Craven, Joseph MP

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Craven, Joseph MP

Watercolour portrait of Joseph Craven MP, born in Thornton, 1825

from John Sowden's notebooks:

"Joseph Craven was born at Close Head Thornton in 1825 and was educated at Manor House Academy, Cleckheaton. He was only 7 1/2 years old when he went to the academy but he proved so apt a scholar that during the later years at school he acted(?) as teacher.

He was intended for the medical profession but the ill-health of his father caused him to turn his talents to the business of a manufacturer at Thornton and Bradford under the title of Joshua Craven & Son. In 1862 the father retired and Mr Joseph Craven carried the business on by himself, having had the management from the time he was taken into partnership.

It took some time to change from the hand loom to the power loom and it was only after months of arguing that they decided for power. It was decided to build new premises at Thornton which are known as Prospect Mill, which held about 300 looms, which began to turn in 1847; from time to time extensions were made and washing, climbing and spinning were introduced.

In 1875 Mr Craven himself retired from business, handing over Prospect Mill to Messrs Getz & Co, who purchased the whole property.

Mr Craven was in every sense a public man for nearly 50 years and maintained a keen interest in politics. For a long term of years he was a member of the old Thornton Local Board acting as chairman for five years. He also represented Thornton on the North Bierley Board of Guardians.

He was for several years member of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce and served for long periods on the governing bodies of the Thornton Grammar School, the Crossley Orphanage (Halifax) and Airedale College, Bradford (later the Yorkshire United Independent College). In politics he was a robust liberal.

Mr Craven was returned in 1884 as the first member of Parliament for the Shipley Division. In 1886 he was asked again to stand and he had a walk-over. At the general election he did not seek re-election on account of his health. He was Justice of the Peace for the West Riding and a director of the Bradford Banking Company (now merged in the London, City and Midland Bank). While a young man he threw his energy to enlarging the scope of the Thornton Mechanics’ Institute.

He gave the land for a new Institute which was opened in 1870 by Edward Meall MP later he added and furnished a lecture hall at a cost of £1600; and in 1887 he invested £1000 to provide scholarships from the Elementary School to classes of the Institute and afterwards to Bradford technical college.

Like his father and grandfather he was a staunch Congregationalist and attached to Kipping Chapel, where he acted as superintendent of the Sunday School.

Religious and philanthropic agencies always had first claim on his purse. For some years his usual New Year's gifts were sent out under the initials “AT” a Thorntonian. In 1909 he gave £5000 to a fund for poor Congregational Churches and £5000 towards a new Infirmary for Bradford.

Mr Craven was a keen sportsmen on the moors, at the billiard table and as an angler.

In 1845 Mr Craven married a daughter of Mr Jonathan Knowles of Denholme, and there was one son, Joshua Craven, who died in 1874 and six daughters, five daughters survive him. He died in 1914 aged 89 years, leaving £594,975."

Year

1890

Creator

John Sowden

Image filename

sowden-136