Bench Wells 6

Harold

“Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is so wonderful to see so many of you here tonight. I know that some of you do not have the acquaintance of the others, so I thought we could start the evening
off by going around the circle and each of us in turn can say who we are, and what we hope to get out of the meeting tonight. I will start. As you no doubt know, I am Harold Warrington, and I am the
manager of Thomas Agnew and Sons, Export Art Dealer of 14 Exchange Street in Manchester. I am not here to try to sell you the fine bronzes, Parisian figures or fancy cabinets that we have in our shop, but to interest you in investing in property. My aim is that we get together a company which will represent the interests of the people of this section of Ludworth, from the Lane Ends pub to the last house in the road, which I think to be Bench Wells, in order to purchase the property as a group from Lord Howard of Glossop, who has indicated to me, through his man of business, Charles Arthur Abraham, his interest in selling this property. Now I will defer to the gentleman on my left.”

“Good evening. My name is John Cochrane and I am the manager of the Calico Print Works in Compstall Bridge. For those who don’t know it well, it is the main employer in this area, with hundreds of local women and men working for me, and where we produce thousands of tons of fine fabric each year. My interest in this meeting is curiosity as much as anything. As you may or may not know, things are not going well with the calico industry at the moment, and I have had to put
most of my workers down to four days a week. I cannot see myself possibly becoming involved. But I shall listen with interest.”

“I suppose that I am next. I am Fred Hodges, and I am here to help my friend, sitting next to me in any way I can. I am not interested personally in acquiring property or investing in this group.”

“Excuse me young man,” broke in Mr. Joel Wainwright, “but I wonder if you are related to Samuel Hodges. I knew him well, a new and prosperous era was entered upon, when Messrs. S. Hodges & Co. became owners of the Strines factory, which has been carried on by the families of Messrs. Carver & Hodges ever since, and through whose influence and example the material, religious and social character of the area has been advanced.”

“Sorry, no,” said Fred, looking very embarrassed. “My father was a stone mason like me and he is long since dead.”

“My name is Helen Morrison. I currently live at Bench Wells, but I have lived in these parts all my life. My husband, Benjamin, who died several years ago, left me with sufficient funds and I am seriously considering buying my property, if I am convinced by this meeting tonight that it is a wise investment.”

“I am Robert Taylor and I deal in money. My purpose at this meeting tonight, is to offer to lend money to those people who might like to buy their property, but might not have sufficient funds to do so. I charge a reasonable rate of interest, and am known for being fair and honest. This young man next to me is my son and clerk, also called Robert.”

“I suppose my father has said it all. But I might add that I am studying finance at the Glossop Evening Institute and know that it is reckoned that property is the thing to invest your money in at the moment.”

“I’m Joel Wainwright, and I was invited here because I am an accountant by trade, and was manager of the Strines Mill until I retired. I now spend my time writing books. Some of you might have
copies of my book called Memories of Marple. I am also doing some research at the moment about Morris Dancing in the Manchester area and have been asked to write up my findings for the Notes and Queries section of the Journal, Manchester City News, which will be printed some time in the autumn. The article is called On Morris and Rush Carts. As far as this meeting goes, I am willing to
offer my services if you so wish, but I have no interest in investing my money in your project. I do own my own home, Finchwood on Glossop Road. I expect most of you know it.”

“I am Mary Elizabeth Hayes and am Harold’s mother-in-law. My poor late husband, whose anniversary was just last month, left me a wealthy woman, and I am happy to support Harold and my beloved Louisa in any way I can.”

“I am Louisa Warrington, Harold’s wife, and I welcome you all to our home. I, of course, support my husband in all his enterprises.”

“My name is Jack Salt and I farm at Stirrup. I am certainly interested in owning my own land, and do not want anyone else to have control over it, if, as it seems, that Lord Howard is no longer able
or willing to do so. But I have not made up my mind if this meeting is the way I will go. I have had words with Mr. John Moult of Lower Cliffe, Mellor, who some of you will know is an Estate Agent and
Surveyor. He assures me that he would willingly undertake negotiations with Lord Howard for me, or any or us, if we decide that might be a better way. I am not saying that I have decided to go with
him - only that I am interested to see how this meeting goes tonight.”

“I am Squire Higgenbottom, and I too farm off this road - at Low Hey. I like the idea of us owning our own land, and we will see what you have to say, and what is actually involved.”

“Well, that makes up our little group tonight. I have had apologies from the following: James Ardern, Percy Woodhouse, Henry Almond and Alexander Simcock, but they wish to be informed of the outcome of this meeting, and may well decide to join us in our undertaking.

“I have produced a map of the properties that I am considering for purchase for this area. You will note that Ivy Cottage at the top of the road is not included. I have also decided to exclude the four
properties on Lane Ends and those attached to the Travellers' Call pub. This is partly because Mr. Sayer who owns one of the pubs is very much against the plan, but also, I think it is better if we deal
in residential property only - not commercial property. There are 13 properties in all - six of them farms, and six of them terraced or semi-detached properties and one a detached property which is now used as a pub but wasn’t not long ago and from what I heard, might well not be again. For those properties, four of us here tonight have suggested that they might be willing to buy their own, and I might add, that I hoped that number would be much higher. I do think we will have a greater advantage if we act as a group. However, there is no way I can force anyone who has no interest in the project to take part. I will say, that having had discussions with several of my colleagues and friends, I do hope that we as a group will be in a position to buy most if not all of the properties that I have indicated. Many will not buy the property for their own use, but as an investment, and I will act as an agent on their behalf, if we do go ahead with our scheme.

“Now let me pass this sheet around amongst you. I have also indicated next to each property, how many rooms it has, whether it is detached, semi-detached or terraced and what I would expect, having done considerable research into this, what I think we can buy each of these houses for. You will see the grand total for the 13 properties is £6,300. I am confident that we can get those properties for £5,000 by negotiating the deal from the position of a company. One of my reasons for calling you here tonight, is to ask if you would be willing to put your names, and a certain sum of money, as an assurance of your interest into this company, and then we can proceed with the undertaking.

“Now, while you are thinking this through and looking through the documents, I will ask Belinda and Alice to serve you tea and cakes. And then any comments or questions can be put to me or to any of these other gentlemen. How does that suit you? Good.”

I indicated to the maids that they should bring through the cakes and cups of tea. I felt the atmosphere of the group largely positive, but I am not sure about what that upstart Salt said about his friend the estate agent. I wonder if he got any costings out of him.

***

“I’m sure that we have had sufficient time to discuss and view the details that I have circulated. First, I will ask if there are any questions, and then I will proceed to put forward my suggestions
for moving this association of ours forward. Now, I am open for questions, please, gentlemen. Sorry, and ladies, of course.”

“You have valued our farm property not very much above the ordinary dwelling houses. Surely, our land must count for something more,” said Mr. Salt.

“Well, as I thought I made plain at our last meeting, Lord Howard is not prepared to sell the land. He will retain the land himself and charge us a proportional amount of ground rent, with each of us
having a 99 year lease. The amount that each will pay will depend on the size of the property, so those of you with large farms will pay him a greater amount. The values I estimated for your houses was for the actual dwelling place, and as farm houses tend to be bigger than normal houses, the amounts for the farms is proportionately larger.”

“You say, you think you can get a better deal than what is listed here. So you suggest £500 for my property on Low Hey farm,” said Squire Higginbottom, “but you really think the more realistic value
will be a quarter less - so effectively, £400 for my house. Is that correct?”

“Well, I cannot be specific as I am only going by what has happened in other purchases made by Lord Howard in others of his properties in Sheffield and Scotland, but, yes, I think you could assume that, but that figure might go up or down somewhat.”

“If I buy my half of Bench Wells,” started the fair Mrs. Morrison, (I must remember to compliment her on her dress later. She looks ravishing. But I must concentrate on what she is saying.) “who
will buy the other half? I know that the current owners don’t feel that they can afford it, but I am not sure that I would feel happy knowing it was owned by someone else I didn’t know and perhaps
didn’t like.”

“Surely the easiest way of solving that problem, Mrs. Morrison, would be for you to buy the whole property yourself. You would then be your neighbour’s landlord, or landlady, I suppose I should say,
and as you are such good friends, I’m sure that arrangement would work very well.”

“And might I interject here,” said Mr. Taylor, “that I am willing to loan the extra sum of money needed for you to do just that, as I knew your husband, and would be willing to risk my money as an investment on your behalf.”

He is such a slippery character. He obviously has his eyes set on the rich widow too.

“And I should have mentioned that with the generous help of my mother-in-law, Mrs. Hayes, and with the extra help of my friend Mr. Taylor, I intend to buy all of the houses on Stanley Terrace.”

“So that leaves Whitebottom, Woodheys and Rock Tavern assuming that Mr. Salt might buy both halves of the Stirrup, and Mr. Higgenbottom, buy both halves of Low Hey.”

“I haven’t said I would do that,” said Mr. Salt. “I certainly am not committing myself to anything without seeing if Mr. Moult can come up with a better offer.”

“Fair enough, Mr. Salt,” I said. “We are happy to have you consult with Mr. Moult and if you come up with a better offer from him, we will write you out of the equation for our company. My question for the rest of you is, are you now willing to put your name in writing to the company, and pledge £50 on account for us to have as working capital for our adventure?”

There was a buzz around the room, and various friends conferred.

“I will pledge my money,” said Helen, and I was so pleased with that.

“I am in too,” said Mr. Higgenbottom.

“I will put £50 in as an investment,” said Mr. Cochrane, which really surprised me as he had commented earlier on how badly the mills were doing.

“And I will too,” said Mr. Taylor.

“As I said before,” said Mr. Wainwright, “I am not investing in your company. But from what I have heard so far tonight, I think it sounds like a very good investment.”

“Well, I know my friends, Messieurs Almond, Woodhouse and Simcock intend to put their £50 towards the company, so I think that makes it official. If you care to join us at a later date, Mr. Salt, you will be welcome. And so I think that more or less calls to an end our meeting for tonight. I have made a draft agreement, which those of you who are coming on board the company should sign before you leave, and if you could find the £50 for me in cheque or cash by next week, I would be most grateful. I will get on to Lord Howard’s man of business, Mr. Andrew, straight away, and tell him that we are interested in purchasing 11 properties in this area, and possibly another two, depending on your decision, Mr. Salt. Thank you all for coming tonight, and I will be in touch with you when I hear back from Lord Howard.”

And so they all left. I was pleased that Fred had not managed to influence Helen in regards to the purchase. I was sure that he was arguing with her against it during tea time, but she was determined
to get her own way, and no matter what he said, I am sure she would have been with me. What a woman!