The Life of Sir William Hartley

The removal to Aintree was determined not simply by the need for expansion but in order to secure connexion with the railway. The new works were opened in 1886, a large warehouse was built in 1891, a second in 1899-90, a third in 1923, while a fourth is now in process of construction. The factory is self-contained in every respect, and every trade that is necessary is represented in it such as coopers, joiners, box-makers. The jars are made at Melling or St. Helens. All the water needed is pumped by machinery. The factory has its own railway sidings with two locomotives which do all the shunting. In the busy season six trains come in during the day and two hundred waggons are handled. Mr. Hartley chartered his ships and had his own bonded ware houses. Two thousand boxes are often made in a day; the timber, sawn into the requisite sizes, is imported from Norway. Twenty-eight thousand boxes had been sent out during the week before my last visit. The works cover ten acres, and every part has been carefully planned for its own special function and its relation to the whole. It is interesting to record that one of the last additions which Sir William made was intended to facilitate the motor loading. A plot used as a garden was turned into a loading berth which has made the loading of the motors much more easy and convenient for the workers.

Before reference is made to the work carried on in the factory it will be well to complete what has been said about Aintree by reference to the London works. For a long time Mr. Hartley's trade was almost entirely restricted to the North and the Mid lands, and he did not seek to extend it into the South of England. But the demand came, partly through his growing fame, partly through the refusal of his devotees to be put off with anything but his products. It grew so much that the necessity had to be faced either of ampler accommodation at Aintree, or new premises in London or the neighborhood. The latter solution was adopted. The buildings covered two acres. There were 370 tan pits and a linoleum factory on the site. These had to be dealt with, and at a later period, before the war, a whole street of offices had to be pulled down. The factory was much larger than the London County Council allows any single building to be. To minimise the risk from fire no building is allowed to contain more than 250,000 cubic feet. Mr. Hartley's new works contained more than 1,500,000 cubic feet. They had accordingly to be built in several sections connected by passages, but guarded from the spread of fire by thick walls and fireproof doors. The factory was designed to produce over four hundred tons a week which, with the six hundred produced at Aintree, made a total of over a thousand tons a week. Storage was provided for from 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 jars. It was opened on June 25, 1901.