Joshua Fielden

Who was Joshua Fielden?

Joshua Fielden was a British cotton manufacturer and Conservative politician.

Fielden was the son of the Radical politician John Fielden of Todmorden, and his first wife, Anne Grindrod of Rochdale. He was born in Todmorden, and after education at a Unitarian school in Switzerland, returned to England to work in the family textile firm, Fielden Brothers. He became a partner in the firm in 1852. The business was very successful and profitable, and the Fielden family dominated public life in Todmorden, controlling the town's local board and paying for the building of the town hall.

Joshua differed from his father politically, becoming a Conservative, although he defended John Fielden's Ten Hours Act and sought improvements in working conditions in the cotton mills. He was an opponent of the New Poor Law, and attempted to prevent the erection of a workhouse in Todmorden. Together with his older brother Samuel, Joshua was a strong Unitarian, and they helped to sustain the denomination in northern England by the paying of salaries to ministers. In 1865 Joshua provided funds for the building of Todmorden Unitarian Church. He was a justice of the peace for Lancashire and Yorkshire.