Elkanah Armitage

Sir Elkanah Armitage DL (6 September 1794 – 26 November 1876) was a British industrialist and Liberal politician.

Early life He was born the third of six sons of Elkanah Armitage, a farmer and linen weaver from Failsworth, Lancashire. He left school at the age of 8 and went to work in the cotton industry, along with two of his brothers, at George Nadin & Nephews and soon rose to become manager on account of his diligence and growing shrewdness in business.

Personal life In 1816 he married Mary Lomax Bowers.

Industrial career In the 1810s Armitage and his first wife set up in business as drapers at 18 Chapel Street, Salford, then sometime shortly after 1822 he set up a weaving manufacture business with James Thompson and by 1829 he was employing 29 workers and selling his cloths in Manchester at considerable profit. The business was so successful that he was able to build a new factory at Pendleton, Salford and eventually employed 200 people making sailcloth, ginghams and checks. By 1848, despite economic slumps he had extended Pendleton New Mill and was employing over 600. In 1867 the Armitages took over the Nassau Mills in Patricroft, Eccles.

In 1838, Manchester was incorporated as a municipal borough, and Armitage was elected to the first town council as a Liberal councillor representing Exchange Ward. He became an alderman in 1841, and was Mayor of Manchester from 1846 to 1848. During his term of office there was a surge of support for the Chartist Movement, with the first mass meeting held in Manchester in September 1848.

In 1849, he was created a Knight Bachelor by Queen Victoria for his services as mayor during the crisis of the previous year.

In 1857, Armitage stood for Parliament, unsuccessfully opposing William Nathaniel Massey for the seat of Salford and in 1866 he was appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire, having represented the same county also as Deputy Lieutenant before. which today would be worth over 14 million pounds.