Edward Akroyd

Akroyd was well read and concerned about the fortunes of Halifax and the terrible social conditions that grew out of the Industrial Revolution.He funded and supported a local allotment society and many institutions for the working classes, a school for child labourers, a workers' pension scheme, several churches (he was a staunch Anglican) and a cemetery.Edward Akroyd became a Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th Yorkshire West Riding (Halifax) Rifle Volunteers in 1861, and served as a member of Parliament.They felt his problems as keenly as their own when some of his overseas investments failed and he suffered great financial loss.After this, his failing health caused him to leave Halifax for a secluded life at St Leonards-on-Sea, attended by only one manservant, and it was there that he died in 1887.
Edward Akroyd bt Henry Hering
Statue of Edward Akroyd at All Souls Church , Haley Hill
All Souls Churchtextile manufacturingworstedHalifaxCopleymansionBankfieldIndustrial RevolutionAnglicanYorkshire Penny BankHalifax Building Societymodel villageAkroydon4th Yorkshire West Riding (Halifax) Rifle VolunteersParliamentSt Leonards-on-SeaAll Souls' ChurchWakefield CathedralSt Stephen's Copleyblue plaqueInternet ArchiveHansardNational Portrait Gallery, LondonParliament of the United KingdomSir James StansfeldCharles WoodMember of ParliamentJohn Crossley