106 A HISTORY OF LONGRIDGE. [Chap. 4. 



He died in July, 1882, aged 82, and was interred in tlie Parish. 

 Cliurcliyard, Longridge. Along with George Whittle, Mr. Marsden 

 deserves to be remembered as one of the pioneers of the cotton trade 

 in Longridge. 



EoBERT Smith. 



Mr. Eobert Smith, J.P., of Dil worth House, Longridge, was born 

 in 1828, and is therefore 60 years of age. His father was a manufac- 

 turer and married George Whittle's sister, so that the subject of the 

 present sketch is the nephew of the late George Whittle. Mr. Smith 

 was born at WithneU, near Chorley, but lived in Blackburn until the 

 death of^his mother, in 1847, when he came to learn the cotton business 

 with his uncle at Longridge. In 1855, he started business on his own 

 account as a hand-loom manufacturer, and soon acquired a good 

 reputation for his steady business habits. In 1862 he built Victoria 

 Mill, which then held 360 looms, but since then he has enlarged it and 

 is also enlarging it at the present time. Mr. Smith developed very 

 soon a speciality of his own, going in largely for fancy cloth for the 

 home trade. His business has increased rapidly, and he has been very 

 successful. But it must be owned that Mr. Smith has amply earned 

 his good fortune, as he has stuck exceedingly close to business, denying 

 himself of almost all rest and recreation, except walking, of which 

 exercise he is very fond. 



Mr. Smith is a strong Churchman, and his name figures prominently 

 in the chapter on Ecclesiastical History. He has been Churchwarden 

 many times, and, along with Mr. J. Pye Whittle, is in that office now. 

 He has been the leading subscriber to the various movements for 

 chiu-ch and school extension. In 1885 he built at a costof £1,300 the 

 present Boys' School; he subscribed £1,000 towards the cost, and is 

 defraying the cost of the chancel of the new Church, which is nearly 

 completed. Mr. Smith is Chairman of the local Conservative Party 

 and is a leading supporter of the Conservative cause in the Blackpool 

 and Darwen Divisions, and has frequently entertained the members of 

 those Divisions. In 1886 he was made a Justice of the Peace for the 

 Count}' of Lancaster, and has assiduously attended to his duties as a 

 magistrate ; he is also a Visiting Justice of the Whittingham Asylum. 

 On the formation of the Local Board he was elected Chairman, a 



