Lieutenant Colonel Edward Akroyd (1810–1887), English manufacturer, was born into a

textile manufacturing Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

family in 1810, and when he died in 1887, he still owned the family firm. He inherited "James Akroyd & Sons Ltd." from his father in 1847, and he became the owner of one of the country's largest

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham, for ...

manufacturers. He established mills at Haley Hill in Halifax and then at Copley, two miles or so to the south. He proved to be a very successful businessman, and his firm made him very prosperous. At Haley Hill, not far from his mills, he extended a large

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, Bankfield, and then went to live there. Akroyd was well read and concerned about the fortunes of Halifax and the terrible social conditions that grew out of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. He funded and supported a local allotment society and many institutions for the working classes, a school for child labourers, a workers' pension scheme, several churches (he was a staunch

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

) and a cemetery. He founded a Working Men's College, the first outside London. In the mid-1850s, he helped found the Yorkshire Penny Bank (to encourage workers to save), and he worked closely with the Halifax Permanent Building Society (later the

Halifax Building Society Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada *Halifax, West Yorkshire, England *Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook *Halifax B ...

) to promote home ownership through his

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

Akroydon. This was built after his initial housing development, which he had undertaken with his brother at Copley, to show people how housing conditions could be improved. He was partly responsible for bringing the railway to the town. Edward Akroyd became a Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th Yorkshire West Riding (Halifax) Rifle Volunteers in 1861, and served as a member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Akroyd's kindness was well known, and many had cause to be grateful to him. They felt his problems as keenly as their own when some of his overseas investments failed and he suffered great financial loss. The unkindest cut of fate, however, was when he fell from his horse and received severe head injuries. After this, his failing health caused him to leave Halifax for a secluded life at

St Leonards-on-Sea St Leonards-on-Sea (commonly known as St Leonards) is a town and seaside resort in the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The origina ...

, attended by only one manservant, and it was there that he died in 1887. At his funeral, 15,000 mourners crowded outside All Souls' Church and many businesses closed for a few hours as a mark of respect. On his death, he left an estate of £1,234 1s. 10d. Now that the Akroyd business empire has passed well into history, what remains of it in Halifax is something of the architectural heritage to remind one of the scope of Akroyd's vision. The small church at Copley survives (without the colossal mill which stood nearby). At Haley Hill the mill survives in multiple occupation as part of the Dean Clough business park; the Akroyd mansion, Bankfield, which has been a municipal museum for many years still stands on the edge of the gothic-style, stone-built model village, which survives more or less intact. The crowning feature of the scheme, Sir George Gilbert Scott's white limestone All Souls' Church (1856-8) still dominates the area, its lofty spire reaching 236 feet into the Yorkshire sky: the second tallest in the county (

Wakefield Cathedral Wakefield Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, is a co-equal Anglican cathedral with Bradford and Ripon Cathedrals, in the Diocese of Leeds and a seat of the Bishop of Leeds. Originally the pa ...

has the highest spire). Both St Stephen's Copley and All Souls itself are now vested in the Churches Conservation Trust, All Souls' having been rescued from demolition by a continuing programme of restoration initially organized by a board of Trustees assembled for the purpose. No regular services have been held at All Souls' Haley Hill since 1977. A

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

commemorating Akroyd was erected by the

Halifax Civic Trust Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Halifax, West Yorkshire, England *Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook * Halifax ...

at Dean Clough.

References

External links

* *
Colonel Edward Akroyd (biography at Calderdale History)
*

Entry at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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– built by Akroyd {{DEFAULTSORT:Akroyd, Edward 1810 births 1887 deaths English philanthropists People from Halifax, West Yorkshire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 Volunteer Force officers 19th-century English businesspeople

References

Further reading

External links