Albert Bailey and Sons (Riverside Mill), Elland, worsted Spinners, and Albert Bailey...

• <corpname>Albert Bailey and Sons, Elland, worsted spinners</corpname>
• <corpname>Albert Bailey and Son, Elland, grocers</corpname>

AB/5 closed for 50 years from last date of document

Deposited : M J Bailey, Elland

Accessioned : 1985 Mar 27

Joe Bailey of Wakefield came to Elland in the 1840s/early 1850s and opened a small grocery shop adjacent to his house in Westgate. His son, Albert Bailey, was born in 1855 and after becoming an apprentice in a textile mill, he took over the shop and acquired two other shops in the town. This business was run as A Bailey and Sons - Albert had nine children by his wife, Emma Park, whom he married in 1879. He was a born businessman, always on the look out for new ventures. He went into property development and Albert St, Elland was named after him not, as you would suppose, after Prince Albert. He also built houses at Hullen Edge and named Bryan Rd after one of his grandsons. His sons, Harold and Frank, took over the grocery chain in 1910 and at the age of 55 Albert decided to set up his own textile business, chancing a large part of his savings on the venture. He took over the disused Riverside Mill, which had been built in 1863 and set up Albert Bailey and Sons Ltd, using his first name to differentiate it from his retail business. The two enterprises would last until 1969 and 1975 respectively. Sixteen years before it closed, the Westgate shop was sold to a Mr and Mrs Lister but the textile firm continued to be managed by Albert's sons and grandsons. The firm weathered the ups and downs of the textile trade, selling as much as it could produce in the late 1930s. During World War 2 it produced yarn for the armed forces. With reinvestment in machinery, the 1950s were prosperous. The firm was still doing well in the 1960s, but in 1963 the route of the new Elland Bypass was revealed as being through the mill. After years of uncertainty, the firm closed in 1975