James Walton (15 April 1803 – 5 November 1883) was a British inventor and industrialist.[1] He was known for the significant improvements he made to the carding process. He amassed a considerable fortune from his business ventures, and purchased two large family estates in Wales.
Walton was born on 15 April 1803[2] at Ripponden. His father Isaac Walton worked as a friezer.[3]
In 1822, Walton moved to a small workshop near North Bridge, Halifax to develop his ideas for new machinery for friezing. He quickly developed these ideas, and in 1824, moved to a larger factory at Sowerby Bridge.[3] In his first year in business he developed a new method of friezing "Petersham". He also constructed the largest planing machine built in the United Kingdom.[4]
In the early 1830s, Walton developed a new form of wire-card for use in textile manufacturing. This replaced the traditional leather backing for the card with india rubber laid on cloth. This was a superior system and became the standard for the carding industry,[4] and enabled him to obtain his first patent.[3]
In 1838, Walton joined Parr, Curtis and Co.[5] in Manchester, and began making his cards using machines, instead of by hand. He purchased an American card-setting machine and made significant improvements to its efficiency.[4] In 1839, Walton sued a rival company for infringement on his carding patent. this case, known as Walton v. Potter and Horsfall, continued until 1843. Walton won the case, but it left him with a lifelong dislike of legal proceedings.[3] In 1842, the works of Curtis, Parr and Walton was almost destroyed in a fire.[5]
During the 1840s he obtained a number of other patents for further improvements to machinery and manufacturing processes.
The partnership of Parr, Curtis and Walton was a great success. The company moved from its original premises in Store Street, to a much larger factory in Ancoats.[3]
In 1853, Walton ended the partnership with Parr and Curtis.[6] He built a new factory in Haughton Dale to the south-east of Manchester, which opened in 1857. There he established the company of James Walton & Sons, supplying machinery and cards to the textile industry of Great Britain and beyond.[7] The factory was the largest of its kind in the world.[6] His sons William and Frederick joined him in the business, though Frederick left in 1863 to pursue his own invention, Linoleum.[3] The Haughton Dale Mills as the factory was known as described by the Manchester Guardian as "the largest establishment of the kind in the world".[8]
Walton was a very successful businessman, described as:
...remarkable in his inventive genius. Like Brindley and Arkwright and other great leaders of industry who have established supremacy of England as a manufacturing nation, he was a man of marked individuality of character, of mental vision, strength of will and steadfastness of purpose and he has left behind him a long list of original ideas many of which were carried into practice and assisted greatly in increasing the productive powers of the great cotton spinning trade.[9]
In 1875, Walton began construction of the Anglican Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Haughton Dale. This was consecrated in 1876 by the Bishop of Manchester.[10] He also built Haughton Dale Mills School in the village.[11] [6]
In 1887, James Walton & Sons exhibited one of Walton's card setting machines at the 1887 Manchester Jubilee Exhibition.[12]
In the 1850s, Walton lived at Compstall Hall, south-east of Manchester.[13] In 1860, he purchased the Cwmllecoediog estate, near Aberangell in Wales and spent much of his time there.[14]
In 1868, Walton purchased the even larger Dolforgan Hall near Kerry, Powys which covered 4250acres.[6] From 1870, Dolforgan Hall was his primary residence, leaving Cwmllecoediog to his sons William and Frederick. In 1877, Walton served as High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire. He was a significant benefactor of St. Michael's Church in Kerry,[6] paying a large amount towards the rebuilding of the church in 1882.[2]
Walton died on 5 November 1883, at Dolforgan Hall.[4] after his death, the family sold the Dolforgan Estate to John William Willans, and it was inherited by his son John Bancroft Willans.[15]
Walton married Anne Kenworthy (died 1885). They had two sons, William and Frederick, and a daughter Anne.[16]