Titus Salt

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Sir Titus Salt (20 September 1803 - 29 December 1876), born in Morley, was a manufacturer and benefactor in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. His father Daniel Salt was a fairly successful businessman and was able to send Titus to Heath Grammar School in nearby Halifax.

He attended Batley Grammar School before starting work as a Woolstapler in Wakefield and after two years joined his father's family business in Bradford in 1824. In 1833 he took over the running of the business and within twenty years had expanded it to be the largest employer in Bradford. In 1848 Titus Salt became mayor of Bradford. The smoke and pollution emanating from local mills in Bradford was acknowledged to come from the many factory chimneys and Salt tried unsuccessfully to get this pollution cleaned up using a device called the Rodda Smoke Burner.

He was the first to manufacture alpaca fabrics in England. In 1853, he established a model village for factory workers at Saltaire, three miles from Bradford, in the Aire valley. He also built his largest mill, which was fitted with a Rodda Smoke Burner, in Saltaire. Sir Titus was also said to be Tee-Total (the inspiration for the name of the bar "Don't tell Titus" that exists in Saltaire today) however it seems that his aversion was not to alcohol as such but rather to pubs which, being places where men met, could be places of political subversion, which he feared. He put workers of different 'ranks' in the same street so one could keep an eye on the other. He also built 'watch-towers' into his houses and factory so 'his people' could be kept an eye on. This was to compensate for police, who were not allowed in the village.

Salt was a benefactor to the Congregational Church. The entry on Saltaire discusses the extent to which he was motivated by religion.

He also was a Liberal Member of Parliament. His funeral was reputedly attended by 100,000 people.