Samuel Holt (7 February 1811 – 16 September 1887) was a British

weaver Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainmen ...

, inventor and industrialist who emigrated to the United States in later life. He started work aged 7 in a Manchester print works, rising to become a manager and superintendent in the textile industry. He invented a

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

to produce Turkish towels (Terry towels), and later established his own company in the US.

Life

Samuel Holt was born 7 February 1811 in Taunton,

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...

, Lancashire, England. At the age of seven he started work at Otho Hulme & Sons print works in

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

. Two years later, his father John Holt apprenticed him to work with him in the cotton and silk weaving side of Otho Hulme & Sons business, where he worked until he was twenty-five. In 1834, he had joined W M Christy & Co., at Hillgate Mill, Stockport, which manufactured hats and later branched into cotton. Four years later he rose to be manager and superintendent of the firm's Fairfield mill. In the 1840s

Henry Christy Henry Christy (26 July 1810 – 4 May 1865) was an English banker and collector, who left his substantial collections to the British Museum. Early life Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodb ...

, the brother of Holt's employer, visited

Ottoman Turkey The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...

. There he observed ladies hand-weaving Turkish Towels in the Harem of the Sultan. Being an avid ethologist he obtained a swatch of the material and brought it back to England. On his return home he gave it to his brother, Richard Christy, who recognized its sales potential if it could be produced. Christy asked Samuel Holt, his foreman, to look into the possible machine manufacture of the material. Holt succeeded and had his first machine running in 1848, and by 1851, a second design using two warps on a loom, one of which formed the looped surface and reproduced the unique pile of the handmade item. Holt

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

his invention which would soon bring

terry cloth Terrycloth, terry cloth, terry cotton, terry towelling, terry, terry towel, Turkish towelling (formerly), or simply towelling is a fabric woven with many protruding loops of thread which can absorb large amounts of water. It can be manufactured ...

into mass manufacture for the first time and within the price range of average people! The first examples of the Turkish towelling(which were knotted by his wife Ann) were displayed at the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

Crystal Palace, London Crystal Palace is an area in South London, named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building which stood in the area from 1854, until it was destroyed by a fire in 1936. About southeast of Charing Cross, it includes one of the highest poin ...

, where it caught the eye of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. The exhibition awarded Samuel Holt a gold medal. Queen Victoria was so impressed with the soft towels that on 14 April 1851, she gave an order for six-dozen towels, and granting the new product the endorsement as "Royal Turkish Towels". Samuel Holt's employers quickly turned to mass production of the soft toweling cloth and made a deal for Holt's patents. In 1860 Holt assigned his invaluable patents over to W M Christy & Co for a yearly annuity of £30. Queen Victoria Towel Order

In 1864, Holt was persuaded by a Charles A. Buckley to emigrate to the USA. Samuel Holt left his employer of thirty years and travelled to America, where he helped build and set up the American Velvet Company. Holt brought with him 20 – 30 experienced hands (some family members) from Ashton-under-Lyne. He first worked at a mill on Bank Street,

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

until The American Velvet Company Mill was built on Essex and Madison,

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Newspapers of the time reported that Holt had taken heavy loss in the legal battle, but in an article written by his son William Holt in Textile World Journal, he stated that “my father never lost a fortune or any part of one in business”. He continued as Samuel Holt & Co. The company prospered and he soon employed 30 operatives making Turkish towels, silks,

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

and plushes. His next mill was the Franklin Mill built (1871) in Paterson, New Jersey, and when that burnt down he built a mill (1872) for himself in the rear of his residence at 108 Straight Street, Paterson New Jersey. The mill was, thirty-two by fifty-two feet, three stories high. From 1870 to 1879 his half-brother, Robert Holt, was in partnership with him. The firm changed to Samuel Holt & Sons, - Samuel Holt, Jr., and William Holt being the younger members In 1914, his grandson, Samuel Holt Jr., carried on the business.

Personal life

Holt first married in 1833, Elisabeth Hibbert, of Taunton,

, who died in 1841, leaving two sons, John, b. 1834 and James, b. 1836, both of whom stayed in England. His second wife was Ann Aspinall, whom he married in 1847, and who died in Paterson, December 3, 1881, leaving three children, — Samuel, b. 1848, William, b. 1855, and Mary Ann (Annie) b. 1857. The Holt family were a Christian family following the

Swedenborgian The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) can refer to any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed under the influence of the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). The Swedenborgian tradition is considered to ...

faith.

Patents attributed to Samuel Holt

*24 March 1851 – improvement in the manufacture of textile fabrics UK Patent No. 13572 *24 September 1851 – Certain improvements in the manufacture of textile fabrics. Irish Patent *15 November 1852 – improvement in weaving cut piled fabrics. Patent No. 761 *11 April 1855 – improvement in weaving plush or piled fabrics. Patent No. 801 *13 January 1859 – a new or improved manufacture of woven silk fabrics. Patent No. 122 *7 March 1865 – weaving pile fabric US Patent 46754.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Samuel 1811 births 1887 deaths English industrialists English industrial designers People from Ashton-under-Lyne