RAG AND MUNGO MANUFACTURING HAS BEEN PART OF OSSETT LIFE FOR MANY YEARS

With Edward Clay and Sons still based in the town, direct family descendant and Ossett man David Clay describes how his family came to Ossett.....

Some time towards the end of the 1700s a man called Abraham Clay moved into the Dewsbury and Ossett area from the region around Sowerby Bridge near Halifax. Abraham fathered a number of children, one of whom was called Isaac and during the early part of the 19th century Isaac became an established blacksmith and Inn keeper in Ossett.

The direct descendants of Abraham and Isaac Clay still live and work in the town today.

Isaac's son Jacob followed in his father's footsteps and became a master blacksmith. He married Mary Archer who's family owned the Cock and Bottle Inn. Together, Jacob and Mary Clay ran the Carpenter's Arms and Jacob practiced as a blacksmith on the premises. The Clays would doubtless have done very well in their establishments, but significantly by breaking the family run of biblical names they named their son Edward and it was Edward, the son of Jacob and Mary, who would take the family into a new era of success and prosperity. Edward Clay took over from his parents at the Carpenter's Arms but, like many other entrepreneurial minds at the time, decided to go into the burgeoning textile industry that was dominating the North of England.

In 1870 he founded his own business, Edward Clays in Ossett and later acquired the Wesley House estate on Wesley Street. The mill was housed in the adjacent farm buildings where it remains to this day. By 1890 Edward Clay had become one of Ossett's leading figures and became the first Mayor of the Borough. Residing at Wesley house, he was a rotund figure and a big achiever. He and his wife Sophia Lockwood had several children, many of whom did not live into adulthood. However, his surviving son, John Arthur Clay succeeded him as the proprietor of the family business.

John Clay was a very good looking man who personified the image of the Edwardian gentleman with his smart attire and flowing moustache. He married into the artistic Wilson family who were another established local dynasty and had produced Eli Marsden Wilson, a famous commercial artist. John Arthur Clay and his wife Annie Lois had one son who was named after his grandfather Edward. Had Europe remained at peace during the early 20th century Edward Wilson junior would have probably taken over the business seamlessly from his father.

But in 1914 the country was plunged into the First World War and the fortunes of the Clay family were about to take a turn for the worst.Young Edward, barely an adult, was sent to the War in Palestine where he became support ambulance driver Private Clay, attached to the Australian Light Horse Brigade. In 1918 bad news arrived at the front from Ossett. Edward's father John had contracted the deadly Spanish Influenza virus that was sweeping Europe at the time. Edward was summoned home from the War but his father died at the age of only 48.

Left with his aging grandfather to help him, Edward took over the business. Edward Clay senior died in the 1920s and over the next 30 years Edward Wilson ran the mill before bringing his own two sons, John and Antony into the business in the 1950s. Edward Wilson Clay was a humorous Ossett character who was fond of card tricks and collected beetles. He was also a virtuoso pianist. Continuing in the family tradition, John and Antony were succeeded after their deaths by their respective sons who are called......you guessed it, Edward and John.

The business, Edward Clay & Son is still successful and is still located on Wesley Street. The family home, Wesley House also still belongs to the family. Edward Clay & Son manufacture linings and filling for the bedding industry and also have a sideline in hanging basket linings. It is linked closely to the modern era of recycling and is in it's 138th year. A portrait of the original founder, Edward Clay was painted by another Ossett son, Mark Senior and hangs in Ossett Town Hall.

Photographs show : Edward Clay as the Mayor of Ossett (top left); A unique photograph of Jacob and Mary Clay (top right); John Clay with the first mill lorry (Bottom).

All photographs © David Clay. Anyone wishing to contact David Clay regarding his family history, then please send an email to info@ossettcivictrust.co.uk with your contact details and we will pass them to David.