Silsden mill owner held tea party for workers in 1856

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 16 Oct, 09:32 · Archive

Robert Heaton, owner of Becks Mill in Silsden, treated his employees to tea and supper on 5 April 1856 to celebrate the end of the Crimean War.

Robert Heaton, a worsted spinner and manufacturer, treated his employees at Becks Mill in Silsden to a tea and supper on 5 April 1856 to mark the end of the Crimean War.

Becks Mill was built in the late 1830s as a steam-powered worsted spinning mill with a weaving shed added later. In the 1840s it was run by William Wright and Robert Heaton in partnership. Wright was the senior partner and a landowner in Silsden and Brunthwaite, whilst Heaton was twenty years younger. Heaton's father, Joseph Heaton of Sutton House in Sutton, was a friend of Wright's and had apprenticed his son to learn the manufacturing trade.

In 1851 the partnership employed 258 people, some working at the mill as spinners and power loom weavers, and others as outworkers making hand woolcombed goods. William Wright left the partnership in 1853 and retired to his farm in Low Fold, Silsden. After Heaton's father died in 1854, Heaton continued to live at Sutton House, where he employed a cook, housemaid and groom. He now ran the mill as sole proprietor, travelling to it daily on horseback.

Becks Mill stood until about 2010, when it was demolished to make way for housing.

How it is being reported

• Look back: Workers at Silsden mill treated to tea to celebrate end of warON Saturday, April 5, 1856 Robert Heaton, a worsted spinner and manufacturer, of Becks Mill in Silsden, treated his employees to a tea and supper to celebrate the end of the Crimean War.Keighley News · 16 Oct, 09:00
• Look back: Workers at Silsden mill treated to tea to celebrate end of warON Saturday, April 5, 1856 Robert Heaton, a worsted spinner and manufacturer, of Becks Mill in Silsden, treated his employees to a tea and supper to celebrate the end of the Crimean War.Telegraph & Argus · 16 Oct, 09:00

In this story: Robert Heaton · William Wright · Joseph Heaton · Becks Mill · Silsden

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem