James Walton

James Walton (15 April 1803 – 5 November 1883) was a British inventor and industrialist. He was known for the significant improvements he made to the carding process. He amassed a considerable fortune from his business ventures, and purchased two large family estates in Wales.

Early life Walton was born on 15 April 1803 at Ripponden. His father Isaac Walton worked as a friezer.

Halifax and Sowerby Bridge In 1822, Walton moved to a small workshop near North Bridge, Halifax to develop his ideas for new machinery for friezing. He quickly developed these ideas, and in 1824, moved to a larger factory at Sowerby Bridge.

In the early 1830s, Walton developed a new form of wire-card for use in textile manufacturing. This replaced the traditional leather backing for the card with india rubber laid on cloth. This was a superior system and became the standard for the carding industry, in Manchester, and began making his cards using machines, instead of by hand. He purchased an American card-setting machine and made significant improvements to its efficiency. He built a new factory in Haughton Dale to the south-east of Manchester, which opened in 1857. There he established the company of James Walton & Sons, supplying machinery and cards to the textile industry of Great Britain and beyond. The factory was the largest of its kind in the world.

Walton was a very successful businessman, described as: ...remarkable in his inventive genius. Like Brindley and Arkwright and other great leaders of industry who have established supremacy of England as a manufacturing nation, he was a man of marked individuality of character, of mental vision, strength of will and steadfastness of purpose and he has left behind him a long list of original ideas many of which were carried into practice and assisted greatly in increasing the productive powers of the great cotton spinning trade.

In 1875, Walton began construction of the Anglican Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Haughton Dale. This was consecrated in 1876 by the Bishop of Manchester. He also built Haughton Dale Mills School in the village.

Cwmllecoediog Hall In the 1850s, Walton lived at Compstall Hall, south-east of Manchester. In 1860, he purchased the Cwmllecoediog estate, near Aberangell in Wales and spent much of his time there.

Dolforgan Hall St. Michael's Church, Kerry, which was rebuilt in 1882, substantially funded by Walton In 1868, Walton purchased the even larger Dolforgan Hall near Kerry, Powys which covered . He was a significant benefactor of St. Michael's Church in Kerry,

Family Walton married Anne Kenworthy (died 1885). They had two sons, William and Frederick, and a daughter Anne.