Editing Saltaire (section)

== History ==
Saltaire was commissioned in 1851 by [[Titus Salt|Sir Titus Salt]], a leading industrialist in the [[Yorkshire]] woollen industry. The name of the village is a combination of the founder's surname and the name of the river. Salt moved his business (five separate mills) from [[Bradford]] to this site near [[Shipley, West Yorkshire|Shipley]] to arrange his workers and to site his large [[textile mill]] by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the railway. Salt employed the local architects [[Henry Francis Lockwood|Francis Lockwood]] and [[William Mawson]].<ref name="Greenhalf"/>
[[File:Saltaire-map-1893-768x614.jpg|thumb|right|1893 Ordnance Survey Map, Saltaire.]]
Similar, but considerably smaller, projects had also been started around the same time by [[Edward Akroyd]] at [[Copley, West Yorkshire|Copley]] and by [[Henry Ripley]] at [[Ripley Ville]]. The [[cotton mill]] village of [[New Lanark]], which is also a World Heritage site, was founded by [[David Dale]] in 1786.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huxley |first1=Victoria |title=World Heritage sites of Great Britain and Ireland : an illustrated guide to all 27 World Heritage sites |date=2009 |publisher=Interlink Books |location=Massachusetts |isbn=978-1566567695 |page=226}}</ref>

Salt built neat stone houses for his workers (much better than the slums of Bradford), wash-houses with tap water, bath-houses, a hospital and an institute for recreation and education, with a library, a reading room, a concert hall, billiard room, science laboratory and a gymnasium. The village had a school for the children of the workers, [[almshouse]]s, [[Allotment (gardening)|allotments]], a park and a boathouse.<ref name='Holroyd'/> Recreational initiatives were also encouraged such as the establishment of a drum and fife band for school age boys and a brass band, precursor of today's [[Hammonds Saltaire Band]], for men of the village.<ref>{{cite web|title=History: 1855 to 1894|url=http://hammondsband.org.uk/1855-to-1894/|website=The Hammonds Saltaire Band|access-date=21 December 2015}}</ref>

With the combination of quality housing, employment, recreation, educational facilities and social services the model town represented a landmark example of enlightened 19th century [[urban planning]].<ref>Bell, C. and R. (1972) ''City Fathers: The early history of town planning in Britain'', Penguin, Harmondsworth</ref><ref>Cherry, G. (1979) 'The Town Planning Movement and the Late Victorian City', ''Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series'', Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 306–319</ref> The building phase was nearing completion in 1871. The census from that year shows that Saltaire had 800 dwellings (755 houses and 45 almshouses), which contained 4,389 people.{{sfn|Dewhirst|1960|p=141}} In October 1872, Saltaire, along with [[Dean Clough Mill]] in [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]], were featured highlights of the Japanese Government's [[Iwakura Mission]] tour of modern industrial Britain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kunitake|first=Kume|title=Japan Rising: The Iwakura embassy to the USA and Europe|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-73516-2|page=182|editor=Chushichi Tsuzuki and R. Jules Young}}</ref>

Sir Titus died in 1876 and was interred in the [[mausoleum]] adjacent to the [[Congregational church]].{{sfn|Dewhirst|1960|p=137}}<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|first=David|last=James|title=Salt, Sir Titus, first baronet|id=24565|date=23 September 2004}}</ref> When Sir Titus Salt's son, Titus Salt Junior, died, Saltaire was taken over by a partnership which included [[Sir James Roberts, 1st Baronet|Sir James Roberts]] from [[Haworth]].

Roberts had worked in wool mills since the age of eleven. He had significant business interests in Russia, and spoke [[Russian language|Russian fluently]]. Roberts came to own Saltaire, but chose to invest his money heavily in Russia, losing some of his fortune in the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]]. He endowed a [[Chair (academic)|chair]] of Russian at [[Leeds University]] and bought the [[Brontë family|Brontës']] [[Haworth Parsonage]] for the nation. He is mentioned in [[T. S. Eliot]]'s ''[[The Waste Land]]''. Roberts is buried at [[Fairlight, East Sussex]].<ref name='holloway'/> His legacy can still be seen in Saltaire: he named [[Roberts Park, Saltaire|Roberts Park]], to the north of the river, after his son when he gave it to Bradford Council in 1920.<ref name="TVW:RPS">{{cite web |title=Roberts Park, Saltaire, Yorkshire |work=The Victorian Web |access-date=27 February 2015 |date=1 October 2012 |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/art/parks/20.html}}</ref>

Saltaire village remained under the ownership of the Mill until it was sold by Messrs. Salts (Saltaire) Ltd. to the Bradford Property Trust Ltd. on 31 July 1933.{{sfn|Dewhirst|1960|p=144}} In October 1933, the new owners came to an arrangement with Shipley Urban District Council to carry out improvements, including the renewal of gas services, provision of mains electricity, along with sewerage and sanitary improvements. This included "a comprehensive scheme to eliminate the waste water lavatories and the old type of coal store, and to erect new in their places." The full scheme included the removal of 43 houses to open out certain parts of the village.<ref>{{cite news|date=22 December 1934|title=Reconstruction of Saltaire Village|work=Shipley Times and Express|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001711/19341222/011/0001|access-date=26 July 2021}}</ref>