HOPE MILL
Vale Street
Todmorden
Map ref. SD 937244
Known occupiers
1860-61
MILLS Robert
1861
WILD & CROSSLEY
1866-1867
CROSSLEY Samuel
1866-1908
COUPE Richard & LAW James
1867-1878
HORSFALL Luke & STEPHENSON Thomas
1874-1881
HARRISON Enoch & Co.
1875
LORD Edwin
1876-1878
GIBSON Abraham
1890
GREENWOOD John
1890
SUTCLIFFE James Henry
1890-95
GREENWOOD John & Co. Ltd.
1979
HIGSON L., upholsterer
Notes
Hope Mill consisted of a warp-sizing house and a loom shed.
Robert Mills was born about 1804 and in 1851 appears to be a manufacturer of Naphtha. At that time, he lived on Mills Street in Todmorden with his wife Alice and seven children. Ten years later, he lived at Richmond Terrace near Hall Royd and was the owner-occupier of Hope Mill, working as a warp-sizer.
By 1871, Richard Coupe and James Law were in partnership at the mill, also as owner-occupiers. Richard originated from Houghton Towers in Lancashire. His father was a sizer working in Preston, and Richard followed the same trade. He moved to live in Todmorden before 1861, and initially lodged on Ridge Side with Benjamin Scholfield, a stonemason. By 1871, he had joined forces with James Law and they bought Hope Mill. Richard married Sarah and had several children, Lucy, Richard, Winifred, Monica, Eugene and James.
In 1871, he was living on White Platts Street with his family, and prospering well enough to employ a live-in servant. In 1881, the family was at 9 Garden Street and he described himself as a master cotton warp sizer.
At the mill in the same period, was another cotton warp-sizer, Abraham Gibson. He, too, lived at White Platts with his wife Priscilla and four children, later moving to 17 Wood Street.
Notes from John Travis, contemporary historian
Shed for 100 looms with high-pressure engine built about 1860 by Robert Mills in Vale Street, Tipside, in front of the JOINT STOCK MILL engine house. It was let to Samuel Crossley, joint tenant at Joint Stock Mill for about 2 years.
Additional information
researched, recorded and referenced by Mrs Sheila Wade
Hebden Bridge WEA Local History Group
Size house
Stansfield Rates Book 1860
Owner and occupier Robert Mills; size house & power; loom shed; White Platts; rateable value £76.13s.6d.
Post Office Directory 1861
Robert Mills, sizer, Hope Mill
White 1866
Coupe & Law, sizers. Richard Coupe – Platts Street, James Law – 32 Wellington Rd.
Stansfield Rates Book 1867-70
Owner and occupier Coupe & Law; size house; White Platts; rateable value £31.5s.0d.
Rivers Pollution Commission 1869
Employs 14 hands. Water from land drainage. They size goods to the value of £150,000 yearly. Use yearly 125 tons of flour and 100 tons of china clay. Steam nominal 10hp. 1,100 tons of coal yearly.
West Riding Directory 1871
Coupe & Law, Hope Mill, warp sizers.
Stansfield Rates Book 1871-73
Owner and occupier Richard Coupe; size house; White Platts; rateable value £31.5s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1874
Empty
Stansfield Rates Book 1875
Occupier Edwin Lord; owner Richard Coupe; size house; White Platts; rateable value £31.5s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1876-78
Occupier Abraham Gibson; owner Richard Coupe, mortgagees; size house; White Platts; rateable value £31.5s.0d.
White 1877
Abraham Gibson, Hope Mill, warp sizer
Stansfield Rates Book 1880-99
Owned and occupied by Richard Coupe; size house; Hope Mill; rateable value £63.
Worrall 1891
Richard Coupe, sizer, Hope Mill Size Works
Kelly 1893
Richard Coupe, Hope Mill, Vale Street, warp sizers
Kelly 1897-1908
Richard Coupe, Hope Mill, Vale Street, warp sizers
Loom shed
Stansfield Rates Book 1860
Owner and occupier Robert Mills; size house & power; loom shed; White Platts; rateable value £76.13s.6d.
Kelly 1861
Wild & Crossley, Hope Mill, cotton manufacturers
White 1866
Samuel Crossley, cotton spinner & manufacturer
Stansfield Rates Book 1867
Occupier Samuel Crossley; owners Coupe & Law; loom shed; White Platts; rateable value £34.19s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1868
Occupiers Horsfall & Stephenson; owners Coupe & Law; loom shed; White Platts; rateable value £34.19s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1869-73
Occupiers Horsfall & Stephenson; owners Coupe & Law; loom shed; White Platts; rateable value £34.19s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1874-78
- Occupied by E. Harrison & Co; owners Richard Coupe mortgagees; mill and power; White Platts; rateable value £30.19s.6d.
- Occupiers Horsfall & Stephenson; owners Coupe & Law; loom shed; White Platts; rateable value £34.19s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1880
Owner and occupier Richard Coupe; loom shed; White Platts; re-valued £28.15s.0d.
Warehouse and Picker Shop
Stansfield Rates Book 1880-81
occupied by E. Harrison & Co; owners Richard Coupe mortgagees; warehouse; White Platts; rateable value £26.10s.0d.
Stansfield Rates Book 1890
Occupiers John Greenwood and James Henry Sutcliffe; owner Richard Coupe; picker shop; warehouse; White Platts; rateable value £25.15s.0d.
Factory Act prosecutions 2nd January 1890
J. Greenwood & Co. Ltd. picker makers, Todmorden
Case heard before J.A. Ingham, D.J. Crossley and W. Ormerod Esqrs at Todmorden Town Hall.
Employing one young person after 6 p.m.
Penalty 10s and costs of 9s.
Kelly 1895
John Greenwood & Co. Ltd. Belting manufacturers, Carr and Hope Mills. |
