 159 
 
 acres of land was purchased, and upon this a factory 
 was built ; also cottages with allotments, for the 
 operatives. In this we see another instance of 
 the remarkably wise, thoughtful, and energetic 
 management which has marked the progress of this 
 Company. About five hundred operatives are em- 
 ployed at Bromborough, and extensive supplies of the 
 candle-material are manufactured there, large quan- 
 tities being sent to the London works. A candle 
 trade is also carried on with places where the cost of 
 carriage from the metropolis would be a great con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The next important steps were in connection with 
 glycerine. In 1854, Tilghman secured a patent for 
 decomposing fats by the use of water alone at a high 
 temperature and making crude glycerine, and the 
 Company acquired it. G. F. Wilson and G. Payne, 
 however, superseded it by another invention. But in 
 1855, Mr. G. F. Wilson made, for the first time, a 
 glycerine which was chemically pure. He said he 
 "did not see why glycerine, if it would distil over 
 once in an atmosphere of steam, should not do so 
 again." He alone appears to have had this con- 
 viction, and he found that it could be so distilled 
 without decomposing. Under his patent a glycerine 
 chemically pure was manufactured for the first 
 time. The inside of the condenser is covered with 
 silver, so that there is no admixture of any foreign 
 
160 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 substance, and samples are continually tested in the 
 laboratory on the works to see that the glycerine 
 is, as the Company affirm, produced chemically 
 pure. 
 
 A lubricating-oil trade, originating in petroleum 
 oil found in Burmah, is now to be noticed ; but the 
 discovery of petroleum in America superseded the 
 import from the East. Nevertheless the Company 
 have now an extensive trade in lubricating-oils, and 
 the paraffin which is obtained from American petro- 
 leum in large quantities, and from a shale in Scotland, 
 has become very largely used for the manufacture of 
 candles. The Company are the largest refiners of 
 paraffin in the world. 
 
 So the business has progressed from one stage to 
 another the directors ever ready, apparently, to wel- 
 come improvements and to take up patents, whether 
 introduced by members of their own staff or by others. 
 During the years 1887 to 1890, the saleable produce 
 turned out reached the enormous quantity of 83,225 
 tons. 
 
 Coming now to notice more particularly the exten- 
 sive works of the Company, and to indicate methods 
 of manufacture, we notice first that the London 
 factory is admirably situated by the banks of the 
 Thames at Battersea. A small natural arm of the 
 river runs through the works, and is very useful for 
 the entrance of barge loads of goods. The works 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 161 
 
 cover '""an area of about a dozen acres, while those 
 near Liverpool occupy about two acres less. The 
 buildings, roofed with iron, are large, and of one 
 storey only, so as to reduce the risk of fire to a mini- 
 mum. It has been calculated that there are no less 
 than twelve acres of covered buildings at both the 
 works together. About one thousand operatives are 
 employed at Battersea, which, with the five hundred 
 at Bromborough, gives the large total of one thousand 
 five hundred for the whole concern. 
 
 Several excellent provisions have been made for 
 the benefit of the operatives. There is a restaurant 
 or mess-room connected with the factories, where food 
 can be purchased, or where food brought by the 
 workers can be cooked for them. Again, the two 
 factories have their library, reading-room, and corps 
 of volunteers ; also, in the winter, an evening school 
 for the boys. 
 
 For the Bromborough works there are allotment 
 gardens and recreation-ground, but the number of 
 buildings around London prevent the operatives in 
 the metropolis from enjoying similar privileges. In 
 the winter, however, there are' science and art classes 
 and lectures. 
 
 The immense industry now carried on by the Com- 
 pany may be roughly divided into three great 
 departments. First, the candle division, with which 
 the night-lights may be included, though really they 
 
 M 
 
162 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 form a separate and most extensive branch ; in this 
 division the more solid parts of fats and oils are 
 used. Second, the soap division, in which the solid 
 and the more liquid parts are used tdgether, and, 
 by the process of saponification, turned into the com- 
 pound which we call familiarly soap. Part, also, of 
 the oleine, or the liquid part eliminated to obtain the 
 hard stearine for candle-making, is used for soap 
 manufacture ; it is also utilised by manufacturers as 
 an oil for their wools. Thirdly, there is the manu- 
 facture of glycerine, which, as we have seen, is the 
 third great constituent of fats and oils, and obtained 
 by eliminating the stearic and oleic acids. In addition 
 to these three divisions there are, so to speak, sub- 
 divisions of the great departments, such as the manu- 
 facture of engine, bicycle, and sewing-machine oils, &c. 
 Commencing now with the candle branch of the 
 works, some idea of the enormous number of varieties 
 may be gained when we say that the Company have 
 130 specified sizes with different names, and they 
 manufacture sixty different qualities. These latter 
 differ in material used, in hardness, or, again, in colour. 
 As a matter of fact, the store-room contains some 
 400 different kinds of candles, and not one could 
 be allowed to lapse out of stock without risk of dis- 
 pleasing customers ; but further, considering both 
 differences of quality and size, the company can 
 supply, and may be asked to supply, almost 2,000 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 163 
 
 kinds. It will be seen at once that a company able 
 to supply such an .enormous variety, must, indeed, 
 have immense resources. 
 
 Now, the raw materials from which candles are 
 made are, roughly speaking, five in number ; viz., 
 tallow, or fats from sheep and oxen ; spermaceti, a 
 costly but excellent material, obtained from sperm- 
 oil, which, in its turn, is obtained from the sperm 
 whale ; wax of various kinds, but chiefly beeswax ; 
 stearine, which, in commerce, has come to mean the 
 fatty acids obtained chiefly from palm-oil, greases, 
 and tallow, though, properly speaking, it is the hard 
 fat squeezed from tallow by pressing out the liquid 
 oleine ; and, lastly, paraffin. 
 
 Taking the latter first, for it is now used very 
 largely in the manufacture of candles, we find that it 
 is obtained in great quantity from American petro- 
 leum, and is also produced from bituminous shale 
 found in Mid and West Lothian. From distillation of 
 these substances, oils, naphtha, and a material called 
 " paraffin scale " are gained, 'and it is from this latter 
 that the candle-maker works. Price's Company pursue 
 a plan, introduced to their works in 1871 by Mr. 
 Hodges, by which the scale is melted, crystallised, and 
 then subjected to a regulated heat, by which the 
 softer paraffins are melted and drained away. The re- 
 mainder, after being rendered still more colourless, is 
 a material which, when skilfully mixed with stearine 
 
164 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 to make it more rigid, is eminently suited for candle- 
 making. One of the chief beauties of paraffin for 
 candles is its transparency, and the art of the 
 manufacturer in the latter process is to so skilfully 
 work that the stearine introduced for the sake of 
 rigidity does not detract from the paraffin's trans- 
 parency. Such a candle, for instance, is the " Gold 
 Medal Palmitine " of this Company. 
 
 With regard to stearine itself, there are two kinds 
 called " saponified " and " distilled." The processes 
 are elaborate, and the former product, which is made 
 from fine tallow, is the more expensive of the two. 
 The latter is usually obtained from a mixture of dark 
 tallow and palm-oils. In the first place the fats are 
 melted and clarified, and are then placed in a strong 
 copper boiler, or digester, called an " autoclave," and, 
 having been mixed with water and lime, are, for some 
 hours, submitted to steam, at the pressure of about 
 120 Ibs. to the square inch. By this process, called 
 " saponification," the fats are gradually converted 
 into the fatty acids before spoken of, while the glyce- 
 rine is separated. In the next step the whole mix- 
 ture is transferred to a tank, where the glycerine, 
 now technically called " sweet water," is withdrawn, 
 and the lime-soap decomposed by weak sulphuric 
 acid. 
 
 The fatty acids which remain are now acidified by 
 treatment with strong and warm sulphuric acid, 
 
PEICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 1G5 
 
 with the object of decolorisation, of destroying sub- 
 stances which would lessen their stability, and of 
 changing part of the oleic acid into a more solid 
 material. This being done, distillation follows, stills 
 of copper being usually employed, and heat chiefly 
 supplied by superheated steam. On entering the still 
 the fatty acids are, dark in appearance, but, after 
 vaporisation and subsequent condensation, the result- 
 ing product is almost white. Unpressed, this product 
 can be used for composite candles, but after pressing 
 out the oleic acid, which, it will be remembered, is of 
 a liquid character, the stearine remaining after two 
 pressings is white and hard, and very suitable for can- 
 dle-making ; it neither gutters nor bends, and the 
 flame it yields is bright and smokeless. Such candles, 
 of which, perhaps, the most famous is the " Belmont 
 Sperm," are, from their rigidity, well adapted for warm 
 atmospheres, hot climates, and ball-rooms. 
 
 Neither wax or spermaceti is used by Price's Com- 
 pany, but we may indicate the method of manufacture. 
 Various kinds of wax are used, but chiefly beeswax. 
 The latter is first cleaned and bleached. In the first 
 place it is boiled with dilute acid, which cleanses it, 
 but leaves it dark. Bleaching can be effected by 
 chemical means or by exposure to the sun, the latter 
 being the better plan. The wax is melted and made 
 to trickle over a cylinder which revolves in water. 
 By this method it is separated into ribbons, which 
 
166 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 can be exposed to the air and bleached ; afterwards, 
 they are melted into moulds, and stored until required. 
 
 Spermaceti makes beautiful, but expensive, candles. 
 As their flame is regular and large, they have been 
 used for long as the standard measure of illuminating 
 agents. When the sperm oil is received it appears 
 half solid, and several pressings and filterings are 
 required to completely separate the spermaceti, which, 
 after being treated chemically, appears white and 
 crystalline. 
 
 Turning now to the tallow of which originally 
 candles were made the fat from sheep and oxen 
 is thoroughly boiled with acid- water till fibrous parts 
 have settled, and the tallow swims to the top ready 
 for use ; but much experience is needed to prepare 
 the most suitable mixture of mutton and beef fats. 
 
 Having now reviewed the materials for the body of 
 the candles, we turn to the wick and the methods of 
 actually forming the candle. Cambaceres, as we have 
 indicated, found, in 1825, that wicks formed by 
 plaiting threads, bent over in burning, and the end 
 that was incandescent was consumed on contact with 
 the oxygen of the air. But an ash was left, and, in 
 order to remove this, the wick is soaked in a solu- 
 tion, usually of sulphate of ammonia and borax. 
 Wick dealt with thus burns admirably. The ash 
 spoken of is, in fact, converted into minute particles 
 of glass, which drop from the bending wick and 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 167 
 
 permit the melted candle-material to rise quite freely 
 to the point of combustion. 
 
 Now, three methods of actually forming the candles 
 are in use, viz., dipping, pouring, and moulding. In 
 the first system the wick is wound on a light frame, 
 which is suspended above the dipping-trough. By 
 means of light chains, pulleys, and balance-weights, 
 the frame is depressed, and the wicks soaked with the 
 melted material. It is then raised, and the material 
 allowed to solidify ; other frames are then subjected 
 to the process. After a few alternate dippings and 
 coolings the wick is severed, and the now partly- 
 formed candles placed on wooden rods, and the 
 dippings and coolings continued until, by means of 
 the balance-weight, the operator can tell when the 
 required thickness has been attained. 
 
 Pouring, followed by rolling, is in use for wax 
 candles. They would adhere too closely to the 
 moulds, and are too liable to crack on removal 
 therefrom, for the method of moulding to be em- 
 ployed ; therefore, the operator pours melted wax 
 over the wicks with a ladle, the wicks being hung 
 over a vessel of melted wax, which is kept at the 
 necessary temperature. The wicks are hung from a 
 hoop, and as the operator pours with one hand he 
 turns the hoop round with the other, so that each 
 is brought in position. Presently the wicks are in- 
 verted, and the ladling then continued, the reason of 
 
168 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 inverting them being that better uniformity of shape is 
 thus obtained. The ladling concluded, the candles, when 
 still plastic, are placed on a slab of marble in a row, 
 sprinkled with water, and well rolled with a board, on 
 which the operator presses heavily. They now become 
 smooth and round, and, after being cut to the desired 
 length, their tips are trimmed with a piece of wood. 
 
 Some such methods as these two were in use until 
 Sieur de Brez introduced moulding in the fifteenth 
 century. At first hand-frames were used, but they 
 are now almost entirely obsolete. The machine at 
 present in use at Price's Company's works is a com- 
 plicated and ingenious piece of apparatus. The 
 moulding- room is a light and spacious apartment, 
 containing numbers of these machines, and one of 
 the largest of the kind in the world. The moulds, 
 which are of pewter, and of two parts, are placed in a 
 tank at the upper part of the machine ; underneath 
 are hollow piston-rods, fixed to a plate for lifting 
 them ; the top pieces of the mould are fitted to the 
 tops of the piston-rods. It is by means of these 
 moveable tips that the candles when moulded are 
 forced from the moulds. Again, below the lifting- 
 plate are bobbins, round which the wick is wound. 
 The wick passes up each hollow piston-rod, and 
 through the centre of the mould. At the top of all, 
 i.e., at the top of the table, a clamp is fixed to hold 
 the candles after expulsion. 
 
PKICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 169 
 
 The cold candles thus expelled from the moulds 
 hold the wicks running down through the moulds 
 and piston-rods to the bobbins. Before these wicks 
 are cut, the melted material is poured into the 
 moulds ; when full, the steam, which had been turned 
 into the tank to slightly heat the moulds, is turned 
 off, and cold water is turned on. This, circulating 
 round the moulds, cools them. When the candles 
 are cold, a sharp knife cuts the wick between the 
 tips of the candles above, retained by the clamp for 
 candles are moulded top downward and the bottom 
 of the candle below, in the moulds ; the clamp being 
 then opened, the freed candles fall on a table, and the 
 clamp being closed again, is ready to hold the next 
 batch. An ingenious arrangement, patented by Mr. 
 Spicer, is used to make the candles with self-fitting 
 ends much in request for fitting into any candle-stick. 
 
 The manufacture of night-lights is almost as large 
 a branch ; these are much in demand to cheer the 
 weary hours of the sick-room, or to render a subdued 
 light for the nursery. The well-known little cups are 
 placed on boards, which will hold 120 at onetime, 
 and these are rapidly filled by a youth by, as it seems, 
 a jerk of the wrist from a tin vessel, having a spout 
 something like a kettle, and a top like a garden 
 watering-can. The Company manufacture three kinds 
 of night-lights, those introduced by Mr. S. Childs in 
 1849, a paraffin wax night-light, and a "new patent" 
 
170 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 night-light, introduced by Mr. George F. Wilson, 
 F.RS. 
 
 Leaving the candle department, with the remark 
 that tapers of various kinds are also made by the 
 Company, we come now to the soap department. 
 Here the fats are heated with caustic soda in im- 
 mense cauldrons until saponification is complete, and 
 the compound known as soap is formed. For soft 
 soaps caustic potash is used instead of caustic soda ; 
 and for yellow soap finer fats are selected, and resin 
 added. The mass is then poured into huge iron 
 moulds, the sides of which can be unlocked, and, 
 falling away, leave the miniature mountain of cooled 
 soap standing alone. It is then cut to measure in 
 slabs by two men using a steel wire as a knife, and 
 the slabs are afterwards cut by steel wires into bars. 
 
 The simplest form of soap, unless we except soft 
 soap, is the " mottled " ; its characteristic appearance 
 is due to the presence of earthy impurities. Simple 
 as it is, yet it is the best for scouring purposes. 
 Then comes the yellow soap, made from finer tallow, 
 resin, and caustic soda, with the impurities permitted 
 to settle. It is also the basis of toilet soaps ; for the 
 preparation of the Company's beautiful "Regina" 
 toilet soap, the specially prepared soap is sliced, 
 dried, scented, and then passed between granite 
 rollers, which process is called " milling," and assists 
 in incorporating the scent into every part ; then, by 
 
PRICE'S PATENT CANDLE COMPANY, LIMITED. 171 
 
 a powerful machine, the small dried and scented par- 
 ticles are pressed together into compact lengths, which 
 are cut into the desired pieces, and stamped into 
 tablets. The result is a beautiful preparation, very 
 free from moisture, and delicately perfumed through- 
 out. 
 
 Many soaps are mixed with medicaments, such 
 as carbolic acid, for disinfecting purposes, thymol, 
 eucalyptol, coal tar, &c., and also the old-fashioned 
 elderflower. 
 
 Being such large manufacturers of glycerine, it is 
 only natural that the Company should produce a pure 
 glycerine soap. The "solidified glycerine" soap is, 
 in fact, one of their specialities ; its transparency is 
 not due to the use of alcohol in its manufacture, 
 but solely to a large proportion of glycerine, viz., 50 
 per cent, of its weight. Now, as glycerine is a very 
 thirsty substance, and has great fondness for atmos- 
 pheric moisture, this soap, though of great value as 
 a cosmetic, is very liable to become moist, and until 
 used, therefore, must remain shut out from air in tin- 
 foil. The Company have also remembered the baby 
 in its manufactures, and produce a soap very pure, and 
 suitable for delicate skin. 
 
 Of the glycerine manufacture, the third great 
 department into which we have divided the extensive 
 operations of the Company, we have already spoken, 
 as also of the machine-oils and paraffin refining. 
 
172 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 In reviewing the history of this remarkable Com- 
 pany one notices the high courage and great chemical 
 skill which appear to have animated its managers 
 throughout. There has been, of course, close atten- 
 tion to the business aspect of the concern, and 
 necessarily and wisely so, but there also appears the 
 love of science and the determination not to be out- 
 shone by the new lights of gas and of electricity. At 
 present the competition must be keen indeed. Gas 
 illumines even remote villages, and where that is not, 
 oil beams forth. Some kinds of oils are poured into 
 the country by thousands of gallons. Naphtha, also, 
 has its little shot at the candle ; yet the latter is by 
 no means snuffed out. It has arisen again, beautified 
 and improved, and means to burn clearly on, even in 
 spite of the white, cool light of electricity. Among 
 the numerous and complex needs of a high civilisa- 
 tion, it seems to say, There is a place for me ; and, 
 like the English nation itself, the candle never seems 
 to know if it is beaten. 
 
.-'- _ .. ..^- ^-> ' 
 
 SIR JOSIAH MASON. 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON, BIRMINGHAM 
 
 SOME years before the death of Sir Josiah Mason it 
 was our privilege, when on a visit to Birmingham, to 
 enjoy his society. Though then in his eighty- second 
 year, white-haired and venerable in aspect, he was 
 nimble of movement and apparently sound of lung, 
 and was able as he went to keep up a continuous con- 
 versation. One day, as we walked first from his house 
 to his almshouses, and then from that to his orphan- 
 age at Erdington, the conversation turned to success 
 in business and the faculties most needful to make 
 money in the competition of the present day. He 
 urged that circumstances or conditions did not ulti- 
 mately affect individual progress ; these things might 
 delay the man, but they would not permanently, or 
 even for very long, bar his way ; in fact, he held that 
 obstacles were only an incitement to the right sort of 
 man, and that the pressure which they brought against 
 him only nerved and strengthened him. It was only 
 another vigorous way of saying what Thomas Carlyle 
 had already eloquently written in " Past and Present," 
 
174 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 and, under the guise of an apostrophe to Columbus, 
 had celebrated all true self-helpers 
 
 " Brave sea-captain, Norse sea-king Columbus, 
 my hero, royalest sea-king of all ! It is no friendly 
 environment this of thine, in the waste deep waters ; 
 around thee mutinous discouraged souls, behind thee 
 disgrace and ruin, before thee the unpenetrated veil 
 of night. Brother, these wild water-mountains, bound- 
 ing from their bases (ten miles deep, I am told), are 
 not there entirely on thy behalf! Meseems they 
 have other work than floating thee forward ; and the 
 huge winds that sweep from Ursa Major to the Tropics 
 and Equator, dancing their giant waltz through the 
 kingdoms of chaos and immensity, they care little about 
 filling rightly or filling wrongly the small shoulder-o'- 
 mutton sails in that cockle skiff of thine ! . . . 
 Patiently thou wilt wait till the mad sou' -wester spend 
 itself, saving thyself by dexterous science of defence 
 the while ; valiantly, with swift decision, wilt thou 
 strike in when the favouring East, the Possible, springs 
 up. Mutiny of men thou wilt sternly repress ; weak- 
 ness, despondency, thou wilt cheerily encourage ; thou 
 wilt swallow down complaint, unreason, weariness, 
 weakness of others and thyself; how much wilt thou 
 swallow down ? There shall be a depth of silence in 
 thee, deeper than this sea, which is but ten fathoms 
 deep ; a silence unsoundable ; known to God only. 
 Thou shalt be a great man. Yes, my world-soldier, 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON. 175 
 
 thou of the world marine service thou wilt have to 
 be greater than this tumultuous, unmeasured world 
 here around thee is ; thou, in thy strong soul, as with 
 wrestler's arms, shalt embrace it, harness it down, 
 and make it bear thee on to new Americas, or 
 whither God wills." 
 
 Having referred to this passage and repeated some 
 few sentences from it, such as he could then offhand 
 repeat, Sir Josiah said that there was much in Car- 
 lyle, so far as he had read his works, that he did not 
 like ; that, to his mind, Carlyle was too inclined often 
 to celebrate mere power and mere success ; but his (Sir 
 Josiah' s) ideas were that these should only be, in the 
 the higher sense, means to further ends the benefit 
 of the world at large. The talk went on for a little 
 in this vein, but before long fell back on the true 
 ideal of business, and the qualities most needful for 
 it. In the course of his remarks he referred to several 
 men in Birmingham and elsewhere who had made 
 immense fortunes, but seemed to have no idea of 
 putting them out to beneficial use, the idea of accu- 
 mulation having, in his idea, swamped all others; 
 but his principle was that, having made money, a 
 still higher talent was demanded to spend it wisely. 
 
 At length Sir Josiah condescended, in a certain 
 way, to illustrate the general principle by his own 
 case. 
 
 "Take myself," he said, not without some signs 
 
176 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 of the self-satisfaction the veteran ever feels in " fight- 
 ing his battles o'er again." " I never had education 
 or schooling to speak of, nor any one to help me in 
 any kind of way. I had very early to turn out to 
 earn my own living. I began life as a' sort of baker's 
 boy in my native town, Kidderminster, at eight, and 
 often had a rough time of it carrying a basket on my 
 arm or on my head full of cakes and rolls and fancy 
 bread. I never rested till, by care and sometimes 
 even stinting myself in necessaries, I saved as much 
 as enabled me to purchase a donkey and panniers, 
 with which I went about the district, selling my 
 cakes and rolls, and sometimes doing a little bit of 
 carrying for other people. Then I tried shoemaking, 
 carpentering, blacksmith work, house-painting, and 
 carpet-weaving turned my hand, in fact, to anything, 
 but did not make much of it, and always with some- 
 thing stirring in my mind and suggesting that I had 
 not found the right trade. I could not help feeling 
 that I could do something better than these if I 
 could only get the chance. I can tell you it was a 
 proud day in my life when I found myself, just 
 twenty-one, able to go to Birmingham with some- 
 thing like five-and-twenty pounds in my pocket, 
 where I had an uncle who, if he could not do much 
 for me, could give me a bed for a time. You see, I 
 had a little ambition in me, and thought I had more 
 chance to find my way in a larger town. And I can 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON. 177 
 
 tell you," he went on, "that now it seems to me it 
 was a harder matter to get that five-and- twenty 
 pounds together than to do all the rest." 
 
 But he is very careful to explain as he goes along, 
 sometimes pausing for a moment to emphasise his 
 points, that though as firm a believer in self-help as 
 any one could be, he was always thrown back by some 
 remarkable combination of circumstances or another 
 on the idea that self-help can only fully prevail through 
 God's help. 
 
 " When I have done everything that can be done, 
 and see no clear way to the end of it, then I just say 
 to myself, ' God, help me ; I have brought out all my 
 judgment, my brain can do no more in this thing : 
 yet I believe it is a right thing, so may it please Thee 
 to give me a push.' And I get the push ; for as 
 sure as I ask for help, help comes some fresh idea, 
 some new plan, and the thing gets done." And this, 
 Sir Josiah assured us, was his way now in his philan- 
 thropic work in which he found a daily blessing 
 just as it had all along been in his business. 
 "The truth is," he went on, "I believe that one 
 should carry a little religion and philanthropy into 
 his business, just as he should carry business into his 
 philanthropy." 
 
 How the five-and-twenty pounds which Josiah 
 Mason brought with him from Kidderminster to 
 Birmingham grew into the vast fortune which he * 
 
 N 
 
178 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN". 
 
 accumulated, it would take a long time to tell in 
 full detail ; we must content ourselves with the 
 merest resume. 
 
 It was in 1814 he went to Birmingham. His 
 uncle Griffiths had a small gilt toy business, in which 
 he had had a partner who had hardly done what 
 was expected of him, as we infer, and the said partner 
 had just been paid off. Griffiths held out the hope 
 to Mason that, if he would apply himself and work 
 up the business, he would, at a definite time, make 
 him a partner in it. The business had not been 
 developed up to anything like the possibilities that 
 lay in it, and Mason, having convinced himself that 
 something could be done to good purpose, agreed to 
 his uncle's terms. 
 
 For over six years Josiah Mason devoted himself, 
 heart and soul, to this business. He threw into it 
 all the energy and decision of his nature, and with 
 the rarest success. What had been but a doubtful 
 experiment when he entered, soon became a good 
 property. In some of the work he showed himself 
 speedily so proficient that he earned extra wages, 
 and was able week by week to lay aside something 
 as an addition to that five-and-twenty pounds from 
 which he expected so much when the chance came. 
 His residence with his uncle had had an unexpected 
 result ; he learned to love his cousin, and this was 
 another ^id a strong incitement to try to do some- 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASOX. 179 
 
 thing more on his own account. He had realised 
 that he could buy and sell and organise labour to 
 advantage. But he was destined to be disappointed 
 in all his hopes, and in such a manner as rankled in 
 his mind to the last, because he had been deceived 
 and wronged. Griffiths sold the business without 
 his knowledge, on a favourable opportunity offering, 
 taking no recognition of Mason's claims ; and though 
 the purchaser tempted him with an offer of 300 a 
 year if he would only stay and manage the business, 
 he had been so deeply hurt that he would listen to 
 no such proposal. All along he had found time, 
 however, to be active as a Sunday-school teacher, 
 and this had brought him friends. 
 
 He was thus thrown out of employment ; but very 
 soon after a Mr. Heeley, a member of the same 
 church, overtook him as he was walking, and said 
 that he knew something that he thought would suit 
 him. Mr. Heeley introduced Mason to a Mr. Harri- 
 son, who had a split-ring business. They soon came 
 to terms, and Mason was speedily master of the 
 whole thing, and, more than that, had so secured 
 Mr. Harrison's trust and respect that when he 
 wished to retire and sell the business, and when 
 Mason's friends, who had promised him support, 
 failed in the hour of need, as such friends are very 
 apt to do, " Very well," said Mr. Harrison, " give me 
 500 for the stock and the business, and pay me 
 
180 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 that amount out of the profits as you make them." 
 The results proved how well he had judged his man. 
 The first 100 was paid in August, 1823 and the last 
 in May, 1824 ; and Josiah Mason to the end lovingly 
 kept the little red book in which these transactions 
 were recorded. 
 
 By-and-bye he added to his business a manufactory 
 of steel pens, in the making of which he was fortunate 
 enough to effect several very great improvements. 
 There is something very striking and also very touch- 
 ing in the thought that one of the first men to devote 
 his mind to the improvement of the steel pen had 
 taught himself to write when he was working as a 
 shoemaker or cobbler working long hours, too ; so 
 that all he could do to improve himself in this way 
 was in hours taken from sleep, and not seldom he 
 encountered great difficulties through his inability to 
 procure light. His mother, besides, had a dislike to his 
 using light, fearing that he might fall asleep and set 
 the house on fire. But he learned to write, if a little 
 stiffly, still with sufficient distinctness for all business 
 purposes. But the lack of early education of every 
 kind he never ceased to mourn. 
 
 Mason divides with Gillott and Mitchell the credit 
 of perfecting the steel pen, and, indeed, was the first 
 in the field of the trio, though, owing to his pens 
 having all along been sold by Perry & Co., of London, 
 and bearing their name, he is not so generally known 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON. 181 
 
 to the public in that capacity as he ought to be. In 
 describing the early steel pens, the " Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica" thus writes, recognising Josiah Mason's 
 share in the development of the steel pen industry : 
 "At the meeting of the British Association in 
 Birmingham in 1839, steel pens were scarcely known. 
 Ten years later the manufacture had become an 
 important local industry. In 1803 a steel pen was 
 made and sold in London by a Mr. Wise, which was 
 in the form of a tube or barrel pen, the edges meet- 
 ing to form the slit, with sides cut away as in the 
 case of an ordinary quill. These sold at about 5s.- 
 each, and as they were hard, stiff, and unsatisfactory, 
 they were not in great demand. In 1808 a metallic 
 pen was patented by Bryan Donkin, made of two 
 separate parts, flat, or nearly so, with the flat sides 
 opposite to each other, forming the slit of the pen, 
 or as an alternative, of one piece that is not cylindrical 
 as in the usual form, bent to the proper angle before 
 being inserted into the tube, which forms its holder. 
 In Birmingham a steel pen was made by a split-ring 
 manufacturer, Harrison, for Dr. Priestley, towards the 
 end of the eighteenth century. Harrison, in after 
 years, became associated with Josiah Mason, who was 
 one of the great pioneers of the steel pen trade. 
 Mason directed the manufacture on the basis of an 
 invention by James Perry, who, in 1820, obtained a 
 patent for improvements which must be regarded as 
 
182 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the foundation of the steel pen industry. Perry's 
 improvement consisted in producing pens from hard, 
 thin, and elastic metal, the most suitable material 
 being described as the very best steel brought to a 
 spring temper. The necessary flexibility was given 
 to the pen by a central hole formed in the pen 
 between the nib and the shoulder, in connection with 
 a central slit, and by making between the nib and the 
 shoulder one or more lateral slits on each side of the 
 central slit. Mr. Gillott, who divides with Mason and 
 Perry the credit of perfecting the steel pen, does not 
 appear as a patentee till 1831, when he patented an 
 improvement which consisted in forming elongated 
 points on the nibs of pens. These early pens lacked 
 softness, flexibility, smoothness of action, and subse- 
 quent inventions of Perry, Mason, Gillott, and Mor- 
 danwere directed to overcoming these defects." 
 
 Mason, however, was himself constantly experi- 
 menting and suggesting improvements; and, if we 
 are rightly informed, the lateral notches, in addition 
 to the mere slits, were due to him. He also, in the 
 course of manufacture, hit on many expedients for 
 gaming softness and elasticity in the steel. He was 
 also the first to make the convenient "cedar holders," 
 which soon were in large request. It says much for 
 his friendliness that, though he declined to enter 
 into partnership with Gillott, they remained intimate. 
 One fact of some importance is undoubted. Sir Josiah 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON. 183 
 
 Mason was, and continued till the end to be, the 
 largest producer of steel pens; and, in 1874, when 
 the business was converted into a limited liability 
 company, he had over one thousand workpeople, 
 and was consuming over three tons of rolled steel 
 per week. 
 
 Besides his steel-pen making, Sir Josiah Mason 
 entered into various other industries. His mind 
 seemed literally inexhaustible, and his activity and 
 energy kept pace with his invention and resource. 
 He verified the maxim that the more you do the 
 more you can do, and also that quaint observation 
 of Sir Arthur Helps, that if you want help in any 
 good or benevolent enterprise, you need not go to 
 the idle and luxurious, but to the man who seems 
 already to be overwhelmed with work : he alone will 
 be found able to help you. He was one of the 
 pioneers in electro-plating, in which for many years 
 he took the most active interest, in conjunction 
 with the late George Eichard Elkington, the style 
 of the well-known firm having been for many years 
 Elkington & Mason. When it was discovered that 
 certain metals could be coated with silver by in- 
 troducing them into a bath with liquid silver and 
 with electricity run through it, Sir Josiah Mason was 
 one of the first to invest money in giving the idea 
 industrial and commercial application. It was as 
 though he possessed the Midas secret of turning 
 
184 SUCCESSFUL LUSINESS MEN. 
 
 everything to gold, or had got hold of the reality of 
 which the alchemists had merely dreamed. All his 
 projects prospered his copper-smelting, his india- 
 rubber ring-making; but the electro-plating was 
 more successful than any. 
 
 In 1840 he began seriously to experiment, with 
 the idea of improving the processes. He not only 
 suggested many expedients, but, in conjunction with 
 Mr. Elkington, saw them so effectively worked as to 
 secure greater economy ; so that in no slight part is it 
 due to him that to-day poor people enjoy the luxury 
 of having on their tables articles that are beautiful 
 and refined and pleasant to the eye, instead of the 
 dingy and clumsy ones used by their ancestors. 
 Messrs. Elkington & Mason not only secured a fore- 
 most rank in electro-plating and have kept it, but 
 by their inventions and improvements have added 
 electro-gilding to electro-plating, which enables them 
 to turn out, at a comparatively low price, articles of 
 utility of the finest taste and most handsome appear- 
 ance. 
 
 It will be remembered that Sir Arthur Helps, in 
 his " Life of Thomas Brassey," gives, as one of the 
 grand secrets of his success and fortune, that long 
 after he was a wealthy man he did not in any marked 
 way change his style of living. Sir Josiah Mason 
 acted on the same plan. He liked simplicity and 
 plainness ; and long after he had realised a great 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON. 185 
 
 fortune lived much in the same way as he had done 
 when he first succeeded Mr. Harrison in his business. 
 And he acted well then, as ever, on the shrewd advice 
 given him by his father : " Joe, thee'st got a few 
 pence ; never let anybody know how much thee'st 
 got in thee pockets." Mr. Bunce gives a picture of 
 Josiah Mason in his earlier days going to his solicitor, 
 and, in a half-diffident way, twirling his cap, at last 
 to come out with the unexpected information that he 
 had a few thousands in the bank that he would 
 gladly put out in a safe way, but he didn't wish any- 
 one to know that he had so invested money. On the 
 solicitor assuring him that if he kept his own counsel 
 he would make sure that the borrowers kept theirs, 
 the thing was successfully carried out; but this 
 throws a good deal of light on Josiah Mason's cha- 
 racter and reticent ways. He was utterly void of 
 any of the affectations of great wealth, hated show 
 and mere display of all kinds. 
 
 Sir Josiah Mason's life was thus a very busy one 
 useful, productive, and beneficent. It would have 
 been this even had he not been so munificent in his 
 gifts. But he thoroughly acted on his own maxim, 
 quoted at the outset, that the science of wise spend- 
 ing is as much to be cultivated as the art of getting 
 wealth. From the time that he had realised a modest 
 fortune he was interested in all schemes of social 
 reform and improvement, and gave liberally. Indeed 
 
186 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN". 
 
 after the death of his wife, which took place in 1870, 
 he gave himself up more and more to the foundation 
 of certain institutions, which the experience of his 
 own life had made him feel were much needed if 
 others were not to suffer the same drawbacks and 
 hindrances as he had done. The fact of not pos- 
 sessing education himself, and yet having succeeded 
 so well, notwithstanding the want of it, never led him 
 to depreciate education, as has been more or less done 
 by some other self-made men. As the lines in which 
 he had been led made him alive to the benefits of a 
 knowledge of physics and chemistry, he laid great 
 weight on the teaching and learning of these sciences, 
 and, as we shall immediately see, he took the best 
 means to make it impossible that any struggling 
 youth in Birmingham or around it should be here- 
 after set at a disadvantage from the want of any 
 chance of learning. 
 
 But with him everything was taken in its proper 
 order. First, that which was most pressing. The suf- 
 fering that was most immediate was attended to. He 
 erected his almshouses first, at the outlay of what would 
 be a fortune to most people. And the air of complete 
 comfort which is there secured for a large number of 
 the old and poor speaks for his discernment and dis- 
 crimination. He next gave a dispensary, equipped 
 in the most efficient manner, to his native town, Kid- 
 derminster. 
 
SIR JOSIAII MASON. 187 
 
 Then came his orphanages, where 300 girls, some 
 250 boys and 50 very young children are gratui- 
 tously lodged, clothed, fed, and educated. Upon 
 this foundation Sir Josiah Mason expended altogether 
 about 300,000, of which the building alone absorbed 
 over 60,000. It was chiefly on account of this work 
 his wise spending of wealth, rather than the mere 
 possession of wealth that the Queen, in November, 
 1872, conferred on him the honour of knighthood. 
 And any one who had ever walked with him, as we 
 did, through the dormitories, the schools, the kitchens, 
 and bakeries, to hear his kindly words at every turn 
 to inmate or servant, and to hear him describe his 
 ingenious devices to save labour and secure greater 
 cleanliness, more especially in kitchen and bakery, 
 could not but have confessed that here was a true 
 knight, though in most modern guise and aspect. 
 Into all the work here he carried the same business 
 instinct as had enabled him to make the fortune 
 which was here so well invested ; and as one looked into 
 the clear eye " the slow wise smile that drily curled 
 . . . So full of dealings with the world" and heard 
 the bright, cheerful voice, one could not fail to feel 
 that here was a proof that wise and benevolent spend- 
 ing could secure truer satisfaction than any possible 
 hoarding or merely selfish luxury. Sir Josiah did not 
 wait for all these good things to be done after his death; 
 he saw the results of his labours and rejoiced. 
 
188 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 The crown was yet, however, to be set on his 
 beneficence. In February, 1880, he presided at the 
 opening of the Mason Science College at Birmingham. 
 In this case, also, 60,000 had been expended on the 
 building, and the total value of the endowment was 
 something over a quarfer of a million. The inaugural 
 address was delivered by Professor Huxley, and in it 
 he had these more direct references to the founder. 
 
 " I am disposed to think that if Priestley could be 
 amongst us to-day, the occasion of our meeting would 
 afford him even greater pleasure than the proceed- 
 ings which celebrated the centenary of his chief 
 discovery. The kindly heart would be moved, the 
 high sense of social duty would be satisfied, by the 
 spectacle of well-earned wealth, neither squandered 
 in tawdry luxury and vainglorious show, nor scattered 
 with the careless charity which blesses neither him 
 that gives nor him that takes, but expended in the 
 execution of a well-considered plan for the aid of 
 present and future generations of those who are 
 willing to help themselves. 
 
 " We shall all be of one mind thus far. But it is 
 needful to share Priestley's keen interest in physical 
 science, and to have learned, as he had learned, the 
 value of scientific training in fields of inquiry appa- 
 rently far remote from physical science, in order to 
 appreciate, as he would have appreciated, the value 
 of the noble gift which Sir Josiah Mason has 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASON. 189 
 
 bestowed upon the inhabitants of the Midland 
 district. . . . 
 
 " Once upon a time, a boy, with nothing to depend 
 on but his own vigorous nature, was thrown into the 
 thick of the struggle for existence in the midst of a 
 great manufacturing population. He seems to have 
 had a hard fight, inasmuch as, by the time he was one- 
 and-twenty years of age, his whole disposable funds 
 amounted to twenty [five] pounds. Nevertheless, 
 middle life found him giving proof of his comprehen- 
 sion of the practical problems he had been roughly 
 called on to solve, by a career of remarkable pros- 
 perity. Finally, having reached old age, with its well- 
 earned surroundings of 'honour, troops of friends/ 
 the hero of my story bethought himself of those who 
 were making a like start in life, and how he could 
 stretch out a helping hand to them. 
 
 " After long and anxious reflection, this successful 
 practical man of business could devise nothing better 
 than to provide them with the means of obtaining 
 ' sound, extensive, and practical scientific education.' 
 And he devoted a large part of his wealth, and five 
 years of incessant work, to this end. I need not 
 point the moral of a tale which, as the solid and 
 spacious fabric of the Scientific College assures us, is 
 no fable, nor could anything which I could say in- 
 tensify the force of this practical answer to practical 
 objections." 
 
190 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 And, after a very complete, or, at any rate sug- 
 gestive, re-statement of his ideas on the claims of 
 science as against mere literary training in our great 
 centres of education, an expression of regret at the 
 acceptance the term " applied science " had received, 
 as though it were possible that any of the highest 
 principles of science, once fully mastered, were not sus- 
 ceptible of the most practical application Professor 
 Huxley wound up in this way : 
 
 "Almost all the processes employed in the arts 
 and manufactures fall within the range either of 
 physics or of chemistry. In order to improve them, 
 one must thoroughly understand them ; and no one 
 has a chance of really understanding them unless he 
 has obtained that mastery of principles and that habit 
 of dealing with facts which is given by longrcon- 
 tinued and well-directed purely scientific training in 
 the physical and chemical laboratory. So that there 
 really is no question as to the necessities of purely 
 scientific discipline, even if the work of the college 
 were limited by the narrowest interpretation of its 
 stated aims. 
 
 " And, as to the desirableness of a wider culture 
 than that yielded by science alone, it is to be recol- 
 lected that the improvement in manufacturing pro- 
 cesses is only one of the conditions which contribute 
 to the prosperity of industry. Industry is a means, 
 not an end ; and mankind work only to get some- 
 
SIR JOSIAH MASQX. 191 
 
 thing which they want. What that something is 
 depends partly on their innate, partly on their 
 acquired, desires. 
 
 " If the institution opened to-day fulfils the inten- 
 tion of its founder, the picked intelligences among 
 all classes of the population of this district will pass 
 through it. No child born in Birmingham, hence- 
 forward, if he have the capacity to profit by the 
 opportunities offered to him, first in the primary and 
 other schools, and afterwards in the Scientific College, 
 need fail to obtain, not merely the instruction, but 
 the culture most appropriate to the conditions of 
 his life. 
 
 " Within these walls the future employer and the 
 future artisan may sojourn together for awhile, and 
 carry, through all their lives, the stamp of the in- 
 fluences then brought to bear upon them. Hence, 
 it is not beside the mark to remind you that the 
 prosperity of industry depends not merely upon the 
 improvement of manufacturing processes, not merely 
 upon the ennobling of the individual character, but 
 upon a third condition, namely a clear understanding 
 of the conditions of social life on the part of both the 
 capitalist and the operative, and their agreement upon 
 common principles of social action. They must learn 
 that social phenomena are as much the expression of 
 natural laws as any others ; that no social arrange- 
 ments can be permanent unless they harmonise with 
 
192 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the requirements of social statics and dynamics ; and 
 that, in the nature of things, there is an Arbiter 
 whose decisions execute themselves." 
 
 Sir Josiah Mason was not long to see his work 
 prospering in the fine new buildings. He died at 
 Norwood, Erdington, Birmingham, on the 16th of 
 June, 1881, in his eighty-sixth year; and, though 
 he had left instructions that his funeral was to be of 
 the plainest character, Birmingham showed beyond 
 cavil the esteem in which he was held and the grati- 
 tude felt towards him. He left his institutions in the 
 charge of trustees, to whom a wide latitude is allowed, 
 within certain limits, to adapt them to the needs of 
 new times. He never had any children. 
 
CHUBB & SON. 
 
 SOME discoveries of the utmost importance have been 
 made by accident, notably the phonograph, the pro- 
 cess of making blue-paper, the means of putting a 
 shine or gloss on silk ; but we are not aware of 
 any more than one great business that can trace its 
 origin its first start or impetus to a lucky acci- 
 dent. The firm of Chubb & Son, if it does not 
 owe its origin, certainly traces its first effective 
 development, to such. Prior to the year 1817 the 
 Bramah lock was regarded as the most perfect 
 thing in its line that had been invented. There was, 
 however, a respectable ironmonger in Portsea who 
 fancied that it could be improved upon. He had, 
 not without a little effort, worked up a business, 
 and had put it into such a shape that he could war- 
 rantably take a few hours' leisure now and then, and 
 this time he devoted to invent a more perfect lock, 
 He began to believe that he had succeeded in this, 
 and that only the interest of powerful persons was 
 needed to enable him to introduce his invention with 
 
194 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 good result to the public. With this end in view, he 
 had obtained an interview with an officer in com- 
 mand of one of his Majesty's ships then in the port, 
 and was engaged in showing his locks to him, and 
 explaining their special points of originality, when 
 the Prince Eegent chanced unexpectedly to come on 
 board. He was not bold enough to fancy that he 
 might command royal favour at this point of his 
 career ; and he was fain to snatch up his " curiosi- 
 ties" and be off, with as little to attract attention 
 to him and his goods as possible. But in the hurry 
 of clearing away as the Prince advanced, one of the 
 locks had been left on a seat on which, his Royal 
 Highness was about to sit down, when he noticed it. 
 The Prince lifted it up and looked at it, asked 
 why it was there, and on its being so far explained 
 to him, he expressed a warm wish to see the maker, 
 who was Mr. Jeremiah Chubb. He did see Jeremiah 
 Chubb, who evidently impressed the Prince favour- 
 ably, and H.RH. spoke with the highest approval of 
 his ingenious invention. This royal approval gave 
 Mr. Chubb confidence, and procured him precisely the 
 aid of which he was in need. His lock was patented 
 originally in the year 1818, and was immediately 
 recognised as superior to anything that had preceded 
 it. Very soon after the public had begun to realise 
 the worth of Mr. Chubb's invention and to purchase 
 his locks he found that Portsea was not a suitable 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 195 
 
 point to work from. He transferred himself to 
 Wolverhampton, which has all along been the chief 
 seat of the lock manufacture. 
 
 Those who were now interested in the Chubb locks 
 were not content to rest on their oars, as it is to be 
 feared the proprietors of Bramah's lock for a con- 
 siderable period had done. In 1824 an improve- 
 ment in the "detector" was patented by Mr. Charles 
 Chubb, into whose hands the manufacture had mean- 
 while come. Very soon he had an extensive factory 
 and many men at work, producing the improved 
 lock, which was beginning to oust others from the 
 market. But he did not escape some of the pen- 
 alties that fall to successful inventors. Jealousies 
 were aroused, trade prejudices were played upon, 
 and ignorance and misunderstanding were set to do 
 their work. A malicious mob broke the windows of 
 Chubb's house, which adjoined his factory, and made 
 a bold attempt to enter this, and to injure his 
 machinery. In this they did not succeed any more 
 than in an attempt they made upon his person. A 
 reward was offered by the authorities for such infor- 
 mation as would lead to the conviction of the chief 
 offenders, but they were never found and brought to 
 justice. 
 
 Prior to the endeavours of Jeremiah Chubb, Eng- 
 land and, indeed, the world had had to put up with 
 very indifferent locks. This suggests the idea how 
 
196 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 long the world has had to wait for even the most 
 necessary articles of every-day use. There is no 
 record of a proper bed before the fifteenth century. 
 People before that were content with something of 
 the nature of sofas a bed for one person only with 
 a kind of raised head ; and they were not equal to 
 the stretch of ingenuity that would have suggested 
 night-clothes. They merely pulled a kind of thick 
 coverlet over them, and the poor folks used the 
 clothes they wore by day for coverings at night. 
 We had not practically in this matter advanced more 
 than one step beyond the attainments of Egypt and 
 Greece. Nor in the case of locks had we in England, 
 or had any one in Europe (for it needs to be admitted 
 that they had at a very early period hit on ingenious 
 devices in India and China), invented anything much 
 beyond the principle of the most ancient Egyptian 
 lock moveable pins or nails dropping each indepen- 
 dently by its own weight into the bolt, and securing 
 it, on being touched at the right point by corres- 
 ponding pins at the end of the true key, all of them 
 requiring to be raised together to the proper height. 
 
 The year 1640 had seen the manufacture of the 
 first detector lock, which was nothing more than a 
 mere curiosity, and which is associated with the 
 name of the Marquis of Worcester, who says of it : 
 
 "This lock is so constructed that if a stranger 
 attempt to open it, it catches his hand as a trap 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 197 
 
 catches a fox, though so far from maiming him for 
 life, yet so far marketh him that if suspected he 
 might easily be detected." 
 
 But this was clearly something very different from 
 the later invention of an additional lever lying over 
 the tumblers, and locking fast on the bolt the mo- 
 ment any one of them is lifted too high. Prior to 
 the appearance of Mr. Barren's lock in 1774, the 
 locks generally used in England were merely bolts, 
 which, whether shut or open, were held in position 
 by a spring which pressed them down, and held them 
 at either end of a convex notch. The wards formed 
 the only obstacle to the driving back of the bolt, and 
 the wards could be very easily discovered by the 
 insertion of a skeleton key covered with wax. Mr. 
 Barren began a new era. He introduced what is 
 called the " overlift," and also the use of a second 
 "tumbler." The tumblers are kept in position by 
 a spring, and the bolt is maintained in its place by 
 two studs which are attached to the "tumblers." 
 The bolt being thus held in its place, it is evident 
 that only the true key, whose slits correspond with 
 the lifts of the two tumblers, can so raise these as to 
 bring the studs into line with the slot of the bolt. 
 The upper transverse notches made in the bolt ren- 
 der it impossible to discover by a false key when 
 either tumbler is lifted high enough ; and in this 
 overlift we find the suggestion of much that was 
 
198 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 afterwards to follow in the way of a " detector." A 
 moderate degree of patience and ingenuity was, how- 
 ever, still adequate to pick Barren's lock. 
 
 Mr. E. B. Denison, himself the inventor of a valu- 
 able lock, in a very interesting lecture on locks, tells 
 of a Chinese wooden lock of a most superior character, 
 and remarks that it is exactly like in principle to the 
 long-celebrated Bramah lock, inasmuch as it requires 
 a number of independent sliders to be pushed into 
 different depths before the lock can be opened. 
 "This very interesting and remarkable lock," he 
 says, was shown to him by Mr. Chubb, to whom it 
 had been given by a gentleman who brought it from 
 China. He did not know how many years, or thou- 
 sands of years, it had existed there, but probably, he 
 adds, " long before Bramah's time, just as the recent 
 invention here of that very neat and useful instru- 
 ment the spiral or corkscrew drill was found to have 
 been anticipated long ago in India." The most notice- 
 able peculiarity of the Chinese lock is that it is a 
 combination, the first key touching three sliders at 
 different depths, all requiring to be so raised before the 
 bolt will move, and then a second double-toothed key 
 being required to act on another set of levers a very 
 ingenious piece of work. 
 
 The leading peculiarity of Bramah's lock, which 
 was patented in 1784, is that there is a combina- 
 tion of direct and rotatory motions given to the key 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 199 
 
 instead of simply the latter, as in Barren's. The 
 great principle in it was the resting of a bar, or bolt, 
 on six slides with separate notches, fixing the bolt in 
 position ; the end of each of these slides has to be 
 touched by the key at a different level before the 
 bolt can be liberated. Bramah's lock for a long time 
 defied every effort to pick it ; but this was at length 
 effected, and, the secret becoming known, its value 
 was much reduced. 
 
 The distinguishing feature of the Chubb lock was 
 that it consisted of several separate and distinct 
 double-acting tumblers placed over each other, 
 capable of being raised to different heights, but all 
 moving on one centre pin, and each requiring to be 
 lifted to a certain fixed position before the bolt can 
 pass. This lock has undergone a succession of dis- 
 tinct improvements since it was first patented. It 
 preserves the six tumblers, however. In the first 
 place there is the detector, for which a patent was 
 obtained in 1819, an improvement of the utmost 
 importance. This is really a spring lever, which 
 locks the bolt fast the moment that any one of the 
 tumblers has been raised an iota beyond its proper 
 range, and shows at once, on the application of the 
 true key, that an attempt has been made on it by a 
 false key or other instrument. The key proves an 
 immediate rectifier by the simple process of relock- 
 ing, when once more it will command the lock in 
 
200 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the ordinary manner by setting the tumblers in their 
 proper position. 
 
 Mr. Tomlinson, in his admirable volume on locks, 
 has these remarks on the detector in the Chubb 
 locks : 
 
 " It has been suggested that the ' detector,' 
 instead of giving additional security to the Chubb 
 lock, affords a partial guidance to a skilled person 
 attempting to pick it. This holds good, to a 
 certain extent [the italics are Mr. Tomlinson's], in 
 the locks originally made, in which all the tumblers 
 had an equal bearing against the detector-stump ; but 
 in the locks as now constructed this objection is 
 entirely obviated by giving the tumblers an unequal 
 bearing, whereby, if an operator feels the obstruc- 
 tion of the detector-stump, he cannot tell whether 
 the tumbler which he is lifting is raised too high, or 
 not high enough." 
 
 The "curtain," as it was called, was the next 
 notable improvement in the Chubb lock. Of course, 
 there is no hindrance to the insertion of pick-locks 
 into an open keyhole, even though they should prove 
 useless ; but, by this ingenious contrivance, the 
 moment any false key or pick is turned in the lock, 
 the keyhole is closed, and no other instrument can 
 be inserted in aid of the former ones. 
 
 A further element of great value in all these Chubb 
 locks is, that the essential parts which create the 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 
 
 difference between the locks are all made by hand. 
 A very great number of changes may thus be made 
 in the combinations, each lock being made to differ 
 thoroughly from every other. It is hardly credible, 
 but it is a fact, that a three-inch Chubb lock can 
 have no fewer than 2,592,000 changes made in its 
 combinations. A mere touch of the file in a skilled 
 hand will entirely change a lock ; and we were in- 
 formed that the difficulty really was, not to make 
 the locks different, but to make them alike. Cheap 
 machine-made locks are thus of little value compara- 
 tively, because there are thousands of keys which 
 will open any one of the same number. 
 
 The spirit of rivalry ran very high in lock-making 
 then, as, indeed, it has done since ; but there can be 
 little doubt that the Chubb locks took the first place, 
 and have since held it. Not that there have not been 
 very brilliant inventions. One lock for bank safes 
 has, indeed, been invented, which, for ingenious com- 
 plication and check upon check, leaves literally hardly 
 anything to be done on the score of ingenuity ; but 
 the result was, that, like delicate clockwork, those 
 who tried it found that the least thing put it out of 
 gear, and that thus it was constantly going wrong, 
 and, from the same causes, it was most difficult to 
 deal with and to set right when it did go wrong. It 
 ousted Chubb's locks in some cases, but Chubb' s 
 locks were found, everything considered, to be the 
 
202 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 simpler and more practical, and they again ousted the 
 later invention. 
 
 The rivalry of which we have spoken did not cease, 
 though the rioting did. The latter way of attempt- 
 ing to spoil a competing industry was soon found to 
 be dangerous. But the press was enlisted in the 
 quarrel, and had some as pretty wrangles over the 
 comparative merits of rival locks as ever took place 
 over rival racehorses or fighting men. The Wolver- 
 hampton Chronicle, on May 9, 1832, thus attempted 
 impartially to sum up matters : 
 
 " Independently of an endless variety, the inven- 
 tions of numberless native individuals, we have had, 
 of late years, those of Barren and Bramah, which 
 acquired great reputation, and maintained their 
 superiority till of late, when they appear to have 
 been in some degree superseded by those of Chubb, 
 a respectable ironmonger of Portsea, who afterwards 
 removed to London to promote their sale, and who 
 has likewise established a. considerable factory in this 
 town to enable him to procure the best workmen, 
 and offer his locks to the public at the lowest 
 terms. . . . We have no particular interest in any 
 one individual, whether he be Barren, Bramah, or 
 Chubb, or any other ; but we do feel a deep concern 
 for the quality and reputation of one of the principal 
 articles of our town's manufacture." 
 
 Thus we see that, prior to 1832, Mr. Chubb had 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 203 
 
 seen his way to remove to London, leaving the house 
 which he had for a time tenanted beside the factory 
 at Wolverhampton, which the mob had threatened to 
 wreck. This shows at once his foresight and his en- 
 terprising spirit. In London he set on foot all avail- 
 able means to make known his speciality, and showed 
 prudence in the means of advertising he adopted. 
 The results soon appeared. In a few years every 
 one was supposed to know Chubb, the lock-maker. 
 Wits used his name, not doubting but that the point 
 of their joke would be evident to everybody. Punch, 
 in his earlier years, found suggestions for cartoons in 
 Chubb' s locks. Thomas Hood the author of Eugene 
 Aram, and the singer of " One more unfortunate " 
 wound up a punning poem in the New Monthly 
 Magazine, of June, 1842, with this verse: 
 
 " Fair is the vernal quarter of the year, 
 
 And fair its early buddings and its blowings, 
 But just suppose, consumption's seeds appear 
 
 With other sowings ! 
 For me, I find, when eastern winds are high, 
 
 A frigid, not a genial, inspiration ; 
 Nor can, like iron-chested Chubb, defy 
 
 An inflammation." 
 
 Such rhymes show that Mr. Chubb kept himself well 
 before the public with his locks and iron chests ; 
 and we know that he did not rest on his oars dur- 
 ing these first years in London. In 1833 and 1834 
 there were many cases of attempted burglary in 
 which Chubb's locks had resisted the most deter- 
 
204 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 mined attempts, one of these having been on the 
 premises of a Mr. Grant, merchant, in Chiswell Street. 
 Then began a system of pirating Mr. Chubb' s name, 
 a most inferior article being supplied instead of 
 his invention ; this, on investigation, was found 
 to have been the case in the robbery of the Glaston- 
 bury Bank, in 1833. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Chubb had been active we may 
 almost say unremitting in his endeavours to produce 
 a thief-and-fire-resisting safe ; and this he patented 
 in 1835. The bullion robberies that took place on 
 the railways some years later led Mr. John Chubb, 
 who had by this time become active in the business, 
 to concentrate his thoughts on a bullion chest which 
 would defy such attempts. The extension of the 
 business after this time became so great that, for 
 many years, the firm maintained a manufactory in 
 London as well as one in Wolverhampton, though 
 one of the effects of a recent strike was to increase 
 largely the Wolverhampton factory and to diminish 
 the London one. 
 
 In the large and well-ordered works the whole pro- 
 cess of safe-manufacture may be seen. Everybody may 
 be presumed to be familiar with the appearance of the 
 somewhat ungainly iron safes as seen exposed, new 
 or secondhand, at the doors of many warehouses. 
 There are several makers of high reputation Milner, 
 Price, Tann, Chatwood, and Hobbs. Messrs. Chubb, 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 205 
 
 in this department of work, enjoy some specialities. 
 They have, first, the merit of plates, case-hardened 
 by a peculiar process, used alone by them ; then the 
 introduction of steel plugs and corrugated steel, in 
 such a manner as to frustrate any attempt at drilling 
 in any way through the iron, the edge of the drill 
 breaking off short whenever it comes in contact with 
 the steel ; recessed doors, which present the greatest 
 difficulties to the burglars in any effort to insert 
 wedges. Above all, there are the " diagonal bolts/ 1 
 so fixing themselves into the frame of the safe as 
 literally to become the more firmly fastened as the 
 more force is used to withdraw them. These diagonal 
 bolts fasten into a solid frame, which, in its turn, 
 overlaps the body- plates, and it is thus evident that 
 if a burglar did succeed in getting a wedge past the 
 rebate on the door, the moment the wedge was driven 
 in, the bolts would only grip the sides of the safe 
 more tightly. The locks of these newest safes, some 
 of them driving out a dozen bolts at once at the 
 different sides and top and bottom, are backed by a 
 special preparation of steel, in addition to the steel 
 plugs through the front iron, so that it would be 
 almost an impossibility for the drill to be used to 
 cut off the portion of iron in which the lock is fixed, 
 as has been accomplished by burglars with the cheap 
 kind of safes. 
 
 The wall of a Chubb safe really consists of four 
 
206 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS HEX. 
 
 entire layers wrought iron, then hard steel specially 
 prepared, wrought iron again ; and then, in fire- 
 proof safes, the fire-proofing, composed of a yet more 
 indestructible chemical material (chiefly silicate) than 
 the old admixture of sawdust and alum. The edges 
 are throughout joined by angle-iron, rivets, and screws, 
 and are all finely rebated and dovetailed together. 
 One of the more recent styles of safe, constructed 
 especially with a view to provide a strong safe at a 
 cheaper rate than hitherto, may be thus described : 
 
 The frame of the safe on which the door hangs is 
 a solid T-iron, its outer edge overlapping the body- 
 plates, and the flange receiving behind it the bolts. 
 Though the inner lining has no screw or rivet, yet it 
 is not securely fastened in the process of joining the 
 other parts. In order to increase the fire-resisting 
 properties of this safe, besides the usual casing of fire- 
 resisting material, a tube may be introduced into the 
 open space beyond the T-iron, filled with a substance 
 that will, on the approach of fire, cause steam to be 
 injected into the interior of the safe. 
 
 In a book issued by the firm titled, "Protection 
 from Fire and Thieves," the following passage is 
 given with reference to the superiorities of the new 
 fire-proofing material : 
 
 " At one time tubes of glass, or fusible metal, con- 
 taining alkaline solutions, were embedded in the 
 sawdust, and were supposed to burst out at a given 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 207 
 
 temperature ; but it was found that the glass acci- 
 dentally broke as the fusible metal became corroded, 
 and allowed the liquid to escape, thus damping the 
 contents of the safe. But the mixture of alum with 
 sawdust is open to two objections : owing to the 
 hygroscopic nature of sawdust, the alum is liable to 
 decomposition, thereby producing a certain moisture 
 in the safe ; and, secondly, there is, of course, a limit 
 to the production of moisture from the alum when 
 under the action of fire, after which the sawdust will 
 become gradually dry, and, although it may not 
 actually ignite, it will become charred, and even red- 
 hot, under sufficiently-continued heat. It is but fair, 
 however, to say that such instances of continued 
 heat are but rarely probable ; yet I prefer to use an 
 incombustible material, which is very light and 
 absorbent, and which does not possess the bad 
 qualities of sawdust, but which is more expensive. 
 Supposing the alum to become exhausted, there still 
 remains the protection of a substance which is both 
 infusible and a bad conductor of heat." 
 
 The quadruple lock, which Messrs. Chubb, for 
 many years, attached to their safes, was an admirable 
 example of complex mechanism reduced to simple 
 principles. It was really four locks in one. The 
 main bolts were attached to an eccentric wheel, 
 throwing them each way ; and to these bolts ten or 
 twenty lock-heads could be fitted. This lock had six 
 
208 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 levers in each set, making altogether twenty-four 
 levers, all of which had to be acted on simultane- 
 ously, by the motion of the proper key, before the 
 eccentric wheel could be turned. By a most inge- 
 nious contrivance, which threw the wheel into the 
 centre, the safe-lock with diagonal bolts which has 
 now become such a marked feature of the Chubb's 
 safes was attained ; and this remains one of the 
 most efficient, as it is one of the most simple, of the 
 Messrs. Chubb's many achievements. 
 
 But the care of the key remains a matter of jealous 
 concern, however good the safe may be. Nothing 
 will avail if the keys of the locks protecting valuable 
 properties are not secure. No lock will guard against 
 culpable negligence with regard to its key, or, as in 
 the case of the famous South-Eastern Railway bullion 
 robbery, through the treachery of supposed trustworthy 
 servants. It will be remembered that the notorious 
 lock-picker, Agar, said the robbery on this railway 
 would have been impossible if copies of the keys 
 could not have been taken. By the connivance of a 
 guard, named Tester, this was accomplished, and yet 
 the duplicate keys they made were useless until Agar 
 had travelled seven or eight times to Folkestone with 
 the chests, altering the keys till they fitted. The 
 great robbery of several millions' worth of gold and 
 securities from the Manhattan Savings Bank in New 
 York, in 1879, was accomplished simply through tho 
 
CHUBB AND SON. 209 
 
 key of the safe being committed to the care of a 
 keeper on the premises. If no access to keys can be 
 obtained, the most determined and the most skilful 
 burglars have untold difficulties put in their way when 
 they have to deal with good safes and locks, even after 
 they have found entry to the building. Mr. Granville 
 Sharp, in his " Prize Essay on Practical Banking," 
 tells us, for instance, that when the Dorchester Bank 
 was robbed, some years prior to the publication of 
 the essay, the burglars were in the house ninety-two 
 nights before they succeeded in opening all the locks, 
 which they did by fitting false keys that would lock 
 and unlock them, And time has been very rich in 
 improvements from then till now, so that, possibly, 
 at this day, with a really good safe-lock, the thieves 
 would require double the number of nights for 
 their purpose, with, of course, all the additional risk 
 of detection and failure. 
 
 We have spoken of the many combinations of 
 which the Chubb locks are capable. Doubts have 
 frequently been thrown on the possibility of such 
 multiplied combinations ; and Mr. Price, in his volume 
 on locks, furnishes a very apt anecdote illustrative of 
 possibilities in that way. Here it is : 
 
 "A person, wishing to dine every day with a 
 small family, happened to drop in when the family 
 consisted of six persons besides himself. He asked 
 mine host the amount he should pay to take up his 
 
 p 
 
210 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 abode in the house, as long as he could place the 
 six different members of the family and himself in 
 different positions at the dinner-table every day. 
 Mine host, thinking it would not be long, named a 
 trifling sum. ' Oh, I am quite satisfied,' replied the 
 stranger, 'for I shall now have to sojourn with you 
 5,040 days.' " 
 
 In many ways the modifications and combinations 
 of Chubb' s locks illustrate the same principle, as we 
 have seen. Series of locks have been constructed by 
 them for prisons and bridewells, to the number of 
 from 1,500 to 2,000, with master-keys for the 
 governor, deputy-governor, and chief warder. At any 
 time the governor has the power of stopping out 
 the under-keys, and in case of any surreptitious 
 attempt to open a lock, and the detector being thrown, 
 none of the under-keys will regulate it, so that the 
 governor must be made acquainted with the circum- 
 stance, he alone having the power with his key to 
 restore the lock to its proper state. 
 
 On many occasions the utmost interest has been 
 excited by competitions and wagers in lock-picking, 
 but perhaps the most patient and expert men in this 
 line are those who would not too openly exhibit their 
 powers. We are reminded of the ingenious gentle- 
 man whom Dr. B. W. Richardson employed to pick 
 a lock for him when the key had been lost, and Trhose 
 skill and patience the doctor greatly admired. This 
 
CHUBB AND SOX. 211 
 
 gentleman's theory of merit in the matter was rather 
 original. Here it is, as Dr. Eichardson gave it : 
 
 " They call the man that invented that there lock, 
 sir, a gentleman, and they say he's made a tremen- 
 dous fortune by it, but they gives no credit to them 
 as has lamed to pick it. Not a bit of it not they ; 
 and^some of them as can pick it they calls burglars, and 
 gives 'em years of hard labour, though they was just 
 as clever as the lucky 'un who set the thing a-going." 
 
 The presumption is, of course, that this was not 
 one of the Chubb locks ; though, considering that 
 man can hardly invent anything that was not already 
 anticipated in some of nature's movements or inge- 
 nuities, it is true that there is scarcely any lock that 
 may not, under certain favouring conditions, be 
 picked through skill and patience. But, no doubt, 
 those who represent Messrs. Chubb now have the 
 originality and ingenuity to progress and to make 
 themselves secure against all risks of being thus 
 circumvented. The new jewel safe which is being 
 advertised is, we should presume, a proof of this. 
 
 We have not aimed at a minute and detailed 
 description of the work accomplished at Messrs. 
 Chubb' s factories, for that, besides being beyond our 
 space, would inevitably have become technical, if not 
 tiresome : we have given merely a popular outline of 
 the way in which the firm originated, and has grown. 
 Those who desire more will have to traverse a very 
 wide, multifarious and scattered circle of literature. 
 
BKOWN & POLSON. 
 
 " No ; none of that new-fangled food for me ; I 
 dislike its flavour exceedingly." So spoke many 
 persons, we imagine, of maize or Indian corn in the 
 earlier years of this century. And, in spite of all that 
 William Cobbett could do to popularise the beautiful 
 grain, the use of it as a food was not successful in 
 this country until, in 1856, Mr. John Poison, of 
 Paisley, invented a means of making it palatable. 
 
 It had been brought before the public in more 
 ways than one. Dr. J. S. Bartlett, a surgeon of the 
 British Army, wrote a letter on the matter to Lord 
 Ashburton, in which he asserted that maize made 
 "a better article of food" than rye, oatmeal, potatoes, 
 or barley, to each of which it was superior ; and 
 William Cobbett, who had been twice in America, 
 where maize is so largely grown, and of which 
 country, indeed, it is said to be native, had enlarged 
 on the subject. He recognised the value of the 
 plant so much that somebody said of him : " He 
 
BKOWN AND POLSON. 213 
 
 wrote about it, planted it, ate it, and made paper 
 from its husks." 
 
 But all this failed to recommend the grain to the 
 English people, a result which is not to be wondered 
 at when we consider that questions of taste and 
 flavour were involved. A diet that is unpalatable 
 partakes too much of the nature of physic for popular 
 use. When, therefore, maize was found to have a 
 disagreeable husk and an oily constituent which, with 
 other matters, were liable to be indigestible or to 
 turn rancid, Cobbett and Bartlett might write or talk, 
 but the English people would not have their maize. 
 It might be nutritious, but what of that if it were dis- 
 agreeable to the taste and produced the horrid parent 
 of so many complaints, the dread fiend dyspepsia ? 
 
 This was the state of affairs, then, when Mr. Poison 
 conceived the idea of rendering the maize both more 
 palatable and more digestible. He observed that 
 the oily constituent referred to caused disagreement 
 with many and, after lengthened experiments, arrived 
 at a process for subtracting the unsuitable elements, 
 and ultimately leaving a delicate white powder, form- 
 ing a light and easily-digested article of food. 
 
 To this preparation the firm gave the name " Corn 
 Flour," which has been such a remarkably successful 
 preparation, and is now practically known in every 
 country of the world. 
 
 Already in existence as a firm of starch manufac- 
 
214 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 ttirers at Paisley, Messrs. Brown & Poison would 
 naturally be familiar with the characteristics of that 
 article and the processes of its production when, 
 toward the middle of the nineteenth century, the 
 subject of maize as food was prominently brought 
 before the country. 
 
 Unlike the grinding of wheat flour, this prepara- 
 tion of corn flour from maize is a wet process. First 
 of all the yellow grains are washed, to purify them 
 from all foreign particles, such as sand or dust. They 
 are then steeped for hours in hot water to soften 
 them for grinding. Millstones now reduce them to 
 a fine powder, which is again washed with water 
 several times in large vats, and subjected to various 
 processes, both mechanical and chemical, to entirely 
 separate the husky and oily particles from the white 
 and more delicate portions. Finally, the residue is 
 dried thoroughly in stoves specially made for this 
 object ; again finely powdered ; and packed in the 
 yellow parcels so well known now all over the civi- 
 lised world. 
 
 But, it may be said, this residue is a very poor 
 food. As a matter of fact, it is nearly all pure starch. 
 Brown & Poison do not pretend that it is anything 
 eise, but maintain that as starch is one of the prin- 
 cipal elements of human food, this preparation of 
 theirs presents it in a delicate and digestible form, 
 which, when mixed with milk, as it usually should 
 
BROWN AND POLSON. 215 
 
 be, affords a well-nigh perfect food, both nitroge- 
 nous or tissue -forming, and carbonaceous or heat- 
 giving. 
 
 The statement that starch is a chief constituent of 
 human food may require some elucidation. It is, in 
 brief, the largest element in many roots and in all 
 cereals. It is a carbonaceous or heat-giving and 
 force-producing substance, the importance of which 
 articles in diet will be seen at once. Dr. Smith, 
 indeed, goes so far as to say that " whereas the body 
 may waste for a lengthened period and yet live, it 
 rapidly dies when the source of heat is removed, or 
 even greatly lessened " ; and Sir Henry Thompson has 
 expressed the conviction that "nitrogenous matter" 
 (i.e., bone, muscle, and tissue-forming food) " is com- 
 monly supplied beyond the eater's wants, causing 
 gout, rheumatism, and their allies, as well as affec- 
 tions of a serious character, which would, in all 
 probability, exist to a very small extent were it not 
 the habit of those who, being able to obtain the 
 strong or butcher's meat, eat them daily, year after 
 year, in larger quantities than the constitution can 
 assimilate." 
 
 Starch forms about eight-tenths of rice, and upon 
 rice the Chinese and the inhabitants of our vast 
 Indian Empire chiefly live. The useful potato is 
 even a little more highly starched than rice ; viz., 
 out of every ten pounds of the tuber, after its moisture 
 
216 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 has been expelled, eight and a half pounds are said 
 to be starch. Ten pounds of wheat flour, dry, shows 
 seven and a half pounds of the same substance ; 
 while twenty pounds of Scotch oatmeal exhibits about 
 sixteen pounds of starch. Chemically, sugar and 
 starch are much alike, and, in short, if we except 
 meat, three-fourths of human food, it has been stated, 
 is starch, though, of course, it is mingled with 
 various elements, giving it different flavours, pre- 
 senting it in different forms, and supplying nutrition 
 for bones, flesh, and muscle, &c. Corn flour claims 
 to be a pure and digestible starch, susceptible of deli- 
 cate and varied flavourings and of numerous adapta- 
 tions. Its food value, as we have indicated, is that 
 of a force and heat producer in the human frame, or, 
 in other words, it is a carbonaceous element, ranking 
 second to fat or oil as a concentrated heat and force 
 giver. As there are many persons who cannot take 
 fat and oil, corn flour, especially mingled with milk, 
 may form an agreeable and digestible substitute. In 
 the latter treatment the milk supplies the nitro- 
 genous elements, such as gluten, which the corn 
 flour lacks, and the latter renders the milk itself 
 more digestible to many palates. Corn flour is also 
 used in the making of biscuits and cakes, and, in- 
 deed, for a variety of purposes in the practice of the 
 culinary art. 
 
 While treating this part of the subject we may 
 
BROWN AND POLSON. 217 
 
 recall the fact that some seventeen or twenty years 
 ago a witness before a House of Commons' Committee 
 created much consternation by denouncing corn flour 
 as an article of food. Numbers of doctors, however, 
 came forward, pointing to their own children as testi- 
 monies to the value of a diet of which corn flour 
 largely formed part, offering, indeed, to bring them 
 before the committee. Within a year the witness in 
 question revoked his statements, and in a letter 
 addressed to the firm he expressed his conviction 
 that their claim " as to corn flour possessing all the 
 properties of the finest arrowroot, and serving all its 
 purposes, is accurate and well warranted; and it 
 affords me some pleasure to be able to add my 
 unsolicited testimony to this effect." It is pleasing 
 to be able to record this frank avowal from one who, 
 no doubt, had been previously conscientious in his 
 mistake, and had since discovered his error. 
 
 What, then, is the difference between corn flour 
 and the starch for laundry work? Chiefly this 
 that the latter is of an inferior character, certain 
 alterations being made in the process of manufacture 
 to render it limpid and thin, yet of a quality to 
 penetrate fine textures. Instead of being powdered 
 when dried, the starch, when damp, is put up into 
 square blocks, covered with paper and dried in a 
 stove. From ten to fourteen days are necessary to 
 dry them thoroughly, and during this process the 
 
218 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 blocks granulate naturally into the pretty crystalline 
 forms so familiar as starch. 
 
 From the remaining parts of the maize the gluten, 
 the husk, and the oily particles, &c. a food for cattle, 
 sheep, pigs, and poultry is made. The substances 
 are collected, pressed, dried, and ground. The result 
 is a highly nutritious food, but wholly unsuitable for 
 human digestion. However, a ready market is found 
 for the hundreds of tons manufactured weekly for the 
 purposes just mentioned. 
 
 The plant from which the corn flour is obtained 
 has long been used by the North American Indians. 
 Its botanical name is Zea Mays, and it is the most 
 productive of all cereals. Some difference of opinion 
 appears to exist as to the country to which it is indi- 
 genous, but if we may trust St. Hilaire, it is to be 
 found in a wild state in Paraguay. A species known 
 as Zea Curagua, Chili maize or Valparaiso corn, is 
 found in that country, and is there regarded with 
 veneration, for, when roasted, the grains separate in 
 form of a cross. All the portions of this plant are 
 smaller than is usual with other species. Though 
 maize is said to have been grown in some parts of 
 Asia in the remote past, yet it seems certain that 
 nothing was known of it in Western Europe until 
 about the year 1520, when Columbus brought it back 
 from America. Its use then quickly spread, and it 
 is now largely cultivated in many parts of Asia, 
 
BROWN AND POISON. 219 
 
 Africa, and the South of Europe. In short, it may 
 now be said to be cultivated in the warmer parts of 
 the globe, where it serves a purpose similar to wheat 
 in more temperate or northerly parts. 
 
 Its varieties are very numerous. There is the 
 scrubby stalk that grows by Lake Superior's shores, 
 and there are the giant reeds that flourish in the 
 valley of the Ohio. In Canada we find comparatively 
 tiny ears, having flat, closely set grains ; in the warm 
 South wave large swelling ears, with great yellow and 
 white grains. 
 
 Altogether there are about eleven chief varieties 
 cultivated in the States of North America, and dis- 
 tinguished by the number of rows of the grains and 
 their shape, colour, or size. Some stalks rise to the 
 height of twelve or fourteen feet, others again only 
 to an altitude of three or four feet. 
 
 In America it is used in a variety of ways. For 
 bread, the meal of maize is mixed with flour of rye or 
 wheat, as it is somewhat lacking in gluten, but, as we 
 have seen, it is richer in food of a fatty character. 
 When unripe it is used as a vegetable, and, indeed, 
 even in their early stage the grains are eaten some- 
 thing as green peas are in England. In short, stalks, 
 leaves, and grain are used in their various stages of 
 growth up to maturity. The husks that surround 
 the ear are employed for many domestic purposes ; 
 shredded, they form stuffing for mattresses, while of 
 
220 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 the more delicate ones, bonnets and table mats are 
 woven, and door mats of the coarser qualities. Cob 
 cores, around which the grain clusters, are used for 
 fuel, while syrup and sugar have been gained from 
 the juice of the stalk. With all these uses it is not 
 to be wondered at that Longfellow praised it in his 
 Song of Hiawatha as "the friend of man," who 
 descended "from the Master of Life." He immor- 
 talized it in his poem under the name " Mondamin," 
 by which name corn flour is now known on the 
 Continent, and describes how Hiawatha watched it 
 
 " Till at length a small green feather 
 From the earth shot slowly upward, 
 Then another and another, 
 And before the summer ended 
 Stood the maize in all its beauty, 
 With its shining robes about it, 
 And its long, soft, yellow tresses ; 
 And in rapture Hiawatha 
 Cried aloud, ' It is Mondamin ! 
 Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin ! '" 
 
 And he told 
 
 " Of this new gift to the nations, 
 "Which should be their good for ever." 
 
 But notwithstanding its great value, it did not prove 
 widely acceptable in Britain until prepared as we 
 have narrated. Now, however, it is largely used all 
 the civilised world over, and, indeed, is peculiarly 
 adapted to hot climates, by reason of its freedom 
 
BROWN AND POISON. 221 
 
 from liability to fermentation. It was the idea, 
 successfully worked out, of freeing it from its un- 
 suitable substances that wrought this enormous 
 change, and has brought the use of maize into so 
 many homes. 
 
ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL & CO., 
 
 LIMITED. 
 
 WHY will parents force a boy against his tastes into 
 uncongenial occupations ? Why, ignoring the bent 
 of a youth's mind, will they doom him to toil which 
 he hates ? Perhaps, because so many boys are with- 
 out a very strong bias in any direction ; perhaps, 
 because the staid parent is suspicious of the tendency 
 of his son's wishes ; perhaps, because those wishes 
 are very difficult, if not impossible, of realisation. 
 
 But there have been boys who have been strongly 
 bent in one direction, and who, in spite of obstacles, 
 have found their way thither, and achieved brilliant 
 success. The founder of the famous Elswick 
 Engineering Works, at Newcastle-on-Tyne William 
 George Armstrong, now Lord Armstrong was one 
 of these. Born at that town in 1810, his father, 
 Mr. Alexander Armstrong, a merchant, destined him 
 for the eminently respectable, but dry, profession of 
 the law ; and consequently he was articled to a local 
 solicitor. But the boy's bent was for chemistry and 
 
LORD ARMSTRONG. 
 From a photograph by Mr. John Worsnop, Rothbury. 
 
ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL AND CO. 223 
 
 mechanics ; and though, when his law-articles were 
 out, he joined his master as partner, yet his busy 
 brain was actively running upon other matters than 
 deeds and settlements. Before he had turned thirty 
 years of age he had actually invented various improve- 
 ments in hydraulic machinery, devising a greatly 
 improved hydraulic engine. 
 
 A few years later, in 1845, he invented the hydrau- 
 lic crane. This was erected on the quay at Newcastle 
 soon afterwards, and its superiority speedily recog- 
 nised. Other inventions followed, being chiefly in 
 the line of the practical application of hydraulic 
 power, as in the lifting of weights and in the opening 
 and closing of dock gates. Before this, in 1842, he 
 also devised, or perfected, a hydro -electric machine, 
 a contrivance for obtaining electricity from steam, 
 which gained him, in 1846, the Fellowship of the 
 Eoyal Society. He has since acquired great repute 
 as a skilful constructor of hydraulic machinery. But 
 perhaps his great title to fame, and the largest part of 
 the work which he has accomplished, was the inven- 
 tion and manufacture of the breech-loading rifled gun 
 which bears his name. He was one of the fathers of 
 scientific gunnery. He was one of the first to apply 
 scientific principles and discoveries to the manufac- 
 ture and improvement of ordnance ; and in this 
 connection it may be noted that, although we have 
 huge national establishments for the making of guns, 
 
224: SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 yet all the advances made within late years are due 
 to the inventions of private firms. Lord Brassey him- 
 self acknowledged, at a time when he was in con- 
 nection with the Government, that enterprise had 
 been displayed by Lord Armstrong which had been 
 lacking at Woolwich. 
 
 Some years elapsed, however, before he commenced 
 the manufacture of guns. His practical application 
 of hydraulic power gained for him a great reputation 
 as an engineer, and finally, about 1847, he ceased 
 his connection with the law and, together with a few 
 friends, established the world famous Elswick Engine 
 Works, in the western suburbs of Newcastle. 
 
 At first these were devoted solely to the manufac- 
 ture of machinery, chiefly hydraulic. But at the 
 Crimean War, Lord, then Mr., Armstrong, was 
 engaged by the War Office to prepare exploding 
 apparatus to blow up ships sunk before Sebastopol. 
 This commission turned his active mind to the 
 improvement of ordnance, and he ultimately invented 
 the famous gun which has carried his name through- 
 out the world. 
 
 His gun is a simply marvellous invention. Briefly, 
 it required about half the charge of powder of the 
 previous cannon, yet threw a shot three times as far, 
 while it was but little more than proportionally half 
 the weight. 
 
 At the time of Her Majesty's accession the guns 
 
ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL AND CO. 225 
 
 used by the army and navy were few in pattern and 
 simple in construction. Also, strange though it may 
 seem, the greater part of the accurate information 
 we now possess as to the effect of gunpowder, has 
 become known during the last thirty or forty years. 
 The great object now of a gun-manufacturer is to 
 construct his weapon so that the strain of explo- 
 sion shall be borne as far as possible by each part 
 equally, so that, for instance, the exterior shall re- 
 lieve the interior as much as may be of the force 
 of the exploding powder. The force is calculated 
 to be that of about forty tons pressure per square 
 inch. 
 
 Further, though the advantage of grooving the 
 tubes of guns, called rifling, had been known for some 
 time, yet the practice was not applied to ordnance 
 until 1846. Kifled guns were used for the first time 
 at Sebastopol by the British army, but with little 
 effect, on account of faulty construction. The rifling 
 of cannon, however, marked the beginning of a great 
 change. 
 
 Now, Sir William Armstrong's idea was to build 
 up guns by shrinking wrought-iron coils one over 
 the other, the inner being compressed and the outer 
 tense. When, therefore, the powder explodes, the 
 compressed inner portion expands under the heat and 
 throws off part of the strain on the outer parts which 
 are already tense. By this means, speaking as freely 
 
 Q 
 
226 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 from technicalities as we can, the strain of the 
 expanding gas is distributed more equally over the 
 whole of the gun. 
 
 It must be understood that, in cast-iron guns, a 
 point is reached when great thickness is of no use in 
 resisting the explosive power of the powder. But 
 in the method we have indicated the strain of re- 
 sistance is distributed more equally over outer and 
 inner parts ; and it was this great principle of 
 present-day ordnance-making which Sir William 
 Armstrong introduced. 
 
 Iron expands when heated, and contracts in cooling. 
 Part of Sir William Armstrong's plan, therefore, was 
 to place a highly-heated metal tube over a cold one ; 
 on cooling the outer one contracts but remains tense, 
 while the inner is compressed. This plan was adopted, 
 whether for smooth-bore or rifled ordnance, muzzle 
 or breech loading. Improved methods of dealing 
 with and forging huge masses of metal have come 
 into action during late years, so that not only can 
 guns of less weight but greater power be made, but 
 also guns of immensely heavier weight can be con- 
 structed. Thus we have now the 111-ton gun, the 
 largest yet made, which, however, has shown such 
 signs of weakness that it cannot be regarded as a 
 complete success. Yet so destructive is the power of 
 its shot that it will pierce a plate a yard thick at the 
 distance of 1,000 yards. This considerably dwarfs 
 
AKMSTRONG, MITCHELL AND CO. 227 
 
 the performances of even the 80 -ton gun known as 
 the Woolwich Infant. 
 
 The ideally-made gun on the Armstrong principle 
 would be a cannon made of numbers of thin coils, 
 shrunk one over the other, so that each coil should 
 equally assist in bearing the strain. This principle 
 has, in fact, been applied by Mr. Longridge, Member 
 of the Institute of Civil Engineers, in twisting steel 
 wire in a tense state, i.e., stretched to stiffness in the 
 direction of its length round a tube of steel. Recently 
 a shot fired at high elevation from a Longridge wire 
 gun reached the enormous range of a dozen miles ! 
 
 The method of manufacture at Elswick, and, in- 
 deed, at Woolwich also, is briefly this : cylinders of 
 steel, slightly bigger than the proposed size of the 
 tube, are tested and toughened. The latter is accom- 
 plished by raising the metal, after boring it, to a 
 suitable heat, and then plunging it into oil. Subse- 
 quently the tubes are subjected to water-pressure, at 
 the enormous power of four tons to the square inch. 
 Long flat bars of iron are then heated bright red in 
 a narrow, long, reverberatory furnace, and drawn out 
 and coiled into a big tube by means of a whirling 
 mandril. Again placed in a fiery furnace the tube is 
 brought to a white heat, and then welded by a steam- 
 hammer. It can be turned and bored to the required 
 size on cooling. This case can be shrunk over the 
 steel cylinder, and other iron cylinders can be in turn 
 
228 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS ME1S. 
 
 shrunk over it. This plan of building up guns by 
 shrinking one tube of wrought iron over another, is the 
 special characteristic of the guns made on Armstrong's 
 principle. Ordnance of small size, up to the monster 
 110-ton gun, are manufactured in this way, and the 
 breeches are strengthened in the same manner. The 
 new cannon which were first used in the China war 
 of 1860 were so obviously superior to those pre- 
 viously in use that the Government desired to secure 
 them for the State, and the Eifle Cannon Committee 
 suggested their adoption for special service. Lord 
 Armstrong, with great patriotism, offered to give over 
 his invention to the nation without reservation. The 
 noble offer was accepted ; and it is pleasing to record 
 that, contrary to some inventors, Lord Armstrong has 
 reaped a rich reward. He received the appointment 
 of Chief Engineer of Kifled Ordnance, and until 1863 
 his works were conducted practically as a government 
 institution. Previously to this, in 1858, he had 
 received the honour of knighthood, in consequence of 
 his great services and patriotic liberality, and at the 
 Queen's Jubilee, in 1887, he was created a peer. 
 
 In 1863 the Government contract closed, and the 
 Elswick works were carried on as a private establish- 
 ment till the end of 1882, when they were turned 
 into a Limited Liability Company, and amalgamated 
 with C. Mitchell & Co., shipbuilders, having a capital 
 of.2,000,000. 
 
ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL AND CO. 229 
 
 While, however, this extraordinary invention has 
 won for Lord Armstrong a deservedly great reputa- 
 tion, yet the business success of the firm has also 
 largely depended on the construction of hydraulic 
 machinery. Hydraulic engines can he used, when 
 water is obtainable, at a high pressure. In essential 
 principles they do not differ very much from steam- 
 engines, except that their pressure is greater usually 
 700 Ibs. to the square inch and therefore they 
 can be smaller in size. Hydraulic cranes are much 
 used in large docks and in great works. In those 
 first introduced by Lord Armstrong, the power of the 
 high pressure water on the cylinder can be reduced 
 by a system of pulleys, and very rapid raisings of 
 goods can be obtained. 
 
 Lord Armstrong became, of course, a member of 
 many scientific societies, and in 1863 was President 
 of the British Association. In his address he dealt 
 with our coal supply, and was instrumental in causing 
 the appointment of the coal commission three years 
 later. His lordship has also taken an active part 
 in inquiries connected with the working of the Patent 
 Laws. In 1861 the University of Cambridge con- 
 ferred on him the hon. degree of LL.D., and ten 
 years later Oxford followed suit with the degree of 
 D.C.L. He has also had conferred upon him several 
 foreign orders of knighthood. 
 
 Since the work of Mitchell & Co. has been added 
 
230 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 to that of the machinery and gun manufacture of 
 Lord Armstrong, ship-building has of course formed 
 part of the operations of the firm. The Company can 
 now build, furnish with guns, machinery, and finish 
 throughout a complete iron- clad war-ship. They did 
 so build the Victoria, which was the first instance of 
 a single war-ship having been built and fitted through- 
 out by one firm. The magnificent vessel of which 
 a superb model formed such a centre of attraction at 
 the Naval Exhibition of 1891 measures 340 feet 
 long by 70 feet broad ; her engines are 12,000 horse- 
 power, capable of forcing her through the water at a 
 speed of some seventeen knots ; and her displacement 
 is 10,500 tons. She carries two 110-ton guns, a 
 30 -ton gun, and many smaller cannon and machine 
 guns. She is armed also with a powerful ram and 
 eight dischargers for torpedoes, while her protective 
 armour is a foot and a half thick. Armed cruisers 
 are also being built by the firm at the present time. 
 
 Among recent constructions at the Elswick Works 
 are the 3 6 -pounder and 70 -pounder machine-guns, 
 which are said to be more formidable weapons than 
 even the Nordenfeldt, the Gardner, or the Gatling. 
 These recently-made Elswick guns fire from ten to 
 fifteen shots per minute, well aimed, and can pierce 
 a 5-inch armour-plate at a thousand yards range. 
 
 The Elswick Works cover about 125 acres, and 
 form one of the largest of their kind in the world. 
 
ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL AND CO. 231 
 
 They face the Tyne, to which river they have the 
 large frontage of about a mile. The number of 
 workmen employed is about 10,000, but in busy 
 periods the enormous number of about 14',000 are 
 engaged. This must give about one of the largest 
 wages lists of any firm. When originally established 
 about 200 workpeople were engaged. From 200 to 
 14,000 is an immense rise, and alone indicates the 
 enormous growth of the work carried on. 
 
 The new and extensive machinery put up a few 
 years since cost about 200,000, and some of that 
 used for boring and rifling the guns is among the 
 largest and most perfect of its kind. But here every- 
 thing is on a comparatively gigantic scale, including 
 machinery and appliances for welding and casting 
 metal, rifling and fitting, and also for the making of 
 the murderous shells. 
 
 Guns of all kinds, and also magnificent war ships, 
 the former to the number of some thousands, have 
 been made at Elswick. Most nations indeed have 
 now included them in their armaments. Their 
 thunder has been heard in all countries, from the 
 Empire of Eussia to the Bonny River. This great 
 variety was well exhibited at the Armstrong tro'phy 
 at the Royal Mining, Engineering, and Industrial 
 Exhibition, held at Newcastle in the Queen's Jubilee 
 year, and opened by the Duke of Cambridge. All 
 the guns, except the firm's famous 110-ton, were 
 
232 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 real specimens. No vehicle could be found big enough 
 to transport one of those immense " infants " to the 
 show, and so the firm had to be content with a model. 
 The advance in scientific gunnery which Lord 
 Armstrong has witnessed, and to which he so mate- 
 rially assisted, has been stupendous ; and if any of our 
 readers should regret that such great genius has been 
 devoted to destructive machines, we may remind them 
 of the old proverb, that prevention is better than cure. 
 To be so well provided against war is to steadily 
 discourage attack. And there appears much truth 
 in the argument, that these scientific slaughtering 
 machines really prevent and dissuade from war by the 
 very reason of their immense destructiveness. In any 
 case, we have not here to argue for or against the dread 
 arbitrament of the sword, but to sketch the marvel- 
 lous development of Lord Armstrong's idea. Little 
 thought his father, when he bound him to the law, 
 that his son's name would go round the world as the 
 inventor of a new gun, and a brilliantly successful 
 scientific ordnance founder. 
 
 PRINTED BY J. 8. VJETUB AND CO., LIMITED, CITY EOAD, LONDON. 
 
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 of "Tales of Chivalry and Romance," &o. With Eight full- 
 page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. 
 
PUBLISHED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED. 7 
 
 Haddon Hall (Illustrated Guide to). By LLEWELLYNN 
 
 JEWITT, F.S.A. Upwards of 50 Engravings. Small 4to, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Heroes of our Day. An Account of Recent Winners of 
 the Victoria Cross. By WALTER RICHARDS, Author of " Her 
 Majesty's Army." With 8 full-page Illustrations by HARRY 
 PAYNE. Imperial 16mo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Holiday Adventures. With 8 full-page illustrations. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Hook, J. C., B.A., The Life and Work of. The Art 
 
 Annual, 1888, with 6 full-page plates, and over 40 other Illustra- 
 tions, 2s. 6d. ; cloth gilt, gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 Household Manuals. Price Is.; or boards cloth, silver 
 gilt, Is. 6d. each. 
 
 Breakfast Dishes for Every morning in Three Months. 
 
 By Miss M. L. ALLEN. Twelfth Edition. 
 
 Cakes and Biscuits. By FREDERICK DAVIES. 
 Economical French Cookery for Ladies. Adapted to 
 English Households. By A " Cordon Bleu." 
 
 Invalid Cookery. With Instructions on the Preparation of 
 Food for the Sick. By MARY DAVIES. 
 
 One Hundred and One Methods of Cooking Poultry. 
 
 With Hints on Selection, Trussing, and Carving. By 
 " AUNT CHLOE." 
 
 Pastry and Confectionery. By FREDERICK DAVIRS. 
 Practical Vegetarian Recipes. By CHARLES W. FORWARD. 
 
 Savouries and Sweets. By Miss M. L. ALLEN. Fifteenth 
 Edition. 
 
 Showell's Housekeeper's Account Book for the Current 
 Year. With thoroughly Revised and Corrected Tables 
 of Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly Expendi- 
 ture. Price 2s. 
 
 Sound Investments for Small Savings. By G. BARTRICK 
 BAKER. 
 
 The Nurse's Companion in the Sick-Room. By MARY 
 DAVIES. 
 
8 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 Insignia Vitae; or, Broad Principles and Practical 
 Conclusions. Five Essays on Life and Character By C. H. 
 WATERHOUSE, M.A., M.D., Author of "Signification and 
 Principles of Art." Post 8vo, 5s. 
 
 " No one will read it without acknowledging the suggestiveness of its argu- 
 ments and meditations, and few will read it without profit." Scotsman. 
 
 Invalid Cookery, with Instructions on the Prepara- 
 tion of Food for the Sick. By MARY DAVEGS. Cloth, silver 
 gilt, Is. 6d. Paper, Is. 
 
 " One of the best and completest invalid cookeries that we have seen." 
 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 " Excellent little book." Morning Post. 
 
 " Practically written and useful." Scotsman. 
 
 "Practical, useful, and economical; but so simple that every housekeeper or 
 nurse should make a point of possessing it." Christian. 
 
 " Will prove of great assistance to mothers and others who are but imperfectly 
 acquainted with the duties of a sick-room and the care of persons recovering from 
 Illness." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " Ivanhoe " as produced at the Royal English Opera, 
 A Souvenir of. By LEWIS HIND. Illustrated with 21 Illustra- 
 tions by MAURICE GREIFFENHAGEN, HERBERT RAILTON, JOHN 
 JELLICOE, and others. Price Is. 
 
 "An attractive little book. It places before the reader in a graphic and 
 artistic manner each scene and the performances of the principal actors." 
 
 Daily News. 
 
 "A neat, bright, and lively description of the opera." Era. 
 
 " One of the best, if not the very best, of the many productions of its kind that 
 have appeared. The principal scenes are cleverly represented." Morning Post. 
 
 Italy; its Rivers, Lakes, Cities, Arts. With nearly 
 170 Illustrations. Small Quarto, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 15s. 
 
 "Amply illustrated with 164 woodcuts, many of them of full-page si^e and 
 well engraved . . . not only forms a most useful companion for travellers to the 
 Sunny South, but well deserves a prominent place in a lady's library, on her 
 drawing-room table, and amongst her Christmas presents." The Queen. 
 
 Lady Agatha's Secret (The) and other Poems. By 
 
 EVERARD AVENELL. Square 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. With 8 full-page 
 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. 
 
PUBLISHED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED. 9 
 
 Leighton (Sir P., Bart., P.R.A.), The Life and Work 
 
 of. The Art Annual for 1884. Five full-page Plates and about 
 40 Illustrations in the text, 2s. 6d. _ Ditto, cloth gilt, gilt 
 edges, 5s. 
 
 Men who have Risen. A Book for Boys. Including 
 the graphic stories of the rise of the Peel Family, and the 
 struggles of such men as Hugh Miller, Wilson the Ornithologist, 
 Smeaton the Engineer, and Robert Stephenson. "With Eight 
 full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Meissonier (J. L. E.), The Life and Work of. The 
 
 Art Annual for 1887. With 3 full-page Plates, and numerous 
 Illustrations in the Text, 2s. 6d. ; cloth gilt, gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 Millais (Sir J. E., Bart., R.A.), The Life and Work 
 
 of. The Art Annual for 1885. Three large Etchings or En- 
 gravings, and about 40 other Illustrations, 2s. 6d. ; cloth gilt, 
 gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 Murray's English Grammar. (Abridgment, by DAVIS.) 
 With copious explanatory observations, parsing exercises, sen- 
 tences for correction, questions for examination, and an Appen- 
 dix, containing rules for composition, punctuation, &c. By the 
 Rev. JOHN DAVIS. Cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 English Grammar. (Abridgment, by SMITH.) 
 
 With an Appendix, designed for the younger classes of learners. 
 By LINDLEY MURRAY. A New Edition by the Rev. W. B. 
 SMITH, M.A., Head Master of the City of London Freemen's 
 Orphan School. Cloth, Is. 
 
 My Wife's Relations. A Story of Pigland. By Mrs. 
 HUXLEY. With 24 Illustrations, by Miss N. Huxley, printed 
 in colour, foolscap 4to, picture boards, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " From the pen of the wife of the professor. . . . As a book it is very amusing, 
 and young 1 people who read it are sure to say so." The Queen. 
 
 " The illustrations are extremely amusing, and the book is one likely to create 
 a considerable sensation in the nursery." Literary World. 
 
10 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 New Dame Trot (A). By C. A. JONES. New Edition, 
 with Eight full-page Illustrations by Miss A. B. WOODWARD. 
 Imperial 16mo, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Nurses' Companion in the Sick-Room. By MARY 
 
 DAVIES. Cloth, silver gilt, Is. 6d. ; paper, Is. 
 
 " Excellent little book." Morning Post. 
 
 " Gives plain instructions for relief in the early cases of sickness, or simple treat- 
 ment for small ailments." Queen. 
 
 '' Practically written and useful." Scotsman. 
 
 " Will prove of great assistance to mothers and others who are but imperfectly 
 acquainted with the duties of a sick-room and the care of persons recovering from 
 illness." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 One Hundred and One Methods of Cooking Poultry. 
 
 With Hints on Selection, Trussing, and Carving. By AUNT 
 CHLOE. Price Is. ; or cloth, silver gilt, Is. 6d. 
 
 "A very useful and handy cookery guide, and one that is much wanted and 
 will be much appreciated." Spectator. 
 
 " A very useful little book. ... It gives in a compact form hints for a variety of 
 ways of dressing poultry and utilising any scrap left over from previous dinners." 
 Queen. 
 
 "This little manual by Aunt Chloe is certainly practical throughout." Glasgow 
 Herald. 
 
 Oxford v. Cambridge. Scores of the Cricket 
 Matches, with Index and Names of Flayers. Compiled 
 by HENRY PEEKINS, Secretaiy M.C.C., Is. 
 
 Farkes Belloc's (Bessie Bayiier) La Belle France. 
 
 With Illustrations. SmaU 8vo, 12s. 
 
 Pastry and Confectionery. CREAMS, JELLIES, ICES. By 
 
 FBEDEKICK DAVIES, formerly Cook and Confectioner. Cloth, 
 silver gilt, Is. 6d. ; paper, Is. 
 
 Folitical Portraits. Crown 8vo, 6s. 
 
 Reclus, Elise*e. The Earth : a Descriptive History 
 
 of the Physical Phenomena of the Life of our Globe. By 
 
 ELISEE RECLUS, Author of " The Universal Geography." Trans- 
 lated from the Author's last edition, and edited by Professor 
 A. H. Keane, of University College, London. Illustrated with 
 nearly 250 Engravings and 24 Coloured Maps. Imperial 
 8vo, 1 Is. 
 
 " No more important" work upon the same subject has appeared than the volume 
 by M. Beclus. ... A perfectly illustrated scientific work has been produced." 
 Scottish Geographical Magazine. 
 
PUBLISHED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED. 11 
 
 Beclus, Elisee. The Ocean, Atmosphere, and Life ; 
 their Physical Phenomena. Illustrated with nearly 250 
 Engravings and 28 Coloured Maps, 1 Is. 
 
 " An English translation will be as welcome to some who do as to many who do 
 not know the original work." Standard. 
 
 The British Isles : General Features, Topo- 
 graphy, Statistics, Government and Administration. 
 
 By ELISEE RECLUS. Translated and Edited by Professor 
 A. H. Keane, of University College, London. Illus- 
 trated with numerous Engravings, Diagrams, and 
 Coloured Maps. Imperial 8vo, 1 Is. 
 
 " A work like that by M. Reclus ought to be at the command of every school- 
 master who is called upon to teach geography." Athenceum. 
 
 Rhine (The) ; from its Source to the Sea. By KARL 
 
 STIELER and others. Profusely illustrated with nearly 170 
 Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 15s. 
 
 " The book is a very attractive one." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 "A capital book to revive memories of summer trips." Saturday Review. 
 
 " The text is full of information agreeably imparted, and the engravings are 
 vigorous and graphic." Globe. 
 
 " Lavishly illustrated and handsomely bound." Scotsman. 
 
 "An extremely artistic handbook to the Rhine." Yorkshire Post. 
 
 " Full of highly finished woodcuts. ... As a guide-book it teems with infor- 
 mation." Manchester Guardian. 
 
 " Many of the cuts are very good indeed." Athenceum. 
 
 Richmond shire. A Series of Twenty Line Engravings 
 after J. M. W. TURNER, RA. Printed on India Paper from the 
 Original Plates. "With Descriptive Letterpress by Mrs. ALFRED 
 HUNT, and an Introduction by M. B. HUISH, LL.B. Large 
 folio, handsomely bound in half morocco, gilt top, 3 3s. 
 Edition limited to 500 numbered copies. 
 
 " A more beautiful folio than Turner's f Eichmondshire ' has not issued from the 
 press for many a year. That these plates should come to light again, and in 
 excellent condition, must certainly be considered fortunate." Saturday Seview. 
 
 "A valuable permanent contribution to the library of art." The Times. 
 
 " Is at once the handsomest ; as to Yorkshiremen it must be the most interest- 
 ing book of the season." Yorkshire Post. 
 
 "As a splendid memorial of Turner, and as a peculiarly fine example of the 
 almost lost art of line engraving, this beautiful book is a most .desirable acquisi- 
 tion "St. James's Gazette. 
 
12 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 Riviera (The), both Eastern and Western. By HUGH 
 MACMILLAN, D.D., Author of "Holidays in High Lands," 
 &c., &c. Entirely New and Revised Edition. With nearly 250 
 Illustrations. Fcap. 4to, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 10s. 6d. 
 
 " Many books have been written about the Riviera, but none are so full of infor- 
 mation and pleasant reading and so picturesquely illustrated as that just pub- 
 lished." The Queen. 
 
 " The book is one of a superior character, and the illustrations are numerous 
 and tasteful ; an excellent map of the Riviera is prefixed to it, which is a constant 
 help to the reader." Illustrated London Xews. 
 
 Riviere (Briton), The Life and Work of. The Art 
 
 Annual, 1891. With Two full-page Etchings and a Photo- 
 gravure, and about 40 Illustrations in the Text, 2s. 6d. ; or cloth 
 gilt, gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 Rome, the Eternal City ; its Churches, Monuments, 
 Art, and Antiquities. By FRANCIS WEY. Profusely illus- 
 trated with nearly 300 Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth gilt, gilt 
 edges, 15s. 
 
 " It is much to be recommended. It gives almost a perfect idea of the Eternal 
 City on the seven hills as it has been revolutionized by municipal Haussmannizing 
 and swept by new brooms." The Times. 
 
 " We should decidedly recommend it as an agreeable and useful remembrancer 
 of a sojourn in Rome." Illustrated London News. 
 
 Hooper's (George) Flood, Field, and Forest. Author 
 of "Thames and Tweed," "Tales and Sketches," &c. Illus- 
 trated by GEORGE BOWERS and J. CARLISLE. Cloth gilt, gilt 
 edges, 3s. 6d. ; pictorial boards, 2s. 6d. 
 
 "Its many merits of style and information, with its fund of excellent sugges- 
 tions and amusing anecdotes, drawn from the world of a long experience with 
 sporting matters, have evidently given it and secured it a wide-spread popu- 
 larity." Standard. 
 
 Autobiography of a Salmon (Salmo Solar). 
 
 New Edition, paper, Is. 
 
 " The best book on the subject that ever was written." Frank Buckland. 
 " Written in a lively and sparkling style, and contains much valuable infor- 
 mation." Morning Post. 
 " All anglers will find it very pleasant reading." Land and Water. 
 
 Savouries and Sweets. By Miss M. L. ALLEN. Six- 
 teenth Edition, cloth, silver gilt, Is. 6d. ; paper, Is. 
 
 " Of great merit." Saturday Review. 
 
 " More ueeful than many of its more pretentious rivals." The Lady. 
 " So very adequate is this manual in its way that its cost will be begrudged by 
 but comparatively few housekeepers." Western Daily Mercury. 
 
PUBLISHED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED. 13 
 
 Savoury Dishes. By Miss M.L.ALLEN. Being " Breakfast 
 Dishes" and " Savouries and Sweets" bound up in one volume. 
 Cloth boards, silver gilt, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Scotland, The Great Historic Families of. By 
 
 JAMES TAYLOR, M.A., D.D., F.S.A.Scot., Author of the " Pic- 
 torial History of Scotland." New Edition, in two vols., royal 
 8vo, 1 Is. 
 
 " It is no bare genealogical record. It does not contain a dry page or a mouldy 
 paragraph. . . . Much of it is as readable as the 'Tales of a Grandfather'. . . . 
 Dr, Taylor has produced a work of great value." The Scotsman. 
 
 " Dr. Taylor has accomplished a useful task. . . . To a great number of Scots- 
 men this work should prove welcome, and it has a really valuable feature in its 
 elaborate index." Athenceum. 
 
 " No book of the kind has appeared to be compared with it for importance and 
 value to the historical student. It is, indeed, a remarkably interesting record." 
 The Daily Telegraph. 
 
 Seine and the Loire, The. Illustrated by J. M. W. 
 
 TURNER, K.A. With 61 Line Engravings printed on India 
 Paper. Introduction and descriptive letterpress by M. B. HUISH, 
 LL.B., Editor of the ART JOURNAL. Half-morocco, gilt top, 
 4 4s. 
 
 N.B. This Edition is limited to 500 copies, of which only a fetv 
 copies are still unsold. 
 
 " They include among them many of the loveliest studies that ever came from 
 Turner's hand, while the plates are among the best that were ever produced by 
 that brilliant school of line-engravers whose fame, bound up with that of Turner, 
 must surely go on increasing as the knowledge of art extends. ... It is not 
 likely that we shall ever see work of this precise character again ; as Mr. Huish 
 says, ' The art has died with its originators, and were a thousand pounds offered 
 to-day for such a plate as Kouen from St. Catherine's Hill, it could not be pro- 
 duced." The Times. 
 
 Shelmerdine's (W.) Psalms and other Portions of 
 Scripture, marked for Chanting. Small 8vo, cloth cut 
 flush, gilt edges, price Is. 
 
 Showell's Housekeeper's Account Book for the 
 
 Current Year. With thoroughly revised and corrected Tables 
 of Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly Expenditure. Price 2s. 
 
 " One of the most complete works of the kind issued." Daily Chronicle. 
 ..." For the housewife who wants to be thrifty and methodical, but does not 
 know how, it must be a still greater boon." 
 
14 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 Signification and Principles of Art. By C. H. 
 
 WATEEHOUSE. A Critical Essay for general readers, being an 
 attempt to determine the essential nature of the Fine Arts, and 
 to distinguish them from other modes of human activity. New 
 edition, 2s. 6d. 
 
 "We have no hesitation in warmly commending Mr. Waterhouse's deeply- 
 thoughtful and very interesting essay." Graphic, 
 
 " The essay has much in it that is new and interesting. It forms a valuable 
 contribution to the discussion of the principles of taste." The Scotsman. 
 
 Sound Investments for Small Savings. By GEORGE 
 B. BAKER. Small 8vo, price Is. ; or cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 "Full of trustworthy information and guidance." Saturday Review. 
 
 "His remarks and suggestions are invariably judicious, as well as clear and 
 concise, and under each head-he presents in tabulated form the details respecting 
 the particular securities to which he invites the attention of the small investor." 
 
 Manchester Guardian. 
 
 Southern Coast of England. A Series of Forty Line 
 Engravings after J. M. W. Turner, R.A. Printed on India 
 Paper from the Original Plates. Large Folio, handsomely 
 bound in half morocco, gilt top, 3 13s. 6d. 
 
 Edition limited to 500 numbered copies. 
 Stories on the Collects, for every Sunday and Holy 
 
 Day throughout the Year, with Questions and Answers on 
 the Collects. By C. A. JONES and the Rev. S. G-. LINES. 
 Small 8vo, cloth. Vol. I. Advent to Easter, 3s. 6d. Vol. II. 
 Easter and Trinity, 3s.' 6d. 
 
 " Useful for Sunday teaching." Guardian. 
 
 " Miss Jones has achieved a success." Spectator. 
 
 Submarine Telegraphy, The Rise and Extension of. 
 
 By WILLOUGHBY SMITH. "With Illustrations. Super Royal 8vo, 
 1 Is. 
 
 Successful Business Men. Short Accounts of the Rise 
 
 of Famous Firms, with Sketches of the Founders. By A. H. 
 JAPP, LL.D., Author of " Industrial Curiosities," "Leaders of 
 Men," &c. "With Eight full-page Illustrations. Imperial 16mo, 
 cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
PUBLISHED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED. 15 
 
 Switzerland ; its Mountains, Valleys, Lakes, and 
 Rivers. Illustrated by A. CLOSZ with nearly 170 Drawings. 
 Small 4to, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 15s. 
 
 " Capital descriptions of the alpine roads and passes, the lakes of East Switzer- 
 land and of the Western Lakes." Volunteer Service Gazette. 
 
 ". . . . The 'cuts' are good and the text readable in this pretty volume." 
 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 "An exceedingly appropriate gift-book for those who like picturesque de- 
 scription with equally charming illustrations." Yorkshire Post. 
 
 " A description of all the parts of Switzerland which are most sought out by 
 tourists." Manchester Guardian. 
 
 "Many excellent cuts." Athenaeum. 
 
 Tadema, Alma, R.A., the Life and Work of. The Art 
 
 Annual for 1886. Six full-page Engravings and about 40 
 illustrations in the text, 2s. 6d. ; cloth gilt, gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 Taylor (Dr. James), The Great Historic Families of 
 
 Scotland. By JAMES TAYLOR, M.A., D.D., F.S. A.Scot., Author 
 of the " Pictorial History of Scotland." New Edition, in two 
 vols., royal 8vo, 1 Is. 
 
 Turner's Richmondshire. A Series of 20 Line Engrav- 
 ings after J. M. W. TURNER, E.A., printed on India Paper from 
 the Original Plates. With descriptive letterpress by Mrs. 
 ALFRED HUNT, and an Introduction by M. B. HUISH, LL.B. 
 Large folio, handsomely bound in half -morocco, gilt top, 3 3s. 
 
 N.B. This edition is limited to 500 numbered copies. 
 
 Vegetarian Recipes (Practical), as used in the Principal 
 Vegetarian Restaurants in London and the Provinces. By 
 CHARLES W. FORWARD, Author of "The Art of Longevity," 
 ' Papers on Practical Hygiene," " The Vegetarian Year Book," 
 &c., &c. Is. ; or cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 " May, we think, justly claim to be the most complete and practical in existence." 
 
 Manchester Guardian. 
 
 Bristol Western Morning Press. 
 
 Women of Worth. A Book for Boys and Girls. With 
 8 full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. 
 
16 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS. 
 
 Wood's (Rev. J. G.) Nature's Teachings, Human 
 Invention anticipated by Nature. By the Author of " Homes 
 without Hands," &c., &c., with 300 Illustrations. New Edition. 
 Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Of very high interest even to those who care but little for natural history as a 
 study." Standard. 
 
 " Certainly no more thoroughly instructive volume could be made a gift of than 
 this one." Leeds Mercury, 
 
 Man and Beast, Here and Hereafter. Fifth 
 
 Edition, 6s. 
 
 "The book is delightful." British Quarterly Review. 
 " Filled with anecdotes which are very entertaining." Saturday Review. 
 " Extremely readable and interesting." Pall Mall Gazette. 
 " We recommend all lovers of natural history to read it." Land and Water. 
 
 Tear's Art (The), 1882, 1883, 1885 to 1887. Each 
 Vol., 3s. 
 
 1889. With Portraits of the A.RA.'s, 3s. 6d. 
 
 1890. With Portraits of the Members of the 
 
 Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours, 3s. 6d. 
 
 1891. With Portraits of the Associates of 
 
 the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours, 3s. 6d. 
 
 1892. With Portraits of the Members of the 
 
 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, 3s. 6d. 
 
 "For those who have to do with Art and Artists it is indispensable." 
 AthencEum. 
 
 " It is now recognised as indispensable." Daily Telegraph. 
 11 The comprehensiveness of the volume is surprising." Harper's Magazine. 
 "Valuable not only for current use but as a record." Academy. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY J. 8. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY BOAD. 
 
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