Sir William Henry Houldsworth, 1st Baronet (20 August 1834 – 18 April 1917) was a British mill-owner in

Reddish Reddish is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester city centre. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census, the population was 28,052. Historic counties of England, Historical ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. He was

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP for Manchester North West from 1883 to 1906, and sometime chairman of the Fine Cotton Spinners' Association. He was made a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1887.

Life

William Henry Houldsworth was born on the 20th of August 1834, as the 4th and youngest son of Henry Houldworth (1797–1868) and Helen Hamilton. Houldworth's mother died while he was very young; while her exact date of death is unknown, his father remarried in 1838. Houldsworth bought farmland by the

Stockport Branch Canal The Stockport Branch Canal was a 5-mile (8 km) branch of the Ashton Canal from Clayton to Stockport, England. Route The canal left the main line of the Ashton Canal at Stockport Junction (otherwise Clayton Junction), between locks 10 and ...

in Reddish in the 1860s and built Reddish Mill, then the largest cotton-spinning mill in the world (started 1863, completed 1865). Four members of the Houldsworth family were 60% shareholders in the Reddish Spinning Company Limited which built the North Mill (started 1870) and the Middle Mill (started 1874). An Institute (now Houldsworth working men's club) was completed in 1874. All the above were designed by the architect Abraham Stott. Houldsworth commissioned the architect

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

to design St. Elisabeth's church, rectory and school. All the above buildings are still standing. The start of a

model village A model village is a mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. "Model" implies an ideal to which other developments could aspire. Although the villages ...

was also laid out, Houldsworth Model Village, with a variety of houses built in front of the mill. Some of the houses have been demolished, but those in Houldsworth Street and Liverpool Street remain. He was created a baronet in 1887 as Sir William Henry Houldsworth, of

, in the Parish of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, in the

County Palatine of Lancaster Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and of Coodham in the Parish of Symington in the

County of Ayr Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

. The City of Manchester made him a freeman in 1905, and the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. A ...

awarded him an honorary LLD. In later life, Houldsworth moved away from Reddish and Manchester, and concentrated on his estate, Coodham, Ayrshire in Scotland, where he built a domestic chapel designed by Alfred Waterhouse.

Legacy

Several features in Reddish are named after Houldsworth. A drinking fountain and four-faced clock, paid for by public subscription, was unveiled in Houldsworth Square on 11 September 1920. The oldest block of

Hulme Hall, Manchester Hulme Hall is a traditional hall of residence at the University of Manchester situated at the Victoria Park Campus in Rusholme, Manchester. It houses 300 students and has a range of facilities including the John Hartshorne Centre: a 300 sea ...

a hall of residence for the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

which was largely funded in its infancy during the 1870s by Houldsworth, is named after him.

Family

On the 20th of August 1862 in

Thornliebank Thornliebank ( Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about ...

, Houldsworth married Elisabeth Graham Crum, daughter of

Walter Crum Walter Crum FRS (1796–1867) was a Scottish chemist and businessman. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1844. Life He was born in Glasgow, the second son of Alexander Crum of Thornliebank, a merchant there, and of Jane, the eldest da ...

Sport

He was a keen golfer and along with the Hon A.J.Balfour (Prime Minister from 1902-5) was instrumental in the establishment of the Balfour and Houldsworth Golf Challenge Cups. Still being played for 126 years later, the two premier trophies, the Balfour Cup and the Houldsworth Trophy are both magnificent examples of Victorian craftsmanship and have few equals in any sport

References

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Notes

External links

* Th
aerial view at spinningtheweb
shows Houldsworth's mill (to the left of the road running vertically), the canal (running horizontally) and the housing (in front of the mill). St Elisabeth's church with its tower is at the top of the picture (above the mill). The school is to the left of the church and the WMC is the large building to the right of the church. One of Reddish Spinning Co Ltd's mills is at the top-left of the picture. The mill to the right is Broadstone mill; the right-hand half of the structure, both chimneys and the engine house (at the centre) have been demolished. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Houldsworth, William Henry English industrialists British textile industry businesspeople Deputy lieutenants of Ayrshire Directors of the London and North Western Railway 1834 births 1917 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 People from Ardwick People from Reddish

101 101 may refer to: *101 (number), the number * AD 101, a year in the 2nd century AD * 101 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC It may also refer to: Entertainment * ''101'' (album), a live album and documentary by Depeche Mode * "101" (song), a 19 ...

Cotton industry in England 19th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English businesspeople Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Manchester Hulme Trust