Whiteley and Charlesworth
William Whiteley and Sons Ltd of Prospect Iron Works, Lockwood, was founded around 1850 by William Whiteley who began trading as a maker of woollen and worsted manufacturing machinery, supplying British industry and also exporting this machinery all over the world. After their father's death, his third son William Whiteley (1850-1901) and his two older brothers formed a partnership to continue the business. William was particularly active especially in improving the machines the company made, in designing special labour-saving tools, and in organising and developing the Works. Demand was such that by 1890 the company employed around 400 people and the premises had expanded to cover 3 acres. The factory had its own private railway siding built in order to distribute its products more easily. In 1891 the company made mainly tentering and drying machines and return steam traps and began making machines for electrical equipment. William died at his home, 'Holly Mount' at Edgerton in July 1901 aged only 51, but production continued. By 1917 the company were advertising their rotary pressing machine. They were employed almost exclusively on government contracts during World War I and flourished for a while, but a downturn led to the business ceasing trading in September 1932, at which point Mr Joseph Charlesworth, who had formerly worked for the company as a machinery erector, formed a new company with himself as head and resumed production at the Works. In fact, Mr Charlesworth had run his own textile machinery business for the previous 30 years, but from this time onwards would run both businesses. The Prospect Iron Works were modernised and re-equipped and production restarted with a workforce of about 100 this time. All the machines previously made by Messrs Whiteley were still to be made by this reconstituted company. In 1933 the new company was credited with having revolutionised the tentering and drying process with a new machine which circulated air rising in temperature from the bottom to the top.
Incidents:
It was not all hard work for the employees. In August 1864 11 married and 11 single workers played against each other at cricket resulting in a resounding victory for the single men. But all withdrew to the Railway Hotel and enjoyed an excellent meal together.
Some of the Whiteley company workers had been involved in a local strike in July 1914, but when the moulders amongst them went back to work, those still on strike threw stones through the foundry windows causing the moulders to cower in a corner for safety and to cease work by breakfast time. The strikers were also reported to have blocked the railway lines out of the foundry leading to Lockwood sidings.
In September 1915 the Munition Council of Yorkshire and the East Midlands fined Longwood woollen manufacturing company Messrs Hirst and Mallinson £10 for employing a man, J. Turvey, contrary to the Munitions Act. Turvey had previously been employed by Messrs Whiteley of Lockwood, who had been engaged solely on government contracts throughout the war. Turvey, who had been employed to melt iron for making the machinery, had left Whiteleys without giving due notice and gone to seek employment with the other company and this, it seems, was against the law at that time.
In November 1922 the Whiteley company were running adverts declaring that they were contractors to the Admiralty, War Office, India Office, and Australian Government and boasting 68 years of experience for the textile trade. The claimed to be “Originators – not Copiers” and had a range of machines for cutting all kinds of fabrics and designs. They invited all to come and see their design rollers and cutting machines which could cut parts “with self-adjusting cut arrangement”.
In December 1942, with safety a concern, Whiteleys were themselves fined £25 for failing to fence off machinery attached to a grindstone, lathe and some belting.
In1961 Whiteley's were described as textile and machine tool engineers, manufacturing mules and finishing machinery for the textile industry and had 500 employees.
David Brown's engineering company were near neighbours of the Whiteley/Charlesworth concern and it seems the Brown family had bought Park Cottage, the Whiteley family's home, in the 1890s. This was just the beginning as the Brown company, small in comparison to Whiteley's at first, eventually took over the Prospect Iron Works premises for their own use as they expanded massively during the 20th Century.
David Brown's
David Brown, the company founder, was born in Northowram, Halifax in 1843. His father, John Brown, must have died whilst David was young because in 1851 his mother, Ellen, is head of household bringing up her children alone. In 1860 David Brown, still living with his mother in Halifax, began making
patterns for gears with Thomas Broadbent. He was only 17 but only 4 years later was able to move to his own premises in East Parade, Huddersfield, and produce engineers' patterns on his own. His company was not immediately a smash hit. He married Mary Jane Matthews in 1867 and was living with her and his in-laws, Jane and Edwin Hanson, on South Street, Huddersfield in 1871, eventually becoming head of household there, raising his children there and eventually retiring there. By 1881 he employed 3 men and 4 boys. His three sons, Ernest, Frank and Percy, when they were old enough, joined him, but by 1890 the company still only employed a further six people. Around this time the Browns bought the Whiteley family home at Park Cottage, Lockwood, and built a small factory not far away.
David died in 1901, but the following year production moved to the Park Works from East Parade and sales at last began to pick up. Expansion followed rapidly, especially during World War I, so that by 1921 employees numbered around 1,000. The period between the wars was a little lean for everyone, but in 1934 the company were able to open premises in Meltham and began making tractors there, at first alongside Harry Ferguson as the Ferguson-Brown
Company, but when the two disagreed over design details, they parted company and Brown's produced their own successful VAK1 model in 1939. Brown's became one of the largest and most innovative British tractor manufacturer after that.
Government contracts during World War II kept the factories very busy making parts for ships, tanks and aeroplanes. Expansion was essential. Park Cottage was demolished to make way for the new 17 acre Park Works. An exciting development after the War saw the company producing racing cars such as the Aston Martin and Lagonda models which competed in races internationally. From 1908 to 1915 David Brown and Sons had designed, developed and made the valveless car (pictured below). This new interest in race cars, though, came from the founder's grandson, also named David Brown (1904-1993), son of Frank Brown and his wife Caroline, who had worked for the company since leaving school in 1921 and who was an automobile enthusiast, even building his own car from scratch at one point. He bought the Aston Martin Company in 1947 and began work improving their models. He bought Lagonda the same year and began producing both brands at Newton Pagnell.
In 1963 Brown's bought a controlling interest in Vosper which became Vosper-Thorneycroft in 1966. But when the government nationalised its warship building division in 1977, a disgusted David Brown left Britain to live in retirement in Monte Carlo. He eventually sold his shares in the David Brown Corporation in 1990, retaining only the role of honorary president.
He died in Monte Carlo in September 1993. During his lifetime he had owned a large farm in Buckinghamshire where he bred hunters and racehorses. His horse Linwell won the 1957 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was a qualified pilot, had his own De Havilland Dove, employing a pilot to fly him places, and also established his own airfield at Crosland Moor, not far from the Park Works. Locally, he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, the Council of Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce and Lloyd’s. In 1968 he was knighted for services to industry.
When larger premises were needed in Lockwood, Brown's had taken over the old premises of William Whiteley, the Prospect Iron Foundry. This company had employed 400 men when Brown's employed less than a dozen, but times had changed. By the 1960s Brown's had opened more factories all over the UK, 14 in all, and owned or had a hand in another 17 abroad. In 1972, though, the company faced financial difficulties and had to sell off the tractor company as well as Aston Martin and Lagonda.
Then and Now (see photo carousel)
Corner shop on Albert Street and Huddersfield Industrial Society (Co-op) Shop
See also Lockwood page 1