Descendants of Joseph HOULDSWORTH
Notes
Henry Houldsworth was born in Nottingham in 1774 the son of Henry Houldsworth and Ann Hooton. He left Nottingham for the Manchester Cotton Mills. Few Southrons could at any time boast that they had invaded Scotland with success, but Henry Houldsworth not only did so, but founded a family that for nearly ninety years increased and prospered. Towards the end of 18th century cotton spinning had begun to take its place among Scotland's industries.
Henry first visited Scotland as a teenager, travelling to Glasgow with 40 kilos of spun yarn to sell. This first visit was to have far-reaching consequences, and led to his life taking a new direction. He continued to visit Glasgow from time to time, establishing connections within the cotton industry, and in 1799 he moved to Glasgow to teach spinning in the Woodside Cotton Mill, located on the River Kelvin in the west end of Glasgow. Henry, was brought to Glasgow by William Gillespie, of Woodside and Anderston, to manage a small cotton mill which then stood on the Kelvin, a little below the present Great Western Road Bridge. Houldsworth must soon have got this mill into his own hands, for in the Directory of 1801 William Gillespie & Co. are described simply as calico printers in Anderston, and Henry Houldsworth & Co. appear as cotton spinners at Woodside.
By his marriage with Jane, daughter of John Richardson, of Glasgow, Henry Houldsworth had three sons:
(i) Henry, born 1797, died 1867, second of Coltness, a partner in the great cotton spinning business in Manchester founded by his uncle, Thomas Houldsworth;
(ii) William, born 1798, died 1853;
(iii) John Houldsworth, of Cranstonhill, born at Cranstonhill, 1807, died at Glasgow, in 1859.Henry then began to expand the cotton business, and by 1831 was the second largest cotton spinner in Glasgow. This business he afterwards removed to Cheapside Street, Anderston, where he carried it on in partnership with his two sons, William and John, under the firm of Henry Houldsworth & Sons.
Houldsworth was fascinated by new technology. He was also involved with the early paddle-steamers and had devised the Houldsworth Differential Gear to maintain a constant tension on thread (an invention which has come down to us in the gears of motor vehicles). To repair his mill machinery Henry Houldsworth took over an iron foundry in the burgh of Anderston, now a part of Glasgow. Cotton spinning was then the great Glasgow industry, but with the insight of true business genius the Houldsworths saw that iron was to be the mainstay of Glasgow, and accordingly the Anderston Foundry and Machine Works was started also in Cheapside Street. This fired his interest in the iron industry. In 1836 he bought the Coltness Estate near Wishaw in Lanarkshire and set up the Coltness Iron Works in 1839. He was 65 years old at the time.
Gradually Glasgow fell out of the cotton machinery trade.
The success of Coltness led to Henry Houldsworth founding the Dalmellington Iron Company at Dunaskin in 1848. He was 74 years of age when he began this project. His life illustrates the tremendous energy and technological change of the 19th century which transformed the once pastoral south west of Scotland into a booming industrial heart of an Empire.
Henry Houldsworth died on 10th October 1853 and is buried in the ruins of Cambusnethan Old Church, near Wishaw.
Houldsworth Henry will proved 12/11/1853 Esq of Coltness and Cranstonhill, residing at Coltness House, co Lanark, father of Anne Houldsworth, etc
The Dalmellington Iron Company remained in the control of the Houldsworth family, firstly via Henry's children and later his grandchildren until 1906. Houldsworth's achievements serve as an illustration of the type of person who we can regard as a driving force behind the Industrial Revolution.
Early in the 19th century Henry Houldsworth bought Cranston Hill, then a pretty villa a little to the west of the village of Anderston. Now the site of the villa, pleasure ground, and garden is covered with works and houses, and every year is bringing nearer the fulfillment of the prophecy that Glasgow Cross would stand on Cranston Hill. When Anderston was a burgh Henry Houldsworth was its perpetual Provost, and its last Provost was John, his son.
HOULDSWORTH STREET (GLASGOW)
This street is named after Henry Houldsworth. His success was phenomenal, as by the beginning of last century he was running on his own account a large factory in Cheapside Street and also a machine shop in John Street (City), where he was the first to make cotton-spinning machinery in Scotland. On the decay of the cotton trade he merged into that of iron, by starting the Anderston Foundry; and the family are now represented by the Houldsworths of Coltness, which estate they purchased in 1836.A portrait of Henry Houldsworth (1770-1853) by Sir John Watson Gordon (1788-1864) is of note.
Mentioned in Henry Houldsworth's (b1797-d1868) will as sister Jane Grierson.
In Henry Houldsworth's (b1797-d1868) will he mentions his sister Jane Grierson.
James McConnel, was born on 25.6.1752 and married on 28.5.1799 at Gonalston Church, Nottinghamshire, Margaret Houldsworth, the daughter of Henry Houldsworth of Chesterfield, Co. York, and Ann Hooton of the same county.
Mary Anne McConnel, the daughter of James McConnel of The Polygon, Ardwick, Manchester, and wife of Dr. Charles Henry Felix Routh, was born on 7th March, 1819 (i.e., in the reign of George III) and was married on the 26.8.1852 at Ardwick. Her father, James McConnel, was born on 25.6.1752 and married on 28.5.1799 at Gonalston Church, Nottinghamshire, Margaret Houldsworth, the daughter of Henry Houldsworth of Chesterfield, Co. York, and Ann Hooton of the same county. Mary Ann died in London in 1910, aged 91, and is buried in Kensal Green beside her husband.
