Croft Mills, Halifax

The following report appeared in The Illustrated London News on 30th April 1853.
(used with permission  - (c) Illustrated London News/Mary Evans Picture Library)

 

Croft Mill in Gaol Lane, Halifax was built in 1847 and owned by the card-makers Messrs. Leyland and Highley. The partnership was dissolved in 1858 and the business carried on by Henry Holt Highley as Henry Highley & Sons. Henry and his wife Frances (nee Sutcliffe) had 6 sons and 4 daughters. Of the sons, George Henry and Thomas Sutcliffe went into the family business.

Carding was a stage in the clothmaking process. Cotton fibres had to be untangled and straightened out. Carding involved getting all the fibres running in the same direction. This was a skilled process involving the use of a brush with spikes, originally done by hand and later by a carding machine. A carder was normally an experienced worker.

The postcard below dates from 1897.

The 1901 census recorded Albert Birkby as a self-employed leather merchant, the son of John Birkby, a card-setting machine tenter.