by Nathanael Hodge, Mills Archive, UK
This drawing is a design for offices and warehouse at Clarence Mills, Hull, one of the first large roller flour mills in Britain and the beginnings of Joseph Rank’s milling empire.
Born in the cottage next to his father’s windmill in Hull in 1854, Joseph Rank would go on to find the firm of Joseph Rank Ltd, owning large mills throughout the UK. He began his milling career running the windmill which he inherited from his father, but he was quick to see the potential of the new roller milling technology over the traditional millstone. In 1883 he visited a newly built roller mill, writing:
“I saw at once there the great advantage to be gained by grinding with steel rollers in preference to millstones. Although at that time the mill was not automatic, and they had to move the products about in sacks, the flour was in every way better. I came back fully convinced that I ought to have a roller mill, and I tried all I could to persuade Mr. West to put a roller plant in his mill, but he would not do so, and unfortunately, I had not quite enough money to do it myself. However, I found my trade had begun to increase, and in 1885 I built and started a small roller mill of six sacks an hour capacity.”
This first mill was the Alexandra Mill in Williamson Street, Hull. It was followed by the larger Clarence Mills, designed by architect Alfred Gelder, a neighbour and friend of Joseph Rank. It was the first of many large Rank mills, mostly constructed in ports around the country.
Joseph Rank was known for treating his workers well, and also for his no-nonsense approach, apparently once telling Gelder not to put the ‘twiddly bits’ on the top of mill buildings, as they were of no use to the mill and only served to boost the reputation of the architect!
Clarence Mills was destroyed by fire during the Second World War and Joseph Rank died a few years later, never living to see its reconstruction. The new mill was completed in the 1950s and finally demolished in 2015.
The firm of Gelder and Kitchen went on to design many mills throughout the 20th century, finally closing in 2016. The liquidation of the firm left thousands of files sitting unwanted in the old wine cellars below Maister House, a National Trust property in Hull, all destined for the skip. Fortunately for milling history, the Mills Archive was informed and Mildred and myself spent several days in the dark, damp basements with 5ft 6in ceilings, hunting through thousands of files to find those of milling relevance. Over 600 files were found and sent back to Reading for further sorting, weeding, cleaning and repackaging. The drawings of the original Clarence Mills were the oldest in the collection.
Published in the January 2024 issue of Milling and Grain.
