The Lister Building - Bradford, UK - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

Earliest provision

When the original Bradford Technical School opened in 1882 (now known as the Old Building) facilities for the Textile Industries Department were paramount as the manufacturing of textiles was the most important local industry. Since the dyeing trade in Bradford was the second largest employer, a Chemistry & Dyeing department was a special feature, along with Art and Engineering departments. Over the years, the scope of each department was greatly increased. Art moved to its own separate Building (now known as Grove Library) but more space was needed.

Ambitious Plans

The "keynote of the College's work" was "to supply the advanced instruction necessary to prepare students for their life's work in various local and national industries." After several years of looking at how to extend the College, ambitious plans were drawn up in 1907 for a new building dedicated to the Department of Textile Industries.

The Foundation stone for the new Building was laid on 5th November 1909 by the Lord Mayor, Councillor James Hill.

The new building was equipped with a complete plant for the washing, carding, combing, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing of textiles, and also included a power plant to supply all the power and light required by various College buildings and the School of Art.

Replicating Everything in a mill

"The equipment provides for the carrying out in a practical way, on full sized machines similar to those employed in the trade, of all the operations involved in the manufacture of textiles, from the raw material to the finished cloth. At every point the paramount importance of experimental and trade research work has been kept in view, and many machines have been designed or adapted to this end." link

Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1st Baron Masham (1 January 1815 in Calverley Old Hall, Yorkshire – 2 February 1906 in Swinton Park, Yorkshire) was an English inventor and industrialist, notable for inventing the Lister nip comb.

He was born in Calverley Old Hall, near Bradford, the son of Ellis Cunliffe Lister (1774–1853), the first Member of Parliament elected for Bradford after the Reform Act of 1832 and Mary (née Kay) Lister. In 1854 he married Anne Dearden, daughter of John Dearden; they had five daughters. He started his working life working for a Liverpool firm of merchants.

Lister went on to play a key role in the development of Bradford's wool industry during the nineteenth century Industrial Revolution. The textile industry transformed Bradford from a small rural town into a rich and famous city. As well as being a successful mill owner he occasionally diverged to other subjects, such as an air brake for railways. He was fond of outdoor sports, especially coursing and shooting, and was a keen patron of the fine arts.

In 1838 he and his elder brother John started as worsted spinners and manufacturers in a new mill which their father built for them at Manningham. Lister's Mill (otherwise known as Manningham Mills), and its owner, were particularly well known in the district. The business eventually made Lister one of Bradford's most famous fathers, a multi-millionaire and the provider of thousands of jobs in the city. Lister's Mill changed the identity of the region, and its economy. Lister himself came to epitomise Victorian enterprise. However it has been suggested that his capitalist attitude made trade unions necessary.

Lister invented the Lister nip comb which separated and straightened raw wool, which has to be done before it can be spun into worsted yarn, and in the nineteenth century it was a hot, dirty and tiring job. By inventing the nip comb, Lister revolutionised the industry.

Around 1855 he began work to find a way of utilising the fibre contained in silk waste. The task occupied his time for many years and brought him to the verge of bankruptcy, but at last he succeeded in perfecting silk-combing appliances which enabled him to make good quality yarn at a low cost. Another important invention in connection with silk manufacture was his velvet loom for piled fabrics which made him very rich. He had his portrait painted with a model of one of his inventions. However, the business was seriously affected by the prohibitory duties imposed by the United States, making him an early critic of the British policy of free trade.

In 1887 he was appointed High Sheriff of Yorkshire.

In 1891 he was made a peer; he took his title from the little Yorkshire town of Masham, close to which is Swinton Park, purchased by him in 1888. He died at Swinton Park on 2 February 1906, and was succeeded by his son, Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 2nd Baron Masham.

A statue of him now stands in Lister Park, in Heaton, Bradford, sculpted by Matthew Noble from a block of white Sicilian marble and unveiled on Saturday 15 May 1875 by W. E. Forster, then Member of Parliament for Bradford. Lister Park was donated to the people of Bradford by Lister. link

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