The Shirley Institute was established in 1920 as the British Cotton Industry Research Association at
The Towers in
Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, as a research centre dedicated to cotton production technologies. It was funded by the
Cotton Board through a statutory levy. A significant contribution to the purchase price of The Towers was made by
William Greenwood, the
MP for
Stockport
Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here.
Most of the town is within ...
, who asked that the building be named after his daughter.
The Institute developed
Ventile
Ventile, is a registered trademark used to brand a special high-quality woven cotton fabric first developed by scientists at the Shirley Institute in Manchester, England. Originally created to overcome a shortage of flax used for fire hoses and wa ...
, a special high-quality woven cotton fabric. It also developed the
tog as an easy-to-follow measure of the thermal resistance of textiles, as an alternative to the
SI unit of m
2K/W.
The BCRA merged with the
British Rayon Research Association
The British Rayon Research Association was a research institute formed in 1946 by the British Rayon Federation and others.The Times, November 29, 1946 page 10 It was funded by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and by voluntary fu ...
to form the Cotton, Silk, and Man-Made Fibres Research Association in 1961.
Douglas Hill was director of research of the BCRA before the merger, and led the new organisation. The director of the BRRA,
Leonard Albert Wiseman
Leonard Albert Wiseman OBE BSc ARI.C CText FTI (4 November 1915 – 20 January 2009) was an organic chemist, scientific intelligence analyst and scientific administrator. Following his early work as a research chemist and in intelligence, he becam ...
became deputy director. Len Wiseman became director on Hill's retirement in 1969, and held the post until 1980.
In 1987–1990 it merged with the
Wira Technology Group to form the
British Textile Technology Group
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
(BTTG).
See also
*
Robert Howson Pickard Sir Robert Howson Pickard FRS (27 September 1874 – 18 October 1949) was a chemist who did pioneering work in stereochemistry and also for the cotton industry in Lancashire. He was also involved in educational administration and was Vice Chancello ...
FRS, director 1937-1943 who expanded the technical facilities extensively in 1936.
*
Mary Corner
Mary Corner (25 March 1899 – 4 November 1962), was a pharmacist, a worker in the British Cotton Industry and British Leather Manufacturers, Head of the Micro-analytical Section of the Chemical Research Laboratory, Vice-Chairman of the Microchem ...
worked initially in the
rayon
Rayon is a semi-synthetic fiber, made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has the same molecular structure as cellulose. It is also called viscose. Many types and grades of viscose f ...
department where she developed a fascination with microanalysis which resulted in a promotion to Head of the Microanalytical Section.
References
External links
The British Textile Technology Group
{{coord, 53.4081, -2.2262, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
British research associations
Cotton industry in England
Cotton organizations
Didsbury
Research institutes in Manchester