William Henry Hornby (1805–4th September 1884) an English cotton spinner,

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

and politician. He became the first Mayor of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and national chairman of the Conservative Party.

Life

He was the son of the cotton spinner John Hornby (1763–1841) and his wife Alice Kendall Backhouse, daughter of Daniel Backhouse, born in Blackburn. During the 1820s the Hornby family business, a partnership with John Birley, expanded with the construction of a cotton spinning mill out of the centre of Blackburn, in the Brookhouse area on the

River Blakewater The River Blakewater is a river running through Lancashire, giving its name to the town of Blackburn. The Blakewater rises on the moors above Guide near Blackburn as Knuzden Brook and runs through the hamlet of that name, before taking the name ...

. The original water mill was phased out, with

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom. Shuttle looms The main components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed, and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations ...

s introduced in 1830, and a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

in 1841. The partnership with Birley ended in 1830, and William Henry Hornby brought in new partners. The business grew and prospered. Hornby was a paternalist, an Anglican Tory who supported the

Ten Hours Bill The Factories Act 1847 ( 10 & 11 Vict. c. 29), also known as the Ten Hours Act was a United Kingdom act of Parliament which restricted the working hours of women and young persons (13–18) in textile mills to 10 hours per day. The practicalit ...

. His younger brother John Hornby was elected to parliament for

in 1841. Elections in Blackburn at that period involved some violence and intimidation. William himself represented Blackburn from 1857 to 1865, having been the first mayor in 1852 and failing to be elected in an 1853 by-election. In 1868 he had the most votes, but an inquiry into intimidation meant he was denied the seat. His son Edward Hornby took the seat in the further election held in 1869. Hornby died at

Poole Hall Poole Hall is a Regency architecture, Regency mansion at Poole, Cheshire, Poole, near Nantwich in Cheshire, England. It dates from 1812 to 1817 and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* Listed buildi ...

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

, Cheshire, on 5 September 1884.Latham FA, ed. ''Acton'', p. 106 (The Local History Group; 1995) ()

Family

Hornby married in 19th May 1831 Margaret Susannah Birley, daughter and sole heir of Edward Birley of Kirkham. They had seven sons and four daughters. Of the sons, Edward Hornby and

Harry Harry may refer to: Television * ''Harry'' (American TV series), 1987 comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (New Zealand TV series), 2013 crime drama starring Oscar K ...

, were also MPs for Blackburn from 1869 to 1874, and from 1886 to 1910 respectively. Another son,

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s * Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street mar ...

, was the

England cricket captain This is a list of England cricket captains, comprising all the men, women and youths who have captain (cricket), captained an England cricket team at official international level. The international match categories are Test cricket, Test, One Day ...

who lost the Test match which gave rise to

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

, at home against the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

in 1882. Edward and another son Cecil also played first class cricket.

References

External links

William Henry Hornby article from cottontown.org
* 1805 births 1884 deaths People from Blackburn Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1800s-stub

Life

Family

See also

References

External links