 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2021) |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Textiles |
| Founded | 1962 |
Richards of Aberdeen was a textile company based in the Hutcheon Street area of Aberdeen, Scotland.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2021) |
| | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Textiles |
| Founded | 1962 |
Richards of Aberdeen was a textile company based in the Hutcheon Street area of Aberdeen, Scotland.
The company that became Richards had its origins in the early 19th century. It was founded by John Maberly. He brought in new finance with John Baker Richards as a partner, in 1825, trading as Maberly & Co. James William Freshfield and Robert Langford became involved as property trustees, in 1829. [1]
Maberly during the 1820s introduced steam power in the linen factories; but ran into trouble in financial operations. [2] He was in the end bankrupted by 1832. Others brought into the firm included William Leader (died 1828), to whose son John Temple Leader debts owed by Maberly passed. The name of the firm became Richards & Co. from 1831, and that year Lancelot Holland became involved. [1]
Henry Lancelot Holland (1808–1893) joined Richards & Co. in 1837. [3] He became one of the partners, with his father Lancelot Holland, John Temple Leader, George Edwards and others. [4] He was later head of the company. [3]
At its height, Richard had its Broadford Works in Aberdeen; also spinning and power looms at Montrose, and bleachfields at Rubislaw and Craigo. [5] Broadford Works was the oldest iron-frame mill in Scotland, and in the end the last remaining textile mill in Aberdeen. It was also one of the principal employers there with more than 3,000 people working in the mill in the early 20th century.
Richards of Aberdeen became a public limited company in 1898. With the decline in traditional flax spinning activities, in the mid-1960s the company embarked upon a programme of development of synthetic yarn ranges which it maintained with few changes until the 21st century.
Richards was purchased in 2002 by Ian Suttie, chief executive of First Oil, while facing receivership. In 2003 the company moved its headquarters to the outskirts of Aberdeen, with assistance from Aberdeen City Council.
Fifty-two job losses were announced at the start of November 2004, despite the employment of 80 new staff in May of that year. [6] Soon the entire remaining workforce of 196 was made redundant. Many had been at the mill for their entire working lives. Workers were angered not only by news of the closure itself but by the way they discovered what had happened: payments simply stopped arriving in their bank accounts. Another indicator came when supplies ceased to arrive at the site. Aside from global economic conditions, one of the main factors causing the closure was the company pension scheme which by November 2004 faced a shortfall of £5m. [7]
The pension scheme continues to cause problems for the mill's former employees and there are calls to wind up the plan as soon as possible. [8]
The mill is currently under consideration for possible conversion into an 'urban village' of 398 homes, many of which would be in historical listed buildings which require careful planning considerations before any work can commence. [9]
Oswaldtwistle is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the spinning jenny and Sir Robert Peel of calico printing fame. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through the town and was responsible for the export of much of the area's cotton produce.
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Platt Brothers, also known as Platt Bros & Co Ltd, was a British company based at Werneth in Oldham, North West England. The company manufactured textile machinery and were iron founders and colliery proprietors. By the end of the 19th century, the company had become the largest textile machinery manufacturer in the world, employing more than 12,000 workers.
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John Maberly (1770–1839) was a British businessman and Member of Parliament.
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The Kreenholm Manufacturing Company was a textile manufacturing company located on the island of Kreenholm in Narva, Estonia, on the border with Russia. It is situated along the banks of the Narva River, by the Narva Falls; the Baltic Sea is approximately 10 miles (16 km) away, and there is a distance of 75 miles (121 km) to Saint Petersburg. It was founded by Ludwig Knoop, a cotton merchant from Bremen. At one point, the company's cotton spinning and manufacturing mills were the largest in the world; and Kreenholm was considered in its time to be the most important mill in Russia, owning 32,000 acres of land and employing 12,000 people. Throughout its history, the company faced different obstacles such as the possibility of closure after World War I. In 1994, it was privatized after Estonia regained independence. The company went bankrupt in 2010, but continued limited operations after purchase by a new owner.
Ormrod and Hardcastle spinning and manufacturing firm began in 1788, with the partnership of James Ormrod and Thomas Hardcastle, and the purchase of the Flash Street mills in Bolton, Greater Manchester. These two men have been identified amongst the fathers of the early cotton trade in North West England. Others named are Carlisles, Gray, Knowles, Bulling, Crook and Culling. These names often figured prominently in the political, judicial and economic life of Bolton during its great period of growth, but sadly these names have been largely forgotten in the history of the cotton trade. By the time of their closure, in 1960, Ormrod and Hardcastle owned six large successful cotton mills in Bolton.
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Events from the year 1808 in Scotland.
Horrockses, Crewdson & Co. was a textile company based in Preston, Lancashire. The company was originally formed in 1791 under the name of Horrocks. Over the centuries, the name of the company changed with the involvement of various business partners and when the company merged with others.
Henry Lancelot Holland was an English industrialist and banker, Governor of the Bank of England from 1865 to 1867.
Lancelot Holland, also Launcelot (1781–1859) was a British Army officer and diarist. In later life he went into business, and became a company director. He was also a noted bibliophile and collector..