Holbrook Gaskell
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Holbrook Gaskell (5 March 1813, Wavertree near Liverpool – 8 March 1909, Much Woolton, Liverpool, was a British industrialist, art and plant collector.
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[edit] Early life
Holbrook Gaskell was born in Wavertree, Liverpool, on the 5th March 1813. He was the eldest son of Roger Gaskell, a sailcloth manufacturer, from his marriage to his cousin Anne Hunter. He was baptised on the 11 April 1813 at the Paradise Street Unitarian Chapel in Liverpool. He was the cousin of the Unitarian minister William Gaskell, husband of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell and was from a Unitarian family himself.
He first worked as an apprentice clerk in the firm of Yates, Cox and Co, who were iron merchants and nail makers in Liverpool.
[edit] Nasmyth, Gaskell and Co.
In 1836 he formed a partnership with James Nasmyth who led to the creation of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company and the building of the Bridgewater foundry. Nasmyth recalls this in his biography "He had served his time at Yates and Cox, iron merchants, of Liverpool. Having obtained considerable experience in the commercial details of that business, and being possessed of a moderate amount of capital, he was desirous of joining me, and embarking his fortune with me. He was to take charge of the counting-house department, and conduct such part of the correspondence as did not require any special knowledge of mechanical engineering. I am much pleased by the frank and friendly manner of Mr. Gaskell, and I believe that the feeling between us was mutual. We continued working together for a period of sixteen years; and I believe Mr. Gaskell had no reason to regret his connection to the Bridgewater Foundary".
[edit] Marriage and illness
Gaskell married Frances Ann Bellhouse in 1841, who was the daugther of Henry Bellhouse of Manchester and niece of David Bellhouse, the Manchester builder who Nasmyth and Gaskell has contracted during the initial building of the Patricroft site. Over the next 13 years they had 8 children, 5 daughters and three sons.
In 1850 Gaskell he was advised to retire due to ill health and left the business with Nasmyth.
[edit] Gaskell, Deacon and Co.
In 1855 Gaskell was well enough to enter into a second partnership with the industrial chemist Henry Deacon (1822-1876), who had worked with him in Nasmyth, Gaskell & Co. Nasmyth writes "In course of time the alarming symptoms [of his illness] departed, and he recovered his former health. He then embarked in an extensive soda manufactory, in conjunction with one of our pupils, whose taste for chemistry was more attractive to him than engine-making. A properous business was established, and at the time I write these lines [1885] Mr. Gaskell continues a hale and healthy man, the possessor of a large fortune, accumulated by the skillful manner in which he has conducted his extensive affairs." Deacon's plant, which was in Wigan, was setup to develop the ammonia-soda process that Deacon believed he could make successful. However, after various setbacks Gaskell could not see this making money and forced Deacon to abandon this venture, instead establishing one of the largest and most successful Leblanc factories in Wigan. Gaskell remained director of the company until 1890 when it became part of the United Alkali Company and then became Vice-President and later President of this company. His three sons Holbrook Gaskell II (1847-1919), James Bellhouse Gaskell (1848-1925) and Frank Gaskell (1854-?) also became directors of the company.
[edit] Woolton Wood and Orchids
With his accumulated wealth Holbrook Gaskell moved to Woolton Woods in Much Woolton. He accumulated a significant art collection and also became a renowned collector of orchids.
Frederick Sander, an orchid dealer, recived a new Cattleya specied in 1883 from his collector Seidl and named it Cattleya gaskelliana after Holbrook Gaskell in recognition of a good customer and someone who "by great diligence has acquired one of the finest collections of orchids in the North of England".
When he died in 1901 at Woolton Woods his probate was almost £500,000. The estate passed to his sons and was eventually sold to Liverpool City Council.
[edit] References
- Hardie, David W.F. (1950). A history of the chemical industry in Widnes. ICI Limited, General Chemicals Division.
- Smiles, Samuel (1885). James Nasmyth. John Murray, Albemarle Street, London.
