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A 1936 plan showing Hulse's Mill. Les Appleyard Collection.
Early Ordnance Survey maps of Woodlesford show a building at the end of Alma Street between the railway and the canal marked as Oddy's Mill. It was owned by Joseph Crompton Oddie who was born in 1794, and who by all accounts was a popular farmer and businessman who gave anonymous handouts to the local poor. He also contributed £3000 to the construction of Woodlesford church. He died in 1874 without any close family. An obituary in The Rothwell Times described his funeral which was of "a most thorough and costly character." Henry Bentley was one of the pall bearers. "The poor of Woodlesford will keenly miss the liberal doles which the old gentleman frequently sent them; extremely careful and somewhat eccentric in his habits, he has left behind him a large amount of property," reported the Times. Victorian trade directories list Oddie as a paper manufacturer and the maps indicate he also traded in firewood and matches. Later the mill was taken over by Fred Hulse, a trained chemist, who developed a business which was known nationally through its adverts in newspapers and magazines. Probably his biggest selling and most widely known products were "Jet Glaze" and "Zulu Jet Black" which were used as an alternative to the black leading of coal fired kitchen ranges and ovens, a feature of most houses until the widespread adoption of gas and and electric appliances in the 1960s. Other products included "Shave Eze", "Blitz Moth Killer and "Zulu Chimney Cleaner". They were all packaged in small bottles or tins at affordable prices ranging from just a few old pennies to about three shillings for the larger quantities. After Fred Hulse died the factory was taken over but the business retained its original name, under the management of a Mr Dennison who lived in Green Lea. There were about 30 employees, most of whom lived locally in Oulton, Woodlesford or Methley. Raw materials were delivered to the site by the railway lorry operating from Woodlesford station which also took away the finished products, packed in cardboard boxes.
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