A tale of rags to riches - from Apprentice to Alderman of Nottingham

When we think about the Victorian age, the idea that someone could radically improve their fortunes and position in society isn't something that sounds very likely. Yet there are examples where a few people famously did just that - Thomas Hardy the son of a humble stone mason in Dorset and Luke Woodward, son of a blacksmith from the small village of Milford in Derbyshire.

Whilst being surrounded by fields and countryside, Milford wasn't exactly undeveloped. By the late 1700s it was home to Jedediah Strutt’s second water powered cotton mill, the first being his Belper factory, with similar textile mills springing up around the dale.  Luke and his father James must have decided that there were brighter prospects in working with the evolving textile technology in these new factories instead of pursuing the traditional family occupation of Blacksmith.

At the age of just fourteen Luke came to Nottingham in 1848 to be apprenticed as a Frame Smith with Moses Mellor’s company on Woolpack Lane in the Lace Market. Frame Smiths were the knitting machine engineers of their day - building and improving  looms that produced cloth and the famed Nottingham lace. Moses’ company invented the first successful powered circular hosiery knitting machine called ‘The Rotary’. Circular knitting machines produced a tube of material ready to be joined at the toes to make socks and woollen stockings. Invented by Reverend William Lee in Calverton during the 16th Century, this type of machine was still powered by hand until the mid 1800s. A water or steam powered circular machine meant production levels could be increased dramatically using fewer workers. Further improvements and refinements to ‘The Rotary’ were patented by Mellor's company over the following years.

By 1861 Luke was a fully qualified Frame Smith having completed his apprenticeship and was living with Arabella in a four roomed house on Willersley Street in the Meadows with the first two of their eventual fourteen children (sadly one son died during infancy). Their home was basic, it lacked running water and had a tiny yard - but however humble it was, they owned it rather than renting.  

Ten years later the growing family had moved to Mayfield Lodge on Mayfield Grove in the Meadows - roughly in the position of modern day Manifold Gardens.  This was a much more substantial dwelling with nine rooms, garden and farmhouse at the back.  Luke had by now been taken into partnership in Moses Mellor’s  business - the Woodwards were going up in the world!

Tragedy touched the family in 1879 when Arabella’s father committed suicide. The inquest jury returned the verdict that Moses Mellor took his own life whilst of unsound mind. Luke went into partnership with Moses’ son Henry Mellor until Henry’s untimely death in 1883 aged just 45, leaving Luke as sole Managing Director of the business. The company continued to employ hundreds of people and went from strength to strength under his leadership. 

By 1884 Luke had been a Liberal Councillor for the Bridge Ward in Nottingham Town Council (as it was then) for a number of years. He was involved in organising numerous Liberal party events and over the following years took an active role in the Council’s Health Committee and the Merchant and Traders’ Association, also becoming Deacon and Treasurer at the Queen’s Walk Congregational Church. Arabella was also involved with the Liberal party, being a member of the Ladies Liberal Association and supported numerous good causes including fundraising events such as ‘Lifeboat Saturday’. In 1892 Luke’s contribution to the council and civic life over many years was recognised by fellow councillors and he was elected by them to be an Alderman of the City.

Around this time the Woodward family moved into the home they designed themselves called ‘Stanley House’ at 275 Arkwright Street. This was the last house on the eastern side on the junction with London Road. It was a much grander house with stables, large yard, carriage house and carriage gates onto London Road which were used for the entrance and exit of Arabella’s Brougham coach, driven by a silk hatted coachman. 

It seems in spite of his now lofty position in the world, Luke never lost touch with his Derbyshire roots. His father and grandad were both born in the village of Stanley in Derbyshire - lending its name to his newly built home. He retained a love of the natural world and countryside, leasing six acres of land from the Council on the opposite side of Arkwright Street from their new house. Here lived moorhens, eels and kingfishers. Luke swore this small piece of wilderness would never be developed in his lifetime. 

Unfortunately in the 1890’s the Council took back ownership of this little oasis and part of ‘Woodward’s field’ was chosen by Nottingham Forest as the site of their Town Ground, hosting the 1895/96 FA Cup semi final between The Wednesdays and Bolton Wanderers, before Forest relocated to the City Ground in 1898.  

Sadly Luke’s beloved wife Arabella died on 25th April 1895 and Luke passed away nine years later on 4 November 1904.  By this time he owned numerous properties in West Bridgford and various workshops valued at around £40,000 - over £4 million in today’s money. Not bad for an apprentice lad from Derbyshire.

After Luke’s death the expansion of Nottingham was unstoppable and housing gradually spread over his field. Stanley House was replaced by The Globe Picture House which opened in 1914 and was demolished in turn in the early 1970s. After redevelopment of the whole area, all that remains to remind Nottingham of my two times great uncle, Alderman Luke Woodward is Woodward Street in the Meadows, lying at the far end of what was once his field.