GORDON HARVEY
Alexander Gordon Cummins Harvey, was the eldest son of Alexander Harvey and Amelia Cummins and was born on New Years Eve 1858. Gordon had three brothers and one sister. Their father was a rich man. The family had a large house where Gordon was educated private tutors surrounded by books, encouraging reading to become a lifetimes pleasure. At 15 years of age, Gordon wrote his first essay on his favourite subject; Land Reform, an unfulfilled passion that remained with him for life. He continued his education at Owens College, (later to become Manchester University), where he studied mathematics and dreamed of becoming a politician, via a career in journalism but this was not to be as he was taken out of college and given a year’s training in mill management before taking over the day to day running of Fothergill and Harvey’s Sladen Wood Mill in Summit. The mill was still relatively small, produced poor quality cloth with the workforce faced enduring the usual poor working conditions and the uncertainty of variable working hours and poor quality machinery/ the working conditions were anathema to Gordon. Sladen Wood Mill became the centre of Gordon’s life which began each morning 6.00 am. .
Gordon spent many years improving both the quality of the products and working conditions for his employees. He brought in new and better looms and expanded the mill He did spend time on the floor of the Cotton Exchange in Manchester and soon developed a formidable talent for forecasting price moves in textiles, and a similar expertise in the costing of contracts. His father’s reward for his hard work was a Mediterranean Cruise in 1878 when aged only 20.
Throughout his working life Gordon lived in Littleborough. Initially at Sladen Wood House which he later shared it with his brother Ernst and his family. They lived in a number of properties before settling in Town House which they extended to create two adjacent fine house linked with a communicating door for evening discussions.
Returning to the 1870s Gordon’s father purchased Backing Hole Shed which became the cornerstone of the low level Rock Nook Mills time. With his father’s support, built the mighty Rock Nook Tower Mill. Green Vale Mill was taken over in the 1890s and Rock Nook extended on a number of occasions during the By now Gordon and Ernst, his brother had developed Fothergill and Harvey into a company with modern mills producing good quality yarns which also operated with separate heated areas for employees to refresh themselves and dry their clothing, cleaner dust free air and excellent (for the time) other employee benfits.
Gordon was always the politician becoming a member of the Littleborough Local Board, later Lancashire County Council and of course an Member of Parliament 1906.
He fought for secular education and was behind the building of the last Board school, Central School in Littleborough. In many ways, his greatest triumph was the development of Khaki Cloth. Deeply saddened by the loss of life suffered by British Soldiers during the First Boar War, in conjunction with Gale and Grove Dyeworks he mastered the production of Khaki Cloth before the Second Boar War. Khaki Drill cloth became a major part of Fothergill and Harvey’s production both for home and export markets producing huge profits for the Company. Gordon, gave his share away to good causes.
Gordon remained a bachelor throughout his life devoting his time to the family’s business and his politics and his other activities. However, his health was ruined by the long hours he had put in on a daily basis and he died in his beloved Lake District in 1922
