Edward Hindley (1858-1935)

 

caution !! ... this is an initial draft of a story about my great grandfather ... my gleanings must involve many omissions & inaccuracies ... but it is only a 'story' for my great grandchildren ... perhaps they will correct all the errors ... ? ... and at least they will have a start point, four words, 'education and compound interest' ... supposedly uttered by Edward as a yarn was spun, recounted by ancient Eda in tales told and incomprehensible to most us until reflective old age ... for sure, complex traffic fluxed around Cheshire and from the social interactions of ordinary folk emerged fascinating innovative 'know how' and technology ... in this way, unnoticed, less conspicuous folk like the Hindleys created ripples & waves, some of which turned into tsunamis ... the past was fascinating because nobody ever knew in advance about the unknowable future ... but from the past, more was known about the future than was ever said ... everyone knew about happiness, sadness, fear, anger, excitement & love ... as long as there were folk there were Darwin's survival emotions ... and thus from the past everyone could learn ... for certain, Edward knew a thing or two about such things, endless time was a strange bedfellow ... think about it?

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NB I only keep these notes on my website so I don't loose them !  A summary of the pages may help ... pages which go back into the deep history of Cheshire, cows and salt and then forward to the industrial revolution and a riparian factory site at Acton Bridge ...

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The Hindleys were Anglo Saxons, the name was derived from the Old English words 'hind', a female deer, and 'legh', a forest clearing - 'people from a place in the forest where deer are found'? ... what an appropriate name for the folk who dispersed into Cheshire and eked out a living from farming and the other rural crafts associated with cows ... this co-evolution of man and animal goes way back into deep history, a vital symbiotic survival story which involves everybody ... and the Hindleys were no exception ...

The surname was originally associated with the town of Hindley in Lancashire which was bang on the ancient saltway running north from the heart of the Cheshire salt fields at Northwich through Great Budworth, Antrobus, Stretton, across the Mersey at Latchford, onto Warrington & Winwick, and directly to Hindley. The name of nearby Saltersgate appeared to cement the link between Hindley and Northwich salt. Many Hindleys must have travelled down this well worn route into Cheshire; no doubt there were other routes but for sure some Hindleys settled in Antrobus and had children ...

Edward Hindley learned about survival and the business of business from his father Peter (1811-1889). Peter was born in Antrobus near Warrington, part of the ancient parish of Great Budworth, and he inherited a successful shoemaking business in Barnton on the corner of Lydyett Lane and Runcorn Road ... things had prospered in Barnton ...

Peter's father George Hindley (1775-1849) and his grandfather another George Hindley (1743-1839) were both shoemakers but George senior proudly described himself as a cordwainer ... no doubt wishing for nothing but the best!

But who was George senior? He was new to Antrobus ... he came from an old hindley family from out of town ... maybe from close to Hindley town itself?

In 1769 George senior married Margaret Gandy, a fine 26 year old from the enterprising Gandy family. This fortuitous coupling introduced into the Hindley clan some genes of rare distinction and through some prodigious research by dave jowitt, a continuous genetic link has been established from Edward right back to the birth of william gandy in 1545.

Wow! ... 1545 ... that was the year The Mary Rose sank during yet another battle with the French ... and the start year of The Council of Trent which condemned a load of Protestant heresies and the defined arcane issues of 'salvation' and 'transubstantiation' which were at the heart of the hot English Reformation, the sale of indulgences and 'literal truth' ... however none of this kerfuffle deterred the Gandys, they kept their feet on the ground, they worked hard and decided for themselves what they believed ...

The Gandys were successful local farmers and pioneering Cheshire cheese makers for at least six generations. The Gandy family farm was at Frandley, a stones throw away from Antrobus where George had his shoemaking business.

By 1787 George & Margaret, together with 12 year old George junior, were known to be tenants in a property belonging to Mr John Leah, a Yeoman of Antrobus. A probate copy of John Leah's will from 1787 recorded his wife Mary, sons John, James & Samuel, daughters Martha & Elizabeth and identified as executors Mary's half brother James Chadwick (from Mosside, Manchester) and John Mairs (from Great Budworth). This beautifully written will has survived confirming the tenancy of George Hindley but without identifying the particular Antrobus property involved. A transcript of the will indicates John Leah was quite wealthy with two properties in Antrobus and a messuage, dwelling house with appurtenances known as 'The Blue Bell' in Sutton, near Macclesfield and more real estate in Macclesfield, including 'moss rooms' near Macclesfield Moss, more at 'Wallgate' and also 'The Cock' in the Market Place; all were tenanted and earning income. Probate was granted on August 24th 1791.

In 1794 George junior married Sarah Burgess. It seemed the Hindley families were big, so if you get lost amongst the hoards of Hindleys keep the simplified family tree at the ready ... George senior had six children and George junior twelve ... but life was tough, the two generations lost nine youngsters in total. The surviving stock stuck close to the business they knew, thriving off the Cheshire farms and their animals. But what else was there to do in rural Cheshire? It seemed the salt industry and the urban trek to industrial Lancashire didn't beckon them.

In 1826 George & Sarah moved from Antrobus to barnton to set up a new shoemaking business. The family moved to catchwell cottage, Turnpike Road, Barnton. The Antrobus business must have done well because George was quite wealthy by now and able to rent a substantial plot of land extending from the current Grange Road to Lydyett Lane on what is now Runcorn Road.

Geoff Buchan recorded that Catchwell Cottage was a significant property in Barnton probably dating from the early 17th century. In 1620 it was know as 'Pownall's Tenement'. The Pownall family were considerable landowners in Barnton, one of the twelve identified in the medieval title deeds associated with the Leigh's of High Leigh, Barnton & Comberbach. In 1701 Thomas Frith took advantage of the enclosure movement and was able to purchase the plot from the Pownall children as part of Big Hey Farm when Thomas, the last of the Pownall landowners died. Big Hey Farm was probably the largest of Barnton's farms with land around Townfield & Lydyett Lanes

Thomas Frith was an ambitious farmer and three generations of Thomas Friths searched in vain for salt on Big Hey Farm, hoping, no doubt, to repeat the acclaimed discovery of rock salt on the Marbury estate in 1670. In 1765 John Gresty, a cheese factor from Bostock, purchased the farm but his search for salt also drew a blank. However the next owner, John Jackson, a tenant farmer from Anderton reported in his will of 1786 that salt had been found on his property in Acorn Wood ...

A two acre site in Acorn Wood on the banks of the Weaver was cleared and the barnton salt works started operations. A shaft was sunk to a depth of 135 metres, the brine was pumped out with a James Watt steam pump into coal fired evaporating pans prior to shipment down the Weaver. This was typical of salt operations around Northwich at the time and provided further employment opportunities in the expanding village ... but the Barnton brine proved to be weak ...

A succession of owners and proprietors had a go at making money out of Barnton salt but the rich brines and rock salts of neighbouring Anderton, Marbury, Marston and Northwich proved to be much better bets -

from 1786 to 1795 - the works was run by Johnson's daughter Ann with her husband John Carter in partnership with John Gilbert (1724-96), an agent of the Duke of Bridgewater.

from 1795 - the Johnson grandchildren were involved in a partnership, Jackson, Carter & Company.

from 1812 - the Big Hey Farm properties were owned by John Whitley Senior (1759-1832), a wealthy Lancashire industrialist who had married Ellen Johnson in 1785. He had a share in the Barnton Salt Works and was involved in shipping salt. Also involved was Whitley's cousin, Thomas Caldwell, together with Samuel Holbrook, a local brewer. But Holbrook went bankrupt and died in 1835, leaving John Whitley Junior (1803-1839) as sole owner. Profitability of salt from the weak brine was poor and John Junior had little interest. After his early death the works was run for a time by his partner Edward Turner but around 1848 The Barnton Salt Works ceased to operate.

By 1843 the tithe maps show the Catchwell Cottage land was owned by the trustees of Olivia Turner's estate. Olivia O'Connor, daughter of Henry O'Connor from Dublin, first married John Whitley Junior in 1830. John, of course, had inherited his father's property in Barnton. Olivia second married her husband's partner Edward Turner from the Isle of Wight and later from Richmond in Surrey. It seems folk were moving into Barnton from far and wide ... typically a new middle class of land owners were establishing themselves in Barnton, folk who were now making money from cheese, shipping and salt ...

The prominent position of Catchwell Cottage in the village followed from the ketch well which was a natural spring directly in front of the cottage. Ketch was an ancient word for catch, a dictionary suggests the word was first recorded in 1693. Whether spelt ketch or catch, the well was Barnton's popular source of drinking water prior to the installation of the high level water tower on the junction of Townfield Lane & Lydyett Lane in 1890. From 1890 water was pumped from a reservoir in Little Leigh to the tower via a pumping station at Gunnersclough. Today the barnton ketch well occupies a prime spot in the garden at The Poplars close to the original site. The well stone was moved in 1948 during the development of Grange Road.

Thanks to the research by Geoff Buchan the history of Big Hey Farm, the salt works and Catchwell Cottage can be traced continuously from the Pownalls in 1620 right up to the Hindley tenancy in 1826 and on to today. My mate and 3rd cousin david hindley has produced a superb history of the site, which is full of a mass of detailed research, anecdote & insight ... and includes a subsequent history of George's old shoe shop on the Lydyett Lane corner written by walter watkin ... there is also a reference to my friend Hedley Simms' father-in-law Vinc Wright ... it's a small world ...

Clearly George Hindley had acquired a considerable property in a prime position. George had five surviving sons and he was bent on setting up at least three of them in the shoemaking trade although he had also diversified some of his investments outside of his trade and into property ... and money lending? He had purchased the freehold of four properties in Leftwich, near Northwich which provided rental income and in March 1806 he had also managed to lend £100 at 4.5% p.a. to Nathaniel Morrey (1789-1855) on his own personal security. In today's money this was some £10,000.

Nathaniel was a trusted friend, he had moved to Barnton from Comberbach a year after George in 1827, to rent Big Hey Farm. He was appointed an executor in George's will should sons Richard and Peter pre-decease him. In 1842 Nathaniel was appointed church warden of the newly built parish church.

But why the move to Barnton in 1826?

George senior was 83 at the time and he lived for another 13 years to a ripe old age of 96. George senior's death certificate confirms his ancient age of 96 and birth in 1743. Was he still active in his original business in Antrobus in 1826? An intriguing document has recently come to light and a transcript of this indicates he was still at it three years after George junior had moved to Barnton. In 1829 an indenture reveals George Hindley of Antrobus took on a new apprentice, a 13 year old poor boy from Aston, Allen Berry.

Now who was Allen Berry and how did he fare? ... 80 years previously George Senior's father-in-law John Gandy knew of a Thomas Berry ... an entry in the Accounts of Richard Frith, overseer of the poor of Cougshall and Sevenoaks for the year 1751 lists - 'To John Gandy for a pare of suse [shoes] for Tho. Berry, 1 shilling' ... and Thomas Berry of Aston married Marie Rogerson both otp by banns, 25/6/1700 ... I wonder ... ?

George junior was 51 at the time of the move and well established in the trade in Antrobus and he had already taught the shoemaking skills to two sons, Richard and Joseph then aged 27 and 20. Clearly there would not have been enough work for all of them in Antrobus and Richard (1799-1863) the eldest son and first trained moved to premises in Great Budworth. Joseph (1806-1892) remained in the Antrobus business and was still active there in 1857. The Post Office Trade Directory for Cheshire in that year lists 57 shoemakers with Joseph Hindley in Antrobus and Peter Hindley in Barnton. Richard who would have been 58 years old was not listed. Why? Richard lived another 6 years, before dying relatively young at 64.

In 1873 Joseph owned 2 acres 3 roods 34 perches of land in Antrobus with a rental value of £11-10s. He fared rather better than his elder brother and lived until 1892 when he was 86.

It seems likely that George junior moved to the new patch in Barnton to help his youngest learn the trade and establish a new franchise. Peter was only 15 when they moved but it was Peter who inherited the Barnton business in 1849 when his Dad died aged 74.

But why Peter? Peter was one of seven brothers with five sisters and two of his elder brothers were in the shoemaking business. Why was second born Joseph chosen, or why did Joseph choose to continue with the original Antrobus business? Joseph's son Joseph (1832-1903) and grandson Joseph (1875-1956) both remained in the shoe, boot and harness business. Family skills were being passed from generation to generation. Although Richard had a son Thomas, born in 1841, his contribution remains a mystery? Two of Peter's other brothers James and William had died in infancy before the move in 1826, and of the remaining two, James (1808-1886) went into cattle dealing ... helping to keep the family close to the cow business? ... but John (1809-??) lived and left without trace.

On the 9th of March 1989, Philip Rayner remembered his life in Comberbach from 1906, 'there was a Shoemaker in Antrobus called Joseph Hindley who charged £2 for a pair of shoes stitched by hand. He lived at Hammersmith Cottages. John Hindley lived at Gamekeepers Cottage in Comberbach. He was the Gamekeeper at Marbury Hall'.

So Edward's Dad was only 15 when the family moved to Barnton in 1826 but he was learning fast. Barnton was not so far from Antrobus and the locals worshipped in the same church, St Mary's, Great Budworth. Both were farming villages but Barnton was different, the population was growing fast. Overlooking the River Weaver and with the Trent & Mersey canal running through (and under!) the village, Barnton was full of boating people and it was also close to salt at Anderton, Marbury and Northwich. There were jobs in Barnton and workers needed shoes and houses.

The population of Barnton grew and grew, 402 in 1801, 1117 in 1851, 2792 in 1901, and 3918 in 1951.

Much to the disgust of the local residents by 1826 Warrington had become an established centre for leather tanning and Peter was destined to walk all the way to the tanneries to collect leather for the business. But this wasn't child labour, this was surviving against the odds, 'learning the ropes', 'paying dues' ... there were no delivery vans in 1826 but there were lots of shoemaking competitors ... this was a tough apprenticeship for Peter and he had a hard taskmaster, his Dad!

Peter's hard work was rewarded, the business thrived, a bustling shoe manufactory employing cheap vagrant labour in the middle of rapidly expanding Barnton & Northwich.

On January 17th 1843 Peter married Martha Abram (1817-1903), a 26 year old widow from Frodsham with a rather quick temper and the daughter of a Little Leigh farmer, John Dean. Martha was a staunch Methodist. As early as 1780 Methodists were worshipping and schooling in barnton and in 1812 they built their chapel near the top of Barnton Hill. But after squabbles in 1838 a group seceded and built their own chapel in Oakwood Lane as Members of the Wesleyan Methodist Association. Martha was a prominent member of this splinter group and was remembered as a major organiser.

Edward Hindley was to follow in his mother's footsteps and frequent the Oakwood Lane church of the Independent Society of Methodists.

Interestingly a third group of Primitive Methodists completed a small chapel in Lydyett Lane in 1862. It seems one way or another John & Charles Wesley had a major impact on the independent minds of Barnton folk and the three rival groups thrived separately until 1962 when differences were settled and Lydyett Lane became the place of worship for the United Methodist Church.

However it seemed Peter remained close to The Church of England as the main witness to Peter's will was samuel lancaster laidman - Vicar of Christ Church, Barnton and founder of Barnton Cricket Club. The Anglican Church had been built rather belatedly in 1842.

Peter and Martha also had a large family, eleven of them, although four of their breed died in infancy. This confirmed that even successful shoemakers had survival problems.

Edward was the fourth son born in 1858. When Peter retired he left the shoemaking business to young Edward. The elder sons James, Thomas & Peter had already made their choices; they ventured away from their father's business and left home -

James (1843-1910) - the eldest chose not to follow the family shoemaking tradition and worked as a general labourer, moving to Penistone, South Yorkshire when he married. James married Sarah Dickens and they had two girls Sarah & Mary.

He eventually returned to Barnton to take over a shop in the tunnel top area. 'A penny worth of treacle' was a favourite purchase.

Thomas (1851-1936) - a shipwright & carpenter with Brunner Mond at Winnington, retiring at 70 in 1921. He lived at no 1 nursery road, Barnton built in the 1880s for his occupation. He believed in hard work and never hurt anyone but, unlike his brother Edward, Thomas was suspicious of education which may have restricted the development of his children. 

Towards the end of his life Thomas had virtually no money. He used to draw £1 a week from his savings and eventually his savings dwindled to nothing. Edward used to visit his brother once a week, arriving in his chauffeur driven car ... he would walk in the well tended garden with Thomas and hand him 10 shillings to keep him going. Later the money was drawn from a bank on Runcorn Road, Barnton.

Thomas married three times and his issue seemed to favour the girls, lots of them, but son George, grandson Alfred and g-grandson David kept the Hindley name thriving in this branch of the family.

Peter (1856-1933) - a nice large fellow, a carpenter, his workshop was on land adjoining 287 Runcorn Road where he lived (at the Little Leigh end of the terrace ... this was the house where young Eda was born in 1907). In particular, Peter made ladders but he also made wheelbarrows and wheels for farm carts. Making fishing rods was another speciality. He obtained his timber directly from Liverpool Docks.

Peter married Jane Fogg in 1891 but they had no children.

Samuel (1862-1922) - the youngest of the 11 children, a huge fella, a joiner, ships carpenter, who also lived at 287 Runcorn Road at one time.  The census found Samuel at 31 Derby Street, Salford in 1891, and in 1901 at 17 Humber Street, Pendleton, and 1911 back in Northwich at 14 Winnington Lane ...

Samuel married Sarah Alice Rudd, a lovely prim & proper lady but they also had no children.

Edward also had two sisters Mary Foster (1849-1925) and Jane Gates (1854-19??) both of whom survived well. Mary married a shoemaker from Little Leigh and lived in Sandiway. Jane was a servant on the Winnington Hall estate and lived in Manchester after she married John Gates. They had three sons. Later 'Auntie Jane' used to visit Edward's family home, 'The Poplars', quite regularly and young Eda remembered that she admired her young brother enormously.

Edward's education did not follow any formal national curricula ... in those days folk didn't get 'A' levels and go to University. George senior couldn't even write, he used a cross to identify himself on his marriage certificate. But this didn't stop George from learning. He made a mean pair of shoes ... some said the best in Cheshire. Edward also worked hard at learning ... he had nous ... 'know how' ... he grasped the way the world worked ... things were going on in his head ... he tried things ... he experimented ... and, as expected, as he trialled & errored, many things failed ...

Why did Edward start in the shoemaking trade with his Dad only to leave unexpectedly? Was he fed up of the smell of leather or was he just a normal rebellious adolescent? ... did he have greater ambitions? The censuses record his progress.

In 1861 aged 2 he was in Barnton with his parents. At 12 in 1871 he had started working as a shoemaker with his dad in Barnton. In 1881 aged 22 he was at Oakwood Lane, Barnton, Cheshire - a shoemaker - with David Allcock, a waterman, lodging with his family which now included a wife & three sons. In 1891 aged 32, following the death of his father he was back at Catchwell Cottage, Runcorn Road - still making shoes. In 1901 Edward and family were at 88 Runcorn Road, the Catchwell Cottage location which by now boasted 'The Poplars' ... however this progress was far from smooth ...

On the 19th of December 1873, just before Christmas, Edward joined The Royal Marines in Liverpool (AMD 157/623/98). He was only 15 years 5 months old. His enlistment papers suggest a little dissembling ... his age was 'apparently 18 1/2' and furthermore his 'trade' was a 'labourer' and he signed up to get 'a free kit'!

After only 109 days service on April 9th 1874 he paid a regulation £20 for his 'freedom' and left the Portsmouth Division of The Royal Marines ... I wonder why?

On the 21st October 1874 'The Cheshire Constabulary Enrolment and Record Book' identifies a young recruit, number 100 (CJP 7) -

Edward Hindley, Great Budworth, Cheshire. Shoemaker.
Height 5ft 9ins. Age 19. Hazel eyes. Brown hair, Fair complexion. Figure proper.
Sept 1874  Reserve.                  Sept 1874  22/-
Oct 1874   Macclesfield.            Dec  1874  23/4
                                                    May  1875  23/4
                                                    July  1875  23/11
                                                    Jan   1876  24/6
                                                    June 1876  25/8
Absconded 19th December 1876.
Remarks - Royal Marines 4 months. Discharged April 1874.
Fined 40/- & costs or 21 days.

Absconded!? - at 25 shillings a week I'm not surprised!    

An unidentified photograph was discovered in an old family album of a uniformed likely lad complete with hand cuffs and a shako hat ... was this Edward at 16 ... a policeman ... ?                

The enrolment of Edward Hindley, recruit No. 100, recorded an age of 19 in 1874? Why did he lie about his age when he joined the macclesfield division of the Cheshire Police under Chief Constable William Sheasby? The division motto was 'to the best of our skill and knowledge' ... appropriate enough for Edward? Edward's cousin John Hindley (1830-1911), 28 years his elder, had also abandoned family shoemaking for the police force, he served first in Northwich before being transferred to Wirral in 1874. Did John influenced Edward and suggest he joined up?

... and later his younger cousin Edward Hindley (1867-1948) followed the same path to the Macclesfield police force, joining in 1894 and rising to the exalted rank of Superintendent. Just like his uncle John, this young Edward abandoned his Dad's shoemaking profession for the police ... it seems a pattern had been established?

But things did not go well in Macclesfield ...

On Sunday November 18th 1874, barely two months after our Edward had joined the force, there was considerable excitement in the Macclesfield town as Mina Jury, a young lady and witness in the infamous tichborne case, had escaped from the town gaol. The girl had been incarcerated after robbing a local hostelry, The Macclesfield Arms. Law & order had customarily been a local responsibility and there were only about a dozen constables in Macclesfield at the time. The escape of the lady caused the Chief Constable much grief and the macclesfield courier reported the big shake up that followed. By May 1875 there were 28 constables, a new gaol and the first Government Efficiency Certificate had been awarded to the Macclesfield police, which included additional Central Government funding. Central money and control from London was clearly designed to increase the professionalism of policing ... things were on the up and opportunities for a secure career were bright ... or were they? ... had local autonomy been swapped for a bureaucratic nightmare of central dictate?

So why did Edward return to Barnton after such a short spell in the police force? ... unexpectedly and with a wife and son Samuel? Maybe Edward didn't want cosy security and bureaucratic red tape at the taxpayers expense? Or maybe he was made a scapegoat for the debacle? Edward never spoke about the matter, and some suggested it was a murky episode ... but then allowing a famous lady to escape from custody was a bit embarrassing ... and Mina Jury had form ... questions were even asked in the House (Hansard 3rd August 1875 vol 226 cc 445-6) ... family and village gossip were rife ... Eda remembered that it was mentioned that Edward had had some 'bother' with the police, but 'us youngsters were not told anything in those days' ...

On 7th of June 1875 aged 16, nearly 17, Edward married Harriet Williamson, a buxom wench from Bollington and ten years older than young Edward. The ceremony was in the parish church at Prestbury near Macclesfield, apparently without a Hindley present as a witness. Edward confirmed his occupation as a policeman at the time of his marriage, but he continued to 'pose' as a 20 year old?

The first son Samuel was born in Bollington just 9 months after the wedding but the family were back in Barnton for young Peter's birth in 1877 and then Fred in 1879. Three strapping boys 1, 2, 3 ... in four years ... just like that ... poor Harriet!

Young Peter was my Granddad!

It seems likely that Edward returned to the fold in Barnton at Christmas time 1876, with his tail between his legs, a new wife, a young 8 month old son and Harriet was pregnant again with Peter ... he needed income and help ... no doubt Harriet told him to get his finger out ... two boys and more to come ... all with a voracious appetite for cash! He must have been welcomed back by his dad and obviously went back to shoemaking as Peter's will in 1886 clearly left the shoemaking business to Edward. The prodigal son returned?!

In 1881 Edward was living in Oakwood Lane but ten years later in 1891 he had moved to Catchwell Cottage. It is not clear when the freehold of Catchwell Cottage was purchased, George junior was a tenant there and it is not mentioned in his will so it is likely Peter purchased the plot sometime between 1849 and 1889.

When Peter senior died in 1889 they all knew shoemaking was under increased pressure from the factory system especially in Northamptonshire. Peter had done well but shoemaking was changing ... Peter's estate was £346-7-6 in today's money £355,074.55 ... but 'only' £50,724 for each of the children ... and Edward was ambitious and restless ...

Thomas & Edward were executors in their father's will but Martha had to be looked after, the brothers were stitched up ... the estate was tied up until Martha died which was not until 1903.

Thomas built his own house at Nursery Road in 188? before Peter died? Where did Thomas get the money?
Although he was 30 odd years old? Did Brunner Mond pay that well? Or did Peter give Thomas money to build his own house? Did James build his own house in Penistone?

Perhaps Peter divested some of his wealth prior to his death? This could explain his relatively small estate of £346, compared to George junior who had property galore.

No doubt Edward wanted to emulate his older brother Thomas, and build his own house. In 1900 Catchwell Cottage was an obvious development possibility as Martha was 83 and getting on. So it transpired that Edward built his own house in 1900 on the Catchwell Cottage site. He was 42 and had been back in Barnton for 23 years ... but earning enough money to build a grand house?

Edward didn't start his goldmine operations at Acton Bridge until he was 42 in 1900 ... family gossip suggests 'Edward made a great deal of money by buying and selling land and property'. It seems he was not only making shoes but also speculating in property.

Edward made money make money and he invested his profits in a diversified portfolio of property at Spencer Street & Runcorn Road in Barnton and at New Road in Anderton. It is not clear when these investments were made but in 1893 Geoff Buchan suggests that 54 houses were built on the east side of Church Road on land which had previously been part of 'the Baxter estate'. Thomas Spencer of Comberbach, yeoman and innkeeper purchased this estate in 1758. After his death in 1763 his widow Alice continued to live there until her death in 1777. It was her children who sold the estate to Joseph Baxter in 1785.

Did Edward take advantage of the 1893 sale & development of the Baxter estate? It could have been lucrative as Brunner Mond sponsored the new development to house some of their workforce. The terraced houses were basic in design, with two rooms on the ground floor, two bedrooms, no bath and a WC outside. In 1901 nearly half the tenants were newcomers to the village, no doubt attracted by the employment opportunities at Winnington. The development which included Spencer Street and George Street was know locally as 'Newtown'.

Young Peter used to say that the family insisted on a policy of diversification, with investments going into many children as well as many different assets. Assets which were soon to included the shares of Brunner Mond, a new giant in the Northwich community making soda ash from Buxton limestone and Northwich brine ...

Clearly the shoemaking business was still going in 1901. The 1901 census confirms that 4th son Fred Hindley at 21 was still in the trade and Harriet was working in the family shoe shop on the corner of Lydyett Lane selling the wares, but Edward was an 'Assistant Overseer' ... who's assistant? overseeing what? where? when? & how? (In 1914 a local directory recorded Edward's son, Fred, as a rate collector, assistant overseer & clerk to the parish council. So most likely this was the job Edward was doing in 1901. In 1914 Edward was identified as the cemetery clerk).

So the likely conclusion was that Edward made his first significant money from property speculation, cannily following in the footsteps of his Granddad George junior? Rents from the properties in Anderton were still being collected around 1910/15 ... on a Tuesday by Edward's daughter-in-law clara brocklehurst and his young granddaughter eda (named after Edward's only daughter). Maybe the dusty archives of some local Northwich solicitor will confirm this uncharted interregnum? But Edward's family solicitor, Herbert Moreton Moss, didn't establish his practice until 1906 ...

It was clear that Edward had moved into Catchwell Cottage when his father died in 1889 and it was only after a heart wrenching family dispute that the cottage was demolished before Martha died. In 1900 Edward built his grand new family home the poplars. Designed by Northwich architect Edward Thomas Ward, The Poplars was palatial, one the first houses in Barnton to have electricity, built to exacting standards with window timbers still in good condition in 1985 when repairs were conducted. And above all there was a tennis court for the grandchildren.

Geoff Buchan has an interesting photo of The Poplars on Runcorn Road, showing the full extent of the house, land and shoe shop on the corner ... from around 1920?

Eda, young Peter's daughter, and Winnie, Fred's daughter, both loved The Poplars and particularly the tennis court, there they were safe, away from the local scallywag boys. Fred was always a stern father, 'Eda! I don't want Winnie playing with those boys', but Eda, was protective of her young cousin, 'She's not playing with the boys she's playing with me'. Nevertheless 'Leighs Brow' was out of bounds 'the Dutton brothers were rascals and not to be trusted'! Eda and Winnie spent hours together at The Poplars and remained close lifelong friends, even marrying the same birchall brothers.

Edward was very proud of The Poplars and everyone thought house and host were just marvellous! The Poplars echoed with family joy rather like The Briars did for the Birchalls in later years. Doris, Peter's eldest, lived there for a while, looking after Harriet in her final bed bound years.

Eda also said she remembered the shoe workshop and the pleasant smell of rich leather ... on the corner on right at the bottom of Lydyett Lane, opposite the Burgess Brothers drapery store ... suggesting the shoe business was still going around 1910? 

The girls were also treated to a ride in Edward's new car with Frank Simpson, a trusted servant and chauffeur at the wheel. The first car in Barnton? What a thrill!

Frank was a well known personality around Barnton with his white uniform coat and cap. The boys in the village took the Mickey out of him and nick named him 'Army Club'. Army Club was a cigarette brand established in 1775 and distributed by Cavanders. Advertising for the brand focussed on the nostalgia of wartime camaraderie & male culture and featured a character bearing a striking resemblance to Frank! Cavanders were originally based in Manchester, but the brand disappeared in 1961, when the company was taken over by the Godfrey Philips cigarette company.

Frank was born at No 6 Spencer Street, Barnton in 1903. His Mum & Dad, Mary & John, had moved from Middlewich around 1896. The Spencer Street terrace must have been pretty cramped with the Simpson lot ... nine kids in the 1911 census count. John was a steam engine man and probably, like dozens of others, moved to Barnton to work for Brunner Mond, the 'family firm'. No doubt he walked along 'The Shoots' from 'Newtown' to Winnington Bridge every morning ...

Edward, was always called Edward and the grandchildren remembered him as welcoming with cheery talk and smiles but always a strict perfectionist, he knew what he wanted and usually got it. It was always suggested that the family tradition of 'education & compound interest' came from Edward but it seems it might have just as easily come from the complex challenge of surviving with animal interdependencies which lies deep deep in the Gandy & Hindley family history ... and the culture of rural Cheshire. Whatever the source of Edward's entreaty he was a certainly a family man ...

Edward and Harriet had six children, five sons and daughter Eda. Edward was determined his sons adopted a trade which was more robust than shoemaking, where the skills he had so laboriously acquired became redundant. He encouraged both Samuel, his eldest, and Peter to train as coopers. After all everybody would always want a bucket ... wouldn't they? ... but the future was unknowable, everyone was a victim of changing times and nobody foresaw the ubiquitous 40 gallon steel drum ... how could they? Forecasting was difficult especially when it was concerned with the future ...

Samuel Hindley (1876-1942) - born on 2nd April 1876 in Bollington, he trained as a cooper but his first job was collecting bones for his father's business, the Weaver Refining Company at Acton Bridge. In his younger days he played football for Northwich Victoria F.C. (as did his cousin George Hindley).
After Samuel married Bertha Sefton (of 73 James Street, Macclesfield) in 1906 they lived at 88, Runcorn Road, Barnton. By 1908 they had moved to St Helens, Lancashire, where Samuel began his own business at 42, 44 & 46 waterloo street.

The St Helens, Liverpool, Northwich triangular trade had been a major factor driving the industrial revolution in the North West. The connections between Northwich & St Helens were well established and it was not surprising that Samuel chose St Helens for his new business venture, he followed giants like the Beecham, Pilkington & Greenall families!

But Samuel's business was very different, he had seen and helped his dad make money out of waste at Acton Bridge, so he followed and opened a waste business in St Helens which was incorporated into The Weaver Refining Co Ltd in 1908. Sam described himself as an 'Animal Product Merchant' in the 1911 census but the business seemed to have developed into a different specialisation ... perhaps Samuel was best described as a rag & bone man ? ... or a marine store dealer ? ...

 Alan, an old hand from St Helens, described the scene at Waterloo Street - 'Sammy Hindley's was a well known institution in St Helens, more of a scrap yard or recyclers than a bone processing business. In fact apart from the bones in an old bathtub 'maggot hatchery', I don't think there were any animal parts around. Waterloo Street might have been a working class residential area but I think even then there were laws to protect the neighbours from the extremes of smell and putrefaction. Apart from that, Widnes was the epicentre of the animal parts processing industry. So Sammy Hindley's was a scrap yard, with rag collectors and sorters, and a maggot breeding enterprise but the stink of the place on a hot summer day! The whole place was like a scene from a Dickens novel, there where a whole gang of toothless crones and gnarled old hags who used to sit sorting out the stuff that came in on his rag & bone cart. I can see it and smell it now.
When all else failed you could always get a few coppers for jam jars or bundles of clothes, the good old days! As lads we used to earn a few pennies by taking old clothes and woollens to Sammys.
We also went there for maggots for fishing. From memory there was an old cast iron bath tub with a pile of old bones and rotting meat in it where he bred the maggots, you could smell it from two streets away. The smell was spectacular as were the swarms of blue-bottles on the stuff. One of the men used to take our empty jam jars, scoop up a few handfuls of the maggots into it and charge us 3d for the beasties.
My memory of the place was of a largish shed, open fronted and full of old rags and discarded clothes with the old crones shuffling through them and throwing stuff into separate piles. I remember going into the yard through a narrow passageway surrounded on either side by scrap and buying telescopic radio aerials off tanks to make fishing rods. They collapsed down to about 18".
The yard itself housed a huge assortment of discarded metal goods and at least one pony and cart (its driver was clearly a WW1 veteran as he had a wooden peg-leg).
This driver used to take his cart along all the back service lanes or entries as they were known in St Helens and he had a very bizarre call, 'rag bone-a-bone-a-bone-a-bone', but as far as I can recall he wasn't after bones but old metal and clothes.
It used to be a great insult if someone at school implied you had got your clothes from Sammy Hindleys. I can always remember my mum straightening my clothes and giving me the once over with the wet hanky. If I looked a bit off she would say I looked like I had come from Sammy Hindleys and I never knew what she meant ... till now!
'S HINDLEY MARINE STORE' - was in the shadow of Windle Pilk on the corner of Water Street and Waterloo Street ... it seems strange now that you could get a penny each for a jam jar, now I suppose everyone recycles, it was Dickensian all right, but there again the whole area was something from a bygone day'?

So most of Samuel's money was made from buying and selling scrap metal, together with Army surplus and many odds and ends including rabbit skins which were mostly used for making hats.

In St Helens he was known as 'Honest Sam' - everyone trusted him.

The marine store business was still referred to as Sammy Hindleys in the 1950s when it was still running in Waterloo Street.

Samuel owned a massive motor cycle called 'Royal Ruby' and he also owned a tiny car.
He was a special constable during the Second World War.

Samuel & Bertha had two children John (1915-2000) and marjorie (1912-). Samuel died on 28th January 1942 in St Helens, Lancashire.

Peter Hindley (1877-1961) - also pushed into an apprenticeship as a cooper, but he also worked in his father's business as 'Labour Manager'. Peter used to cycle to work at Acton Mills on his bike from 'Heathside', Little Leigh. The dog started barking at 7 pm prompt in anticipation of Peter's return after long hours at the works.

The freehold of rose cottage, renamed heathside, was purchased by Peter for £740 in 1918, part of the sale of The Little Leigh Estate by the direction of the Rt Hon Lord Leigh. In today's money some £209,052.85. The previous tenants of the 16 acre smallholding were the brocklehursts. For 150 years the Brocklehursts farmed the smallholding 'Heath Farm' from the property which included a grocers shop.

Peter's greatest previous triumph was when he was 23 as captain of barnton AFC, winners of the Warrington Observer Cup in 1899-1900.

Peter had a trade and he left The Weaver Refining Co and joined Brunner Mond in 1909 when he was 32. He was one of the last two coopers employed at the Winnington and Wallescote works and retired after 35 years service in 1944 at 67.  And I have his gold presentation watch to prove it!

Why didn't Edward encourage Peter to stay at The Weaver Refining Co Ltd? Peter left in 1909 some 11 years before the business was merged into British Glues & Chemicals in 1920. In 1909 nobody could compete with Brunner Mond & Co they paid top whack for craftsmen & labourers ... there was no way The Weaver Refining Co could match them ...

Peter married Clara Brocklehurst in 1903, they had three girls, Doris, Eda and Clare.

Young eda, my mum, was born in 1907 at 287 (originally 265) Runcorn Road, one of the family properties in Barnton. The end one, nearest to Little Leigh. Eda married george birchall in 1934 and contrived to push the Hindley progeny with four wave creating youngsters, Gillian, John, Richard & Kathryn Ann. Eda was perhaps the first Hindley to celebrate a 100th birthday ... September 18th 2007 was a special day! Eda died on the 25th of July 2011 ... what an innings!

Young Peter had two other daughters -

Doris (1904-1981) the elder daughter lost her first husband Albert Turner to a heart attack shortly after they were married in 1934. Almost inevitably for Northwich residents at the time Albert worked for ICI, in the 'Process Records Department'. With no children of her own Doris made a massive contribution to the education & welfare of her nephews & nieces.
Nursemaid, housecleaner, wash lady, pianist, artist you name it, Auntie Doris was there, doing it.
Interestingly later in life Doris married James Murdock Young of Highfield House Farm, Bosley, Macclesfield, a childhood sweetheart from a local farming family.
The Youngs were breeders of Cheshire Shire Horses, and James was the proud owner of middlewich landmark, a stallion of repute, recorded in The Shire Horse Stud Book volume 66, 1945. Later as a member of The Shire Horse Society, established in 1878 to promote the 'Old English Breed of Cart Horses', James was a respected judge at the agricultural shows thus keeping Hindley family close to the fine tradition of selective breeding of draft animals. Middlewich Landmark was no doubt descended from the powerful animals that ploughed the Cheshire fields, hauled the flats and narrow boats on the Weaver and Trent & Mersey canals, and pulled the carts of the 'rag & bone' men collecting waste for the Acton Bridge manufactory ...
Doris was slightly deaf with immaculate manners and always smiling ...

Clare (1914-1995) was the youngest daughter, who lost her twin sister Rose only a few weeks after birth, and lost her first husband fred newton only a few weeks after marriage.
Fred, a newly wed ships Engineer from Barnton, was lost at sea in 1942. Life was hard.
In 1952 Clara married James Greenway, another Cheshire farmer from Cliff Bank Farm, Alvanley.
It seemed the Hindleys were destined to stay closely involved with the farmers ...
Clare was svelte, engaging and a professional cook who loved to feed the family ...

Peter died in 1961 & Clara in 1967.

Fred Hindley (1879-1948) - a rogue and philanderer, always in trouble, and who was the Frodsham girl he ran off with?

Fred was born around Christmas 1879, probably at Catchwell Cottage, Runcorn Road, Barnton, Northwich, Cheshire, or in Oakwood Lane, Barnton.

Fred was at one time a shift man at Brunner Mond but he found it difficult to settle into a routine. He travelled in America for six months and journeyed across the continent from East to West and back again without paying, by riding on the buffers of trains. He returned to England and Brunner Mond but then became the Managing Director of an oil refining company at Trafford Park, Manchester.

He married Beatrice Gilbert (1882-1951) from Arley and they had four children, Winifred, Clarice, Gilbert and Joan but a stable family life was not for Fred. Around 1920 Fred met a likely lady and eventually went to live with her in Frodsham, leaving Beatrice to bring up the children in Barnton - 

Winifred (1909-1989) married bill birchall in 1937. They had no children of their own but Wynn & Bill had their hands full as they helped out with the four reprobate kids of cousin Eda Birchall (nee Hindley) who had married Bill's brother George in 1934.

Clarice (1911-1998) first married James McNair and secondly Lionel Best. Clarice pushed a mean pair of scissors in her hairdressing hut in Townfield Lane.

Gilbert (1914-1989) was born at 9 Townfield Lane, Barnton, Northwich. His parents had previously lived at 6 Townfield Lane, Barnton. Gilbert left Grammar School in 1932 and started a wireless shop in 1933 on the corner of Lydyett Lane and Runcorn Road, Barnton. gilbert's shop was believed to have occupied the same site as the old shoe making shop of George Hindley junior. Gilbert's sister, Joan, had previously used the building as a hairdressing salon. Gilbert attended the Marconi Wireless College at Colwyn Bay until 1934. When his parents separated his mother had a house built at 24 Townfield Lane, Barnton. His mother died in 1951 and Gilbert moved back into the property (after buying his sisters shares, the children being left a quarter share each).
Gilbert married Mary Wilde (1917-1996) in 1938. They had one child Boyd (1945-). Boyd, suffered from asthma and so the family moved two miles to a flat in Cogshall Hall (which was owned by ICI) in order to try to improve Boyd's health. Boyd married in 19?? and had two daughters, Heather & Joanne.
Gilbert was employed by ICI at Winnington from 1938-1939 and after the Second World War from 1945. From 1939-1945 Gilbert served in the Merchant Navy and was very fortunate as on two different occasions he survived torpedo attacks. He then joined the Royal Navy Reserves as a sub-Lieutenant from 1945-1950. He was a Special Constable from 1952-1963. In 1963 he was seconded to ICI Stockton-on-Tees (Supply Department) to help in setting up machinery to manufacture polythene sacks. He stayed on to become Distribution Manager. He was made redundant in 1971 and took over a garage business at the Ship Garage, Low Worsall, North Yorkshire. He sold the business in 1980 and retired to 3 Turton Road, Yarm, Teesside.
Gilbert drew up the bare bones of the Hindley family tree. He provided the link with the American branch of the family, particularly as a result of visiting Wyandotte, Michigan, as a merchant seaman during the war in 1942.
Gilbert died at Yarm on 31st July 1989. His wife, Molly, died at Yarm in September 1996. Dorothy Hardman (who married Fred Hewitt?) formerly of Comberbach, living at Antrobus in 1997, daughter of Beatrice Gilbert’s sister, confirmed Molly was buried in the grave of 'Houghton' in Barnton Church Yard.

Joan (1916-1970s) first married Ken Stout, then Cecil Richardson, then Arthur Wood, suffering like her sister Clarice, from the demise of husbands and a shortage of issue.

Beattie (Beatrice) Hindley taught Margaret Hindley (b1919) at Barnton Brunner School.

From 1929 until the early 1930s Fred lived at Greenbank Farm, Kingsley, as a tenant in the house, the land was let for farming. He worked at Kingsley Mill (next door) and probably got the job and accommodation as a result of his father’s friendship with Billy Gibson who was the owner of the mill. But why did Fred leave 'the family firm' Brunner Mond? And what was the 'oil company' he was the boss of in Trafford Park?

Whilst Fred was living with the new love of his life, Winifred Burns, they had three children - ????

Fred died on 29th April 1948, aged 68 years and he was buried with Edward in Barnton cemetary.

Thomas Hindley (1882-1939) - trained as an industrial chemist and worked, almost inevitably, at Brunner Mond. In the late 1800s Brunner Mond at Winnington & Wallerscote had modern facilities for producing soda-ash which was in demand for soap & glass making. The 'ammonia soda process' was a breakthrough and replaced the older Leblanc process which had endless issues with the economic use of waste and by products.

About 1905 Thomas had a rift with his father and decided to emigrate to the United States of America. He gained employment with the Michigan Alkali Company at the Wyandotte Chemical Works near Detroit. They were making similar products to Brunner Mond and were serious & growing competitors.  W J Reader writes that Michigan - 'had succeeded, around 1907, in recruiting staff from Winnington'. Thomas was said to have introduced the technical details of the Brunner Mond system to the America competitors and some said he 'stole' the technology. He certainly felt he was going nowhere at Winnington, perhaps he was upset he hadn't been invited to join the prestigious Winnington Hall Club? He became a successful manager at the Michigan Alkali Company in the USA.

If this was a piece of industrial espionage it did not have much impact on Brunner Mond's sales, as the Dingley tariff of 1897 had murdered exports and most of their income from North America was secured through a large shareholding the The Solvay Processing Co.

Eager to see their son again Edward & Harriet visited North America in 1910. They left Liverpool on June 18th on the luxurious flag ship of the Cunard fleet the 'Lusitania' under the command of Captain J T W Charles. Racked with inherited 'hay fever', which was subsequently and very generously passed on to his great granddaughter Gillian, Edward found the cruise from Liverpool to New York and back so therapeutic that he claimed his allergy was cured for life!

Thomas married Emily Henson (1884-1970) from Bolton, Lancashire, in 19?? and they had five children after moving to the USA in 1905 - Edward (1911-1964), Jessie (1913-1980), Donald (1916-1982) and twin Oswald (1916-1971) & Harriet (1919-). 'Auntie Emily' visited the family in England in the late 40s and was remembered as a small gentle lady with an endearing American twang.

Eda Hindley (1885-1964) - Edward's only daughter. The language of origin of the name Eda is Old English & Hebrew. Eda was a rare name for girls, it was the short form of other given names (e.g. Adah & Edith) but used as an independent name in its own right. At the modest peak of usage in 1902, 0.011% of girls were given the name Eda. As wife of Lamech the First, Adah is the second woman named in the Bible. The meaning of Eda in Old English is 'strife for wealth' ...

Eda married the Rev Alfred Booth in 1912. 'The Poplars' remained the family home until Edward's death in 1935 and afterwards Eda inherited the property and lived there with Alfred after they retired. Alfred's work took him away from Barnton during a succession of pastoral duties and he progressed in the Methodist hierarchy being General Secretary for a time. Eda rented the property to local doctors; Dr. Booth, and then Dr. Riley in 1946. As a child Eda scratched her name on a window with a diamond ring and it was still there in 1996.

Denis Booth their only son was to excel in the RAF and later at Hull University as a renowned artist and the painter of the poppy field. 'The Poppy Field' and 'The Rangitiki' were both commissioned in 1987 for the Birchall family.

Alfred Booth's sister married John Worral of Greenbank Farm, Kingsley, and Eda & Alfred's nephew, Stanley Worral (1925-) was still active at Blake Lees Methodist Chapel in 2010 where Billy Gibson's daughter Mary still played the organ at 100 years of age. Family connections are everywhere ...

Edward Hindley junior (1887-1949) - an analytical chemist, trained in Manchester. Edward junior was the Laboratory Manager at The Weaver Refining Co Ltd and concerned with product quality. His Dad had sent him off to Manchester to study chemistry ... Edward senior knew about the power of science - 'observation, maths theory, hypothesis, experimental validation & peer review' and Edward junior was not going to miss out. Science was vital for a successful 'refining' business. Edward had seen the effects of mechanisation and the application of science in the leather industries. The ancient crafts were being displaced. Quality was important, not only better sales but also a better price ... Billy Lever at his Port Sunlight works paid a quality premium for 'Top White' tallow ... the lab at Acton Bridge developed a SAFE bleaching test which helped Edward to get top whack for his tallow ...

The importance of the nitrogen, potassium & phosphate balance in chemical fertilisers also determined the quality & price and Edward went to great lengths to ensure the accuracy & reliability of his analysis. This became a commercial priority and led to pressures from within the industry for standardisation and the BSI. These issues were post rationalised and codified in the Fertilisers & Feeding Stuffs Act of 1893.

 Edward junior achieved some success as a chemist recovering oil from soya beans and he sold the patent to Bibby's Oil & Cattle Cake Company in Liverpool. He also had a shed near the Willows Garage on Runcorn Road, Barnton where he prepared 'health foods'. Young Eda used to remember him experimenting with his pumps and tubes in the 'dairy' at Heathside. When he left the Weaver Refining Co Ltd Edward ran his own company, 'Dainty Products' at Sutton Weaver, using gelatine from his Dad's business to make jellies, blancmange powder and cleaning fluids. He had to close the business when war broke out in 1939 as he was unable to obtain the raw materials. During The Second World War he worked for ICI, testing gases.

Edward junior, with his wife May (née Capper) and sons Robert (1933-) and Norman (-), lived in a detached house adjacent to The Poplars and sharing the same drive. The house was a wedding present from Edward to Edward junior and his young wife. Edward's will gave young Edward, 'an option, to be exercised within six calendar months of my death, of purchasing the croft adjoining The Poplars at the price of five shillings per square yard ...' ... perhaps a concession to his youngest who of all his children was the only one who was not a property owner.

In 1945 Edward & family moved to Lytham St Annes to run a guest house before ending his own life tragically in the sea in 1949. Why was young Edward so tormented? Perhaps he was desperately trying to emulate his father and lost hope when his many experiments failed to strike gold ... for sure he would have pondered whether success & business acumen came from hard work, honesty & thrift ... or just random luck? ...

By 1900 Edward clearly had problems with his father's business ... earlier in 1826 George junior's move to Barnton heralded the halcyon days for the shoemaking craft; urban populations were exploding and there were feet to be shod. Both George junior and his son Peter did well. The population of Northwich rose from 1,300 to 17,600 in the second half of the 19th century as industry boomed. Something was going on? salt! In Northwich the ancient brine pit by the Dane had inspired folk to explore the Witton marshes and Wincham in search of salt ... and they found it everywhere ... and as the urban populations grew they needed more and more of it ... not only for diet and food preservation, but also salt was needed for alkali production and alkali was needed for soap & glass making and fabric & paper bleaching ... an avalanche of salt & soda ash was pouring down the Weaver to Liverpool and industrial Lancashire ...

Northwich was specialising in salt not shoes and things were changing in shoes ... new technology was around which required big capital investment. For generations the Hindley family had practised the ancient craft of the cordwainer but the industrial revolution was decimating the economics of hand made shoes. The future of shoes was in the Northamptonshire factories and the tasty imports. Cheshire's oak forest had long gone and with them the local bark tannins needed for leather production, and although farming was thriving both tannins and hides had to be imported to satisfy demand in the growing cities. Both leather and shoes were being made in modern competitive factories. None of the ancient crafts of Cheshire were immune from the capital intensive mass production of the industrial revolution. After Isaac Singer started the mass production of sewing machines in the 1850s there was increasing mechanisation and factory production of shoes. First the Blake sole sewer, then riveting machines and the Mills turn-shoe machines, then the Goodyear chain-stitchers and welt machines and the Blake & Goodyear screw; clicking, skiving, punching, stitching, dieing out, rounding, splitting, toughening, lacing, tacking, pulling over, trimming, pounding, stapling, welting, beating, slashing ... one damned complex machine after another, up to 170 different machines and all proving adept at fast quality mass production almost untouched by human hands. Such was the complicated process of making a shoe by machinery. It would be hard to find a process that surpassed it in complexity and the number of separate machines involved. St Crispin would turn in his grave if he could see his shoes taken out of the hands of his craftsmen and whirled rapidly through a host of odd but effective contrivances on the way to discerning buyers.

Expensive machines were introduced onto the Nantwich shoemaking scene around 1860. Some smaller businesses without capital tried to compete with the new fangled and very expensive machines by keeping wage bills low, but it was fruitless, and subsequent loss of jobs and low wages led to bitter strikes in 1872/73. The workers unions resisted change in phases; initially they were concerned, just like the old guilds, with upholding the laws which protected skills and apprenticeships, then they were concerned with maintaining employment through skill demarcations, then improvement in wages & conditions and eventually futile resistance to the introduction of the machines themselves. Of course there were confrontations and compromises but nothing could stop the inevitable economic advantages of the factory system which delivered low cost, mass produced quality to the vast numbers of customers in the cities. The jobs were now in the factories. A factory in Northampton could produce shoes in quantity at prices so low that even rural populations in Antrobus could afford them. The traditional craftsman skills and hand sewing techniques established centuries ago and practiced by the Hindleys rapidly declined. There was competition around. This was the Industrial Revolution ... perhaps George junior was one of the last specialist Cordwainers to pass on his skills to his sons. When his son Peter died in 1889, Peter's sons ventured into more lucrative fields ... shoes were now made in manufactories ... and some were even imported ...

So mechanisation and the industrial revolution impacted on Peter Hindley's hand made shoes and forced the old traditions to change, in just the same way as years earlier when it was chemistry, and particularly alkali production technology, that was the front runner of change. Perhaps it all started with the spinning & weaving of wool, silk & cotton as machines were grouped together in factory sites where concentrated power from water wheels and then steam engines was available. But cloth could not be finished without soap, bleach, dyestuffs and mordants ... and, of course, the big mills needed glass ... no wonder demand for alkali exploded.

So when his dad died Edward was in trouble and was forced to supplement his shoemaking business with greater things. Initially property speculation paid off handsomely but Edward's breakthrough came around 1900 when working with his mate Joseph Oswald Neill and later, James Evans Grimditch, a Meat Trader from Liverpool, they risked everything and chased a dream when they founded the weaver refining co ltd.

Edward Hindley described himself as a Chemical Manufacturer and he turned his attention to the opportunities that might be associated with a riparian factory site at Acton Bridge and a sinking ex salt works at Witton Brook ... he had a family to support ...

But Edward Hindley left shoemaking, not for Northwich salt & alkali but for the nitrogen industry and the vast array of products sourced from the cow. Led by fertilisers and explosives, the chemistry of the cow was second only to salt in rural Cheshire! 

Edward made his mark from animal waste ... after life as a milk production unit, the cow carcase provided not only the butcher's juicy meat but also a host of valuable by products that could be sold into new markets ... Edward processed rotting cows ... he boasted that 'The Weaver Refining Company' exploited every part of the cow apart from the eyelashes! He loved to tell the grand children about all sorts of meat cuts, tripes and offals , black puddings, sausage skins, leather hides, animal feeds, fertilisers, bone meal, bone china, candles & lamp oils, sizes, gelatines, greases, glues and hairs for paint brushes ... and he also supplied tallow to the 1st Lord Leverhume's soap factory ... but how the 'bone works' used to smell ... but where there's muck there's brass!

In 1902 the Kelley's Directory of Cheshire Trades indicates The Weaver Refining Co was a manure, size and tallow manufacturer. The Directory also recorded that Joseph's shoemaking business in Antrobus was still going but who was operating the Barnton business?

His dad had given him a good start, but there were five surviving kids out of eleven to share Peter's investments. Life was tough and investment in the past couldn't help ... it was investment in the future that mattered. But Edward sensed that his dad's real legacy was not in property or shoemaking but in 'education & compound interest'. Edward was driven to help his own children survive by supplying good value innovative products for his customers ... the farms and the manufactories of the industrial revolution ... The Weaver Refining Co inherited the 'know how' from the Acton Bridge Manure Works and Saltpetre Works ... Edward learned the hard way, the croc of gold wasn't at the end of the rainbow, it was found in the disturbing remains of cows ... and life with dead cows was not easy ...

However well intentioned Edward always resented regulatory interference in his expert trade, not because he wanted to sell inferior products or cut corners but because regulation added costs for his customers, thus reducing the growth of his business and reducing investment in improved technology. Edward was under pressure from an avalanche of petty regulations and he was particularly aggrieved as local slaughter houses aroused public ire, yet centralised abattoirs increased the time between kill and process. And time meant rotten carcases and lower prices and more obnoxious waste ... for Edward 'Health & Safety' was commonsense, and if correctly organised with investment in innovative technology, 'Health & Safety' was profitable. But the proliferating red tape of amateur 'do gooders' just soaked up Edward's time and all such regulations had unintended consequences -

costs escalated as quangos & small print proliferated

innovation was inhibited as change & flexibility were often outlawed by inexperienced inspectors

capital investment went overseas or underground as costs reduced returns

unemployment increased as growth slowed and employment costs rose

resources were diverted from satisfying customers to satisfying the ‘rules’

cartels enjoyed some legal protection from competition as costs of entry rose

caveat emptor & due diligence were replaced by a false sense of security

responsibility was separated from control

current better practice was inhibited as well as the conmen

opportunities were opened up for bribery, corruption & cover up

the delusion of control was encouraged & cooperation & local knowledge was hindered

Edward probably knew nothing about the esoteric philosophy of Adam Smith and moral sentiments nor David Ricardo and comparative advantage but he did know hard work & free trade satisfied customers and kept costs down and profits & output up; more goodies for more folk. Fear of losing customers was far more pertinent than fear of red tape. Lord Leverhulme struck a hard bargain if Edward's tallow was underwhelming!

After 20 successful years of struggle Edward was having to run faster and faster just to stand still ... the pace of technological change was staggering. By 1920 Edward knew his business had to be modernised, he had sussed it out and summarised the economics in his own mind -

agriculture in Cheshire had collapsed ... he spent many hours with 'putting the world to rights' with his mate George Hormbrey who had argued and written about the necessity for modernisation of British agriculture ...

the unbelievable growth of the port of Liverpool was powered by free trade ... manufactured products were exported and agricultural products were imported in payment ... how else could folk overseas pay for the wonderful products of the manufactories of the industrial revolution? ...

locally Brunner Mond had led the way with massive capital investment in high tech chemistry which produced big tonnages of alkali with margins & profits which were the envy of all ... folk flocked to high paid jobs at Winnington, real wages rose as marketable output rose and so too ... inevitably ... did wages and costs at Acton Bridge ...

all the old advantages of a rural riparian Acton Bridge factory site were now irrelevant as people flocked to the cities and the railways moved materials and products to the population centres quickly and flexibly ...

comparative advantage was ebbing away from traditional manufacturing of manures & glues and into science & technology and the financial services which satisfied the apparently ubiquitous hunger for new capital ... William Maude's family made more money from banking than operations on the Weaver and Joseph Neill's dad was a banker ...

for the second time within 20 years Edward's traditional business was confronted by new competition, anyone who failed to innovative & modernise was in trouble ... his company needed new capital & new technology if money was to be made from added value through specialisation & scale ...

 On the 7th of May 1920 The Weaver Refining Co Ltd at Acton Bridge was merged into british glues & chemicals. Edward made money from the sale of the business but although he was 62 he remained active, determined to make a success of the merger. The Directory of Directors published by Thomas Skinner & Co. recorded on page 682 - Mr Edward Hindley, The Poplars, Barnton, near Northwich, director of British Glues & Chemicals, Limited. Regular board meetings were held in London and Edward commuted by train. He used Capper's taxis to get to the station, 'better to wear their cars out than mine' ... he always used to telephone Harriet with the expected time of his arrival back home. His telephone number at The Poplars in 1926 was 'Northwich 403'.

Hard work always seems to earn space for some fun and Edward found time to pursue many other activities ...

Education, education, education ...

The Hindley family have always insisted that Edward's philosophy of life was encapsulated in his simple rhetoric 'education & compound interest' ... which led him to investment in technological innovation in his business ...

Edward was passionate about education; he hated idleness, dishonesty & waste. Survival was hard work and it was education that opened up the opportunity to learn about how the world worked. He never accepted the deep bias in the formal educational system of the high church and state with its contempt for usury & trade. The business of business was strangely absent from the curricula. He insisted his own children learned a trade and his youngest Edward junior was sent away from home to train as a scientist. It was science that dominated Edward's educational aspirations and this insight was reflected in the name he chose for his company - a 'refining' company - 'bringing to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities' ... recovery & quality improvement from the application of science ...

But he was also deeply conscious of the problem of failure ... so many businesses, so many different opportunities but always the quid pro quo ... there had to be far far more failures & bankruptcies than successes. He had learned from his own personal experience that failure was the norm and folk suffered. But he was adamant ... pick yourself up, dust yourself down and try again ... stressing the importance of striving again until you get it right. Edward didn't start his business at Acton Bridge until he was 42 and didn't cash in until he sold out to BG&C when he was 62 ...

(Darwin's natural selection explained the disturbing truth that the success of long necked giraffes resulted from the death of the short necked variety ... but almost certainly Edward never associated his philosophy of life with Charles Darwin ... Darwin's ideas were considered beyond the pale of Methodism at the time ... his early influence was the Methodism of his mother, Martha, and he was heavily involved in the Methodist church in Oakwood Lane. Essentially Methodism driven by Christian faith but focused on small group charity, self help and a healthy suspicion of controlling elites ... a position perfectly consistent with Darwin's natural selection ...)

Service to the community ...

On the Bench as a JP, in the Lodge of Sincerity at Northwich and in Chester as a County Councillor, he was always pushing education and betterment.

His efforts as a public servant were recognised in the naming of the council housing development at hindley crescent in 1931.

It was in the late 1920s that Edward became a County Councillor and he used to attend regular Council meetings in Chester. The application of justice was right up Edward's street, and as 'Brother Edward' at the Lodge he would have had some freedom to choose his charities but the Council bureaucracy must have been stifling ... acres of pages filled with gallons of ink recorded the pontificating of the sub sub committees and multiple task forces involved. How an enthusiastic and dedicated business man coped with this analysis paralysis hurts the brain, it seems to be the very antithesis of the entrepreneurship, diversity & choice, risk & reward which had made Edward a rich man and satisfied the needs of the millions in the cities ... one damned committee after another spending other people's money on dreams that didn't work ... always short of resources, always jumping through hoops as an avalanche of insoluble problems queued up ... everyone different, everyone demanding action and always relentlessly eroding hard work, honesty and thrift ... if you don't believe me just read the endless minutes of the Council Meetings at The Cheshire Records Office, Duke Street, Chester and cry ... pomp and pontification ... how did he stick it?!

But Edward kept at it, he was busy and he also became a guardian of the northwich union workhouse.

The Poor Law Amendment of 1834 standardised the system of poor relief throughout Britain. The statute altered the Poor Law system from one which was administered with local knowledge and 'know how'at parish level to a centralised system which encouraged the large scale development of workhouses by Poor Law Unions. Groups of parishes were combined into unions which were responsible for providing for the poor and needy in the area. The law forbid all relief to the able-bodied in their own homes. Anyone that wished to receive aid had to live in workhouses. This act led to the building of 554 Union workhouses in England and Wales, each built roughly 20 miles from each other. A hugely expensive system full of arbitrary discrimination, bribery & corruption which lasted until  workhouses were replaced by the public welfare system in the 1930s.

The Northwich Union Workhouse was built in 1837-9. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, around 60 in number, representing its constituent parishes and townships. The building was designed by architect George Latham. In 1850 a fever hospital was added and in 1863 better receiving wards with proper baths were installed. A royal commission of 1911 recommended the ending of the Poor Law, so Poor Law Unions and their Guardians were abolished. The 1929 Local Government Act abolished all Poor Law Authorities and transferred their responsibilities for 'public assistance' to local councils. Guardians, mentors and teachers were replaced by faceless bureaucrats. Education was replaced by the bailout as hard work, honesty & thrift were eroded ...

It was all very difficult. Edward believed in education and investment for the future. The 1st Lord Leverhulme was reading from the same hymn sheet, 'Self Help' was the answer to success as all his employees knew. Samuel Smiles had written all about it in 1866. Just like Willie Lever at Port Sunlight, Edward provided jobs at Acton Bridge. His insistent plea for 'education and compound interest' fell on receptive ears at the Northwich Union. Jobs mattered, jobs were the way out of poverty.

Yes conditions were harsh, based on the understanding that pauperism among able-bodied workers was a moral failing. The workhouse ethos aimed to stimulate workers to seek employment rather than accept charity as a right ... but it all went horribly wrong. Edward's hard Anglo Saxon heritage offered rights AND obligations, one is meaningless without the other.

A keen sense of friendship & fun ...

Sure Edward worked hard but he also played hard. When young he travelled & experimented, taking risks and trying things ... he left home at 15, wangled his way into the Royal Marines, risked the wrath of the Police Force, married at 16 ... no staid shoe sewing for him ... and the delights of older women both attracted him and confirmed his instinctive nous ... Harriet was superb.

No doubt he also had endless fun with his big buddy billy gibson. In the late 1920s they had some great days away in Chester when the pair used to travel together to County Council meetings.

William Alfred Gibson JP OBE was the owner of kingsley mill. Like Edward he was a successful business man with close links to the farmers, milling, cows and the river Weaver. Turn into the drive of Kingsley Mill, off the main Northwich to Frodsham road, midway between Crowton and Kingsley, and it soon becomes obvious that Kingsley Mill is still a thriving rural business ...

Not only were Edward and Billy great friends with similar interests in the Methodist Church and local business, they were both passionate about education and helping others, not only through their church and businesses but also through participation in local government. They were both Liberals of independent mind ...

Luckily Edward's legacy has been handed down through family gossip but Billy Gibson went one better ... he started writing ... perhaps fearing that his considerable nous, experience & wisdom may be lost to future generations, in the 1950s Billy wrote a book about kingsley for his family. The book was for his grandchildren, it was never intended for general publication, although parts were serialised in the Chester Chronicle and parts were included in the book - 'Kingsley: The Story of a Cheshire Village'. Anyone who reads the original manuscript will understand that this was not an act of vanity but a desperate record of a successful culture which was under threat ... the family, village & county culture ... the Gibson, Kingsley & Cheshire culture ... it was under threat as the big government juggernaut usurped democracy ... this left the family, the local church, the local Parish & County Councils and all the local folk in a pickle ...

But Billy and Edward did not sit back and complain they got moving and created some waves ...

In addition to Billy Gibson, the mourners at Edward's funeral included another great friend and confidant george hormbrey  ...

George Edwin Hormbrey was the owner of the finest butcher's shop in Barnton, just across from The Poplars. Like Edward & Billy Gibson, George was a doer, an entrepreneur, with close links to the farmers and cows. What a trio they made, all three of them Methodists, Liberals and successful local businessmen ... and just like Billy Gibson, George was passionate enough about farming and butchery to write ... George Hormbrey not only did the business, he also got off his butt and created ... George Hormbrey was not only a butcher and farmer but also an inventor and educator ... he wrote pamphlets ...

And with Edward he was a keen supporter of the Barnton Silver Band ....

The Barnton Silver Band.

Times were always busy but never dull ... Edward enjoyed himself socially with his music ... and Barnton was famous for its music ... The Barnton Temperance Band ... but was Edward teetotal? There was a rumour passed around the village that Edward often charged the local Bobby with the task of retrieving the odd bottle of brandy from the off licence down the road ... of course Edward could not be seen frequenting such an establishment himself ... in any case the brandy was to be used for medicinal purposes only ... ?

When Edward died in 1935 the local paper reported, 'he was a man of wide interests and among the least known was that which he manifested in the Barnton Silver Band, of which he was the founder. He was its President, and at Band practice last Thursday night, as a mark of respect to their benefactor, the members played Handel's Dead March'.

Unfinished business ...

Edward died on the 8th of May 1935 near to his 77th birthday. The eulogy was read by the Rev R H Barry at the Methodist Church and he was buried with Harriet in Barnton cemetary. His final will was dated October the 2nd 1929. A codicil was added on November 15th 1934 which appointed Edward junior as an executor following the death of Harriet in 1933 ... the will also readjusted several loans to his sons and left the land on the western side of The Poplars to daughter Eda.

A second codicil on Jan 31st 1935 readjusted a loan to Thomas, indicating that Edward was still diligently keeping his financial affairs up to date and in order ... hoping, no doubt, to avoid any misunderstandings over his intentions and the distribution of his hard earned fortune.

On the 17th of September 1935 Edward's estate in the Probate Registry was valued at £20,172 pounds, nineteen shillings & three pence. measuring worth as a share of GDP in today's money ... the value Edward's estate was £6,167,016.34 ... six million ... wow! ... but ...

Valued by the Retail Price Index - £1,043,799.19 - this index uses a 'basket' of goods & services, but can be misleading as everybody is different and buys different things - remember the average man has 1.27 children, what does that mean - I have two children!

Valued by the Gross Domestic Product Deflator - £1,076,641.62 - this index uses an average price of 'all' goods & services produced in the economy but can be misleading as a 'car' in 1935 was not the same thing as a 'car' in 2009 - I remember starting handles, carburettors and trafficators!

Valued by Average Earnings - £3,953, 239.68 - this index uses 'real' earnings by referencing them to output & population size - UK population was ?? in 1935 but ?? in 2009 - I now have more folk and far more synergies from interactions to help me!

Valued by GDP per capita - £4,711,963.57 - this index uses average price of all goods & services and reflects the 'productivity' of human capital - an hour worked today is far more productive than an hour worked in 1935 because of new technological & organisational 'know how' - I use a computer to help me, Edward only had a pencil & paper!

So how do you measure the value of Edward's contribution? ... how do you measure the value of any contribution? Probate values are only residuals after a lifetime of earning & spending ... ?

Edward had a large long lived family and subsequent generations found they couldn't get their hands on their share of his estate until too late in life to spend extravagantly. Pouring the proceeds down young throats was not an option Edward would have entertained ... he was bent on education and encouraging his issue to acquire a trade and work hard to build on his contribution and enhance its value ... an inspiring intention ... after all it was the youngsters, not Edward, who created the current worth of his estate ... wasn't it? ... think about it ...

So Edward's real legacy was his behavioural passion for 'education & compound interest' trying to make sure investments were productive ... whether in human or commercial capital ... but why make the distinction? ... it is human folk that make commercial investments ... investment in human capital was the key to Edward Hindley's lasting legacy ... unfinished business ...

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measuring worth - a website that makes sense of money

some indispensible sources

some significant dates

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PS Edward Hindley's story touches all the economic issues in Cheshire which led to, and were consequences of, the industrial revolution ... mass production in factories -

To help you find your way around these pages here is a summary -

edward hindley -

deep history of folk & cows in rural cheshire - cows and the Brits, Romans, English, Danes & Normans; emerging Anglo Saxon culture, markets, fairs & the Gandys - 17th century (freeholders, dissenters & cheese makers), 18th century (feeding the cities & husbandry, Warrington grocers & cordwainers, Antrobus life) & 19th century (Victorian manufactories) - and great budworth.

ancient crafts of rural cheshire - blacksmiths, cordwainers, tanners, coopers, cheese makers and the old hindleys of Farnham.

billy gibson & george hormbrey - friends, businessmen, educators, Methodists, Whigs, investors and moral sentiments & comparative advantage at crewood hall.

birchall brothers - silk throwing in Stockport, Congleton & Macclesfield - fustian cutting in Congleton with the knappers & in Middlewich with the fletchers.

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weaver refining co ltd -

merchants of liverpool - Liverpool Port, River Weaver, triangular trade and competition from bristol.

early industrialists in flintshire - lead & Gadlys, copper/cotton & the Greenfield Valley, iron & Bersham, zinc & Greenfield, capital and john freame.

chemical manufactories in cheshire - nitre beds, Northwich salt, Le Blanc, Brunner Mond & ICI and the tricky issue of regulation, animal slaughter & cattle products.

the neills & the grimditches & the galloways - in partnership with three remarkable families and the legacy of william edward maude.

british glues & chemicals - from manure, to glue, to edible gelatine and tom walton.

croda - global speciality chemicals.

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Any corrections and additional information gratefully received contact john p birchall

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