Vote for Yorkshire’s Greatest... Trailblazers

Titus Salt is one, but I’ve also included the man who saved Salt’s great mill from decay and brought it back to joyous life.

The Joseph’s, Rowntree and Rank (chocolate and flour), remind us that textiles wasn’t the county’s only great industry and Rank’s son was to make his name in an even more unusual field.

John Metcalf’s road-building feats make him a natural inclusion, but Blind Jack of Knaresborough (as he was known) achieved them with a handicap that by rights should have made it impossible.

The hydraulic press is one of the building blocks of the Industrial Revolution – a Yorkshireman invented it – and the county can claim the credit for stainless steel as well.

Find out about the man who created the most famous store chain in the land and the cabinet maker whose name has become synonymous with fine furniture.

There are also two people who set out to re-draw the map of the world.

It’s quite a choice.

(Voting has now closed)

1, SIR TITUS SALT

SALT dreamed of becoming a doctor but found he could not stand the sight of blood, so joined the family wool business instead.

Born in Bradford in 1803, he took over the firm in 1833 on his father’s death and in the same year saw a bundle of alpaca wool in a Liverpool warehouse; neglected because no-one wanted it or knew how to use it.

After much experimentation, Salt solved the problem and found that woven onto a warp of cotton or silk it made a particularly fine cloth.

By the 1840s he had five mills and was very rich indeed.

Salt had a great concern for his workers and in 1851 bought land in a pleasant countryside location to create his model village of Saltaire where they enjoyed decent housing and amenities.

Queen Victoria knighted him. He died aged 73 and was buried in the magnificent Congregational church he had built in the village.

2, JONATHAN SILVER

SALT’S great mill at Saltaire is a major tourist attraction nowadays thanks to another remarkable Bradford man.

As a pupil at Bradford Grammar School Silver, a born entrepeneur, spent his lunch breaks buying and selling furniture in local auction rooms.

Running the school magazine he approached former pupil David Hockney, then finding fame as an artist, and persuaded him to design a cover. That meeting in his father’s Wimpy bar set up a lifetime friendship.

After university he founded a fashionable menswear chain, made his fortune and then gambled by buying the then disused mill and converting it into a vibrant arts centre. The 1853 Gallery there holds more than 400 Hockney works – the biggest collection anywhere.

Silver also helped rescue the enormous Dean Clough Mills at Halifax. He died of cancer in 1997.

3, SIMON MARKS

MARKS and Spencer has been one of the greatest names in retailing for more than a century.

It began when Tom Spencer and Michael Marks set up a chain of penny bazaars, but it was Michael’s son Simon, born in Leeds in 1888, who created the firm we know today.

In 1926 he had the then revolutionary idea of buying direct from manufacturers rather than wholesalers and two years later introduced the famous St Michael brand .

In 1930 the firm’s flagship Marble Arch store was opened and in 1931 the first food department.

In 1933 Marks set up a welfare scheme for his staff, providing pensions, medical and dental care, hairdressing and even camping holidays.

After the war came the first self-service store and as early as 1959 a ban on smoking.

M&S became the most profitable and best-loved retailer in the country.

Marks died in 1964 having been knighted and then granted a peerage.

4, JOSEPH RANK

WHILE most Victorians made their fortunes from new industries, Rank made his by revolutionising one of the oldest – flour milling.

Born in Hull in 1854 at his father’s flour mill, in 1875, he took a lease of a windmill of his own.

His breakthrough came when he decided to use steel rollers rather than traditional millstones and could now produce six sacks of flour in an hour rather than a mere one and half.

Seeing the advantages of steam power, he abandoned wind and was soon getting 16 sacks an hour.

Rank turned a local business into a national one, setting up mills in various parts of the country and marketing his product vigorously.

A staunch Methodist he was also concerned for the welfare of the poor and was an early pioneer of match-funding where he would match the money raised by an individual or group for social projects.

The work continues today through the Joseph Rank Trust.

5, J.ARTHUR RANK

BORN in Hull in 1872, the son of Joseph, his father called him a dunce which seemed justified when the younger man’s venture into self-raising flour failed.

Rank was determined to use the millions he was to inherit for the benefit of Methodism and its charities.

Worried about the influence of the newly-popular cinema, Rank decided to make his own films. Once again it was a flop.

He decided he needed to own the cinemas as well and built up the Gaumont chain, make more popular films – he succeeded spectacularly, “Brief Encounter” was one of them – and create his own studios at Pinewood.

His Rank Organisation became famous, not least for the man with the gong who preceded each film. The firm acquired the Odeon and Paramount cinema chains until it had more than 600 cinemas.

Rank was made a lord and died in 1972 having given £100m to Methodist charities.

6, THOMAS CHIPPENDALE

CATALOGUE shopping isn’t as recent as we might imagine.

Thomas Chippendale used it as a means of making his small furniture making business into a large and famous concern.

Born near Otley in 1718, where there is a statue of him, his father worked in the wood trade. It seems Chippendale learned his skill from a renowned cabinet maker in York.

He became an extremely talented designer and his rococo style furniture graces many stately homes to this day, among them Harewood House and Nostell Priory.

His great inspiration was to produce a lavishly illustrated book of his work – the “Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director” which sold out again and again and led to an enormous demand for his work.

Chippendale employed many workers to keep up with demand and the business continued successfully under the hand of his son Thomas Junior.

7, JOHN SMEATON

THE world’s most famous lighthouse – the Eddystone – is his memorial.

Its image is incorporated into the arms of the Institute of Civil Engineers; very appropriately as it was Smeaton who coined the term for this profession.

Born at Austerley Lodge near Leeds in 1724, he showed an early skill and enthusiasm for all things mechanical and set up an instrument making business in London.

His improvements to many navigational aids saw him become a fellow of the Royal Society at only 29. It was the society president who gave him the Eddystone task.

Two previous lighthouses on this dangerous rock had been destroyed by the weather. Smeaton’s construction using interlocking stones and his own water-proof mortar stood the test of time until it was re-erected on Plymouth Hoe.

His work formed the basis for modern cement and concrete.

Smeaton also built canals (including our own Calder and Hebble), bridges and harbours.

8, HARRY BREARLEY

A CENTURY ago, cleaning the rust from cutlery was a boring task for servants and housewives alike.

Stainless steel put an end to the problem, boosting Sheffield’s steel industry, and the man most credited with its discovery is Brearley.

Born in the city in 1871 into a poor family, he educated himself at night school and by private study.

His assiduous experimenting with metals brought him to the attention of two leading steel firms who were setting up a research laboratory and Brearley was asked to head it.

In 1913 a local arms manufacturer came to him worried about the problems of erosion on his gun barrels.

Brearley’s experiments of adding chromium to steel was to provide the answer in a material that was harder and yet also lighter than traditional steel.

He called it “Rustless Steel” . A local cutlery maker gave it the name by which we know it today.

9, CAPTAIN JAMES COOK

PEOPLE’S picture of the world changed dramatically thanks to the voyages of Cook.

Born at Marton near Middlesbrough in 1728 and learning to sail and navigate at Whitby, (his house there is now a museum) Cook joined the Royal Navy.

He gained notice by charting Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway and his maps made possible Wolfe’s famous capture of Quebec.

In his converted Whitby collier the Endeavour, Cook was sent to the Pacific; ostensibly to watch the transit of Venus, in reality to search for a hidden continent. From Tahiti, he explored New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia – the hidden continent.

There followed a second voyage to the Antarctic and then one to look for the North West Passage. He was killed by natives on Hawaii in 1769.

Cook was famous for looking after his men; particularly in preventing the dreaded Scurvy and his name lives on with Mount Cook and the Cook Strait among other landmarks.

10, JOSEPH BRAMAH

BUT for an accident which damaged his ankle, this farmer’s son might have worked on the land.

Instead he became one of the country’s most important inventors.

Born near Barnsley in 1748 – the local Wetherspoon’s pub is named after him – he moved to London and trained as a cabinet maker.

In 1784 came his first patent – for an improved water closet – which proved very popular and launched him as a businessman.

He set up the Bramah Locks Co, which still trades today, and patented a lock claimed to be pick-proof.

In 1795 came the hydraulic press. It was used to hoist massive objects, to compress and pack materials and to cut timber and stone. It was one of the foundations of the Industrial Revolution.

Other inventions included a numerical printing machine to turn out Bank of England notes, a beer engine and paper-making machinery.

He died in 1814.

11, BLIND JACK OF KNARESBOROUGH

FEW people have made so light of adversity as John Metcalf who lost his sight to smallpox at an early age.

Born in Knaresborough in 1717, he learned to find his own way round the town, to become a strong swimmer, play bowls and cards and become an excellent violin player. This latter skill earned him a living for many years.

Undoubtedly a colourful character, he foresaw opportunities when the government embarked on a road-building programme after the rising of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Jack won the contract to build a stretch and made a success of it. He devised his own equipment, including his Viameter with which he measured distances, and proved adept at surmounting problems.

Eventually he built more than 180 miles of road, including many of the major highways of Yorkshire and Lancashire and, at the age of 86, wrote his own life story.

He has a fascinating tomb at Spofforth church.

12, SAMUEL LISTER

MANY inventors fail to profit from their genius. Samuel Lister, born at Calverley Old Hall in 1815, was not one of them.

He devised the Lister Nip Comb which separated and straightened raw wool. It revolutionised the industry, made wool textiles much cheaper and led to the huge expansion of sheep farming in Australia.

He also invented a way of making cheap silk fabrics from silk waste while his Velvet Loom made possible the production of piled fabrics.

Lister’s enormous and magnificent Manningham Mills at Bradford and his firm’s other premises employed thousands of people and made him a multi-millionaire.

In 1891 he was made a peer. Today his statue looks down on Lister Park; his gift to the people of his native city.

13, JOSEPH ROWNTREE

LIKE Simon Marks, Joseph Rowntree became a household name.

The son of a Quaker grocer, born in York in 1834, he joined his father’s business and then that of his brother Henry who had set up a chocolate-making business.

On Henry’s death, Joseph built it up into one of the greatest names in confectionery. Not just in chocolates, he introduced Fruit Pastilles in 1881 then Fruit Gums and jelly babies.

The firm had more than 4,000 employees and Rowntree was much concerned for their welfare, building a model village at New Earswick and helping to give the city a park, library and school.

Inspired by his son Benjamin’s researches into poverty, he set up the Joseph Rowntree Social Services Trust and Charitable Trust, both still very active today although Nestle took over the family business.

14, SIR MARTIN FROBISHER

YOU could call Frobisher Yorkshire’s Francis Drake. He was a contemporary of that famous seafarer and shared many of the same experiences.

Frobisher was born at Altofts near Wakefield in the 1530s, became a cabin boy and went to sea.

His life included piracy – particularly on French ships off the coast of Africa – imprisonment by the Portuguese, plundering Spanish galleons for gold and taking command of the Navy’s biggest ship in the running sea battle against the Spanish Armada.

He is particularly remembered for his voyages to the coast of North America, especially Canada, where he was the first English explorer. Frobisher Bay still carries his name.

Unfortunately the cargo of “gold ore” he brought back with him turned out to be worthless iron pyrites.

His many exploits won him a knighthood. Wounded in a battle, he was brought back to Plymouth where died in 1594.