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The Dover family

The Dover family were a family of textile manufacturers hosiers and weavers.
Joseph Dover was working in a textile mill near Keswick. On a visit to kendal he met Robert Foster of Hebblethwaite in Sedbergh. After this meeting Robert Foster decided Joseph Dover would make a great manager for his wool spinning Mill in Sedbergh.
Joseph was a good choice. He ran the complicated business efficiently. Some of his carefully kept business ledgers have survived from those early days at Hebblethwaite Mill along with his business letters.
Hebblethwaite Mill prepared the fleeces and spun the yarn, it was then sent out far and wide to be knitted and woven in people’s homes. The Dovers then collected the finished goods and sold them on.
One of the last letters in the Hebblethwaite Mill lodgers records an order for 3,000 knitted Kilmarnock caps at four shillings a dozen.

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The Dover Family ©Sedbergh History Society

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The Dover Family ©Sedbergh History Society

Joseph Dover prospered in Sedbergh. He married a local woman, Margaret, and had seven children. However, three of Joseph and Margaret’s children died of a fever two on the same day and one weeks later.

In his later years Joseph realised his ambition to own his mill by buying 9 acres of land for £490 on a bend of the River Clough. Joseph’s two eldest sons, John and James came into the business with him. Messers Joseph Dover and Sons, Woollen Manufacturers, became a force to be reckoned with in Sedbergh and beyond. Sadly Joseph died a year after the Mill was completed.

The Dover’s built 2 family homes, Farfield House and later Oakdene. Family life looked lovely in these idyllic settings as you can see from the photographs taken of Mrs Dover and her children.

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