William BADNALL (1699-1760?)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage (1)

Marriage (2)

Individual Note 1

William Badnall (d. 1760) of Mill Street worked as a dyer by 1734 and possibly by 1725, with dyehouses by the Churnet in Abbey Green Road at its junction with Mill Street. He was described as a mohair dyer in 1736. In 1758 he bought the bankrupt Richard Ferne's linen-thread works on the opposite side of Abbey Green Road, which included a dyehouse by Ball Haye brook. It is not known that he ever engaged in silk dyeing.

The Badnall family's works was engaged in silk dyeing by the 1780s under the management of William's son Joseph.

In 1818 there was only one factory, and that had only a few looms. It stood in Mill Street and was run by Richard Badnall and William Laugharn, who appear to have been using steam power by 1816. A foreign visitor in 1826 described it as a 'fine factory building, at the end of the town, quite new, most splendid position in the whole place';

When Joseph Badnall died in 1803, his dyeworks was taken over by his son William and brother James. On William's death in 1806 a partnership was formed between James and his brother Richard and son Joseph. James died in 1813. By 1826 the works was run by a partnership consisting of Richard's son Richard, F. G. Spilsbury, and Henry Cruso; the partners also manufactured silk and silk machinery. The partnership was dissolved that year. The business was bought by James Badnall's son Joseph, on whose death in 1830 it passed to his sister Ann. She let the works to John Clowes, who died in 1833.

The Commercial Bank, also in Market Place, was opened in 1825 by a partnership consisting of Richard Badnall of Highfield House in Leekfrith, his son Richard of Ashenhurst in Bradnop, R. R. Ellis, Henry Cruso, and F. G. Spilsbury; all, except apparently Ellis, were connected with the silk industry. The partners were reduced in 1826 to the elder Badnall and Ellis. In 1827 the partnership was dissolved, and Ellis was left to close the bank at a heavy loss to himself.

His eldest son William (d. 1896) and another son Joseph (d. 1908) went into partnership in 1850 or 1851 with William Beaumont Badnall; William was then living at Pickwood, Joseph at the Derby Street house, and Badnall in Church Lane. In 1854 Badnall became the son-in-law of Francis Cruso, and he apparently took over most of the Cruso practice.

William Badnall, a Leek silk dyer (d. 1806), was also a philanthropist, and on his death left the interest on £1,000 to be distributed in blankets, quilts, clothing, and other necessities such as coal but not food or drink on 5 November to 20 poor widows aged 60 or over; half the widows were to be residents in Leek town and half in Lowe. Because an insufficient number from Lowe were eligible, the number of town widows who benefited in the earlier 1820s was 13.

(Sponsor: Victoria County History

Publication: A History of the County of Staffordshire: Volume VII

Year published: 1996)

Individual Note 2

Leek, also known as the Queen of the Moorlands is a historic North Staffordshire market town, situated close to the head of the River Churnet and on the southern edge of the Peak District National Park. The town is full of character and charm with a wealth of interesting buildings, a lively shopping centre with speciality shops and restaurants and an open air

market every Wednesday. Leek flourished in the 19th Century following the Industrial Revolution with the advent of the textiles industry and also had strong links with the Arts and Crafts Movement. The houses at Churnet Manor each pay homage to four integral pioneers associated with Leek and its textiles: William Morris, William Badnall, Thomas Wardle and Richard Norman Shaw.