The Minor Family of Somerset

Name Suffix:<NSFX> 1st Barron of Masham
From the 1911 Edition Encyclopedia
MASHAM,SAMUELCunliffe Lister 1ST BARON (1815-1906) English inve
ntor, born at Calverley Hall, near Bradford, on the 1st of Janua
ry 1815, was the fourth sonof Ellis Cunliffe (1774-1853), who s
uccessively took the names of Lister andLister-Kay and was th
e first member of parliament elected for Brandford afterthe Ref
orm Act of 1832. It was at first proposed that he should take o
rders, but he preferred a business career and became a clerk a
t Liverpool. In 1838 he and his elder brother John started as w
orsted spinners and manufacturers in a new mill which their fath
er built for them at Manningham, and about five years later he t
urned his attention to the problem of mechanical wool-combing, w
hich, in spite of the efforts of E. Cartwright and numerous othe
r inventors, still awaited a satisfactory solution. Two years o
f hard work spentin modifying and improving existing devices en
abled him to produce a machinewhich worked well, and subsequent
ly he consolidated he position by buying uprival patents as wel
l as by taking out additional ones of his own. His combing mach
ines came into such demand that though they were made for only 2
00pounds a piece he was able to sell them for 2000 and the savi
ng they effectedon the cost of production not only brought abou
t a reduction in the price ofclothing, but in consequence of th
e increase in the sales created the necessity for new supplies o
f wool, and thus contributed to the development of australian sh
eep-farming. In 1855 he was sent a sample of slik waste (the re
fuse left in reeling silk from the cocoons) and asked whether h
e could find a way of utilizing the fibre it contained. The tas
k occupied his time for manyyears and brought him to the verg
e of bankruptcy, but at last he succeeded inperfecting silk-com
bing appliances which enabled him to make yarn that in one yea
r sold for 23s a pound, though produced from raw material costin
g only6d. or 1 s a pound. Another important and lucrative inv
ention in connexionwith silk manufacture was his velvet loom fo
r piles fabrics; and this, withthe silk comb worked at his Mann
ingham mill, yielded him an annual income of200,000 pounds fo
r many years. But the business was seriously affected by thepro
hibtory duties imposed by America, and this was one reason why h
e was an early and determined critic of the British policy of fr
ee imports. In 1891he was made a peer; he took his title fro
m the little Yorkshire town of Masham, close to which is Swinto
n Park, purchased by him in 1888. In 1886 an Albert medal was a
warded him for his inventions, which were mostly related to th
e textile industries, though he occasionally diverged to other s
ubjects, such as an air-brake for railways. He was fond of outd
oor sports espectially coursing and shooting and was a keen patr
on of the fine arts. He died at Swinton Park on the 2nd of Febr
uary 1906 and was succeeded in the title by his son.
Lister's Mill and Victorian Bradford
When Samuel Cunliffe Lister was bornin 1815, Bradford was a ver
y different place to th city it is toDay. There were no prope
r water supplies or sewage systems, no public buildings, canal
sor railways and the majority of the population lived in the co
untryside around the city. Travel to London took 24 hours by co
ach. The nineteenth century saw enormous changes in all aspect
s of life. cities developed, local governments were establishe
d and the pre-industrial rural way of life was lost forever....
..
Bradford's textile industry dates back as far as the thirteent
h century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it b
ecame world famous. Yorkshire boasted plentiful supplies of iro
n ore, coal and soft waterwhich was good for cleaning raw wool
, and a coal seam which stretched as faras Nottingham provide
d the powerthat the indus