William Edward Maude (1819-1904)

caution !! this is an initial draft ...

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Acton Bridge Rolling Mills

From 1640 the land by the Weaver at Acton Bridge was owned by the Milner Estate.

In 1734 after the construction of the Weaver Navigation locks there was a usable head of water available at the Acton Bridge site.

It was 1781 before there was a mention in the Weaver Navigation Trustees Minute Books of an aborted plan for Daniel Whittaker & Co to build a cotton mill.

Around 1800 there was the first mention of a 'forge' which took advantage of the head to power the hammers and bellows of a coal fired reverberatory furnace producing 'puddled' wrought iron from pig iron?

From 1808 there was multiple site occupancy, which included a lime distribution depot for local farmers.

The 1843 tithe maps of Cheshire indicated John Budd was operating his zinc works at the Acton Bridge site and we know some detail about his activities from his 1835 patented technology and the failed court of bankruptcy case in 1841 involving his partner Cooper Ewbank and the Ewbank family's attempt to kick John Budd out.

In 1850 Bagshaws Directory of Cheshire names richard lloyd & Co as the zinc works proprietors, which now included a saw mill.

The 1853 Gore's Directory of Liverpool indicates Richard Lloyd was in partnership with W E Maude, a Liverpool merchant and commission agent. maude and lloyd had offices in Peel Buildings at 3 Harrington Street. Although John Budd was still in the metal broking business at this time, it seems the Acton Bridge Rolling Mills were sold sometime between 1843 and 1850.

It seems likely that William Edward Maude teamed up with Richard Lloyd & Company, mill furnishers from Birmingham, to purchase and modernise the Acton Bridge Mill. Certainly after the court case John Budd's relationship with his partner would have been been shattered and the source of investment funds from the Ewbanks would have dried up. Clearly the prospects for the business were bright, why else would the Ewbanks try to give young Cooper Ewbank full control? Lloyds had the technical expertise and Maude, from a banking family, had the capital for investment ...

From Peck's Trades Directory of Birmingham, 1896-97 - Richard Lloyd & Co mill furnishers, Galton Works, 135 Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham.

1803 - Company founded. Richard Lloyd & Co Ltd, Birmingham, importers and merchants of machine tools.
1880 - advert the engineer of 2nd January.
1884 - advert kelly’s directory of Worcestershire.
1903 - advert the motor of November.
1910 - catalogue of English & American machines, tools & engineering sundries, leather & textile beltings, pulleys, shafting & mill gearing.
1917 - canadian machinery - 'The Richard Lloyd & Co, Galton Works, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, England will be pleased to hear from Canadian firms manufacturing machines and small tools who are seeking agents in Great Britain. Richard Lloyd & Co are large exporters and importers of high class engineers tools and supplies, being also contractors to H M government departments and British railways'.
1918 - private company.
1919 - make, import and factor tools.
1937 - engineers' supplies. 'Galtona' Small Tools.
1937 - Company made public.
1943 - name change.
1961 - engineers, manufacturers and suppliers of machine tool equipment including milling cutters, ground thread taps and engineers tools. 643 employees.

An advert in 1853 Gore's Directory raises the intriguing suggestion that Maude & Lloyd were now sourcing their spelter from Silesia. For sure the Liverpool merchants were focused on international trade and sourcing their spelter from wherever and whenever a profit could be made. It seems the opportunity seized by William crockford in Flintshire was under almost immediate threat from imports? Technology spreads rapidly, patents only last for 15 years and then only if they can be enforced ... its seems comparative advantage was rapidly moving away from the extractive industries to manufacturing, and by 1850 England was leading the world in manufacturing technology.

By 1857 the Post Office Directory lists w e maude & co, at the Acton Bridge Rolling Mills.

Francis White & Co, History, Gazetteer &  Directory of Cheshire in 1860 describes W E Maude's zinc works adjacent to the stone bridge as 'extensive' and names their local representative as Thomas Priestly.

Morris & Co's Directory of Cheshire in 1864 lists maude w e operating his zinc rolling mill at Acton Bridge. The same directory references - '*Maude Mr William Edw, 'Warwick Villa', New Brighton, Wirral. Those marked thus (*) have their places of business in Liverpool'.

William Edward Maude, a Liverpool merchant, was actively patenting technology associated with carriages, ships and steam engines in 1853 - 64.

In 1860/61 the Weaver tonnage records also indicate that W E Maude & Co were shipping both zinc and bones in the Weaver flats 'John & Mary', 'Croydon', 'William', 'Sarah' and 'Garside' up the river to the Acton Bridge wharf.

In 1864 the Minute Books confirm W E Maude was still leasing the mill site from Milner. But was he rolling zinc and grinding bones? When and why did zinc rolling cease?

1874 Morris & Co Directory of Cheshire identifies the two works as Astles, Thomas & John, and The Lowwood Gunpowder Company. How did the Astles and Lowwood become involved in the site?

Worrall's Directory of 1876 confirmed William Maude was the owner of the manure business and John Astles was the manager. And the Lowwood Gunpowder Co Ltd was listed as the proprietor of the saltpetre works under the management of John Edwards Harrison.

In 1882 the Minute Books of the Weaver Navigation recorded that it was W E Maude who received compensation of £1,680 from the Trustees for the loss of water power at Acton Bridge when Dutton Locks were commissioned. Clearly Tommy Astles was managing the Maude manure business. And as we will learn below William Maude had close connections with the Lowwood company in Ulverston ...

In 1900 Edward Hindley purchased the freehold of the land occupied by the Lowwood Saltpetre Works from W E Maude.

When did W E Maude purchase the freehold of the site from Milner? When or how did he become involved in John Budd's the zinc works?

It seems William Edward Maude was continuously involved in the Acton Bridge site for at least 47 years? So who was this guy?

burke's genealogical & Heraldic history of the landed gentry details the family history of the Maudes of Blawith.

Joseph Maude (1739-1803) was a banker. Born in Sunderland he sold his possessions and moved to Kendal in 1773.

He came from a family of coal exporters in Sunderland where he worked for his uncle Barnabas (1701-1770). His father William (1699-1753) had married well in 1738 to, Margaret, the daughter of a twice Mayor of Kendal, Thomas Holme. Joseph also did well for himself and amassed a considerable fortune, selling up in 1770. Three years later, at the age of 40, he moved to Kendal where he set up as a merchant, bill-broker and moneylender. Before long he had become one of Kendal's most influential merchants. He built Stricklandgate House in 1776.

He married into the Holme family and consolidated his position in Kendal society. The Holmes provided mayors of Kendal on no less than five occasions. Not only was Joseph successful in business but also as a father, producing a family of 12 children at about one a year. The census of 1787 shows his family and household as -

Joseph & Sarah his wife
His nine sons - Thomas, Frederick, William, Joseph, Warren, Edwin, John, Charles & Barnabas
His three daughters - Miss Maude (the eldest), Annamaria & Charlotta
He had two menservants - Roger Hunter & William Robinson, and five maidservants - Agnes Sorray, June Smallwood, Ann Braithwaite, Mary Barnet & Leah Viall (some of the girls probably to deal with maternity needs!).
Twenty one people in all, altogether quite a household!

Stricklandgate developed as a road with big houses for prominent members of business and society, interspersed with shops, small houses and yards with cottages and work premises at the rear. There were eventually shops on each side of the house. It was said that Kendal's wealth lay along this short road where most of the town's shearmen, dyers and mercers lived but, like the rest of Kendal at the time, the roads were in a terrible condition. A visitor remarked in 1797 - 'I would wish to say something in praise of the town but it is too ill-paved to mind anything but your feet.' There were no pavements then and it was not until 1824 that John Macadam put down his experimental road surface in Stricklandgate which led to the modern term tarmacadam.

'Four Centuries of Banking: The Northern Constituent Banks' by George Chandler, describes Joseph's move from Sunderland to Kendal as difficult but nevertheless improved communications were leading to larger unified banks. The first two banks in Kendal were founded on the same day, 1st January 1788.

Joseph formed one of them in Stramongate, 'Maude, Wilson and Crewdson'.  Joseph Maude, Christopher Wilson and Thomas Crewdson were the original partners; their business prospered and in 1792 they removed into more commodious premises which had been specially constructed at No 69, Highgate. Thomas Crewdson died in 1795. In 1801, the original partnership was dissolved by mutual consent and in 1803 Joseph Maude died at Stricklandgate House. His bequests included £25 to the Kendal Bluecoat School and his estate went to his son Thomas Holme who continued to live in Stricklandgate House for some years.

The Kendal Bank of Savings established its office in Stricklandgate House in 1815.

John Wood's map of 1833 shows that Thomas Holme extended his land holdings behind and to the north of the house. His next door neighbours at the time were Miss Roddick, William Cookson and William Fisher, all involved in some way with the wool and linen trade. Twenty years later, Henry Hoggarth shows on his map that the grounds had been extended further, and were then named 'Maude's Meadow'.

In 1854 the house was leased to the Kendal Literary and Scientific Society with some of its founder members being William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, John Dalton and Adam Sedgewick. Later it became the town's museum and library.

After the deaths of Thomas Crewdson and Joseph the bank continued as  'Maude, Wilson and Crewdson' with other members of the family now ensconced in the business. Joseph's son and heir, Thomas Holme Maude, joined as a partner as did Christopher Wilson II, William Dillworth Crewdson I & David Huddlestone, 'all of Kendal in the county of Westmoreland, bankers & co-partners'. Thomas Holme retired a few years later and the family cashed in on their success and disappeared from the banking business. The bank continued as W D Crewdson & Son.

 The other Kendal bank formed at the same time was founded by John Wakefield. He opened in his house a few doors away from Stricklandgate House.  John Wakefield was an entrepreneur of wide ranging interests, not only did he open the Stricklandgate bank but he had also opened the first gun powder mills in Cumbria, at Sedgwick near Kendal in 1764. 

Normally, banks were formed by firms of attorneys so it is significant that Maude's and Wakefield's standing in the town was so high that they were able to break with tradition. Both banks were so secure that they were able to withstand the financial crises of the early 19th century when many large banks failed. The local farmers loved Wakefields and a 'Jacky Wakefield' bank note was reckoned the equal of a gold sovereign!

Both banks continued to thrive until their amalgamation in 1840, as Wakefield, Crewdson & Company, 'The Kendal Bank', and it seems that he must have moved from the house as it was rented out for short periods.

The Kendal Bank erected this building in 1873, the alleyway to the south becoming the New Bank Yard.

Interestingly both the Crewdsons and the Wakefields were Quakers and the friendship continued - the firm merged with the bank of Liverpool which became Martins Bank in 1928 and Barclays Bank in 1969.

Thomas Holme Maud (1739-1803) does not seem to have inherited his father's business ability or interests and politics took over he became Mayor of Kendal twice, in 1799 and 1813.

'A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE of the Chief Magistrates of the Borough of Kendal, from its first incorporation, in 1575, and of the most remarkable events, chiefly in the town and neighbourhood' records - '1799-1800 Thomas Holme Maude. The last of the Free Companies of Kendal (the Cordwainers) broken up. Oatmeal sold for 8s. a stone of sixteen pounds. From 1800 to 1806 the main timbers of the Parish Church underwent thorough repair, and Divine service was suspended several weeks. July 10, a faculty was granted to the Mayor, Recorder, &c., for erecting galleries in Kendal Church, the expense of which was 193l. 6s. 3d'. In his second mayoral year, a great procession of Corporation and Trades was held which was accompanied by 'a general illumination'. Perhaps this was the origin of the Torchlight Procession!

Thomas Holme added to the Maude estate by building in Cartmel, Lancashire - 'A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 87-95' describes - 'A neat house, called Blawith Cottage, belongs to Thomas Holme Maude Esq. it has a southern aspect, commanding an extensive view over the Lancaster sands.' 

The Maudes accumulated important lands in Westmoreland & Lancashire and the generations had married well. Luckily for William Edward Maude, his uncle, Thomas Holme, left no heirs and his two elder brothers both died before Thomas and also left no issue. William Edward Maude inherited the considerable Maude estates around 1857 when his aunt died. But the story starts earlier ...

In 1802 William Edward's father, William, married Jane, the younger daughter of a Manchester merchant & chapman james greenway of Livesey Fold, Darwen, a print works twenty miles from Manchester. This was a fortuitous coupling and long before William Edward inherited his estates in the north he had to earn a living and through his father and mother he became involved in the Lancashire textile industry. Significantly for young William Edward's education his father joined his mother's dad in business, James Greenway had a calico printing business powered by water!

James Greenway (1742–1821) left his mark. He came from Oxfordshire and built his printing works at Livesey Fold in Darwen in 1777. Another of his daughters Sarah married John Potter (the uncle of Beatrix Potter) and John joined the Greenway printing business.

In 1808 James built a new mill at Dob Meadow, Darwen and set up his two sons-in-law to run the business as Potter, Maude & Co. The brothers-in-law Potter & Maude went bankrupt in 1831 ... but other family initiatives didn't!

In 1839 Sarah & John's son Charles, working with his brother Harold, adapted a calico printing press for printing wall paper, patented it and the rest is history. The Potters thrived on wallpaper, 'Walpamur' and 'Crown' paints ...

The early history of calico printing & bleaching and papermaking in Darwen was described in a history of blackburn, town and parish by W A Abram, 1877.

The Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society also reported on James Greenway in 2003 -

'Mr. Melvyn Hirst, fascinated us all with his researches into the Greenway family of Darwen in a talk entitled 'Searching for the origins of an early Lancashire calico printer; James Greenway of Over Darwen'. James was not only a calico printer he was an astute businessman who rose to become a leading figure in Darwen. There was a public house in the town named after him until the recent fashion for changing all good old names into rather ridiculous modern ones. James was connected to a good number of other calico printing businesses in Lancashire and even as far away as Scotland. His business in Darwen eventually turned from printing calico to printing wallpaper. It was a gripping talk with maps, photographs and books in illustration. Mr. Hirst gave the titles of some useful books - 'A history of print works in the Manchester district 1760-1846' by John Graham, 'The cotton masters, 1830-1860' by Anthony Howe and 'Lancashire Memories' by Louisa Potter'.

The story of William senior and his father-in-law James, has been summarised recently in a development appraisal of Sunnyhurst Wood - 'The Landscape History of Sunnyhurst Wood, Darwen - Survey & Report the Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council by Dr Alan G. Crosby, 2007' -

'The first major specific change to the local landscape was the result of industrialisation. In 1808 James Greenway, who had operated the print works at Livesey Fold since 1777, went into partnership with John Potter and William Maude, and subsequently retiring, the business continued as Potter, Maude & Co. The company opened a calico printing works on the Earnsdale or Sunnyhurst Brook at Dob Meadows (variously spelled as one or two words). This involved building a weir or dam across the brook to impound a substantial reservoir - the lodges, and the dam and spillway system, still survive though the mill buildings have long gone. In 1832 the works was leased by James Greenway junior to Charles Potter and William Ross, and in 1841 that partnership was dissolved. Ross continued as sole trader until 1847, when he retired and the works was leased to Messrs. Heron, Baron and Eddlestone. In 1878 the business was sold, the works auctioned, and the machinery removed (in 1889 J G Shaw noted that ‘the trade is now extinct’). Although it later reopened for a period, the works never expanded significantly - the site was too constricted and the potential for development was very limited.'

In 1831 the demise of Potter, Maude & Co was confirmed in the bankruptcy courts. The textile industry in Darwen was struggling, competition was fierce, manufacturers had been forced to cut wages in 1819 and there had been ugly riots in 1826. James Greenway, John Potter and William Maude were at their wits end. Innovation and technical progress was the only way to avoid bankruptcy and climb out of the abyss.

The Dob Meadows mill continued operating but it was the Potter Mills at Livesey Fold, Belgrave & Hilton which prospered with their innovations in paper and water based paints. However all concerned would have been aware of the activities of John Budd in 1835, his patent for fabric printing cylinders and his mill at Acton Bridge ... his innovative zinc cylinders were cutting the costs of printing ... perhaps William Edward Maude ventured to Liverpool to look for new opportunities?

The 1851 census records 32 year old William Edward as a lodger in Liscard on the Wirral.

In 1858 on the 27th of October William Edward Maude of New Brighton married Ruth Swinburne of Calgarth. William's profession was described as 'Gentleman'. His father also William Maude was also a 'Gentleman'. Witnesses were John, Mary, Katherine, H, Jane and Letika Mary Swinburne. Ruth's father Edward Swinburne was described as 'Esquire'. However the Swinburne family sported an excellent pedigree, Ruth's dad Edward was descended from Sir John Swinburne of Capheaton, 1st Baronet. An good yarn about Sir John as a young lad in France has survived ... as has the identification of 24 children!

The marriage at St Mary's Windermere, Westmorland was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1858 confirming William's residence at New Brighton but also at Blawith, North Lancashire.

The 1861 census finds William described as a landed proprietor and owner of zinc rolling mills & zinc merchant employing 10 men & 2 boys, residing at the imposing 'Warwick Villa', Liscard. Still married to 30 year old Ruth but without children. The details confirm William was born in 1819 in Blackburn and Ruth was born in 1831 in Bowness. Clearly William was now combining his interests in Liverpool & Acton Bridge with his inherited role as a gentleman farmer.

Warwick Villa, stands on the west corner of Wellington Road and Atherton Street and has retained its name throughout it's life, though on some deeds it appears as 'Warwick Cottage'. Sold by William Rowson to a Mr Isaac Harrop in 1844, it seems to have changed its occupants with great regularity every decade or so, with the result that a variety of Merchants, Solicitors, Stockbrokers and so on all called it home at one time or another. William Edward lived there from his marriage in 1858 to some time after the 1871 census. Mr Sandie, a Soap Manufacturer, lived there at the turn of the last century, in the days when it was quite usual, particularly after a gale, to find sand drifting up to the back door.
'Warwick Villa' is one of the several houses in Wellington Road which present a single storey frontage on the landward entrance side and two storeys to the seaward side, this being due to the fall in land from Wellington Road to the shore. The dwelling is classical is style, the most attractive side that facing the sea, whilst the other elevation appears to have had the bays added at some later date and are more Gothic, this fact confirmed by repair work. There is a strong possibility that the house was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes who used the same architecture for 'Redcliffe' and 'Ellerslie'.

The 1871 census adds nothing new to the Maude household and is notable only for the absence of children.

The 1881 census reports William aged 62 and Ruth aged 50 but now living at Maudes Mansion Blawith, East Broughton, Lancashire.

William was the owner occupier of 200 acres employing 3 men and a boy, an innovative gentleman farmer of considerable wealth!

On the 17th August 1856 W E Maude of Holmescales Farm in Old Hutton, Kendal placed an order for the Williamson Brothers Vortex Turbine Number One. The turbine was a fantastic piece of Victorian engineering and was built in 1856 at Kendal. It was a vertical shaft Vortex developing 5 horsepower under a head of 30 feet at a speed of 300 rpm. It was placed at the base of a deep well and was fed by a 9-inch pipe from a nearby stream. The shaft from the turbine was used to power miscellaneous farm machinery through bevel gearing. The turbine worked for over 100 years and needed one replacement runner wheel and a few other minor repairs – a testament to the engineering skill employed during its manufacture.
As described by the museum of Lakeland Life & Industry this was the first of many Williamson Brothers turbines ordered and the beginnings of a local expertise in hydropower that still remains to this day.

Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire & Cheshire reported on the water power trials conducted by W E Maude at Holmescales Farm in 1857.

The Book of Farm Implements & Machines in 1858 confirms that William Maude was involved in innovations in water power on his farm.

'The Lake Counties from 1830 to the mid 20th century' by J D Marshall & John K Walton describes the efforts in 1862 of innovative farmers, like William Maude & The Duke of Devonshire, to persuade farmers to invest in dairy farming where returns were high and abandon efforts to compete in arable farming with cheap grain imports from the United States.

William had an interest in several properties, he built brown robin mansion, Grange-over-Sands, as a private residence and had further property investments in London which were the subject of a petition reported in The Times of London in 1868.

Did this experience of investment in printing and water power technology lead William Edward to invest in John Budd's rolling mill at Acton Bridge?

Did William's inherited estates at Blawith & Cartmel in close proximity to the Lowwood Gunpowder Co on the Levan have any connection with his purchase of the Saltpetre Works at Acton Bridge?

The Maudes and the Wakefields were neighbours & business partners in Stricklandgate, Kendal ... and in a strange repetition of history, did they become partners again at the Acton Bridge Saltpetre Works?

 

Any corrections and additional information gratefully received contact   john p birchall

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