Titus Salt was born in 1803 to Daniel Salt, a drysalter and later a sheep farmer, and Grace Smithies, daughter of Isaac Smithies, of The Manor House, Morley.

His birthplace is near Leeds.

His father sent him to a school in Batley, possibly the Batley Grammar School, and then to Heath School. For a while, the Salt family lived at The Manor House in Morley, before moving to Crofton, near Wakefield.

~

Salt was described as tall and stout, and as having a studious bent of mind – rarely mixing with his school fellows and being somewhat introverted.

Titus began learning the wool trade at the age of seventeen. After working for two years as a wool-stapler in Wakefield, Salt became his father’s partner in Daniel Salt and Son.

He was a spirited and determined worker. He soon became a driving force behind the family’s wool business.

In 1833, he took over his father’s business and within twenty years had expanded it to be the largest employer in Bradford.

~

On 21^st August, 1830, at twenty-seven, Titus married Caroline, daughter of George Whitlam, of Great Grimsby. Together they had eleven children; six sons and five daughters. The children of Salt all have a street named after them in the village of Saltaire.

[ His sons were – Sir William Henry Salt (2nd baronet), George Salt, Edward Salt of Bathampton House, Herbert Salt, and Titus Salt (DL, JP) ].

By the age of forty, Salt was an eminent textile manufacturer and one of the wealthiest men in Yorkshire.

Soon after, he ceased to live in Bradford, moving with his family into a handsome mansion called Crow Nest at Lightcliffe, ten miles away.

~

Now, industrialisation in Europe in the early days, was not properly regulated. It had led to pollution on a grand scale and poor quality water in the city centres. This was particularly true in Bradford where Salt’s mills and many of his workforce were based. Outbreaks of typhoid and cholera were common and Salt was aware that many of his workers lived in poverty.

In his youth, he had lodged in and around some of the straitened neighbourhoods of the city, such as Nelson Court and Fawcett Court, and this may well have been the time he developed an understanding for the hardships and distress of the people.

~

Salt’s sense of social responsibility was in evidence from an early time. In his city smoke and pollution emanated from mills and factory chimneys; Salt tried in 1842 to clean up the pollution using a device called the Rodda Smoke Burner. (Due to lack of co-operation from other owners, this was unsuccessful).

As he became more established, Titus drew up plans to build a new mill on the outskirts of Bradford. He envisioned a settlement where the air was pure and the water clean. – Where the living and working conditions for the common people were dignified and up to a standard.

Titus Salt was also a man of upstanding character, and he wished for his community to be comprised of men of virtue and piety.

To this end, he would also implement a number of rules and undertakings in the town he founded.

In 1850, Salt announced his plans to build a new industrial community.

The spot he chose for his new mill was four miles away from Bradford in a rural area on the banks of the river Aire, near Shipley.

It was by the side of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and not far from the Midland Railway line.

He commissioned the architects Lockwood and Mawson to design the mill and decided upon a 15^th century renaissance style. William Fairburn, a great engineer of the day, designed the layout of the interior and constructed the engineering facilities.

The building of the mill commenced in 1851 and was completed in 1853.

The edifice built in sandstone, was opened on his 50^th birthday.

It had a production capacity for 30,000 yards of cloth every day and employment at full capacity for 3,000 people.

~

At first the 3500 workers travelled to the Mill from Bradford. But soon Salt began the arrangements for the construction of dwellings for the workers and their families.

By October 1854, a number of houses and boarding houses had been completed and around one thousand people had begun to stay. The town developed around the Bradford – Keighley road and houses were in a series of neatly defined parallelograms.

Various institutions and amenities were also set up.

Saltaire had its own park, church, school, hospital, library and a range of shops. The houses in Saltaire were far better than those found in Bradford and other industrial towns. Gas was laid on to provide lighting and heating. Each house came with plumbing and the supply of running water. Unlike the people of Bradford, every family in Saltaire had its own outside lavatory. To encourage cleanliness and hygiene, Salt also had public baths and wash-houses built.

These various facilities would sustain a becoming mode of life. They made up a village that was a peaceful and close-knit community.

Three types of accommodation were made to fit the needs of families. In 1869 the first part of the housing program was completed.

The houses had separate living rooms, which was unique for the time. Rooms were well-ventilated and clean water was piped into the houses from Salt’s reservoir.

In all respects the housing compared favourably with that in Bradford.

The households were supplied with gas directly from the mill, cheaper than that available in the city and initially water also was supplied by the Mill. The streets had been laid out and sanitation works finished before the houses were built.

~

The erection of some of the public buildings was accomplished concurrently. Today they can be seen on both sides of the Victoria Road.

A dining room for workers was opposite to the mill and the premise also hosted a regular program of speakers and a factory school. Also established, were a library, reading rooms and space for prayer.

A smaller factory was added in 1868 on the site of an old water mill at the river’s edge (known then and now as the ‘new mill’). 

A park was established across the river with land bought by Salt in 1870 and landscaped attractively by a Mr. Gay of Bradford. Facilities were there for various sports and recreational activities like cricket, croquet, archery, boating and bathing.

The final houses in Dove Street and Jane Street were completed in 1875 and by 1871 Saltaire already had a population of over four thousand.

Completion of the whole village took place in 1876.

Part of the reason why he built the new town, was to site his large mill by a canal and a railway.

Salt also wanted to provide his workers with a pleasant and healthy environment.

(Image courtesy : Shipley College)

In the village were provided 45 almshouses for the elderly and infirm, which were completed in the 1860s. Each small home came complete with an oven, boiler and pantry. It also had a bedroom. Accommodation was rent-free and came with a weekly pension. Anyone in the local area could apply to live in one, not just retired workers from the Mill.

The alms-houses were built at the southern end of Victoria Road while an Infirmary and dispensary were opened on the opposite side of the road. In 1869, the building of an Institute to provide further education and recreational facilities was started.

~

Salt was fervent in his religious beliefs. He was a member of the Non-Conformist Congregational Church and a Methodist.

Through his initiative and resources, he had built the beautiful church in the heart of the town called Saltaire Congregational Church (now the Saltaire United Reformed Church).

Sir Titus’ wife, Caroline laid the first stone.

~

Speaking about his model village in Saltaire, he had once said: “Far be it from me to do anything to pollute the air or the water of the district. I shall do my utmost to avoid these evils.”

~

Salt hoped the cleaner environs of the Aire Valley would help shield his workers from the epidemics which were common around the centre of Bradford. Each house had its own outdoor toilet – a rare luxury for the working class in the nineteenth century.

Salt was one of the first industrialists who seriously thought in terms of the welfare of the workers at his concerns, and their families.

There were institutions in the town for vocational training of the wards and family members of employees.

He also promoted virtuous conduct among the worker community. Practices like gambling were discouraged. Liquor-shops were forbidden in Saltaire.

~

Saltaire Mills was the largest and most modern in Europe. Salt adopted many methods to raise productivity.

Indeed, the top floor is still the largest room in the world with a dimension of roughly 375 by 165 feet – longer than the Wembley football ground!

Noise in the factory was reduced by placing underground much of the shafting which drove the machinery. Large flues removed the dust and dirt from the factory floor. To ensure that the neighbourhood did not suffer from polluted air, the mill chimney was fitted with Rodda Smoke Burners.

~

The predominant reason behind Titus Salt’s elaborate project was likely empathy and care.

Some authors have attributed to him motives that are more worldly. In the conception of Saltaire there may have been an element of sound economics, too. It has been said that Salt shifted to the new site because he wished to consolidate all his manufacturing facilities – of which there were five – into one large concern. The new mill would also be situated close to lines of transport – both of raw materials into the mill, and finished goods out from it.

However, it must be kept in mind that he nonetheless need not have spent such a large portion of his wealth and personal attention in actions that can only be described as selfless. His motives are further borne out by the fact that all through life, he played a prominent part in social and liberal causes. Not only did he build Saltaire, he also donated substantial amounts to charitable causes.

Construction of establishments beneficial to ‘working class’ people in Saltaire continued well into the 1860s, even after he had become one of most successful industrialists in the country, and was semi-retired. His Almshouses served persons who were never employees of the mill. A science laboratory and a library were built in the new town, and it would be a stretch to think that these were essential to expand the business.

Providing facilities which may termed as ‘additional-‘, i.e. those which no other wage-earner of the era availed from his employer – as stated in the above passages – is also indicative.

Besides, if the primary reason behind founding Saltaire was the material one, then why did other astute business-owners of the period not do the same? It would have been good if they had.

~

Salt in his lifetime, participated actively in public life and held several offices.

From his youth, he was an important member of the Horton Lane Congregational chapel.

He took an active interest in reform supporting universal adult suffrage and opposing the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 – whose provisions he believed to be inadequate. (The amendment gave support to the able-bodied poor only when they were institutionalised in a workhouse).

He was Chief Constable of Bradford before its incorporation as a borough in 1847 and afterwards a senior alderman. He was later Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the West Riding of Yorkshire (linked to the honorary position of the Lord Lieutenant, considered the personal representative of the monarch in a county) and a county Justice of the Peace.

In 1848, Salt became a Liberal MP. In 1849, however, he lost the seat. Later in life, he was elected member of parliament for the Radical party. After two years he resigned due to ill health.

In 1848 he had become mayor of Bradford. He tried hard to persuade the Council to pass a by-law that would obligate all factory owners to use a new kind of smoke burner, designed to reduce pollution. Other owners in the town were opposed to the idea. Most of them refused to accept that smoke produced by their factories was causing harm to people’s health.

Salt spoke in favour of an upper limit to the working hours of employees. He was the first factory owner in Bradford to introduce the ten-hour day.

From 1859 until he retired for reason of health on 1^st February 1861, Salt served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Bradford.

~

After 1861, Salt lived in semi-retirement, relinquishing much of the day to day control of his mill and the settlement of Saltaire to his partners. As mentioned earlier , after 1843, the family started living at Crow Nest, Lightcliffe. Between 1858 and 1868 they resided at Methley Hall near Leeds. The family moved back to Crow Nest, which the family had left unwillingly in 1858, when Salt was able to buy it in 1868 and returned thankfully to what they had come to regard as their family home.

Titus Salt was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1869.

He was a private man and left no written account of his purposes in creating Saltaire.

Sir Titus Salt died on December 29, 1876 and was given a civic funeral in Bradford. Reportedly a hundred thousand people were gathered by the roads. He was laid to rest in the family mausoleum at Saltaire Congregational Church (which had been built through his efforts).

His funeral procession from Crow Nest to his final resting place was to take many hours, most mills were silent, and many workers stood by the streets to have a glimpse.

~

Titus Salt seems to have been committed to making available for his workers, decent living and working conditions. He also wanted them to have a proper livelihood, with liberal wages.

Beyond doubt a laudable personality in improving living standards for a large number of his fellow-beings, one might still consider some criticism of his works.

He was perhaps not wholly without some elements of the want of sensitivity and profit-orientation typical of business-owners of his milieu. Nor were these mentalities restricted to his era, continent or people.

Purportedly, he withheld permission for his workers to join trade unions and detracted from people like Richard Oastler and John Fielden who wanted Parliament to pass legislation on child labour. Salt employed minors in his factories and is said to have been opposed to the 1833 Factory Act which attempted to prevent children under the age of nine from working in textile mills.

Though again, this was no different from prevailing employer practices in the day. (It would have been interesting to actually listen to his reply to questions regarding these; and one wonders whether in the nascent news medium of the time, there was any such record).

~

Although a very successful entrepreneur, by the time of his death, he is estimated to have given away the majority of his wealth to good causes. His family business disappeared sixteen years after his death, but the mills were used well into the twentieth century when they fell into disuse from the decline in British manufacturing.

In June 1987, Mr. Jonathan Silver bought the mill, and his family still run it today, as a gallery for the work of Bradford born artist David Hockney, with a bookshop, café and other businesses that help ‘regenerate’ the building and Saltaire ‘village’. (Mr. Silver was himself born-and-brought up in Bradford. He was a business executive and investor, and much of his activities were in the sector of environment-friendly forms of energy).

Bill Bryson, the writer once visited the village, and has given a brief account of it in his ‘Notes from a Small Island‘.

By the 1890s the population of the area had grown and people from Bradford came to Saltaire and nearby Shipley Glen on day trips from Bradford on the tram. 

People recognized well the benevolence and contributions of Mr. Salt. Even in his lifetime, he must have been a household name in the country. The legend of his charity, compassion and business acumen had spread far and wide, beyond Britain’s shores, and his name and the cloth his company made were held in high regard.

~

Footnotes :

Similar, but smaller projects had been started around the same time by Edward Akroyd at Copley and by Henry Ripley at Ripley Ville. The cotton mill village of New Lanark, which is also a World Heritage site, was founded by David Dale in 1786.

*

Saltaire was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.

Further Reading :

https://www.mylearning.org/stories/saltaire–victorian-model-town-then-and-now/522

*

*

https://www.biographyonline.net/business/robert-owen.html

*

• Joseph Rowntree (philanthropist)
• George Cadbury
• Lever Brothers

References :

1. https://www.mylearning.org/stories/saltaire–victorian-model-town-then-and-now/522
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Salt
3. https://spartacus-educational.com/IRsalt.htm
4. https://www.realyorkshireblog.com/post/titus-salt-how-alpaca-and-donskoi-wool-lead-to-his-success
5. https://www.britannica.com/place/Saltaire