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Fanny Salt was the second of the five daughters born to Saltaire’s founder Titus Salt and his wife Caroline. Born on 7th Aug 1841, when the family was still living in Bradford, Fanny’s life was to be all too brief.

Around the time of Fanny’s third birthday the family moved from their Bradford home at the junction of Thornton Road and Little Horton Lane to the very grand Crow Nest estate, near Halifax. The next few years were passed in this idyllic setting, surrounded by her several brothers and sisters.  

In 1851 Fanny’s 10th birthday coincided, to the day, with the opening of Lightcliffe Railway station, which stood near Crow Nest Lodge, at the entrance to Salt’s estate.

When Fanny was about 17 the family relocated to the equally grand estate of Methley Hall, 6 miles SE of Leeds. Whilst still in her mid-teens, Fanny’s health had given cause for concern. First signs had come when, on a visit to Scarborough, she suffered haemorrhaging from the lungs. In 1859 she was diagnosed with tubercular phthisis – a progressive wasting disease. Recuperative visits by Fanny and other family members to St Leonard’s and to the spa town of Pau in the French Pyrenees did not cure her, and she died at Methley Hall on 4th Aug 1861, just days before her 20th birthday.

Pending completion of the family mausoleum in Saltaire Congregational Church, Fanny’s body was interred in a temporary vault in the church. Completion of the mausoleum granted Fanny’s young body a final resting place, where it remains to this day.

© Barlo & Shaw