Friday (18 March) will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Isaac Edward Jackson, who, together with his wife Harriet, played an instrumental role in the development of Glossop. 

To mark the anniversary, several of Isaac and Harriet’s Glossop-born great-grandchildren, together with their own grandchildren, will meet at the graveside of Isaac and Harriet for a few minutes prayer and reflection before visiting All Saints Church nearby.  

They will also visit the site of the recently demolished Hawkshead Mills, Jacksons Buildings, Holly Mount and Glossop Town Hall, all locations where the couple’s influence was felt. 

E Paul Beckmann, their great grandson, has been able to tell us more about the couple who helped shape Glossop. 

He said Isaac was a saddler and, with his wife Harriet, ran a small business. A skilled inventor, Isaac began to experiment with mechanical belt fasteners.  

At the time, most of the drive belts for the machinery in cotton mills across the borough were made of leather or heavy fabric and the joints had to be sewn together in situ, causing lengthy delays to the machines, very many of which would be powered by the same drive shaft. 

After years of work, Isaac finally perfected a very successful working solution and the Isaac Jackson belt fastener was born, and its use widened to other machinery such as conveyor belts.  

Isaac Jackson 

The couple launched company Isaac Jackson and Sons Ltd and the profits used to expand, and Jacksons Buildings was commissioned at the lower end of Victoria Street. 

They moved to Holly Mount, the property standing in the angle between Ellison Street and Norfolk Street, and extended the property to the rear to accommodate the increasing number of manufacturing staff.  

By 1905 they realised that further space was needed and bought Hawkshead Mills in Old Glossop - a then largely derelict former cotton mill which became an extremely busy factory producing belt fasteners as well as nuts and bolts. 

The workforce was well regarded with a number of highly skilled engineers among them. 

When WWI came, there was a high demand for the Hawkshead products, but Isaac also took on work for the Ministry of Munitions.  

Isaac’s efforts to accelerate production of munitions focused at first on the Type 106 artillery fuse. He saw that if he could ‘cold forge’ the detonator pin rather than cast the pin in molten steel, he could produce the pins far faster.  

As part of these efforts, he built furnaces at Glossop Gas Works (Arundel Street) and his success saw the detonator produced in vast quantities. Isaac went on to produce more munitions, and other specialised components.  

FAMILY TIME: Harriet Jackson with Lizzy, Frances, Herbert and James.

Making substantial profits, Isaac and Harriet did not want to appear as profiteers so began to make a number of charitable gifts to the people of Glossop. 

In 1917, Isaac bought seed potatoes for the whole Glossop population to help them through the wartime rationing. 

In 1918, he bought a motorised ambulance for the local hospital (Shire Hill). 

The couple also decided to provide a new chancel for the Church of All Saints, Old Glossop, although this was not completed until after Isaac’s death.  

In 1919, Isaac bought the town hall and market rights from Lord Howard as a gift to the people of Glossop, dedicating it to the memory of those who died in the war. 

Finally, he and Harriet set up ‘The Isaac Jackson Trust’ for the benefit of the people of Glossop. 

Isaac was made a Freeman of the Borough of Glossop in December 1920 in recognition of his work and his gifts to the town.  

Harriet survived Isaac by several years and took over the post of managing director at Hawkshead following the 1918 passing of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote. 

At the age of 65, Harriet still ran the firm, as she had very effectively done previously and which she continued to do for some years. 

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