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1769
Abimelech Hainsworth was born
1783 -
1783
Abimelech Hainsworth, ‘Old Bim’, started his clothiers (cloth merchant) business in Farsley Yorkshire, buying his cloth from cottage weavers in the area.
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1800
Abimelech had saved up enough money to buy 4 acres at the bottom of the village of Farsley and start his own cloth production.
Read More 1800 -
1807
Samuel Marsden who was from Farsley arrives back with the first bale of Wool from Australia. The wool was deemed to not of sufficient quality to be used by Hainsworth. Samuel took instruction from AW Hainsworth on the required specification and returned to Australia via Spain taking with him Merino sheep. When he returned to AW Hainsworth with his new Australian grown merino wool this was accepted and thus the Australian merino wool trade was born.
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1815
When the might of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard was bearing down on the British lines of Waterloo, the ‘thin scarlet line’ was scarlet thanks to Hainsworth fabric.
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1836
Abimelech died, his mill now employing half of the town of Farsley.
Read More 1836 -
1845
Abimelech William Hainsworth (young Bim) was born.
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1869
A new weaving shed was opened to house the first power looms.
Read More 1869 -
1882
A second mill, Temperance Mill, in Stanningley was purchased and by 1884 re-equipped with fifty five looms, scribblers, condensers and mules and stocks and milling machines for different finishes.
Read More 1882 -
1887
The partnership between Old Bim and John Snr was dissolved and the mills split between the partners. Young Bim moved full time to Temperance Mill.
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1889
Abimelech started weaving worsted fabric and to continue expansion he bought Spring Valley next door, which forms the main part of the mill today.
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1899
Saw the first orders for Khaki Serge developed specifically for the British military by the company in conjunction with Leeds University.
Read More 1899 -
1918
Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Flying Corps formed the RAF in the UK – distinctive blue uniform supplied by Hainsworth.
Read More 1918 -
1922
To ease the financial plight brought about the the depression, the two partners launched the firm as a limited liability partnership with a capital of £100,000.
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1939
War broke out and again with 91% of production assigned to Government departments.
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1953
Saw the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and Hainsworth were chosen to produce a special cloth in regimental colours to mark the occasion.
Read More 1953 -
1955
Disaster struck and three quarters of the entire mill was destroyed by fire.
Read More 1955 -
1958
Hainsworth bought William Lupton and Co from the Great Grandparents of Kate Middleton.
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1955-1980
AW Hainsworth purchased a number of companies, introducing a wide range of new products, from Piano felts to snooker baize.
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1968
The mill was hit by another disaster and suffered a major flood due to a violent storm
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1970
Hainsworth worked with Hazelgrove Superleague to develop the first English Pool cloth for a game that had been adapted from the American game of pool for English pubs.
Read More 1970 -
1975
The company took the decision to work with DuPont introducing the first protective Nomex® fabrics into the UK.
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1979
Hainsworth provide snooker cloth for the world championships watched by 18 million people.
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1980 – 1984
New machinery and technology was introduced to support the growing business and over £2 Million was invested.
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1981
Prince Charles wore Hainsworth cloth on his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer, as did the Guards in their scarlet tunics lining the Mall.
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1989
Hainsworth begin to sell snooker cloth to the Chinese market
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1989
Hainsworth invent Nomex Delta T with DuPont and worked with Bristol Uniform to create the modern day structural firefighting uniform.
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1990
Hainsworth launch the first ever printed cloth for pool.
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1992
Hainsworth bought the famous E J Riley snooker brand
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1992 – 1996
Hainsworth bought the famous E J Riley, Hazelgrove Superleague and Premier Pool to be the large cue sports table manufacturer in the UK.
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1997
Hainsworth invent REPEL+ technology to protect riot police in the UK from petrol bomb attack.
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1999
Hainsworth sells Riley Leisure Ltd.
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2000
Hainsworth develop & patent TI-technology™ for structural fire fighting garments to optimise protection against heat and flame.
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2001
Hainsworth launches Hainsworth® TITAN a fabric using TI-Technology.
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2002
Hainsworth launch Elite pro Worsted Cloth and Smart Woven Cloth for pool and snooker.
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2002
The company invested over £1 million in new textile machinery, research and development, and marketing.
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2003
Hainsworth won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation for TI-Technology™.
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2004
Hainsworth receive the Royal Warrant for providing furnishing fabrics to Her Majesty the Queen.
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2009
Hainsworth develop Natural Legacy woollen coffins.
Read More 2009 -
2009
Hainsworth launch Precision the worlds fastest woollen snooker cloth
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2010
Hainsworth purchase Northern Rubber the leading manufacturer of table rubbers
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2011
Royal Wedding, Princes William and Harry wore Hainsworth cloth. This was an event with double meaning for Hainsworth along with the connection to Kate Middleton through her Great Grandparents and William Lupton & Co.
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2011
Hainsworth launch Chinese brand Ying Fang Bau Zhi.
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2012
Hainsworth launch Scarlet and Argent
Read More 2012 -
2013
Hainsworth Launch TITAN 1260 a variance on the patented TITAN fabric with PBI fibres for the structural fire market.
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2014
Hainsworth become member of the Woolmark.
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2015
Hainsworth celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the battle of Waterloo with participation in the Unseen Waterloo exhibit at Somerset House.