NEWSLETTER 77 AUTUMN 2009
EDITORIAL
Welcome to the Autumn Newsletter. With another summer over I am looking forward to the forthcoming Lecture Programme which starts on Saturday 3rd October. As usual, the details are included in this mailing. It would be good publicity for the section if you could put up copies of the programme in your workplace or give copies to friends and relatives to encourage attendance and hopefully new members. Thanks again to Jane for putting together what promises to be a very interesting programme which I hope will be well supported. Thanks also to Robert Vickers for arranging two walks for next year. The first will follow our AGM on 10 April and will be a continuation of this April’s exploration of Hunslet and will take in the riverside in the east of Leeds. On 9 May we shall visit Wakefield and it will be an opportunity to see for ourselves some of the regeneration work that was discussed at this year’s National Mills Conference and will also covered by our speaker in December. I hope members will be able to join Robert for what are likely to be very interesting walks.
Over the summer months I was able to fit in visits to a few industrial history sites while holidaying in the Lake District including the Honister Slate Mines, where you can take a guided tour inside the mine; tracing the path of the Penrith, Keswick and Cockermouth Railway and visiting the interesting port of Maryport. While on a short break to Llandudno I travelled on the historic tramway which climbs a mile through the streets of Llandudno to the top of the Great Orme with its ancient copper mines. The tramway was built in 1902 and is the only cable hauled tramway still operating alongside a British road. If any members would like to share experiences of industrial history visits in the UK and beyond, as well as recommending places to visit, I am always happy to include the details in the Newsletter.
Another piece of news is that I was finally able to retire from the British Library in August, which means I have more time now to spend on industrial history and to support the main Society by contributing to the Management Board and offering some time as a volunteer at Claremont. I have also managed to acquire a British Library Reader’s pass so will still be able to access the Library’s collections, which will be of use since I intend to spend time researching the industries of the area near to my home, in particular the history, development and closure of the quarries. Sheila Bye’s presentation at the AGM members’ session on an aspect of Leeds early railway history is a good example of how interesting research can be if you have the time to follow it up. Sheila has kindly sent a copy of her talk to be made available to all members and you can read it on pages 6-8 of this Newsletter.
One advantage of being retired (apart from the free bus pass and reduced fare railcard), is that I don’t have to negotiate when to take holidays. I have just returned from a few days at this year’s AIA conference which was held close to home based in Lincoln. We had excellent weather and some interesting visits, although the facilities provided by the University of Lincoln could have been better. A full report will appear in the next Newsletter. Next year’s conference is being held in Cornwall, with the promise of visits to mines and quarries, details will be available early in 2010.
A brief report of the Section’s AGM was included in the last Newsletter and the full minutes are now circulated with this Newsletter. As before, if any member has any corrections to the minutes please let me have them in writing/email before the next AGM.
I have not been notified of any new members since the last issue of the Newsletter, so my usual reminder that membership forms are available from Claremont and also on the YAHS website where you can also find details of our lectures and other events. I shall be producing the next Newsletter in mid January so please let me have your news and information early in the New Year.
Margaret Tylee
NEWS FROM CLAREMONT
The May issue of Update, the YAHS Newsletter, contained a reminder about the rules to be followed when visiting Claremont. Main Society members will have their own copy but the following are some points that are particularly important to note: • Always sign in and out in the book which is on the table in the hall. This is for health & safety reasons in case there is a fire. If you have used the car park please add your car registration. • The car park is for the use of readers and visitors to Claremont and not for free parking when in Leeds. • Bags should be left in the lockers and mobile phones switched off. However if you are attending a meeting in the lecture room then you can take your bags in with you, but if you are using any of the other rooms you must use the lockers.
Copies of Update are freely available from Claremont.
The AGM of the Society was held on 20 June when the Annual Report & Accounts were presented. Main Society members will have received their own copies but copies are available from Claremont for Section only members. It was reported that the use of Claremont had increased by 8% and that at long last a new Membership Secretary had been identified. Overall there was a loss over the year, mainly due to reduced investment value.
HELP WANTED
The Greater Manchester Archaeology Unit is carrying out a survey of textile finishing sites, e.g. bleach works, dyeworks, fulling and embossing works, to update the Greater Manchester Historic Environment Record. The project is estimated to take three years and the intention is to establish the history of the sites, visit and record the sites. Currently the researcher Peter Bone is looking at the administrative districts of Bury, Bolton and Rochdale and has experienced some difficulty in identifying ownership history and use of the sites. He is looking for any information on textile finishing sites in the area including old photographs (photographs showing the internal features would be most welcome) and company publications. I know the area is outside Yorkshire but if any member can help, please contact Peter Bone, T 01706 838106 or email [email protected]@btinternet.com
Section member Robert Vickers is researching the history of Rippon Brothers, coachbuilders, of Huddersfield. The Rippon name is the oldest associated with coachbuilding in the UK, as Walter Rippon built a coach for the Earl of Rutland in 1555 and another for Queen Elizabeth I in 1564. The Rippon family was established as coachbuilders in Huddersfield by the early 1870s. They started building bodies for cars in 1905, many on Rolls-Royce and Bentley chassis. Coachbuilding ceased in 1958 and their Huddersfield premises in Viaduct Street were demolished in 1978 – the site is now covered by Tesco. However the name lived on for a further 20 years or so as Appleyard Rippon, motor distributors, in Leeds. There are company archives at WYAS Huddersfield and at the Sir Henry Royce Foundation, Paulerspury, but Robert would also welcome any information about the company and its products from members. He can be contacted at [email protected]
NEWS ITEMS
Members may be aware that the Civic Trust for England, the organisation which runs Heritage Open Days went into administration earlier this year. The Trust was founded in 1957 and acted as the umbrella body for over 750 local Civic Trusts. There was some concern that the Heritage Open Days scheme which allows free access to a range of buildings and sites that are either not open to the public or charge admission would have to stop. Fortunately English Heritage has agreed to fund the continuation of the scheme which ran as usual over the weekend of 10-13th September.
The Transport Trust has launched a nationwide programme to mark sites of historic transport interest with a Red Wheel Plaque. Their website at www.transportheritage.com provides a directory of sites and gives details of the history of the sites together with maps and photographs. Sites in Yorkshire include the Stanley Ferry Aqueduct, Bingley Five Rise Locks, Standedge Tunnel, Huddersfield Station and the Crimple Viaduct, near Harrogate.
During June 2009 an artists’ collective called Black Dogs held a series of exhibitions, installations and activities centred on the Tower Works in Holbeck. Events included an exhibition of photographs bringing together the Giotto Tower and its Florence original, an exhibition about the Tower Works and a series of guided walks. The group also produced a walk leaflet which on one side gave information about the history of the Tower Works and surrounding area and on the reverse a guided walk around the towers of Florence. I’d be interested to hear from any members who attended the events. The walk leaflet may still be available from The Carriageworks in Leeds.
A company called “The View from the North” which made the Fred Dibnah programmes for BBC2 are working on an oral history project on British industry in the 1950s & 60s. They are looking for people who worked in industries such as mining, engineering, textiles, chemicals i.e. heavier types of industrial employment who could contribute their memories to the project. Volunteers would be filmed being interviewed about their working life to create a record of industrial and social history. If any member is interested or knows of anyone who might be interested please contact the company T 0113 2493001 or email [email protected] [email protected]
Planning applications have been submitted for the development of theTemple Works in Marshall Street, Leeds. The plans are for a multi-purpose performance, exhibition and events venue and to open up the mill to various retailers. Members who saw the famous Egyptian style mill on a recent walk around Leeds were dismayed at its dilapidated appearance, so it will be interesting to see how this proposed development will work.
In researching some background details to my report on the Section’s walk around Huddersfield (reported on page 5 in the Newsletter) I came across the Geograph website (www.geograph.org.uk). This is a web based project to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain & Ireland. Consequently I found several photographs of buildings that we saw on the Huddersfield walk and of course started looking further afield for other locations including all the places where I have lived! One of the photographers contributing to the site is Betty Longbottom, wife of Section member Alan Longbottom.
October 2009 sees the centenary of the Doncaster aviation meeting in October 1909 when Leon Delagrange achieved a speed of 49.9 mph watched by a crowd of 100,000. A replica of his Bleriot X1 plane will be the focus of the centenary celebrations between 15- 25 October at Aeroventure, the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum situated at Dakota Way, Airborne Road, Lakeside, Doncaster DN4 7FB. For details visit the museum website at www.aeroventure.org.uk.
The May 2009 issue of Industrial Archaeology Review contains an interesting and well illustrated article by Marcus Jecock from English Heritage entitled “ A Fading Memory: the North Yorkshire Coastal Alum Industry in the Light of Recent Analytical Fields Survey by English Heritage”. Members may recall that Marcus gave a presentation to the Section covering this topic in October 2005. The issue is available in the YAHS Library.
The Historical Metallurgy Society has published its research framework for archaeometallurgy in the British Isles. Called Metals and Metalworking, It is divided into three sections: the methods used in researching the history of metallurgy; the present level of knowledge and understanding of a selection of topics dating from the Bronze Age to the 20th century and an agenda for future research. Copies are available from HMS Publication Sales, 22 Windley Crescent, Darley Abbey, Derby, DE22 1BZ. Price £6.50 (post free), cheques should be made payable to Historical Metallurgy Society Ltd. FORTHCOMING EVENTS
3 Oct 2009 Trams in the Limelight. 78th East Midlands Industrial Archaeology Conference hosted by the East Midlands branch of the Railway & Canal Historical Society at the National Tramway Museum, Crich. For booking send SAE to EMIAC 78 141 Allestree Lane, Allestree, Derby, DE22 2PG.
11 Oct 2009 Centre Vale & Burnley Valley. Calderdale Heritage walk north of Todmorden visiting sites associated with the Fielden family. Meet Ed Westbrook at 2.15pm at the railway viaduct by Todmorden Bus Station. Cost £3.
19 Oct 2009 The Wanderings of a Railway Rambler. A slide show by Jane Ellis. North York Moors Railway, York Branch. New Earswick Sports & Social Club, White Rose Avenue, New Earswick, York, YO32 4BA. 7.45pm. Visitors £2.
25 Oct 2009 Cragg Vale. Calderdale Heritage walk to explore this area famed for the coiners and interesting mill buildings. Meet Pam Jordan at 2.15pm on B6138 in Cragg Vale by the junction with the road to the Church. Cost £3.
10-12 Nov 2009 Historical Metallurgy Society Research in Progress Meeting. 2 day conference at the University of Bradford looking at smelting through the ages and smithing and non-ferrous metalworking through the ages. For more information and booking contact Eleanor Blakelock, Division of AGES, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD7 1DP or email [email protected].
14 Nov 2009 West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service Annual Day School. Royal Armouries. Cost £12. Updates on archaeological work being carried out in West Yorkshire with the afternoon having a medieval theme including the manufacture of medieval pottery. For details and booking contact Nicola Wharton, T 0113 2698267 or go to the websitewww.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk.
14 Nov 2009 Woodhouse to Killamarsh and Back. 7 mile Railway Ramblers walk led by Douglas Robinson. Meet at Woodhouse Station at 10.16am (arrival of 9.44 train Sheffield to Lincoln) to follow the Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway. Bring packed lunch. More details from Jane Ellis, T 0113 2659970.
21 Nov 2009 South Yorkshire Archaeology Day, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield (adjacent to bus and railway stations). Details of speakers not yet available. Pre Booking recommended via South Yorkshire Archaeological Service, Howden House, 1 Union Street, Sheffield S1 2SH
13 Dec 2009 Christmas at Wortley Top Forge. Visit the forge with Santa and other attractions. The forge is situated on Forge Lane, Thurgoland, Sheffield. There will be an admission charge.
19 Dec 2009 L&YR Summit Tunnel. 5 mile linear Railway Ramblers walk led by Brian Slater along the Rochdale Canal and a medieval road to view the tunnel portals and vent shafts. Christmas lunch will be taken at the Bird in Hand, Walsden. Meet at Littleborough Station at 10.30am. More details from Jane Ellis, T 0113 2659970.
2 Jan 2010 A Winter’s Ramble. Join Railway Rambler Mike Warrington for a mix of walks and travel by bus and train across West Yorkshire using the Dayrover ticket. Final details of the programme will be available at the beginning of December from Mike, T 01977 614954.
30 Jan 2010 Leeds & Liverpool Canal Walk: Bank Newton Locks to Skipton Springs Branch. 8 miles linear Railway Ramblers walk led by Bill Jagger with pub lunch. Meet at Gargrave Station at 9.31am (arrival of 8.40am Leeds-Carlisle train). Option to walk in the morning only and finish in Skipton after lunch. More details from Jane Ellis, T 0113 2659970. South Yorkshire Industrial History Society 2009-10 Winter Programme Sheffield Programme
The Sheffield lectures will be held at Kelham Island Museum starting at 7.30pm, except where otherwise indicated. There is a minimum admission charge of £1 for non SYIHS members.
16 Nov 2009 In the Shadow of Water power: Sheffield’s earliest rotative steam engines- Neville Flavell. 14 Dec 2009 Chestermans- makers of measuring tools – Jim Nicholson. 18 Jan 2010 Days at Work: contemporary descriptions of industry at work – Prof David Perrett. 15 Feb 2010 Dannemora and more: exploring the history of Swedish iron and steel – Alan Hardman. 23 March 2010 Uncovering Sheffield’s metallurgical past – Dr James Symonds. 19th Dr Kenneth Barraclough Memorial lecture. Joint meeting with the SMEA. 5.30pm for 6pm at the Holiday Inn Royal Victoria Hotel, Sheffield. Admission free. 19 April 2010 Roman Water Supplies: the example of Cologne – David Cockman. 17 May 2010 Cravens of Darnell: 100 years of history – Howard Turner.
Barnsley Programme
10 Nov 2009 The Wire Mills of Thurgoland – Maurice Williams. Lecture Room, Barnsley Central Library, Shambles street, Barnsley. 7pm. 22 March 2010 Penistone: from Market Town to Industrial Town – David Hey. Joseph Bramah Memorial Lecture. Cooper Gallery, Church Street, Barnsley. 7pm
Joint Meeting with Rotherham Local History Council
20 Feb 2010 Wortley Top Forge and early ironmaking in South Yorkshire – Derek Bayliss. Rotherham Central Library & Arts Centre. 10.30am.
REPORTS OF LECTURES, EVENTS ETC Discovering Huddersfield An Industrial History Section walk led by Robert Vickers, 10 May 2009
12 members and friends met Robert outside Huddersfield’s Grade I listed railway station (once some of us had managed to find somewhere to park!). After admiring the station designed by J.P. Pritchett and built between 1846-50 to serve the London & North Western and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railways, we looked at the buildings in the adjacent St George’s Square, in particular the George Hotel of 1850 and the Lion Arcade of 1853. Huddersfield developed as a centre for the woollen trade and the area had a number of wool warehouses built to be conveniently close to the station. Behind the station had been extensive railway sidings, now gone, but still with an accumulator tower which provided hydraulic power, the goods offices and a grade II listed railway warehouse.
Moving into Viaduct Street we saw the site of Rippon Brothers, one of the oldest coach builders in the country, which was demolished in 1978. Railway Street had a number of fine buildings including Tite’s Buildings, the Ramsden’s Estate Office and the former Bradford & District Bank. In the Market Place were the remains of the Market Cross dating from 1671, and nearby the site of the Cloth Hall which was demolished in the 1930s. At one time Huddersfield had many hotels and inns in the town centre to cater for the merchants doing business, but most are now gone. There are however still a number of small yards and alleys some dating from the 18th century which we explored off King Street. In Queen Street, there is an impressive Wesleyan Chapel of 1819 which has been re-used as the Lawrence Batley Theatre. We had hoped to have lunch in the Albert Hotel of 1879, but there was no food available on Sundays. We retraced our steps via the Town Hall of 1881 and Prudential Assurance Building of 1898 to a pub in one of the yards for lunch.
After lunch, the walk took on a more industrial theme. In Queen Street South we saw the works of Thomas Broadbent & Sons, still in operation making industrial centrifuges for process industries, on the site of the Central Iron Works. Further down were Bates Mill and Fairfields Mills before we came to the bridge over the Huddersfield Narrow Canal which flowed in a tunnel, built in 1999-2001 as part of the Canal’s restoration, under Bates Mill. We proceeded to the footbridge over the River Colne where we could see Folly Hall Mill a grade II* listed building rebuilt in 1844 after a fire and occupied by Joseph Lumb & Co. from 1872 – 1980 who made worsted yarns. The Mill closed in 1993 and is now used for commercial offices. This area of Huddersfield alongside the canal has a wealth of former industrial buildings. We saw the Priest Royd Ironworks of 1835 which manufactured woollen processing machinery, Priestroyd Mill (1869); Commercial Mill (1864); Firth Street Mill (1866); Larchfield Mill (1865/6). The latter two now converted and part of the University of Huddersfield. We joined the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Lock1E and walked along the towpath to Aspley Basin, the start of the Huddersfield Broad Canal (also known as the Sir John Ramsden’s Canal), opened in 1780. Continuing along the Broad Canal we reached the most interesting feature on the canal – the Locomotive Bridge or Turnbridge of 1865 which takes Quay Street over the canal. The lifting bridge is now electrically operated and replaced an earlier swing bridge, it has an unusual design with the weight of the lifting section transferred to balance weights through chains suspended over pulleys. Alongside the bridge is the impressive Turnbridge Mill of 1846 still occupied by John Brierley Ltd, manufacturing cotton and viscose yarns. The mill had an interesting feature of a small tower designed to hold a bell used to summon the workers from nearby houses.
We left the canal and made our way back to the town centre via the parish church in Kirkgate, noting the old and new Post Office buildings (1875 and 1914) and former Mechanics Institute (1859) in Northumberland Street and the former Wholesale Market (1889) in Lord Street built with cast iron columns, wrought iron girders and decorative iron plate infill. The final stop on the walk was to admire L&T Fisher’s Marble Works in Brook Street before returning to the station.
Thanks to Robert for researching and leading a very interesting and informative walk. Members may like to consult the following books that Robert used in his research: The buildings of Huddersfield: an illustrated architectural history by Keith Gibson and Albert Booth. Tempus. 2005. ISBN 0752436759 The buildings of Huddersfield: five architectural walks by David Wyles. Huddersfield Civic Society. 2006. ISBN 0954889932 Pennine dreams: the story of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal by Keith Gibson. Tempus. 2002. ISBN 0752427512
Margaret Tylee SHORT ARTICLES FINDING MR. FRETWELL Sheila Bye
Members who attended Don Townsley’s lecture to the Section, or who have read his history of the Hunslet Engine Company, may remember the famous 1859 sale map of E.B. Wilson’s Railway Foundry empire, on which the site of the small original works, in Pearson Street, Hunslet, is mysteriously labelled “Devisees of the late Mr. Fretwell”. Family history being my ‘other hobby’, following the lecture I decided to try using family history research tools to find out who Mr. Fretwell was and why he owned this historically important site.
The fact he was described as “the late” implied that he might not have been dead for very long, so the first step was to look through Ancestry.com’s on-line scans of the death registration indices, working backwards from 1859. There appeared to be only six male Fretwell deaths registered in Leeds between the 1851 census and the date of the map. The most likely one was that of John Fretwell, who died in the 2nd quarter of 1855. There was also an “Innkeeper” Samuel, whose brother George was a labourer, and a total of four Williams, most of whom could be traced to fairly recent births and the other to an elderly man who appeared in the 1851 census. He had been a “Bricklayer Labourer” in 1851, so hardly likely to be the owner of important industrial land a few years later.
Having picked John Fretwell as the most likely man, the next step was to look at the indexed scans of the 1851 census to see if there was an adult JF in Leeds at that time. There actually were very few Fretwells in Leeds, and none of them was called John. Eventually I found him by a roundabout route – mis-indexed as Dretwell!
In 1851, John Fretwell was aged 88, unmarried, and a retired grocer living on an annuity, at a very upmarket address at the corner of St. Paul’s Street and Park Square, together with two servants.
There was a very small chance that his Will had been so important that it was passed on to Canterbury after being dealt with by the York probate court, and Canterbury Wills are in the National Archives’ documents on-line facility. Click, click, click, and there it was: Will of John Fretwell, Gentleman of Leeds, Yorkshire, 7 December 1855. After parting electronically with £3.50, I was able to download a complete scan of the Will – all fourteen pages of it, and on the 6th sheet was the connection I’d hoped to find: “Also all that my freehold Estate situate near to a place call Dow bridge in Hunslet Lane in Leeds aforesaid and by me usually called or distinguished as The Railway Foundry Estate”. Mr. Fretwell was obviously a very wealthy old gentleman – as well as the Railway Foundry Estate, he owned his own house and the one adjoining, and also a sizeable freehold estate fronting on to Briggate which included the Talbot Inn and three shops.
Though unmarried and without children, his siblings had provided him with a large number of nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews, and it is a niece and a great niece who are the keys to Mr. Fretwell’s hitherto unrecognised importance to Leeds industrial history. One of his nieces, Ann, had married a man named John Newton, and amongst their children was a daughter Ann. Though one section of the Will bequeaths money to be shared among all the children of John and Ann Newton, their daughter Ann is, I think, unique in not being individually named somewhere in the Will. However, her mother’s identical name rang a bell, though it was a while before I remembered where I’d previously heard of an Ann Newton – she married James Kitson! Further checking proved that Fretwell’s great niece, Ann Newton the younger, was indeed James Kitson’s wife.
However, the Will had a much more obvious connection to the locomotive building industry: several mentions are made of Fretwell’s niece Isabella and her husband Charles Todd – trained at Matthew Murray’s Round Foundry, and at various times a partner in Todd, Kitson & Laird, and Shepherd & Todd, and ultimately sole proprietor of the Sun Foundry. Isabella and Charles Todd feature largely in the Will, not the least in that Charles Todd is noted as owing his uncle- in-law the sum of £635 pounds at the time of writing, 1848.
A day in the old Deeds Registry at West Yorkshire Archives, Wakefield, produced further details. A large area situated between Jack Lane and Hunslet Lane, and collectively known as the Dowbridge Closes, had belonged to a wine merchant named John Pearson, and following his death was sold piecemeal by his trustees. The Leeds Mercury of 18.04.1835 advertised the sale by auction of what appears to be most if not all of the property: a mill and other premises, with a steam engine, a fire-proof warehouse, and about 51,000 square yards of building land. The auction may not have been entirely successful in disposing of the property, since John Fretwell purchased his 4,175 square yards on 24th/25th July 1837, more than two years later, though the ‘Memorial’ of his purchase document does mention that the land was “now in the occupation of the said John Fretwell” - in other words, he may have held it already for some time on an unregistered short lease. This would make sense, as it was only six weeks after the date of purchase that Todd, Kitson & Laird announced in The Leeds Mercury of 2nd September that they were commencing business “in entirely New Buildings erected for the Purpose”.
The Will, registered deeds memorials, and newspaper advertisements shed more than a little light on the birth of the Hunslet locomotive building industry. The industry located there in the first place because suitable land was available, a suitably wealthy gentleman had money to spare for the purchase, and the same gentleman was connected by marriage to two talented engineers who wished to start up in business together. Though the 3rd partner, David Laird, was mainly providing finance for the venture, it possibly could be conjectured that John Fretwell was also loaning start-up money, or at least temporarily foregoing any rent for the property, and that the £635 owed to him by Charles Todd in 1848 perhaps was the residue of this still owing. The partnership of Todd, Kitson & Laird lasted less than two years, before Kitson and Laird departed to begin their own empire, the Airedale Foundry, at the other side of Pearson Street from the original Railway Foundry.
Charles Todd is often unjustly portrayed as being a capricious character, flitting around Hunslet from partnership to partnership, but the fact that John Fretwell’s Will makes absolutely no mention whatsoever of James Kitson or his wife Ann, could hint that Fretwell blamed Kitson for the breakup of the original Railway Foundry partnership. It may be significant that the Legal Notice of the dissolving of partnership (Leeds Mercury 4th May 1839) appears strongly to imply that Todd and his new partner John Shepherd are remaining in the Railway Foundry premises - it is Kitson and Laird who appear to be moving out. Certainly, several weeks later on the 1st and 2nd of July 1839, the documentation of their purchase of 6,666 square yards of the Dowbridge Closes, including the former mill, was completed. Much later, the mill was to become famous in Sir James Kitson’s rose-tinted account of how he built his first locomotive in an old mill and had to take down one of the walls to get it out.
That the founding of the original Railway Foundry partnership happened in 1837 might or might not be a coincidence. During that year there was a long and bitter strike of machine makers in Leeds, which affected many of the existing foundries. The important Holbeck engineering firm of Smith, Beacock & Tannett began work in rented premises in November 1837, reputedly as a result of its many founding partners being left idle and without wages during the strike. Could the Railway Foundry partnership also have been created as a result of the strike, as well as of the presence of an indulgent rich uncle? It perhaps is not so likely in the case of Todd, Kitson & Laird, as the strike seems to have started in mid March, leaving little time for the purchase of land, the forming of a partnership with David Laird as financial backer, and the building of new workshops as is claimed in the advertisement of 2nd September.
Whatever is the case regarding Kitson, or the influence of the 1837 strike, the elusive Mr. Fretwell is at last out of the shadows, and his pivotal place in the locating and early nurturing of the soon-to-be mighty Hunslet locomotive building industry can be given due recognition.
Sources: The Leeds Mercury of various dates mentioned in the text – found via the excellent Cengage Learning internet facility of the British Library’s 19th century newspapers (mainly limited to further education establishments, but also available at some public libraries, including Leeds).
WYA Wakefield documents - MR 338/324 dated 24/25 July 1837, registered 2 August 1837, and NF 530/508 dated 1/2 July 1839, registered 26 July 1839
National Archives – John Fretwell’s Will - Cat. Ref. prob 11/2223, Image Refs. 253, 254 (2 pdf files).
Family details – censuses and general registration indices on Ancestry.com (subscription website) also many family details are on Leonie Fretwell’s excellent informative website of her husband’s family. http://fretwell.kangaweb.com.au - John Fretwell appears in the Fifth Generation. However, being based far off in Australia, Leonie hadn’t previously realised his important place in Leeds’s industrial history.
Finally, only just discovered and as yet unexplored: at WYAS Bradford – T. I. Clough & Company, of Bradford, Solicitors, Records – 94D85/30/1 to 41, E.B. Wilson papers, many relating to the Railway Foundry.
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION OFFICERS 2009-2010 Chairman Vice- Lecture Membership Secretary Chairman Secretary & Newsletter Editor
Margaret Tylee Robert Vickers Jane Ellis Margaret Tylee