Holbrook Gaskell

Holbrook Gaskell (5 March 1813 – 8 March 1909) was a British industrialist, and an art and plant collector.

Early life Gaskell was born in Wavertree, Liverpool. He was the eldest son of Roger Gaskell, a sailcloth manufacturer, from his marriage to his cousin Anne Hunter. He was baptised at the Paradise Street Unitarian Chapel in Liverpool. He was the cousin of the Unitarian minister William Gaskell, (husband of the novelist Mrs Gaskell), and was from a Unitarian family himself. He was educated privately at a school in Norton near Sheffield and then in 1827 he worked as an apprentice clerk in the firm of Yates, Cox and Co, who were iron merchants and nail makers in Liverpool.

Marriage Gaskell married Frances Ann Bellhouse in 1841, who was the daughter of Henry Bellhouse of Manchester Instead they established one of the largest and most successful Leblanc factories in Widnes. Gaskell's three sons, Holbrook II, James Bellhouse Gaskell and Frank Gaskell all became partners in the company.

In 1860 when the governments of Britain and France formed a treaty to raise duties on materials made from salt, Holbrook Gaskell went with Edmund Knowles Muspratt to Paris to negotiate terms for the manufacturers. Gaskell remained a director of the company until 1890 when it became part of the United Alkali Company.

When he died in 1909 at Woolton Woods his probate was almost £500,000. The estate of Woolton Woods passed to his sons who sold it to Col. James P. Reynolds, who in turn sold it to Liverpool City Council.