Memorial to victims of a factory fire
A memorial in Kirkheaton Parish Churchyard commemorates the 17 girls killed during the Colne Bridge Mill fire on 14th February 1818. Colne Bridge Mill was a cotton spinning mill, its machines operated mainly by girls, whilst children as young as 9 were also employed to clean the rovings, or cotton fibres, which amassed beneath the machines and on other menial tasks. The mill, owned by Thomas Atkinson at the time, operated both a day and a night shift and all employees worked long hours.
On the evening of the fire 26 people were at work there. One of them, 10 year old James Thornton, wanted a light before he began cleaning out the rovings in the card room. He later claimed that the overman insisted he take a candle rather than the glass covered lantern usually supplied for the job. As he entered the card room, the draft from the door probably wafted small pieces of fibre, a kind of cotton wool, possibly coated with engine oil from the floor, onto the flame. Soon the rolls of cotton under the stairs were alight, with the spinning room and most of the workforce above. James ran upstairs and shouted a warning before fleeing the mill. Meanwhile the fire spread rapidly - the mill was mainly made of wood and bales of cotton, easily ignited, were everywhere. The girls managed to get to the top of the stairs but some were lost when the staircase collapsed and the others, who had run back into the mill, perished later, 14 bodies were found near a window where a ladder had been erected to try and save them. They probably died of smoke inhalation as black smoke was seen billowing from the window. Nine people, including James Thornton, managed to escape. One girl had a very lucky escape, being thrown forward and out of the mill when the staircase collapsed. Seventeen girls were killed, but only 15 bodies were ever recovered.
A few days later an inquest was held before local landowner James Wigglesworth. Some of the blame was assigned to the overlooker, William Smith, who had ensured the safety of his daughter, Mary, who was working there at the time, but then tried to save his master's property rather than the other workers.
Only 11 coffins were needed to contain all 15 remains. These were carried to Kirkheaton St. John's Church in 3 hearses, calling at the home of each victim on the way. After the service all the coffins were buried in a single grave. Moneys were raised by public subscription and a stone monument erected on the spot 3 years later. One positive outcome of the tragedy was that amendments were made to the Factory Act so that children under the age of 9 could not be employed and those under 16 could only work a maximum of 72 hours per week.
The mill itself, together with the machinery and stock, had all been insured by the Sun and Phoenix Fire Office and so could be rebuilt and eventually production resumed. In the meantime, however, over 80 workers lost their jobs with the destruction of their workplace.
Kirkheaton Mill
Sadly, pictured is all there is left of Kirkheaton Mill on Shop Lane. In 1869 Hefford Ainley, a local ambitious fancy weaver, together with William Lord bought land, cottages and a dyehouse in Shop Lane from Amos Tyas and Joseph Smith, cloth manufacturers and finishers, who had in turn bought the land and its buildings from the Senior family in 1865-6. The cottages probably housed weavers operating hand looms in their homes and using the dyehouse to dye the finished cloth.There doesn't seem to have been a mill building as such in 1869, so it was probably Ainley and Lord who built this, and it was certainly in existence by 1878. The Ainley family then further developed and expanded the mill, which was often referred to as "Ainley's Mill". Hefford Ainley's father, Joseph, and grandfather, Richard had also been weavers, becoming more skilled and better educated through the generations. Hefford attended the mill daily and took a great interest in his workforce, as did his wife Martha, often visiting the workers in their own homes. By 1871 he employed 46 hands on the premises and about 50 out weavers. Hefford supported local schools and Sunday schools and was a churchwarden of Kirkheaton church, giving generously towards rebuilding after a fire of 1886 destroyed much of the church.
Hefford's sons, John and Joseph continued the business until they wished to retire, at which point they sold it to Broadhead and Graves Ltd. The Broadhead family had worked in the textile industry for years at Holmfirth and later Lockwood, eventually saving enough money in partnership with Mr Graves to buy this mill. Fred Broadhead was a hard working pattern designer. He and his son Frank after him expanded the business. In 1932 the Duke of York visited and inspected all the various departments from sorting, cleaning, spinning and weaving, through to mending and packing. The company produced such high quality worsted cloth that it was used by the finest fashion houses of Europe, including Versace, Gucci, Prada, Chanel and Savile Row, and developed a big export trade to America. The Americans considered British wool cloths to be the finest in the world as did the Japanese. Trade was further boosted with the success of British fashion in the "Swinging Sixties". In 1964, though, the mill suffered a severe fire which destroyed all the firm's pattern and design records as well as the roof. Much of the machinery, including brand new unused pieces, crashed to the bottom of the building. But somehow production continued, rebuilding took place and the firm continued in business through the 1970s and 80s, when it was bought by Illingworth Morris of Saltaire and renamed Huddersfield Fine Worsteds. But business declined and manufacturing there ceased in 2004 with the loss of 240 jobs and the mill was demolished in 2009.
Kirkheaton Cricket Club
The club was founded in 1858 as Kirkheaton Beaumonts, only becoming Kirkheaton Cricket Club in 1880, and had several venues before its present one. Nowadays it is
situated off Bankfield Lane, and is famous for producing two fine Yorkshire and England cricketers - George Herbert Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes, both of whom were presidents
of the club and both of whom donated money so the club could buy the ground in 1921. The club named its new pavilion after them in 1950 and these two great players attended a ceremony, on 26th August 1950, to lay stones in the half built pavilion bearing their names. Mr Hirst, aged 78 by then, spoke briefly. "I have played hundreds of hours on this field", he said. " We used to come here before 6 o'clock in the morning and play until after dark. If any youth who joins this club gets as much fun out of it as I did then he will never regret joining". Mr Rhodes spoke even more briefly about his pleasure in returning to Kirkheaton before both men tapped their respective stones into place with silver trowels, which were then presented to them. The stone for the pavilion came from the old Colnebridge chapel, about 2 miles away, which had been purchased for this purpose, and the pavilion was built by voluntary labour in the evenings.
George Herbert Hirst was born at "The Brown Cow Inn", Kirkheaton, on 7th September 1871, the youngest of 10 children born to his parents James and Sarah. After his father's death in 1880 he continued to live in Kirkheaton at the home of his sister, Mary and her husband John Berry, but had to leave school aged 10 to start work assisting a local hand loom weaver. By the age of 15 he was playing regularly for the village cricket club, most remarkably in the final of the Lumb's Challenge Cup in 1889, which brought him to the attention of Yorkshire County
Cricket Club. They immediately asked him to play for them, which he did intermittently at first, also playing for Elland in 1890, Mirfield in 1891 and Huddersfield in 1892. By this time he had improved his game so much that he became a regular for Yorkshire and in 1897 was selected to play for England against Australia. In total, he played 24 test matches for England between then and 1909, including 2 tours to Australia. Meanwhile he developed some impressive statistics, such as completing the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season 14 times during his career, even doubling this to 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in the 1906 season. Hirst was an all-rounder, good at both batting and bowling, and he developed a method of making the ball swing after bowling which was difficult to defend against, hence his success. He actually scored 36,356 runs and took 2,742 wickets in first class cricket. He batted right handed and bowled medium-fast with his left arm. After the war, Hirst continued to play for Yorkshire but he accepted the post of cricket coach at Eton College in 1920 leading to his retirement from regular first class cricket in 1921. From then on he spent his time coaching young cricketers from all social backgrounds, both at Eton and, during the school holidays, at Headingley where he encouraged and developed young Yorkshire players such as Len Hutton, who greatly admired him. He died in Lindley in 1954.
Wilfred Rhodes was also born in Kirkheaton, in October 1877, although his family moved to a farm 2 miles away when he was very young, so that he went to school in Hopton and later to Spring Grove School in Huddersfield. His father, Alfred, played for Kirkheaton Cricket Club and encouraged his son to practice and improve, so that by the age of 16 Wilfred was playing for the club himself. He became a railway and later a farm worker meanwhile, but the offer to become a professional cricketer with Gala Cricket Club of Galashiels proved irresistable and he joined them in 1896 for two seasons, as an all-rounder, although changing his bowling style to spin whilst he was with them. In 1898 Yorkshire County Cricket Club invited him to play for them as a slow bowler and he eventually became one of the world's best. Meanwhile he was developing his batting skills and by the first World War was the opening batsman, alongside Jack Hobbs, for England, playing for his national team regularly between 1899 and 1921 and again in 1926 and 1930. Between 1899 and 1930 Rhodes played 58 test matches for England, becoming the first Englishman to achieve the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in test matches, achieving the same fete in an English cricket season 16 times during his long career, thereby outdoing his Kirkheaton colleague George Hirst. He continued to play for Yorkshire and England, and by his final test match in 1930, Rhodes was the oldest player, at 52 years and 165 days, to have ever played in a test. After his retirement from first class cricket he became cricket coach at Harrow School, but his eyesight began to fail from about 1936
onwards, so that he was totally blind by 1952. He continued to live in the Huddersfield area until the death of his wife, Sarah, in 1954, after which he eventually moved with his daughter's family to Bournemouth. He died in 1973, aged 95.
Wilfred Rhodes's parents and brother are buried in Kirkheaton cemetery under an unusual headstone with a depiction of a railway engine.
See also Kirkheaton pages 2 and 3