Edward Potts (architect)

Edward Potts (2 March, 1839 – 15 April, 1909) was an architect who practised in Oldham, Lancashire, England.

Biography

He was born on 2 March 1839 in Bury, Lancashire. He moved to Oldham and designed many of the town's Cotton mills and was ranked with P. S. Stott as the greatest mill architect of Victorian Lancashire. Potts and his partnerships were responsible for the design and build of 200 mills, sixteen of which were in Oldham.^[1] One such mill is Textile Mill, Chadderton built in 1882.

Mills, of this period were constructed with fireproof floors. These were principally triple brick arches, but Potts pioneered the use of 7" thick concrete floors. On 3 March 1884 he attempted to patent this new method of constructing fireproof floors and ceilings. The patent was rejected, and it was rapidly adopted by other architect. The seven inch floor was more rigid than a 12" brick floor so preserved the alignment of the spinning mules thus saving power. However the concrete floor however required a closer grouping of supporting columns, which restricted the size of the machines. To solve this, introduced transverse steel girders into the design, supported on steel lintels above the windows. Thus there was no lateral thrust on the walls, the windows became square headed and abnormally wide.^[1]

He moved to Eccles in 1891 and was responsible for the design of the town's library. He was a Liberal member of Eccles borough council from 1902 to 1905, the first chairman of the town's library committee (1904) and a Justice of the Peace in 1906. He inaugurated popular Saturday night concerts during the winter months and keen to reduce the incidence of infant mortality gave a sovereign to the mother of every child who reached the age of one.

He died on 15 April 1909 and was buried at Chadderton Cemetery.^[2]

Partnerships

• Woodhouse & Potts (1860–1872)
• Independent architect (1872–1880)
• Potts, Pickup & Dixon (1880–1890) Manchester office from 1882.
• Potts, Son & Henning, Manchester, Oldham, and Bolton. (1890–1907)^[1]

See also

• List of mills in Chadderton

Lancashire cotton
Architects	David Bellhouse Bradshaw Gass & Hope F.W. Dixon & Son Edward Potts Potts, Pickup & Dixon Stott Sidney Stott (later Sir Philip)
Engine makers	Daniel Adamson Ashton Frost Ashworth & Parker Bateman & Sherratt Boulton & Watt Browett, Lindley & Co Buckley & Taylor Carels Frères Earnshaw & Holt Fairbairn W & J Galloway & Sons Benjamin Goodfellow Hick, Hargreaves & Co Benjamin Hick and Sons John Musgrave & Sons J & W McNaught Petrie of Rochdale William Roberts & Co of Nelson George Saxon Scott & Hodgson Urmson & Thompson Yates of Blackburn Yates & Thom Willans & Robinson J & E Wood Woolstenhulmes & Rye
Machinery makers	Brooks & Doxey Butterworth & Dickinson Curtis, Parr & Walton Dobson & Barlow John Hetherington & Sons Joseph Hibbert John Pilling and Sons Harling & Todd Howard & Bullough Geo. Hattersley Asa Lees Mather & Platt Parr, Curtis & Madely British Northrop Loom Co Pemberton & Co Platt Brothers Taylor, Lang & Co Textile Machinery Makers Tweedales & Smalley T. Wildman & Sons
Mill owners	Elkanah Armitage Henry Ashworth Hugh Birley Hugh Hornby Birley Joseph Brotherton James Burton Peter Drinkwater Nathaniel Eckersley John Fielden William Gray Richard Howarth William Houldsworth John Kennedy Charles Macintosh Hugh Mason Samuel Oldknow Robert Peel John Rylands
Limited companies	Oldham Limiteds Fine Spinners and Doublers Lancashire Cotton Corporation Combined Egyptian Mills Ltd Courtaulds Bagley & Wright
Industrial processes	Textile manufacturing Cotton-spinning machinery Dref Friction Spinning Dandy loom Magnetic ring spinning Open end spinning Ring spinning Spinning frame Spinning jenny Spinning mule Steaming Water frame Roberts Loom Lancashire Loom Lancashire boiler
Associations	Amalgamated Association of Beamers, Twisters and Drawers (Hand and Machine) Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union Amalgamated Weavers' Association Burnley, Nelson, Rossendale and District Textile Workers' Union General Union of Loom Overlookers North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association Northern Textile and Allied Workers' Union National Union of Textile and Allied Workers The Textile Institute United Textile Factory Workers' Association
Employment practices	More looms Kissing the shuttle Mule spinners' cancer Piece-rate list
Lists of mills	LCC mills Bolton Bury Cheshire Derbyshire Lancashire Manchester Oldham (borough) Preston Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Wigan Yorkshire
Museums	Bancroft Shed Helmshore Mills Queen Street Mill Weavers' Triangle Quarry Bank Mill, Styal
Pioneers	Richard Arkwright Samuel Crompton James Hargreaves Thomas Highs John Kay (flying shuttle) John Kay (spinning frame) Robert Owen

Lancashire Cotton Corporation
Bury	Pilot Mill, Bury Wilton Mill, Radcliffe
Bolton	Ainsworth Mill, Breightmet Bolton Union Mill, Bolton Century Mill, Farnworth
Lancashire	Coppull Mill Imperial Mill, Blackburn Mavis Mill
Manchester and Salford	Brunswick Mill, Ancoats May Mill, Pemberton Monton Mill, Eccles
Oldham	Ace Mill, Hollinwood Blackridings Mill, Oldham Dawn Mill, Shaw Fox Mill, Hollinwood Hawk Mill, Shaw Heron Mill, Hollinwood Junction Mill, Middleton Junction Kent Mill, Chadderton Laurel Mill, Middleton Junction Magnet Mill, Chadderton Majestic Mill, Waterhead Manor Mill, Chadderton Newby Mill, Shaw Orme Mill, Waterhead Regent Mill, Failsworth Royd Mill, Oldham Royton Ring Mill, Royton Rutland Mill, Shaw Textile Mill, Chadderton Trent Mill, Shaw
Rochdale	Arkwright Mill, Rochdale Harp Mill, Castleton Malta Mill, Middleton Mars Mill, Castleton
Stockport	Elder Mill, Romiley Kingston Mill, Stockport Palmer Mills, Stockport Vernon Mill, Stockport Welkin Mill, Lower Bredbury
Tameside	Atlas Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Cedar Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Rock Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Saxon Mill, Droylsden Stalybridge Mill, Stalybridge Texas Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Tudor Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Waterside Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne
Wigan	Empress Mill, Ince May Mill, Pemberton Trencherfield Mill
West Yorkshire	Foxsons Mill, Staincliffe Mons Mill, Todmorden

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Gurr, Duncan; Hunt, Julian (1985). The Cotton Mills of Oldham. Oldham Education & Leisure. ISBN 0-902809-46-6. 
• Farnie, D. A.; Harrison, B. (2004). "Potts, Edward (1839–1909), architect". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60877. Retrieved 2009-02-22.