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imbibed habits of industry which have
brought him suitable rewards.
His father, Henry Lydall, was born
October i, 1831, in Leicestershire, England,
son of James and Mary (West) Lydall.
He was very early acquainted with
the labors of the world, and had no educa-
tional opportunities at all until nine years
of age, when he began learning to read
in the Sunday school. His aptitude and
studiousness led his employer to see that
he received three months schooling in
each of two years during his apprenticeship.
At nine years of age he was
employed in the Darley Cotton Mills in
Derby, and two years later went to the
Derby Silk Mills, where he continued to
work until fourteen years of age. He
then began an apprenticeship to the trade
of needle-maker at Sheepshead, Eng-
land, for a period of seven years. At first
he received no compensation and his par-
ents were obliged to pay seven pounds for
his placement as an apprentice. After
working some time for his board, at last
he began to receive small wages. After
the completion of his apprenticeship, he
worked one year as a journeyman hra
distant relative, John Lydall, in making
needles. All of the work was then done
by hand. At twenty-two years of age,
Henry Lydall began making needles on
a small scale, and after one year went to
Nottingham, England, where he received
a salary of twenty-two shillings per week
making needles for the employees of a
knitting mill. Having saved his earnings,
he decided to embark for America
and sailed with his wife and two children
on September 5, 1855. After a voyage of
five weeks and three days they landed
at Castle Garden, New York, whence
they proceeded by boat to New Haven
and by railroad to New Britain, Connecticut,
where a brother, Isaac Lydall, was
then living. Here he began the manufac-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
277
ture of needles, using the attic of his
brother's house as a workship. His busi-
ness prospered and he soon removed to a
small building in his brother's garden.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he had
built up a business in New Britain which
required the employment of eight men
besides himself. The war then in progress
in this country engaged his sympathies
on the side of the Union, and he
turned over the management of his business
to a nephew, William Foulds, and
enlisted as a soldier of the Union Army,
August 6, 1862. He was assigned to
Company F, of the Fourteenth Connecticut
Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered
in the United States service at Hart-
ford. He served until the close of the
war, participating in twenty-eight important
battles, among which may be men-
tioned the battles of Antietam, Freder-
icksburg, Chancellorsville and GettyS"
burg. At the battle of Ream's Station,
August 25, 1864, he was taken prisoner,
but escaped in the following night and
again joined his comrades in the Union
Army. With the exception of three
months, when he was confined in a hos-
pital at Alexandria with fever, he continued
until the end of the war, and was
promoted on November 1, 1863, to the
rank of sergeant. Immediately follow-
ing the close of hostilities, he returned
to New Britain, and in the year 1865
removed to Manchester, Connecticut,
where he again engaged on a larger scale
than previously in the manufacture of
needles. He purchased a small plant
which had been fitted with machinery for
making needles, thus revolutionizing the
business, so that within a few years he
was able to produce as many as 50,000
needles per day. He continued this
industry until his death, though most of
the details of management were turned
over to his sons in later years. In 1883