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Edward Akroyd

14th May 2014

 

Edward Akroyd (1810–1887) who at the height of his success was probably the largest manufacturer of woollen cloth in the country, employed around 8,000 workers at his mills in the Halifax area.  Akroyd was a philanthropist who responded to the dreadful living conditions of the working class in the mid-19th century by using part of his wealth to develop the model villages of Copley and Akroydon with houses, schools, churches and other amenities such as allotments, cemeteries and libraries for the use of his workforce.  Akroyd developed his own large mansion Bankfield in Akroydon..

Akroyd was an MP for Halifax, he helped to found the Yorkshire Penny Bank (now the Yorkshire Bank), to enable his workers to save and he was partly responsible for bringing the railway to Halifax,  which greatly increased prosperity in the town.  Akroyd established a factory school in 1833 which, by 1839, was the largest school in Halifax.  In 1856 he created the Haley Hill Working Men’s College  which was the first Working Men’s College outside London, (founded 2 years earlier and supported by John Ruskin, DG Rossetti and William Morris, amongst others).

Edward Ackroyd

 

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📣 This fabric is on a big sale! 📣 Our red Strawberry Thief drill fabric is currently on sale for £15 a metre 🍓 Our drill fabric is a slightly heavier weight and weave than our heavyweight fabric and is perfect for light upholstery, curtain making and more 🪡🧵 It won’t be on sale long so grab yourself some whilst you can ✨
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The soundtrack to our day- our fabric cutter! 🎼 If you ever order fabric from us this is how we get our cuts so straight ☺️ Did you know that we sell our fabrics by the half meter, so however big or small your project is, we’ve got fabric for you ☺️ This is our gorgeous William Morris Strawberry Thief blue design, it’s very often on our cutting table as it’s so popular! Do you prefer it in red or in blue? 🍓 
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Replacing all normal eggs with chocolate ones for the foreseeable future 🐣 Brother Rabbit Green on the table always looks so beautiful, we just love this new colour way in this gorgeous William Morris design ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #flowerpowerfabric #flowers
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #quiltingfabric #ukfabric
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