John Rylands - Biography

Biography

Rylands was the third son of Joseph Rylands, a manufacturer of cotton goods, of St Helens, Lancashire, and his wife Elizabeth (née Pilkington). He was educated at the St Helens Grammar School. His aptitude for trade quickly became obvious and manifested itself early and, before the age of eighteen, he entered into partnership with his elder brothers Joseph and Richard. Their father joined them in 1819, when the firm of Rylands & Sons was established, the seat of operations being established in Wigan. Their manufactures for some years consisted of ginghams, checks, ticks, dowlases, calicoes, and linens. John, the youngest partner, occupied himself with travelling over several counties for orders until 1823, when he opened a warehouse for the firm in Manchester. Business increased rapidly, and in the course of a few years extensive properties at Wigan, along with dye works and bleach works, were purchased. Valuable seams of coal were afterwards discovered under these properties, and proved a great source of wealth to the purchasers.

In 1825 the firm became merchants as well as manufacturers, and about the same time they erected a new spinning mill. The Ainsworth mills, near Bolton, and other factories were subsequently acquired. The brothers Joseph and Richard retired around 1839 and the death of their father in July 1847 made John Rylands sole proprietor. The business continued to expand and in 1849 a warehouse was opened in Wood Street, London. A great fire occurred at the Manchester warehouse in 1854 but the loss, although very large, was speedily repaired. By 1864 the warehouses were seven storeys high and extended all the way along New High Street (now High Street) in Manchester: "they had become the summit of the firm's hierarchical organization, the seat of its central power and the goal of all ambitious employees" (D. A. Farnie, in "John Rylands of Manchester", 1973). In 1873 Rylands converted his business into a limited company but he retained sole management of it. The extra capital from this move led to the purchase of more mills and the company entered into fresh business in many quarters of the globe. The firm, which had a capital of £2 million, became the largest textile manufacturing concern in the UK. His business made him Manchester's first multi-millionaire. He employed 15,000 people in his 17 mills and factories, which produced 35 long tons (39 short tons) of cloth a day.

From 1857, John Rylands lived at Longford Hall, in Stretford, an Italianate mansion he built on the site of an earlier house.

He was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Curriers.