Архивная история
History of F.W. Hayes (taken from http://countydown.x10.mx/html/banbridge_b.htm, accessed by MERL on 08/11/2013) - 'Thread making at Seapatrick // (By T.A. Moore) // Frederick William Hayes was born on 11th June, 1802, the third son of William Hayes of Millmount. William Hayes came as a young man to Banbridge, took over the old Reilly cornmill at Millmount, in the townland of Edenderry and started a bleachworks there. // In 1834, Frederick William Hayes acquired glebe land at the rear of Seapatrick Parish Church and built weaving sheds close to the River Bann. He also built Seapatrick House at that time, on the Banbridge side of his new weaving premises. Seapatrick House was built in the style of the great Linen Houses of the period, incorporating a gate lodge and driveway from Lurgan Road, with a lawn sweeping down to a riverside driveway fronted by pillared double gates at the bottom of Kiln Lane. His wife, Isabella Boyd, was the daughter of the owner of the Belfast Foundry, and they had four sons and one daughter at Seapatrick House. // In 1840, Frederick William Hayes ceased production of linen cloth and started linen yarn spinning and thread making in the premises. The weaving sheds were single storey and stone built with "Northlight" roofing. The "Northlight" roof was very popular at that time in the construction of factory premises. It consisted of a series of inverted V structures, which, when glazed on the short side, provided a maximum of natural light for the weaving operators below. In contrast, further buildings at Seapatrick Mills were in keeping with the traditional mill buildings of the period, strong, stone built edifices three or more storeys high. During those early years, Frederick William Hayes established a good manufacturing base for his products, which were given the name "Royal Irish Linen Threads". He died on 13th October, 1853, aged 51 years and was interned in Seapatrick Churchyard. His eldest son, William Hayes, succeeded him in running the mills. // Extension of Premises // William Hayes married his cousin, Martha Mary Law of Hazelbank House, Lawrencetown, in 1855 and took up residence in Seapatrick House. During his period of management with F.W. Hayes & Company, he successfully extended the premises. It was recorded at the time that the firm occupied 60 acres and employed 700 people. To meet the needs of an expanding workforce, William Hayes embarked on a programme of house building. Rows of workers' dwellings were built on the right-hand side of Kilpike Road, from the junction with Lurgan Road. He also built a short terrace of management houses fronting the Lurgan Road, opposite the churchyard. A corner shop was provided at this point, which was controlled by the company, to meet the needs of the workers and their families. The company also built a new schoolhouse of character design, in dark stone, opposite the entrance to the mills, for the education of the children of the employees. // Trading warehouses were established in major English and Scottish cities during the period and a selling agency, H.B. Shaen & Company was arranged in New York. William Hayes had four sons and two daughters. He died on 12th July, 1876 and was interned in a new burial plot in Seapatrick Churchyard. Although still a minor, the eldest son, Frederick William Hayes II succeeded his father in running the firm. The management team was strengthened by the recruitment of Charles Hugh McCall as general mill manager. A few years later Samuel George Fenton, a Belfast man, joined the firm to assist with the overall running of the mills. // Trade fairs were held regularly in major cities during the latter years of the nineteenth century. F.W. Hayes & Company won gold medals for the excellence of their linen threads at Dublin 1882, Cork 1883 and Belfast 1895. Before the days of aerial photography, the mill and factory owners employed professional artists to paint an "impression" of their manufacturing premises. These pictures were later colour printed on large advertising show cards, for distribution to trading warehouses and overseas agencies, as well as being used on printed packaging materials. // Flax from Europe // In the early years at Seapatrick Mills Irish flax was the standard raw material for the manufacture of linen yarns for threadmaking. This was readily available from scutching mills, through established flax markets held in the provincial towns. As the years of the 1800's progressed, foreign flax was steadily coming in. Russian flax, flax from the Baltic States and Belgian flax were becoming popular with the mill owners of Ulster. The flax grown around the Belgian town of Courtrai eventually became established as the superior flax for linen manufacture. But the spinning and thread making machinery changed little over the period. Machines used for preparing, spinning and twisting the linen yarns were highly engineered. Most of the machinery used for these operations was manufactured in the Province, the leading makers being, Jas. Reynolds & Co, Linfield Road, Jas. Mackie & Sons, Springfield Road, and Fairbairn, Lawson, Combe, Barbour, Limited, Albert Foundry, Belfast. These firms had developed on the success of the linen industry. The machinery used by F.W. Hayes & Company for the polishing, winding, copping, spooling, and balling of linen threads was usually purchased in the Manchester area, where a substantial cotton thread industry was being supplied. These machines could handle both linen and cotton threads. // Many manufacturing operations were being done by hand at Seapatrick Mills in the second half of the nineteenth century. The preparation of the flax fibre for later preparing and spinning operations being a good example. The natural flax was taken through a series of combing operations, called roughing and hackling. Rows of men in the flax lofts pulled "pieces" of flax through blocks of combing pins to entangle the fibre and remove the ancillary "tow" from the main fibre, called "line". After the turn of the century, large flax hackling machines were introduced at Seapatrick Mills to considerably improve the efficiency of these operations. // Further building of houses for the workers in the mills took place around 1890. An attractive red brick terrace of ten management houses (Milfort Terrace) was erected on Lurgan Road, opposite the entrance to Seapatrick Rectory. A red brick terrace of 14 workers' houses (Bannview Terrace) was built at the other end of the property, on the road to Lenaderg. Finally, eight semi-detached houses (Seapatrick Villas) were erected opposite St. Patrick's Chapel-of-ease (the "wee" Church). // In 1895, Frederick William Hayes II with his wife Lily, left Seapatrick House and took up residence at "Clareen", Sydney Parade, Dublin. He died there on 2nd April, 1896, aged 37 years and was brought back to Seapatrick Churchyard for burial. The last member of the Hayes thread-making family to reside in the Seapatrick district was John Law Hayes, a younger brother of Fredrick William Hayes II. John Law Hayes was not involved in managing the family firm, but lived, with church benevolence, at Seapatrick Rectory until he died, unmarried, on 7th March, 1934, aged 74 years. // Samuel George Fenton became the first managing director of the Private Limited Company of F.W. Hayes and moved into Seapatrick House with his wife, Lillie Jane. Their first daughter, Dorothy Caroline Fenton, was born there on 2nd October, 1896. A second daughter, Irene Lillie Fenton was also born there on 22nd June, 1899. He was to take F.W. Hayes & Co., Limited, into the amalgamation of thread manufacturing firms that became The Linen Thread Co., Limited, before the new century dawned. // American Thread Making // It was once claimed by a leading linen thread manufacturer that the most profitable years for the firm were the years of the American Civil War, 1860-1865. This can be understood when consideration is given to the amount of linen thread required to manufacture huge quantities of military ordnance, for two opposing armies in civil conflict, on that vast continent. In those years, manufactured supplies required on the American mainland were still largely bought from the British homeland. The profitable years of the early 1860s placed some leading textile firms in a strong economic position, looking for manufacturing development. A very high import tax on linen thread, imposed by the United States Government at that time, made the establishment of American thread mills a very lucrative proposition. // William Barbour & Sons, Hilden Mills, Lisburn, developed their Barbour Mills at Paterson, New Jersey, in 1865, to be followed by the W. & J. Knox Company of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, who gave their name to an American thread mill at Baltimore. Finlayson, Bousefield & Company, a leading Scottish linen thread manufacturer, with mills at Johnstone, outside Glasgow, started linen thread manufacturing at North Grafton, Massachusetts. In 1879, Dunbar, McMaster & Company of Gilford Mills, took over buildings at Greenwich, New York to establish linen thread mills. F.W. Hayes & Company never developed an American manufacturing subsidiary. // Members of the mill owner's family usually settled in the United States to establish and maintain the new enterprise, and, in many cases, employees in the home mills were given the opportunity to settle with their families to staff the American mills (Banbridge Historical Society has links with American people whose ancestors left Gilford to work in the New York Mills). // The Linen Thread Company Formed // Towards the close of the century markets had become difficult and excessive competition was damaging the industry. Colonel William Barbour, in America, successfully proposed to the Marshall Mills of Newark, New Jersey and the Finlayson North Grafton Mills the idea of joining forces. He then sailed across the Atlantic and North Grafton Mills the idea of joining forces. He then sailed across the Atlantic and gained the support of the Hilden Barbours and the Knox family at Kilbirnie. This bold act of amalgamation carried out by a handful of leading firms, resulted in the formation of The Linen Thread Co., Limited, in 1898. Other thread companies of importance joined later. // F.W Hayes & Company amalgamated with The Linen Thread Company in 1899, as did Dunbar, McMaster & Company, with both their Gilford and New York Mills, in 1901. Other British linen thread manufacturers who joined at that time were :- Ainsworth & Sons, Cleator Moor, Cumberland; Robert Stewart & Sons, Antrim Street, Lisburn; and Crawford Brothers, Beith, Ayrshire. More than 30 years later the Group purchased the thread manufacturing interests of Lindsay, Thompson & Co., Limited, Flax Street, Crumlin Road, Belfast. // It was primarily intended that the new company would market the product brands of the amalgamated mills. The identity of the mills, the future development of their prosperous personal traditions and immensely valuable local skills would be preserved. However, in a few years, amalgamation had prompted both rationalisation and standardisation in the subsidiary mills. Early in the 1 900s, thread manufacturing ceased at the Gilford Mills of Dunbar, McMaster & Company. The product brands were retained but the production of the sole sewing threads and shoe yarns was transferred to Barbours Hilden Mills, while Seapatrick Mills undertook the manufacture of the linen sewing threads, bookbinders threads and carpet threads. This programme also took place in the mainland mills. Gilford Mills became a yarn spinning and bleaching unit, their purpose, to augment the yarn supplies of the other group mills and to market a range of linen yarns to weavers and other industrial uses at home and overseas. // Extensive building undertaken // With the influx of new production, extensive building was undertaken at Seapatrick Mills. A new office block was built close to the churchyard wall to house both management and administrative staff, a works canteen, beside the main gate; a flax machine room; rove store; bundling room and an impressive new thread mill. This housed the thread polishing department on the ground floor and the thread making-up department on the second floor. The building incorporated a flat roof with a parapet wall, to allow the addition of a third storey, should this be required at a later date. Unlike the original mill buildings of Frederick William Hayes, which were largely stone built, all the new buildings were in an attractive red brick finish. // After the amalgamation, the head office of The Linen Thread Company was established at 52 Bothwell Street, in central Glasgow. This building also held the sales department and accounting section. F.W. Hayes & Company had established independent trading warehouses and selling agencies at home and overseas, from the middle of the 1800's These were run down under the central marketing plan of the new company. In the next few years, The Linen Thread Company established sales outlets in all corners of the world for the distribution of yarns, threads and nets manufactured by the amalgamated mills. These roughly took the form of company owned stock warehouses in the British Isles and English speaking countries overseas, registered selling companies in the European sector and contracted franchise agents in other foreign markets. // Scope for New Products // Through this international sales network Hayes 'Royal Irish Linen Threads" were reaching markets never envisaged y their founder. There was also the opportunity for development of new products, acceptable to these markets. To help with this work the parent company set up a Research and Development Department at Hilden. // Seapatrick Mills had long specialised in the manufacture of linen jacquard harness cord. This was used in the weaving factories from 1870 for the manipulation of punched cards on a jacquard weaving loom, to produce intricate damask patterns in the cloth. Linen harness cord was of heavy construction, having had a double twisting operation. It was found that a new product could be produced on the technology of the harness cord and in the 1920s Hayes Twisted Flax Fishing Lines went on the market. They were particularly successful in Norway, South Africa and Australia in the years ahead. // The success of the amalgamation was being felt at Seapatrick and the Hayes Company undertook a further building programme, to update their housing stock, in the years leading up to World War I. Land was acquired, from the church authorities, opposite the entrance to the mills and 28 semi-detached houses (Hayes Park) were built. The plans for the estate were prepared by William Larmour, the Banbridge architect, to an idea put forward by one of the Barbour ladies of Hilden. This involved the building of English style cottages in grey ornamental block, with high pitch roofs and dormer-type windows. The cottages were laid out with large gardens and planted with trees, shrubs and hedges, giving the appearance of a garden village. The estate was served by a winding driveway. Samuel George Fenton, who successfully directed F. W. Hayes & Company for over forty years, died on 5th September, 1936, and was interned in Dundonald Cemetery. John Doherty Barbour, of Lisburn, became the new managing director. // Seapatrick Cotton Threads // Cotton threads were produced at Seapatrick Mills for the first time in the 1930',. This was brought about by the introduction of consumer articles to match the changing tastes of people in the years between the wars. The suitcase trade was an example of this trend. Suitcases were being manufactured in cheaper fibreboard which did not warrant the use of linen thread. A Hayes "Hayco" Brand Cotton Sewing Thread was introduced to this industry as a substitute for linen. From this initial action, a whole new market developed for cotton threads in other sewing fields. In the next 25 years, cotton threads had reached about a quarter of total production at the mills. Seapatrick Mills never undertook the spinning and doubling of cotton yarns. Supplies of natural cotton threads were purchased from the Lancashire cotton mills and boiled, dyed, polished and made-up in the thread mill. // The years of the second world war brought considerable change to the activities of F.W. Hayes & Company. All the selling companies and warehouses progressively closed down in the European sector. Export sales were almost impossible. The thread mill turned quickly to the production of many thread types required for manufacturing equipment for war. Threads in khaki, navy-blue and R.A.F. blue were commonplace in the production areas. When hostilities ended, the markets were quickly reinstated and Seapatrick Mills returned to supplying thread products to a world market. John Doherty Barbour left Seapatrick in the early 1950s to take up a senior post on the main board of The Linen Thread Company. He was replaced by Samuel Noel Cochrane, a Gilford man, who had served the Group in manufacturing in Brazil. Seapatrick House was demolished and a modem red brick villa built on the lawn for the new managing director. // End of an Era // In 1954, The Linen Thread Company sold seven of the U.S. mills controlled by "The Linen Thread Co., Inc." to an American textile organisation and undertook a programme of diversification into engineering and electrical goods manufacture. The name of the company was changed to Lindustries Limited, to reflect the changing trend and The Linen Thread Company was reduced to the status of "Textile Division" in the new Group. Samuel Noel Cochrane moved to Gilford Mills to take total managerial control and was replaced as managing director by Alexander W. Fleming, who had held managerial positions at Hilden Mills. // In 1957, the Finlayson, Bousfield Mills at Johnstone, Renfrewshire, were closed down. This reflected a declining world market for linen threads, against the new synthetic threads in nylon and "terylene'. Alexander W. Fleming left Seapatrick Mills to take-up the post of manufacturing director in the Textile Division of Lindustries Limited. He was replaced by John Francis Pim, who handled his responsibilities in F.W. Hayes & Company with a youthful enthusiasm. This extended to starting Seapatrick Mills Recreation Club, that excelled on the football field, and at some pleasant dances organised in the village school. // Before the end of the 1950s the home mills lost their independent identity and were absorbed into a new manufacturing group, Eltico Mills, Limited. // Early in the l960s the American consultancy firm, Kinsey & Company was commissioned by Lindustries Limited, to carry out a survey on the activities and efficiencies of the home mills. From their report a decision was taken to close Seapatrick Mill on 30th September, 1962. After a progressive rundown of production operations and the transfer of machinery and material stocks to Hilden Mill, the premises became vacant, thus ending 120 years of thread making at Seapatrick.'