Family firms and business networks: Textile engineering in Yorkshire, 1780-1830

Business History

Volumn 39, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 1-20

  Cookson, Gillian ^a  

^a TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BUSINESS NETWORK; FAMILY FIRM; HISTORICAL STUDY; INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION; NINETEENTH CENTURY; TEXTILE ENGINEERING INDUSTRY;

UK, ENGLAND, YORKSHIRE;

MANAGEMENT; TEXTILE HISTORY; TEXTILE INDUSTRY, BRITISH;

EID: 0030858258     PISSN: 00076791     EISSN: 17437938     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00076799700000001     Document Type: Review

References (86)

1. M. Berg, 'Small Producer Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century England', Business History, Vol.35 (1993), 17-39; J. Small, The Origins of Middle Class Culture: Halifax, Yorkshire, 1660-1780 (Cornell, 1994).
2. M. Berg, 'Small Producer Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century England', Business History, Vol.35 (1993), 17-39; J. Small, The Origins of Middle Class Culture: Halifax, Yorkshire, 1660-1780 (Cornell, 1994).
3. S. Nenadic, 'The Small Family Firm in Victorian Britain', Business History, Vol.35 (1993), p.89
4. M.B. Rose, 'The Family Firm in British Business, 1780-1914', in M.W. Kirby and M.B. Rose (eds.), Business Enterprise in Modern Britain: From the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century (London, 1994), p.67.
5. Ibid., pp.75-7.
6. C. Giles and I.H. Goodall, Yorkshire Textile Mills: The Buildings of the Yorkshire Textile Industry, 1770-1930 (1992), pp.28-9.
7. According to Sabel and Zeitlin, in the 1970s 70 per cent of metalworking production in the United States consisted of small batches: C. Sabel and J. Zeitlin, 'Historical Alternatives to Mass Production: Politics, Markets and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Industrialisation', Past and Present, Vol.108 (1985), p.137.
8. These figures are taken from the 1851 census for Leeds. See G. Cookson, 'Early Textile Engineers in Leeds, 1780-1850', Publications of the Thoresby Society, second series, Vol.4 (1994), pp.40-47.
9. For a more complete account of the development of engineering in Leeds, see Cookson, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.40-61.
10. John Hodgson, Textile Manufactures and Other Industries in Keighley (Keighley, 1879).
11. Cookson, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.44-5.
12. Gillian Cookson, 'The West Yorkshire Textile Engineering Industry, 1780-1850' (unpublished D. Phil, thesis, University of York, 1994), pp.64-8.
13. E. Kilburn Scott (ed.), Matthew Murray, Pioneer Engineer: Records from 1765-1826 (Leeds, 1928), p.33. I am grateful to Ron Fitzgerald for his views on Murray's impact on the organisation of engineering in Leeds.
14. S. Pollard, The Genesis of Modern Management (1965), p.80; A.E. Musson, 'The Engineering Industry', in R. Church (ed.). The Dynamics of Victorian Business (1980), p.96. Besides making textile machinery, Murray was engaged upon other mechanical engineering activities such as stationary steam engine, locomotive and machine tool manufacture.
15. S. Pollard, The Genesis of Modern Management (1965), p.80; A.E. Musson, 'The Engineering Industry', in R. Church (ed.). The Dynamics of Victorian Business (1980), p.96. Besides making textile machinery, Murray was engaged upon other mechanical engineering activities such as stationary steam engine, locomotive and machine tool manufacture.
16. Cookson, thesis, p.205. Before 1851, workforce figures are rare, although, as subcontract and casual labour had been widespread, numbers of employees would scarcely convey the size of firms' operations. Employee figures for the other large Keighley firm, that of William Smith, have not been found.
17. West Yorkshire Archive Service (hereafter WYAS), Bradford, 32D83, records of George Hattersley & Sons Ltd, Keighley.
18. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/10/1, wage book 1808-13.
19. Cookson, thesis, pp.205-6. For a discussion of the use of subcontract in other industries, see Pollard, Genesis of Modern Management, pp.38-47.
20. Cookson, thesis, pp.205-6. For a discussion of the use of subcontract in other industries, see Pollard, Genesis of Modern Management, pp.38-47.
21. See Cookson, thesis, Ch. 2; also idem, 'Millwrights, Clockmakers and the Origins of Textile Machine-Making in Yorkshire', Textile History, Vol.XXVII (1996), pp.43-57.
22. See Cookson, thesis, Ch. 2; also idem, 'Millwrights, Clockmakers and the Origins of Textile Machine-Making in Yorkshire', Textile History, Vol.XXVII (1996), pp.43-57.
23. A. Randall, Before the Luddites: Custom, Community and Machinery in the English Woollen Industry, 1776-1809 (Cambridge, 1991), p.93.
24. Ibid., p.285
25. Sabel and Zeitlin, 'Historical Alternatives', pp. 143-4.
26. J. Smail, 'Manufacturer or Artisan? The Relationship between Economic and Cultural Change in the Early Stages of the Eighteenth Century Industrialisation', Journal of Social History, Vol.25 (1991-92), pp.792-3.
27. M. Berg, 'Small Producer Capitalism', p.36.
28. For a discussion of this point see M. Berg, The Age of Manufactures, 1700-1820: Industry, Innovation and Work in Britain (2nd edn., 1994), pp. 194-5.
29. See, for instance, Hattersley's sales ledgers and wages books: WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/2/1-4 and 32D83/10/1-3.
30. Cookson, thesis, pp.217-19; idem, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.47-57.
31. Cookson, thesis, pp.217-19; idem, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.47-57.
32. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/2/1, sales ledger 1797-1809.
33. Hodgson describes a number of such progressions in Keighley: Hodgson, Textile Manufactures, pp.240-76.
34. Cookson, thesis, pp.217-18.
35. Richard Hattersley died in 1829, and his business was bankrupted three years later. As the firm continued in more or less the same form after 1832 with considerable success, it appears to have been essentially viable. The 1832 collapse was triggered by family disagreements which are further discussed below.
36. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/33/8, correspondence 1849-58, George Hattersley to Richard L. Hattersley, 6 Aug. 1858. Hattersley was also helped at the time by a legacy from the family of his first wife: WYAS, Wakefield, Deeds NG 131, nos.123-7.
37. Cookson, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.54-5.
38. Borthwick Institute, York, Wills Prog. Sept. 1846 and March 1848.
39. Cookson, thesis, p.228. See also idem, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.57-60.
40. Cookson, thesis, p.228. See also idem, 'Early Textile Engineers', pp.57-60.
41. WYAS, Wakefield, Deeds LY 363 425.
42. In the way that Jones and Rose suggest that family firms in general may take the longer view. G. Jones and M.B. Rose, 'Family Capitalism', Business History, Vol.35 (1993), p.4.
43. For a discussion of corporate culture theory see M. Alvesson and L. Lindkvist, 'Transaction Costs, Clans and Corporate Culture', Journal of Management Studies, Vol.30 (1993), pp.427-52.
44. W. Lazonick, Business Organisation and the Myth of the Market Economy (Cambridge, 1991), p.8.
45. Ideas on this point came from an Economic History workshop by Malcolm Sawyer at the University of Leeds, March 1995.
46. For a discussion of cumulative causation, see M. Sawyer, 'The Operation of Labour Markets and the Economics of Equal Opportunities', in J. Humphries and J. Rubery (eds.), The Economics of Equal Opportunities (London, 1995), pp.44-5.
47. Sawyer, 'The Operation of Labour Markets', pp.47-8.
48. For ideas about the importance of environments in determining industrial forms, see Y. Aharoni, 'In Search for the Unique, Can Firm-Specific Advantages be Evaluated?', Journal of Management Studies, Vol.30 (1993), pp.31-49.
49. M. Casson, 'Entrepreneurship and Business Culture', in J. Brown and M.B. Rose (eds.), Entrepreneurship, Networks and Modern Business (Manchester, 1993), p.42.
50. Smail, Origins of Middle-Class Culture, p.68.
51. W. Steeds, A History of Machine Tools, 1700-1910 (Oxford, 1969), p.26.
52. Engineers of the late nineteenth century have actually been criticised for over-flexibility, for a willingness to offer a product range too extensive to have made best economic sense: R.C. Floud, The British Machine Tool Industry, 1850-1914 (Cambridge, 1976), p.56.
53. Keighley News, 29 March 1890, p.5; Keighley Library, Poor Rate Books, 1829-35.
54. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/12/1, memorandum book, 1818-50.
55. Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, no.513, 27 Nov. 1841; Select Committee on the Operation of Laws affecting the Exportation of Machinery (P.P. 1841, VII), p.211.
56. Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, no.513, 27 Nov. 1841; Select Committee on the Operation of Laws affecting the Exportation of Machinery (P.P. 1841, VII), p.211.
57. M. Berg (ed.), Technology and Toil in Nineteenth-Century Britain (1979), pp.44-9.
58. Gordon has used material evidence to show that new machine tools demanded new kinds of skill in this period: R.B. Gordon, 'Who Turned the Mechanical Ideal into Mechanical Reality?', Technology and Culture, Vol.29 (1988), pp.744-78.
59. Select Committee on Artisans and Machinery (P.P. 1824, V), pp.251, 258, evidence of Peter Ewart.
60. For discussion of cultures, communities and family firms, see Jones and Rose, 'Family Capitalism', pp.8-9.
61. S. Yeo, 'Rival Clusters of Potential: Ways of seeing Co-operation', in S. Yeo (ed.), New Views of Co-operation (1988), p.2; and R. Thornes, 'Change and Continuity in the Development of Co-operation, 1827-44', in Yeo (ed.), New Views of Co-operation, especially pp.29, 48-9.
62. S. Yeo, 'Rival Clusters of Potential: Ways of seeing Co-operation', in S. Yeo (ed.), New Views of Co-operation (1988), p.2; and R. Thornes, 'Change and Continuity in the Development of Co-operation, 1827-44', in Yeo (ed.), New Views of Co-operation, especially pp.29, 48-9.
63. M.H. Best, The New Competition: Institutions of Industrial Restructuring (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 11-13.
64. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/5/1, day book, 1793-98.
65. Best, New Competition, pp.9-10. Best was referring to a situation in modem-day Japan, but his comments have a wider relevance.
66. Smith's career is described by Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, pp.245-9.
67. A breakthrough in spindle production came with Ryder's forging machine in 1840, though there had been earlier attempts to mechanise spindle-making. See Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1868), p.17.
68. See Aharoni, 'In Search for the Unique', p.32.
69. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/15/2, order book 1824-30.
70. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/9/2, cash book of Samuel Hattersley, 1817-22; see also Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, records of George Hattersley & Sons Ltd, Haworth and Keighley, worsted spinners and manufacturers.
71. E. Baines, History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York (Leeds, 1822), p.221; Factories Inquiry Commission (P.P. 1834, XX), p.221.
72. E. Baines, History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York (Leeds, 1822), p.221; Factories Inquiry Commission (P.P. 1834, XX), p.221.
73. See for instance the account of the life of his grandson in K. Snowdon, The Master Spinner: A Life of Sir Swire Smith, LLD MP (London, 1920).
74. Borthwick Institute, York, Wills Prog. Sept. 1846.
75. There are instances of engineers leaving the trade to work solely in textiles, for example Berry Smith of Keighley and M'Connel & Kennedy of Manchester: see Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, p.255 and C.H. Lee, A Cotton Enterprise, 1795-1840 (Manchester, 1972), p. 16.
76. There are instances of engineers leaving the trade to work solely in textiles, for example Berry Smith of Keighley and M'Connel & Kennedy of Manchester: see Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, p.255 and C.H. Lee, A Cotton Enterprise, 1795-1840 (Manchester, 1972), p. 16.
77. Borthwick Institute, York, Wills Exch. Oct. 1816; Leeds Intelligencer, 8 April 1816.
78. Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, p.262; Keighley Parish Register, burial 1 Nov. 1819.
79. Carr retired in about 1817, and his firm had folded by 1840: Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, p.250. Murray died in 1826; his own son died in obscurity in Russia: Scott, Matthew Murray, pp.81, 88-9.
80. Carr retired in about 1817, and his firm had folded by 1840: Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, p.250. Murray died in 1826; his own son died in obscurity in Russia: Scott, Matthew Murray, pp.81, 88-9.
81. Leeds Mercury; 21 July 1832; 1 Sept. 1832; WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/33/8, letter of Robert Wright, n.d.
82. WYAS, Bradford, 32D83/33/8, letter 6 Aug. 1858.
83. D.J. Jeremy (ed.), Dictionary of Business Biography: A Biographical Dictionary of Business Leaders, 1860-1980, Vol. 3 (1985), pp.115-19; Keighley News, 4 Aug. 1900.
84. D.J. Jeremy (ed.), Dictionary of Business Biography: A Biographical Dictionary of Business Leaders, 1860-1980, Vol. 3 (1985), pp.115-19; Keighley News, 4 Aug. 1900.
85. Jeremy, Dictionary of Business Biography, Vol.5 (1984), pp.213-15; Keighley News, 29 March 1890.
86. Jeremy, Dictionary of Business Biography, Vol.5 (1984), pp.213-15; Keighley News, 29 March 1890.