Isaac Slater
Isaac Slater (1819-1885) of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Co
1859 Isaac Slater, Carriage Department, London and North Western Railway.[1]
1885 Obituary [2]
ISAAC SLATER was born near Wirksworth, Derbyshire, on 15th April 1819.
His father was a hand-loom weaver, and had a good trade until the introduction of steam-power, when it fell off in consequence of his having no capital for erecting an engine.
On his father's death, the family being left to their own resources, he devoted his leisure time to self-instruction, not having the benefit of more than a few months' schooling. He found employment on the railways, as that mode of locomotion came into use; and moved from town to town, each time rising in rank, until he became carriage superintendent of the London and North Western Railway, at the then bead offices at Saltley, Birmingham.
That post he held for only a few months, and then removed to Gloucester, having been appointed first general manager of the Gloucester Wagon Works, stated to be the first concern to carry on manufacturing operations under the provisions of the limited liability acts.
This position he occupied for a quarter of a century, having relinquished it only just before his death, which took place on 6th March 1885, in his sixty-sixth year.
In 1874 he was elected first sheriff of the extended city of Gloucester, and in the following year was made a city magistrate and a charity trustee. He was also Russian vice-consul.
He became a Member of the Institution in 1859.