W.D. Houghton and Company
Dates: 1820
Location: Sankey Wire Mills
Specialities: steel wire, rope wires for ships hawsers, piano wire, chain wire, spring wire for bicycle saddles, cycle spoke wire, brass and steel pinion wire (for clocks and watches), cast wire for twist drills and mild cast steel wires
Founded by William Houghton of Warrington in 1820, the company later passed to his son W.D. Houghton. Houghtons were known for the quality of their work, winning prize medals in America (1853) London (1862), Lyons (1872), Philadelphia (1876) and Leeds (1890). They were the first to produce patented steel wire at Dallam in 1854, later entering into partnership with William and James Smith of Birmingham under the name Smith and Houghton.
Wire Drawers and other workers at Houghton’s wire works, circa 1900
The founder W.D. Houghton retired in 1873 and his partner William Smith was joined by his son James J. Smith who dissolved the partnership and set up on their own as William Smith and Sons. The former Houghton site was later taken over by the Warrington Wire Iron Company (formed to supply Rylands Brothers with iron) and became their Dallam Works.
Houghton wire workers, circa 1900
Following the split Houghtons went from strength to strength, temporarily relocating to Friars Green before moving into a newly completed factory, Sankey Wire Mills in 1878. There W.D. Houghton amalgamated with James Houghton & Son who had manufactured pinion wire for clocks and watches at Prescot since 1780.
W.D. Houghton’s Sankey Wire Mills
The company’s patent and plough steel wire ropes began to bear the name “Bull Brand” which was in such demand in Britain and Europe that the works was largely given over to its production from around 1894. An additional plant was added in 1907 for the manufacture of “bright steel bars”.
During the First World War Houghtons were given over to war work for the British and French governments including high tensile wire for minesweepers, nose-caps for artillery shells, fuses and grenade rods.
In 1926 the company were taken over by the Steel Wire Company Limited of Cleckheaton, Doncaster and Retford and later became part of British Ropes Limited.
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.
