Samuel Lister was born on New Year’s Day in 1815. He was the fourth son of Mr Ellis Cunliffe Lister, member of an old county family of Manningham Hall. At that time Bradford’s Manningham Lane was merely a rural highway and Manningham an insignificant hamlet. He was intended for the church, but instead of going to university on leaving school he took up a position in the counting house of Messrs Sands, Turner & Co at Liverpool.
His grandmother bequeathed to him the rectory of Addingham in anticipation that he would take up holy orders, but after his apprenticeship with the Liverpool firm, Lister came back to Bradford and entered into partnership with his elder brother John Cunliffe Lister as a spinner and manufacturer in Manchester Road and afterwards at the new mill at Manningham which was built with help from their father in 1839.
After two difficult years his brother retired and soon after that his eldest brother, William Cunliffe Lister, MP for Bradford, died so Samuel became heir to the family properties and was suddenly made a very wealthy man.
He had worked on a machine to comb wool to separate the long hairs from the short, thus allowing their use for different kinds of textiles. Eventually he was able to develop the ‘Lister Nip Comb’, the success of which contributed greatly to the development of Australian sheep farming. In time he had nine combing mills operating at once – five in England, one in Germany, and three in France.
In 1855 he began to direct his efforts toward the utilization of waste silk. After 10 years and great expense, he developed a machine for making silk waste into goods that could compete with those manufactured from the perfect cocoon; moreover, the products could be sold at many times the cost of production. His invention of a velvet loom for making piled fabrics was another very successful textile machine.
In 1870 Lister sold the grounds of Manningham Hall to Bradford Corporation for less than half its value and it was made into Lister Park for the public of Bradford. He later donated money towards the creation of Cartwright Hall Art Gallery which stands in the park.
On completion in 1873, Lister’s Mill was the largest textile mill in the north of England. Floor space in the mill amounts to 27 acres (11 ha), and its imposing shape remains a dominant feature of the Bradford skyline. The chimney of the mill is 249 feet (76 m) high and can be seen from most areas of Bradford. At its height, Lister’s Mill employed 11,000 men, women and children – manufacturing high-quality textiles such as velvet and silk. This venture made Lister a multi-millionaire.
However, Lister is also remembered for the harsh treatment of his workers in 1890 when he reduced their wages by 25 percent just before Christmas leading to the Manningham mill strike, riots in Bradford town centre and the workers being forced back to work. These events were hugely significant in the trade union movement and led to the formation of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893.
In 1891 he was made a peer, with his title taken from the little Yorkshire town of Masham, where he had purchased the large Swinton Estate in 1888. This 20,000-acre estate includes some of the best grouse moors in Yorkshire. Lister spent the rest of his life there as a local benefactor to the town, including the building of a substantial town hall. Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1st Baron Masham, died at the age of 91 on the 2nd of February 1906 at his home, Swinton Castle, now a luxury hotel and spa still owned by the Cunliffe-Lister family.
Article contributed by John Darby, Yorkshire Blue Badge Tourist Guide: https://yorkshiresbestguides.co.uk/project/john-darby/
