Benjamin Law (inventor)
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Benjamin Law (inventor)
Benjamin Law was born around 1773 in Gomersal, Yorkshire the son of George Law and Mary Wilby. He is credited by many authors as the inventor of the shoddy process. Benjamin Law set up his business at Howley Mill. A memorial to Benjamin Law is in the grounds of Batley Parish Church. An exhibition of "shoddy art", challenging misconceptions about disabled people, was held in Batley in May 2016. The history of the shoddy process was the conceptual starting point for the disabled artists, who used recycled and reused textile materials in their artworks. The exhibition was first shown in Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ..., and was chosen to tour in Batley, given that it is shoddy's birthplace. References External linksmaggieblanck website
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Gomersal
Gomersal is a town in Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is south of Bradford, east of Cleckheaton and north of Heckmondwike. It is close to the River Spen and forms part of the Heavy Woollen District. History Gomersal was attested in the '' Doomes Day Book'' (1086) with the name Gomershale. *''Guthmers Halh'', is a supposed place-name, not attested in any written document, hence marked with asterisk in ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names''. The location was at a bend in the brook which passes through the valley bottom before joining with the River Calder. This land became an Anglo-Saxon burial ground and most likely was the location of a Celtic temple site before the Roman Conquest. It became the site of the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, now known as St Peters. The brook formed the ancient boundary between Gomersal and Birstall. The Luddite riots, that occurred in the area in 1812 provided Charlotte Brontë with material for her novel '' ...
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Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have been undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire, periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographic territory and cultural region. The name is familiar and well understood across the United Kingdom and is in common use in the media and the Yorkshire Regiment, military, and also features in the titles of current areas of civil administration such as North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Within the borders of the historic county of Yorkshire are large stretches of countryside, including the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and Peak District nationa ...
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Shoddy
Recycled wool, rag wool or shoddy is any woollen textile or yarn made by shredding existing fabric and re-spinning the resulting fibres. Textile recycling is an important mechanism for reducing the need for raw wool in manufacturing. Shoddy was invented by Benjamin Law of Batley in 1813. It was the dominant industry of a number of neighbouring towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire, known as the Heavy Woollen District, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Following its decline in the United Kingdom, the centre of the shoddy trade shifted to the city of Panipat in India. Efforts have been made to revive the British recycled wool industry in recent years. Terminology Historically, recycled wool products were called ''rag wool''. Manufacturers distinguished between three main categories of rag wool: * ''Shoddy'' – made from loosely woven or "soft" textiles that could be pulled apart relatively easily; * ''Mungo'' – made from "hard" fabrics such as felts Felt is a ...
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Batley
Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011 the population of Batley including Hanging Heaton, Staincliffe, Carlinghow, Birstall, Birstall Smithies, Copley Hill and Howden Clough was 48,730. ''Select "Batley M.B." from "Available Areas"'' History Batley is recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' as 'Bateleia'. After the Norman conquest, the manor was granted to Elbert de Lacy and in 1086 was within the wapentake of Morley. It subsequently passed into the ownership of the de Batleys, and by the 12th century had passed by marriage to the Copley family. Their residence at Batley Hall was held directly from the Crown; at this time the district was part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Howley Hall in Soothill was built during the 1580s by Sir John Savile, a member ...
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Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by population) in England, after London and Birmingham. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production centre, including of carbonated water where it was invented in the 1760s, and trading centre (mainly with wool) for the 17th and 18th centuries. It was a major mill town during the Industrial Revolution. It was also known for its flax industry, iron foundries, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893, a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook the nearby York population. It is locate ...
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1773 Births
Events January–March * January 1 – The hymn that becomes known as ''Amazing Grace'', at this time titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17", is first used to accompany a sermon led by curate John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England. * January 12 – The first museum in the American colonies is established in Charleston, South Carolina; in 1915, it is formally incorporated as the Charleston Museum. * January 17 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in HMS Resolution (1771) becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle. * January 18 – The first opera performance in the Swedish language, ''Thetis and Phelée'', performed by Carl Stenborg and Elisabeth Olin in Bollhuset in Stockholm, Sweden, marks the establishment of the Royal Swedish Opera. * February 8 – The Grand Council of Poland meets in Warsaw, summoned by a circular letter from King Stanisław August Poniatowski to respond to the Kingdom's threate ...
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People From Gomersal
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of per ...
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