Bridgewater Canal - Bridgewater Trustees

Bridgewater Trustees

The Duke of Bridgewater died on 8 March 1803. By his will the income from the canal was to be paid to his nephew George Leveson-Gower, the Marquess of Stafford (later the 1st Duke of Sutherland). On his death it was to go to Stafford's second son Francis, provided he changed his name to Egerton; and then to his heirs and successors. The management of the company was placed in the hands of three trustees. These were Sir Archibald Macdonald, who was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, at the time the Bishop of Carlisle and later the Archbishop of York, and, as Superintendent, Robert Haldane Bradshaw, the Duke's agent. Bradshaw managed the estate, for which he received a salary of £2,000 a year and the use of the Duke's mansions at Worsley and Runcorn. The other two trustees had each married nieces of the Duke and were "dummy trustees".

During the time the canal was administered by the Bridgewater Trustees, it made a profit every year. Until his retirement in 1834, the administration was carried out entirely by Bradshaw. It has been calculated that the average annual profit between 1806 and 1826 was of the order of 13%, and in 1824, the best year, it was 23%. Bradshaw found it difficult to delegate, and complained of being over-worked, but he was also regarded as being a "formidable bargainer". In 1805 he was approached by the proprietors of the nearby Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal to resolve a dispute with a Salford landowner, but his response was delayed. In 1810 there was a general agreement with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company (M&IN) to simultaneously raise freight charges. However any cooperation between the two companies was short-lived and by 1812 the Mersey and Irwell had reduced their charges. Further competition was to come from other carriers who used the canal; in 1824 the traffic carried by private companies exceeded that carried by the Trustees for the first time. However, in time more profit came from "tonnage traffic" (that carried by private companies) than from the Bridgewater's own carriage of freight. Bradshaw's administration saw increased deterioration of the fabric of the canal, the locks, docks and warehouses. The undertakings were starved of capital largely due to inadequate provision for it in the Duke's will. There were also problems caused by silting around the entrance to the Mersey and by the changing channels of the river itself.

During the 1820s there was increased dissatisfaction with the canals. They did not cope well with increasing volumes of cargo, and they were perceived as monopolistic, and the preserve of the landed gentry class. There was increased interest in the possibility of railway construction. The possible construction of a railway between Liverpool and Manchester was vigorously opposed by Bradshaw, who refused railway surveyors access to land owned by the Trustees. When the first bill was presented to parliament in 1825, the Trustees opposed and it was overthrown. However later in the year Lord Stafford, possibly persuaded to do so by William Huskisson, invested £100,000 (one-fifth of the required capital), in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Following this the Trustees withdrew their opposition to the construction of the railway; they did not petition against the second bill, which was passed in 1826. At the same time as he made his investment in the railway, Lord Stafford advanced £40,000 for improvements to the canal. This was spent mainly on a second line of locks at Runcorn, which were completed in 1828, plus new warehouses at Manchester and Liverpool. The additional line of locks cost £35,000 and was used for traffic heading to Manchester, while the old line was used for traffic passing down to the Mersey.

In 1830 the new railway opened and by the end of the year was carrying freight. Bradshaw immediately went into competition by lowering the rates of carriage on the canal and by offering improved terms to the private carriers. By so doing he managed to maintain the volume of traffic carried by the canal, both freight and passengers, at a time when the country was suffering a trade depression. However Bradshaw's tactics led to a sharp decline in profits. At the same time costs were rising, partly due to the use of steamboats on the Mersey. Further competition came with the opening of the Macclesfield Canal in 1831 which gave separate access to Manchester from the Midlands. In November 1831 Bradshaw suffered a stroke, as a result of which he lost the use of his left arm and leg, and there is evidence that it also impaired his judgement.

Matters came to a head in 1833, the year in which the canal made its lowest profit since the death of the Duke. On 19 July the Marquess of Stafford (now the 1st Duke of Sutherland) died and the profits from the canal passed to Francis Egerton. On 25 September Bradshaw's son, Captain James Bradshaw, who had been acting as a deputy superintendent to the Trustees, and who had been expected to succeed his father as Superintendent, committed suicide. The agent for both Francis Egerton and his older brother, who was now the 2nd Duke of Sutherland, was James Loch. The events that followed were "stage-managed by Loch". He reported to Francis Egerton that Bradshaw was no longer fit to be Superintendent, and then persuaded Bradshaw to retire on his full salary. It had been expected that he would appoint his other son, William Rigby Bradshaw, as his successor, but Loch persuaded him to appoint James Sothern in the position; Sothern had been the principal agent of the Trust since December 1832. He took over the position of Superintendent on 3 February 1834. The appointment of Sothern was not a success. Charges were made against him of dishonesty and of nepotism. He entered into disputes and disagreements with Loch, with Francis Egerton, and with the other two trustees. (Sir Archibald Macdonald had died in 1826; by this time his place had been taken by the 10th Earl of Devon). To avoid a costly lawsuit, at the end of 1836 Sothern agreed to retire on various conditions which included receipt of £45,000. On 1 March 1837, he was succeeded as Superintendent by James Loch.

Loch was extremely busy and did not have time to deal with the detailed administration of the Trust. He therefore looked for a deputy to take on these duties. His first choice was Richard Smith who was the mine agent to the Trustees of the 1st Earl of Dudley. However this was perceived as poaching and it led to such controversy that Smith declined the offer and recommended his son, George Samuel Fereday Smith for the post. Fereday Smith was appointed as Deputy Superintendent in March 1837 on a salary of £600 a year, half of the salary which had been offered to his father. Loch immediately undertook a reorganisation of the administration and efficiency of the business, restored the agreement with the Old Quay Company to raise freight charges, and improved the facilities for passengers, including the introduction of "swift boats". By 1837, the Trustees employed around 3,000 people (including those working in the colliery and in Worsley Yard), making it one of the largest employers in the country at the time. Since the death of the Duke the amount of freight carried by the canal had almost trebled; in 1803 it carried 334,495 long tons (339,863 t) of goods and in 1836 968,795 long tons (984,341 t).

In 1843 a new dock, the Francis Dock, was opened at Runcorn. The late 1830s and early 1840s had seen increased competition between the Bridgewater Canal on the one hand, and other canal companies and the railways on the other. The most dangerous of the rivals was the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company who started to reduce their rates again in 1840. This led to a price war between the two canal companies and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, who had previously cooperated on rates. Eventually, in desperation, the Bridgewater Trustees bought the Mersey and Irwell and took over its ownership on 1 January 1844. During the same year competition with other canals was further reduced by agreements made with the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company and with the Anderton Carrying Company. In 1844 the canal made a profit of £76,410, the second highest during the time it was administered by the Trustees.

Having seen off competition from other canal companies, the next major threat was to come from the railways. This was the period in the mid-1840s known as the Railway Mania. The railways competed with the canals in three ways; by building, or threatening to build, new lines which would be in direct competition with the canals; by amalgamation into giant companies (such as the Midland and the London and North Western companies), which gave them more political power; and by taking over ownership of canal companies. On 13 April 1844 The Times newspaper reported that the canal was to be emptied of water, and converted into a railway, although nothing came of this scheme. In 1845, in return for concessions, the Trustees supported the Grand Junction Railway in its campaign to build a more direct line to Liverpool, which crossed the Mersey over a bridge at Runcorn Gap. However the bill was overthrown in the House of Lords. Competition from the railways and other canals led to a decline in the trading and the profits between 1845 and 1848, but there was no "disastrous collapse". During this time the Trustees and their representatives were engaged in vigorous campaigns in Parliament to protect their interests.

By October 1844 a bonding warehouse had been built in Manchester and the first cargo to arrive was announced in a letter to the Manchester Guardian, later printed in The Times:

FIRST ARRIVAL IN THE PORT OF MANCHESTER OF A CARGO OF GOODS FOR BOND
We have great pleasure in recording the first arrival in the Port of Manchester of a vessel, with an entire cargo of wines and spirits removed in bond, and for bonding in Manchester. The vessel, a flat named the Express, was wholly laden with a valuable cargo of wines and spirits, in all about 40 tons weight, belonging to Mr. William Gibb, spirit merchant, of this town, whose active and long-continued exertions in the struggle to obtain the privilege of bonding for this great and important borough are about to be acknowledged in the form of a substantial mark of respect and gratitude by his fellow-townsmen. The Express arrived from Liverpool on Saturday evening; but it was yesterday morning before she began to unload. She is lying in the Bridgewater Canal, Knott Mill where the Duke's trustees have constructed a large bonding vault, which Mr. Gibb has taken and had licensed for the purpose, and we believe he is now removing his stock of wine and spirits from other ports to Manchester, for the greater convenience of sampling and sale. The lockers, gaugers, and other officers of Customs were in attendance, superintending the unloading of the vessel and thus have commenced the operations of the Manchester Custom-house. It is a gratifying circumstance that a gentleman who took so prominent a part in the struggle to obtain the boon of bonding for Manchester should be the first to enjoy the fruits of its success. We hope ere long to record the general operation of the system; though it will require a little time, perhaps, as it must have a beginning. - Manchester Guardian

However, this venture was less successful than expected, as is evidenced by a letter to The Observer later that year, also printed in The Times:

MANCHESTER A BONDING PORT
After the pressing demands which have been made by some of our principal manufacturing towns for the privileges of inland bonded warehouses for goods subject to Customs duties, it would naturally be supposed that the formation of a Custom-house establishment at Manchester would have occasioned a vast quantity of business in that extensive seat of British manufacturers; but we are informed that the result is very different from what had been expected. Although the system has been introduced into Manchester only as an experiment and a large establishment has been formed entirely of old and experienced officers; under the impression that the extent of business there would require the constant services of well tried men, we believe that, up to the present period, little trade has passed through the Manchester Custom-house and the officers' duties are nearly approaching to a sinecure. The total annual expense of this establishment, exclusive of that for the Custom-house and warehouse is £2,620. The town council of the borough of Manchester, however, are made liable, under the act of the 7th and 8th of Victoria cap 81, to the charges of maintaining this establishment, and the public are thereby exonerated from the expense.
- Observer

Between 1849 and 1851 the competition between the Trustees and the railway companies intensified. Agreements and alliances were made and broken. Their major opponents were the London and North Western Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who reduced tariffs and took business away from the canals. For the first time the railways carried more trade between Liverpool and the towns of central Lancashire than the canals. The value of the traffic carried by the Bridgewater Canal in 1851 was the lowest in the time it was administered by the Trustees. In 1851 the Earl of Ellesmere hosted a visit to Manchester by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They stayed at Worsley Hall, with a view of the canal, and were given a trip between Patricroft railway station and Worsley Hall, on state barges. Large crowds had gathered to cheer the royal party, which apparently frightened the horses drawing the barge so much that they fell into the canal.

The Trustees spent much time between 1851 and 1855 in negotiations to ease the competition, especially that from the London and North Western Railway. The most likely allies seemed to be other railway companies, including the Shrewsbury and Birmingham and the Shrewsbury and Chester railway companies, and the Great Western Railway. Of these, the most likely seemed to be the Great Western Railway who, in their concern to expand northwards were willing to help the Trustees with the carriage of their traffic to the south. However years of negotiations came to no agreement and, in the end, the Trustees' railway deal was done with the London and North Western Railway, who agreed to cooperate with the onward passage of the Trustees' traffic.

On 28 June 1855 James Loch, the Superintendent, died and was succeeded by Hon. Algernon Fulke Egerton, Lord Ellesmere's third son. He was then aged 29, and had been educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; he had been destined for a political life and had no experience of managing coal mines or canals. Since James Loch had been appointed, he had been mainly in control of the management of the Trustees, assisted by his son George Loch. During this time the role of Fereday Smith had been diminished; initially appointed as Deputy Superintendent, his position was reduced to that of Principal Agent in 1845. With the arrival of the inexperienced Algernon Egerton, Fereday Smith had a much greater say in the management. During the previous four years the Lochs had been reluctant to invest in improvements to the canal or Runcorn Dock, despite the increasing demand for the passage of goods through the dock, and the profits made during these years became stagnant. Fereday Smith had been keen on expansion and now his opportunity came. He first reduced the top-heavy administration of the Trust, and then took on the planning of the expansion of the business. The steamers owned by the Trustees had been neglected and were in a poor state; these were repaired or sold.

George Loch, who had been opposed to using the Trustees' investments for improvements to the canals or docks, died in 1857. Between 1857 and 1872 the Trustees provided more capital for improvements from their own resources than at any previous time. The Runcorn and Weston Canal was built in 1858–59, providing a connection between Runcorn Docks and the Weaver Navigation. A new half tide dock, the Alfred Dock was opened at Runcorn in 1860. Electric telegraph was installed in 1861–62.

In 1862 the 2nd Earl of Ellesmere died and his son and heir, the 3rd Earl was a minor, aged 15. This gave Algernon Egerton even more power to invest the profits of the company in developments. Negotiations were made to increase sea-borne trade, both British and foreign, through the canal. Building started on a new dock at Runcorn in 1867. Work was carried out in the Mersey estuary around the docks to improve access for vessels. Some of this was carried out in conjunction with the London and North Western Railway who were building a bridge across Runcorn Gap to take their line from Weaver Junction to Liverpool; the railway paid half the cost of the improvements, amounting to about £20,000 (£1.29 million today). Improvements were made to the Trustees' facilities at Liverpool, to the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and to the Bridgewater Canal itself. Agreements were made with the railway companies to cooperate on the transit of goods and the rates of carriage and "the Trustees' fortunes entered a calmer phase".

Read more about this topic:  Bridgewater Canal

Famous quotes containing the words bridgewater and/or trustees:

    I have heard of a minister, who had been a fisherman, being settled in Bridgewater for as long a time as he could tell a cod from a haddock. Generous as it seems, this condition would empty most country pulpits forthwith, for it is long since the fishers of men were fishermen.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.
    Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)