Sir Titus Salt: Social Conscience to Capitalism Was His Advocacy

During Sir Titus Salt’s time, capitalism was known for being a ruthless system where workers were exploited by capitalists and lived in abject poverty. However, Sir Salt (20 September 1803 – 29 December 1876) was a unique capitalist because bringing a social conscience, as influenced by his Methodist faith, to capitalism was his advocacy.

He was a successful businessman whose model factory and village raised awareness about the role and responsibility of capitalists to improve worker conditions. He was, indeed, one of the earliest proponents of corporate social responsibility.

Sir Salt learned the wool trade when he was 17 years old, a decision that would serve him well when he became the leader of his family’s wool business. His business gamble of investing in Donskoi and Alpaca wool paid off when his business became one of Bradford’s most successful ventures.

When he became Bradford’s second mayor in 1848, the Yorkshire working class suffered from poor standards of living. He tried to resolve the situation starting with his workers when he opened a huge mill and its facilities in Saltaire, a town about 3 miles from Bradford and located in the cleaner Aire Valey. The facilities for his workers included 823 houses, shops and chapels as well as recreation facilities, parks and a school, all of which were designed with the improvement of living standards for workers in mind.

Such was the quality of the facilities that workers enjoyed unprecedented living standards for the 19th century. Aside from being a well-known philanthropist, Sir Salt was known for requiring his workers to attend Sunday mass and to abstain from gambling and drinking as part of their contracts.

While his family wool business disappeared just 16 years after his demise, his buildings including the mills were used well into the 20th century before falling into disuse. Sir Salt’s legacy continues with many capitalists exercising social conscience in their management policies.