168 HENRY DEACON 



the greatness of their opportunity, and for 

 many years Widnes became the scene of 

 ceaseless activity, of fertile invention, and of 

 wonderful and rapid development. The 

 works grew, new processes were introduced, 

 new apparatus sprung up ; chemists were 

 busily engaged at researches in the labora- 

 tories, engineers were scheming plans for 

 economising labour and adapting plant, the 

 dock and canal became inadequate to the 

 increasing requirements of the district, houses 

 and streets spread themselves over the open 

 spaces around the works, and in a very few 

 years Widnes was transformed from a pretty, 

 sunny riverside hamlet, with quiet sleepy 

 ways, into a settlement of thousands of 

 labouring men, mostly Irish, with dingy un- 

 finished streets of hastily constructed houses, 

 with works that were belching forth volumes 

 of most deleterious gases and clouds of black 

 smoke from chimneys of inadequate height, 

 with trees that stood leafless in June, and 

 hedgerows that were shrivelled in May. The 

 air reeked with gases offensive to the sight 

 and smell, and large heaps of stinking refuse 

 began to accumulate. 



But the minds of men were full of projects, 

 and the air was full of stir, and amongst those 



