■it- ^: Ex Libris : C. K. OGDEN ; ^ ; Plbl^ ^^^MJ^5^' - 1 if:.v ;«'. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES 1^ J^V^. . I Simmons &WATERS 1 Book and Trint Deale I lo Spencer Street, Lsamingftin Spa. "+' / { I / n /: * \ *. Mh. ISAAC HOLDEN. FORTUNES MADE IN BUSINESS SEEIES OF ORIGINAL SKETCHES i3iograp^ica( an6 ^necbotk FROM THE RECENT HISTORY OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE By VARIOUS WRITERS VOLUME I. LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, MAKSTON, SEAKLE & KIVINGTON 1 88, FLEET STREET, E.G. 1884 [All righU rexervnl.l PRINTED BY KELLY AND CO.. UATE STUEET. LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. W.C. AND MIDDLE MILL. KIN(5STON-ON-THAMES. HF 77 r77 PREFACE When Aladdin rubbed liis Wonderful Lamp (so we are told in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments) he summoned a powerful genie, who obeyed his every behest, and was able to lay at his feet all the good things which this world can command. The old Eastern story was a sort of prophetic mirror of many romantic incidents in the Modern Biograph}" of Industry and Connnerce. In Current Literature few things have a greater €harm to busy men than any trustworthy record of successful enterprise, especially when the story bears upon yesterday or to-day. No wonder that it is so. Now, perhaps, more than ever, calm, well- directed ellbrt aud scientilic insight ; indomitable pluck and that ready resolution which knows when to seize the moment of fortune — are the ^grand characteristics wliicli give power to win ^i prize in the arena of modern competition. To know something, therefore, of the men who liave succeeded becomes of increasing interest to those in the thick of the fight at the present irp.p*^^c>q iv PBEFACE. moment. The lucky hit or the lost chance, the far-seen enterprise demanding years of quiet, patient labour and stern endurance, — are a kind of commercial history Avliich carries its own lesson of elastic hope or sober caution to the eager men of to-day. In such studies of character and energy we observe at work the ready wit which sees a new market, and the prompt resource which supplies it ; the skilful utiUsation of a waste product ; the building up of new iudustrial colonies, as remarkable for their social as for their commercial advantages ; the forging of links of connection between eminent business houses and the highest offices of state ; the magic of mechanical power and inventive genius applied to the cheapening of some article of every-day (consumption ; the Ai-t M'hicli casts a brightening fancy upon even the mean utensils of the jioorest household. Above all, we can mark the influence of fidelity to erigagemcnts, and the sagacity and wise liberality Avhicli know when to foster a struggling industry. All the forces, in short, which bend the powers of Nature and the rugged products of the Earth to- the comfort and tlu^ grace of man's life are before us. We see them in full play amidst the small beginnings and the marvellous expansion of Com- PREFACE. mercial Houses whose members have won wealth, social rank, and a world-Avide reputation. Some years ago the Editor of this Volume, in company with various writers, set about the task of which the result is here offered to the public. The endeavour has been to take down from the lips of the living, facts not previously reduced to writing; and also to collect and crystallise the valuable material lying about in fugitive literature and out-of-the-w^ay storehouses. It has been no easy matter to gather and sift the curiously scattered information which thus gave the key to such varied efforts as those of the men represented in this Volume. Many visits liad to be paid to different parts of the Country and numerous appeals made, in person and by letter, to those who were found to be the sole living depositaries of the knowledge desired. It w^ould be tedious to tender in detail acknow- ledgments for that large and generous aid which has made this book possible — the reminiscences so kindly placed at our service by those who have had special opportunities for observation ; the authentic anecdotes (often throwing remarkable light on obscure beginnings), as well as the prac- tical knowledge which has helped us to thread our way amidst the tangled history of com|)lex PREFACE. mechanical iiiventioiis and industrial improve- ments. It is lioped that this l^ook may thus be found a genuine contribution to our Commercial History. Those oidy who have been engaged in a similar task can fairly estimate the labour involved in welding such an enormous mass of miscellaneous matter into homogeneous form, so as to give a clear, succinct idea of the rise and progress of Houses which have made a very distinct mark on the Industi'ial and Mercantile World. CONTENTS. The Stoky of Isaac Holdkn (ivith Portrait) - - - ] Mi?. 8. C. LisTKii AND TiiK Story of "Silk Waste." - A'> The Low Moou Company ------- 87 Sir Josiaii Mason - - - - - - - - ]2'J TilE IIOMANCE OF INVENTION: SiR IIeNRY BeSSEMER - l.S> Sir John Brown -------- 241 The Salts, and the Discovery of Alpaca - - - 2.^!)- The Peases of Darlington ------ ."HI The Fisons and Forsters of Bl'rley-in-Wharfedale ^u\y The Fieldens of Todmorden - - - - - - 411 THE STORY OF ISAAC HOLDER. THE STORY OF ISAAC IIOLDEN. ^^N" the Paris Exhibition of 1878 there was, in ^J|^ the French section, one little department devoted exclusively to the display of samples of combed wools. There was much that was calcu- lated to charm the eye in tJiat neatly-arranged collection of delicate fibres, so soft and sleek and clean and lustrous did the fleecy frag- ments look beneath the shelter of their glass cases. Foremost amongst the cwposants in this department appeared the names of " T. Holden &■ Fils ; " and although to tlie uninitiated there might not seem to be much difierence between the quality of the laines peigmks exhibited by this firm and the quality of the wool shown in some of the contiguous cases, still it was plainly observable that such visitors as had special knowledo-e of these matters bestowed much attention upon tiie particular case which had B 2 4 THE STORY OF ISAAC HOLDEX. been appropriated to the use of " I. Holden & Fils ; " for it was well known to the manu- facturers, merchants, and business men connected with the trade that there was represented in that one case the work of the chief firm of woolcombers now in existence. To the outside world, untutored in the ways of trade and ignorant of the vastness of its many ramifications, a simple statement of this kind will doubtless mean little ; but the addition of a few facts and figures, taken from the industrial annals of England and France, will serve to con- vey some idea of the magnitude of the wool- combing trade generally, and of the extent of the operations of Messrs. Isaac Holden & Sons in particular. Messrs. Holden have three sepa- rate establishments engaged in woolcombing — one at Bradford, one at Croix, near Eoubaix, and one at Eheims. These three concerns cover altogether over twenty-three acres of actual flooring, and give employment to 4,000 work- people. The firm have a total of 500 carding and 370 combing machines working, accomplish- ing as much labour as it would have taken 25,000 workmen to have got through in the old THE STORY OF ISAAC IIOLDEX. 5 days prior to tlie introduction of the wool- combing machine. This gigantic biismess has been built up with a rapidity which is almost unparalleled. Three decades have hardly passed since Isaac Holden, the founder of the firm, went out as the pioneer partner of Mr. S. C. Lister (whose connection with woolcombing inventions is so well known and commemorated) to seek a fresh field of operation amongst the manufacturers of France for the machine which was destined to make Mr. Holden a princely fortune. How Mr. Holden came to engage upon this enterprise, and how, from being a colher's lad, he worked his way up to a position of splendid commercial prosperity, and gained a degree of affluence Avhich is great even in these days for a success- ful captain of industry, it is the purpose of this sketch to relate. Isaac Holden was born on the 7th of May, 1807, at Hurlet, a little village adjoining Nitshill, between Paisley and Glasgow. His father, who bore the same name, had a few years previously held a small farm at Nenthead, near Alston, in Cumberland, of which place he was a native. b THE STORY OF ISAAC HOLDEN. and had combined the occupation of farmer with that of lead-miner. About tlie beojinnin sequently removed to Bramhope Manor, near Otley, at which place she died in May, 1875. She was possessed of great wealth, and dis- pensed a considerable portion of it in the promotion of charitable objects. On one occasion she distributed upwards of 10,000/. anonymously amongst the local charities, and it was not until after her decease that the fact become publicly known. Miss Dawson's eldest brother, Mr. Joseph Dawson, died, aged 58, at La Chambrerie, in 1866, and was buried in the .Protestant portion of the cemetery at Tours. The present representatives of the Dawson family, who are not less noted THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 107 for tlieir benevolence and munificence than their predecessors, reside at Weston Hall, near Otley, and in the May of 1878 there were great rejoicings there on the occasion of the coming of age of Captain Dawson, the heir. It is now time that we said something about another of the families which have acquired fame and fortune by being connected with the Low Moor Company — the Hirds. Mr. Eichard Hird, the senior partner in the original Low Moor Company, resided at Eawdon, midway between Leeds and Bradford, a village which for the last hundred years has been engaged in the woollen manufacture, but which in the " olden time," when the monks of Kirkstall held spiritual sway over this part of the valley of the Aire, formed the patrimony of the barons of Eawdon. Li those days the woods of Eawdon often resounded with the din of the chase, and the Knight of Eawdon went forth with a gay cavalcade in pursuit of the deer. An old poet, whose name is now forgotten, has left us a picture of those pleasant hunting days : " Bright is the sun, and green is every bough, And eager is the crew, whose noisy mirth Rings throughout Eawdon's woods at St. John's call. 108 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. A hunting feast is marshalled for the day : Fairfax is there, gay Savile, Vavasour, Old Fawkes, descended of a generous race. And doomed his name to leave for generous sons ; High Bellasis, of whom the peasants say His fathers changed their lands, a witless deed, In the old time ; the Knight of Eawdon Hall, Kawdon de Eawdon, whose still greater son, A prince mid princes and a knight mid knights, Shall show such heart to shame an iron age As Chivalry in her best day had called her own." The Hirds were settled upon a considerable estate at Eawdon from an early part of the sixteenth century. Their seat was at a place called Buckstone, where there was a shelving rock, which at one time served as a spot of secret worship for the early Puritans of the district. Mr. Eichard Hird inherited all this property, and was accounted a wealthy man. He was deeply imbued with tlie commercial spirit, however ; and when his friend Joseph Dawson, the colliery owner and preacher, pointed out to him the great things that were to be done at Low Moor by a proper invest- ment of capital and skill, he was not slow to espouse the project. There is little doubt that a large proportion of the 34,000/., which was the amount of the original purchase-money paid by the company to the representa- THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 109 tives of Squire Leeds, would be furnished by Mr. Ilird. Mr. Hird had two dausfhters, the eldest of whom became heiress of the Eawdon estates, and married in 1795 the Eev. Lamplugh Wickham of Low Moor House, who, pursuant to the will of his father-in-law, as- sumed the surname of Hird on the day of his marriacre. Mr. Eichard Hird's second dau(?hter was married to Sir Charles Des Yoeux. The Eev. Lamplugh Hird was prebendary of York and vicar of Paul, in the East Eidincr, and not only attended to liis pastoral duties, but maintained a close connection with the L'on- works. He was a magistrate and deputy- lieutenant of the West Eiding, and used to hold magisterial sittings for the dispensation of justice in the Low Moor Chapel House. His first wife died in 1812, and in 1813 he mar- ried Hannah Frances, the daughter of tlie Eev. Lascelles Sturdy Lascelles, by wliom he liad one daughter. By his first wife he had nine children, and on his death in 1842 his family resumed the paternal name of Wickham, of which they had some reason to l^e proud ; for they claimed to be descended in direct sue- 110 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. cession from tlie ancient house of Wykeliam, two members of wliicli liad filled the episcopal chair of Winchester — William de Wykeliam, founder of New College, Oxford, and Winchester College, who died in 1404 after having held the see for thirty-seven years ; and William Wickham, who was successively Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of Winchester, and died in 1595. After the death of the Rev. Lamplugh Ilird, his two sons, Mr. Henry Wickham Wickham and Mr. Lamplugh Wickham Wickham, represented their family in the Low Moor firm, and assisted witli great tact and energy in the carr3'ing forward of the commercial undertakinsfs which had now grown to such large dimensions. The Low Moor firm had profited to a remarkable extent by the rapid development of macliiner}^ and also by the mau}^ important contracts wliicli they entered into from time to time for supplying the Government with implements of war. The latter branch of business, indeed, was for many years one of the principal features of the Low Moor Works ; and during the Crimean War Messrs Hird, Dawson &, Hardy's furnaces were THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. Ill almost solely employed in smelting iron for the making of monster gnns, mortars, and cannon- Lalls. Their gun-model room contains even to- day numerous specimens of the gigantic pieces of ordnance turned out of tlie works in the Sebastopol days. These objects duly commemo- rate the fact that Low Moor iron was exten- sively employed in reducing the walls of the great Crimean stronghold, and serve also as a reminder that since those days the course of things has changed somewhat at Low Moor, the Government having monopolised to a con- siderable degree the manufacture of the dread engines of war. Weldless railway tyres, boilers for steam-engines, sugar-pans for tlie West Lidies, water-pipes, gigantic beams, wheels, cylinders, and heavy ironwork of all descriptions are now made at these works ; and the more primitive labour of smeltin^f, forofiuf?, tiltiuij, rollino- slit- ting the precious metal into bars, sheets, and rods, is done on a very extensive scale. Mr. Henry Wickham Wickham was drafted into the business in early manhood. He was born in the year 1800, and received his education, first at the Bradford Grammar School, and after- 112 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. wards at Oxford. With the view of fitting liimself for the position to which he had been taught to look forward from his childhood, he devoted himself with great assiduity to the study of metallurgy ; and on taking his place in the counting-house at Low Moor, he was found to be quite equal to the responsibility that was reposed in him, and for many years he plodded steadily on and exercised a general superintendence over the works. In 1833 he was made a West Eiding magistrate, and showed himself such an able and careful administrator, that in 1842 he was appointed chairman of quarter sessions. From that time he began to take a prominent part in the public affairs of the district, and in 1847 was put in nomination, along with his partner Mr. Gathorne Hardy (now Lord Cranbrook), for the representation of Bradford in Parliament ; but both he and Mr, Hardy were on that occasion unsuccessful. When the dissolution of 1852 took place, however, Mr. Wickham was again desired to allow liimself to be brought forward as a candidate, and consented. The other candidates were General Thompson and Mr. Eobert Milligan. It is worthy of remark that the present senior TUE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 113 member for Bradford, the Eight Hon. W. E. Forster, was the proposer of General Thompson on tlie nomination-day. The contest was a very exciting one, and resulted in the return of Mr. Millififan and Mr. Wickham, the latter havinfj a majority of six votes over General Thompson. Mr. Wickham continued to represent Bradford until tlie day of his death, which occurred in Se])tember, 1867. Mr. Wickham, although he failed to make any particular mark upon the parliamentary history of the country, was a faith- ful and painstaking representative, and won the confidence and esteem of all parties to such an extent that his constituents remained well satisfied witli his services during the fifteen years that he sat for them. Mr. Lamplugh Wickham Wickham was for many years the principal managing partner of the Low Moor Works, and resided at Chestnut Grove, near Tadcaster. For the long space of half a century Mr, Lamplugh Wickham was actively engaged in connection with the works, and much of the success which attended the undertaking during that period was due to the ability and energy evinced by him. He was a magistrate and deputy- VOL. I. I 114 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. lieutenant of the West Eicling ; and although he never attempted to make for himself a public career, he was associated with many prominent public movements, and botli as a country gentle- man and a man of business has earned an honoured name. He died on January 2nd, 1883. A fountain has been erected to his memory at Low Moor, and a stained glass window in St. Mary's Church, Boston Spa, both memorials being contributed by the Low Moor workpeople. But distinguished as the Dawsons, the Hirds, and the Wickhams have been in many ways, it has been left to the third family of Low Moor partners — the Hardys^to command the greatest amount of public attention, their connection with the Bar and the senate havinor in more recent times been of such an eminent cliaracter as to render their names and services familiar to the nation generally. The John Hardy who was one of the original partners in the Low Moor Company was the grandfather of Lord Cranbrook and Sir John Hardy, and practised as an attorney in Brad- ford at tlie time that the ironworks were established, and for many years afterwards. THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 115 He "was a man of great energy of character, and held important sway at Low Moor to the end of his hfe. In 1803, when the country was in daily expectancy of a Bonapartist in- vasion, Mr. Hardy organised a cyclopean regiment of volunteers at Low Moor, composed of colliers and ironworkers ; and had the opportunity ever served, there is little doubt this band of heavy infantry would have made a decided impression in the field of battle. Accustomed to the sight of shot and shell in their daily labours, they regarded themselves as half soldiers to begin with, and there was much reliance placed on these stalwart fellows by the inhabitants, more especially as they had for their colonel such a gallant and ir.- domitable gentleman as Mr. Hardy. The place "where the iron regiment used to go through their military evolutions still bears the name of Soldier Green. It is interesting to note also that, although he was himself engaged in an industrial concern which had the effect of filling the air in the vicinity of the works with clouds of black smoke, he was one of the persons who, in 1793, signed a notice to a I 2 116 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. cotton manufacturer, who proposed to erect a steam-en o^ine at Bradford, threatening^ him with proceedings if he continued with his project and created a nuisance. This notice had the effect of deferringf the date of the introduction of the steam-engine into Bradford for fully five years ; but Mr. Hardy lived to see the dreaded machines brought into general use in the neighbourhood, and his own firm largely en- gaged in promoting their adoption. Mr. Hardy's practice as a solicitor extended with the ex- tension of the iron business, and for many years prior to his death he had a very lucrative connection, holding several good appointments. His eldest son, Mr, John Hardy (father of Lord Cranbrook), was born in 1773, and was brought up to the Bar. He succeeded to his father's share in the Low Moor Works, and the partnership made him an exceedingly wealthy man ; still he remained faithful to the profession in which he had been educated, and made himself a leading position both at the West Eiding sessions and at the assizes. Mr. Hardy was a fluent speaker, fervid and im- THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 117 pressive in liis style, and very tenacious in argument. His success as an advocate brought liini prominently into notice, and procured liim the appointment of Eecorder of Leeds, a post which he held for twenty-seven years. During the greater part of this period he resided w^ith his family in the neighbourhood of Leeds ; but on relinquishing the recordership removed to Heath Hall, near Wakefield. His abilities as a speaker, and his decided views on political matters, early marked him out as a proper aspirant for parliamentary honours, and in 1830 he was prevailed upon to become a candidate for the representation of Pontefract. Pontefract, however, declined the proffered alliance ; and in 1832, when, by the passing of the Eeform Bill, Bradford w^as allowed the privilege of sending two members to St. Stephen's, Mr. Hardy presented himself as a candidate for the honour of representing his native town. Li those days the ceremony of nomination was the cause of great excitement, and it was the cus- tom then and on every subsequent occasion, when a Low Moor partner had to be proposed on the Bradford hustings, for the foundrymen 118 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. and colliers of Low Moor to come down in a body to exercise their lungs and hold up their hands in support of their master. This was a matter over which the proprietors had no control ; the men had always great admiration for their masters, and were not to be deterred from showing it at such times as those. Mr. Hardy was duly elected on the polling-day, in conjunction with Mr. Lister, and the old ceremony of " chairing " the members was sub- sequently proposed to be indulged in. The newly-elected members, however, sent their sons to represent them on this occasion ; and Lord Cranbrook will doubtless still retain a lively recollection of the horse-play that the populace occupied themselves with, when the young proxies were rudely upset and the chairs broken to pieces. Mr. Hardy was reelected — this time at the .head of the poll — in 1835, and on the returning-officer declaring him and his col- league to be duly returned, he addressed the crowd in words, which might almost have been delivered by his sons, so thoroughly do they seem to represent the political views of the Hardys of to-day. He said if there was a THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 119 man who went to Parliament desirous to pro- mote reform, to accelerate the abolition of abuses, and still maintain uninjured the vener- able institutions of the country, he was the man. He was ready with an}' man to take the pruning-knife and lop off the excrescences of the good old constitutional tree ; but he would not join any man who came with spade and pickaxe to uproot and level it witli the earth. In 1837 there was another dissolution, and on presenting himself a third time before the electors of Bradford he met with a more formidable opposition than previously, and suffered defeat. In 1841, however, he was again a candidate, and on the nomination-day was escorted from Low Moor to Bradford 1)y an immense procession, in which bands of music, flags, banners, carriages, horses, and foundrymen curiously intermingled. Mr. Hardy was on this occasion returned at the head of the poll. In 1847, Mr. Hardy retired from parliamentary life, and at the general election of that year his son, Mr. Gathorne Hardy (Lord Cranbrook), and his partner, Mr. Wick- ham, became candidates ; but the Low Moor 120 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. element was doomed to be unsuccessful, Mr. William Busfeild and General Thompson being the members elected. Mr. Hardy senior now betook himself to less exciting pursuits, and passed the remainder of his days in comparative seclusion. In 1849 he bought the Dunstall Hall estate in Staffordshire, and resided there until his death, which occurred in September, 1855, the year before Mr. Gathorne Hardy made his first appearance in Parliament. " Mr. Hardy, who was eighty-two jea.vs of age when he died, had married Isabel, daughter of Mr. Eiehard Gathorne of Kirkby Lonsdale, by whom he had a family of twelve children, only three of them being sons — John Hardy, Charles Hardy, and Gathorne Hardy. Mr. John Hardy succeeded to the Dunstall Hall property, and for many years had a seat in the House of Commons. He had a baronetcy conferred upon him by Lofd Beacon sfield in 1876. Sir John Hardy is well known at the Low Moor Works, in which he has always taken a deep interest, and one of his sons is now actively employed as a managing partner. Mr. Charles Hardy, Mr. John Hardy's second THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 121 son, was more intimately concerned with the ironworks than eitlier of his brothers, liowever, the greater part of his Hfe having been taken up with the business of superintending tlie gigantic establishment. Mr. Charles Hardy was born in 1813, and in 1837, at the age of twenty- four, he took up his abode in the neighbour- hood of Low Moor, and thenceforward devoted himself with untiring assiduity to the duties of his position. For many years his time was almost solely occupied with the works ; but he was a man of great benevolence of spirit, and had a deep reverence for religious matters. He resided at Odsal House during the time of his active employment at Low Moor, and from thence he proceeded every Sunday, no matter what the state of the weather or how full his house might be of visitors, to teach his class in the Sunday-school. Nearly all his spare time was given to the promotion of educational and rehgious objects, and he gave liberally of his wealth in support of the charitable and other institutions of the district. It was mainly due to his efforts that a scheme was set on foot for building ten new churches in Bradford, to the 122 THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. cost of erectinof and endowiiii? which he was the largest contributor. He lived to see seven of the ten churches completed. The only part he took in tlie management of public affairs was as a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant. He was a frequent chairman of quarter sessions. Unlike his brothers, Lord Cranbrook and Sir Johji Hardy, Mr. Charles Hardy w^as of a remarkably diffident disposition, and was never more ill at ease than when called upon to speak in public. When he did speak, however, it was so evident that he spoke from the conviction and sincerity of his heart, that he was always listened to with respect. Unostentatious, kind, and considerate, he was regarded with honest affection by the Low Moor workpeople, and when he died at Chilham Castle, Kent, in 1867, the event was much deplored by all who had known him. We now come to speak of the member of the Low Moor firm whose name stands most prominent of all in the public mind — Lord Cranbrook. He was born in 1814, and 'was educated at Shrewsbury School and Oriel Col- lege, Oxford, where he took a second-class in THE LOW MOOR COMPA^•Y. 123 classics, and graduated B.A. in 1836. In 1838 lie married Jane, daughter of Mr. James Orr, of Holyrood House, County Down. His father destined him for the law, under the impression that his natural abilities would find more con- genial occupation in advocacy than in dancing attendance upon the furnaces and forges of Low^ Moor. Thus it came about that Mr. Gathorne Hardy in a measure alienated himself from the celebrated ironworks from w^hich his family's immense wealth had chiefly sprung. He paid frequent visits to Low^ Moor, it is true, and staj'ed there occasionally for a lengthened period, but he never identified himself so thoroughly with the management of the establishment as did his brothers, or as his father or grandfather had done. It was evident from the fifst that Mr. Gathorne Hardy w^as cut out for a public career. He w'as called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1840, and practised for several years. Meanwhile he paid great attention to the course of political events, and got into such high favour with his party that in 1847, on the retirement of his father, he was nominated, as lias already been pointed out, as a 124: THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. candidate for the representation of Bradford. On tliat occasion he said, " I enter the arena of poHtical life unfettered by party ties, and with a sincere determination to use all my energies in the furtherance of national and not party objects. Believing as I do that under our present constitution civil and religious liberty is secured to all, I would, while, ack- nowledging the necessity of progress, lay no incautious hand upon institutions under which this vast empire has been consolidated, and which though they may require modification, ought not to be subjected to organic change," His proposer described him as " a man with a heart of oak, and a chip of the old block." Prom tliat time, when he was defeated, until 1856, Mr. Gathorne Hardy made no further attempt to get into Parliament, but in the latter year he was elected for Leominster, which place he continued to represent until 1865. On Lord Derby's accession to power in 1858 Mr. Hardy was appointed Under-Secretary for the Home Department, a post which he filled until June, 1859, when his party went out of office. The turning point in Mr. Hardy's career was in THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 125 1865, when lie was brought forward in opposition to Mr. Gladstone at Oxford University, and was successful in turning out the statesman by whom the University had been represented for eighteen years. Leominster did Mr. Hardy the honour at the same time of reelecting him, but he naturally chose to sit for the University. When the Conservatives assumed the reins of office in 1866, Mr. Hardy was made President of the Poor-Law Board, with a seat in the Cabinet, and in May, 1867, he was appointed to the Home Secretaryship. The more recent events in Mr. Gathorne Hardy's career may be ver}' briefly outlined. Wlien the Conservatives returned to power in 1874 he was appointed Secretary for War, and subsequently held the post of Secretary of State for the Indian Department. In 1878 he was raised to the peerage under the title of Viscount Cranbrook. Two of his sons, the Hon. John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, and the Hon. A. E. Gathorne- Hardy, have had seats in the House of Commons, the former as representative for Eye, and the latter for Canterbury ; and his lordship had another son, the Hon. Harold Gathorne-Hardy, 126 THE LOW MOOK COMPANY. who was a partner in the Low Moor Works, and was actively employed there as one of the resident managers. In the month of June, 1881, however, the highly-promising career of the last-named gentleman was cut short ; he died at Low Moor, much regretted, at the early age of 31. On June 9th, 1883, the Harold Memorial Club was opened at Low Moor in commemoration of him by Viscount Cranbrook. The. working manager of the establishment is Mr. W. Nugent Smyth, who lives at Eoyds Hall. It may be mentioned also that the Hon. Harold Gathorne-Hardy, was a West Eiding magistrate, as is his cousin, Mr. Lawrence Hardy, the son of Sir John Hardy. In 1854 the Low Moor Company obtained a considerable accession to their undertaking by the purchase of the neighbouring ironworks of Bierley, which had existed from about the year 1810, having been founded by Mr. Nathaniel Aked, and subsequently carried on with great success by Mr. Henry Leah, who died in 1846 possessed of a handsome fortune, the whole of which had been acquired in carrying on the Bierley works. These works are within a short THE LOW MOOR COMPANY. 127 distance of Bierley Hall, where Dr. Eicliardson, the famous naturalist, lived in the early part of the eighteenth century, and which has since been occupied in turn by Miss Currer, the present Sir Mathew Wilson, Mr. Henry Leah, and others. It was in this hall that Miss Currer kept her library of 20,000 volumes, the printed catalogue of which occupied five hundred pages. At the Bierley Ironworks, which have been greatly extended since their absorption into the Low Moor system, pig-iron alone is manufactured, the ore found on the Bierley estate being of the same quality as that underlying the original Low Moor estate. The history of the Low Moor Ironworks stretches over a period of ninety years, during which time, as we have shown, the colossal establishment has been the means of o-ivinir princely fortunes to representative after repre- sentative of the three families wdio were the original promoters of the undertaking. It is somewhat remarkable that the business instincts and great natural abilities of the founders of these Avorks should have been inherited so fully by their descendants, and that the partnership 128 THE LOW MOOR COMPA^^Y. should, after all these years, still remained confined to the members of those families. Low Moor will always hold a prominent place in the history of the iron industries of this country, which it has assisted so much to develop ; and linked as it is with so many illustrious names, and productive as it has been of wealth. Low Moor deserves to rank high amongst the places where " fortunes in business " have been found. Sm JOSIAII MASON. SIR JOSIAII MASOil ^rMONG men who have made themselves it would be difficult to find one who, from force of character, or from the noble and thouglit- ful employment of wealth gained by ingenuity and industry, is more remarkable than Sir Josiah Mason, the founder of the great Orphanage, at Erdington, near Birmingham, and of the Science College in Birmingham itself. It would be difficult also to find one who is less known to his countrymen. Even in his own town, wliere iie had lived from early manhood. Sir Josiah Mason was but a name to most of the half million people amongst whom his life was cast. Up to middle age few persons suspected that he was rapidly acquiring wealth, and still fewer had any idea of the us^s to which he proposed to put liis ample means. Up to old age his name was literally unknown, evei*! in the trade by which the bulk of K 2 132 SIR JOSIAH MASON. his money was obtained ; for although, he was the most extensive pen-maker in the world, his pens — for the greater part of the time he was in business — bore the names of those who sold them instead of that of him who made them. Those who write with steel pens all the world over are familiar with the famous " Perryian pen ; " but of those who used this instrument, not one in a million knew that it was made, literally by the ton weight by Mason. The same may be said of the pens issued by some eminent French and other Continental houses. Though French or Belgian or German names were stamped upon them, they were produced in Mason's manufactory in Lancas- ter Street, Birmingham ; and their qualities, which made them popular, were due to the improvements Mason himself introduced into the manufacture. It was much the same with the other commercial undertakings of this remarkable man. As one of the earliest electro-platers, in conjunction with the renowned house of Elkington, as a copper- smelter on a great scale, and later as one of the largest nickel-makers in the kingdom. Mason sedulously kept himself in the background ; so that even those who constantly met him in the SIR JOSIAH MASON. 133 keen competition of business scarcely knew with whom they were com^^eting. This characteristic of reticence and, so to s|)eak, of self-effacement marked the whole of his life. He sought no office of public trust or distinction ; he never took part in political or religious affairs ; his name never figured in the management of associated commercial undertakings. His life was passed quietly, though busily, between his works and his home ; and thus he was so little known that when his great benefactions began to be noised abroad, his townsmen, and even his neighbours, were struck with a strange surprise ; and, ever eager to magnify the imperfect knowledge upon which it thrives, rumour began to make him out wealthier, more active, and more enterprising than he really was. Now, of course, he is widely known by means of the fame of his works and by the diffusion of his portraits ; but of those who look with pride and pleasure at the lineaments of the man, not a thousandth part ever saw him in his lifetime. His one desire was quiet seclusion, freedom to do his work in his own way, relief from parade or ostentation of all kinds ; his two great pleasures consisted in the acquisition of wealth by 134 SIR JOSIAH MASON. legitimate industry, and the spending of it in labours of permanent beneficence. To enable him to do this he lived with great simplicity, liberally in fair accordance with his means — for he was no raiser ; there was no trace of the niggard about him — but with a serious conviction that he was only a steward of what, in the essential piety of his nature, he believed Providence had given him to be used for the benefit of those who needed help. In this respect the character and the life of Josiah Mason are well expressed by the texts of Scripture which a true and loving friend, one who of all men knew him best, inscribed upon the simple memorial card which recorded the dates and places of his birth and death. It runs thus : " In affectionate memory of Sir Josiah Ma,son, Knight, founder of the orphanage and alms- houses at Erdington, and the Mason Science College, Birmingham. Born at Kidderminster, February 23, 1795. Died at Erdington, June 16, 1881." Then follow the texts which sum up his work and portray his character : " I delivered the poor that cried, and the father- less, and him that had none to help him. SIR JOSIAH MASON. 135 " By the blessing of tlic Lord I profited, and filled my winepress like a gatherer of grapes. Consider that I laboured not for myself only, but for all them that seek learning." With these brief introductory notes, we pass to a sketch of the leading incidents of Sir Josiah Mason's life, and to some endeavour to show the nature of the work he did, and to indicate the character of the man who did it. Sir Josiah Mason was born on February 23rd, 1795, at Kidderminster, in a little house in Mill Street, a circumstance identified with the place, the upper part of Mill Street being now called Josiah Mason Street, to commemorate a benefaction given by Sir Josiah to the dispen- sary of the town. His ancestors, so far as they are known, were Kidderminster people, though there is a belief that they came originally from Coventry. But precise knowledge does not go very far back — not farther than Sir Josiah's grandfather, a working bombazine weaver at Kidderminster, who was also a good mechanic, and was in much request as a mender of looms and other weaving and milling machinery. This Josiah Mason had an only son, also Josiah, who 136 SIR JOSIAH MASON. was at first a bombazine weaver, then a carpet weaver, and finally a clerk to Mr. John Broom, a carpet manufacturer at Kidderminster. He married Elizabeth Griffiths, the daughter of a respectable workman at Dudley ; and the second son of the couple just described was the Josiah Mason whose enterprise and whose noble employ- ment of his wealth have combined to make him famous. There were three other children of the marriage, two bo^^s and a girl ; one of the sons died young ; the other son and the daughter have now been dead for some years. The early life of Josiah Mason was hard and unpromising. His only schooling was that ob- tained at a dame school, held in a cottage next door to his father's house, and this was not merely poor, but extremely brief — so brief, indeed, that at about eight years old Josiah began to work, and, characteristically enough, on his own account, for in him independence began at an early age. It was a humble line of business — that of selling cakes in the streets. When speak- ing in later years of this period of his life. Sir Josiah Mason used to recount with much humour, and not without a touch of honest pride, his SIR JOSIAH MASON. 137 entrance upon " trade ; " how lie held the position of a sort of middleman, going to the baker's, and buying his cakes at sixteen to the dozen, puttinij; them into a couple of baskets neatly fitted up by liis mother, and going his rounds amongst his regular customers, -with whom the little fellow became so great a favourite that they always waited for " Joe's cakes " and rolls, and sometimes gave him a penny extra, as much probably out of kindness for the vendor as of liking him for his wares. His next venture was more ambitious ; the cake-baskets were turned into panniers, and were strung over the back of a donkey — loftily named after Admiral Eodney, then famous for his naval victories — and Josiali Mason converted himself into a dealer in fruit and vegetables, which he carried about from door to door. So matters went on until the lad was about fifteen, when he grew tired of the trade of the streets, and began to desire more settled employment. One reason for this was that his elder brother, a con- firmed invalid, needed company ; and in order that he might give him companionship, Josiali taught liimself shoemaking, as a trade that could 138 SIR JOSIAH MASON. be practised indoors. For a time this answered, but eventually it had to be given up. Josiali, true to the instincts of his nature, was too strict a stickler for quality. As he told the writer of these lines, he bought the best leather, and j)ut into it the best work, and he humourously added, " I found I couldn't make it pay and must become a bankrupt, and so I gave it up." He now devoted himself to improving his education, and contrived to teach himself how to write ; then, by acting as a letter-writer for the poor people about him, he managed to earn enough to buy a few books, chiefly of a solid kind — theology, history, and elementary science ; novels, and light literature generally, being excluded from his course. In these studies he was much assisted by instruction received at the Unitarian Sunday-school, the well-known Kidderminster Old Meeting — formerly Eichard Baxter's chapel — and afterwards he attended the Wesleyan Sunday- school, where writing was taught. This advance in education soon had its natural effect by inducing Mason to desire some kind of settled employment, which would offer, at least, tlie chance of making progress in life. It was, SIR JOSIAH MASON. 139 liowever, a difficult matter to settle. The one trade of Kidderminster was carpet-weaving, and this he did not greatly care for. So he tried various handicrafts, such as carpentering, black- smith's work, and house-painting ; but none of them suited him, and at last, in despair of some- thin"- better, he took for a time to his father's occupation, the carpet-weaving. He first went to this employment in 3 814, when he was about nineteen years of age, and for some tmie practised it at the works of a Mr. Broom, at Tinker's Hill Here he stayed for two years ; but the longer he tried it, the more distasteful the occupation grew. It was no wonder ; the labour was hard, such work as could be had was irregular — about a pound a week was the full amount of wages a journeyman could earn. As to starting as a master, that was out of the question, for a considerable amount of capital was necessary. Thus cut off from all prospect of solid advancement at Kidderminster, the young- man determined to try a bold stroke by remov- ing to Birmingham, to see if amongst the mul- tifarious trades of the toyshop of the world there might not be one that offered an opening for 140 SIR JOSIAH MASON. him. It was a happy resolution for himself, and, as the event proved, for Birmingham also. Nor was it such a rash proceeding as might appear at first sight ; for Mason had some chance of introduction to Birmingham trade through an uncle who lived there — Eichard Griffiths, his mother's brother, a clerk in one of the glass- works of the town. To this uncle, in his twenty- first year. Mason paid a Christmas visit, which decided his fate in two of the most important particulars of life. He found employment, and he fell in love. The object of his affections was his cousin, Anne Griffiths, whom he married at Aston Church on August 18th, 1817, and with whom he lived in unalloyed confidence and happiness for fifty-three years, when one of the tenderest of unions was dissolved by Mrs. Mason's death, on February 24th, 1870. To receive her remains the bereaved husband built a mausoleum in the Orphanage grounds, in the sight of his own house ; and there he was himself laid beside her. With his marriage Mason entered upon a new life in Birmingham. His uncle had entered upon business as a maker of imitation gold SIR JOSIAII MASON. 141 jewellery — the gilt-toy trade, as it is called in the technical nomenclature of the town — but his own engagements as a clerk in the glass-works prevented him from giving personal attention to the manufacture. Consequently he entrusted the works to a partner, whom, after much difficulty, he was obliged to eject. Josiah Mason took the partner's place as a salaried manager, and by skill and industry soon brought the business into a profitable condition. As a re- ward he was encouraged to expect a share of it for himself; but, to his bitter disappointment, after several years' working and waiting, he was deceived. He suddenly heard that his uncle intended to sell the business. With character- istic directness Mason went straight to him to ask if tliis was true. He found that it was true ; and so, just when he reasonably ex- pected to realise the fruits of his labour, he found himself with only a few pounds in his pocket, wholly out of employment, and with no immediate prospect of obtaining work. To his latest years this disappointment was constant in his mind. The writer of these pages has often heard him speak of it — more, however, 142 SIR JOSIAH MASON. in sorrow than in anger. The bitterness of it was the deception that had been practised upon him. As to material advantage, as things fell out, it was really the best thing tliat could have happened ; for what he then regarded as a calamity opened to him the road to fame and fortune. How this came about is worth telling ; and it may be well to say that the informa- tion on which the narrative is based was noted down by the present writer from Mason's own account. It was in 1822, when he was about twent}^- seven years old, that Mason left the gilt-toy business in Legge Street, with neither money in hand nor work in prospect. He was walking in the street, thinking, not over cheerfully, on what had best be done next, when a gentleman, an entire stranger, stepped up to him, and said, " Mr. Mason ! " " Yes," was the answer. " You are now, I understand, without employment?" " Yes," again. " Then I know some one wlio wants just such a man as you, and I will intro- duce you to him. Will you meet me to-morrow morning at Mr. Harrison's, in Lancaster Street ? " " I will," said Mason ; and so they parted. SIR JOSIAII MASON. 143 This good Samaritan proved to be Mr. Ileeley, a steel-toy maker, who probably knew Mason from having seen him at Belmont Eow Wesleyan Chapel, which he attended — the lleeleys, an old and respected Birmingham family, being leading Wesleyans. Next morning, as appointed, the two met at Mr. Harrison's ; and Mr. Ileeley promptly opened the business by saying, "Here, Mr. Harrison, I have brought you the very man you want." Mr. Harrison was a plain, blunt, old-fashioned man, with much of the humour which characterised his class in Birmingliam. He did not close very briskly with Mr. Heeley's offer of his new-found protege. " I have had a good many young men come here," he said, " but they were afraid of dirtying their fingers." At this, Mason, who had kept silence, involun- tarily opened his hands, looked at them, and. speaking to himself rather than to the others, said quietly, " Are you ashamed of dirt3'ing yourselves to get your own living ? " It was an unstudied touch of nature ; and Mr. Harrison, who had a keen insight into character, was instantly struck by it. A few inquiries satisfied 144 SIR JOSIAH MASON. him of Mason's capacity and of liis willingness to work. Before tliey parted an agreement had been come to, characteristic on both sides. " I have built myself a cottage," said Mr. Har- rison, " and am going to live at it. I shall take my furniture out of this house ; you come and live in it, and bring your furniture in." It is now more than sixty years since this bargain was entered into, and the business of split-ring making, with a great pen trade added to it, is still continued on the same spot ; for Mr. Harrison's house forms part of Sir Josiali Mason's works in Lancaster Street, now trans- ferred to Perry & Co. Twelve months later, Mr. Harrison, desiring to retire from business, sold his trade to Mason for 500/., which was paid out of the first year's profits ; but though the business connection was thus closed, the intimate association between the two — fatherly on Harrison's part, filial on Mason's — continued with increasing? affection until Mr. Harrison's death. Even in his own old age Sir Josiali could never speak of his early friend and bene- factor — and he often spoke of him — without visible emotion. Thus, in 1824, at the age of SIR JOSIAH MASON. 14o twenty-nine, Mason started as his own master, witli an excellent and profitable trade, which he rapidly dev^eloped by his industry and in- ventive skill. His most important invention was that of machinery for bevelling hoop-rings. These rings were then sold at sixpence each ; and so greatly was the speed and economy of production increased by the machine, that in the first year Mason gained 1,000/. by the use of it. His earliest machine, constructed in 1825, is now — or was until very lately — still at work in Lancaster Street. The split-ring trade, though it might have secured competence, could never have yielded wealth. For this something was required that should be in general and growing demand, and in the production of which machinery on a great scale could be employed. Such an open- ing Mason found in the making of steel pens, into which he was led by a happy accident, though, curiously enough, his friend and bene- factor, Mr. Harrison, had made an essay in the same direction ; for, being an intimate friend of Dr. Priestley, and the great philosopher having complained of his inability to shape a VOL. I. L 146 SIR JOSIAH MASON. quill pen, Harrison, so far back as 1780, con- trived to make a steel pen for him— -a rather clumsy implement (one or two specimens of which are still extant) laboriously shaped and filed to a point. It was not, however, till 1825 that steel pens proper — the machine-made pens now in common use — began to be made, and sold as articles of commerce. The first maker of these pens was Mr. James Perry, of Manchester, and afterwards of London ; wlio, in point of time, slightly anticipated Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Gillott, respectively the earliest Birmingham makers. Perry's pens, however, differed from theirs in not being wholly machine made — the slit, instead of being formed in a press, was made by cracking the pen with a blow from a hammer, after hardening, at a place previously marked in the soft steel. The method of making the slit is the great feature of the pen trade. Slitting byma^hine ry is the essential feature of the manufacture as now carried on ; and the question of real interest in the trade is not, who was the first maker of pens of steel, but who first made pens by machinery as a mechanical process and as SIR JOSIAH MASON. 147 articles of common use. The credit of this great improvement belongs to three persons, all of them working in Birmingham — Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Gillott, and Mr. Mason. The first named had slightly the priority in point of date. The others began about the same time, each unknown to the other, hitting upon the plan of making the slit by the press and the die instead of by means of cracking. There was, however, one considerable difference be- tween them. The names of Mitchell and Gillott became widely known as pen-makers, while that of Mason remained obscured ; for the reason that while the others dealt in pens on their own account. Mason for many years sup- plied to Mr. Perry all he made, and stamped them solely with Perry's name. His introduction to Mr. Perry happened in a curious way. The following account of it is transcribed from a note written by Sir Josiah Mason himself, and is therefore authentic : "About 1829 I saw in a book-shop window in Bull Street, Birmingham (Mr. Peart's), lune slip pens on a card, marked three-and-sixpence The novelty, and the thought of Mr Harrison's L 2 148 SIR JOSIAH MASON. pen, induced me to go in. Mr. Peart was writing with one of the pens. He said it was ' a regular pin.' I instantly saw that I could improve upon it, and offered to buy one of the pens. Mr. Peart, however, would not sell less than the whole card ; but at last he consented to sell the one he was writing with, and so I bought the ' pin ' for sixpence. I returned home, and made three pens that evening, and enclosed the best of the three in a letter, for which I paid ninepence postage. I had not the slightest knowledge of the maker ; but having with difficulty made out the lettering stamped upon the pen I had purchased to be ' Perry, Eed Lion Square, London,' I sent my letter there. This brought Mr. James Perry to 36, Lancaster Street, the following day but one, by eiglit o'clock in the morning ; and from that moment I became a steel-pen maker. Perry & Co. were my only customers for many years. From our first interview to the present time [this was written in 1873] I have been the sole and only maker of the Persian and the steel B pens sold under Perry's name." At first the pens were supplied to Mr. SIR JOSLVn MASON. 149 Perry in modest quantities, Sir Josiah Mason's books show that in 1829 and 1830 the sup- plies consisted of twenty or thirty gross at a time. The first lot of one hundred gross at one order was despatched to London on November 20th, 1830. In 1831 pens to the value of 1,421/. were made by Mr. Mason for Mr. Perry ; and from that time the trade grew witli wonderful rapidity, until, when in later j^ears his works received their full development. Sir Josiah Mason became the largest pen-maker in the world. In 1830 about twelve workpeople were employed in Lancaster Street, and one hundredweight of steel was thought a large quantity to roll for a week's consumption. In 1874, towards the close of Sir Josiah Mason's connection with the works, nearly a thousand persons were employed ; the quantity of steel rolled every week for penmaking exceeded three tons, and about sixty tons of pens were constantly in movement throughout the place, in one or other of the various stages of manufacture. When the reader is told that nearly a million and a half of pens may go to a single ton, 150 SIR JOSIAH MASON. he may form an estimate of the development the trade has received in the course of little more than fifty years. While the making of steel pens yielded the bulk of Sir Josiah Mason's fortune, another great industry, having its origin and its chief seat in Birmingham, contributed largely to it. This was the electro-plating trade. To all the readers of this book the name of Elkington will be familiar. Some of those whose memory goes back for twenty years will call to mind the associated names of Elkinijton and Mason as those of the men who, united in skill and enterprise, laid the foundations of the electro- plating trade. Here, however, Sir Josiah Mason did not appear as an inventor. That distinction, in his case, is confined to the application of machinery to the making of steel pens. With electro-plating his connection was that of a capitalist and an organiser. To the Elkingtons — two brothers, George and Henry, now both passed away -is due in a principal measure the merit of bringing the process of electro-plating to perfection, and of converting it from an interesting scientific ex- SIR JOSUH MASON. 151 periment into the means of creating a vast and still increasing branch of industry. But Mason's share in the work was important and honourable, a rare illustration of quickness in seizing a new idea, of sagacity in realising its possibilities of development, and of courage in bringing it within the range of practical application. The experiments made by the brothers Elkington were commenced three or four years before Mason joined them. In 1838 they began electro-plating by coating metal with gold and silver by immersing them in solutions of these precious metals ; and in July of the same year they patented a process ol coating copper and brass with zinc by means of an electric current generated by a piece of zinc attached by a wire to the articles to be coated, and immersed in the metallic solution with them. This was the first patent in whicli a separate current of electricity was employed for plating purposes. But there were great difficulties encountered in the practical em- ployment of this method. The coating could be effected, but the deposited metals failed to adhere firmly to their base. This difiiculty. 152 SIR JOSIAH MASON. which tlireatened to destroy the new-found art ill tlie very hour of its birth, was over- come by the discovery made by a Birmingham surgeon, Mr. John Wright, tliat by the use of the cyanides of gold and silver in electro- plating a thick, firm, and permanently adhesive deposit could be obtained. This discovery was communicated to the Messrs. Elkington, was tested and established by them, and was incorporated in a new patent which they took out. Now, however, a fresh obstacle arose. Science had triumphed ; the means of effecting the desired object were at the command of the inventors, their right to the use of their means was legally secured ; but money was wanting to bring the invention into practical use, and to overcome the resistance of the hand-plating trade and the prejudice of the public, who were slow to believe that a film of gold and silver deposited upon another metal could be anything more than a piece of scientific legerdemain. Mr. George Elking- ton had been brought into business relations with Josiali Mason, and it occurred to him that Mason might consent to risk the neces- SIR JOSIAH MASON. 153 sary capital in llie new business. His conjecture was well founded. Mason examined the process, became satisfied of its capabilities, entered into partnership with the Elkingtons, and immediately poured a stream of capita] into the new business. This connection began in 1844, and it lasted until 1856, just before the death of Mr. George Elkington. At first Mason intended to be merely the capitalist ol the concern — a kind of sleeping partner. But this decision was in a short time necessarily changed. Originally the patentees of this new process intended only to grant licenses to work it. Nobody, however, would take out licenses. So great was the distrust, and so powerful the resistance, that it seemed as if the patent might lapse before coming into considerable use. Mason pondered the matter, and saw clearly enough what must be done to make electro-plating a success. If the trade would not take out licenses to use the process, tlien the patentees must fight the platers, turn manufacturers, and prove by practical illustration that the new process was destined to supplant and finally to supersede and to 154 SIR JOSIAH MASON. destroy the cumbrous methods of hand-platings No sooner had Mason's active mind arrived at this conclusion than he set to work to realise it. He determined to strike a great blow, and to make a powerful impression. So he planned and erected the great works and show-rooms of the firm in Birmingham, for the production of table ornaments and works of art in electro-plate. At the same time he established large works for the manufacture of spoons and forks, knowing, as he slirewdly said, that the reputation as well as the solid profit of the enterprise must rest upon articles capable of being made by the hundred thousand, and requisite for common household use. Everybody in Bir- mingham at that time wondered at the colossal edifice which was rising in the town, and people wise in their own conceit foresaw the ruin of the capitalist who had undertaken to build it. Some of them went so far as to warn Mason of the enormous loss lie was incurring. " I certainl}^" he wrote to a friend, " had no idea that I could receive so much good advice from people I scarcety knew SIR JOSIAH MASON. 155 even by name." Counsel of this kind, by no means disinterested, amused and stimulated him. He never had lost money by the bold and prudent employment of his means, and he was not going to lose it now. His reply to his would-be friends was to push on the factory and show-rooms, to open places of business in London and liverpool, to send out agents all over the country, to engage the best workmen and the most competent artists, and in doing all this to pour out his money as freely as if it were water. It took years of labour, severe and anxious, to attain the great result which Mason had foreseen ; but intelligence, courage, and enterprise at last had their certain reward. By degrees a great business was built up ; and fnially the Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851 gave Elkington and Mason the desired opportunity of de- monstrating their triumph, and of estabhshing a position foreseen by both of them from the outset, and from which their house has ever since continued to advance. No more honourable chapter could be written in the history of British industry than a narrative of the creation 156 SIR JOSIAH MASON. and tlie development of the electro-plating trade ; and in any such narrative the record must be conspicuous of Mason's foresight, his tenacity of purpose, his courage in meet- ing difficulties, and his infinite resource in overcoming them. Besides these main occupations — pen-making and electro-plating — Mason from time to time engaged in others of great magnitude. For example, in conjunction with Mr. Elkington, he established copper-smelting works at Pembrey in South Wales ; and he and his partner also began the manufacture of indiarubber rings. At one period Mason was strongly tempted to enter into partnership with the great manufacturer of ordnance, Herr Krupp, of Essen, from whom he purchased important improvements in pen- making machinery at a cost of something like 10,000/., and thus laid the foundations of the gigantic works now under Herr Krupp's direc- tion. Late in life he engaged on a large scale in nickel-smelting, importing for that purpose vast quantities of ore from Xew Cale- donia, and in this enterprise he embarked a capital which in itself constituted a handsome SIR JOSIAH MASON. 157 fortune. Indirectly he was concerned in other businesses ; and as a furtlier occupation, as well as a means of investment, he largely speculated in buildins^ land in and near Birminsfliam. Wherever, indeed, money was to be made b}^ bold and sagacious ventures — always, however, under his own control, for he would have no foreign speculations, or any dealings with stocks and shares — Mason was prepared to make the venture and to reap the harvest. Thus by degrees — for his was not a quick success — he accumulated the wealth which enabled him to undertake the works of benevolence imperishably associated with his name. It must not, however, be sup- posed that Mason was a millionaire. Though he gave away nearly half a million in his lifetime, this constituted almost the full extent of his wealth. He reserved to himself only such a proportion as, in his judgment, would enable him to live on a scale of befitting comfort, would make provision for those — relatives and others — whom he considered to have claims upon him, and would in addition leave something more for the college which to his latest hour was constantly in his thoughts. 158 SIR JOSIAH MASON. We have thus far seen how Sir Josiah Mason began life, and how he made his money. Let us now turn to the idea he had formed of duty, and the use to which he devoted his wealth. First, as to his views of duty. From an early period of his life, Mason regarded himself rather as a steward of his means than as an actual possessor. The writer has often heard him tell how, in times when he was comparatively a poor man, he used to form plans for the disposal of money for the benefit of the helpless, and how time after time he discussed with his wife — and always with her strong approval — the schemes of benevolence which passed through his mind. It was this fixed idea that led him to the contemplation of great works of an indi- vidual character, rather than to the general diffusion of his gifts through the ordinary channels of charity. He liked, in fact, to do his work himself, and to see that it was really done in his own way ; and he felt that, in order to effect this purpose, he must carry out his undertakings while he continued in full health and vigour, and that he must also be content to divest himself of the funds requisite for liis SIR JOSIAH MASON. 159 purposes. When friends occasionally hinted that pretty nearly halt a million was a great sum to put out of his own control, he would reply with a kindly smile and a liomely proverb, " You can't eat your cake and have it." His enjoyment consisted in doing that which he wanted to do, and therefore it cost him no effort to give up the money. Such was Mason's view of duty. His conception of the kind of charitable work which it was best for him to do was equally clear. All through life he had felt a particular concern for the ai?ed and for little children. When a mere boy himself he gave up much of his own freedom to attend upon a crippled brother, and the same kind of sympathy manifested itself steadily in Later life. So far back as 1858 he made an actual commencement of his beneficent undertakings by founding at Erdington, the village where he lived, almshouses for thirty aged women and an orphanage for fifty girls. This was done so quietly that outside the village scarce^ anyone knew what he was doing. There were no newspaper paragraphs, no appeal for subscriptions, no committee of management, no parade of any kind. Josiali Mason built the 160 SIR JOSIAH MASON, necessary dwellings and provided the necessary funds, selected the persons to be admitted, and managed the joint institutions for himself. Many men would have thought it enough to assume the care and charge of a family of eighty people ; but Mason's notions grew rapidly witli the active exercise of benevolence, and he soon discovered that the orphanage was much too small to realise his ideal of what it should be. Having settled this point, he thought for a time of taking the public into his councils, and of asking for help in the establishment of a larger orphanage. With this view, he sought inter- views with some of the clergy in Birmingham, and offered to start an orphanage fund with a donation of 100,000/., on condition that the rest of the money required should be provided by subscription. But difficulties arose, chiefly on religious grounds. Mason would have no creeds or catechisms taught in his institution. He described himself as " a Christian unattached," and he desired that while the children received instruction in the principles of religion, they should not be trained in the belief of particular churches or sects. The clergy and others whom SIR JOSIAH MASON. 161 lie consulted did not see their way to work with him on these lines, and so the scheme of a public orphanage was given up. Then Mason set to work to do the thing in his own way. Accordingly, on September 19th, 18G0, he quietly laid the first stone of the new orphanage at Erdington, and for eight years he patiently and steadily continued the work, until the vast building was finished, by which time (1868) he had expended 60,000/. upon it. Then, b}- a deed executed in August, 1868, he transferred the edifice, together with an endowment in land and buildings, valued at 200,000/., to a body of seven trustees, to whom, after his death, the Town Council of Birmingham were empowered to add seven other official trustees by election, the founder himself, during his life, retaining the position of bailiff of the trust. Since the date above mentioned, the orphanage has been enlarged by the addition of new dormitories, a schoolroom, and a dining-hall, erected in 1874. It is now capable of receiving three hundred girls, one hundred and fifty boys, and fifty infants. This noble foundation is limited by no restriction of locality, class, or creed ; it is VOL. I. M 162 SIR JOSIAH MASON. open to all children born in wedlock ; the sole claim to admission being the necessity of the applicant, the only limitation the capacity of the building and the means at the disposal of the trustees. To the last hours of his active life, the orphanage was the object of Sir Josiali Mason's peculiar and incessant affection. He visited it daily, supervised every detail of its management, was known to every child in it, remembered and knew them all by name, and was regarded by all as a father as well as a benefactor. Nothing could be more touching than to see the little ones run up to him for a caress, slipping their tiny hands with loving trust into his hand, or receiving from him a kindly pat on the head ; nothing could be more simply beautiful than to witness the pleasure which their affection inspired in him. He will be mourned by these poor orphans as the only father many of them ever knew. While providing for so large a number of orphan children in his greater institution, Sir Josiah Mason did not abandon the smaller foundation he had previously established. On the contrary, he enlarged his almshouses for SIR JOSIAH MASON. 163 women at Erdington ; and lie converted the smaller orphanage into a home for servants who had been sent ont from the main fonndation, and who might require a place of retreat when temporarily disabled, or a home while seeking for new situations. It was in connection with the opening of the orphanage that the honour of knighthood was conferred on the founder. Mr. Gladstone was at that time Prime Minister, and, a statement of the circumstances of this act of large-hearted and open-handed beneficence having been laid before him, he received Her Majesty's commands to offer to Mr. Mason this honourable distinction, and letters patent for this purpose passed the Great Seal on November 30th, 1872. By special and most thoughtful permission of the Queen, in consideration of Mr. Mason's advanced age and the state of liis health at the time, the ceremonies of personal knighthood and of presentation at Court were dispensed with. We now come to the third, and in some respects the greatest, of Sir Josiah Mason's foundations: that which entitles him to rank with the promoters of learning, as the orphanage M 2 164 SIR JOSIAH MASON. does with the dispensers of charity. This im- portant work is the Scientific College, given to Birmingham complete in building, finishing, and endowment, at a cost of not less than 180,000/., and still further to be enriched by the posthumous benefaction of its founder. The plan of the college was resolved upon about 1868, and the foundation deed was prepared in 1870. It was necessary, however, in accordance with the requirements of the Mortmain Act, that twelve months should elapse after the signature of the deed before the conveyance to trustees could be finally effected. When the trustees were ap- pointed, a long period was necessarily occupied in preparing the actual building plans, for which purpose Mr. Cousins, the architect selected, visited all the principal science colleges in this country and in Germany. These preparations being at last complete. Sir Josiah Mason laid the foundation-stone of the building on his eightieth birthday, February 2ord, 1875. The address he then delivered contains so much interesting autobiographical matter, and so clearly indicates the intention and the motive of the founder and the scope of his work, that it SIR JOSIAII MASON. 165 is deserving of reproduction as an liistorical record wliicli some day will possess a special value : " It is a matter of deep satisfaction to me that at my advanced age I am still in possession of sufficient health and strength to allow me to take this personal share in commencing the work I have so much at heart ; it fills my mind with gratitude to the Giver of all good ; and if it should please Him to allow me to see the com- pletion of the building which we have just begun, I shall be content to depart with the confident belief that others, rightly appreciating my design, will carry out the scheme of the college in the spirit in which I have been permitted to begin it. This work, gentlemen, has been long in .my mind ; for I have always felt the importance of providing enlarged means of scientific instruction on the scale required by the necessities of this town and district, and upon terms which render it easily avail- able by persons of all classes, even the veiy lunnblest. The experience of my own life has long since satisfied me on this point. When I was a young man — it is so long ago that, 166 SIR JOSIAH MASON. wliile still living in this generation, I can recall the memories of a time long past — there were no means of scientific teaching open to the artisan classes of our manufacturing towns ; and those who, like myself, would gladly have benefited by them were compelled to plod our weary way under disadvantages and through difficulties of which the young men of this day can form no adequate idea. Schools at that time were few and poor, there were no insti- tutions of popular teaching, no evening classes to which youths might go after their day's work was ended. Whatever I learned I had to teach myself in the intervals of laborious and precarious occupations, first at Kidder- minster, my birthplace, and later in Birmingham, the home of my adoption and the place in which sixty years of my life have been spent. At Kidderminster, as a youth, I worked at a variety of trades — baking, shopkeeping, carpet- weaving, and others. When I came to Bir- mingham, in my twentieth year, I was first connected with one of the then staple trades of the town, the gilt-toy making, and it was not until after ten years of hard work and SIR JOSIAH MASON. 167 lieavy disappointment that I found the position that Providence had destined for me. At thirty years of age, with twenty pounds of savings as my wliole fortune, I was brought into asso- ciation with one of the most lionourable, industrious, and ingenious of men, Mr. Samuel Harrison, the inventor of split-rings, whom I served for a time, and to whose business on his retirement, I succeeded. Mr. Harrison was no common man ; he was a friend of Dr. Priestley, whom he assisted in many of his philosophical experiments, and for whom, I may mention, as a matter of interesting local history he made the first steel pen that ever was made in Birmingham. To me he was a dear and good friend, whose memory I have never ceased to cherish with continual affection. To the business I received from him I afterwards added the trade of steel-pen making, which I have now followed for more tlian forty-seven years, first as the maker of the well-known Perryian pens, and later in my own name, until I have developed the works into the largest pen factory in the whole world : thoucfh I ousj-ht to sav that the building in which they are now con- 168 SIR JOSIAH MASON. ducted no longer belongs to me, but lias been conveyed to the trustees of this college as part of their endowment, so that I am now the tenant of my own foundation. This business and that of the split-ring making were my sole occupations until 1840, when accident brought me into close relations with my late valued friend and partner, Mr. G. E. Elkington, who was then applying the great discovery of electro- deposition ; and through my association with him in this undertaking I may claim a share in the creation of a form of scientific industrj'- which has so largely enriched the town of Birmingham, and increased its fame throughout the world. To this we afterwards added the establishment of copper- works in South Wales. Since the death of my friend Mr. Elkington I have restricted myself to my original work as a pen maker and split-ring maker, with an occasional deviation into other employments in which science has been brought to the aid of industry. I mention these facts to show you how the means with which God has blessed me have been acquired, and to show also how natural it is that I should wish to devote some SIR JOSIAH MASON. 1G9 portion of tliose means to assist in promoting scientific teaching, to advance the varied forms of scientific industry with wliich throughout mv Birminirham Hfe I have been so closelv connected. But before I could take in hand the foundation of tliis college I had another work to do. I had always had a great desire to do some deed of love for the poor and helpless, and therefore my first care was to make provision for the aged and the orphans. This I was enabled to do by founding the orphanage and almshouses at Erdington ; and this being done, I was at liberty to turn my attention to the project of the college. There were many difficulties to be overcome. Willing- ness to give money will do much, but it will not do everything. The site, for example, was a great hindrance ; many places were thought of and put aside ; others were sought for, and could not be obtained. At last, by the willing cooperation of my friend, Mr. Philip Henry Muntz, M.P., I was enabled to obtain the land upon which we are now standing, though long negotiations were necessary before a sufficient extent could be secured. These delays, however. 170 SIR JOSIAH MASON. (lid not really do any harm to the scheme ; indeed, they afforded time for the proper con- sideration of the plan of the college and the preparation of a deed of foundation of a nature to give full effect to my wishes. For this I must acknowledge my great obligations to my friend and adviser, Mr. G. J. Johnson, and to other gentlemen, some of whom are included in the number of my trustees. At last, all difficulties being overcome, and the plans for tlie college being settled, we are assembled to witness the commencement of the building which I have undertaken to erect as the future home of the foundation, and before long I hope to see the first body of students collected within its walls. The scheme of the college, as most of you know, is a large one, and I have sought to make it as liberal as possible in the character and extent of the teaching, the system of management, and the mode and the terms of admission. Whatever is necessary for the im- provement of scientific industry and for the cultivation of art, especially as applied to manufactures, the trustees will be able to teach ; they may also, by a provision subsequent to SIK JOSIAH MASON. 171 tlie oriuinal deed, afford facilities for medical instruction ; and, as lias been mentioned in the address read by the Deputy-Mayor, they are authorised, and, indeed, enjoined, to revise the scheme of instruction from time to time, so as to adapt it to the requirements of the district in future years, as well as to the present time. It is not my desire to set up an insti- tution in rivalry of any other now existing, but to provide the means of carrying further and completing the teaching now given in other scientific institutions, and in the evening classes now so numerous in the town and its neighbourhood, and especially in connection with the Midland Institute, which has already conferred so much benefit upon large numbers of students, and which I am glad to see repre- sented here to-day. My wish is, in short, to give all classes in Birmingham, in Kidderminster, and in the district generally, the means of carrying on in the capital of the Midland district their scientific studies as completely and thoroughly as they can be prosecuted in the great science schools of this country and the Continent ; for I am persuaded that in this 172 SIR JOSIAH MASON. way alone — by the acquirement of sound, extensive, and practical scientific knowledge — can England hope to maintain her jDOsition as the chief manufacturing centre of the world. I have great, and I believe well-founded, hope for the future of this foundation. I look for- ward to its class-rooms and lecture-halls being filled witli a succession of earnest and intelligent students, willing not only to learn all tliat can be taught, but in their turn to communicate their knowledge to others, and to apply it to useful purposes for the benefit of the com- munity. It is in this expectation that I have done my part, thankful to God that He has given me the means and the will to do it ; hoping that from this place many original and beneficial discoveries may proceed ; tru sting- that I, who have never been blessed with children of my own, may yet in these students leave behind me an intelhgent, earnest, in- dustrious, and truth-seeking progeny for generations to come." The hope and confidence expressed by Sir Josiah Mason in the address above quoted have been already verified to a great extent. The capa- SIR JOSIAH MASON. 173 city of the college, for example, is equal to that of the leading institutions of the same kind, and in some respects it is superior. The site allotted to it occupies rather more than an acre, having a frontage of 149 feet to one of the principal streets of Birmingham, and 129 feet to another. Of this area about 2,250 square yards are now covered with buildings of a stately character, Gothic in design, and admirable in arrangement. There are three large lecture-theatres, numerous class-rooms, workshops, museums, a series of chemical laboratories of singular completeness ; a fine library already containing nearly seven thousand volumes of standard books in all departments of science ; and a noble examination- hall, which is used for meetings and for general assemblies in connection with the college. By the liberality of the trustees, a home has been found in the building for the Birmingham Ils'atural History and Microscopi,cal Society, the Philosophi- cal Societ}^ and tlie Historical Society ; so that the college has already become a centre of the intellectual life of the town. The professoriate, extended considerably since the opening, now includes chairs of mathematics, chemistry, biology 174 SIR JOSIAH MASON. physics, metallurgy, engineering and mining, geo- logy, physiology, Greek and Latin, English, French and German ; and to these the trustees are em- powered to add instruction in medical subjects, and in drawing, and indeed in whatever else may be required to make the scheme of education complete. The number of students is also satisfactory, about three hundred and fifty having entered for 1883, though the college was opened only in February, 1880, and moreover only the scientific chairs were filled during the terms for that year. Considering that Owens College, Manches- ter, began with fifteen students, the number attending at Mason's must be regarded as a great success. Something should be said of the principle upon which the college is based. This is one of absolute freedom. The trustees, it is true, must be " Protestants and laymen " — this the founder, by deed, declares to be fundamental — but this is the only restriction imposed. As to teachers or students, there is no limitation of birthplace or creed, nor are the students limited as to sex ; women are admitted just as freely as men, and no difference whatever is made in the treatment or the instruction of tlie sexes. Who- SIR JOSIAU MASON. 175 ever can teach may be employed at Mason College ; whoever cares to learn may enter there, upon terms of perfect equality. If the progress thus begun is continued, we may look forward, before many years have passed, to the college becoming the parent and the centre of a Midland University. This ultimate destiny was present to the mind of the founder and of his advisers ; and as regards buildings, teaching staff, capacity of extension, and the liberality of its endowments, the college is well fitted to aim at the measure of growth required to fit it for such a distinction. Having now broadly sketched the work accom- plished by Sir Josiah Mason, we may properh- include by offering some estimate of the character and the personal qualities of a man of whom not Birmingham onl}-, but England, ma}^ well count as amongst the most honourable and the most use- ful of their citizens. Sir Josiah Mason was in all respects a man of mark. He was one who, had he been differently placed and trained, might have shaped the institutions of a nation. It may seem strange to say this of a man know^n so little, even to his own townsfolk ; yet those who knew him intimately will admit the truth of a judg- 176 SIR JOSIAH MASON. ment which ascribes to him the higli quaUties of leadership and statesmanship, though obscured by the defects of early training, and limited by the absence of wider opportunity. He had, to begin with, a strong, powerful, almost irresistible will. That which he wanted he would have, and in a great measure he did have. It was useless to argue with him Avhen his mind was clearly set upon a particular object. It might be a small, seemingly even a trivial, matter of business ; it might be a regulation of his own life, or the lives of those about him ; it might be the creation of a new endustrial interprise, or it might be the slow and careful shaping of some great scheme of beneficence. But whatever it was, the rule applied in all cases, and with equal force. The trunk of an elephant, naturalists tell us, can be so guided in its force as to pick up a pin or to rend an oak. So it was with Mason. Little or great, all objects and purposes came within the range of his powerful will ; and whoever and ■whatever opposed, he surely conquered in the end. Not that he was blindly obstinate, or unwilling to take counsel. Given a real compre- hension of his plans, and willingness to help them, SIR JOSIAH MASON. 177 and lie was eager to obtain the best advice and assistance he could. This was shown in the arrangements of his college, in regard to which lie sought the concurrence of experts in such matters, and left the working out of the plan to them, content that his own main purpose should be fulfilled. Another great quality which he possessed — very helpful to the accomplishment of his will— was absolute patience. He knew how to wait. If the thing in hand could not be done this year, it might be done next 3"ear ; if the means immediately available were not adequate, he quietly went on storing up the requisite strength. With patience there went close in union a wonderful perseverance. Mason was remarkably tenacious. He held firm to his purpose, and worked it out with never-ceasing vigilance and energy. He had also self-control, the quality which enables men to control others ; and he had further that rare gift — one which is essential to the accomplishment of great purposes — that of seeing, as if by instinct, what was possible and what was outside reasonable range. As inventor, as organiser, as a conductor of a VOL. I. N 178 SIR JOSIAH MASON. great business, as a founder of great institutions, this saved liim from dissipating liis energies, kept him clear from the pursuits of mere crotchets, guarded him from that fruitless labour of beating the air, in which so many men lose their time, their means, and their influence. He had fancies, no doubt some of them curious ones ; he was touched now and then wit^ " isms " of one kind or another ; but tliese never crossed the boundary- line of practical life. When that was reached his hard, keen, clear, and strong common sense always asserted the mastery, and firmly put aside every distracting influence and every disturbing force. These, then, were the distinctive notes of Mason's character — resoluteness of will, patience, self-control, marvellous energy, quick, keen, and almost unerring insight. These developed in him a faculty of organisation rarely excelled, a contempt of difficulties, and a fertility of re- source, tlie depth and variety of which often surprised those who knew him best. By the exercise of such qualities, too, he supplied the defects of education. Though he never read very mucli, he knew more than many men who SIR JOSIAH MASON. 179 have been sedulous book-students. He went, indeed, to the sources of books, and read men instead. When an expert in any subject had laid his plans before Mason, or had disclosed to him the results of long inquiry, he found that Mason knew as much of it as he did. The manner of restating the knowledge may be quaint, or even awk,ward ; but the knowledge itself had been thoroughly mastered and assimi- lated, and, so to speak, had been stored for future use. How did he apply it ? In the first place, unquestionably to money-getting. He had a keen delight in making a good bargain, and it was hard to make with him a bargain that was not good for himself. Even sixpence had its value in his eyes, and it was pleasanter and more valued if he had acquired it by his own personal skill than if it had come in a mere ordinary course of profit. He delighted also in great enterprises, where the prospective gains were balanced by tlie attendant risks. Though careful in an extreme degree — not penurious, for he was never sordid in small things, nor was he ever a miser — he would pour into some new enterprise thousands after thousands, even N 2 180 SIR JOSIAH MASON. though to casual observers it might seem that the money was running into a quicksand. But he knew where tlie bottom was, and he had the courage and the skill to go on until he found it ; and then he slowly built up a great success upon the seemingly shifty foundation. But when the success had come, and when the wealth was acquired, what then ? Here the nobler side of Mason's character disclosed itself. The doing of tender works of charity for the helpless, the ex- tension of knowledge amongst those willing to seek it, these were his aims, these the object for which he worked, and for which he desired and amassed wealth. To " deliver the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him," this was one of his chief objects in life. To " labour for all them that seek learning," this was the other. Nor did he wait until old age before he began these works. Some people suppose that Mason's gifts were those of a man from whom the world was slipping away, and for whom wealtli had no longer any charm. It is an error and an in- justice to his memory. He was always thinking of the children. His early years were spent, so SIR JOSIAH MASON. 181 far as lie could effect it, in the care of a crippled brother ; in his maturer years he began not only to think of the orphans, but to provide for them. Years and years before the stately building at Erdington was reared, he had an orphanage and an almshouse for aged women established in the village at his own cost and under his own loving care ; and by degrees, as means and time per- mitted, he extended this foundation, until it developed into the magnificent charity which will perpetuate his name for generations to come. It was very touching to see him amongst his great family of children whom he had gathered within sight of his own dwelling-place. They knew and loved him as their second father ; and he knew all of them, and loved them as if they had been his own. There was a pathetic tremor in his voice when he spoke of them. He felt that they belonged to him, and they, in turn, recognised the relationship, and gave him their confidence and affection. From the moment it was begun, down to the closing hours of con- scious work, the orphanage had his love ; and a pure, and tender, and very noble love it was. In a different sense his college shared this feeling ; 182 SIR JOSIAH MASON. it was the object of his pride and his hopes. He felt that in founding it he had given proof of a solid and earnest love of learning ; that in endowing it he had put learning within the reach of all ; that in the wise ordination of its administrative scheme he had secured the fulfil- ment of his desire, and the continuance of a healthy and growing life for his foundation. That which he did not feel so much, but which those associated with him recognised as one of the noblest features of his beneficence, was that, with singular self-abnegation, he had in his life- time divested himself of the control of the vast sums expended upon his institutions. Many men will bequeath money in great amounts, others will spend it freely, so that they may retain the power of administration during their lives ; Mason simply conceived his plans, sought out the persons whom he could trust with the conduct of them, and then, with both hands, gave away his wealth bej'ond all power of recall. The very house he lived in belonged to the orphanage, and he paid rent for it as an ordinary tenant. His manufactory, while he remained in business, w^as tlie property of his college SIR JOSIAII MASON. 183 trustees, and this also he rented at the price it woukl bring fairly in the market. This one fact stamps the genuine unselfishness of his character. THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION: SIR HENRY BESSEMER. THE EOMANCE OF INVENTION: SIR HENEY BESSEMER. gf^i^^HAT is romance and what are knights- ^^IL^i^ errant, and have we got either now? Many will be able to answer that there was an age of Arthurian romance, but that the reading of its lucubrations as a serious business was knocked on the head by Don Quixote. As to chivalry, knights and gentlemen were doomed by railways, and the last of these personages is on his way to the British Museum or Madame Tussaud's. Such is the common belief; but who knows! Amadis de Gaul and the Four Sons of Aymon may no longer be read ; but has not the Poet Laureate put new song and new life into the Mort d' Artliur^ made artists paint its scenes and his, and given a new popular acceptance to the phantom-forms of the Round Table ! Xot a young lady here or in our other English world THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION : beyond the Atlantic Sea, but has wept at the sorrows of the queens and damsels, and has made darlmgs of the knights, like dolls for girls out of pinafores to make love to in their daydreams. Although St. George's Day had ceased until lately to be a living festival in merry England, although its war-cry had become dumb, and the red cross of St. George, which " braved, a thousand years, the battle and the breeze," no longer waves aloft, all is not dead. The boys here read the Seven Champions of Christendom, the English immigrants in Canada and the United States keep St. George's Day in earnestness, and they and their wives and daughters wear roses on that day, as do the Fifth Fusiliers. St. George is coming to life, and none dare say but that all the Seven Champions will soon be afoot. Eomance never died in England, it lives with the breath of the men and boys, and even of the women. Look at that young mother and her slender sister, out in the wilderness of Queensland or Natal or New Zealand or Vancouver, minding the lonely hut at home, and driving or fighting the naked or half-naked blacks, while the men are far afield. Yet these women went through SIR HENRY BESSEMER. 189 life but tamely at home ; for there was no such call upon them. Shakespeare is but the echo of the trumpets of romance, and his histories on the stasje are but its embodiment awakeninsr the people even to this day. The Pilgriiiis Progress owes much of its popularity to its adventures, struggles, and fights with the embodied powers of darkness. To descend to the childish Jack the Giant-Killer and Jack and the Beanstalk, these have never been displaced. In the greed for such things they are sought beyond an English shape, and the Arabian Nights charm youth in their abridgment, and older folk in all the maturity of text and enrichment of notes, with which the great Oriental scholar Lane has endowed them. All these creations of imagination live in the popular mind in company with what is their great exemplar, Eobinson Crusoe. It is idle to say Crusoe is not an historical personage, and is only a fiction, and not even a legend. Crusoe is the Englishman, even to his setting forth on his last voyage in later life. We may, if we like, entertain a doubt whether Crusoe was really born in Yorkshire in the year 190 THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION : cited ; but we go on practically giving faith to all the main story. It was not that Defoe was so cunning a writer, but that we are ever ready to believe him. We may not be over-curious either about the Giant Blunderbore, or as to what order or genus of drag:on St. George killed, and whether the brute was graminivorous or carnivorous ; but whatever the world may discuss, we give about as good credence to these tales as we do to many articles of our faith. All this is no digression, but a way of getting home to facts, which we may not so readily understand if we look at them dryly, as delineated by what is called common sense, and what is often common nonsense, when offered as a represen- tation to the body of mankind. We want our readers to contemplate the giants, dragons, maojicians, and enchantments whicli are to be met with in this daily life of England in the nineteenth century, and what manner of men those must be who combat with them. We understand the men who stood at bay at Eorke's Drift ; we understand the captain of the merchantman who, having seen every woman to the boats, stands on the deck as sinks the SIR HENRY BESSEMER. 191 doomed ship. All these, and the many deeds of heroism which shine in an otherwise degenerate age, we can comprehend because there is physical danger in them, and there are crowds, and there is the sudden flash of light and life. We do not bring so vividly to our minds the man in the black coat who but now passed us in the street, or who, for that matter, is our neighbour in a near house. We do not apprehend how he, at the peril of brain and life, has undergone priva- tions and hardships and anxieties and disappoint- ments ; how he has passed through the wreckage of life in the contest with what are truly the monstrous powers of darkness, and has come forth, like the paladin of old, the hero of his country, and the benefactor of mankind. The cool determined courage which must man him who, in a good cause, will combat with the apathy of the learned and the vulgar, the ignor- ance of a government department, and the dogged obstructiveness of English law, must be in no degree inferior to those qualities which, under the charm of the poet, we accept as the highest characteristics of the brave and illustrious kniofht. This has been broufjht home to our 192 THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION : reflections many a time, but not the less forcibly by some passages in the life of Henry Bessemer which have latterly either come before the public or have reawakened our remembrance. He is only one of man}^ men of his kind, though it is but seldom we get at the inner life of such, and in this case by the mere chance of con- troversy. It is possible that in naming Sir Henry Bessemer it is not at all likely non-technical readers will know the force of what Ave mean, and yet each one has derived some personal advantage from him. There will, however, be a number who by some chance have heard of Bessemer steel ; but what Bessemer is, or rather who, whether a machine or a man, dead or alive, is another thing. There is an enormous quantity of Bessemer iron and steel all over the Avorld, and it is quite a new thing. Now the most common way of doing justice to this author of a great invention is to give a technical description of the iron manufacture, and to show in what the improvements consist. Beyond this may be enumerated the great bene- fits which this new industry has conferred on SIR HE^RY BESSEMER. 193 the country, and what are our obligations to liim who introduced it. This is not our inten- tion now ; but to leave the whole of these matters aside, and to accept the invention as the world has done as an acknowledged success, and to deal rather with the man in what is in effect the romance of life, not the romance of daring on the distant sea, not that which will gain the Victoria Cross in far-off battle, but the chivalric struggle against obstacles and difficulties which may and must be fought out by the mind of man even in the very midst of our homes. The scientific papers are now ardent in the advocacy of original research, and the student who reads has before him visions of honour and glory, fellowships, professorships, honours, decora- tions, medals, stars, the homage of the great, the veneration of the public, and long-lasting glory, if not immortality. If, however, the student values his own peace of mind, he will think narrowly before he ventures on the quest of the Sangrail in original research, for the rarer his inventions the greater will be his peril. Few think of this and fewer know it. VOL. I. o 194 THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION : What the student may do with safety and with profit is to hang on to the skirts of some popular man or accepted authority, illustrate his doc- trines, but most carefully avoid correcting or confuting him. Then, by the time the doctrines of the great authority have gone their way, and lost their newness, and been found out in their untrueness, the votary of science in such wise will have acquired the honour and glory and rewards which the successful in research had yearned for, and have not got. It may be allowable perhaps, to alter the shape of the hook in a mousetrap, or to show the chemical rationale of toasting the cheese in a more re- condite fashion ; but woe to the man who does away with mousetraps, thwarts the mousetrap users, and spoils the trade of the mousetrap maker ! A man may flatter himself by rare examples, that by a great and successful invention he may himself succeed and realise a large fortune. There are such cases, but there are others, and one of Bessemer's predecessors, J. B. Heath, is one of them. Setting other interesting parts of his career in India and here aside. Heath invented SIR HENRY BESSEMER. 195 a cast or silver steel process, which enabled the Sheffield manufacturers to overcome their foreign rivals, and make silver steel and superior qualities of steel. Thus the price of the article was reduced twenty pounds per ton, and Heath's stipulated reward was one pound per ton out of the twenty he saved. He was fully successful, so the steel manufacturers combined to oust him of his pittance, as they said they did not see why he should take their money. Thus he was plunged in that fearful and costly litigation which characterises English law-courts, and his claim was held to be invalid, because the manufac- turers had adopted an invention of Heath's own not embraced in that patent. It will be seen that Bessemer was served by the Government after the same fashion. Heath's fortune was absorbed in experiments and lawyers' fees, and he died ruined and broken-hearted. Had he lived a few years longer, it is neither impossible nor improbable that the judges would have altered the law in another way, as from time to time they do. His case is only one out of too many. Where Henry Bessemer was born, and Avhen, o 2 196 THE EOMANCE OF INVENTION : may be looked for in Men of the Time, and the biographical dictionaries. We have, how- ever, something of his early life given by himself in reference to a vindication he was driven to make. At the age of eighteen, having been born in a small country village in Hertfordshire (on the 19tli January, 1813,) of a respectable family, he came to London, " knowing no one, and no one knowing me. A mere cipher in this vast sea of human enterprise." His studious habits and love of invention soon gained a footing for him, and at twenty he found himself finishing a mode he had invented of taking copies from antique and modern basso relievos in a manner which enabled him to stamp them on cardboard, thus producing thousands of embossed copies of the hicrhest works of art at a small cost. Notwithstanding the trivial cost, some of these productions are to be found in the hands of curious collectors, to whom the beauty of the novel workmanship commended them. A fine medalhon of George IV. is among these. The facility with wliicli the young Bessemer could make a permanent die, even from a SIR HENRY BESSEMER. 197 thin paper original, capable of producing a thousand copies, would have opened a wide door to successful fraud, if his jirocess had been known to unscrupulous persons ; for there is not a government stamp or the paper seal of a corporate body that every common office- clerk could not foro-e in a few minutes at the cost of a penny, at the office of his employer or his own home. The public knowledge of such a means of forging would at that time have shattered the whole system of H.M. Stamp Office, had Mr. Bessemer allowed a knowledge of his method to escape. Mr. Besse- mer's straightforward mind leads him to speak of what would have been the consequences of his " incautiousness." Some of our readers will here think we are leading them astray, as Sir Lancelot of the Lake is not expected to be found in a work- shop ; but this is quite a mistake, for a knight should be proficient in all arts useful to man- kind, and necessarily in engineering. The correctness of our delineation will, however, be proved by the successive adventures and the temper of the adventurer. Some will consider 198 THE ROMANCE OF INVENTION : there was simplicity in Henry Bessemer ; but it was the siiifyle-mindedness of a hii^h character and of great genius above the petty arts of inean man. No sooner had the fact dawned on him of the danger to the commonweahh than he began to consider if some new stamp could be devised to prevent so serious a mischief. While so enly on the clian<^'e wliicli others had inaugurated. But even then they thought, hke Washuigton, " slowly," and not half so surely. They complauied of the price of the steel rails as compared wdth iron, the former being then some 28/. per ton against 12/. for tlie latter, to which Mr. Brown replied that if they cost double the amount, they would stand at least six times the amount of wear and tear. Still the English companies held back, and Mr. Brown saw that he could only convince them by practical demonstration. He made them presents of samples of rails, and allowed them to make their owni tests. The London, Chatham and Dover Company laid dow^n at the Victoria Station six steel rails ifrom the Atlas Works and six iron rails from the Ebbw Yale Works at the same time, with the result that the latter Avere replaced twelve times before the former required renewal. Such over whelming evidence as this could not bs disputed. The demand for steel rails became prodigious, and within a very few 3'ears ninety per cent of the main line of the Great Xorthern Company was relaid with steel. Ever}' year the orders for irc)n rails grev^^ feebler ; and VOL. I. T 274 SIR JOHN BROWN. with steel rails at from 61. to 6/. per ton we can now appreciate at its due value the foresight which fought against the obliquity of the railway companies. A host of other branches of the iron trade, which do not call for special notice, were from time to time added to the business of the Atlas Works. These contributed largely to the dimen- sions of the concern ; and long before the period of wliich we have just spoken Mr, Brown took into partnership Mr. J. D. Ellis and Mr. W. Bragge. Later on the expansion of the business had be- come such that it was deemed advisable to con- vert the concern into a limited company, and on February 22nd, 1864, this project was carried out, the capital subscribed being no less than 1,000,000/. The founder of the firm naturally took the post of chairman. 'Sir Jolm Brown for some years has ceased to have any interest in the company which trades under his name. It may have been that he found the restraints which the interests and claims of a large body of shareholders necessarily imposed upon him, and of which he had previousl}^ been so free, irksome, or perliaps he felt that, having SIR JOHN BROWN. 2^0 built up the name and fortune during an active career of forty years, and received from Her Majesty the crowning honour of the edifice, he was entitled to give himself up to the otium cum dignitate. Probably the step was due to a little of both considerations. In the course of a career so picturesque and remarkable, there must be many incidents of interest to serve to show the secret springs of success, and to give some idea of the grit of the man. " J^either chance nor fortune " is the Eng- lish rendering; of the motto that adorns Sir John Brown's coat- of- arms, and the words convey witli sufficient clearness the principles upon which he worked. These were in brief — honesty, thorough- ness, and punctuality in their most rigid form. A striking instance of the value of the last rule occurred in the earlier part of Sir John's career, and gave him the most encouraging practical proof that the virtue was worth cultivating. At the .time when the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Eailway was about to be opened, he was in the former city, and chanced to call on Mr. Grainger, the engineer of the line. Everything was in readiness, except a few sets of brake springs, T 2 276 .SIR JOHN BROWN. which the contractor was unable to supply ; and as it seemed impossible to get the articles required in so short a time, it looked as though the ship was going to be spoiled for the want of a penn}^- worth of tar. Mr, Grainger mentioned the matter to his visitor, and in sheer desperation asked him if he could supply the springs " by Thursday." This was on the Saturday, and Mr. Brown replied that, considering the imperfect carrjdng communication, he feared the time was too short. "Well," rejoined Mr. Grainger, "we must have them." The visitor considered for a moment, and then said, " You shall have them." Away he started forthwith to Berwick, took the train and coach for Newcastle, train forward, and reached Sheffield at 11 p.:m on Sunday. Here he went straight to his foreman, told him to have the men there first thino- in the mornino- and gave positive orders that the springs were to be read}" on Monday night. The goods were packed at the appointed time, and away the maker flew with his burden to Manchester for steamer at Fleetwood. Here he had arranged to have a waggon read}' to convey the springs to the station from which the mail for the north SIR JOHN BROWN. 2 I i staitecL He was in time for the train ; but Avlien lie presented liis consignment, a new difficulty met liim in the refusal of the officials to load such goods in the mail. Mr. Brow^n went straightway to the manager, told him his case, and got a horse-box put on to convey the springs. After a devious journey, and not without many threatening contretemps and anxious moments, the traveller reached Glasgow via Ardrossan at five o'clock on the Wednesday afternoon, to the amazement and gratification of the eno'ineer. Mr. Graino'er not onlv com- pensated the enterprising manufacturer for his outlay and pains, but also introduced his feat to the notice of most of the railway directors present at the opening ceremony, and the gallant effort threw into John Brown's works for a con- siderable time the bulk of the Scotch trade in railway material. As in the lexicon of youth there is no such word as " fail," so in the well-selected vocabulary which the founder of the Atlas Works chose as his vade mecuin when he resolved in the flattering ardour of youth to be a " merchant," there was no such word as " impossible." The 278 SIR JOHN BROWN. proscription of the verbal refuge of the average mortal was not the outcome of a principle peculiar to the subject of this paper. The spirit which underlay it is as old as human aspiration, though a good deal less common. But with John Brown it was a solemn and a severe observance. He was a contemptuous unbeliever in the finality of human power in matters material, and the word jarred. He gloried in the broad truth of the sarcasm of the French savant — " If it is ' difficult,' it is done already ; if it is ' im- possible,' it shall be done." The servant who entered his presence and maintained that a given task was impossible quitted the room without a situation. The master was relentless on this subject. He could tolerate and sympathise with a fair representation of the difficulty of a pro- posal, but he exacted from all his employes a hond-fide co-operation in the mastery of it. And if any man ever had a right to be dogmatic and austere on such a point, surely the bearing- became him who, from the doorstep of a slater's home, successfully stormed the frowning strong- holds of fortune, fame, and title. Qualities like these rallied rather than repelled SIR JOHN BROWX. 279 liis workmen. The passing allusion of the Duke of Somerset to the strong bond of union tliat evidently existed between employer and employed singled out, as if l^y intuition, the keystone of the great industrial fal)ric. John Brown was not a counting-house chief, a trading tradition to be approached through a dozen deputies. He worked new ideas upon old lines. He was old-fashioned and conservative in all that was robust and healthy in English cha- acter ; receptive and radical in all that gave promise of progress. This union of qualities, this runnino- of new blood into the old veins., was a hapjn^ basis for the welfare of the Atlas'. Works. The master was a living and visible head, knowing every man in the yard, and known and approachable to all. The result was mutual respect ; and on occasion, as the sterling character of the master asserted itself in high relief, that respect deepened on the one side into actual reverence. Such an occasion arose when, soon after the firm had gone into the iron trade, a vast building, 365 feet in length, was being added to the covered portion of the premises. The undertaking was an ex- iiSO SIR JOHN BROWN. pensive one, and not the least important feature of it was the time occupied in construction. One Sunday morning, shortly after the roof had been put on and the building finished, a man, pale and breathless, darted into the old parish Church of Sheffield, and enquired for Mr. John Brown. "What is the matter?" asked the latter, when he had passed out of the door, and saAV one of his own workmen before him, with big tears standing in his eyes. " It's all down, sir ! " gasped the man. *' What is down ? " rejoined the master. " The roof of the building is blown down ! " returned the messenger. "All down?" "All, sir." " Then go to Harvey at once, and tell him to prepare to put it up again," said Mr. Brown ; and pocketing the loss of a thousand pounds involved without a word of regret, to the amazement of the man he turned and went back into the church to hear the sermon. Work at the Atlas Works was always well done, and the old spirit of thoroughness 'lingers SIR JOHN BKOWN. 281 witli tliem yet. Their founder would never allow doubtful workmansliip to go off the premises. Doubtful workmen went off instead. This policy has been the sole talisman of those great Sheffield houses whose names are, like Scrooge's, " good on 'Change " all the world over — the Eodgers, the Jessops, the Tirtlis, the Wostenholms, and others. In his retirement, Sir John is as unbending as ever in his insis- tance on good and honest work. Ever}- piece of joinery used in the construction of his noble mansion at Endcliffe was made and put to- ii'ether in the rouo'h twelve months before it was recpiired, and ever}' stone and ornament bear an impress that would equally surprise and delight Mr. Euskin—" Truth." To this golden rule is to be attributed in a very great degree the fact with which Sir John closes his self-revelation: "My works always pushed me. I could never make them large enough." Such is an outline of the industrial liistor}' of Sir John Brown. His social career is outside the province of this article ; but it may be said to have been in keeping with his splendid suc- cess as an inventor and a manufacturer. When 282 SIR JOHN BROWN. he turned his back upon the industrial hive which he had estabhshed, he recognised the truism that " Absence of occupation is not rest'; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed." He was never so completely immersed in his own affairs as to forijet the duties of citizen- ship. He had gone through the best municipal training when his fellow-townsmen laid tribute upon his dignified leisure as the knight of Endcliffe Hall, and made him chairman of the first School Board in Sheffield. As town coun- cillor, alderman, mayor twice, Master Cutler twice, magistrate, town trustee. Church burgess, and Deputy-Lieutenant of the West Eiding, Sir John Brown has served his native town w^ith- out stint, and ahvays wdtli honour, wisdom, and success. Eecently his bust has been placed in the board-room of the School Board in comme- moration of his services to that body. Advanc- ing 3'ears and domestic anxieties, necessitating travel, have of late years deprived Sheffield of his counsel and the advantage of his administra- tive powers, and have now thrown beyond realisation the hope at one time entertained, SIR JOHX BROWX. 283 that lie would represent the town in Parliament. As a magistrate and Chairman of Ecclesall Board of Guardians Sir John is still, indeed, linked to public life ; l:)ut the heavy blow which so long threatened fell upon him at last. The death of Lady Brown was not a purely private calamity. Her quick sympathies and silent charity rendered her better known among the poor than in society, and the suspension of her kindly enterprises has left a gap in many humble homes and hearts. A brief allusion must be made to the chief of Sir John's public benefactions — the handsome church, standing upon a high shoulder of ground, looks down upon the " black country " which the donor did so much to colonise. The rapid development of the district drew attention to the dearth of religious accommodation, and one of the first to recoj^nise the necessities of the case was the proprietor of the Atlas Works. He found 20,000 people without the means of attending a place of worship. The church which formerly covered the district was situated a con- siderable distance away, and would only seat 500 persons. A commission was appointed to mark out an ecclesiastical district embracino- 10,000 284 SIR JOHN BROWN. souls. Before tlie scheme liad been carried into effect, however, the Church Extension Society- was formed, and Mr. Brown at 'once offered to subscribe 5,000/. ; but finding this Hkely to result in the construction of an edifice inadequate and unsatisfactor}^, he decided to erect the church entirely at his own cost. The offer was accepted, and the corner stone was laid on May 19th, 1S6G, b}' the Archbishoj) of York. The edifice was ready some twelve months before it was opened for public service, owing to an unfortunate dis- iiute with the vicar of a neighbouring- church on the subject of the right of patronage. On February 5tli, 1869, however, the church, which was dedicated to " All Saints," was opened by the Archbishop, who, in referring to the noble gift of Sir John Brown, said : " I feel persuaded from many conversations, and therefore from what I know, that the feeling uppermost in his mind was not to raise a grand temple, which, seen from afar by men, would be an ornament to the town, and a monument to his own liberality. I feel sure it was his great anxiety to labour to do what he could towards the savinjj' of the souls of those who work for him." SIR JOHN BROWN. 285 The total cost of the edifice was some 11,500/., and to this sum Sir John subsequently added 700/. for a peal of bells. Few who have had experience of the donor's sterling character Avill doubt the truth of what Dr. Thomson said in the foregoing tribute ; Init what Sir John would have shrunk from doing the grateful Sheffield folk have had no compunction in doing for him. As Pope says : " AVlio builds a ehiu'ch to God, and not to fame, AVill never mark the marble with his name." But if a stranger asked to be directed to All Saints' Church, the probability is tliat he would be told Sheffield possessed no sucli edifice. " John Brown's C'hurch " is a landmark from which distances are measured and localities fixed. It is the pivot on which the topogra- phical world of that half of the town revolves. In indicating, faintly enough, the qualities that have sustained Sir John Brown in his extra- ordinary career, the assistance of his contem- poraries and of impartial oljservers must be invoked. The testimony of these is in sino-ular agreement. In the words of one honoured citizen of Sheffield, he " always seemed to see a 286 SIR JOHN BROWN. little ahead of everybody else." He was essentially a pioneer, with the daring, the coolness, and the pertinacity that go to make pioneering work successful. He broke new ground, but he was gifted with a rare power of appraisement which enabled him to decide accurately whether the new ground was worth the breaking. He was quicker in his perception of the advantages of new ideas than some rivals who prided themselves upon being less chained to old-fashioned notions than Sir John Brown. But, as lias been pointed out, his was a moral ratlier than a material con- servatism. He ^tuck to the living forces of the mind and heart, and would embrace no new- fangled idea that compromised the solid virtues of Eno'lish character. Thus he welded old and new, and found in the combination the secret of true progress. A very prince of progress in this form, he often made it his business to take time b}^ the forelock, and grease the wheels of the van of civilisation. There is one final example of conservatism in Sir John Brown which all will admire, and which illustrates, in a peculiarl}'' touching way, the simplicity of his tastes and the goodness of his heart. " I have often felt," said SIR JOHN BROWN. 287 lie to the writer, " that I shoiikl Uke to spend the last five years of my life exactly as I spent my time fifty j^ears ago — with the same home, the same friends, the same haunts." THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVEEY OF ALPACA. THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. K^K^HEiSr the adventurous Pizarro advanced -™.,«^1 upon Peru and overthrew the last of the Incas, he found a rich and fertile country, the inhabitants of which were clothed in woollen garments of great beauty and delicacy. The texture of these garments was wholly different from anything that the Spaniards had ever seen before, and their love of finery prompted them to make careful inquiry into the nature of the material, and the process by which it was manipulated. Tliey found that the beautiful robes and mantles worn by the natives were made from the wool of a species of sheep or camel indigenous to the country. This animal, of which there were four varieties — the Guanaco and the Vicuna, which were wild, and the Llama and the Pacos or Alpaca, which were domesticated — was unlike any fleece- u 2 292 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. bearing animal of Europe, and had been kept from time immemorial by the Peruvians, its wool being valued for the lustre, transparency, and length of its fibre, and its flesh highly prized as an article of food. In 1534 Pizarro and his followers took with them to Europe, along with their treasures of gold and silver, a number of Alpaca fleeces and fabrics woven therefrom ; but the Spaniards do not seem to have possessed the ability or industry necessary to take up the manufacture that was thus virtually put into their hands ; for it was not until nearly three centuries later that any record is found of the manufacture of alpaca stufls being seriously attempted in Europe. As has been shown in so many other instances, the barbarian has been hundreds, nay thousands, of years in advance of his civilised conqueror in the industrial arts. From the time of Pizarro down to the bec^in- ning of tlie present century, tlie wool-producing ruminants of South America were "permitted, to remain comparatively unnoticed except by enter- prising zoologists. Stray specimens found their way to European menageries ; but no one THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 293 tliouglit of adapting the long silky fleece of the alpaca to the purposes of manufacture. Various attempts were made to acclimatise this interest- ing animal in England from time to time, not for any value that was attached to its wool, but as a curiosity of natural history. The first alpaca seen in this country was the pro- perty of Mr. de Tastet of Halstead, in Essex, who had a specimen of the animal in his pos- session in 1809. It was afterwards exhibited for many years in the Surrey Zoological Gardens. The Duchess of York subsequently maintained four or five alpaca pets at Oatlands, and later still Viscount Ingestre, the Earl of Derby, Mr. Stevenson of Oban, Mr. Joseph Hegan of Liver- pool, and others, tried the experiment of breed- ing them, but with only small success. It may now be considered as proved that the humidity of the English climate is unfavourable to the healthful existence of these animals.. The manufacture of alpaca fabrics had not yet spread beyond the confines of South America ; the European naturalists who had interested themselves so nmch in the habits of the docile and attractive ruminant had given little thought 294 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. to the utilisation of its fleece. But the man had already been born who, without any knowledge of what the ancient Peruvians had accomplished, was to discover and realise the true value of the w^ool of the alpaca. That man was Titus Salt, who was born in 1803 at Morley, near Leeds, in a quaint two-storied building known as the Old Manor House. His father, Daniel Salt, follow^ed the pursuit of a farmer for some years, and shortly after the birth of Titus removed from Morley to Crofton, near Wake- field, and occupied a farm there. Agriculture, however, did not provide sufficient exercise for his energetic spirit ; so after a while he relin- quished farming altogether and migrated to Bradford, which was then just beginning to feel the influence of that wave of enterprise and in- dustry which eventually carried it into the haven of manufacturing supremacy. Daniel Salt be- came a Bradford wool-stapler while yet his son Titus was receiving his educational training at the Heath Grammar School, Wakefield, and his business sagacity soon won for him a pro- minent position in the town. This was a period of rapid development for THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 295 tlie industries of England. Steam-power had begun to assert its influence upon the manu- factures of the north, and the age of industrial invention had set in with all its force. Every year saw some new mechanical contrivance or some fresh arrangement of material introduced, and commercial undertakings expanded and pros- pered to an extent that was wholly unparalleled. Daniel Salt saw that there was money to be made by the buying and selling of wool in those days, and he engaged himself so actively there- in that, by the time his son Titus became old enough to take upon himself business duties, there was a good opening for the son as partner with the father. Strange as it may appear to us now, young- Salt did not look with favour upon the trade that his father was engaged in ; he hankered more after the pastoral delights of a farmer's life, and liked not the smoke and din and bustle of factories and workshops. But, for- tunately for himself and the world generally, he was not permitted to indulge his predilec- tions ; Daniel Salt saw that there was more to be done by a high-principled, energetic, 296 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. plodding young man in the commercial pursuits which were so speedily developing in Bradford than in the humdrum quietude of an agricultural career ; so he insisted on his son adopting the wool business to begin with, and the fiim of Daniel Salt & Son was the result, young Titus becoming a partner in the year 1834. When once Titus Salt found himself estab- lished as a Bradford woolstapler, he gave his whole heart to the advancement of his busi- ness, and was soon a familiar figure in the wool marts of the kingdom, and acquired the good opinion of his fellow-traders as a straight- forward and able man of business. Success seems to have attended his' endeavours from the first ; and in a very short time he must have seen that he had entered upon a far more profitable career than he could ever have hoped for, had he been allowed to follow the original bent of his mind and adopt the profession of a farmer. Not long after the time of his entering into partnership with his father, he turned his at- tention to a particular description of wool called Donskoi, a Eussian f'ccce which had THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 297 until tlieii been solely employed in tlie woollen manufacture. This Donskoi wool, in which the Salts dealt very considerably, was regarded as altogether unsuitable for the purposes of the worsted manufacture ; but young Salt, after testing it in various ways, formed a con- trary opinion, and urged the Bradford spinners to make use of it. They declined to listen to his proposals, however ; so, with that dogged determination of purpose which has charac- terised his whole business career, he resolved that, rather than abandon the idea, he would try the experiment on his own account, and he accordingly set up as a worsted spinner and manufacturer in an old mill in Silsbridge Lane. It may be worth while explaining, at this point, what is the difference between worsteds and woollens. By the uninitiated, worsteds are nearly always called woollens, and Bradford men are frequently annoj^ed by this error being perpetuated in print, writers for the press seldom being able to appreciate the distinction between one class of goods and the other. Mr. Walter S. B. McLaren has recently defined 298 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. woollen and worsted yarns as follows : " A worsted yarn may be defined as a thread spun from wool, in vvliicli the fibres are arranged so as to lie smoothly in the direction of the length of the thread and parallel to each other. . . . A woollen yarn on the other hand, is a thread spun from wool in which the hbres are arranged so as to lie in every direction, and cross and overlap each other, that they may present their serrated surfaces in the greatest variety of directions." This crossing and overlapping of the fibres is the characteristic of woollen yarn, while the object of the worsted spinner is to have a smooth and level thread. It may be further explained that manufactured woollens comprise all descriptions of cloth, such as coatings, &c. ; while worsteds include various kinds of stuff's which are used for ladies' dresses. There is a much greater combination of raw material in worsteds than in woollens. It will now be understood how great the difficulty was for young Salt to persuade Brad- ford spinners that a wool that had liitherto been used exclusively in the manufacture of cloth could be made equally available for the making THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 299 of worsted goods. Mr. Salt, however, soon showed the Bradford spmners that he was on the right tack ; for he manipulated the Donskoi wool with complete success, and produced good marketable worsted stuffs therefrom. Bradford was surprised and delighted, and the reputation of young Salt as a shrewd, far-seeing man of business was firmly established. The importation of Donskoi wool for use in the worsted trade began from that time, and increased year by year until it came to form a considerable item of the foreign wool that passed through the hands of the Bradford woolstaplers. Meanwhile a few persons here and there were attempting to make a marketable commodity of the fleece of the alpaca. On the return of the British troops from the attack on Buenos Ayres in 1807, they brought a few bags of alpaca-wool with them, and it was submitted for inspection in London. Mr. William Walton, who pub- lished a work on the alpaca, alludes to this particular wool, and says, " Owing to the diffi- culty of spinning it, or the prejudice of our manufacturers, it did not then come into notice." The first person in England who succeeded 300 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. ill producing a marketable fabric from this material was Mr. Benjamin Outram, a manu- facturer of Greetland, near Halifax ; who, after much trouble, produced an article which ladies bought at high prices for carriage shawls and cloakings, but which was valued more as a curiosity of manufacture than as a permanently attractive material. In the goods that Mr. Outram produced there was little of the lustre and fineness which have distinguished the more recent manufactures of this class ; and, after a short time, he rehnquished the idea of ever being able thoroughly to utilise the wool of the alpaca. Messrs. Wood & Walker were the next to try their hands upon the South American fleece, and they spun a quantity of it for the Norwich camlet trade ; it was also sometimes used instead of English " hog " wool for certain fine warjjs. In 1832 some gentlemen interested in South American commerce paid a visit to Mr. James Garnett of Clitheroe, who did business with, that part of the world ; and in the course of their conversation on trade he suggested that they might possibly find it profital)le to try and create a market for the wool of the THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 301 alpaca in this country, and offered, if they would send him a few pounds of the fibre, to have experiments made with it, so that its value might be thoroughly tested. Some months afterwards Mr. Garnett received a few samples of alpaca-wool from his friends the South American traders, and he forwarded it without delay to Messrs. Horsfall of Bradford, with instructions to make it into " pieces." They did as they were desired, and in due time an alpaca " piece " was produced, resembling a heavy camlet in texture, and was shown to various merchants. Neither the appearance nor tlie price of the article, however, was such as to command the favourable opinion of the merchants, and Messrs. Horsfall did not con- tinue their experiments. In that same year Messrs. Hegan, Hall & Co., wool-importers of Liverpool, had their attention directed to the wool of the alpaca, and they ordered their agents in Peru to forward them certain quantities to Liverpool. Parcel after parcel of wool was then shipped to the Mersey ; but not much of it made its way beyond the warehouses of Messrs. Hegan & Co. A few 302 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. Bradford manufacturers experimented with' it so far as to make a few figured " pieces " in which alpaca was used for the weft, and worsted for the warp ; but their manufacture was soon abandoned, the goods not suiting the public taste. In fact, it appeared pretty conclusive that alpaca was entirely unmarketable, and Messrs. Hecfan & Co. besi'an to reorret having^ invested so largely in the Peruvian wool. In 1836, however, Mr. Titus Salt, during one of his frequent wool-buying expeditions, acci- dentally fell in with Messrs. Hegan & Co.'s unsaleable stock of alpaca-wool, and from that time there was hope for the long-despised fibre. Charles Dickens many years ago described this fortunate discovery in his happiest vein in the pages of Household Words, and it is impossible to resist the temptation of reproducing his account. " A huge pile," says Dickens, " of dirty-looking sacks filled with some fibrous material which bore a strong resemblance to superannuated horsehair or frowsy elongated wool or anything else unpleasant and unattractive, was landed in Liverpool. When these queer-looking bales had THE SALTS. AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 303 first arrived, or by what vessel brought, or for what purpose intended, the very oldest ware- houseman in Liverpool docks couldn't say. There had once been a rumour — a mere warehouseman's whisper — that the bales had been shipped from South America on spec, and consigned to the agency of C. W. & F. Foozle & Co. But even this seems to have been forgotten ; and it was agreed upon by all hands, that the three hundred and odd sacks of nondescript hair-wool were a perfect nuisance. The rats appeared to be the only parties who at all approved of the importa- tion ; and to them it was the very finest invest- ment for capital that had been known in Liverpool since their first ancestors had migrated thither. Well, those bales seemed likely to rot, or fall to the dust, or to be bitten up for the particular use of family rats. Brokers wouldn't so much as look at them. Merchants would have nothinsf to say to them. Dealers couldn't make them out. Manufacturers shook their heads at the bare mention of them ; while the ao'ents of C. W. & F. Foozle & Co. looked at the bill of laciincr, and once spake to their head clerk about shipping them to South America ac^ain. One 304 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. day — we won't care what day it was, or even what week or month it was, though things of far less consequence have been chronicled to the half-minute — one day, a plain business-looking young man, with an intelligent face and quiet reserved manner, was walking along through those same warehouses at Liverpool, when his eyes fell upon some of the superannuated horse hair projecting from one of the ugly dirty bales. Some lady rat, more delicate than her neighbours, had found it rather coarser than usual, and had persuaded her lord and master to eject the portion from her resting-place. Our friend took it up, looked at it, felt it, smelt it, rubbed it, pulled it about ; in fact, he did all but taste it, and he would have done that if it had suited his purpose — for he was 'Yorkshire.' Having held it up to the light, and held it away from the light, and held it in all sorts of positions, and done all sorts of cruelties to it, as though it had been his most deadly enemy, and he was feeling quite vindictive, he placed a handful or two in his pocket, and walked calmly away, evidently intend- ing to put the stuff to some excruciating private tortures at home. What particular experiments THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 305 lie tried with this fibrous substance I am not exactly in a position to relate, nor does it much signify ; but the sequel was, that the same quiet business-looking man was seen to enter the office of C. W. & F. Foozle & Co., and ask for the head of the firm. When he asked that portion of the house if he would accept eightpence per pound for the entire contents of the three hundred and odd frowsy dirty bags of nondescript wool, the authority interrogated felt so confounded that he could not have told if he were the head or tail of the firm. At first he fancied our friend had come for the express purpose of quizzing him, and then that he was an escaped lunatic, and thought seriously of calling for the police ; but eventually it ended in his making it over in consideration of the price offered. It was quite an event in the little dark office of C. W. & F. Foozle & Co., which had its supply of light (of a very inferior quality) from the grim old churchyard. All the establishment stole a peep at the buyer of the ' South American stuff.' The chief clerk had the curiosity to speak to him and hear his reply. The cashier touched his coat-tails. The book-keeper, a tliin man in 306 THE SALTS, AJJD THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. spectacles, examined his liat and gloves. The porter openly grinned at him. When the quiet purchaser had departed, C. W. & F. Foozle & Co. shut themselves up, and gave all their clerks a holiday." The " quiet purchaser " was young Titus Salt, and " C. W. & F. Foozle & Co." were Messrs. Hegan, Hall & Co. That first transaction proved a good day's work for both buyer and sellers. Mr. Salt took the coach back to Bradford ; and throuo^h the long; dark evenino-s of the next few months the old mill in Silbridge Lane might be seen lighted up, and while mysterious figures flitted to and fro amongst the looms and spindles, few understood the deep import of all this night- work and secret experimenting. As time wore on, however, it was noised abroad that Titus Salt, the man who had converted Donskoi wool to the purposes of the worsted trade, had made another discovery of even greater importance. It was said that this time he had discovered a new fibre which was to revolutionise the trade. But when it came to be known that the fibre in question was nothing but the oft-tried and much-maligned alpaca which so many spinners THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 307 and manufacturers had previously failed to work up into a presentable fabric, the enterprising speculator was sneered at considerably. Titus Salt, however, could afford to laugh at the sneers of his neighbours, for the more he experimented with the " frowsy nondescript hair-wool," the more beauty he discovered in it ; its long staple and bright lustrous appearance foreshadowed in his mind a new soft and delicate material which should almost vie in attractiveness with silk. The only difficulty was to bring the wool completely under the subjection of his machinery ; and he adapted and adapted, altered and invented, until in the end the Peruvian fleece became as amenable to the operations of the machine as the wool of the English sheep. For a long time he lingered on the threshold of success, working and hoping and despairing in turns ; while at last he effected the true combination, and the world was made aware that it possessed a new fabric. He was not long in surmounting the difficulties of combing and spinning the alpaca-wool, and formed it into beautiful " slivers ; " it was when he came to the weaving process that he was brought to a X 2 308 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. stand. He tried alpaca-warp and alpaca-weft to begin with ; then warps of woollen and worsted were put into combination ; and all these failing to produce a satisfactory result, he bethought him he would try cotton-warps, which were then being rapidly introduced into the general worsted trade. Cotton-warps gave the required result ; the problem was solved. He was now able to produce alpaca pieces which would match in lustre and delicacy of texture the primitive garments made centuries before by the people of Peru, and at a price that would insure their being marketable. Now the drapers' shops- windows of all our large towns began to exhibit dress-pieces of the new material, glossy, soft, and elegant, and it speedily sprang into public favour. Orders for the new goods followed each other in quick succession, and Mr. Salt soon found that to keep pace with them he would require to enlarge his sphere of operations. He removed to larger premises, and his business extended so much that mill after mill was taken by him, until we find him carrying on his new manufacture simultaneously at four separate mills in different parts of Bradford. THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 309 During those first few years of the alpaca manufacture, Mr. Salt must have made an enormous profit. Many other manufacturers entered into competition with him, as was to be expected when they saw what could be done with alpaca ; but for several years Mr. Salt retained the chief part of the trade in his own hands. Some idea of the growth and extent of the alpaca manufacture may be gathered from the various statistics which have been published from time to time. From 183G to 1840 the quantity of alpaca wool imported into this country averaged 560,8001b. per annum. B}" 1852 the quantity imported had increased to 2,186,4801bs. ; in 1872, twenty years later, the importation stood at 3,878,7391bs. It is worth while noting the advance of price which has been maintained in regard to this com- modity since it was taken in hand by young Titus Salt. The price given by the " quiet purchaser " was Sd. per lb. ; a year or two afterwards it was Is. per lb. ; in 185G it had advanced to 2.s. 6 J. ; and has since then some- times reached as high a price as 3-s. per lb. 310 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. But, ill spite of this marked increase in the price of the raw material, the manufactured goods can now be purchased more cheaply than at any previous period, a fact which will serve to indicate the very large profit that must have been made while the alpaca manufacture was in its infancy. For several years subsequent to what may be termed the discovery of alpaca, Mr. Salt applied himself with untiring industry to his business, and took little part in public affairs. His whole soul was wrapped up in his work, and the success which he achieved has rarely been paralleled in modern times. Of " fortunes made in business" his has been one of the greatest of our day ; and the philanthropic spirit in which he has dispensed his riches has entitled him to be regarded as one of the noblest benefactors of the century. In 1844 Her Majesty the Queen desired Mr. Salt to execute a little order for her. On the Eoyal farm at Windsor two animals of the alpaca breed were kept, and their fleeces were sent to Mr. Salt to be manufactured into dress- pieces, the Queen having by this time heard THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 311 and seen a good deal of the new material. The fleeces weighed IGJlbs., and when sorted and combed, yielded lib. of white and 91b. of black wool. From these samples Mr. Salt manufactured an apron of marvellous beauty ; a striped figured dress, the warp being of rose- coloured silk and the weft of white alpaca; a plain dress, fifteen yards in length, and con- taining only two and a half pounds of alpaca; a plaid alpaca dress of novel design ; and a woollen alpaca dress. These things so delighted Her Majesty that alpaca was constituted an article of the Eoyal costume, and became a fashion- able fabric. Mr. Salt's position in the commercial world was now assured. He had made a bold stroke, and he had won. Many men would have rested here, and, fecure of a handsome fortune, would have retired from the turmoil and ex- citement of business. But Mr. Salt was a born worker, and could not think of taking refuge, in a life of idleness while yet a com- paratively young man. Eelaxation of some kind, however, is necessary to us all, and Mr. Salt sought it in public duties, duties which 312 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. his fellow-townsmen were most anxious for him to assume. His kind and generous disposition, and the sturdy honesty of his character, ad- mirably fitted him for the impartial discharge of those functions which are usually intrusted to a town's principal citizens. Bradford was incorporated in 1847, and prior to that time Mr. Salt served the town in the capacity of Chief Constable. On the charter of incor- poration being granted, he was made senior alderman, and was appointed one of the first justices of the peace for the borough. In the following year he was chosen Mayor, and during his term of ofiice enjoyed great popularity. Meanwhile, he had a young family growing up around him, having, as early as 1829, married Caroline, the daughter of Mr. George Whitlam of Grimsby. This lady bore Mr. Salt eleven children. Mr. Salt lived an active life in the decade from 1840 to 1850, apportioning his time between the exciting pursuits of business and the responsibilities of a public career, and beyond this honourable mode of existence it was not generally imagined that he could expect to go. He had attained what to most THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 313 men would have been the very summit of ambition, and there seemed to be little left for him to achieve. But in 1851 Mr. Salt conceived the idea of founding an industrial colony of his own, wherein he could carry out certain long- cherished ideas, for the social and moral improvement of the working classes. He had witnessed the protracted and arduous crusade on behalf of the factory children, which ended in the Ten Hours' Bill ; and he had not failed to observe the evil results of close employment day by day in unhealthy workrooms. Thus, keenly alive to the desirability of bringing about a better condition of labour, and of in- ducing greater harmony between employer and employed, he cast around for a favourable spot upon which to build his colony. His Bradford mills were old and dingy and dilapidated, and it must often have pained him to see that his own workrooms were much more cramped and unwholesome than was good for his employes. He determined, therefore, to break away from these unpromising surroundings and start anew under the most favourable circumstances that 314 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. his thoughtful and considerate mind could sug- gest. He must either do this, he felt, or retire from business altogether and enjoy his ample fortune in the best way he could. Fortunately, he elected to carry forward his new business project, and in 1851 ihe pitched upon a pictu- resque and suitable spot in the romantic valley of the Aire, about three miles from Bradford, and there commenced building a factory on a scale of magnitude which the world had never heard of before. For the next two years the sight now occupied by Saltaire presented a busy scene, a large army of workers being engaged in the realisation of Mr. Salt's gigantic conception ; and on September 20th, 1853, Mr. Salt's fiftieth birthday, the immense " palace of industry " was opened, a grand inaugural banquet being held in the combing- shed, a room which provided sitting accommo- dation for 3,500 guests. Never was known such an industrial banquet. Amongst the guests were 2,440 of ^Mr. Salt's workpeople, who had been brought from Bradford by special train, and several noblemen and members of Parliament graced the banquet THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 315 with their presence. The new factory was likened to the palaces of the Caesars, and for a time the public press busied itself diligently in describing the wonders of the place and the munificence of its founder. The illustrated papers gave views of Saltaire from all con- ceivable points ; and poets chanted ' the praises of the edifice, and of the man who had planned it, in songs, odes, and lays innumerable. One of the best of the poetic compositions referred to was specially written for the occasion, at the instigation of the workpeople, by Mr. Eobert Storey, a gentleman who was known as " the Craven Poet," and who had won the patronage and friendship of the Duke of North- umberland. It was entitled '*The Peerage of Industry," and the particular chord of senti- ment that it struck may be sufiiciently instanced by a quotation of the first few lines, which ran as follows : " To the praise of the peerage high harps have been strung, By minstrels of note and of fame; But a ] eerage we have to this moment unsung, And why should they not have their name ? Cfiorus. " For this is his praise— and -who merit it not Deserve no good luck should o'ertake them — That -while making his thousands he never forgot The thousands that helped him to make them ! 316 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. " 'Tis the peerage of Industry ! Nobles who hold Their patent from Nature alone ; More genuine far than if purchased with gold, Or won, by mean arts, from a throne ! " This may not be very high-class poetry ; but it expressed the feelings of the people, and was received with enthusiasm. Sir William Fairbairn, under whose direction the engineering work in connection with the Saltaire factory was executed, has thus described this notable industrial establishment : " The Saltaire mills," he says, " are situated in one of the most beautiful parts of the romantic valley of the Aire. The site has been selected with un- common judgment as regards its fitness for the economical working of a great manufacturing establishment. The estate is bounded by high- ways and railways which penetrate to the very centre of the buildings, and is intersected by both canal and river. Admirable water is obtained for the use of the steam-engines, and for the different processes of the manufacture. By the distance of the mills from the smoky and cloudy atmosphere of a large town, unobstructed and good light is secured ; whilst, both by land and water, direct communication is gained for the THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 317 importation of coal and all other raw produce on the one hand, and for the exportation and delivery of manufactured goods on the other. Both porterage and cartage are entirely super- seded ; and every other circumstance which could tend to economise production has been carefully considered." For simple beauty of situation Saltaire is almost unequalled. The great stone factory, so familiar to the railway-traveller who takes the Midland route to the North, has a frontage of 545 feet, and is six stories in height. It covers an area of ten acres, and is arranged in the form of the letter T. The Leeds and Liverpool canal washes one side of it, and a few yards lower down flows the pleasant Aire ; while the Midland line runs close to the front of the buildino'. An immense iron bridge, on a level and in a line with the main street of the town, stretches completely across railway, canal, and river, terminating at the entrance to the Saltaire Park, beyond which rise the wooded hills of Baildon and the rocks of far- famed Shipley Glen ; and to the right and left of the landscape stand the castellated mansions of Mr. Titus Salt, jun., and Mr. Charles Stead, partners 318 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. in the Saltaire firm. It was at Milner Field, the residence of Mr. Titus Salt, jun., that the Prince and Princess of Wales stayed on the occasion of their visiting Bradford in June, 1882, to open the new Technical College. The dignity of Labour and the poetry of Nature have seldom been so happily intermingled as at Saltaire. The Italian style of architecture has been adopted, more or less, in all the buildings, from the factory down to the workpeople's cottages ; even the tall chimney which stretches skyward to the height of 250 feet has the appearance of a southern campa- nile; and altogether the little town is both an architectural and a sanitary triumph. About four thousand operatives are employed at the works, and the provision that has been made for the comfort and social and mental improvement of them and their families is probably greater than was ever provided for any other community by a single man, and stamps the projector as one of the leading philanthropists of his time. Saltaire, contains 800 dwelling-houses, all regularly and uniformly built of stone, and covering altogether an area of nearly twenty-six acres. Many of the houses have small plots of garden, and present a THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 319 cheerful and picturesque appearance. The streets are all laid out in straight lines, and are clean and well-paved. The public buildings of Saltaire, how- ever, are its chief boast, apart from the leviathan factory. There is a Congregational church, which cost 16,000/., and contains the Salt family mauso- leum, which is enriched by some fine sculpture executed by Mr. Adams-Acton. Then there are schools, especially designed for Sunday instruction, built at a cost of 10,000/. ; a literary institute, with a library of several thousand volumes, and containing lecture-halls, class-rooms, billiard- rooms, gymnasium, &c., built and furnished at a cost of 25,000/. ; baths and wash-houses, upon which 7,000/. was expended ; forty-five almshouses, capable of accommodating seventy-five persons, and provided with suitable endowment ; and a fine park, fourteen acres in extent — all these are amongst the institutions and benefactions which the founder of Saltaire gave to his unique and picturesque alpaca colony. Everything that an enlightened and generous mind could conceive for the instruction and recreation of his workpeople was provided, till the town of Saltaire has come to be regarded by visitors with no less wonder 320 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. than the " works " themselves. One restriction only has been insisted upon, and that is, that no house for the sale of intoxicants should be opened in the town. Thus we have a community of some six thousand people existing in peace and har- mony without a single beerhouse or public-house in their midst. True, there are a few houses of this description planted temptingly on the borderland of the colony ; but the Salts may be considered practically to have proved that the public-house is not a necessity of existence, for it is an undeniable fact that there is next to no drunkenness amongst this model community. Add to this, that the death-rate of Saltaire is low, that its criminal statistics are almost a blank page, that rents and taxes are moderate, and we have a sort of working-class commonwealth which is fit to rank with the Utopias of the philoso- phers, or even the Hygienic dreams of such men as Dr. Eichardson. The founder of Saltaire omitted nothing that would conduce to the com- fort and well-being of his people ; such high and noble aims as his have seldom been associated with a commercial undertaking, or carried out with such sincerity of purpose. Saltaire, indeed, is one of THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 321 th3 brightest landmarks of the industrial liistory of our time. From the period of the opening of the Saltaire mills there were associated with Mr. Salt in the conduct of his jyiofantic business some of his sons, as well as one or two other gentlemen who had held positions of management in his mills at Brad- ford. The sons — George, Edward, and Titus — have displayed mucli of the business sagacity and enterprise for which tlieir father was remarkable ; and their co-partner, Mr. Charles Stead, has, by his unremitting energy for the last quarter of a century, materially assisted in the sustainment of Saltaire's commercial greatness. Duriuir the time that followed the buildincc of Saltaire, Mr. Salt gave himself up more zealously than ever to the promotion of the public good. He was always to the front in any philanthropic work, and his charity was unbounded. It is estimated that, simpl}" in benefactions that were publicly acknowledged, setting aside his private charities, which were known to be great, he gave away not less than half a million sterling. Amongst his most memorable gifts for charitable purposes may be mentioned a donation of 5,000/ VOL. I. Y 322 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. to the Bradford Fever Hospital, a gift of 5,000/. to the Eoyal Albert Asylum at Lancaster, 5,000/. to the Sailors' Orphanage at Hull, 5,000/. to the London Congregational Memorial Hall, 2,500/. towards a new Congregational church at Scar- borough, 1,000/. to Peek Park, Bradford, 5,000/. to the Bradford Infirmary, 5,000/. to the Liberation Society, 1,800/. to the Pastors' Eetiring Fund, and 1 1 ,000/. to the Bradford Grammar Schools for scholarships. He gave handsomely all round ; any cause that was in itself commendable, no matter by what sect or party it was promoted, was sure of his support. By his will his munificence was largely extended, a great number of charities being made recipients of his bounty. The provi-. sion he made for Saltaire alone was princely. He not only liberally endowed the schools there, and provided for their being carried on in the most efficient . manner, but left a fund of 30,000/., the income of which was to be appro|)riated for the benefit of the sick and aged poor of Saltaire and the neighbourhood, thus leaving an adequate endowment for the maintenance of the residents in the almshouses. It has been given to few men to amass so large a share of wealth as was got THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 323 together by Titus Salt ; fewer still have made such splendid use of an enormous fortune. After the establishment of Saltaire, Mr. Salt did not withdraw himself from Bradford life, but continued to manifest a strong interest in the place where he had laid the foundation of his fortunes. In 1857 he was urged to allow himself to be put into nomination as a candidate for the representation of Bradford in Parliament, but he withdrew from the contest rather than divide his party, his friend. General Perronet Thompson being one of the candidates. In 1859, however, at the general election of that year, he was again pressed to permit himself to be brought forward, and, there being then no question of dividing his party, he consented, and was returned along with Mr. H. W. Wickham, It was never expected that a man of such unassuming' manners and so little gifted with oratorical ability as Mr. Salt would blossom into a parliamentary luminary ; but it was felt that he had earned the rio-ht to be accorded the hioliest honour that the town could give him, and the people elected him. Parliamentary life, however, was so utterly at variance with all his previous experience, and so little harmonised with his estab- Y 2 324 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. lislied habits, that he cannot be said to have taken to it at all kindly. He was out of his element. He had so long accustomed himself to the rattle of looms, the whirr of spindles, the surroundings of toiling men and women, and the sight of vast expanses of machinery, that he found it difficult to fit in with this totally different mode of life. He had accepted the post, however, and so long as he retained it he would endeavour, to the best of his ability, to fulfil its duties. " His seat in the house," says Mr. Balgarnie, " was always occupied, and his name found on every division list. But within the walls of St. Stephen's his voice was never heard, except on some formal occasion, such as the presentation of a petition. To him it was a scene widely different from that with which he had long been familiar. Speaking had always been his weak point ; but here it was his chief business. Early rising and retiring had been the rule of his life ; now the long sittings, the heated atmosphere, irregular hours, both of diet and sleep, the excit- ing debates and divisions, were enough to exhaust any man's energies, much more his, so unaccus- tomed to such an experience." The upshot was that, after having endured this strain upon his health for THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 325 about two years, he resigned liis seat ; and, in 1861, Mr. W. E. Forster was elected, without opposition, to fill his place, and Mr. Salt went back to his old life. In 1867 Mr. Salt received from the Emperor of the French the decoration of the Legion of Honour. In 1869 Her Majesty conferred the distinction of a baronetcy upon him, and thence- forward the title of the Saltaire firm was " Sir Titus Salt, Bart., Sons & Co." In conveying the intimation of the Queen's offer to Mr. Salt, Mr. Gladstone said, " Though we have not been so fortunate as to keep you within the precincts — perhaps I ought to say the troubled precincts — of parliamentary life, you have not failed by your station, character, and services, to establish an ample title to the honourable distinc- tion which it is now my gratifying duty to place at your disposal." The high esteem in which Sir Titus Salt was always held by his workpeople has been repeatedly manifested. In 1856 they presented him with a colossal bust of himself; and in 1871 the people of Saltaire presented him witli his portrait, painted by Mr. J. V. Knight, 1a. A., which was subsequently 326 THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. deposited in the Institute at Saltaire, and is a work of considerable merit. At the same time, " the children of Saltaire " presented the baronet with two silver-plated breakfast dishes. On his part, Sir Titus Salt was never wanting in demonstrating the regard in which he held those who laboured for him ; and on two memor- able occasions he intited the whole of his work- people to feast with him and his family at his own home. On the occasion of his birthday in lb56, when the bust was presented to him, he treated his workpeople to the number of 3,000 to a sumptuous banquet at Crow Nest, his residence, and there was great rejoicing. In 1873, the twentieth anniversary of the opening of Saltaire and his seventieth birthday. Sir Titus Salt gathered his workpeople around him once more at Crow^ Nest, and in greater numbers than before, the establishment at Saltaire having expanded since 1853. On September 20th, 1873, no fewer than 4,200 guests were entertained by Sir Titus, three special trains being chartered to convey them. In 1874 Bradford erected a public statue, at a cost of 3,000/., to Sir Titus Salt — a very unusual honour to be paid to a man during THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 327 liis lifetime. The Duke of Devonshire under- took the duty of unveiling the statue, and many thousand people assembled to witness the ceremon3\ The late Lord F. Cavendish, M.P. ; Mr. Samuel Morley, M.P. ; Mr. John Crossley, M.P. ; Mr. H. W. Eipley, M.P. ; and many other distinguished persons, were present on the occasion, and all joined in bearing testimony to the noble qualities of the man whose good deeds they were commemorating. The erection of this statue was an act which Sir Titus Salt would fain had been post- poned until he had passed away. Sir Titus Salt's health began to decline in the early part of 1876, and his visits to Saltaire became less frequent. On Friday, December 29th, in that same year he died, at Crow Nest ; and on January 6tli, 1877, his remains were consigned to their last restino-- place in the family mausoleum at Saltaire, and such a funeral was given him as has seldom been witnessed, over 100,000 people assembling in the streets of Bradford to see the funeral cortege pass. Thus ended the life and labours of a true 328 THE SALTS,' AND THE DISCOVEKY OF ALPACA. Englishman, whose business enterprise and sagacity built him up a princely fortune, whose charitable deeds placed him amongst the foremost philanthropists of this or any other age, and whose memory will be warmly cherished in this country as long as true worth and high example continue to be reverenced. As the creator of a new industry he has been the means of adding, in a re- markable degree, to the manufacturing eminence and commercial wealth of the country, but especially of the district which derived, in the first instance, the direct benefit of his skill and enterprise. The present owners and managers of Saltaire carry on the works and uphold the town and its institutions with the same regard to the social and moral elevation of the people as was evinced by their founder ; and Saltaire still remains one of the chief industrial wonders of the world, and is an enduring monument to the true greatness of a com- mercial leader and a Christian gentleman. The present baronet is Sir William Henry Salt, of Maplewell, near Loughborough, who THE SALTS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF ALPACA. 329 was born in 1831, and did not adopt a commercial career. In 1854 lie married Emma Dove Octaviana, the only child of Mr. John Dove Harris, of Eatcliffe Hall, Leicester. Sir William Henry Salt is a magistrate for the West Eiding of Yorkshire, and for Leicester- shire, a deputy lieutenant of Leicestershire, and high sheriff of the latter county. THE PEASES OE DARLINGTOX. THE PEASES OF DAELINGTON. |Ki^HE industrial annals of this country ^jB afford few more interestincf chapters than the story of Edward Pease's connection with George Stephenson, in those now seemingly distant days when the Killingworth engine-wright was fighting his way to the front, modestly yet persistently, with his new idea, the locomotive. The combination of two such practical minds on one undertaking hastened forward the railway system in a very remarkable manner. One was the calm far-seeing projector ; the other was the man of infinite invention and resource, ready to carry out those great plans which he had satisfied himself were feasible, but which the world generally regarded as dangerously revolu- tionar}% and to a great extent Utopian. In 1817 Edward Pease, in the face of strong opposition, appealed to the public to assist him 334 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. in forming a company for the promotion of a railway between Stockton and the West Auck- land coal-field ; but the public fought shy of the project, and if it had not been that Mr. Pease's own family and immediate friends had embarked in the enterprise with him, the title of " the father of railways," which was subse- quently given to Mr. Pease, would in all probability have had to be shifted on to some later projector. But Edward Pease, when once he had taken a thing in hand, and made up his mind that it was expedient and practicable, was not given to withdrawing from it ; so, before he had ever seen George Stephenson, he had made his application to Parliament for sanction to his scheme, and would have had liis railway in course of formation but for the powerful objection raised by Lord Darlington (afterwards Duke of Cleveland) that the proposed line would pass through one of his fox-covers. Lord Eldon, moreover, was an uncompromising opponent of the Bill, and was the chief instrument in gettino' the Bill thrown out, which, it must be remem- bered, was in its original form nothing more than a private trading Bill. We have it on THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 335 the authority of Earl Grey (as related in Hayward's Biographical Essays) that Lord Chancellor Eldon was seen one morning making alterations in a private Act of Parliament whilst on his knees at prayers in the House of Lords. That Act was the first Eailway Bill. Parliament in those days was stronger on the side of the fox-hunters than on that of the railway promoters ; and no wonder, remembering the apathy, if not open hostility, of the commercial classes — the people who were destined to derive the greatest benefit from the project. The Duke of Cleveland, therefore, succeeded in getting- his brother peers to throw out the Eailway Bill in 1818 ; but in the folio winjr year, when Mr. Pease had chalked out a new route for his line, between Stockton and Darlington, steering clear of the Duke's cover, Parliament was induced to accept the scheme. In 1821, when the royal assent had made the Bill law, the work of con- struction was proceeded with. It was at this stage that George Stephenson came over from Killingworth to Darlington, and tried to interest the good Quaker in his new machine, the steam- horse. Up to this point, the projector of the 338 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. first railway had had no idea of providing any motive-power other than horses ; the rails were his leading^ feature ; the locomotive had not even been thoucfht of in connection witli the Stockton and Darlington scheme. When Stephenson waited upon Mr. Pease, however, and, in that Northumbrian dialect which never left him, sought Mr. Pease's adoption of the new enofine for the new line, and when Mr. Pease promised to run over to Killingworth to see George's locomotive for himself, the first link in tlie mighty railway chain, which was thereafter to stretch over all the countries of the world, was forged. Mr. Pease went, saw the engine, approved of it, and from that time the Stockton and Darlington Eailway project began to assume, in the eyes of onlookers, a more chimerical aspect than ever. Edward Pease became a convert to the locomotive, and an amended Act of Parlia- ment was obtained in 1823, empowering the company to employ locomotives on their lines, under certain restrictions. From that time the interests of Edward Pease and George Stephenson were in a great measure identical. Mr. Pease assisted Stephenson — now appointed the engineer THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 337 of the new line at a salary of 300/. a year — to found his locomotive factory at Newcastle, and in many other ways helped on the mighty movement which both lived to see extended, with so much benefit to human progress, into every centre of industry throughout the kingdom. Edward Pease may be said to have completed one career, however, when the railway project first engaged his attention. He was between fifty and sixty years of age when the Stockton and Darlington Eailway was opened in 1825, and lonsj before then he had earned a name and a fortune. He was descended (genealogy records) from a Yorkshire family at one time settled near the town of Barnsley, a branch of which family espoused the doctrines of George Fox, and for that departure were discarded from the old stock. One of the Barnsley Peases, it seems, married a certain George Cardwell, who settled at Darlington as a wool-comber. Mr. Cardwell was joined by his wife's nephew, Edward Pease, whom he subsequently adopted as his heir. For several generations the Peases had their woollen mills in Darlington, and it was in VOL. L z 338 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. these busy liives of industry that the railway pioneer received his business training. Some idea of the magnitude of the works carried on by the Peases in the early years of the present century may be gleaned from the fact that in 1817 a woollen factory of theirs that was burned down involved a loss of 30,000/., and threw about five hundred workpeople out of employment. At this time Edward Pease was at the head of the concern, and managed it with rare skill and enterprise. Darlington was not then the important place that it is now ; still, it had served Edward Pease as a sufficient field for his energies, and, as far as Darlington could honour him, he was honoured. He was a man of quiet thoughtful ways, not given to manifesting himself too strongly in anything, but, despite his Quaker creed and simple habits, having force of character enough to make his influence widely felt. No other man could have . accomplished what he succeeded in doincf for the Stockton and Darlington Eailway. Even with such a man at the head of the company it was only just possible to obtain assistance sufficient to enable the scheme to be floated ; and as it was, THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 339 tlie Bill would have been lost had not Mr. Pease boldly come forward, and advanced 10,000/. to make up the subscriptions to the amount necessary to be guaranteed before the Bill could be sent into committee. But his faith gradually inspired faith in others, and when the great problem came to be solved subsequently, his name stood higher than ever in the estimation of his fellow-men. "It is pleasing to relate," writes Dr. Smiles, in his interesting Lives of George and Robert Stephenson, " in connection with this great work — the Stockton and Darling- ton Eailway, projected by Edward Pease and executed by George Stephenson — that when Mr. Stephenson became a prosperous and a celebrated man, he did not forget the friend who had taken him by the hand and lielped him on in his early days. He continued to remember Mr. Pease with gratitude and affection ; and that gentleman, to the close of his life, was proud to exhibit a handsome gold watch, received as a gift from his celebrated j?rotege bearing these words : ' Esteem and gratitude : from George Stephenson to Edward Pease.' " From the time of the opening of the first z 2 340 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. railway down to tlie time of his death in 1858, at the advanced age of ninety -one, Edward Pease continued to take a deep interest in the management of the line which he had founded, and lived his good life out in peace, honoured and revered by all who knew him. The year previous to his death a movement was set on foot for recognising, by some suitable memorial, the great work that he had accomplished, and at a public meeting of the inhabitants of Dar- lington it was resolved, " That, deeply impressed with the immense advantages of the exertions of Edward Pease, Esq., in promoting in the year 1818 the first public railway in the king- dom, and in subsequent years prosecuting the scheme of railway enterprise with indomitable perseverance, under difficulties almost incon- ceivable at the present day, it is expedient to record the facts by some testimonial as a proof of the estimation in which he is held in his native town of Darlington, its neighbourhood, and the district generally. That in consequence of such means of locomotion, sources of wealth have been developed, the entire kingdom ad- vanced, and tlie comfort and convenience of THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 341 the public wonderfully increased, every railway company in Great Britain be communicated with in order to afford them the opportunity of co-operating in this national tribute to a man who still lives to witness, with the liveliest satis- faction, the result of his early labours. That, considering that Mr. Pease has directly and indirectly been the means of developing, to an extraordinary extent, the mineral wealth of this district in particular, and thereby stimulating every branch of trade and commerce in the country at large, communications be made with employers and employed, affording an oppor- tunity to masters and operatives of assisting in a testimonial commemorating the services of that gentleman." The resolution is so unique in its form, and in the history it covers, that it is well worth putting on record. Had it been acted upon there is no doubt the response throughout the country would have been of the most liberal description. But it was not to be. Mr. Pease himself insisted upon being considered in the matter, and positively yet courteously commanded " that no such testi- monial should be prepared or further thought 342 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. of." He further wrote to the chairman of the meeting, saying that his friends "had done him some injustice in doing him more than justice ; " adding, " It seems to me that Providence has condescended largely to bless our designs and efforts for the good of the world, and that we have great cause to thank Him for the benefits He has enabled us to confer on humanity." But the public were not to be prevented alto- gether from expressing their good-will and admiration, for all that ; so, on October 23rd, 1857, a representative deputation waited upon Mr. Pease, and presented him with an address in which were set forth, at some length, the qualities of head and heart which had won him so proud a place in the esteem of the people. Although couched in somewhat high-flown lan- guage, there are passages in the address which are worth quoting, if only for the summary of good works which they comprise. "Directly and indirectly," says the address, " by your sterling ability, fertile resources of invention, inexhaustible assiduity and the highest moral courage, you have been the means under God — who has hidden boundless riches in the earth. THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 343 but granted intellect to man for tlieir develojD- ment — of opening fresh avenues to science, encouraging every branch of trade and com- merce, employing large bodies of operatives, and ameliorating the condition of all classes of society. To you, therefore, more than to any hero of any age, the thanks of a nation are due, and justly may you be termed 'A pioneer of the peace.' " Such a tribute as this indicates a degree of admiration very rarely met with in these days, and it is the strongest evidence of good works achieved. In the same year the first locomotive that ever went on a public hue of railway, the " Locomotion," the famous " No. 1 engine " was relegated to honourable retirement by being placed on a pedestal in front of the Darlington Eailway Station, and Mr. Pease was asked to perform the ceremony of laying tlie foundation- stone for this pedestal ; but his advanced age and increasing infirmity prevented him from complying with the request. In the letter that he wrote on that occasion, he referred with just pride to the part he had played in the promotion of railways. " Sanguine," he wrote. 344 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. " and I may say sure, as I was of the value of railways wlien I first moved in their introduc- tion with two or three able helpers, and such an engineer as the late celebrated George Ste- phenson (then first drawn from obscurity), their success and importance have far, very far, ex- ceeded the most favourable anticipations, con- fidently sanguine as those anticipations were. With an ample repayment of satisfaction and pleasure, I cannot, in taking a retrospective view, regret the care and attention for three or four years given to the completion of our then unpopular work, opposed by magistrates, com- missioners of turnpikes, &c., to the full of their power. Steady disinterested attention, without one shilling of fee or reward, brought our work, thankless and wageless, to its completion. Mr. Pease died in the month of July, 1858, in the ninety-second year of his age ; and when he came to be interred in the little cemetery of the Friends in Darlington, a very large assem- bly attended to mark their respect for the " father of railways," as they loved to call him. Hereditary genius is not generally believed in ; but whatever business capacity, enterprise, THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 345 and foresight had been revealed in Edward Pease seemed to be transmitted to his immediate descendants, for, even in the old man's lifetime, the younger branches of the family had become prominent in the industrial world, and helped forward to a wonderful extent the development of the resources of the great mineral district of which Darlington formed the industrial centre. Joseph Pease, the second son of Edward Pease, became more of a public man than his father had been, and served his country with distinction in many capacities. He was associated with his father not only in the promotion of the Stockton and Darlington Eailway, but, before that, in the woollen business, which he mastered in every branch. When the first railway was opened Joseph Pease was appointed treasurer thereof, and, under his management, the financial operations of the company were carried on with great success, the best testimony to which w^ere the excellent dividends that were realised for the shareholders. But Joseph Pease looked further afield than the railway or his father's woollen mills ; he saw that the vast mineral capabilities of South Durham were as yet comparatively unworked, and tliat, 346 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. with the fresh facilities of transport which George Stephenson's inventive mind had provided, those capabilities could be made available for the profit and advantage of the commercial world generally. In 1828, therefore, we find Joseph Pease a partner in a colliery at Shildon, near Bishop Auckland ; and in 1829 he was busying himself with the creation of a new port on the Tees for the shipment of coals, from which project sprang the town of Middlesbrough, since so famed for its ironworks. At that time, we are told, the site of the future town was nothing better than a dismal swamp, with just one single farm- house standing upon it. Joseph Pease and his friends bought five hundred acres of this swamp, and, when they had obtained the consent of Parliament for the construction of a line of rail- way from Stockton to that place, they proceeded to make it habitable. Large coal-staiths were erected, and streets of houses sprang up with mushroom-like rapidity. Then came the opening of the new line, the advance of ships to the 3^oung port ; and the mineral wealth of Cleveland had found another outlet into the industrial world, and the Cleveland men another source of riches. THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 347 Before ten years had elapsed a population of 6,000 persons had been attracted to Middles- brough; and when, in addition to working tlie coal, they began to open up their immense stores of ironstone, a still further impetus was given to the industry of the place, and by the year 1861 the population had risen to 18,892, — to-day it has over 70,000! Joseph Pease watched this remarkable trans- formation with such intelligent interest that he was able to make the advancement of his own fortunes and those of his family keep pace with the advancement of the town of which he was the principal founder. The simple proprietor- ship of a smaU share in the Shildon Colliery did not long content him ; he bought and leased coal-field after coal-field, and soon became the largest coal-owner in South Durham. His business connections extended so greatly that there was ample work for him, his five sons, and his brother Henry in the management of the various concerns. He entered not less freely and heartily into the development of the iron trade than he had previously done into the coal trade; but in 1852 he was in the front of the movement, opening up 348 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. ironstone mines in various parts of the district, engaging his capital and his energy in the pro- motion of the new industry which was destined to bring marvellous increase of prosperity to Cleveland. Mr. J. S. Jeans, in his Jubilee Memorial of the Railway System, published in 1875, says : "In the raising of ironstone, as well as in the production of coal, the firm of J. & J. W. Pease speedily took a premier position. There is nothing more notable in the annals of that re- markable district than the unflagging enterprise with which they opened out one mine after another, until their operations reached a scale of magnitude which is still without parallel. The quantity of iron-ore raised from the mines of the firm has averaged more than a million tons per annum for the last ten years, while the total number of hands employed by them during that period — including both collieries and ironstone mines — has approached 10,000." Mr. Joseph Pease was, in his day, perhaps the most popular man in South Durham. That division of the county returned him as member of Parliament, after the passing of the Eeform Bill of 1832, and again in 1835 and 1837, without THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 349 opposition. Mr. Pease being the first Quaker member sent to the House of Commons, and having scruples of conscience regarding the taking of the oath, he figured for a brief time before the country in some such attitude as that taken up in more recent times by Mr. Bradlaugh, thougli not in the same aggressive manner, or to his de- traction. A committee was appointed, on the motion of Lord Althorp, to inquire into the pre- cedents bearing upon the matter, and, in the end, Mr. Pease was permitted to take his seat, and the oath was, for the first time in parliamentary history, dispensed with. Before this course had been agreed to, his friends advised him to petition the House on the subject ; and he is reported to have made this characteristic reply, " I will petition nobody ; I am sent here according to the law of the land as representative in Parliament for South Durham, an important county con- stituency, and it shall never be said that South Durham in my person was brought down upon its knees to beg for its rights." On taking his place in the House, Josepli Pease allied himself with the economists and the anti-slavery advocates, and rendered them memor- 350 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. able service. In those days there was much more to be done in ParHament than there is now for the amehoration of the condition of the people, and Joseph Pease was always to be found on the side of the philanthrophists and the reformers. The heat and contention of parliamentary life, however, had not the same charm for him as business, and those who knew him best were not surprised that at the general election of 1841 he should have decided to retire from the representa- tion of South Durham. He ever afterwards declined to allow himself to be put in nomination, although frequently desired so to do. But he never wearied of doing good. He held the office of President of the Peace Society for many years, and in the cause of education he gave of his time and money most liberally. His charity was unbounded. In 1870 he built the Southend Schools, Middlesbrough, at a cost of 5,000^., and in the same year subscribed 3,000/., to the North of Eno^land Ao-ricultural Schools. Durino- the last few years of his life, Joseph Pease suffered much from an optical affliction, and in 1865 became totally blind. He died in February, 1872, in the seventy-third year of his age, and THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 351 was buried by the side of his father in the Friends' cemetery at Darlington. A handsome bronze statue of him now occupies the most conimanding position in his native town. The only other son of the " futher of railways " who filled any considerable part in the industrial history of South Durham was Henry Pease, the youngest son, who was born in 1807. It was at first intended to make a tanner of him, and he was brought up to that business. But a man of such energy of character was not likely to escape being caught by the railway fever which raged around him with so much fierceness in his early manhood ; so, no sooner had he attained his majority than he broke away from the leather trade, and entered heart and soul into the w^ork of raihvay promotion. Henry Pease's name came to be connected with nearly all the lines of importance that were projected in the north of England, some of which were originated by him ; and perhaps no man of his time had a longer or more distinguished career as a railway director, he having for over forty years been unremitting in his attendance in the board-room of one railway or another, although in his later 352 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. years liis services were principally engaged on behalf of the North-Eastern Company. He was always alive to the necessities of the time, prompt to devise new routes and extensions, and it has been said of him that he never originated a line which had afterwards to be condemned. He was associated with his brother Joseph in the formation of the branch line from IMiddlesbrough to Guisbrough, and was the first chairman of that railway. Subsequently he took a main part in originating and carrying forward a scheme for the making of a line between Darlington and Barnard Castle, and was appointed vice-chairman of the company. On July 20tli, 1854, the first sods were cut by the Eev. T. Witham, the chairman, and Mr. Pease, the latter cuttinsr his sod in his shirt-sleeves amidst the deafening cheers of at least ten thousand spec- tators. They had had a long and hard fight in getting their Bill through Parliament, the ducal house of Cleveland once more blocking the way of progress ; and when success was at last achieved the enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. Two years afterwards, when the railway was opened to the public, and another THR PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 353 great celebration took place, the Duke of Cleve- land made the amende by attending the banquet, and expressing a liope that all past differences- mio-lit be foro^otten and foroiven. Henry Pease was returning from a visit to tlie United States at the time that his favourite line was bein^ opened ; but as soon as he landed lie made his way to Barnard Castle, surveyed with satisfaction and delight the work that had been so speedily and so successfully accomplished, and straight- way set his mind to devise a furtlier railway from this new centre. He determined upon projecting a line from Barnard Castle to unite with the Lancaster and Carlisle Eailway ; and on August 20th, 1856, a month after the opening of the Darlington and Barnard Castle line, a first meeting of promoters of the new under- taking was held, and the sclieme was launched before the public. The country through which the proposed line was to pass was a wild, dreary, mountainous region, which presented many obstacles to the engineer ; but Henry Pease was not a man to be daunted by difficulties of this description, and therefore the South Durliam and Lancashire Union Eailway came to be entered VOL. I. AA 354 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. upon. Tlie new line had many powerful recommendations. It would be the means of open- ing up ready communication between the Durham coal-fields and iron-mines with the densely popu- lated manufacturing districts of Lancashire, and of providing direct communication between the Cleveland district and the main northern line. So, for the sake of the result tliat it promised, the enterprise was warmly taken up, and as soon as the necessary Act of Parliament had been obtained (this time without opposition) the under- taking was proceeded with. The difficulty of carrying the line across the Stainmoor range of hills was undoubtedly great ; but by careful engi- neering the railway was taken over the summit of the moorland, 1,374 feet above the level of the sea, and down again into the picturesque valle}^ of Kirkby Stephen, on the other side, and from that point was continued forward to Tebay, where a connection with the London and North- Western line was formed. Cleveland and Barrow-in-Fur- ness were to be linked by the new railway also, and altogether there were the most formidable reasons for constructing it. Li August, 1857, the first sod was cut, and four years afterwards — in THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 355 18G1 — tlie line was formally opened, and the development of tlic Cleveland district then pro- ceeded at a more rapid pace than ever. It was stated that in 1875 no less than fifteen thousand tons of coal and coke passed over this line from South Durham. After the new railway was opened several convenient amalgamations were effected, at the suggestion of Mr, Henry Pease. First, the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway was amalgamated with the original Stockton and Darlington line ; and the year following (1863), the Stockton and Darlington itself, together with its various tributary lines, was absorbed into the ISTorth-Eastern system. No sooner had the South Durham and Lan- cashire Union Eailway been completed than Mr. Henry Pease was planning further extensions of road for the iron horse. A line for connecting the new railway at Kirkby Stephen with the Lancaster and Carlisle Eailway, near Clifton, was projected ; and shortly afterwards another ex- tension, from Clifton to Penrith, was started. In both these undertakings Henry Pease was a eading spirit. Up to this time Henry Pease had employed his AA 2 356 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. energies for the most part in enterprises intended to assist the industrial progress of the country generally, and of his native county in particular ; but he now took in hand a somewhat different project — the creation of a new watering-place for the people of the north. Attracted by tlie striking beauty of a sheltered fishing-village, and whilom retreat of smugglers, called Saltburn, he conceived the idea of converting it into a pleasure resort, and, when once lie had satisfied himself of the feasibiUty of the project, lost no time in perfecting it. The first thing was to make a railway to the place. Application was made to Parliament by the directors of the Stockton and Darlington line for power of extension to Salt- burn ; and in 1858 the scheme was proceeded with, and before long there arose on the site of the old fishing-village a picturesque town, with spacious hotels, substantial terraces and streets and a handsome railway terminus. The foun- dation-stone of the first cottages was laid by Henry Pease, who fittingly designated them tlie Alpha Cottages. Since then Saltburn has ex- tended its borders greatly, and has become one of the best-frequented watering-places in the THE PEASES OF DAKT.INGTON. 357 north of England. Hither flock, in the summer- time, the denizens of Stockton, Middlesbrough, Darlington, and other northern centres of industry, and Saltburn remains a lasting tribute to the memory of its founder. It is worth while observing tliat the Peases have been unusually fortunate in the creation of new places and in the originating of new undertakings. It was Edward Pease who was the founder of the first railway ; it was Joseph Pease who founded the town of Middlesbrough ; and it was Henry Pease who founded the town of Saltburn ; and between them they may be said to have made the town of Darlington. The York and Darlington Eailway was another project in which Henry Pease took a leading part ; and when, in 1875, the great Eailway Jubilee was held, his name was the most prominent of all, he being the president on that occasion. Eighty British and thirty foreign railways were represented at that eventful gathering ; and when Henry Pease arose in the midst of the vast assembly, and lifted his voice in praise of the great work which the world had seen achieved through the iiif-trumentality of railways, it was felt that no one could have 358 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. more worthily filled tlie presidential chair. He was the only person left of the men who fifty years before had taken part in the opening of the first railway. As has been well said, " Many envied, but none could share, the pardonable exultation of ' the old man eloquent,' who after the lapse of half a century surveyed the mar- vellous results which had flowed from the enterprise and foresight of the railway pioneers." Henry Pease, however, did not limit his busy life to the promotion of railway undertakings ; he was interested in many other concerns of a com- mercial nature, and seems to have been successful in all that he did. He was senior partner in the firm of Joseph Pease & Partners, coal-owners. In several other important companies, public and private, he likewise held a leading position. He was chairman of the South Durham Ironworks Company, of the Stockton and Middlesbrough Waterworks Company, and of the Weardale and Shildon Waterworks Company. Indeed, Henry Pease may be said to have identified him- self with almost every branch of industry and every undertaking of magnitude in South Durham ; and in addition to these multifarious THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 359 engagements, lie found time to serve liis county in Parliament for several years, being one of tlie representatives of Soutli Durham from 1857 to 1865. It would have been marvellous if a man with so many claims upon the constituency had not been returned. He was introduced to the electors by his brother, Mr. Joseph Pease, who delivered himself of these memorable words : " Are you farmers ? so are we. Are you manufacturers ? so are we. Are 3^ou miners ? so are we. Are you shipowners and traders ? so are we. Have you a single right, have 3"ou a single interest, have you any claim upon good-nature and common sense to which we are not accessible, and upon which we are not one with you in heart and soul and body ? " This was no mere electioneering claptrap; it was the honest truth. The Peases were identified with the people in every possible wa}-, and feelings of gratitude alone, quite apart from any political sentiment, would have sufficed to secure Henr}^ Pease a seat. From 1832 down to the present time, excepting the sixteen years' interval between the retirement of Joseph Pease and the election of Henry Pease, Soutli Durham has been repre- 360 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. sented by some member of tins distinguisIieJ family. As a politician Henry won respect, if not distinction. LordBroufdiam said of liim that "a more respectable or a more useful member, I will venture to say, the House of Commons does not possess." Like the rest of his famil}^ he was a zealous supporter of the doctrines of the Peace Societ}- ; and it was in the interest of peace that, in 1853, in company with Joseph Sturge and Eobert Charlton, he made that remarkable journey to Eussia, as a deputation from the Society of Friends, to urge upon the Czar Nicholas the duty of sparing Eurojje from the miseries and devastation of war. It was a bold undertaking on the part of three Quaker gentlemen to travel to St. Petersburg to con- front so imperious a monarch as Nicholas, and attempt to dissuade him from appealing to the force of arms ; but their simple eariiestness touched the heart of the Czar : he not only received them kindly, but assured them he was ready to hold out his hand to his enemies in the true Christian spirit. This well-meant mis- sion, however, failed in its purpose ; matters had proceeded too f^ir in the direction of hostilities THE TEASES OF DARLINGTON. 361 to permit of any peaceful settlement being effected. Hardly had tlie three Quakers passed tlie Eussiaii frontier on their homeward journey Avhen the war broke out. The temper of the English people at that time was opposed to any interference in the interests of peace, con- sequently the Peace Deputation was regarded in tliis country with no little disfavour. It is only when looked at in the calmer light of historical distance that the efforts of the deputation can be appreciated in their true significance. Henry Pease and his two friends were little affected by the sneers of the unthinking ; they had set themselves what they considered a high and holy duty to perform, and had performed it. In a lecture he delivered at Darlington after his return home, Henry Pease said " he could not see anything unreasonable or deserving of ridicule in the fact of a body of Christians, who had been in existence two hundred years, and who had averaged 20,000 in number — who had always cherished the belief that liberty could neither be advanced nor national disputes settled by the use of the sword, and who had always endeavoured to be good citizens — send- 362 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. ing two or three of their number to endeavour to bring about a pacific settlement of the then present difficulty. Was there anything un- reasonable, he would ask, in their endeavouring to serve their country by trying to avert the national evil that threatened it. In 1867 Henry Pease formed one of another Peace Depu- tation — sent out this time under the auspices of the Peace Society — whose object was to prevail upon Napoleon III. to organise a Peace Congress in Paris during the period of the Exhibition. Like the Emperor Nicholas, Napoleon received the men of peace kindly, and vouch- safed them certain promises on which they built their hopes, until in the end the proposed congress was declined. On the death of his brother Joseph, in 1872, Henry Pease was elected to the office of president of the Peace Society, and in 1878, when an International Peace Congress at Paris became an accomplished event, he was one of the principal English speakers. Before the incorporation of Darlington, Henry Pease was chairman of the Local Board of Health, and was the first mayor of the town. He died on May 30th, 1881, at his temporary THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 363 residence in London. Dnring his lonpf and use- ful life he had earned for himself a high place in the esteem of his fellow-countrymen. Since the death of Henry Pease, the business affairs of the Peases have been in the hands of Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, M.P. for South Durham, Mr. Arthur Pease, M.P. for Whitby, sons of the late Joseph Pease, Mr, Henry Fell Pease, son of Henry Pease, and Mr. David Dale. Sir Josepli Whitwell Pease was born in 1828, and, after being privately educated, was introduced to that commercial sphere wherein he has since, along with his partners, maintained the eminence of the family name. When he attained his majority in 1849, the Cleveland district was experiencing its first flush of prosperity, and so much of this was due to the Peases, and tlie Peases themselves felt ISO much gratitude for the good fortune that had rewarded their enterprise, that the occasion was made the most of in the way of rejoicings. Young Josepli Whitwell Pease, indeed, found the way paved for him by his predecessors ; when he entered upon business he started from a strong vantage-point ; but it is not too mucli to say that he has not allowed the prestige of the 364 THE PEASES OF D ARLINGTON name he bears to be dimmed ; he has sustained the family reputation for integrity, perseverance, foresight, and success, and, as the head of a great industrial firm, has worthily borne liis pait in tlie commercial battle of the last quarter of a centur3\ At the large gathering at the birthday banquet given in honour of the attainment of his majority, his father asked the people " to unite with him in humble desires — in prayers — that his son might fulfil his duties, by the help of God, as a true Christian and true patriot ; that his ear might never be deaf to the complaint of the poor or the tale of woe ; that he might be willing, to the best of his powers, to discharge his duties in the si^ht of God and of his fellow- creatures ; and that he would bring all things and lay them upon the altar of Him that gave them, remembering that they all must look for the only lasting inheritance beyond the grave." That the simple words then uttered were not lost upon the son for whose benefit they were spoken has been over and over again manifested by th-j good deeds Avilh which that son's name lias been linked since tliat time. In the railway work which engaged liis family's attention so largely THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 3G5 ill the days of his early manhood, Josepli Whitwell Fease played a prominent and liononrable part, and in all that he undertook displayed a tact and an intelligence which sensibly assisted the im- portant undertakings they had in liand. When in his thirtieth year he was the principal witness heard in support of the Stockton and Darlington North Eiding Lines Bill, a fact which says much for the extent of his knowledge of railway matters and the requirements of the locality. He is now a leading director of the North Eastern Eailway. When, in 18G5, his uncle, Mr. Henry Pease, retired from the representation of South Durham, Joseph Whitwell Pease was elected in his stead, being returned at the head of the poll. In 1868, in 187-1, and again at the last general election, the constituency continued him in the representation, and during his now somewhat lengthy parliamentary career he has more than fulfilled the expectations of his party. In commercial questions he takes an active part, and as a social reformer is in the front rank of prominent workers. His efforts in the cause of education have often received recognition, while his advocacy of the anti-opium demands 366 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. approaches enthusiasm. He does not possess any special gift of eloquence, but he can speak sensibly and pointedly on the subjects which most enlist his sympathies, and has on many occasions rendered effective service to movements of philanthroj)ic purport or commercial advance- ment. He has manfully faced the duties and re- sponsibilities of his position, and has commanded the respect of men of all parties and creeds. On him has fallen the mantle of his uncle Henry. When Henry died, the great family was deprived of its chief, but the position, by right of seniority, experience, and interest, was soon adequately filled by Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease. An active publicist previous to this event, he now became if possible even more prominent. Hardly a cause having for its object the bettering of the nation, or the improvement of the con- dition of the people amongst whom he lives, but is supported by Sir Joseph. His name figures on the subscription list of every philanthropic and religious movement — for the church or the village chapel, the United Kingdom Alliance or the local Band of Hope, the pack of fox-hounds or the village cricket-club — while seldom a THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 367 meetiag takes place on Teeside of any importance that he does not attend. Thus worthily carrying on the work of his predecessors, and sustaining the family name and dignity ; he also continues the association of that name with a busy community which, like that of Middlesbrough, Saltburn, Darlington, and a host of smaller places, may be said to owe much of its success to the judicious support of the Peases. Both Joseph Pease and Henry Pease were presidents of the Peace Society, and Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease is the present president. That Sir Joseph's political labours have not been of a merely ornamental character is evidenced by tlie higli estimation in which he is held by his party, and the possibility of his occupying an official position in future Liberal administrations is frequently discussed. Some years ago, it was understood, he had a baronetcy offered to him but declined the honour as being opposed to the traditions of the reliiiious communitv to wliicli he belonsfed. But recent years have witnessed many deviations from the practices of Fox, amongst " the people called Quakers," and Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, as well as otliers of the family, has never 368 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. thought it necessary to conform with rigid exactitude to the more austsre notions of that body ; so when in the early part of the present year (1883), a further offer of a baronetcy was made by Mr. Gladstone to the head of the Pease family, the offer was accepted, and now, in Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, we have the first Quaker baronet, the first titled Friend, as his father before him had been the first Quaker Member of Parliament. Mention must also be made of Mr. Edward Pease, the second son of Mr. Joseph Pease and brother of Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease. This bearer of the name of the founder of the family's commercial greatness had the misfortune to possess a delicate constitution, which prevented liim taking his place by the side of his brother in the more arduous undertakings of the firm.. His earliest commercial experience was obtained at the woollen mills belonging to tlie family, and, later on, he took some part in the general management of the business of the Pease Brothers ; but the " fever and the fret " of daily toil were too much for his physical power, and he passed his days in works of charity and goodness, THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 369 winning liis place in tlie liearts of the people by tlie generosity of liis cliaracter and tlie constant solicitude he evinced for tlie moral elevation of the masses. He was an ardent admirer of horticulture in all its forms, and the Gardeners' Institute at Darlington and the model fruit-farms established under his guidance at Bewdley afford testimony of his practical help in such matters. The cause of art and of education had a sincere friend in him also, he being one of the chief promoters and supporters of the Darlington Mechanics' Institute, the British and Foreign Training College for Female Teachers at Darling- ton, and the Darlington Grammar School, of both which institutions he was a governor. He died at Lucerne in June, 1880, in his forty-sixth year, and his remains were transferred to Darlington, where he was buried with every token of public affection. He left a becjuest of 10,000/. for the education of the poor of Darlington, lialf of which sum is being spent on a Free Library. There is still another prominent member of the Pease family to be spoken of — Mr. Arthur Pease, M.P. for Whitby. Mr. Arthur I'ease is VOL. I. BB 370 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. brother to Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, and a few years his junior. He was born at DarUngton in 1837, and is the fourth son of Mr. Joseph Pease. He has at all times identified himself closely with the town of his birth, being a member of the chief local bodies and institutions, and in many ways exerted himself to raise Darlington in im- portance and influence. Since the date of the town's incorporation Arthur Pease has been a member of the Town Council of the borough, and in 1873 served the office of mayor with distinction. He has since been an alderman of the corporate body, and as vice-chairman of the T3oard of Guardians of the Darlington Union, and as "fovernor of the Darlington Grammar School, his ]ielp has been that of an earnest, high-minded, and zealous co-worker. Few men devote themselves more completely to the cause of morality, temperance, and philanthropy than Mr. Arthur Pease. He is a preacher in the Society of Friends, and very frequently occupies himself in that capacity, not confining himself solely to the Meeting House but occasionahy appearing in the pulpit at other dissenting places of worship. As a THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 371 member of Parliament lie has not yet developed any special gifts, except those of assiduity and attention. He is, however, considered by many to be the most effective speaker in the family at the present time. He takes great interest in the British and Foreio^n Training^ Colleixe, of which he is a prominent Governor. Mr. Henry Fell Pease, the eldest son of Henry Pease, is also held in hio-li recs'ard not only by the inhabitants of his native district but also by that section of politicians who may be best described as official Liberals. A man of great wealth (for he was practically the sole heir of his father), he is one of those large- hearted representatives of the aristocracy of riches who provoke no envy and inspire no leveller's denunciation. Wlien it was discovered that no provision had been made by his father for the children of a marriage subsequent to the date of the will, Mr. Henry Fell Pease nobly set to work to remedy the evidently un- intentional omission. In the firm which, under the style of Messrs. Pease & Partners, has been concentrated all the branches of trade em^ajxed in by the family, he has the special management BB 2 372 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. of the clotli manufactory. These mills never "run short time," and the extent of their operations necessitates agencies in Bradford, Glasgow, London, and other places. It has been Mr. Henry Fell Pease's pleasure to travel much, and in a modest form, for private circu- lation or to local audiences, he has frequently given his impressions of the countries he has visited. For many 3^ears he has taken an active part in the local government of Darlington. He is a conscientious representative of the rate- payers, and now fills the position of Alderman. In 1875, the Jubilee year of the railway system, he was mayor of Darlington, and in that capa- city did the honours of the day when the great celebration took place. At the general election of 1880 his name was mentioned as a candi- date for Darlington, though he did not come forward, and since then, after considering many offers, he has definitely decided to accept the hearty invitation of the Liberals of Eichmond to contest the borough in their interest. At the last general meeting of the National Liberal Federation, he was elected president in succes- sion to Mr. Chamberlain, M.P. He is a moderate THE PEASES OF DAEL1^'GT0^^ 373 liadical in politics, and is looked upon as a solid, reliable member of his party. It is very remarkable tliat for several generations in succession the name of Pease should have retained such ^preeminence in the industrial world of the north. Contrary to the general experience, great commercial ability and integrity, combined with a strong gift of foresight and an indomitable enterpi'ise, have been hereditary in the Peases, and as the country has progressed since the dawn of the era of railways, the Peases have alwaj's been in the van. As has j^i'eviously been narrated, the vast enterpi-ises of the Pease family have been separated into many interests. In an article published in a clever serial work entitled " The Kings of British Commerce," these various under- takings are thus referred to : " There are several firms of the Peases, each with its own domain, but all practically lying in the same hands. First of all there is the firm of Joseph Pease &. Part- ners, coal-owners. J. W. Pease & Co. deal in ironstone and limestone. The banking business is carried on under tlie style of J. & J. W. Pease. The extensive woollen mills are carried on under the style of Henry Pease & Co. The head-quarters 374 THE PEASES OF DAKLINGTON. of these firms is in Northgate, DarliDgton. Their two most important undertakings are the iron- stone mines in Cleveland and the coal-mines in South Durham. It was not till 1850 that Messrs. Bolckow & Vaughan, who were encouraged in the enterprise by the sage counsels and substantial support of the late Joseph Pease, began to supply their blast furnaces with ore from the Cleveland hills, and thereby laid the foundations of one of the most flourishing of modern industries. The whole of the gig-antic edifice of the Cleveland iron trade has been reared within the last thirty years. Prior to 1850 " Cleveland bays " were better known than " Cleveland pig ; " but now that more than two million tons of metal are melted from the produce of the Cleveland mines in a single year, the Cleveland horse is completely overshadowed by the Cleveland iron. In the development of this important industry the Messrs. Pease have at all stages taken a leading part. The first roj^alty taken in their name was dated in March, 1852, and from that time to this they have stood in the fore- front of Cleveland mine-owners. The first mine which they opened was at Hutton, near Guis- borough. Its total output in 1853 — its first THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 375 working year — was 6,646 tons. The output rapidly increased. In 1857 no less than 314,789 tons were brought to bank. After this the pro- duction gradually fell off, and the mine was closed in 1866. Long before that time, however, the operations of the firm in Cleveland had assumed imposing dimensions. In 1857, when the Hutton mine was at its best, the Messrs. Pease acquired the Upleg-tham mines from the DerAvent Iron Company. In that year their output was 58,000 tons. Under the vio;orous manao;ement of the Messrs. Pease the output was multiplied tenfold in a dozen years. So rich is the seam, and so extensive the royalty leased at Upleatham, that 20,000 tons per week may be taken from the workings for thirty years before the mine is exhausted. The royalty covers 6,000 acres, and the mines are said to be the largest in the king- dom. ]S[ear to Upleatham were the Hobhill mines, opened in 1864, which for several years yielded 1,000 tons of ironstone per day. The most exten- sive mines worked by the Messrs. Pease after those at Upleatham are situate at Skinningrove, so close to the sea-shore that a sea-wall 160 yards long had to be constructed to prevent the waves 37 G THE FEAirES OF EAKLIKGICK. at liigli-tide encroaching upon the village. The royalties extend over 5,000 acres, and the output exceeds 5,000 tons per day. The other mines belonging to the firm in Cleveland are Craggs Hall, Lingdale, and Tocketts. The total output of the ironstone mines of the Peases in 1873 was 1,281,324 tons of iron. 2,350 men and boys were employed in these mines three years ago, earning annually 180,000/. in wages." Since the foregoing was written, however, all the businesses in which the Peases were concerned have been throw^n into one gigantic undertaking, and are now carried on by a limited liability company under the style of Messrs Pease & Partners. Contemporaneously w^itli these great openings up of minerals and the bringing to the locality of many thousand workpeople, villages and towns had to be built ; and Messrs. Pease at New Marske, Skinningrove, Skelton, and other places erected hundreds of comfortable cottages, laid out streets, and put up buildings of public utility commensurate with the demands. Seventy-five miles of tramway were in use in connection with the Skinningrove, Eobhill, and Tpleatham mines ; THE PEASES OF DARL1^'GTCN. o- / r.nd ill the same mines two liundred tons of gun- } owder were used J^eaiiy for blasting purposes. Then there are the coal-mines held by the Peases. We have already mentioned the coal enterprises entered upon by the late Joseph Pease, and marked the impetus which he gave to the development of the South Durham coal industries. At the present time Messrs. Pease own and work the following colheries : the Adelaide and St. Helens collieries, near Bishop Auckland ; the Tindale, Sunnyside, Pease's West, Bowden Close, Stanley, Wooley, and Brandon collieries, near Crook ; the Esh and Waterhouses collieries near Durham ; and the Windlestone colliery, near Ferryhill. The total yield of these numerous mines is not less than 1,350,000 tons per annum, about thirty per cent of which is used for conversion into coke for smelt- ing purposes, the remainder being used for trade and domestic requirements. The authority pre- viously cjuoted says : " The late Mr. Joseph Pease was one of the first to recognise the importance of coke to the iron trade. He built coke ovens on a scale hitherto unprecedented in the north. He was thus enabled to reap the advantages of the enormous demand occasioned by the rapid de- 378 THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. velopment of the iron districts of Cleveland and Barrow. The Messrs. Pease have always been amongst the first coke-burners in the north. They are now turning out over 625,000 tons of coke per annum out of more than 2,000 ovens. In connection with the collieries and coke ovens are the fire-brick works, at Pease's West, which give employment to a large number of men. Altogether at colheries, coke ovens, and fire-brick works, they employ 4,000 men and boys, and pay 275,000/. a year in wages alone. The business in which the earlier Peases made wealth — the woollen manufacture — has been continued, in spite of the many other departments of industry which the various members of the family have taken up from time to time, and has been worked with steady success, if not with an extension of operations proportionate to the progress the Peases have made in the iron and coal trades. There are, for all that, three mills in Darlington still belonging to the firm, and over seven hundred people are employed at them. At Frosterley and Broadwood, in Weardale, the Peases have extensive limestone quarries, produc- THE PEASES OF DARLINGTON. 379 ing 300,000 tons of the mineral per annum. And at Darlington the banking business founded by Mr. Joseph Pease in the early railway days, when he acted as treasurer to the Stockton and Darling- ton Eailway Company, has been kept on, although no attempt has been made to extend the operations of the bank beyond assuming a sort of treasure- ship for a number of firms in the district. In the industrial history of the century the Peases have a foremost joosition. THE FISONS AND FORSTERS OF BUELEV- IN-WHARFEDALE. THE nSONS AND FOESTERS OF BURLEY- IN-WHAEFEDALE. ^^^J^N the banks of the winding Wharfe, midway ^^^& betw een the quaint old world town of Otley, and the moorland steep upon which nestles the village of Ilkley, stands Burley-in-Wharfedale. It is one of the last places in the world where you would expect to find the evidences of a great industry, all its surroundings being of a strictly rural character, while its landscape setting is one of extreme beauty. Removed from the great centres of commercial activity, and resting on the borderland of that region of pastoral seclusion and sylvan grandeur where the monks of Bolton performed their religious offices and lived their lives of repose in the olden time, Burley seems altogether " off' the line " and out of the range of the work-a-day world. Tourists and pleasure- seekers going northward frequently touch it, and 33 i THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. invalids who make tlieir way to the various hydropathic palaces which lie in and around Ilkley are familiar with it ; but, despite a thriving population of some two thousand souls, and the presence of a large manufacturing concern on the outskirts of the village, the place has hardly been able to work itself into general recognition. All through the summer time holiday-makers pass over its limestone road on their way to or from the abbey and woods of Bolton, and halt at one or other of its ancient inns, for when the weather is fine the summer stream of conveyances from Leeds, Bradford, and other West Eiding towns is active and continuous. The railway, moreover, runs across the higher side of the village, and travellers by this speedier route will note the name of the station if they do not see much of the villacfe itself. The Wharfe has been preserved from trade contamination almost as much as any stream that could be mentioned. It is to day much in the same condition as when Turner made it his favourite summer resort, living for months together at Farnley Hall, the residence of his friend Walter Fawkes, and thence making excur- THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 385 sions up and down the stream, transferring to his sketch-book those charming bits of Wharfedale scenery which afterwards were wrought up into pictures that brought the artist both fame and profit. A large portion of these works were left by Turner with his host, and the Farnley Turners are now the most precious heir-looms of the family, and constitute a shrine at which all lovers of English art are proud to worship. Farnley Hall, which is short of three miles distant from Burley, is a picturesque old mansion, and has been for centuries in the possession of the family which numbers amongst its ancestors that grand old villain the hero of the Gunpowder Plot. Alluding to this Wharfedale scenery and its effect upon Turner, Mr. Euskin writes, in his Modern Painters : " The scenery whose influence I can trace most definitely throughout his works, varied as they are, is that of Yorkshire ; and its rounded hills, far winding rivers, and broken limestone scars seem to have formed a type in his mind to which he sought, so far as might be obtained, some correspondent imagery in other landscapes. He had his attention early directed to those horizontal beds of rock which usually form the face of the VOL. I. cc 386 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. precipices in the Yorkshire dales, projecting or mouldering away in definite succession of ledges, cornices, and steps." Wharfedale has, indeed, been for generations dear to the heart of poet, painter, and angler. The poet Gray makes mention of Wharfedale in his exquisite letters. He says, " Whorldale, so they call the vale of Wharfe, and a beautiful vale it is, as well wooded, cultivated, and well inhabited, but with high crags that border the green country on either hand ; through the midst of it, deep, clear, full to the brink, of no inconsiderable depth, runs in long windings the river." The classical name of the stream, accord- ing to inscriptions which have been found of the dates of Severns and Caracalla, is sometimes used for the river genius. This is the Latinised form of the " Guerf," or Wharfe of the Saxons. The entire district for miles round Burley is of a most picturesque configuration. From the banks of the river the ground rises to a con- siderable height ; on the right side by a gradual sweep of verdant indulation, and on the left by bold, sudden, and rugged breaks until the brown outline of Eombalds Moor, with its fringe of jutting rock, merges in the sky-line. These THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 387 heights, as well as the rich valley which they enclose, are dotted with many fine mansions and residences, the newness of the edifices built by the worsted lords of Bradford and the cloth lords of Leeds, contrasting? not altoofether un- pleasantly with the immemorial halls of the county gentry of which Wharfedale owns so many. But by far the most imposing buildings in Wharfedale are tlie castellated hydropathic institutions, which stand in sturdy grandeur, like the old ])aronial mansions of Scotland, on the hill side above Ilkley. The entire valley seems to be dedicated to rest, and pleasure, and health. It is the favourite retreat for the over-worked Yorkshire business man ; here he feels he can have " health, and quiet breathing ; " here the smoke of the factory, the din of the workshop, and tlie press of gain cannot pursue him. Yet, in the midst of these happy surroundings, in the heart of this peaceful valley, lies the in- dustrial colony of Greenholme, an appendage of Burley, where, since May, 1850, the firm of Wm. Fison & Co. have carried on a flourishing worsted manufacturing concern. The works at Greenholme, however, have not, strange to say, CO 2 388 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. polluted tlie landscape ; for they lie hidden away from the general route of travel, and do not betray their presence by those unwelcome outpourings of smoke which commonly render factories but too prominent objects of the land- scape, for when the water-power, which is the great motif of the mills, is insufficient for the working of the machinery, the smoke generated by the production of substituted steam-power is consumed by a patent process, and not per- mitted to spread itself in blighting clouds over the fields and gardens around. Thus the purest conditions upon which a factory can be worked are attained, and tlie workers have for their hours of relaxation all the advantages of sweet air and lovely scenery. For more than a hundred years there has been a mill at Greenholme. The name was derived from the Green family, who owned the property at one time, but the mill was started as a cotton factory originally, and continued to be used as such down to the period when Mr. Fison and Mr. W. E. Forster came thither in 1850 from Bradford. Then the cotton manu- facture had to give way to the worsted busi- THE FISONS AND FOESTERS. 389 ness, and in that line tlie Greenliolme works have ever since remained, under many exten- sions and developments, until now the old cotton mill has passed out of existence, and on and around its site have been erected a ransfe of mill buildings, which, if not exactly imposing in comparison with some of the great industrial piles which rear their heads in other places, are still spacious and commanding, and have, at all events, had the best sanitary skill be- stowed upon their construction. The original cotton mill existed down to a comparatively recent period, and was superseded by what was called the " new mill," which stood on the site of the present one, and was only pulled down in 1872. The aspect of the place to-day is neat and cleanly, the many-windowed pile being as untainted by smoke and grime as any of the cottages of the villagers, or as the mansions of the leading partners of the firm — Mr. William Fison and the Eight Hon. W. E. Forster — which stand, each enclosed in its own grounds, within a stone's throw of the factor}', side by side almost, abutting upon the river. The pathway from the village, past the mill, and down to 390 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. the water side, is bordered by liigli hedgerows, and the scene altogether is one of great pictu- resqueness, the foaming rush of water over the broad damstones above the mill adding greatly to the charm of the view. The water-wheel of Messrs. Eison & Co.'s manufactory is supposed to be the most powerful in the whole county of York. It is thirty feet in diameter, eighteen feet abreast, and is of about 300 horse-power. There is also a large turbine wheel driven by water, as well as a steam-engine, each being of 200 horse-power. The number of operatives engaged at the works is about 700. Internally, the mill presents much the same scene as other factories in which the worsted manufacture is carried on, the processes are essentially similar, and " the hands " themselves are of the stereo- typed pattern, with this addition, perhaps, that they have more of the hue of the country upon them than is usual with factory-workers. The village of Burley lies mainly by tlie roadside, getting as near to the public highway as it conveniently can. All its buildings are of stone, and include a handsome church, and a public hall of goodly proportions. The latter THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 391 was built by Messrs. Fison & Co., and is not only well supplied with periodicals, but has a respectable library. It contains a lecture-hall capable of holding six hundred people, and here, during the winter evenings, the Burleyites assemble at entertainments and lectures which a committee provide. A sort of paternal care is exercised over the inhabitants by the firm, Mr. William Fison being almost looked up to as the " father of the village." He is regarded as the chief arbitrator in all matters of difficulty that crop up in Burley, and is, perhaps, as often engaged in patching up private misunderstandings, as in directing affairs of a more public nature. A kinship seems to extend through the whole community- It will be an interesting task to trace the history of a successful representative firm like this, from the obscurity of its small beginnings, to its present eminence. Mr. William Fison belongs to a Norfolk family, and settled in Bradford towards the end of the third decade of the present century. His first partnership was with Mr. William Leather, at Leeming's Mill, Bradford, but in 1842 he arranged 392 THE FISONS AND FORSTEES. a partnership with Mr. W. E. Forster, and in that year tliey began as worsted manufacturers at the Waterloo Mill, Bradford, and such success at- tended their undertaking, that in the following year they also took Leeming's Mill. In 1847 they had an additional factory at Holmfield ; but in 1848 they occupied what was known as Fison's Shed, and in 1849 the Foundry Mill. In this way they altered, added and moved, until in 1850 they bought Greenholme, relinquished all their mills in Bradford, and gathered together all their operatives and machinery in one large concern on the banks of the Wharfe. From that time to this the business has been extended and developed, and the firm have found it necessary, occasionally, to rent other mills in favourable localities. They occupied the Junction Mills, Shipley, from 1867 to 1881, the Worth Valley Mills, Keighley, from 1870 to 1880, and since 1880 have held the Castle Mill, Idle. Mr. W. E. Forster, whose connection with this firm adds so much lustre to it, descends from an ancestry of singular note. His father was in every sense one of the best men of the da)^ He was the great itinerating Quaker missionary, his THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 393 life and character forming a very near approxima- tion to tliat of John Wesley. In any order of life his great energy and ability would have enabled him to set his mark upon the world. Quakerism, as a religious society, is dying out ; bur- not before it has done a great work and has entered a noble protest against the vices of society. Forster, the Quaker preacher, like Wesley, tra- velled all over England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and made repeated visits to America. He also carried on his evangelistic labours on the Continent. He became intimately acquainted with the Gurney family, near Norwich, and married one of their connections, Anne, the sister of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. They were married in Tenth Month, 1816. This alliance with the great Quaker family of East Anglia had a vast effect upon young Forster's business fortunes, and has greatly shaped and coloured his political career. In the course of his wanderings the good Quaker preacher and missionary came to Brad- ford. The town was far from being unknown in the annals of the Society of Friends. In the time of Charles II. there were great numbei's here who suffered considerably. There was one >; 394 THE FISONS AISTD FORSTERS. man especially, named W3^nn, who had been a clothier, and become soldier, and then, going over to the doctrines of George Fox, stoutly refused to fight. He was a Quaker minister for thirty-six years. So there was a sacred Quaker tradition to be maintained at Bradford, and which Forster maintained most stoutly. He made many visits to Yorkshire, holding meetings in barns, houses, and wherever he could find an audience. Years after, one Sarah Hustler gave an account of a meeting she attended at Bradford. " The meeting Avas large ; most of the clergy and the ministers of the Gospel of the district were present. After an unusually solemn silence, William Forster rose. A deep impression was evidently made upon those present. Years afterwards the meeting was spoken of by persons of different denominations as a very impressive one. ' That man's preaching goes to the very root of the matter and to the very hearts of his hearers.' " The young minister's wife — he began his ministerial career before he was twenty — the mother of the future statesman, had not been brought up a Quakeress. She THE FISONS AND FORSTEKS. 395 had spent a good deal of time at Weymoiitli, then a fashionable watering-place, and had attracted the kindly personal notices of George III, during his residence there. A good wife, she became ardently attached to her husband's work. He describes to his friend, Sarah Hustler, the little house at Bradpole, Dorsetshire, an here liis only son was born : " Our cottage is a plain-built stone house, thatched roof, and casement windows ; one end comes to the footpath alongside the road. In front we have a neat forecourt, at the back a small orchard, and at the other end I hope to make a good garden. There are two parlours ; one of them a neat, snug room, not very large; the other, I think, may be improved and made very habitable. There is a small light room for a store closet and a comfortable kitchen. There are four lodging-rooms on the second floor — I think of converting one of tliem into a sitting-room — and we have also good garrets. The only objection is the distance of a mile and a half from meeting," In 1827, he re- moved to the neighbourhood of Norwich, between the city and Earlham. At Norwich 396 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. his son would become familiar with those manufacturing processes which had their first beginning there long before they were trans- ferred to the West Eiding of Yorkshire. William Edward Forster was sent to the celebrated Quaker school at Edmonton. The worthy Quakers, seeing that so many of their young men, when they went up to Oxford and Cambridge, lost their sectarianism, devised a college of their own, that they might be able to dispense with the English Universities. The school only numbered about twenty-six, and it has sent eleven members to Parliament. William Edward Forster, we are assured by one of the most disting^uished of his tutors, made great and equal progress, both in mathe- matical and classical studies, and especially, though still a youth, advanced to the highest mathematical studies. It was the intention of the wise Quakers that their sons should have the advantage of a collegiate course, and complete it in such good time that, when still young, they miglit enter on a business career. This, we may miention, is the design with which the latest of Cambridge colleges, Caven- THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 397 dish College, has been established. The Quakers have the merit of being very true to each, and promoting each other's business plans. Mr. Forster made his first acquaintance with manufacturing^ life with Mr. Pease at Darlino-ton. In the life of Mr. Forster, the preaching Quaker, we find several references to his son. When he alludes to his birthday, he writes, " The Lord bless, preserve and prosper him ! " We hear of him spending some time with . his son near Bradford. In his last illness he mentions him : "Of course you will be sure that William and Jane should hear all that is to be heard about me, if it can be so. Dearest child, I know how tender he would have been ; but I do not know that I could have wished him to witness my sufferings and my weakness (1854)." He was buried in the graveyard near the Friends' Meeting House at Friendsville, Blount County, Tennessee — " a bright sunny spot, surrounded by trees, rural and picturesque, gently sloping to the south." At one interesting period, the political career of the son and the evangelistic career of the father run in the same groove. In the great Irish famine of 1848, father and son 398 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. made a tour of charity and investigation, as, indeed, did other good and great men at the same time. Such a field would be a good training-ground for political observation, and, indeed, Ireland must always form a distinct province of every statesman's study. During that period of his business life preced- ing his entry upon a parliamentary career, Mr. Forster devoted himself diligently to the study of political and social subjects, and in all public matters connected with the district in which he lived evinced a lively interest. In October, 1848, he delivered three lectures in Bradford, on " Pauperism and its Proposed Eemedies," and his timely and able treatment of the subject was much discussed. In the November of the same year he was put forward as a candidate for the office of Town Councillor, but so little was his future greatness foreseen that he was rejected in favour of a local nonentity. He never afterwards sought to attain municipal honours, but plodded manfully on, content to bide his time, though probably never dreaming of becoming a dis- tinguished ornament of the British House of Commons. In all local poUtical conflicts, how- THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 399 ever, he was in the forefront, and did good service in lielping forward the cause which he had at heart. At the general election of 1847 he seconded the nomination of Colonel (afterwards General) Thompson, the well-known free-trade champion, for the representation of Bradford, in a speech of considerable power. In 1852, when there was another general election, Mr. Forster again came forward as the supporter of his friend Colonel Thompson, this time acting as his pro- j)oser. The Colonel lost the election by two votes. How earnestly Mr. Forster worked for the success of his party at these elections is characteristically evidenced by a story which is related of him. At one election, when votes were especially valuable, and when the Liberal committee were told that the enemy had captured some waverers and held them interned in a certain public-house, where they were lavishly primed with drink, he suddenly disappeared from the committee-room, " went for " the hostelry alluded to, and, not being able to get in by the door, leapt clean through the window, made his way to the recalcitrant voters, and prevailed upon them to accom- 400 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. pany liim to the polling-booth to vote for the Liberal candidate. In 1861 Mr. Forster's own turn came. In that year Mr. (afterwards Sir) Titus Salt resigned his seat for Bradford, and Mr. Forster was elected to succeed him, without opposition. From that time he has continued to sit for Bradford, and has won for himself a distinguished name as a statesman. He unsuccessfully contested Leeds in April, 1859. Mr. Forster soon attracted notice in the House of Commons, not so much by any great gift of oratory, as by his strong personal power and solid intellectual force. He showed a good aptitude for debate, and took up a leading- position almost from the beginning, a speech from him being always looked for when any important discussion occurred. Before long he made his way into official rank, since which time he has held a place in every Liberal government we have had. It was as Vice-President of the Council that he made his most distinctive mark, his Education Act having entirely re- volutionised our educational system, and elevated the character of the nation. The Ballot Act was another measure with THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 401 which his name will be always associated. In piloting these two Bills through the House of Commons he displayed a remarkable amount of tact, patience, and persistence, and won the respect of all parties. When Mr. Gladstone succeeded to power in 1880, Mr. Forster was induced to accept the most difficult and thank- less post at the Premier's disposal — that of Chief Secretary for Ireland. How resolutely and bravely he set himself to bring about a reign of peace in that unhappy country, how his utmost efforts failed to produce the desired effect, how he ultimately broke from his colleagues on a point of policy upon which he differed from them, and how his successor, Lord Frederick Cavendish, met his death at the hand of the assassin, are events of too recent occurrence to require more particular mention. What Mr. Forster's political future will be can only be conjectured. Not long ago he was regarded as a possible Premier ; now he occupies a position of prominent isolation. The whirligig of time, however, brings many great and many sudden changes in the world political, and when the cards of office have again to be shuffled by the Liberal party it is more than VOL. I. DD 402 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. probable lie will find his way to the Treasury benches, and, it is to be hoped, under more favourable circumstances than when last he sat there. Mr. Forster lives at Wharfeside, a Gothic mansion, with an abundance of gables and wings. It is situated within sound of the looms and spindles of Greenliolme, while from its rooms are audible the waters of the Wharfe. It may here be interesting, perhaps, to quote a little word-picture which the writer of this article contributed not long ago to the pages of the World. It was said, in describing this " celebrity at home," Wharfeside " was originally built for Mr. Forster, the stone being procured from the neighbouring moorland quarries. The grounds around are well laid out and prettily wooded, but are of no very great extent. Approaching by the broad carriage-drive, the visitor enters the house under a substantial porchway, and soon finds himself in the presence of numerous busts, portraits, and relics of the Forster, Buxton, and Arnold families. The place wears a cheerful, comfortable aspect, and a Quaker-like simplicity seems to pervade the atmosphere. In a little THE FISOIS^ AND FORSTERS. 403 room, whose windows look out towards Eombalds Moor, many interesting objects are contained — portraits of Mr. Forster's father, of Dr. Arnold, of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, of the poet Wordsworth, of Mr. Forster himself, and another of his adopted son. It is in the roomy, ex- cellently-lighted library, looking on to the river, that Mr. Forster spends most of his domestic hours. Here he will receive his visitor, and in his own cheery manner lead the conversation through the ways of politics or trade. It is here that he is at home to his local political friends and discusses the political outlook ; and it is here that he will read with quick, eager appreciation the thoughts and opinions of the day as they are reflected in the leading journals and magazines, which are plentifully strewn around him. To hear him chat with his guests on men and thintrs and books is to become impressed by the remarkable activity and versa- tility of his mind. Brusque but gentle, outspoken but cautious, by no means elaborately or arti- ficially graceful of attitude, but impressive by his earnestness, Mr. Forster possesses an inex- haustible fund of bodily and mental energy. DD 2 404 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. At home or abroad, in the House of Commons or in the factory, he is for ever busy. To the world at large, Mr. Forster is simply a states- man and politician ; to the local world — the Burley and Bradford world — he is also a man of business, a supporter of local institutions, a corrector of local grievances, and a hard-working citizen. Wherever he may be, he knows f]*om week to week exactly how the Greenholme factory is going on, what sales and purchases have been made, what prices have altered, and what is the precise condition of the partnership business. Mr. Forster will talk of wools and yarns and stuffs and alpacas and mohairs with as great readiness at Burley and Bradford as he will talk in London of party tactics and national movements. While at home, the duties he imposes upon himself are of the most varied description. One day he is bearding the members of the Burley Local Board in their den, impressing on them the necessity for im- proved sanitary regulations ; another day he is addressing his constituents in St. George's Hall, Bradford, on imperial matters ; a third day, he is in Bradford^ speaking on the movement THE FISONS AND FORSTEKF. 405 for the relief of the distressed ; a fourth day, he is defending Free-trade at a meeting of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce against the advocates of Eeciprocity ; a fifth day will find him acquainting an assemblage of Eechabites ■with his views on the temperance question. Mr. Forster has always been a worker and a striver." Mr. Forster has always exercised a powerful influence in the district in which his business lot has been cast. Years ago, when as yet the State had not recognised the existence of educa- tional responsibilities, Mr. Forster was plodding earnestly on in this quiet corner of Yorkshire on behalf of the education of the people, and the school that he was mainly instrumental in founding at Burley is now a thriving and in all respects excellent institution. " Mr. Forster's time at Wharfeside is neither wanting in en- joyment nor in occupation. His correspondence is extensive, comprising a regular succession of communications from eminent politicians and humble constituents. Aided by the pen of a young lady, who is at once his secretary, amanuensis, and interpreter, Mr. Forster rapidly and promptly replies to such letters as demand 406 THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. an answer. Then comes tlie active business of politics or commerce. Xor, incessantly employed though he be, does Mr. Forster forget the duties of hospitality, and Wharfeside is seldom without its honoured guests. Sometimes these may be persons distinguished in literature or art, sometimes old political friends, and sometimes Wharfedale neighbours. Tact and sincerity are combined in Mr. Forster to such an extent that he is able to number amongst his personal intimates re- presentatives of all creeds and opinions. He is honoured for his personal qualities no less than for his work, and those who visit him at his cosy and picturesque retreat on the banks of the Wharfe, and see him ' in his habit as he lives,' will carry away with them an agreeable reminis- cence of a vigorous and striking personaUty." Mr. Forster has for many years been liberated from active business duties, his senior partner having all along assumed the direction of the works at Greenholme. Mr. Fison, who is a gentleman of strong Conservative views, was a candidate for the representation of the Northern Division of the West Eiding, but was defeated. Though almost at opposite extremes of the poh- THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 407 tical compass, the two liave for forty years been the most steadfast of friends. Mr. Forster paid a well-deserved tribute to Mr. Fison, on the oc- casion of the marriaofe of Mr. Fison's eldest son in September, 1872. He said, "It is now about thirty years since Mr. Fison and I met as young men — I might almost say as boys — and joined together in the matter of starting in business. It is a very intimate relation this rela- tion of two partners. It is a relation which tries the temper and the feelings of the persons so associated, and you may depend upon it, if a man has any serious faults, or faults at all, his partner is the most likely person in the world to find them out. I do not mean to say that both of us are faultless, but I can say this, I believe that in the thirty years during which I and Mr. Fison have been together we have not only never had a quarrel, but there has never been any serious difference between us. Never, during the whole of that period, have we had one moment's occasion to regret that we were partners. In good times and in bad times — and we have had both — I have always experi- enced a feeling of gladness that Mr. Fison was 408 THE FISONS AND FORSTEKS. by my side to help and assist me, and most frankly do I acknowledge that if I have had any prosperity in this world it is owing to him. I should indeed be ungrateful if I did not acknowledge it. And I have another remark to make. Of late it has been my lot to have duties to perform that have taken me away from the work devolving upon me as a member of the firm, and I am glad to have the oppor- tunity of expressing publicly my gratitude to my partner." With Mr. Fison and Mr. Forster have been associated four partners. Mr. Edward Hudson was a partner from the year 1856 to 1862 ; Mr. Walter Nicholson from 1864 to 1877; while since 1872 Mr . Frederic William Fison (Mr. William Fison's eldest son), and since 1873, Mr. Edward Penrose Arnold-Forster (Mr. Forster's adopted son) have been actively engaged as members of the firm. Mr. E. P. Arnold-Forster is the eldest son of the late W. D. Arnold, who was the fourth son of Dr. Arnold of Eugby. Mr. W. D. Arnold was at first in the army, but subsequently became Director of Public Instruction in the Punjaub, being the first THE FISONS AND FORSTERS. 409 Director of that Department. He and liis wife having both died — the latter in India, the former at Gibraltar — the four children left by them were adopted by Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Forster in 1859. In 1879 these children added the name of Forster to that of Arnold. The junior members of the firm of Fison & Co. both take an active interest in the affairs of the dis- trict, and in connection with the administration of justice and the fulfilment of other local official duties they employ themselves diligently and successfully. It should be added that Mr. Forster has been peculiarly happy in his marriage. His wife is the eldest daughter of Dr. Arnold, and she has proved herself worthy of her eminent father. Mr. and Mrs. Forster have not had any children. Fox Ghjdl, a pleasant house close to Fox How, and country home of the great schoolmaster, when he could escape from the flatness of Eugby to the mountains, is sometimes occupied by Mr. Forster, and for a few weeks in the early autumn the statesman frequently finds there a welcome retreat from the cares of politics and business 410 THE nSONS AND FORSTERS. The firm of William Fison & Co. have in their forty years of active business life witnessed many fluctuations in the staple trade in which they have been engaged, and have, with others, experienced the ebbs and flows of success, but they have never deviated from the purpose with which they started — that of studying the social well-being of their workpeople in conjunction with their business connection — and through all the long partnership there has existed between employers and employed a bond of sympathy and a feeling of mutuality which have rendered their relations very gratifying. Many of the firm's servants have grown old in their service. One instance of long service is, indeed, worth particularly alluding to — Mr. William Hargreaves, the cashier, has been with them since 1843. Few firms present a record as smooth and peaceful as that of William Fison & Co., while perhaps not another in all the worsted district owns a connection so distinguished as that which this firm possesses in numbering amongst its partners a statesman so eminent as the late Chief Secretary for Ireland. THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. /|rf^,N' the picturesque borderland of Yorkshire ^|L^^ and Lancashire, at the foot of the Blackstone Edge range of hills, lies tlie thriving town of Todmorden, which, since the latter part of the last century, has been notably identified with, and has grown in proportion with, the fortunes of the Fielden family. It was in the County Palatine that the cotton manufacture of Eng- land was cradled ; and Todmorden, which is partly in tliat county, assisted largely in its development, thanks to the energy, enterprise, and ability of the Fieldens. This family had long been creditably known in tlie district. They could trace an unbroken descent from a Fielden who lived in the time of James T., one Nicholas Fielden, who lield a farm at InchfieLl in Walsden, under a deed dated 1612. Nicholas was described as a yeoman, and yeomen the 414 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. Fieldens continued to be from that period down to the conckiding ^^ears of the eighteenth centur3^ The family had always lived on the hills round about Todmorden, employing them- selves in the farming of land and ihe manu- facturing of woollen cloth. In this waj^, the Joshua Fielden who may be regarded as the founder of the fortunes of the later generations of Fieldens employed himself. His farmhouse was situated on the heights above Todmorden, and was known as Edge End, which may be taken as in some measure descriptive of its position. Here Joshua Fielden farmed his bit of land — which would not be of the most fertile kind — and here he kept his two or three hand- looms, at which he and the members of his family worked at such times as they were not needed in the field. It was a quiet uneventful sort of life, its main relief being afforded by the periodical journeys which Joshua had to make to Halifax market, with his cloth on his back. For years he trudged this distance on foot, over a rugged road, thinking little of the twenty- four miles of OTOund his feet had to cover in those expeditions ; for men were hardy in that THE FIELDENS OF TODMOEDEN. 415 day, and inured to pliysical exertion. There would be one or two houses of call by the wayside, where he would halt for a rest and a chat ; but the one bright spot to him in these passings to and fro was a farmhouse called Eodwell End, in the township of Stansfield. This farm was kept by James Greenwood, whose daughter Jenny had set the heart of the young farmer- clothier aflame with love. Next to the selling of his pieces, her smile was the one thing that he looked for on these journeys ; and it is only fair to presume, from what subsequently happened, that Jenny had an equal regard for him. At all events, they were married, and for several years they plodded carefully and lovingly on at Edge End, and the farmmg and the cloth- weaving prospered fairly well. So matters continued until somewhere about the year 1782, when Joshua Fielden was sud- denh' fired with a new ambition. A fresh era of industry was dawning. The great cotton- spinning inventions of Hargreaves and Ark- wright had begun to make their impress on the trade which they had been designed to help ; and the steam-engine was gradually being 416 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. brought into use as a motive- power. Crompton was just on the eve of perfecting his mule, and the industrial world altogether was in the throes of transformation. It was then that Joshua Fielden, with the pioneer's instinct, resolved to relinquish the dual occupations of farmer and cloth-maker for that of cotton-spinner ; and, with that view, he removed himself and his household belongings from Edge End to a quiet little place called Lane Side, down in the Yale of Todmorden. It is said that his wife Jenny was greatly depressed at the thought of having to leave her home amongst the hills, where she had been so happy, and often remarked that it would have given her far greater pleasure to move higher up than to go lower down, where she would miss the healthy moorland breezes and the far-stretching prospect. But sentimentalism has never been an overwhelming influence amongst the race of commercial explorers ; and Joshua Fielden was not the man to turn back from a great business idea for the mere sake of indulging a love of place. So to Lane Side they went, and entered into the occupation ol three two-storied cottages, with little gardens THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEX. 417 ill front, bordering the liigliway. Of one of these cottages, they made their living place ; of the other two they made working places. Those three cottages, heightened b}^ an additional story, still remain to mark the starting-point of the great industrial career which followed. At first they confined themselves to the hand-spinning of cotton, and managed to keep in constant employment, which was considered a clever thing to do with Joshua Fielden's large family of five sons and four daughters. But there was wonderful unanimity of purpose amongst them ; as the country people had it, " they all pulled one way." The sons were Samuel, Joshua, John, James, and Thomas, all of whom were imported into the business as they got old enough to take part in it. As time went on, and their operations extended, it became necessary for them to have larger premises ; but, with the cautiousness which has always been a characteristic of the Fieldens, they did not do it by unmanageable strides. To begin with, they simply added a story to the three cottages ; then, after a few more years, when they decided to avail themselves of steam VOL. I. EE 418 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. power, they erected a stone mill of five stories, seven windows in length, adjoining the cottages ; and by this time they were fairly embarked in the cotton-manufacture, and began to count for some- thing in the commercial world. Each of the sons was allotted to a special department, and the father exercised a general superintendence over the whole. Joshua (the son) was the mechanic; James had the direction of the spin- ning and weaving ; Thomas went to take charge of a warehouse which they established in Man- chester; and John was the master spirit who saw to the buying of the cotton and the selling of the manufactured goods. It is related that when John was only nineteen years of age, he was in the habit of walking with his father to the Manchester market every Tuesday — a distance of forty miles there and back. They left home about four o'clock in the morning ; transacted their business in Manchester, personally deliver- ing all the goods they sold ; and then they would walk ^ back to Todmorden, arriving there about midnight of the same day. No task was too difficult for them, no hours too long, no sacrifice too great, so long as they were help- THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 419 ing forward their business enterprise. John Fielden has left it on record that, from the age of ten, or little more, he had been actively em- ployed in the work of his father's mill. In 1811, Joshua Fielding, the father, died, and a few years after his death the name of the firm was changed from that of " Joshua Fielding & Sons " to Fielden Brothers. Samuel Fielding died in 1822, leaving the concern in the hands of Joshua, John, James, and Thomas Fielden, by whom such success was eventually obtained that they became prominent among the cotton lords of the North. Year by year they widened their sphere of operation, adding mill to mill, until that vast pile of buildings known as Waterside grew to its present magnitude. When cotton-spinning had first been started by them in the old cottages, it was by means of the spinning-jenny, and the carding was done by hand ; then came the carding by machinery ; and the throstle and the mule ; the produce of these being woven into cloth by the hand-loom, until that in its turn was superseded by the power-loom. At the beginning the motive- power was a water-wheel, then one very small steam-engine, then a larger one, and eventually EE 2 420 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. one of fifty liorse-power, which gave the propel- ling force to the various operations. About the year 1829, the firm erected a large weaving-shed, which covered an acre of ground, and had one continuous roof supported solely by pillars. This shed held over eight hundred looms, which were turned by an engine of sixty horse- power. At the time of its erection this was the largest shed in the world, and attracted much attention. But even then, vast as the extensions had been, and closely as they had followed each other, the firm had by no means touched the limit of enlargement. More spinning-mills con- tinued to be built, and a second and larger weaving-shed was ultimately put up, capable of holding one thousand looms. Two more large steam-engines were erected, of sixty horse-power each, working together with one fly-wheel. Mean- while, Todmorden was growing in extent and importance, a large population finding its way to the place as operatives for Fielden Brothers. The elder Joshua Fielding had found it but a small hamlet ; he himself caused it to grow to the dimensions of a respectable village, and his sons and grandsons developed it into a town. No THE HELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 421 matter how the cotton trade fared generally, or how other places suffered from times of depres- sion, the Fieldeus of Todmorden kept their heads up through all. Up to the year 1844, the various erections comprising the Waterside Works had been con- fined to the east side of the turnpike road ; but about that time the buildings were extended to the western side, and a vast range of ware- houses was ultimately built along the side of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Eailway, into which a siding was run from the main line : and here the firm unloaded the cotton they had bought in Liverpool, and loaded the goods which were to be sold in the Manchester market, or shipped at Liverpool in bales to the various markets of India, China, the Brazils, the West Coast of South America, and other ports with which Fielden Brothers had direct dealings throuoh their correspondence. In addition to the mills at Waterside, individual members of the firm bought at various times smaller mills in the valleys which run out of the main Todmorden va]le\' up into the moorland hills that surround it. These were all spinning- 422 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. mills, and were, in the first instance, worked by water-power, aided afterwards by the steam- engine. The cotton was taken to them from the parent mill at Waterside, and brought back there in the shape of yarn to be woven into cloth. At first the consumption of cotton by the Fieldens was very small. When Joshua Fielden, the father, was in the first years of his cotton- spinning experience, the weekly consumption did not average more than such a quantity as could be brought from Manchester in a one-horse cart ; for in those days there was not even a canal in that region for the conveyance of goods. But as time wore on, as the means of forwarding goods were multiplied, as the general cotton trade enormously increased in extent, and as the name of Fielding Brothers got to be honoured with a world-wide recognition, the consumption of the raw material at Waterside grew amazingly. In 1846 the consumption of the firm was some four hundred bales (of five hundred pounds each) per week, that being, at that time, probably the largest consumption of cotton of any firm in the world. About the year 1830, Messrs. Fielding Brothers THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 423 erected a gas-works to light their works at Water- side. This was the first gas-works estabhshed by any private firm, and caused much sensation in the district. The gas-mains ^vere soon extended through what was then the village of Todmorden ; and the inhabitants had thus the advantage of this novel and convenient light long before many of the large towns. In 1845 the Todmorden Gas Company was established ; but Fielden brothers continued to be dangerous rivals up to the time that the company obtained an Act of Parliament many years afterwards; and when this was done, a clause was inserted in the Company's Act protecting the rights and privileges of the firm by whom gas had first been introduced into Tod- morden, so far as the firm's works and mains then existed, but without any of the restrictions as to price and quality which were imposed upon the company. At the present time the firm supply a considerable portion of the town of Todmorden, with gas, and although the price they charge is high — viz, 5s. Qd. per 1,000 cubic feet — their gas is eagerly sought after, it having the illuminating power of twenty-four candles. This is only one illustration out of many whicli 4*24 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. might be adduced in proof of the sterling way in which Fielding Brothers have carried out their own undertakings, and at the same time benefited the community whose interests are inseparable from their own. Whatever the cost has been, everything with which they have had to do has had to be of the best. In the time of the Civil War in the United States, when the price of cotton was so high, and the strain upon employers and employed was so severe, it grew to be the practice to make goods that were very heavily sized; but Fielding Brothers set themselves against this from the first, and continued to make what was called " honest cloth," until their stock of manufactured goods had accumulated to such an extent that the holding of them would have been a serious embarrassment to any firm but one of vast wealth like that of the Fieldens, But it was no use to go on " kicking against the pricks ;" the rage for low-priced articles, irrespective of intrinsic value, had set in with a force that could not be successfully overcome, and in the end Fielding Brothers had reluctantly to follow the new fashion, or cease to manufacture altogether. The latter course they would undoubtedly have THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 425 adopted, but they felt they could not desert the workpeople who had helped them to build up their prosperity. During the continuation of the cotton famine the Fieldens found it necessary to close their works for a period of nine months, but they did not leave their two thousand opera- tives to shift for themselves, or throw themselves upon the Eelief Committee ; they allowed them to come once a week to the mill to clean the machinery, and paid them half their customary wages. In addition to this they set large numbers of men to work at reclaiming waste land, for the mere sake of keeping them in occupation. Sew- ing schools were established for the women, and, one way and another, the Fieldings contrived to tide their industrial colony over this terrible time without allowing them to be any particular drain upon the charitable funds which were then raised for the relief of the distressed in the cotton districts. Looking back again for a few years, we fmd that in 1837 the firm of Fielden Brothers made a noticeable extension of its trading connection. In that year the firm of Fielden Brothers & Co., merchants, of Liverpool, and W. C. Pickersgill & 426 .THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. Co., of New York, was established, and two "out- siders " became partners in this firm, which soon obtained a world-wide reputation. Mr. W. C. Pickersgill became managing partner of the New York house, and Mr. Daniel Campbell occupied the same position in Liverpool. It was to the untiring energy and ability of the former, and to his rigid adherence to the verbal instructions, " Never make a bad debt, William," given him by Mr. John Fielden as he was starting for New York, that a large part of the prosperity of the firm is due. At one time, Mr. Pickersgill in New York, in consultation with the Barings, the Browns, and the Eothschilds, settled the rate of exchange by every mail. From that day to this the prosperity of the firm has been continuous. Joshua, John, James and Thomas Fielden carried on an unbroken partner- ship until 1847, in which year the elder brother, Joshua, died. Two years later John died, and James died in 1852. There was now only one of the original Fielden Brothers left, Thomas Fielden, and he and the three sons of John Fielden formed the firm from 1852 to 1869, in which latter year Thomas Fielden died, leaving Samuel, John, and THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 427 Joshua Fielden, John Fielden's three sons, sole proprietors of the business. Thomas Eielden, who from 1812 to the day of his death, Decem- ber 7th, 1869, resided near Manchester, and was the head of the firm there and in Liverpool, although a keen politician, did not take an active part in public affairs. He was a shrewd, far-seeing man of business, highly and deservedly respected for his upright conduct in all the affairs of life. The success of the firm was undoubtedly largely due to his industry, perseverance, and ability. Samuel, John, and Joshua Fielden, the three sons of John Fielden, continued in partnership together until 1879, when Joshua retired in con- sequence of the serious condition of his health. The firm is still Fielden Brothers, and Samuel and John Fielden constitute its proprietary. It is now desirable that we should make more special reference to the individual efforts of the Fieldens. Although so deeply and so successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits, the Fieldens were no indifferent spectators of public affairs, but were indeed keen politicians. The founder of the firm, old Joshua Fielden, in spite of being a Quaker, was a staunch Tory. His sons, on the other hand, 428 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. were Eadicals, and followers of William Cobbett. The father used to say that his five sons were " as arrant Jacobins as any in the kingdom." John Fielden, the third son, however, was destined to fill the most important position before the public. To begin with, he took an active interest in all local affairs, and, at the age of seventeen, was a Sunday-school teacher amongst the Methodists. He very soon became dissatisfied with their theological views, and eventually joined the Unitarians, whose doctrines were gradually extending into these remote hill districts. In 1824, he, along with his co-religionists, erected a Unitarian chapel in Todmorden, which he attended, with the members of his family, to the day of his death. The Sunday school, of which he was for many years superintendent, in connection with this chapel was at that time considered the best in the neighbourhood. The Fieldens, as may be supposed, were earnest and active supporters of the Eeform Bill of 1832, and in that year Mr. John Fielden was returned as the colleague of Mr. Cobbett, to represent the newly enfranchised borough of Oldham in the House of Commons. THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 429 John Fielden was a man of large heart and broad sympathies, and his exertions on behalf of the poor and oppressed gained him a foremost name amongst the philanthropists of his time. He opposed with all the energy of his strong character the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, for he knew from practical experience, having been an overseer of the poor in 1817, how hardly it would press upon the unfortunate de- serving poor. So strong and powerful was the opposition of the Fieldens to the building of a union workhouse as a test of destitution, that it was not until 1874, forty years after the passing of the New Poor Law, that a union workhouse was erected at Todmorden. The labours of Mr. John Fielden on behalf of the factory-workers will always be held in grateful remembrance. So far back as 1816 he had be^un to take an active part in promoting the agitation which afterwards ripened into a general crusade against the oppression to which women and children were subjected in the factories of the North. When he entered Parliament it was with a firm resolve to leave no stone unturned to obtain an amelioration of the condition of the 430 THE FIELDENS OF' TODMORDEN." unprotected factory workers ; and when Eicliard Oastler, the Factory King, as he was subsequently called, and Nathaniel Gould, of Manchester, threw themselves heart and soul into the Ten Hours Bill agitation, they found nowhere a firmer adherent or a more powerful advocate than John Fielden. The keynote of the agitation had been struck by Eicliard Oastler in his memorable letter to the editor of the Leeds Mercury, dated September 29th, 1830 — a letter which went through the length and breadth of the land like a mighty cry of anguish, and stirred the hearts of men with feelings of the deepest indignation. A more powerful appeal to humanity and justice was probably never penned. " Let truth speak out," he wrote, "appalling as the statement may appear. The fact is true, thousands of our fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects, both male and female, the miserable inhabitants of a Yorkshire town " (Yorkshire was represented in Parliament by the giant of anti-slavery principles), " are this very moment existing in a state of slavery more horrid than are the victims of that hellish system, colonial slavery. These innocent creatures drawl out, unpitied, their short but miserable existence THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 431 in a place famed for its profession of religious zeal, whose inhabitants are ever foremost in professing ' temperance ' and * reformation,' and are striving to outrun their neighbours in mis- sionary exertions, and would fain send the Bible to the farthest corner of the globe ; ay, in the very place where the anti-slavery fever rages most furiously, her apparent charity is not more admired on earth than her real cruelty is abhorred in heaven. The very streets which receive the droppings of an ' Anti-Slavery Society ' are every morning wet by the tears of innocent victims at the accursed shrine of avarice, who are compelled, not by the cart-whip of the negro slave-driver, but by the dread of the equally appalling thonii; or strap of the overlooker, to hasten, half-dressed, but not half-fed, to those magazines of British infantile slavery — the worsted-mills in the toum and neighbourhood of Bradford! Thousands of little children, both male and female, but principally female, from seven to fourteen years of age, are daily compelled to labour from six o'clock in the morning to seven in the evening, with only — Britons, blush while you read it ! — with only thirty minutes allowed for eating and recreation. 432 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN". Poor infants ! ye are indeed sacrificed at the slirine of avarice, ivithout even the solace of the negro slave ; ye are no more than he is free agents ; ye are compelled to work as long as the necessity of your needy parents may require, or the cold- blooded avarice of your worse than barbarian masters mai/ demand 1 " There was much more in the same highly- pitched strain ; but the circumstances demanded something strong and emphatic, and the letter nobly answered its end. It awakened a sense of horror in the minds of the pubhc, and from that time the Ten Hours movement received shape and force, and was carried forward with untiring energy, zeal, and ability by Oastler, Gould, Fielden, Bull, and others. Keferring to the part which John Fielden took in this great agitation, a writer who, in 1857, under the signature of " Alfred," published an account of " the factory movement," says : " Mr. Fielden's principles of economical and commercial j^o^i^y were the results of his own experience formulated into a system ; that experience enabled him to con- struct authentic tables of that branch of manu- facture with which he was connected ; from THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 433 details he ascended to principles, and was in consequence of sincere convictions, a strenuous advocate for shortening the hours of labour in factories, a measure alike favourable, in his judgment, to the interests of the employers and the employed. Mr. Fielden contended that a reduc- tion of the working hours was an indispensable condition of the future success of the cotton trade." By speech and by writing, by unremit- ting advocacy within the walls of the House of Commons, and on the platform in the country, he championed the cause of the over-worked factory operatives. Through the columns of the newspaper press he frequently urged his views with telling power, and his work, entitled the The Curse of the Factory System, put the question before the public in perhaps a clearer light than it had previously been seen in ; for to the earnest- ness of the advocate he added the calmness and lucidity of a mind that favoured, more than all, strict justice and impartiality. " Honest John Fielden, the Eadical member for Oldham," was the common descriptive phrase Avhen he was referred to, and " honest John Fielden," he continued to the end of his days. At every VOL. I. FF 434 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. stage of the movement Mr. Fielden was in the forefront : at the great meeting in London on February 23rd, 1833, when the Earl of Shaftesbury (then Lord Asliley) made his first public speech in support of the cause ; in help- ing forward the immense petitions in favour of the original Ten Hours Bills, proposed in the House of Commons by Mr. Sadler ; in support- ing the Eoyal Commission of Liquiry ; and, at last, in taking charge of the Ten Hours Bill himself, and persistently bringing it forward until, on March 17th, 1847, it passed the third reading in the Commons by a large majority, and subsequently, on June 1st in the same year, passed its last stage in the Lords, and received the Eoyal Assent on the 8th of that month. Mr. Fielden did not long survive the final success of his great parliamentary achieve- ment, hut died in 1849, universally regretted. The three sons of John Fielden — ■ Samuel, John, and Joshua Fielden — upon whom, since the death of their uncle Thomas, the direction of the business of the firm of Fielden Brothers has devolved during the last thirty years, have, in every respect, been equal to the fulfilment THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 435 of the eminent and responsible positions to which they succeeded. Mr. Samuel Fielden, the elder brother, resides at Centre Yale, Todmorden ; he is a justice of the peace for Yorkshire and Lancashire, and a director of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Eailway Company. Mr. John Fielden is also a mao-istrate for York- shire and Lancashire, and has occupied the post of Chairman of the Todmorden Local Board of Health since its formation. He has recently built at his own expense a coffee tavern and club-room on a large scale, and of much archi- tectural beauty, for the use of the people of Todmorden. His interest in local affairs has always been very great, and the town has much cause to remember the many useful local under- takings with which he has identified himself. His favourite residence is a laro^e castellated mansion called Dobroyd Castle, which he has erected close to Edge End, the homestead of his grandfather, Joshua Fielden. Dobroyd Castle overlooks the town and valley of Todmorden, and forms the most prominent feature of the hilly landscape in that region, being a familiar FF 2 436 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. object to travellers by the Lancashire and York- shire Eailway. In this mansion Mr. John Fielden has gathered together many valuable treasures of art, some of his examples of sculpture being amongst the finest that have been produced in modern times, while the internal decoration of the building itself is marked by an elegance of design and an illustrative purpose which are seldom found except in the speciallj^-built man- sions of the more successful of our painters. Particularly noticeable are the sculptured friezes of the large hall, upon which have been skil- fully and faithfully depicted the successive opera- tions in connection with the manufacture of the cotton-fibre. Mr. John Fielden is also the pos- sessor of Grimston Park, once the country seat of Lord Londesborough, and here the Todmorden "cotton-lord" is accustomed to enjoy the hunting season, and pass from time to time a well- earned respite from his labours at Waterside. Mr. John Fielden bought Grimston Park in 1872 from Lord Londesborough's trustees. A more prominent part in public affairs has been taken by Mr. Joshua Fielden, the youngest of the three sons of tlie late member for Oldham. THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 437 He was educated privately in England and Switzerland ; and at the age of sixteen was taken into the works, where he was employed for the most part in managing the affairs of the office. Early in life he was brought much into contact with public men and affairs, and, acting as private secretary to his father during the memorable Ten Hours Bill agitation, received an excellent training for a public career. With the Eieldens, however, business has always held the first consideration, and it was not until Joshua Fielden had served the firm in which he was a partner with the best years of his manhood and the full limit of his ability — not until he had made hunself an ample store of wealth — that he consented to turn aside from the paths of commerce and give himself up to the work of the nation. All the time he was at Waterside, however, he kept himself abreast with current events, and when- ever a public question came to be agitated in Todmorden or the neighbourhood, his " soul was in arms," and his presence on the platform was looked for and welcomed. In the time of the second factory agitation, when it was sought to increase the working hours of mill operatives 438- THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. from fifty-eight to sixty hours per week, Mr. Joshua Fielden came prominently forward, and, in conjunction with his brothers, did all in his power to keep the law as his father had left it. But it was not to be ; their opponents carried the day. It was mainly through the efforts of Mr. Joshua Fielden that the building of the union workhouse was so long delayed in the Todmorden district. Until the year 1868 he did not make any attempt to influence public affairs except so far as he could do so in and from his native town. He felt so strongly, however, in regard to some questions of imperial policy that he was prompted to publish his opinions thereon occa- sionally, and his pamphlets and letters on the subject of the repeal of the malt-tax were characterised by an abundance of sound reasoning and a clearness of expression that gained for his advocacy a good deal of notice. In 1868 he was asked by the Conservative Party to contest the Eastern Division of the West Eiding of Yorkshire. At the general election that year he was returned for that constituency along with Mr. Christopher Beckett-Dennison. In 1874 he was again elected for the Eastern Division by THE I'lELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 439 tenfold the majority that he had on the previous occasion. He continued to sit until the general election of 1S80, when, in consequence of impaired health, he was compelled to decline being again put in nomination. During the twelve years that Mr. Joshua Fielden sat in Parliament he obtained the confidence and respect of his constituents in a marked degree, and on many occasions distinguished himself in the House of Commons by the clear-headed manner in which he addressed himself to important public questions. Without setting up any claim to orator}^, he possessed the art of marshalling facts effectively, and often won his way in argument where a more ornate speaker would have been lost. It is yet hoped, now that he has in a great measure recovered his health, that he will again find his way into Parliament, where, quite apart from party considerations, he is calculated to perform much useful work. Although in the main a firm adherent of the Conservative cause, he was never a mere party tool ; but, having the true Fielden capacity and will to do and think for himself, was not always to be relied upon for answering the call of the party " whips." Away 440 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. from the field of politics Mr. Joshua Fielden has also considerable claim to notice, he having taken a lively interest and accomplished good work in the direction of historical and antiquarian research. He is a fellow of the Eoyal Geo- graphical Society and of the Society of Anti- quaries ; and amongst the Unitarian body, to which he and his brothers belong, he holds a place of great prominence, having been President of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. Until the period of his entering Parliament Mr. Joshua Fielden resided at Stansfield Hall, Todmorden ; but in 1870 he bought an estate, called Nutfield Priory, in the county of Surrey, which formerly belonged to Mr. H. E. Gurney, of the firm of Overend, Gurney & Co. Here he erected a beautiful mansion in the Tudor style, in which his artistic taste and his love of the old associations have been brought to bear with admirable effect. On the Gothic arch of the tower entrance there is a moulding, wrought in the form of a winding scroll, upon which is inscribed the motto : " There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will." One of the most conspicious features of the THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 441 interior is a large and commanding commemora- tion window, erected in the great hall. It is of stained glass, covering nearly the whole of the front portion of the lofty hall, and has been executed from designs by F. E. Pickersgill, E.A. This fine work of art illustrates the history of cotton-spinning from the earliest period, with special reference to the social condition of the operatives and the effect of factory legislation thereupon. The four top lights represent " spin- ning with the spindle in the thirteenth century ; " the next four lights illustrate " spinning with the wheel in the sixteenth century ; " and the lower four lights give a view of " spinning by machinery in the nineteenth century." In order to make this last scene historically correct, Mr. Pickersgill had the advantage of working from sketches of the machinery and dresses of the workpeople made in the Waterside Mills at Todmorden. All these three scenes are designed with wonderful vigour, the groupings being exceedingly efiective, while the colouring is rich and striking, without being garish. Indeed, harmony of colour has been so admirably observed in the entire series of pictures, that 442 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. the eye is nowhere offended by wrong contrasts. In the side hghts of this immense window are portraits of Mr. Fielden's father, and his three uncles, Joshua, James, and Thomas Fielden ; while on scrolls here and there are inscribed the names of the more prominent workers in the Ten Hours movement — Fielden, Oastler, Bull, Gould, Wood, Walker, Sadler, and Peel. The wretched condition of the women and children in the cotton factories, before the Ten Hours Bill came into operation, is effectively contrasted in these pictures with the aspect of health and contentment which marks the later era, when legislation has been invoked in their aid. The accessories of the pictures have also had much care bestowed upon them, and are very appro- priate, including, in addition to a rich display of the white and red roses of Yorkshire and Lancashire, emblematic of the fact that the Waterside works are in both counties, represen- tations of the cotton-pod, the ram's head, and the silkworm, indicating the cotton, wool, and silk manufactures, in lespect of which the Act restricting the hours of labour was first applied. A more notable instance of the employment THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 443 of Stained glass in the decoration of a private mansion could probably not be given. Mr. Joshua Fielden married, in 1851, Ellen, daughter of Mr. Thomas Brocklehurst, of the Fence, Macclesfield ; and they have had a large family. His eldest son, Thomas, married, in 1878, the daughter of Mr. Thomas Knowles, M.P. for Wigan, and resides at Stockeld Park, Wetherby, Yorkshire. The three gentlemen who now represent the Fielden family have, in combination, done much to enliance the social condition and promote the prosperity of their native town. In 1869 they erected there what is probably the finest Unitarian church in the kingdom. It is a Gothic building of exquisite proportions, having a beautiful spire one hundred and ninety-six feet in height, and con- taining, inside and out, much decoration of a chaste and costly character. In the interior various coloured marbles have been used with splendid efiect, and the chancel window and the rose window over the principal entrance are triumphs of the stained-glass worker's art, the chancel window being especially beautiful, with its series of illustrations of the chief incidents in 4 444 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. the life of Christ. A peal of bells, a carillon, and a large organ are the musical features of tliis noble edifice, which was built at a cost of 36,000/. An inscription on the fioor of the principal entrance records the fact that the church was erected by Samuel, John, and Joshua Fielden. Mr. John Gibson was the architect. Since its opening the three brothers have invested a sum of 7,500/., in the names of trustees, to provide an annual sum for the services. Besides this munificent gift, Messrs. Samuel, John, and Joshua Fielden have built, at a cost of 54,000/., and presented to their native town, a town hall, as a memorial of their father and uncles. It is a handsome stone building in the classical style, and was erected from the designs of Mr. Gibson. It contains a large and handsome room for public meetings, a court-room in which the county justices sit, and an extensive series of offices for the transaction of the town business. The hall was opened on April 3rd, 1875, by Lord John Manners, then Postmaster-General, amidst much rejoicing, and at the same time a fine bronze statue of the late John Fielden, of which Mr. Foley was the sculptor, was unveiled, the THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 445 cost of the statue having been raised by the sub- scriptions of the factory- workers of England, Ireland, and Scotland, It now only remains for us, after having thus referred to the individual achievements of the Fieldens, to attempt to give some idea of the in- dustrial concern with which their names have for so long been honourably connected. Waterside lies at the head of the Todmorden valley, and is hemmed in on either side by preci- pitous hills. A goodly stream rushes by within a short distance, providing an ample supply of water for the working of the engines. It was in this situation that Joshua Fielden, the grandfather, made his first venture in the cotton manufacture, entering into it at a time when it was undergoing its most rapid development. Up to the time of Arkwright's inventions the cotton trade had not taken first rank amongst our national industries. A hundred years before, it was only just beginning to be recognised in this country. Italy and Spain were somewhat exten- sively engaged in the treatment of this fibre centuries before we took it up in England ; and, going stiU further back, we find India and China 446 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. manipulating the product of the cotton-tree long previous to the advent of the Christian era. We have all heard the story of Semiramis having in- vented cotton-weaving ; but the people of India claim even to have been in advance of the famous Assyrian queen. It is imagined by some that the expedition of Alexander the Great, 330 B.C., led to the first introduction of cotton goods from the land of the Ganges to Europe. One of the earliest allusions in print to the actual manufac- ture of cotton in England is contained in Lewis Eobert's TJie Treasure of Traffic, published in 1641, in which he says, "The town of Manchester buys cotton-wool from London that comes from Cyprus and Smyrna, and works the same into fustians, vermilions, and dimities." But behind- hand as we had been in this industry up to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when once the men of Lancashire had taken it up, they soon outdistanced all foreign rivals ; and by the time that the firm of Fielden Brothers had worked its way to eminence and fortune, the general cotton trade of the country had expanded to such a marvellous degree that it became the leading textile industry in the world. As an indication of THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 447 this great development, it may be mentioned that the annual consumption of cotton in England between the years 1776 and 1780 fell short of seven millions of pounds, while a hundred years later there were not less than 1,175,345,0001b. weight of cotton used in the English cotton manufacture, from which 1,040,380,0001b. were spun into yarn, 211,940,0001b. going into export as yarn, 698,840,0001b. as woven stuffs, and 129,600,0001b. remained in the country for home consumption. In this great industrial development, as we have seen, Fielden Brothers played a most important part, mill after mill being erected by them, and shed after shed, until the present gigantic concern was the ultimate result. Having been built in so many separate sections, as it were, and with no portion of the older factory buildings swept away, but all still standing as landmarks of commercial history, if not exactly ornaments of the landscape, the Waterside works are not to be compared in imposingness of aspect with many less extensive ranges of factory buildings of a later date. Taking them, however, in their 448 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. order, as they come, from the first stage to the last, we see each operation of the cotton manufacture being carried on under perfectly convenient conditions, with space enough for all the various processes. There are the Water- side spinning-mill, in which five hundred and sixty-two hands have been employed at one time ; the old weaving-shed, containing five hundred looms ; the new weaving-shed, with about one thousand looms ; covering an acre of ground ; and quite a number of smaller buildings, in which the earlier preparatory processes are carried on. Then, farther away amongst the hills, the firm have other works, including the Eobinwood Mill about a mile and a half off, on the Burnley Eoad ; Stones- wood Mill, on the way towards Bacup ; and Lumbutts Mill and Jumb Mill, up in one of the hollows of the Blackstone Edge range. At Waterside alone they have three powerful steam-engines — one of one hundred and twenty, another of eighty, and a third of sixty horse- power. Wlien in the full tide of their success, Fielden Brothers also occupied mills at Mytholm- royd, Smithy Holme, Waterstalls, Causeway, and THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 449 Dobroyd ; but as time went on, and tlie mem- bers of the firm found tlieir positions well :issured, and as fresli inventions brought about a greater concentration of force, tliey relinquished some of the outside mills, and now confine their operations to Waterside, Robinwood, Stones- wood, Lumbutts, and Jumb. A rapid glance through the Waterside works will give us some notion of the present nature and extent of the firm's operations. First, there is the mixing-room, where thousands of pounds worth of cotton lies piled up in bales just as it arrives from America, and where it is emptied out, looking so full of dirt and rubbish that to the untutored eye it seems as if no machinery in the world could ever make it soft and beauti- ful. Indeed in its earlier cleansino' stai^es the fibre has some strange and fearful processes to go through. It is estimated that in ninety bales of cotton there are at least 3001bs. of sand, and no end of other impurities ; and all this has to be shaken or blown out of it before it can be submitted to the more advanced manipulative operations. First of all it is passed through a long pipe, into which is introduced a powerful VOL, I. GG 450 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. current of air that plays liavoc with tlie dust and dirt. Then we follow it into the scutching- room, where the cotton is put through what is called a scutcher, wliicli has an iron cylinder studded with iron spikes that catch the fibre and toss it about in the most frantic man- ner ; wliile a beater, consisting of two iron blades working on an axis, makes violent attacks upon it, the machine making fifteen hundred turns per minute. We now descend to the opening-room, and see the openers at work, with their revolving vertical shafts and projecting discs and arms, and their active fans, and observe the cotton at length rolled upon a beam in the form of a " lap." At the next stage we require greater space for our opera- tions. We reach the carding-room, where rows of carding-machines are to be seen at work, with their numberless rollers, wheels, and cylin- ders boxed off for the confinement of the dust ; but, do what they will, the dust lies thick in the air, and constitutes a small mist. The carding-machine is well worth examination. When the box-covering is lifted off, you see a number of rollers of different sizes, each bristling Tin-: I'lELDKNS OF TODMOKDEN. 451 full of teeth made of tlie iiiiest wire, I'cvolviug one upon another, moving at various speeds, and stealing the fibrous material from eacli other in tlie most unaccountable wa}'. It is as if they were manipulating a succession of snowflakes. These rollers are in the middle portion of the machine. At one end the beam of " lap " feeds the machine with fleecy layers of cotton and at the other it issues forth in the sliape of a beautiful gossamer fdm that passes through a ,small circular opening, being taken from the final roller by an extremely fine horizontal comb that moves with great rapidity.' In passing through the circular opening as " sliver," it drops into an oscillating can, wdiicli receives it most tenderly. When the " lap " enters the machine it moves w^itli extreme slowness, as if reluctant to o-et drawn into the entanglement of the thousands of teeth that the rollers are anxious to grind it between ; but when it has passed the last roller, and has become beautiful white " sliver," it hurries ofi' sixty to eighty times as fast as when it entered. A layer of lliick cotton one yard long put in at one end of this niadiine will come out at the other 452 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. end a layer of eighty or ninety yards in length. The preparatory processes are now finished. What the remaining machines have to do is to stretch the fibre to perhaps a hundred times its original length, and to impart to it the proper amount of twist. The cotton in its "sliver" form is very unequal in its formation, and is far from being in a fit condition to go to the spinning frame. We therefore see the cans of " slivers " brouo-ht to the drawinsj-frames. Six ropes of " sliver " pass together between the rollers of the first drawing-frame, the rollers moving with unequal velocities, and producing, by their combined action, a nearly uniform result — the six ropes that enter forming one on emerging. Then six of these sixfold ropes of *' sliver " are passed on to the second drawing and, after the same process has been repeated, the " slivers " are put through a tliird frame, each rope of " sliver " at the finish being thus two hundred and sixteen times its original strength. One yard has been expanded into thirty-seven yards, and, what is very important, all the fibres are now side by side. The slub- THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. 4,03 bing-frame now takes the cotton in hand. Two ropes of "sUver" are run together between rollers, and the cotton is wound on to open bobbins, being still further drawn out in the process — one yard being stretched to five or six — while at the same time a slioht extra twist is oiven to it. Then the roving frames have a turn at it, giving further attenuation and twist to the fibre, and making it ready for the spinning- frame. Many rooms have to be travelled tliroui?!! in inspecting all these processes, and mnch clatter and buzz lias to be endured ; but the work- people seem happy amongst it all, and go through their duties with an activity and a brightness which bespeak anything but oppression. From this point there are two distinct roads for the fibre. Such portion of it as is intended foi' yarn (or warp) is carried forward into the throstle- room wliere there is a long array of throstle spinning-frames. Tlie Ijright spindles of these machines run at the rate of four thousand revo- - lutions per minute, and not only perform the winding and twisting processes, but give a further extension of its length by seven times. It is interesting to watch tiie working of the little 454 THE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. army of " doffers/' as tliey call the children who, when the bobbins are full, take them from the spindles with military order and precision. From tlie throstle the yarn is transferred to winding frames, where it is run on to larger bobbins ; and then it goes to the warping machines, where the bobbins are placed in a rack, the ends threaded tlirou""li laro'e needles arransfed in a frame, and then wound round a large circular revolving drum to the required length. When the cotton-fibre is intended for weft it is taken from the roving-frames to the mule- spinning. This machine is the most interesting and impressive sight in a cotton-mill. It con- tains a movino- carriasfe that works on an iron railroad, and runs in and out live or six feet at each journey. There are six hundred to eight hundred threads on each carriage or machine, and as the drawing, stretching, and twisting proceeds they are wound into the form of *' cops," and are ready for the loom. We have now only to follow warp and weft, into the large weaving sheds to see the cotton worked up into " pieces." The two sheds previously mentioned — one c'ontaining a thousand THE FIELDENS OF TODMOUDKN. 455 and tlie other five Imiidred looms — present a most animated appearance. The k)oms are rattlmg away at an enornions speed— many of them rnn at the rate of one hnmh-ed and ninety "picks" or strokes to the minute — and the operatives who tend them ha\'e to keep their eyes open and their liands ready for instant action as their machines drive rapidly along. Each weaver lias four looms to look after, so there is not much time for loiteriuo-. The sisfht is a very impressive one — a far-stretching scene of bustle and din which to the stranger is almost bewilderinof. Messrs. Fielden Brothers have always evinced a lively interest in the welfare of their workpeople, and there has always seemed to exist a feeling of friendliness and goodwill between them and their employes. Many of their hands have continued to \vork for them during a lifetime ; they have at the present time men in their employment wdio have worked continuously at Waterside for over fifty years. Long after the adoption of power- looms, they kept tlieir old hand-weavers with work. Indeed, they had fifty-three of these in their service so recently as 1801 ; but in tliat 456 TEE FIELDENS OF TODMORDEN. year they relinquished the hand-weaving depart- ment entirely, not, however, without pensioning off thirty-five of them ; and of this number two are still living and receiving their pensions, one being eighty-five years of age, the other seventy- two. The firm which has built up so large and im- portant a concern as that at Waterside, and has done so much to benefit the large community that it has, as it were, brought together, will not fail to be remembered as amono;st the worthiest examples of industrial energy and success, as well as of high individual purpose, that the nineteenth century has witnessed. END 01' VOL. I THE LIBRARY BKIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES \^A/ \ UNIVERSITY or CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. L 006 058 619 5