Hodgson George JP

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Hodgson George JP

Watercolour portrait of George Hodgson JP

from John Sowden's notebooks:

"George Hodgson was born in 1815 and began life as a journeyman mechanic. It was not till he was nearly at the middle period of his life that he began business on his own account. He was associated at the first with Mr Enoch Haley, the firm being Hodgson & Haley, iron founders and loom makers. After a few years the business came into the sole hands of Mr Hodgson and it has continued under his management ever since at the works in Thornton Road. Some years after starting this business Mr Hodgson joined his brothers, John and William Hodgson, in the firm of J & W Hodgson & Co of West End Mills and afterwards he took the business over on his own account, subsequently building Legrams Mills in Legrams Lane. Besides being one of the largest loom makers in the trade, both for home and continental markets, Mr Hodgson was engaged in the spinning industry and at the head of five businesses; he had 1000 persons in his employment.

He was chairman of the Yorkshire Banking Company and was a director of the Clay Lane Ironworks Company, Middlesbrough. In 1889 he purchased the Nocton Hall estate in Lincolnshire from the Marquis of Ripon. He took an active share in establishing the Bradford Technical College and was chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Committee from the first. He contributed several valuable gifts of machinery. He also took an interest in the Bradford Mechanics’ Institute. He was for many years member of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and was also a Justice of the Peace for the West Riding. He was a Churchman and a member of the Bradford Liberal Unionist Association of which he was honorary Treasurer for some time. Mr Hodgson married Miss Anne Ackroyd in 1840. He died in 1895 leaving a widow, two sons and three daughters."

Creator

John Sowden

Image filename

sowden-140