Crombleholme & Crompton  - James Watt Steam Engine

This Manchester based partnership was founded by Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] in partnership with Richard Crompton in the early 1800's.

His Parents :

1792 : Prosecution brought against Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] (Crombleholme v Wilson - Bill. Details not clear - to be checked ) but fine & costs amounted to £5  1s  6d   (Source : QSP 2302/1 - on MM person details)

1792 - 10th April : Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] of Pendleton, Lancs. .... Whereas the partnership which subsisted between George Aldcroft of Manchester in the county of Lancaster, velvet dresser; Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] of Pendleton in the said county, Bleacher and Dyer and Charles Bradshaw of Pendleton aforesaid, Bleacher & Dyer, under the firm of Aldcoft, Crombleholme & Bradshaw was some time ago by mutual consent dissolved : This is therefore to give notice to all persons indebted to the said partnership that the Debts owing thereto are to be paid to the said Richard Crombleholme [154], who is authorised to receive the same; and all Demands upon the said partnership will be discharged as they become due, by applying to the said Richard Crombleholme [154] at Pendleton aforesaid.  

Signed George Aldcroft, Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154]; The mark X of Charles Bradshaw. (Source : London Gazette 14th April 1792 - copy below)

Note : Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] born 1768; married Elizabeth (nee Bradshaw) [Cro0155] in 1787;  Charles Bradshaw was Richard's father in law. Pendleton is near Ordsall (see map below)

1793 May to June 1794 : Rich Crombleholme [Cro0     ] of Garstang & William Crombleholme [Cro0    ] of Garstang both noted as attending Cotton College in North Staffordshire.  (Source : The Cottonian Vol XLIII pt II Spring 1955 No 93)  -  Note : Cotton College was a Roman Catholic Boarding School and is mentioned in the 1801 & 1811 records below. Not certain which Richard & William C these records refer to. It cannot be Richard C [154] as he was 25 years old in 1793 and his sons were not born until after 1800.

1797 - 20th March (Monday) :  Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] master dyer of Garstang, county of Lancaster - apprentice Thos Blackburn.    (Source :Country Apprentices 1710-1808 Nat Archives (IR 1 series) 37 f 90) 

Textile Processes : 

During the C18th specialist textile finishing works were developed especially in Lancashire. These were ideally located adjacent to a river to provide the large quantities of fresh water required in the process. Many were sited close to centres of textile manufacture such as Manchester and Salford. 

The processes included bleaching, dyeing and printing. Bleaching was the first prepartion process and before the late C18th, this involved a bleach croft. The cloth was boiled in alkaline lye, consisting of wood ash in a large vat known as a kier. It was then washed in water and steeped in buttermilk using stone or timber troughs. It was then spread out outside and exposed to sunlight for some time.

With Charles Tennant's invention of  bleaching powder in 1798, together with the advent of mechanisation the process was changed. Dash wheels inside large cylinders washed the cloth and various squeezers and mangles finished it.  After bleaching, the cloth was dyed. Until the mid C19th, the dyes were mostly plant derived with indigo, madder and logwood, cochineal insects and even tropical sea snails ! A alum mordant to fix the colour was made from a type of shale from NE Yorkshire.

The cloth was first prepared with its surface raised and cut and then it was scoured and washed to remove the size from the cloth. The cloth was dyed in large vats, (locally known as becks) containing hot water and dyeing agents often later heated by steam. The cloth was wound onto a long rope and immersed in the dye using a large roller that rotated above the vat. Once dyed, the cloth was washed to remove surplus colour agents. It was then dried, originally outside in a tenter ground where it was hung on "tenter hooks". Later, this process was mechanised using tentering machines.

Fustian is a strong, twilled cloth with a cotton weft and linen warp made from flax grown locally or imported from Ireland. From the late C18th, it was largely displaced by cotton but continued to be made within factories on a reduced scale and particularly in the Irwell valley area - in works such as those run by Crombleholme & Crompton. 

At some point Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] moved from Garstang to the Salford area. Fishwick in his History of Goosnargh (p178), notes that Richard [154] ....farmed land in Ordsall prior to setting up a company Crombleholme & Crompton. This business seems to have operated from the Ordsall area and also later in Manchester itself.

Above : Map of Salford drawn c1830 just after the construction of the railway. This was the first railway to take passengers and opened on 15th September 1830. It made a very important connection between Liverpool and Manchester. The arrow indicates the location of Ordsall Hall and Lodge and also shows a Dye works. This works was sited on the banks of the River Irwell to give access to water and probably power via a water wheel ?

Below : Possibly a view in say 1790 ?  The dye works site would be hidden around the river bend  ?   (Source : Taken from The Sites Case Studies Partnership  newlandsproject.co.uk/sites/meadows   )

1801 - 1803 :  Thomas Crombleholme [Cro0207]  (s/o Richard C [154]) of Manchester noted as attending Cotton College in North Staffordshire between December 1801 and December 1803. (Source : The Cottonian Vol XLIII pt II Spring 1955 No 93)  - Note : Cotton College was a Roman Catholic Boarding School and is mentioned in the 1793 record above & 1811 record below.

1802 : From the Manchester Mercury (below) on Tuesday 1st March 1802, Messrs Crombleholme & Crompton of Salford offered for sale a substantial property in a market town about 35 miles from Manchester. (Garstang is about 41 miles).  Location : ??

1803 - 1st March : Land sale : To be sold upon Chief Rent a definable plot of land near Springfield, the upper end - further information apply to Crombleholme & Crompton. (Source : Manchester Mercury - advert Tuesday 1st March 1803) 

Note : It is presumed that the above relates to the premises occupied by Crombleholme & Crompton in 1800 at Old Bridge Street, Salford ?

The Crombleholme & Crompton Steam Engine :

Boulton & Watt :

By the time that Crombleholme & Crompton installed their steam engine at their new premises in “The Dye House” in Manchester, the leading steam engine company in the country was Boulton & Watt of Birmingham.

This was run by the famous steam pioneer James Watt (1736-1819) and his business partner Matthew Boulton. (1728-1809). They had started to produce and install stationary steam engines commercially from about 1775. They also developed coal gas lighting that was used quite extensively to illuminate the new factories and mills. There is no record of Crombleholme & Crompton installing this “mod com” ! 

Initially, Boulton and Watt generally used independent contractors to produce many of the parts and their local engineers / agents oversaw the "in situ" assembly often by contractors employed by the purchasers. Boulton & Watt also extracted royalties through the licensing of their engines. Over 500 engines had been commissioned by 1800. 

It was the textile industry that, in many ways, was one of the key industry of the Industrial Revolution - especially cotton cloth. Imports of this grew from 1000 tons in 1780 to over 500,000 in 1860. The processes had became largely mechanised by about 1800 and it was the steam engine that allowed many power looms etc to powered from a central source via lay shafts and belts.     The number of power looms grew rapidly : 1804 = 2400; 1820 = 14,500; 1829 = 55,500; 1833 = 100,00 (Source : Paper by Hill 1989)

As a company, Boulton & Watt were very keen on patents and did not hesitate to use the courts to defend them. In many ways, this stifled invention by others until their patents expired in 1804. Boulton was very wealthy and had strong connections in Parliament. Ironically, James Pickard had patented the use of the simple crank in 1780 and Watt had to get around this with a complex “sun and planet” gear until this patent in turn expired in 1794.

Fortunately, the company had kept very good records and extensive documentation with drawings form part of a valuable archive now held in Birmingham Central Library. A summary of these documents :

Boulton & Watt's engineer / agent for the Manchester area was Mr Henry Creighton and he oversaw the Crombleholme & Crompton installation and from the letters and drawings below, it will be seen that he was very much involved in the day to day detail. Later in 1816, he left Boulton & Watt having been commissioned to design an new type of iron steam passenger boat for the Forth & Clyde Navigation (canal) where ice had become a problem and had stopped wooden hulled boats completely. It is interesting to note that James Watt junior’s (1769-1848) first job in 1788, prior to joining his father, was at Taylor & Maxwell who were fusian manufacturers in Manchester.

1804 - 21st April :  This drawing and letter is the first correspondence from Boulton & Watt to Crombleholme & Crompton and would appear to have been written after an initial site visit to assess the installation. The existing odd shaped spaces were very tight with the engine itself being built in the tapering corner room of the "Mill House”.

Transcription of the notes below drawing :

Messrs Crombleholme & Crompton 

21st April 1804

At present the cistern might be placed close to the Mill wall to allow room for the Fly Wheel and the iron beam which will carry the cylinder must be in the Mill wall at one end and depend upon it to hold them down. The Fly Wheel will project so far into the cylinder end of the Engine House as scarcely to leave room for passage between to the Nozzles.

There seems to be no necessity for building a new wall the whole length of the Engine House – a stone or brick platform might be made to support the end of the Fly shaft; a pillar of the same kind to carry the end of same together with beams. If necessary a slight wall might be built to support the ends of the joists which carry this floor, but need   no higher than about the Regulating line (?).

 The Boiler will be better if placed parallel to the wall of the Mill unless there is some particular cause why it cannot; it would occupy no more room if the chimney is already built at “a” (?), a flue can be taken by the side of the mill wall to it, or using a Tube boiler the flue might come direct from the one when the ..... If it is not built it might be ....

If a round boiler was used the Cylinder and crank might be brought about 6 feet nearer the boiler which would allow the Fly Wheel and shaft to be upon the opposite side of the crank and give 5 feet still be got behind the cylinder to .... the shaft project into the Mill; but if a square is not necessary upon the end of the crank shaft, the crank and shaft might be turned to the opposite side of the house and the Fly Wheel would run close to the Mill wall and be out of the way; the cylinder remaining where it is drawn as the ... speed of the Fly Wheel will be wanted (?).        (Transcribed RC Oct 2020 – Source : Birmingham Archive ref MS 3147 5 349e)

1804 - 19th May : The drawing below has obviously been prepared from the initial one and was drawn at a scale of 1/3rd” to 1 foot. The steam engine and boilers being constructed in a "tapering” room and the boilers set at an angle with the engine itself. 

NB : double click to open and enlarge in a new window

Below is more correspondence from Boulton & Watt's local engineer  in Manchester Mr Henry Creighton :

1804 - 19th July : A letter from Crombleholme & Crompton to Boulton & Watt

Messrs Bolton  & Watt Co                                                                                  Manchr  19th July 1804

Gents,

We rec’d yours 16th inst duly in answer to which we told your Mr Brunton when upon the spot that he must not take more than one half width of the room for your pan but might go as far back in length as he chose, we therefore request you will execute the pan marked “a” in the annexed drawing, as the pan marked “b” will be made with a partition in it for the purpose of boiling dye woad the liquor from which will be drawn off by a cock thro’ the wall into the Dye House “c” and will only be used for the engine occasionally or when the other Pan is out of order, you will observe we have only allowed a 31/2”  for the outside of flues which we intend to be a fire brick upon edge and plaster’d within, and only a 9 inch wall between the flues which we intend to strengthen by laying iron bars in the wall if necessary. 

With regard to the steam pipes we prefer way marked “A” as laid down in your drawing and please observe that the only way we have into the Engine House is over the flues between the pans – consequently you will raise the steam pipe so high as to out of head room. You will please take a copy of our drawing as early as possible and then return it that we may give directions for the other pan at same time please to say when we may expect the engine as Mr Br. told us it was nearly finished when he was over and we could wish yo have it as soon as possible.

  Your obedient Servants,

Crombleholme & Crompton

PS Please to notice wherein the additional £10 will be incurred

(Transcription RC Oct 2020 - Source : Boulton & Watt Archive Ref MS3147/5/349)

1808 - 30th January : From Henry Creighton (Manchester) to Boulton Watt & Co. (Soho). 29 Jan. 1808. (Letter Ref 44 continued on 30 Jan.)

.............. Mr Crombleholme wishes to know something about what power his engine is exerting as he lets part of it and thinks there is some impropriety employed. I promised to examine this and will thank you to send the large indicator** (see below)  with its apparatus for drawing figures and this could be sent off immediately addressed to me, care of Crombleholme & Crompton

Note : Crombleholme & Crompton appear to have sub let part of their premises and presumably had provided power (ie a lay shaft with pulleys for belt drives) as part of the arrangement. It is difficult to see how they assess the power used by the sub contractor. 

1809 - 23rd February : From Henry Creighton (Manchester) to Boulton Watt & Co. (Soho). 23 Feb. 1809. (Letter ref 66)

.......... By this evenings mail, you will receive a small box containing a gauge for piston ring ordered by Messrs Crombleholme & Crompton which you will please forward as soon as possible and send at the same time a box of cement.

Note : The very early days of steam engines in factories such as Crumbleholme & Crompton's dye works were quite dangerous with safety valves and speed regulators still being developed. Although this engine was a low pressure type, a good "engine man" was essential but despite this there were some very bad boiler explosions and injuries due to workers driving the engines too hard and also being entangled in drive shafts, belts and parts of the process machinery. The very cramped conditions in this particular boiler room must have made such accidents a very real possibility.

The engine would have needed constant attention and lubrication with regular replacement of parts. The piston ring in the cylinder (a huge 23.75" in diameter) noted above would have been a high maintenance item especially as the initial machining of such components would have been quite crude.  

Crank type Engine : 

Owner of Engine             : Crumbleholme & Crompton

Site                               : Dye House, Manchester

Portfolio Number             : 349

No of drawings                : 4          

Earliest date on drawing    : 21st April 1804  

No of engines                  : 1

Engine type                     : D      (probably signifies “double acting”)

Cylinder diameter             : 23.75" x 5' 0"      (engine x stroke)

Horse Power                    : 20

Revs per minute               : 21.5

Letters & No of order book : W5 

Crank Type Engines :  

Below : This 3D digital drawing gives a good idea of the typical arrangement of earlier Watt engines. The first steam engines were beam type engines with a large timber beam pivoted at high level. One end of the beam was coupled to the steam cylinder whilst the other was coupled directly to a vertical rod of a water pump. Although James Watt was not the first to use a crank to convert the up and down motion into a revolving shaft and flywheel, he did develop the efficiency of steam engines greatly. This earlier engine had a the "sun and planet” crank arrangement at the centre of the large flywheel that Watt was forced to use before the 1794 crank patent expired.

The large “wagon" type boiler (on left hand side) was quite crude and the whole engine ran at a low pressure. Watt resisted high pressure engines on safety grounds for some time but had to use them later due to their greater efficiency and far more compact design.

Here’s a link to an excellent Youtube video - from about 5.12, it features a Watt engine very much like the one above :     https://youtu.be/QltRwiu4U2Q

The Dye Works Manchester -  Location of Premises :

London Gazette : (p1307)  London June 24th 1809 

The partnership between Messrs Crombleholme, Crompton and Lawrenson and Mr Thomas Bailey of Lothbury, London, Warehousemen, under the Firm of Crombleholme, Bailey and Co was this day dissolved by mutual consent. Messrs Cromleholme, Crompton and Lawrenson will in future carry on business in Mumford Court, Milk Street, and Mr Bailey in Lothbury.

Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154]

Richard Crompton

Peter Lawrenson

Thomas Bailey

From Norma Sadler (via e mail to me) : May 2016 :  (Note : My insertions etc in italics)

I am descended from the Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] who used the steam engines to drive an early cotton mill.  (I always thought that I would be related to the workers not the owners!)  Richard’s [154] daughter Anne C [Cro0206] married Samuel Kirton and they are my line.  Samuel’s family also became mill owners and presumably that is how they met.  Unfortunately, Samuel became a bankrupt (as many of them did) and from the Crombleholme Wills it is obvious that the family tried to bail him out, unsuccessfully.  He ended up in the Fleet gaol in London at the same time as Charles Dicken’s father!  He seems to have discharged his debt – I wonder if he ever paid the family back? (see wills SR 1, 3 & 4 below)

He then had a turn in his fortunes as he became acquainted with Stephen Perry, a schoolteacher who invented steel pen nibs.  He invested in the Company (I don’t know where the money came from) and made his fortune!

His daughter (Elizabeth (nee Kirton) [533]) married her cousin (once removed) George Crombleholme [Cro0165] and went to America with her sister and her husband.  (See USA section) It must have been quite a party with George C’s [165] brother (Richard C [164]) too!  I didn’t know about him.   Her sister came back to England but she & George don’t seem to have had surviving children so the line dies out. (* see below)

The money gradually got spread though the members of the family and my grandmother ended up as a child in Whitechapel at the time of Jack the Ripper!**

Note* : George C [165] & Elizabeth (nee Kirton) [533] did have a daughter Ann Eliza C [639] b 1835 who moved to Ohio with her parents and in 1854 married George W Parsons. They had children John b1856; George b 1858; Lucy Theresa b 1860; Anna Marie b1861, Theodore b1862 & William b1866. George C [165] & Elizabeth [533] divorced before 1880 and Elizabeth [533] died on 1881.   

Note ** : I am sure that I have seen reference to a Crombleholme lady almost becoming a victim of Jack the Ripper - several recent publications = research required

1810 - Tuesday 23rd January : From Manchester Mercury : Crombleholme & Crompton gave £2  2s (along with many other businesses) as a subscriber / benefactor of the Manchester Infirmary, Lunatic Hospital & Asylum.

1811 -25th June : Correspondence of ..... Crombleholme and Crompton, at Manchester (Lancs) to Rev Thomas Southworth, president Sedgley Park School, concerning Mr Craven’s refusal to pay (what ??). (Source : Birmingham Archdiocesan Archives  ref XSC/1/10/1/2/16 - Records of Sedgley Park School and Cotton College, Oakamoor, Staffs. Others refs : SC/C2/140) - obtained this but almost illegible !

1812 : Prosecution of Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] ; Richard Crompton & John Lawrenson against Thos At ... (??) for felony. Prosecutors’ Bill for £6 5s 2d - but no actual details of “felony” - see July 1812 below (Source : January Sessions - Quarter Sessions & Petitions 1648-1908 Salford - 1812 Epiphany via Ancestry)

London Gazette : (p863) - 30th April 1812

Notice is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore carried on by us at Salford, in the County of Lancaster, in the business of Thread - Manufacturers, under the firm of Bamber and Pollitt, is dissolved by mutual consent - Witness our hands this 30th day of April 1812.

Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154]

Richard Crompton

Peter Lawrenson  $$ (see 1849 below)

George Bamber     **

John Pollitt

and the next entry :

London Gazette : (p863) - 30th April 1812

Notice is hereby, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us and carried on at Manchester in the County of Lancaster under the Firm of Crombleholme and Crompton, and in London under the firm of Richard Crombleholme and Co is this day dissolved by mutual consent. Witness our Hands this 30th day of April 1812.

Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154]

Richard Crompton

Peter Lawrenson ($$ see 1849 below) 

Note : Did the 1812 court case cause the partnership of Crombleholme & Crompton to cease ? 

1812 -  Tuesday 28th July :  The Manchester Mercury reported on the the bankruptcy of Alexander Lindsay and James Irvine (?) and the calling of a creditors meeting to decide ...”on the propriety of prosecuting or discontinuing, a certain action commenced by the said assignees against Richard Crombleholme [154] and others, for recovery of certain goods and effects, of the said bankrupts, of which the defendants in such action have possessed themselves, or to assent, or dissent from the said assignees submitting the same to arbitration if the said defendants shall chose to refer the same and on other special affairs.  

Note : It would appear from the sale below that it was decided to sale the premises. 

1813 - Tuesday 26th January 1813 : The Manchester Mercury published details of a sale by auction (the next day) on Wednesday 27th January. 

By Order of the assignees of Messrs Lindsay & Irvine bankrupts, on the premises, Crombleholme Court, Deansgate, Manchester .... sale to begin at ten o’clock.

Comprising one Steam Engine, twenty horses power by Messrs Boulton & Watts with two Boilers, three pumps, framing etc..... 

Note : There is an interesting description of the other plant and machinery in the premises belonging to the company.

It is not clear how the auction sale went as the company of Crombleholme & Crompton seems to have remained for sale :

1813 - 23rd February : The Manchester Mercury advertises valuable freehold lands in Salford - upwards of 85 acres.... part of the estate called Ordsall Estate divided into 9 lots. 

Lot 7 - A neat dwelling house with large outbuildings and garden and a part of two closes of land laying on the westerly side of the last lot (6) and in the holding of S Sidebottom and Messrs Crombleholme and Crompton, under the same lease as the last (ie expires Spring 1813). Lots 8 & 9 are similar and also occupied by Messrs Crombleholme and Crompton.  (Note : A plan is mentioned as being available.)

The end -  Disasterous Fire !

1814 - Saturday 3rd September : The Leeds Mercury reported a disastrous fire at the premises of Crombleholme & Crompton in Deansgate, Manchester 

 Note : No reports found in local newspapers !   

Richard's Death & Burial :

1815 - 27th June : Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] died at Salford, Eccles Parish, Lancashire . He was buried at St Marys the Virgin, Eccles on 30th June 1815. Age 47 years; abode : Salford; noted as “a papist”  (Source : Manchester Central Library Burials 1813 -1818 p141 entry 218 - via OPC)

1815 - Report in New Monthly Magazine (issued 1st August at Manchester) : Died Mr Crombleholme [Cro0154], of the firm Crombleholme and Crompton. He was buried in the parish church of Eccles.            (Source : New monthly magazine Vol 4  Pub for Henry Colburn by Richard Bentley 1815)

His Will :                 

1815 -      Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] of Salford (Fustian manufacturer)  (Will My Ref SR4)

                    Will made 7th October 1814;  He died 27th June 1815;  Proved 29th August 1815

Left estate in trust to son Thomas C [Cro0207]  of Manchester (SR 3) , my friend Henry Tomilinson of Salford (manufacturer)  and my wife Elizabeth [Cro0155] (SR 1)  for equal division between my children except that Ann [Cro0159]  now wife of Samuel Kirton shall have £1500 deducted (a sum already advanced to Samuel Kirton).                     (see copy of e mail above)

Will is quite complex and mentions freehold estates and his business interest (but no detail) which shall                    continue to run if judged best course of action by his trustees / executors.  No mention of business partners Crompton etc

At probate estate valued at under £5000 - it appears that he did well from his business efforts.

Richard's son continues :

It appears that Richard Crombleholme [Cro0209] the son of the deceased Richard Crombleholme [Cro0154] carried on trading from the same area in Manchester as a manufacturer of fustians and also as a dyer both listed at 297 Deansgate. 

Commercial directory for 1818, 1819 & 1820 by J Pigot 

Manufacturers of Fustians  

p 318          Crombleholme Richard [Cro0209] 297 Deansgate  Manchester UK 

(note he was only 18 years old in 1818 - his father Richard C [154] having died in 1815)

                   Crompton R and Co                     293 Deansgate* Manganese Dealers  

(* Note : a black mineral used in glass making - was it also used in the dyeing process ?) 

p 315          Crombleholme  Thomas [Cro0207] 295 Deansgate  (Richard’s [154] eldest son)  Dyers

p 310          Crombleholme Richard  [Cro0209]  297 Deansgate] (a younger son)

*Note : The same directory records Richard Crompton & Co as fustian manufacturers at 293 Deansgate in 1822

Note : Fustian was a thick coarse woolen cloth usually dyed a dark colour - originates from "el-fustat" in Cairo. In the middle ages, women’s clothes and priests vestments were made of fustian but by this time, it was commonly used for labourers clothes. Twilled cotton cloth used in jeans is one kind of fustian. From the manufacturer, it was sent out to fustian cutters who would produce long strips of weft threads using very sharp knives, good eyesight and a degree of skill. The cloth piece was about 100 yards long and was then returned to the fustian master for an agreed price.

1820 - 5th January : Thomas Crombleholme [Cro0207 ] died (son of Richard Crombleholme's [Cro0154])  (date from Will SR3 probate below)

1820 -     Will (Ref SR3) of Thomas Crombleholme [Cro0207] of Manchester (Cotton Merchant)

                     Will made 1st January 1820   He died 5th January 1820  Proved 15th December 1820

                    Estate to be equally divided between brothers & sisters (except Anne C Cro0206] now wife 

                    of Samuel Kirton) - very strong terms used here - wholly debarred and excluded ! 

                    See also SR 4 below).           His son Thomas C [Cro0 ]- a minor.

                    Executors : Henry Tomilson of Chester, mercer and Richard Crombleholme [Cro0209]  

                    of Manchester cotton merchant.       Witness : Joseph Crompton   Estate value £600

1821 - 22nd May : Richard Crombleholme [Cro0209] An Inquistion taken at Pendleton the 22nd day of May on view of the body of Richard Crombleholme [Cro0209] who was killed by a fall from a horse   (Source : Quarter Sessions Records & Petitions (1648-1908) Salford, Lancashire 1821 Mid Summer item 33 - via Ancestry)

1821 - 22nd May : Richard Crombleholme [Cro0209]  buried at St Mary the Virgin, Eccles, Lancashire, age 20 years; abode : Salford;  noted as “a papist”.  (Source : Manchester Central Library Burials 1821-1824 p5 entry 38 - via OPC)

1839 - 28th February :    Elizabeth Crombleholme (nee Bradshaw) [Cro0155]  died - widow of Richard C [Cro0154]    (date from will probate SR 1 below)

1839 -    Elizabeth Crombleholme [Cro0155] of Salford [her will My Ref SR 1] (widow - of Richard C)

Will made 27th November 1834 ; She died 28th February 1839; Proved 31st August 1839

Daughter Anne (Kirton) [Cro0206] and Mary [Cro0210] (now wife of John Bone) & Elizabeth [Cro0208?? ] (SR 2)

Trustees / executors : John Bone and Henry Tomlinson  Estate : £450

1849 - Much later the Blackburn Standard of 15th August 1849 records the death of Peter Lawrenson $$, yeoman of Goosnargh and formerly a partner in the firm Crombleholme & Crompton of Manchester.

Note : ** Fishwick p178 History of Goosnargh notes that Richard Crombleholme's [Cro0154]  younger sister Elizabeth [Cro0160] (b 15/12/1776) married William Bamber  on 14/1/1798 and they moved to Ohio in North America in 1819. George Bamber noted above ** may have been a brother ?  They were joined in Ohio later in 1849 by brothers Richard C [Cro0164] and George C  [Cro0164]  sons of Richard's youngest brother Thomas. [Cro0161]

Background on Manchester in the early C19th

An extract from   'The city and parish of Manchester: Introduction ', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 174-187. gives an idea of the rapid growth and conditions in Manchester at this time :

From the middle of the 18th century the growth of Manchester was very rapid.  The improvement of means of communication was inaugurated in 1721 with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, (i.e. canal)  (fn. 104) and the Duke of Bridgewater's canal system followed in 1758, being imitated by other canals which within fifty years connected Manchester with the principal towns in the manufacturing districts. (fn. 105) A long series of road Acts began in 1724, resulting in the straight and good ways leading from the town in every direction. (fn. 106) Then came the great series of inventions which created modern industry—the spinning jenny, power loom, and others, followed by the substitution of steam power for the older water wheel. (fn. 107) With this development of manufactures the population also increased rapidly, and the town spread out in all directions. Externally the people of the district at that time were the reverse of attractive; an American visitor about 1780 describes them as 'inhospitable and boorish … remarkable for coarseness of feature; and the language is unintelligible.' (fn. 108) The Sunday schools, begun about 1781, probably had a good effect in that respect.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY

Series One: The Boulton & Watt Archive and the Matthew Boulton Papers from the Birmingham Central Library

Part 1: Lunar Society Correspondence

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS ON PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS

James Watt (1736-1819)

Born in Greenock, learnt how to make mathematical instruments in London before opening a shop in the College of Glasgow at the age of 21. After repairing a model of a Newcomen engine he had by 1765 invented the separate condenser steam engine, a modification which greatly improved output and heat-efficiency. Involved in canal and land surveying. First met Matthew Boulton in 1768 and they went into partnership in 1774. Boulton was able to support Watt's further engine experiments by supplying the necessary capital. 

In 1775 the original patent was extended for a further 25 years. Boulton and Watt's partnership was agreed for a like term. The new engines proved their worth and Watt improved them still further by adapting them to provide rotary motion and by inventing the centrifugal governor to regulate their speed. By 1800 some 500 Watt engines were at work. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1786, Watt also invented a document copying machine, steam-powered coin-presses for the Royal Mint, a machine for copying sculpture, and the concept of measuring the output of engines in 'horsepower'.

James Watt, junior (1769-1848)

In 1789 he worked as an employee of Taylor & Maxwell, (fustian) cloth makers in Manchester, and became a member of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society. He served as one of its secretaries in 1789 and 1790. He helped James Keir with his Dictionary of Chemistry and the pair corresponded frequently on the subject of geology as late as 1810-12. Active within Lunar Society circles and very involved with Matthew Robinson Boulton in the planning and construction of the Soho Foundry after 1794. Thereafter travelled widely in Europe and further afield on Mint and Engines business. In 1807 he became a member of the Geographical Society of London. In 1820 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Involved with St Katherine Dock Scheme in London in 1827 and early experiments on marine Steam Power.

Matthew Boulton (1728-1809)

Founder of the Lunar Society in Birmingham with Dr William Small and Erasmus Darwin. The Society was to be at the heart of scientific and technological problem solving from 1765 onwards. Boulton was born in Birmingham and his father had a successful silver-stamping and piercing business. He started working for his father at the age of 17 and by 1759 was well established in the mercantile trade in Birmingham. In 1762 he founded the Soho Manufactory and entered into partnership with John Fothergill. Boulton became a leading manufacturer of fancy goods and a major figure in coining and minting. 

His lifelong interest in science enabled him to see the potential of James Watt's steam power and he backed Watt's ideas with the necessary finance. He acquired John Roebuck's interest in Watt's steam engine patent in 1774 and Watt joined him at Soho in Birmingham in a 25 year partnership lasting until 1800. The patent was also extended for the same period of 25 years. In 1782, on the death of Fothergill, Boulton entered into a further partnership with John Scale. From 1777 he had engaged the services of William Murdock. Interest in the Cornish mines and engine business there took Boulton frequently to Cornwall. He was regularly in London on business, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1785 and active in the General Chamber of Manufacturers with Garbett and Wedgwood. Boulton was also a prime mover on the Birmingham Commercial Committee. Samuel Garbett was Chairman until 1790 when Matthew Boulton took over. He helped found the Assay Office and General Hospital in Birmingham. He took an active interest in the arts and instigated numerous music festivals, bringing Mendelssohn to the Town Hall to conduct the first performance of Elijah in 1846; he won the licence for the Theatre Royal; helped found the Botanical Gardens. In 1779 he entered into a partnership with James Keir in the copying press business. In 1783 he started Albion Mill. From 1784 onwards Boulton vigorously opposed Pitt's taxes on raw materials. 

In 1785 he helped to found the Cornish Metal Company. He rebuilt Soho House in 1789 and the following year took out a patent for a coining press. He designed and built the Royal Mint in London, he started fitting this up with his machinery in 1799. By the 1790s his son, Matthew Robinson Boulton, was very active in all his business enterprises. The Soho Foundry was built in 1794, a year after the firm of Boulton, Watt and Sons had been founded. When the 25 year partnership with James Watt ended in 1800 the firm of Boulton, Watt and Co was established. From the beginning Matthew Boulton was at the centre of all Lunar Society activities and built up an impressive network of business and scientific contacts. Watt records that Boulton's closest friends were Erasmus Darwin, William Small, Samuel Garbett, Thomas Day, James Keir and Charles Dumergue. Ingenious, enterprising and quick of mind, Matthew Boulton possessed the brilliant organisational and business skills which were to place him at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution as one of the leading entrepreneurs of his day.

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