Titus
Salt, the son of Daniel Salt, a woolstapler, was born in Morley near
Leeds on 20th September, 1803. Daniel Salt
was a fairly successful businessman and was able to afford to send
Titus to Heath Grammar School. After working for two years at a Wakefield
woolstapler, Titus joined the family firm in 1824. Titus, who married
Caroline Whitlam in 1830, became the firm's wool buyer. Daniel Salt
& Son prospered and became one of the most important textile companies
in Bradford.
When Daniel Salt retired in 1833, Titus took over the running of the
company. Over the next twenty years Titus Salt became the largest
employer in Bradford. Between 1801 and
1851 the population of Bradford grew from 13,000 to 104,000. With
over 200 factory chimneys continually churning out black, sulphurous
smoke, Bradford gained the reputation of being the most polluted town
in England. Bradford's sewage was dumped into the River Beck. As people
also obtained their drinking water from the river, this created serious
health problems. There were regular outbreaks of cholera
and typhoid, and only 30% of children
born to textile workers reached the age of fifteen. Life expectancy,
of just over eighteen years, was one of the lowest in the country.
Titus Salt, who now owned five textile mills in Bradford, was one
of the few employers in the town who showed any concern for this problem.
After much experimentation, Salt discovered that the Rodda Smoke Burner
produced very little pollution. In 1842 he arranged for these burners
to be used in all his factories.
In 1848 Salt became mayor of Bradford.
He tried hard to persuade the council to pass a by-law that would
force all factory owners in the town to use these new smoke burners.
The other factory owners in Bradford
were opposed to the idea. Most of them refused to accept that the
smoke produced by their factories was damaging people's health.
When Titus Salt realised the council was unwilling to take action,
he decided to move from Bradford. In
1850, Salt announced his plans to build a new industrial community
called Saltaire at a nearby beauty spot on the banks of the River
Aire. Saltaire, which was three miles from Bradford, took twenty years
to build. At the centre of the village was Salt's textile mill. The
mill was the largest and most modern in Europe. 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.
At first Salt's 3,500 workers travelled to Saltaire from Bradford.
However, during the next few years, 850 houses were built for his
workers. Saltaire also had its own park, church, school, hospital,
library and a whole range of different shops. The houses in Saltaire
were far superior to those available in Bradford and other industrial
towns. Fresh water was piped into each home from Saltaire's own 500,000
gallon reservoir. Gas was also laid on
to provide lighting and heating. Unlike the people of Bradford,
every family in Saltaire had its own outside lavatory. To encourage
people to keep themselves clean, Salt also arranged for public baths
and wash-houses to be built in Saltaire.
Titus Salt was also active in politics. Salt supported adult suffrage
and did not believe that the 1832 Reform Act
went far enough. In 1835 he was a founder of the Bradford Reform Association.
and publicly supported the Chartists. Disturbed
by the growth of the Physical Force Chartists,
Salt helped establish the United Reform Society, an attempt to unite
middle and working class reformers.
Titus Salt was a severe critic of the 1834
Poor Law. He also supported the move to reduce working hours and
was the first employer in the Bradford area to introduce the ten hour
day. However, Salt held conservative views on some issues. He refused
permission for his workers to join trade unions and disagreed with
those like Richard Oastler and John
Fielden who wanted Parliament to pass legislation on child labour.
Salt employed young children in his factories and were totally opposed
to the 1833 Factory Act that attempted to
prevent children under the age of nine working in textile mills.
Salt gave his support to the Radical candidate in Bradford's parliamentary
elections. However, at the request of the local Chamber of Commerce,
Salt became a candidate in the 1859 General Election.
Salt was elected but after two years in the House
of Commons he resigned because of ill-health.
Titus Salt died on 29th December, 1876. Although he had been an extremely
rich man, his family was horrified that his fortune was gone. It has
been estimated that during his life he had given away over £500,000
to good causes.
Saltaire Mill
Child
Labour Debate Activity (International School of Toulouse)
Child
Labour Simulation (Spartacus Educational)
(1)
George
Weerth, a young German on holiday in England, described Bradford in
an article that he wrote for a German newspaper in 1846.
Every
other factory town in England is a paradise in comparison to this
hole. In Manchester the air lies like lead upon you; in Birmingham
it is just as if you were sitting with your nose in a stove pipe;
in Leeds you have to cough with the dust and the stink as if you had
swallowed a pound of Cayenne pepper in one go - but you can put up
with all that. In Bradford, however, you think you have been lodged
with the devil incarnate. If anyone wants to feel how a poor sinner
is tormented in Purgatory, let him travel to Bradford.
(2)
Sam Kydd wrote an account of Saltaire in The Reynolds newspaper
on 29th November, 1857.
The
site chosen for Saltaire is, in many ways, desirable. The scenery
in the immediate neighbourhood is romantic, rural and beautiful. A
better looking body of factory 'hands' than those in Saltaire I have
not seen. They are far above the average of their class in Lancashire,
and are considerably above the majority in Yorkshire.
(3)
After the cholera epidemic of 1848, Titus Salt, at that time the mayor
of Bradford, made a speech on the lessons of this tragedy.
The
cholera most forcibly teaches us our mutual connection. Nothing shows
more powerfully the duty of every man to look after the needs of others.
Cholera is God's voice to his people.
(4)
On the death of Titus Salt on 29th December, 1876, the Bradford
Observer wrote an article on the man's achievements.
Titus
was perhaps the greatest captain of industry in England not only because
he gathered thousands under him but also because, according to the
light that was in him, he tried to care for all those thousands. We
do not say that he succeeded in realising all his views or that it
is possible to harmonise at present all relations between capital
and labour. Upright in business, admirable in his private relations
he came without seeking the honour to be admittedly the best representative
of the employer class in this part of the country if not the whole
kingdom.
Saltaire
Village
The City of Bradford
Bronte Country
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