Updated
November 14, 2009 9:28 PM
Hick,
Hargreaves & Co. Ltd. of Bolton was founded in 1833 by Benjamin
Hick (1790 - 1842), a close friend and associate of James Naesmyth (1808
- 1890), under the name Benjamin Hick & Son. Hick had earlier been
a partner in Hick, Rothwell & Co. of the Union Foundry,
When Benjamin Hick died in 1842 his son John took over
the business and in 1845 John Hick went into partnership with William
Hargreaves and the company became Hick, Hargreaves & Co. From around
1850 Hick, Hargreaves & Co. built a considerable number of Marine
Engines.
1873 June 25th
This morning, the marriage of Benjamin Hick, Esq., nephew of John Hick,
Esq., MP, and partner in the firm of Messrs Hick, Hargreaves and Co.,
Soho Iron Works, with Frances, daughter of George Knowles, Esq., of
Tudor House, Chorley New Road, took place at the Parish Church, in the
presence of a fair congregation. The officiating clergyman was the vicar,
the Rev. Canon Powell, assisted by the Rev. W. Bashall, MA, vicar of
Deane. Precisely at eleven o'clock the wedding party began to take up
their positions near the communion rail, and shortly afterwards the
bride, leaning on the arm of her father, arrived at the church and the
ceremony began. The bridesmaids were Miss Emily, Miss Sophia, and Miss
Hermione Knowles, sisters of the bride, and Miss Bottrell of Seaforth.
After the ceremony the wedding breakfast was partaken at Tudor House,
the bridecake being supplied by Mrs Butterworth of Manchester, the fruit,
flowers, &c. being supplied by Mr Mason, of the Market Hall. The
happy pair afterwards left for the Highlands for their honeymoon, and
on their return will take up their residence in Bromley Cross.
Two significant developments took place between 1891
and 1913. The first of these seems to have happened quite suddenly after
1896, coincidentally the year of the engineer's strike, when the average
size of steam engines produced at the Soho Iron Works increased significantly.
After the Second World War Hick Hargreaves & Co.
Ltd. again became a major supplier of equipment to the Central Electricity
Generating Board. The company's specialist expertise allowed it to offer
similar products to various other industries including food processing,
oil refining, petrochemicals and offshore oil production. In 1968 the
Hargreaves family relinquished their interest in the firm, selling it
to Electrical & Industrial Securities Ltd., later the EIS Group
plc although the firm retained it's technical independence.
1973 November 23rd
After a struggle lasting almost four weeks, the occupation by engineering
workers of the Hick Hargreaves and Co Ltd factory ended this afternoon.
A mass meeting of workers at the factory today voted overwhelmingly
in favour of ending their strike, restarting work on Monday, and handing
the factory back to the management this afternoon. Terms of a recommended
settlement were negotiated yesterday.
Following staged reductions in the firm's manufacturing
facilities, the Crook Street site became too large. In August 2002 Hick,
Hargreaves & Co. Ltd., by now part of the BOC Group, finally severed
it's connection with Bolton's town centre and relocated to a smaller
site in Westhoughton. Fortunately the firm's management agreed to deposit
a significant number of documents, photographs and records with Bolton
Library. It is hoped that this archive, perhaps the most complete of
it's type in the world, will assist historians to construct a detailed
narrative of the firm's 170 year history.
Hick Hargreaves moved from Westhoughton to Lostock
Office Park, Bolton as part of Edwards Limited.
