INDUSTRIES 



formation forthcoming about it is very slight. 

 James Hill, of Rochdale, engineer, died in 1787, 

 and in 1792 the will of Thomas Lord, of Roch- 

 dale, engine maker, is recorded.^' We do not 

 know to what firm these two men belonged, the 

 first Rochdale firm of which we are aware 

 being that of James Lord, of Bradshaw Street, 

 in 1824." 



We now purpose considering separately the 

 development of some of the principal branches of 

 the engineering trade. The textile machinery 

 manufacture calls for the first mention as 

 being the oldest and most characteristic branch 

 of the engineering industry in the county. 



From the Manchester Directory of 1773 we 

 learn that Henry Brogden, Swivel-loom maker,^' 

 lived in Wood Street, and John Charnock, loom 

 maker, lived in Parsonage. These are the 

 earliest references we can find to machine-makers 

 in the county. In 1784 the will of John Har- 

 greaves, of Blackburn, cotton machine maker, 

 was proved.^' We have been unable to discover 

 whether this John Hargreaves was any relation 

 of James Hargreaves, of Blackburn, the inventor 

 of the spinning-jenny. Another isolated early 

 reference is that to John Occleston, loom maker, 

 of Water Street, Salford, in 1794." 



Of the textile machinery works existing at 

 the present time, Messrs. Dobson & Barlow, Ltd., 

 of Kay Street Works, Bolton, can trace their 

 origin back to 1790. In that year Isaac Dobson 

 and Peter Rothwell established themselves as 

 Dobson & Rothwell, Machinists and Engineers, 

 and amongst the earliest machines they made 

 were complete spinning-jennies. In 18 16 

 Rothwell died, and Isaac Dobson took his 

 nephew Benjamin Dobson into partnership and 

 the firm became Isaac and Benjamin Dobson. 

 The two partners died in 1833 and 1839 respec- 

 tively and the name of the firm was altered to 

 ' The Executors of the late Benjamin Dobson.' 

 In 1 85 1 Mr, Edward Barlow was admitted to 

 the business and the name of the firm was 

 changed to that of Dobson & Barlow. In 1892 

 it was transformed into a limited company. 

 The removal from the old premises in Black 

 Horse Street to the present in Kay Street took 

 place in 1846. In 1850 the number of hands 

 employed was 950 : the present number is 

 about 4,000. The principal products of 

 the firm are cotton-gins, bale breakers, feed 

 lattices, hopper feeders, vertical and horizontal 

 openers, scutchers, carding engines, grinding 

 machines and rollers, sliver lap machines, Derby 

 doublers, combing machines, draw and lap ma- 



" Index to Wills (Lane, and Ches. Rec. Sec), xliv 

 and xlv. 



" Baines, Direct, and Gaz. of Lane. 



" For a description of the swivel-loom see Chapman, 

 Lane. Cotton Industry, 2 1 . 



'^ Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xxxvii. 



" Scholes, Manchester and Salford Direct. 1794. 



chines combined, drawing frames, fly-frames, 

 self-acting mules, self-acting twiners, self-acting 

 billeys, ring and flyer throstles and doublers, reels 

 and bundling presses, winding frames, and 

 gassing frames and banding machines. 



The origin of Messrs. Asa Lees & Co., Ltd., 

 Soho Iron Works, Oldham, may be traced from 

 the roller-making works established by Samuel 

 Lees at Holts Mill, Lees, near Oldham, during 

 the last decade of the eighteenth century. In 

 1 8 16 the business was removed to the Soho 

 Iron Works, Oldham, where at first rollers and 

 spindles were the principal products. In 1822 

 130 hands were employed, and by 1830 the 

 number had increased to 200.^* In 1846 the 

 works became the property of Eli and Asa 

 Lees, the sons of Samuel Lees, the founder. 

 At this time 270 hands were employed. In 1 

 1872 the concern was formed into a limited 

 liability company. The machinery made by 

 the company comprises every variety of machine 

 used in the manufacture of cotton yarn, from 

 the opening and cleaning processes to the spin- 

 ning and doubling of the yarn. They also turn 

 out machinery for woollens and worsteds. Among 

 the machines for which the company is said 

 to be well-known, may be mentioned their 

 openers and scutchers ; carding engines of all 

 kinds, notably the revolving flat cards ; drawing 

 frames, speeds, mules, twiners, ring-spinning and 

 ring-doubling frames, and worsted and woollen 

 mules. 



The next of the large textile machinery works 

 in order of antiquity is Messrs. Piatt Brothers 

 & Co., Ltd., Hartford New Works, Werneth, 

 Oldham. In 1821 Mr. Henry Piatt, a maker 

 of woollen spinning and weaving machinery on 

 a small scale at Saddleworth, established himself 

 at Ferney Bank, Oldham, as a maker of carding 

 engines. In 1824 he was joined in partnership 

 by Mr. Elijah Hibbert, who had commenced an 

 iron and brass foundry at Soho, Greenacres, about 

 a year previously. About 1830 the firm estab- 

 lished the Hartford Works at the east end of the 

 town. In 1837 John and Joseph Piatt, the two 

 eldest sons of the founder, entered the business, 

 which became Hibbert, Piatt & Sons. Mr. Henry 

 Piatt died in 1842 and Mr. Hibbert in 1846. 

 In 1854 new partners were admitted and the 

 style of the firm was changed to Piatt Brothers 

 & Co. In 1868 the firm was converted into a 

 limited liability company. Meanwhile the size 

 of the works had been steadily growing. In 



1843 the number of workmen employed at the 

 Hartford Old Works was upwards of 500. In 



1844 the Hartford New Works were established 

 next to the railway at Werneth. In 1846 the 

 number of workmen employed in the old works 

 was 473 and at the new 400." This last-named 

 works itself contains over 6,000 operatives at 



369 



" Butterworth, Hist, of Oldham, 184. 

 •'Ibid. 185. 



47 



