Industrialist, Councillor and Member of Parliament

The following extracts are from George Longden’s report to the KRIV project^[1] ….

Ingersley Vale Mill … by 1878 (27)^[2] the long occupation of the mill by the bleaching and finishing firm dominated by members of the King family had begun. The firm appears as Bates & King in 1878 (27)^[2] and 1883 (33)^[3]; William King & Co in 1887-8 (25)^[4]; and A.J. King & Co from 1892 (44)^[5]. The firm became part of the Bleachers’ Combine around 1900, but retained its name and management.

Alfred J. King was living at Clough Cottage (formerly Clough House, I presume) by 1890 (45)^[6], and may have been effectively in charge by then. Allan Bates lived at the Rookery. Alfred King was the dominant partner and Bates later dropped out. Under A.J. King the firm seems to have been a progressive and expanding enterprise. Various developments had a physical impact on the Ingersley Vale site. The first were the extensions of 1895. The local paper announced that these were to consist of a one storey shed, 82 feet square, to “accommodate a number of calendars used in the process of bleaching”, and a two storey warehouse, 40 feet by 25 feet. These were to be situated south of the mill, built across and to the east of the river – the northern end of the block of buildings which can be seen today [2005, since demolished]. The shed occupied the former lawn of Clough House. The house was demolished, and A.J. King moved to Rock Bank House. It was decided to drive the new machines by electricity, and use electricity to light the whole works (20, 23 Mar 1895, 22 Jun 1895, 5 Oct 1895)^[7]. …

A.J. King lived at Limefield (1898) and became a progressive Liberal member of the Bollington Urban District Council, and played an important role in the completion of the waterworks scheme and in instigating a drainage scheme with a sewage works for the village. He represented Bollington on the Cheshire County Council from 1901 to 1906, and from 1906 to 1910 was Liberal MP for the Knutsford Division [which then included Bollington. See election poster left]. After electoral defeat in 1910 (he was beaten by Col. Sir Alan J. Sykes a big noise in the bleaching industry who in 1928 opened the Bowling Green in Ingersley Vale), Alfred King and his family moved to Windermere, where they were visited from time to time by parties of workers from Ingersley Vale (48, p33)^[8].

See Ingersley Vale mill for an A. J. King & Co Ltd document.

References

Clicking the reference description takes you back to the text.

1. Kerridge Ridge & Ingersley Vale, An Historical Study, George Longden, 2002.
   The study document (PDF)
2. Greenwood’s Cheshire Map, 1819
3. A M Tonkinson, Macclesfield In The Later Fourteenth Century, 1999
4. Agreement between George Antrobus and Joseph Wagstaff, fragments, nd, Bollington Civic Society archive, Antrobus collection, no.9. George Antrobus
5. Not identified
6. Not identified
7. Jane Laughton, The Place Names Of Rainow, articles in Contact, the Parish Magazine of Rainow with Saltersford and Forest, January 2000 – May 2001
8. Not identified

Acknowledgements

Our thanks go to those who researched and discovered the history that is presented in these pages. Please read the full acknowledgement of their remarkable achievement. Unless otherwise noted, the historical pictures are from the Civic Society picture collection at the  Discovery Centre  and also available online.

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