Jonathan Akroyd Business Archive
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Jonathan Akroyd Business Archive
Classmark: MS 158
Creator(s): Akroyd, Jonathan()
Date(s): c.1772-1802
Language: English
Size and medium: 5 vols
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/6468
Collection group(s): Business Archives
Description
Lane Head, Ovenden, near Halifax.
Clothier, in partnership until c. 1782 with his younger brother James, founder of James Akroyd & Sons, stuff manufacturers, worsted spinners and merchants, 49 Northgate and Bowling Dyke Mills, Old Lane, Halifax.
For a full analysis of the contents of the five account books which comprise this collection, see T. W. Hanson, Jonathan Akroyd’s Account Books’, in Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society (i939)> PP- 127-55-
For references to James Akroyd & Sons, see Industries of Yorkshire, Part II (1890), p. 119; A History of Jas. Akroyd & Sons Ltd (1874). R. Bretton, ‘Colonel Edward Akroyd’, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society (1948), pp. 61-100; ‘A Day at the Yorkshire Worsted Factories’, in Penny Magazine, New Series, Vol. 4 (1844), pp. 33-40.
ACCOUNT BOOKS. 1770-1802
1. Account Book. 1770-89.
Record of wool given out and yarn received from named spinners located in Dodworth, Dunsop Bridge, Tosside, Wigglesworth, and Austwick-in-Craven. Types of wool and yarn are detailed with weights and value of yarn received. Notes on the efficiency, or otherwise, of the spinners. Joseph Taylor of Dodworth was the main spinner and an account of his stock of wool on hand is given for various years, 1770s and 1780s.
2. Account Book. 1776-80.
Record of cloth sales to named purchasers giving details and prices with cash or bills received. Mainly lastings and shalloons sold. The major customer was Mr Loxley who was buying for Messrs Milners of Wakefield. Record of bills and cash paid to named persons for various purchases including wool, wheat, ploughing, and furniture. Record of cash and bills received. Some balances are carried to the ‘Great Book’, which was probably the master record, and has not survived.
3. Account Book. 1783-6.
Cloth sales record similar to item 2. Dyeing and dressing costs are often specified separately. Some noils are also sold. Record of cloth sent for dyeing to named persons. Bills received and paid naming sources and recipients. Purchases of soap, oil, and wool from named suppliers. Account with James Akroyd. List of stock in Piece Hall, Halifax. Many balances carried to ‘Great Book’.
4. Account Book. 1792-5.
Personal accounts of about ninety persons. Indexed. These include purchasers of various cloths mainly shalloons and lastings, with details as in items 2 and 3. Accounts of suppliers of food and drink. Financial transactions with named persons. Rental payments for a room in the Piece Hall, Halifax. Account with James Akroyd.
5. Account Book. 1788—1802.
Accounts of about eighty persons. Indexed. Includes suppliers of wool and oil and purchasers of cloth. An interesting entry of 1800 details money ‘paid to Josh Milner ... to prevent wool going to Ireland’.
Biography or history
Jonathan Akroyd, a clothier, was in partnership until ca. 1782 with his younger brother James, the founder of James Akroyd & Sons, of Halifax, stuff manufacturers, worsted spinners and merchants.
Access and usage
Access
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