Catalogue description THOMAS RATCLIFFE AND COMPANY LTD/MODERNA (WITNEY) LTD, ALBERT MILL, MYTHOLMROYD, BLANKET MANUFACTURERS

This record is held by West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale

Details of RA
Reference: RA
Title: THOMAS RATCLIFFE AND COMPANY LTD/MODERNA (WITNEY) LTD, ALBERT MILL, MYTHOLMROYD, BLANKET MANUFACTURERS
Date: 1887-1957
Held by: West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Thomas Ratcliffe and Company Ltd, Mytholmroyd, blanket manufacturers

Moderna (Witney) Ltd, Mytholmroyd, blanket manufacturers

Physical description: 30 boxes/0.6 cubic metres
Access conditions:

Open

Immediate source of acquisition:

Date(s) of accession: 14 May 1980

Administrative / biographical background:

Thomas Ratcliffe, son of Joshua Ratcliffe, founded this blanket-making company in 1872. In that year he wanted to expand Ratcliffe Brothers but his brothers did not agree so the partnership was dissolved and Thomas took over Albert Mill, Mytholmroyd and set up his own company. He had no sons to whom he could pass on the business, and left it to his sons-in-law - John Culpan and David Smith, who had joined the company in 1880, but they fell out and the firm was split into two separate and independent companies. In 1915 it became a Limited Company. One of their main products was the Moderna blanket, which was guaranteed to be mothproof, fadeless, unshrinkable and odourless - and which became world-famous. The firm developed a material known as wool-fibro, which was used for making coats and clothing. In 1951, the firm was taken over by a company from Witney, Oxfordshire and became Moderna (Witney) Ltd.

 

In 1969, a warehouse was destroyed by fire. In 1974, carpet manufacturers, Bond Worth, bought out the company. In 1976, the company was taken over by the Belgian firm Sona Consultants Ltd. Sona told the workers that the company would close for 6 months to be refurbished, but it seems that Sona were involved in exporting second-hand textile machinery to the Third World, and never reopened the factory. The works closed in 1976/7. In 1979, the mills were sold to Halifax textile waste merchants Wattlid Ltd. In 1986, the mills were destroyed by fire in a suspected arson attack. A new industrial estate was built on the site

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