Where were the flax mills in Selby?

Question

Robert John Foster was a Master Thread Spinner [married to Ellen Gertrude Foster (née Gorrill)]. He later owned a flax mill in Selby and employed 100+ people. The mill went bust just before the first world war. Where was the mill, what was it called, and are there any surviving records of his business?

Answer 1

G'day Archivist47,

Thanks for your question.

There was a flax experimental station around that time with record kept at the University of Leeds.

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/handlists/111MS448Jackson.pdf#search=%22Selby%20flax%20mills%22

Selby Today ran a story in June about a procession 100 years ago.

The procession illustrated is that of the 'United' Sunday Schools from the three non-conformist Chapels. Let the Selby Times Continue: "They met at their respective Chapels, and proceeded to the Market-place, where they sang some hymns conducted by Mr J.C Pike, with Mr W.A Hoggard presiding at the harmonium. Then in a procession led by the Selby Town Band, and with each school displaying its distinctive banner, they moved along the Crescent, New-Street, Ousegate, Water-Lane and Wide-Street, where several hymns were sung. They then had tea in their various schoolrooms and thence to the Flax Mill fields for games and amusements."
From that information, the setting is either the Market-place, or Wide-Street (note the way they wrote the street names then) – which do you think it was? "

There are probably more records in libraries in the Yorkshire area.

I have attached some references for you and I hope that you can find other records.

Regards

Answer 2

Hey archivist_47,

There are tons of web sites and paths to follow to look them up in the UK. I typed in Robert John Foster on the ancestry.uk site and found more information about him than I could weed through for you, the problem is it has to be paid for.

If you want to know about the mill, best you find out about Robert and Ellen. This should give some more clues.