Joseph Talbot was born in 1823, and died in 1905. As a young man, he began business in the rag trade, and often visited London for the purpose of buying rags. During one of these visits he saw the Duke of Wellington's funeral, which was one of the great pageants of the 19th century. Mr Talbot was one of the partners who founded the Toad Pipe Mills (now Anchor Mill) at Batley; he was a shareholder in the Dewsbury and Batley Gas Company; and he was associated with the company that built the original part of the Batley Town Hall, afterwards purchased by the corporation.
