Stocksbridge Mill

The name 'Stocksbridge' referred originally to a wooden footbridge over the Little Don river, built by a certain John Stocks, who also gave his name to four fields or Stocks Holmes by the bridge. Some old, dilapidated fulling-stocks or some hypothetical punishment stocks have been suggested as the origin of the name, but Joseph Kenworthy's research into John Stocks seems conclusive.

Stocksbridge Mill, an old cotton mill, was built at the bottom of the valley by the bridge in 1794, at a time when every suitable supply of water was being bought up to power water wheels for cotton spinning. In 1807 when it was sold, it was described as `a substantial and well built cotton mill at Stocksbridge in Hunshelf near Penistone, with machinery, stoves and utensils for the cotton twist spinning business, and a convenient dwelling house near the mill with barn, stable and cowhouse and other appurtenances thereto with eight acres of rich land. The mill is eighteen yards long, nine yards wide and five stories high.'. The cotton mill did not prosper, and in 1833 it was converted into a wire-drawing factory, still powered by the water-wheel running from the Little Don river. It was no more successful as a wire-drawing mill and parts, if not all of it had been unused for some time when Samuel Fox looked over it. The mill contained a variety of old wire-drawing equipment, from saws, braces and bits to spurr and bevel wheels and a square trammel. There was a cottage converted from an old fulling mill and other outbuildings in the grounds.

The early life of Samuel Fox 1815-1842

Samuel Fox was born on I7th June 1815 at Bradwell, Derbyshire. His father, William Fox was a weavers shuttle-maker with five children. George, whose son William was to go to France for his uncle, Harriet (who married Adam Hill), Ann (who married Josiah Jeffery ) - both of whom were to have sons who later worked for their uncle - another sister and Samuel. Probably because he was the younger of the two boys, he did not follow his father's trade, but was apprenticed to Samuel Cocker and Son, wire-drawers, at Hathersage, who specialised in needle-wire. When they moved to Sharrow Moor, Fox went with them. After his apprenticeship he is thought to have worked in the Tingle Brothers' Top Side crucible steel melting shops at Grenoside.

The Mr Rose mentioned in Joseph Kenworthy's account was not Fox's employer, but his partner for a short time in the Rivelin Valley. Nor was Fox by any means as poor as Kenworthy would have us believe. His father certainly owned more than one house, since he was able to leave to his younger son freehold property and land when he died in 1841. This provided Samuel with the means he needed to set up on his own. He came to Stocksbridge in 1842, or soon after, and seeing the old cotton mill decided to lease it and start his own wire-drawing business.

Some time before he came to Stocksbridge Samuel Fox had met and married Maria Radcliffe from Stannington. She was to help a great deal in the early days of the firm, working as long and as hard as her husband. In I84; their only son, William Henry, was born.

The founding of the firm 1842-1860

When Samuel Fox started in business, Stocksbridge was only a small, quiet hamlet in a pretty valley. Fox had some difficulty in finding the few men he needed to work for him. Some came from Stocksbridge. Others, like Joseph Coates and John Walker, came from surrounding villages in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. Later, when the firm was expanding, men came from the small, old textile towns of the West Riding which, in the 1870's, were declining. In the first years, however, it was a very small concern, producing wire for hackle, and gill pins for the textile industry.

Samuel Fox is mentioned as a tenant of the mill in a mortgage deed made to Thomas Newton in 1847, the first unquestionable reference to him in connection with Stocksbridge. He bought the mill outright in 1851 for £1,199, having obtained a mortgage loan of £800 from Newton. The mortgage was paid off by 1856 and a second mortgage for £2,000 was raised, probably to buy Townend House, where Samuel Fox, his wife and their fourteen-year-old son went to live. The second mortgage was paid off by 1860 and this marked the end of the struggle - Fox never needed another loan.

The beginning of the firm's expansion can be dated from 1848 with the first recorded sale of umbrella frames. These although preferable to the whalebone 'gamp', still lacked neatness, rigidity and strength.

In 1852 he took out a patent for 'Paragon' umbrella frames - a steel rib and stretcher with a 'U' section formed from flattened wire. This frame, invented by a Fox employee, was both light and strong and proved to be one of the foundations of the firm's prosperity.

In 1854 Fox started to produce strip, cold rolled from wire. He was one of the first to do this, and was in a good position to make a profit of £80,000 out of the short-lived crinoline fashion. Most crinoline wire needed crimping, but Fox's strip was hardened and tempered in such a way that this was no longer necessary. The ladies' wide-spreading skirts held their shape better.

Expansion 1860-1871

There are few records of events which took place in this period, only a few dates are known for major events, but there is a folklore built around Samuel Fox. Whether these stories are true or not, they illustrate the impression Fox made on his employees. The story of a workman, unwise enough to let Fox see that he had a gold watch, is a good example. Thinking that a man who earned enough to buy a gold watch was earning too much, Fox promptly cut the man's wages. The watch had been inherited. Another story purports to show the great faith Fox had in Joseph Hayward, the inventor of the 'Paragon' frame. A lesser employee told Fox that Hayward was asleep when he should have been working. Fox's reply 'Thee go and mind thi work, he's

worth more to me asleep than thou art wakken'' sent the man about his business. Joseph Kenworthy calls it `a splendid retort, so manly in its rebuke'.

More down-to-earth information gives 1860 as the date when steel making was introduced at Stocksbridge. The plant consisted of forty-eight Huntsman-type crucible melting holes with an annual capacity of 1,500 tons. The steel-making capacity was increased in 1862 when one Robert Langdon, acting on behalf of Samuel Fox, acquired the second licence granted by Sir Henry Bessemer for the use of his steel-making process. With two 5-ton Bessemer converters Samuel Fox was able to enter his largest market - railway materials.

At this time the railways were expanding rapidly, both at home and abroad, and Samuel Fox linked his prosperity firmly with that of the railways. The first rail and billet mill was brought into production in 1863 and the first rod mill in 1864. The steam engine which drove the four mills in the rail and billet mill was called `Maria' after Mrs Fox. The billets were hammered before being rolled.

Since it was another ten years before there was any railway link between the works and Deepcar, the nearest station on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, the difficulty of transporting rails and raw materials over the bad road from Stocksbridge to Deepcar must have been overwhelming. Rails, often intended for the export market, were taken in horse-drawn vehicles 1.5 miles to Deepcar station, often the worst part of the journey.

Fox's main exports were rails and umbrella frames which went to America, the Empire and Europe. The export of umbrella frames into France was hampered by the high import duties. These were evaded by Samuel Fox who, before 1860, arranged for his nephew, William Fox, to go to Amiens in Northern France, with men and machines from Stocksbridge, and to set up a factory to make frames from wire sent over from Stocksbridge. In this way the high duties on the finished frame were avoided. Most of the men and families that went to Amiens in the early days returned to Stocksbridge. Several people now working for Samuel Fox & Company Limited had grandfathers who worked for 'French William' for a time. The French firm became a limited company in 1905, but was wound up in 1914.

The limited company chairmanship of Samuel Fox 1871-1887

The transport of raw materials and finished products along the road to Deepcar was by this time an almost insuperable problem. So in 1872 a surveyor was briefed to assess the cost and suitability of building a direct railway link between the works and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Deepcar Station. His report was encouraging and in 1874 the Stocksbridge Railway Bill was passed by Parliament and received the Royal Assent on 30th January of that year. The railway was finally opened on 14th April 1877.

From the very beginning it has been a vital connecting link for the rather isolated Company and has expanded with the works. The problem of the internal and external transport of materials was solved.

Umbrella frames were still an important product, and the 'Paragon' patent was closely guarded. Continual improvements were made, and each one patented. Doubtless with this end in view, William Hoyland approached Fox in 1876 with a new design for an umbrella frame called 'Flexus'. Because it was designed with solid ribs Fox would only agree to producing it as a cheap line. Hoyland did not consent to this, and moved from Fox's with James Haywood. Matters were settled amicably, and William Hoyland started a business to produce his umbrella frames at Eckland Bridge Works, rented from Fox's, and agreed to take all his raw material from the Company.

In the 1880's, when Fox was getting old, he was often ill, and spent a great deal of time away from the works at Townend House. In spite of his illness he did not relinquish control over the Company, as is shown by the many notes written by him between 1884 and 1887 to his nephew, Henry Jeffery, at the works. He even directed complaints about the lateness of his post and about a man who would not whitewash his house. It may have been because of his ill health that his son, William Henry, was made a director when Henry Walker (director since 1880) died in 1885.

The death of Samuel Fox 1887

Samuel Fox died on 25th February 1887. He was buried at North Cliffe, Market Weighton, where he had his official residence. The service took place in the little church he had had built, and he was the first to be buried there. On the same day, 5th March, the works was closed to give the 2,000 or more employees a chance to hear the service read at Bolsterstone Parish Church. Those who could not get into the church heard the service in the open.

Many obituaries were written about Fox, who had been a striking, able and charitable man. The Board of Directors placed on record their 'great appreciation of the untiring zeal and great ability, skill and energy manifested by him in managing the business, and of their great esteem for him and their profound regret at the irreparable loss they have sustained by his death'. A copy was sent to Mrs Fox and her son, who thanked the Board warmly for 'one of the most gratifying tokens of condolence' they had received.

Samuel Fox left a large, personal fortune, most of which was passed on to his wife and son, and to some other relations. He left £12,000 to each of the Stocksbridge and Bradwell charities he had set up. Smaller sums were left to the other charities he had supported.

A year after Fox's death the Board decided that a fitting memorial for the man who had done so much for Stocksbridge, would be a parish church. They devoted £1,000 towards the cost of building and a plot of land at the top of Smithy Hill. W. H. Fox also gave £1,000 and the remaining £3,000 was raised by subscription. The church was consecrated on 30th November 1890, although Stocksbridge did not become a parish until 1894.

Chairmanship of William Henry Fox 1887-1916

Fox's position on the Board could not be filled, and W. H. Fox was very reluctant to accept the position of chairman. In June 1887 he was made managing director, but as his home, Bradwell Grove, and interests were in Oxfordshire, he asked to be released from this post as soon as possible. In the meantime his cousins, Joshua, John and Henry Jeffery and Francis Hill, as heads of departments, were made responsible to him and the Board. He was relieved of his more onerous duties in 1889 when Henry Sharp was made general manager. Henry Sharp, one of the original members of the Iron and Steel Institute and an able mechanical engineer, came from Manchester to live in Townend House.