“In 1854 the cotton manufacturing firm of Messrs Laurence Stead & Brother was formed. Their business expanded with marked rapidity. Their mills were kept going all through the terrible time of the cotton famine. And, for many years, when fully occupied, their factories found employment for the greater part of a thousand people. The senior partner died in 1891, aged sixty-seven; and the junior, Mr Henry Stead, after a long illness, twelve months later, in June 1892, aged sixty-six. Born within a stone’s throw of old Dundee Chapel, they trained under the Grants at the Square. And since the works of the Grants were closed, thirty years ago, no firm has done so much for Ramsbottom as that of Messrs Stead; while, since Daniel Grant died in 1855, no individual man has accomplished so much for the good of the community as the late Mr Henry Stead. The large place which the firm occupied in the industrial well-being of the town may be estimated by the distress which has been experienced since, unhappily, their factories were closed, a few months after the surviving partner had passed away.
Of the Steads there were five brothers, one of whom, Thomas, died in early manhood. Joseph and William are referred to subsequently. They were all men of exceptionally fine physique, strong, genial-natured, and sympathetic. They were leaders in opposing political camps, and with unflinching platform in years gone by. Yet what was true of the Grants was also true of the Steads - their brotherly regard for one another was something refreshing to witness. Their father, James Stead, came from a vigorous Yorkshire stock; and their mother, Catherine Kirk, daughter of Thomas and Catherine Kirk - interred at Dundee Chapel - from an equally vigorous race farther north.”
From ‘The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers’ by W. H. Elliot. 1893.
1871 Worrall’s Directory - Lawrence Stead & Brother, Garden, Hope and Irwell Bridge Mills, Ramsbottom.
1880 Barrett’s Directory - Lawrence Stead & Bro., Cotton Spinner and Manufacturers, Garden, Nuttall Lane, and Irwell Bridge Mills; Warehouse, 31 York Street, Manchester.
1891 Cotton Spinners & Manufacturers’ Directory - Lawrence Stead & Brother, Hope Mill, Nuttall Lane; Irwell Bridge, Garden and Railway Mills; 2,000 looms. Pay day second Tuesday, at Manchester warehouse - 34 Charlotte Street and 39 Faulkner Street. Telegrams, “Dates, Manchester”; Stead, Ramsbottom.” Telephone Nos. - Manchester, 588; Ramsbottom, Garden Mill, 6.
1891 - Death of Lawrence Stead (67).
1892 - Death of Henry Stead JP (66), June 1892.
1892 - All of the Stead Mills closed following the death of the two brothers.
1913 NW Counties of England Trade Directory - T. Robinson, & Co., Dyers, Hope Works, Bolton Road, Telephone No 24, Ramsbottom.
2000 - Demolished.
2000 - Planning application granted for a residential development of 78 dwellings & garages of Hope Works, Hope Street.
A modern housing estate was built. One side of Hope Street, 31 to 35 Bolton Road West, Lansdowne Close, Maybury Close and Silvermere Close, 37 to 41 Bolton Road West.
For more information on Ramsbottom and how to join the RHS: www.ramsbottomheritage.org.uk
31 янв 2024
