George Artingstall and Company

Dates: from around 1844 until around 1908.

Location: Wilderspool Causeway, close to Warrington Bridge. The Latchford wire works backed onto a stone yard on the eastern bank of the River Mersey whilst the Arpley Bridge railway crossing was to the south.

Specialities: wire birdcages, wire conservatories, wire fencing, wire floors for kilns, wire for dressing machines (used in flour-making), wire corn screens, wire separators, machine wire, wire brushes, wire screens, wire animal traps (e.g. for rats, weasels, cats and even dogs).

Born in Worsley, Lancashire, in 1809 George Artingstall had moved to Warrington by the age of 35 where he founded the Latchford Wire Works on Wilderspool Causeway. There his business specialised in manufacturing wire brushes, animal traps, rabbit-proof wire fencing, bird cages, wire conservatories and the wire floors that were used for drying grain (they were also used in malt kilns and mash tuns).

George later entered into partnership with a miller called William Rawbonn Dell in order to develop a flour dressing machine. These machines used several grades of wire mesh or wire cloth to separate flour from bran. The partnership was short-lived, however, and by 1856 Dell had left to set up his own company in London.

By 1871 George was a Justice of the Peace (magistrate) for the County of Lancashire, living in Latchford and taking part in the magisterial proceedings at the Warrington County Police Court (an indication of the high esteem in which the owners of wire works were held in Warrington).

George died in 1882 at the age of 73 but his company carried on until around 1908 when it closed down and the machinery was dismantled and sold off.

This article was written for the Wire Works Project 2020-2021, a National Lottery Heritage funded project aiming to highlight and celebrate the legacy left by the wire industry, which dominated Warrington’s employment structure for over 170 years, putting the town at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.