John Hustler (5 October 1715 – 7 November 1790) was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

wool-stapler A wool-stapler is a dealer in wool. The wool-stapler buys wool from the producer, sorts and grades it, and sells it on to manufacturers. Some wool-staplers acquired significant wealth, such as Richard Chandler of Gloucester (England) who built W ...

Bradford, Yorkshire Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

who was largely responsible at the start of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

for transforming Bradford from a village to prosperous industrial town. He was the treasurer for the construction of the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

and also the chief sponsor of the

Bradford Canal The Bradford Canal was a English canal which ran from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Shipley, West Yorkshire, Shipley into the centre of Bradford. It opened in 1774, and was closed in 1866, when it was declared to be a public health hazard. ...

Life

John Hustler was the eldest son of William Hustler of Steeton (d. 11 May 1759) and Jane Jowet (1685–1745) at Apple Tree Farm, Low Fold, Bolton, near Bradford. His parents were Quakers and he was educated at the Friends' school in Goodmanend, Bradford and after an apprenticeship as a sorter and stapler of wool he joined his father and uncle (John) in the leading merchant business in the town. By 1752 he gave evidence before a parliamentary committee dealing with the false practices of wool growers and in 1764 was largely responsible for pressing for legislation against closed shop practices of textile workers. In 1777 he was elected chairman of the newly established Yorkshire

Worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

Committee acting as a policing agency to prevent fraud and embezzlement in the industry. He proposed the Bradford Piece Hall and was responsible for opening out Bradford centre and was involved with several turnpikes. In 1766, following a meeting at the Sun Inn, Bradford which launched the idea of a cross-country canal from Leeds to Liverpool, he became the chairman and treasurer of the Bradford committee, writing a pamphlet ''A Summary View of the Proposed Canal from Leeds to Liverpool'' in 1770 which helped in the successful bid to bring the canal bill into law and was responsible for much of the fund raising. The next year he also raised support for a branch canal to Bradford which was finished by 1774. He had colliery interests in Bradford and Wigan motivating his efforts. He married ''Christiana Hird'', a Quaker minister, in 1763 and they had six children, two sons and four daughters. He built ''Undercliffe House'' at Eccleshill where he lived for the rest of his life, playing host to itinerant Quaker ministers.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hustler, John People associated with canals Businesspeople from Bradford 18th-century Quakers 1715 births 1790 deaths