Bagley & Wright was a spinning, doubling and weaving company based in Oldham, Lancashire, England. The business, which was active from 1867 until 1924, 'caught the wave' of the cotton-boom that existed following the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and experienced rapid growth in the United Kingdom and abroad.Manchester of Today (An epitome of results) - Business Men and Commercial Interests, Historical Publishing Company, 90 Chancery Lane, London, 1888 (Source: British Lending Library).
In 1897, the business split into two with the sewing cotton operation being subsumed into the newly formed English Sewing Cotton Company (ESCC). The remainder of the Bagley & Wright business remaining independent in the form of Bagley & Wright Manufacturing. Although the Wright and Bagley families lost influence on the ESCC part of the business following a scandal over the distribution of dividends in 1902, they remained in control of Bagley and Wright Manufacturing until it was finally dissolved in 1924.
Throughout the existence of the business, the influence of the Wesleyan Church in Oldham was substantial in the formation of the friendships and partnerships that were the engines for business success.
The founders
Benjamin Wright and Ralph Bagley were born in 1837 and 1839 respectively.1861 census returns, United Kingdom National Archives, Kew, London Wright was born into poverty in Ashton-under-Lyne (also known as Ashton). His father William and mother Mary were both born in 1803 in Ashton and, by 1841, were living in the village of Lees, on the border with Oldham, with their nine children; Hannah 17-years, John 15, James 14, Sarah 11, Nancy 9, Eliza 7, Betty 5, Benjamin 3 and William aged 1.1841 census returns, United Kingdom National Archives, Kew, London The three oldest children were working as cotton piecers, the middle three were at school and Benjamin and William junior were of pre-school age. Father William was an operative cotton spinner but Mary was not employed. Despite three of the children being employed, the family was poor. The father would command a 'reasonable' wage but the children would contribute little to family income. With six dependent mouths to feed, the family would have found life a struggle and the fact that Sarah at age 11 was still at school suggests that the parents were committed to their children's betterment. Financial pressure increased in 1843 with the birth of Joseph who was to play a major part in the business.Birth certificate, UK National Archives, Kew, London
Benjamin started work at the age of seven 1845. His first job was as a little piecer in Henry Atherton's Woodend Cotton Mill on Woodend Street in Lees. This involved fetching and carrying for the spinner and piecer as well as keeping the mules clean by sweeping behind the carriages. He worked his way through the usual progression from little piecer to piecer and, sometime around the age of 20, was working as a qualified spinner. He moved to work for Daniel Collinge and Sons at Moorhey Mills (known locally as Dan Coll's factory) on Moorhey Street, Glodwick, and must have impressed, because he was given the position of 'Outlooker' at Dan Coll's and subsequent to that became manager of the mill.Gurr, D. and Hunt, J. The Cotton Mills of Oldham, edition 3,
It is not known how Benjamin Wright and his future business partner Ralph Bagley first met. However, it is known that they both worked at Dan Coll's.
Ralph was born at Cow Hill, Oldham, the son of Thomas Bagley (born 1798) a general labourer and Hannah (born 1799) a cotton hand-loom weaver. Thomas had been born in Manchester and Hannah in Cheshire. In 1851,1851 census returns, United Kingdom National Archives, Kew, London Ralph was 12 years old and he and his younger sister Ann were at school. That Ralph was not in full-time employment at age twelve is unusual for working families of the time and reflects the fact that the family was small and the children were at an age where both parents were able to work. It is possible that the family had a loom in their home for Hannah to work on and this could have been an important factor. It is known that Ralph also had an older sister called Sarah who would have been 17 years old in 1851. However, Sarah does not appear in the 1851 census as resident at Cow Hill and she may have been living somewhere else as a 'live-in' housemaid. By 1861, she had returned to the family home (defined as 59 Cow Hill) to live with Thomas (65-years), Ralph (21-years) and Ann (19-years). By 1861, there is no record of Ralph's mother Hannah who would have been 62 years old. At this time, the average age at death for working-class women was 53 and for men 47, so it is possible that Hannah had died between 1851 and 1861. The 1861 census shows that Ralph was employed as an iron turner, working in a factory and using a lathe to turn iron produced in the foundry into bars. Ann had found employment as a power loom weaver. This followed her mother's occupation but, at the same time, reflected the inexorable move towards automation.
Although Ralph Bagley was an iron turner in 1861 we do not know where he was working. The largest employers of iron turners in the area were the large textile machinery manufacturing companies. It seems possible that he might have changed his job to work in Dan Coll's factory. It is unlikely that, at the age of 22, he would have been able to retrain as a spinner, but he may have found employment in the workshop at Moorhey Mills where repairs to the mill machinery would have been undertaken. Whatever the nature of Ralph's job at Moorhey, it was likely to be here that he met Benjamin and formed the partnership that flourished over the next 40 years.
The presence of cotton spinning, coal mining, and iron founding can be seen in the jobs that the Wright and Bagley families were involved with in 1861. In addition to Bagley's job as an iron turner and Wright's cotton spinning, Wright's daughter Hannah (Benjamin's sister) had married Jacob Marland from Ashton whose family was related to the Marland family that owned Bower colliery. Jacob ran a small operation that employed five miners in Ashton, with two of his employees living as lodgers in his house.
The beginning of partnership – 1860 to 1870 The partnership between Benjamin Wright and Ralph Bagley was based on friendship as well as business acumen. In the mid-1860s, the textile industry in Lancashire was undergoing one of its periods of rapid growth. The American Civil War that started in 1861, and caused the Lancashire Cotton Famine cotton towns, ended in 1865. Despite the famine during the first half of the decade, recovery afterwards was rapid and the cotton industry responded with a period of exuberant growth. For anyone with the necessary skills, knowledge and acceptance of risk, this was a time when entering into business was relatively easy. Budding entrepreneurs could rent 'space and power' from a mill owner operating as a commercial landlord. In many cases the entrepreneur would rent a floor of a mill which was served by line shafting powered by a steam engine somewhere else in the building. The floor might already have machinery (spinning mules, carding engines or looms) installed or he might have approached a cotton machinery manufacturer who would rent or lease the machinery to him. If up-front cash was a problem, the banks were likely to oblige with a loan.
By 1863, Bagley and Benjamin Wright had left their positions at Dan Coll's factory and had set up a partnership with Samuel Milne, a major figure in Oldham's cotton spinning industry. The business, called 'Bagley, Wright & Milne', started in part of an old (even then, it was old) shed in Roscoe Street in 1867.Blyth, H.E., Through the Eye of a Needle; the story of the English Sewing Cotton Company, 1947, ISBN B000X8G17A. Wright's younger brother Joseph also joined this enterprise. Joseph Wright had started work in 1850 when he was 9-years old. His first employment was in the jenny gate but he graduated to minder and overlooker before taking a management role in the Bagley & Wright concern.The Oldham Chronicle, 6 December 1930 Most of the Roscoe Street shed was taken up with looms but there was some spinning capacity on mules available for renting. Also around this time, Bagley and Benjamin Wright went into partnership with a spinner called John Marsden; the business being called John Marsden and Company based at Crabtree Mill. All of the partners of these concerns were followers of Wesleyan Methodism in Glodwick which was going through a period of rapid growth both in terms of numbers of followers and confidence. In the second half of the 19th century, Wesleyanism in particular and Methodism in general, were seen as the religion of choice for the upwardly mobile middle classes because of the encouragement that it gave its adherents to better themselves through work and enterprise. The religion of Wright's parents is unknown, but in 1866 Benjamin and Joseph Wright had joined Glodwick Trinity Wesleyan Church which was then held in 'The Old Garret' in Well Fold, Oldham.Fifty years of Methodism in Glodwick 1863 to 1913, Oldham Local Studies Library, Accession number L1900, Classification number RO:FS.
Business growth – 1870 to 1880
While the Wright brothers were dividing their time between business and church, their business associates were giving time to other aspects of public work. The Chadderton Board of Health had been formed (rather belatedly) in 1872 following government legislation. One of the first Board members was Joseph Wright's future business partner, Jakeh Travis, who was elected to it for the 1873/4 session. Also elected in that year was John Marland a colliery proprietor. John was the brother of Hannah Wright's husband Jacob Marland. Ten years later, Ralph Bagley would be elected as Chairman of the Committee. Retrieved on 13 October 2008.
In November 1875, Bagley and Benjemin Wright withdrew from John Marsden and Company to enable them to concentrate on their partnership with Samuel Milne.London Gazette, issue 24271, 30 November 1875, p6173. However, by 1877, the partnership with Samuel Milne had come to an end,London Gazette, issue 24418, 9 February 1877, p635 and Bagley and Wright were trading under the name 'Bagley & Wright' from the Wellington and Lees mills with Joseph Wright mill manager at the Wellington. From these mills they manufactured crochet, embroidery, tatting and bonnet cotton as well as sewing thread; the latter being a relatively new introduction to their line. They were also producing fishing-net twine something that they became known and respected over many years.Hosking's Guide to Manchester Trade, Section 2 Sewing Cotton Manufacturers, July, 1877Hosking's Guide to Manchester Trade, Section 14 Sewing Thread, Crochet, Embroidery, Tatting and Bonnet Cotton, Knittings and Mendings, July, 1877 The growth of the company had, up to 1877, been rapid and they now saw a commercial imperative to appear daily (not necessarily personally) at the Manchester Royal Cotton Exchange where the cotton market for Lancashire was based. Here spinners tried to get the best deals for raw cotton from the importers of American cotton while simultaneously getting the highest available price for their yarn from weaving businesses.