Edward Potts (2 March 1839 – 15 April 1909) was an architect who practised in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Biography

Potts was born on 2 March 1839 in Bury, Lancashire. He moved to

and designed many of the town's

Cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven b ...

s and was ranked with P. S. Stott as the greatest mill architect of Victorian Lancashire. Potts and his partnerships were responsible for the design and build of 200 mills, sixteen of which were in Oldham. One such mill is Textile Mill, Chadderton built in 1882. Mills of this period were constructed with fireproof floors. These were principally triple brick arches, but Potts pioneered the use of 7" thick

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

floors. On 3 March 1884 he attempted to patent this new method of constructing fireproof floors and ceilings. The patent was rejected, and it was rapidly adopted by other architects. The seven inch floor was more rigid than a 12" brick floor, so preserved the alignment of the

spinning mule The spinning mule is a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres. They were used extensively from the late 18th to the early 20th century in the mills of Lancashire and elsewhere. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with the help of tw ...

s, thus saving power. However the concrete floor however required a closer grouping of supporting columns, which restricted the size of the machines. To solve this, he introduced transverse steel girders into the design, supported on steel lintels above the windows. Thus there was no lateral thrust on the walls, and the windows became square headed and abnormally wide. Potts moved to Eccles in 1891 and was responsible for the design of the town's library. He was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member of Eccles

borough council A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

from 1902 to 1905, the first chairman of the town's library committee in 1904 and a Justice of the Peace in 1906. He inaugurated popular Saturday night concerts during the winter months, and, keen to reduce the incidence of infant mortality, gave a sovereign to the mother of every child who reached the age of one. He died on 15 April 1909 and was buried at Chadderton Cemetery.

Partnerships

*Woodhouse & Potts (1860–1872) *Independent architect (1872–1880) *Potts, Pickup & Dixon (1880–1890), Manchester office from 1882 *Potts, Son & Henning, Manchester, Oldham, and Bolton (1890–1907)

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Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Edward 1839 births 1909 deaths 19th-century English architects People from Bury, Greater Manchester People from Oldham Architects from Lancashire

Biography

Partnerships

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography