Sir Titus Salt
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Sir Titus Salt His early life: Titus Salt was born in 1803, in Morley, near Leeds, where his father ran a small farm. His parents were good, hard- working Christians and they taught him the importance of working hard from an early age. In 1820, his father had made enough money to leave the farm behind and he set himself up as a wool stapler, selling wool to manufacturers around Bradford. Titus was apprenticed to a wool stapler and he gained more experience in the textile business. In 1824 he joined his father and the firm became Daniel Salt and Son. In 1830, he married Caroline Whitlam, the youngest daughter of Mr. George Whitlam who was a wealthy sheep farmer. He first took a house in North Parade, Bradford, very near to his parent’s house but between 1836 and 1843 he lived at the junction of Thornton Road and Little Horton Lane. His eldest children spent their early years living very close to this part of town. Of his surviving children, William Henry was born in 1831; George in1833; Amelia, 1835; Edward, 1837; Herbert, 1840; Fanny, 1841; and Titus Jnr., 1843. He later moved his family to Crow’s Nest, near Halifax. His work: Salt and his father had started a spinning department of their wool stapling business. When Titus was 28, he wanted to start selling the usual wool to worsted manufacturers (making soft cloth for clothes) but none of the wool spinners in Bradford could see its potential. Therefore, Titus started his own business at a Mill in Bradford and started making cloth. He kept experimenting with using different kinds of wool, including alpaca. Titus Salt was the only spinner of alpaca weft (imported from Peru), in Bradford and he displayed some of his work in the Great Exhibition, in London. By the time he was 40, he was one of the richest men in Yorkshire. The Mill: Even though he was not thought to be confident in speaking in public, he did have a highly developed sense of responsibility and later became the Mayor of Bradford but only until 1849. As his business grew more, Titus needed to buy more mills but had also seen the terrible conditions in Bradford; the pollution, the disease and the overcrowding. So instead, he decided to buy some land four miles outside of Bradford, later to be named Saltaire. The question as to why he should use his money to buy Saltaire has never really been answered: the site was very good practically as it stood between the River Aire and the Midland Railway line and through its centre ran the Leeds/ Liverpool canal but it was also the opportunity for Titus to create an ideal community, which would hold all his businesses under one roof and house all of his workers. Salt set out to build a grand ‘vertical mill’ – one that could take the raw materials in to the factory and have the machinery to perform the many processes required to complete and finish cloth of high quality. The building of the ‘T’ shaped mill started in 1851 and was completed in 1853. It was in an ‘Italianate’ style and with chimneys taller than other mills in the area. Saltaire: Salt began building the village as soon as the mill was completed and open. By 1854, 14 shops were ready, 163 houses and boarding house had been completed and about 1000 people were living there. Between 1866 and 1869, public buildings were built. The houses were directly supplied with gas and water from the mill and each house had its own toilet. A dining room for workers was built opposite to the mill and a factory school was established there, as were a library, reading rooms and space for religious worship. In 1863, wash-houses and baths were created although these were not that popular with the residents. A smaller factory was added in 1868 and 45 alms-houses and a hospital were also built. He wanted Saltaire to have everything in it, that workers would need to live a healthy, productive and moral life. In 1869, Titus Salt was made a baronet. In 1870, he created a park for Saltaire’s residents to enjoy. By 1871, Saltaire already had a population of 4,390. His later life: After 1861, Titus Salt lived in semi-retirement. He died on December 29, 1876. His funeral procession from Crow Nest to his final resting place in the mausoleum at Saltaire’s Congregational Church took many hours; most mills were silent, and thousands of workers lined the streets to see his funeral carriage passing. Saltaire Stories is the education programme of SWHEA: Saltaire World Heritage Education Association, charity no.115756 .