Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

HOLDEN, SIR ISAAC, BART

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 583 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

HOLDEN, See also:SIR See also:ISAAC, See also:BART . (1807-1897), See also:English. inventor and manufacturer, was the son of Isaac Holden, a native of See also:Cumberland, and was See also:born at Hurlet, a See also:village between See also:Paisley and See also:Glasgow, on the 7th of May 1807. His See also:early See also:life was passed in very straitened circumstances, but his See also:father spared no pains to give him as much elementary See also:education as possible. At the See also:age of ten he began to See also:work as See also:weaver's draw-boy, and after-wards was employed in a See also:cotton See also:mill. Meanwhile his education was continued at the See also:night See also:schools, and from See also:time to time, as funds allowed, he was taken from work and sent to the See also:grammar-school, to which he at last went regularly for a See also:year or two until he was fifteen, when his father removed to Paisley and apprenticed him to an See also:uncle, a See also:shawl-weaver there. This proving too much for his strength, in 1823 he became assistant teacher in a school at Paisley, and in 1828 he was appointed mathematical teacher in the See also:Queen's Square See also:Academy, See also:Leeds. At the end of six months he was transferred to See also:Lingard's grammar school, near See also:Huddersfield, and shortly afterwards became classical See also:master at See also:Castle See also:Street Academy, See also:Reading. It was here that in 1829 he invented a See also:lucifer match by adopting See also:sulphur as the See also:medium between the explosive material and the See also:wood, but he refused to patent the invention. In 183o his See also:health again failed, and he returned to See also:Scotland, where a Glasgow friend set up a school for him. After six months, however, he was recommended for the See also:post of bookkeeper to Messrs. Townend See also:Brothers, worsted manufacturers, of Cullingworth, where his See also:interest in machinery soon led to his See also:transfer from the counting-See also:house to the mill. There his experiments led him to the invention of his square See also:motion See also:wool-comber and of a See also:process for making genappe yarns, a patent for which was taken out by him in See also:conjunction with S.

C. See also:

Lister (See also:Lord See also:Masham) in 1847. The See also:firm of Lister & Holden, which established a factory near See also:Paris in 1848, carried on a successful business, and in 1859, when Lister retired, was succeeded by Isaac Holden and Sons, which became the largest wool-combing business in the See also:world, employing upwards of 4000 workpeople. In 1865 Holden's medical advisers insisted on See also:complete See also:change of occupation, and he entered See also:parliament as Liberal member for See also:Knaresborough. From 1868 to 1882 he was without a seat, but in the latter year he was elected for the See also:northern See also:division of the See also:West See also:Riding, and in 1885 for See also:Keighley. He was created a See also:baronet in 1893, and died suddenly at Oakworth House, near Keighley, on the 13th of See also:August 1897. His son and See also:heir, Sir See also:Angus Holden, was in 1908 created a peer with the See also:title of See also:Baron Holden of See also:Alston.

End of Article: HOLDEN, SIR ISAAC, BART

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
HOLDEN, HUBERT ASHTON (1822-1896) 		[next]
HOLDERLIN, JOHANN CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH (1770-1843)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries