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James Walton (inventor)

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James Walton (15 April 1803 – 5 November 1883) was a British inventor and industrialist.[1] He was known for the significant improvements he made to the carding process. He amassed a considerable fortune from his business ventures, and purchased two large family estates in Wales.

Early life

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Walton was born on 15 April 1803[2][3] at Ripponden. His father Isaac Walton worked as a friezer.[4]

Halifax and Sowerby Bridge

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In 1822, Walton moved to a small workshop near North Bridge, Halifax to develop his ideas for new machinery for friezing. He quickly developed these ideas, and in 1824, moved to a larger factory at Sowerby Bridge.[4] In his first year in business he developed a new method of friezing "Petersham". He also constructed the largest planing machine built in the United Kingdom.[2]

In the early 1830s, Walton developed a new form of wire-card for use in textile manufacturing. This replaced the traditional leather backing for the card with india rubber laid on cloth. This was a superior system and became the standard for the carding industry,[2] and enabled him to obtain his first patent.[4]

Manchester

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In 1838, Walton joined Parr, Curtis and Co.[5] in Manchester, and began making his cards using machines, instead of by hand. He purchased an American card-setting machine and made significant improvements to its efficiency.[2] In 1839, Walton sued a rival company for infringement on his carding patent. this case, known as Walton v. Potter and Horsfall, continued until 1843. Walton won the case, but it left him with a lifelong dislike of legal proceedings.[4] In 1842, the works of Curtis, Parr and Walton was almost destroyed in a fire.[5]

During the 1840s he obtained a number of other patents for further improvements to machinery and manufacturing processes.[6]

The partnership of Parr, Curtis and Walton was a great success. The company moved from its original premises in Store Street, to a much larger factory in Ancoats.[4]

Haughton Dale

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St. Mary's Church, Haughton Green, built by James Walton

In 1853, Walton ended the partnership with Parr and Curtis.[6] He built a new factory in Haughton Dale to the south-east of Manchester, which opened in 1857. There he established the company of James Walton & Sons, supplying machinery and cards to the textile industry of Great Britain and beyond.[7] The factory was the largest of its kind in the world.[6] His sons William and Frederick joined him in the business, though Frederick left in 1863 to pursue his own invention, Linoleum.[4] The Haughton Dale Mills as the factory was known as described by the Manchester Guardian as "the largest establishment of the kind in the world".[8]

Walton was a very successful businessman, described as:

...remarkable in his inventive genius. Like Brindley and Arkwright and other great leaders of industry who have established supremacy of England as a manufacturing nation, he was a man of marked individuality of character, of mental vision, strength of will and steadfastness of purpose and he has left behind him a long list of original ideas many of which were carried into practice and assisted greatly in increasing the productive powers of the great cotton spinning trade.[9]

In 1875, Walton began construction of the Anglican Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Haughton Dale. This was consecrated in 1876 by the Bishop of Manchester.[10] He also built Haughton Dale Mills School in the village.[11][6]

In 1887, James Walton & Sons exhibited one of Walton's card setting machines at the 1887 Manchester Jubilee Exhibition.[12]

Cwmllecoediog Hall

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In the 1850s, Walton lived at Compstall Hall, south-east of Manchester.[13] In 1860, he purchased the Cwmllecoediog estate, near Aberangell in Wales and spent much of his time there.[14]

Dolforgan Hall

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St. Michael's Church, Kerry, which was rebuilt in 1882, substantially funded by Walton

In 1868, Walton purchased the even larger Dolforgan Hall near Kerry, Powys which covered 4,250 acres (17.2 km2).[6] From 1870, Dolforgan Hall was his primary residence, leaving Cwmllecoediog to his sons William and Frederick. In 1877, Walton served as High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire.[15] He was a significant benefactor of St. Michael's Church in Kerry,[6] paying a large amount towards the rebuilding of the church in 1882.[3]

Walton died on 5 November 1883, at Dolforgan Hall.[2] after his death, the family sold the Dolforgan Estate to John William Willans, and it was inherited by his son John Bancroft Willans.[16]

Family

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Walton married Anne Kenworthy (died 1885). They had two sons, William and Frederick, and a daughter Anne.[17]

References

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  1. ^ Cookson, Gilliam (2004). "Walton, James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28654. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c d e "Death of a Welsh Inventor". Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales. 14 November 1883.
  3. ^ a b "The Late James Walton Esq". Montgomeryshire Express. 13 November 1883.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Newtown. The Late Mr. James Walton". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 30 November 1883.
  5. ^ a b "Curtis, Parr and Walton". Grace's Guide.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lee, Sidney (1899). Dictionary of National Biography. The Macmillan Company. p. 277.
  7. ^ "Denton and its Vicinity". The Ashton Weekly Reporter, and Stalybridge and Dukinfield Chronicle. 20 June 1857.
  8. ^ "James Walton". Manchester Guardian. 8 November 1883.
  9. ^ Collections Historical and Archeological Relating to Montgomeryshire and its Borders. Whiting & Co. August 1882.
  10. ^ "The Bishop of Manchester on Church work and disestablishment". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 27 March 1876.
  11. ^ Middleton, Thomas (1899). Annals of Hyde and District: Containing Historical Reminiscences of Denton, Haughton, Dukinfield, Mottram, Longdendale, Bredbury, Marple, and the Neighbouring Townships. Cartwright & Rattray, 1899. p. 294.
  12. ^ Royal Jubilee Exhibition: Official Catalogue. John Heywood. 1887. p. 96.
  13. ^ Williams, Richard (1894). Montgomeryshire worthies. Newtown: Phillips & Son. p. 308.
  14. ^ "Monthly meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England". The Farmer’s Magazine. 8 May 1860.
  15. ^ "No. 24416". The London Gazette. 7 February 1877. p. 608.
  16. ^ "WILLANS, JOHN BANCROFT (1881–1957), country landowner, antiquarian and philanthropist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. The National Library of Wales. 2001.
  17. ^ Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom. 1913.
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