William and James Hatton

W & J Hatton of Chapel Street and Blackfriars Street, Salford

1828 William and James Hatton, Ironfounders, Booth Street, Chapel St., Salford

1830 Although little is now known about the company, it was evidently of some importance, since their foundry was the site of initial experiments into the strength and best form of cast iron girders, carried out by Eaton Hodgkinson

1834 Address given as 25 Chapel Street and Blackfriars St, Salford, in Pigot's Directory.

1834 Sale Notice: 'By J. DREW, on Monday the 29th of September, 1834, at the Eagle Foundry, Booth-street, Salford, the property of Messrs. Hatton, who are retiring from the ironfounding business :
THE STOCK-IN-TRADE, TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS, and UTENSILS, consisting of spur, mitre, and bevel wheel patterns, pipe, pillar, beam, and other ditto, furnace frames, doors and bars, oven and grate metal patterns, kitchen ranges, stove and sham grates of various sizes, wood and downspouts and tops, cast iron pipes two to six inches, for various purposes, fly wheel and frame, Smith's bellows, from 24 to 46 inches, old and new smith's anvils, a great variety of moulding boxes of various sizes; crane, shank and hand ladles, retort moulding box, core bar and pattern, charcoal blacking, three sets of large scale beams, standards, and cast iron crane, double power, large three legs, crane blocks, chain and ram, six new retorts, from five feet to six feet six inches long by 15 inches wide, two hand carts, large two-wheeled carriage for carrying timber, &c, and every other article for conducting the ironfounding business on a respectable scale.— Sale to commence at ten o'clock.'

1841 James Hatton, iron merchant and iron founder, 6 Blackfriars Street, and furnishing ironmonger, 25 Chapel Street. House: Richmond House, Higher Broughton

1850 James Hatton, ironmonger at 49 Chapel Street, and iron merchant at 18 Blackfriars Street

1853 James Hatton, furnishing ironmonger, 49 Chapel Street, and iron merchant, 11 Blackfriars Street

Location

It is not known whether the various numbers given on Chapel Street and Blackfriars Street represent changes of location, or simply changes in the numbering of the premises. However, based on the 'street directory' in the 1850 directory, together with the 1849 O.S. maps, we can narrow down the location of the premises at that time. The ironmongery business was in a row of shops in a block on the south side of Chapel Street, between The Saddle Inn at the west end (junction with Booth Street) and Victoria Bridge Street at the east end of the block. The iron merchant's business was in the same block, accessed from Blackfriars Street (two connected buildings on the O.S. map being identified as 'Iron Stores'). The conglomeration of buildings in this block represented a remarkably variety of densely-packed business, including Blackfriar's Mill, Chapel Street Mill, a dye works, a print works, a tannery, and several hotels, A number of dwellings were also squeezed in among the industry.

Note that the 1828 address, Booth Street, does represent a different location. Booth Street is parallel to Blackfriars Street, and these streets, together with Chapel Street to the north and the River Irwell to the south, defined another crowded block of business and houses.

It may well be that the foundry in question was the Eagle Foundry (later owned by John Fletcher and Sons (Salford)). This is based on an 1834 advertisement: 'By J. DREW, on Monday the 29th of September, 1834, at the Eagle Foundry, Booth-street, Salford, the property of Messrs. Hatton, who are retiring from the ironfounding business : THE STOCK-IN-TRADE, TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS, and UTENSILS, consisting of spur, mitre, and bevel wheel patterns, pipe, pillar, beam, and other ditto, furnace frames, doors and bars, oven and grate metal patterns, kitchen ranges, stove and sham grates of various sizes, wood and downspouts and tops, cast iron pipes two six inches, for various purposes, fly wheel and frame, smith's bellows, from 24 to 46 inches, old and new smiths anvils, a great variety of moulding boxes various sites; crane, shank and hand ladles, retort moulding box, core bar and pattern, charcoal blacking, three sets of large scale beams, standards, and cast iron crane, double power, large three legs, crane blocks, chain and ram, six new retorts, from five feet to six feet six inches long by 15 inches wide, two hand carts, large two-wheeled carriage for carrying timber, &c, and every other article for conducting the ironfounding business on a respectable scale.—Sale to commence at ten o'clock.'. The 1849 O.S. map shows the Eagle Foundry located behind the Eagle Roller and Spindle Works, access to the foundry being through a covered passageway from Booth Street.

Chetham's library provides us with an example of a letterhead illustrating the Eagle Foundry of Hatton and Bowker showing, in their yard, large weighing scales, sheerlegs, and a variety of their cast iron products, including a steam engine beam, wheels, and gears.. This source also provides examples of two billheads from the period 1810-1819 for William Hatton of the Salford Iron Warehouse, 22, Chapel Street, Salford. The description of his business at the warehouse is that of ‘Manufacturer and Wholesale Dealer in Nails, Tin’d, Iron & Copper Hooks, Bar, Bolt, Sheet, Hoop Iron and Steel, Smiths Bellows, Anvils and Vices, Ironmongery of Every Description’.

See Also

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