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George Salt was the longest lived of the six sons born to Saltaire’s founder Titus Salt and his wife Caroline. Born in Bradford in 1833, George was educated for a time at Huddersfield College, and later at the prestigious Mill Hill School, north of London.

Already 20 when Salt’s Mill opened, George worked in the family business for many years, latterly as a partner.  It was George who in 1872 chaired the meeting of Bradford and Leeds employers, convened to resist parliament’s passing of a bill to reduce to nine hours the maximum daily working hours for women and children. During his time in Saltaire George remained a bachelor, and notwithstanding his good will towards the local community, he also showed a taste for the grander things in life. For some years he was one of the organisers of the Bradford Bachelors’ Ball. He also owned a large yacht, the Oithona, which attracted great interest among Salt’s Mill workers during the works outing to Scarborough in 1864.

In 1885, around the time he retired, George married Jenny Louisa Fresco (34) at Westminster Register Office, and records indicate that for the remaining 28 years of his life the couple lived in the south of England (chiefly London). He died in 1913, in East Molesey, an attractive suburb of Greater London across the Thames from Hampton Court.

George was a recognised authority on timepieces, and in the 1870s provided equipment used in scientific research in North America. A reminder of his association with the subject can seen in a visit to Victoria Hall, to admire the beautiful clock that he presented to the Institute (as it was then called).

© Barlo & Shaw