WEEK 42

Herbert Mollekin

My great uncle, Herbert Mollekin, was a prolific house/estate builder and below is a newspaper article regarding the completion of a new batch of houses in Maltby.

THE ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1926

NEW HOUSES FOR MALTBY.

ALD. E. DUNN CONGRATULATES CONTRACTOR ON FINE WORK.

WHEN HOUSES COST £135.

At a cost of £17,781 17s., thirty-six houses have been built by the Maltby Urban District Council, and they were officially handed over to the Council on Wednesday by Mr. H. Mollekin, the contractor.

Maltby Model Village

The Council have now completed 112 houses, 76 of which were commenced some years ago by the Rotherham Rural District Council, but which were completed by the Maltby Urban District Council. Twelve of the 36 new houses, which are built on either side of a new road called Rolleston Avenue, are of the “non-parlour” type. The architect was Mr. Morgan R. Jones, engineer and surveyor to the Maltby U.D.C. The keys of the houses will be handed over to the tenants on Monday.

After an inspection of the houses on Wednesday by members of the Council, headed by County Alderman E. Dunn, Councillor H. Shaw (vice-chairman of the Maltby U.D.C.), and Councillor H. Ross (chairman of the Housing Committee), a luncheon was provided by Mr. H. Mollekin at the Queen’s Hotel, Maltby.

Proposing the health of Mr. Mollekin, Ald. Dunn thanked him for providing the luncheon, and congratulated him on the erection of the very fine houses they had just inspected. He was sure that no member of the Council who had just inspected the houses could have any ground for complaint. He (Ald. Dunn) had seen many housing sites, and he thought he could claim to be a pioneer with regard to Maltby housing. He thought that the severing of Maltby from the Rotherham Rural District Council had been amply justified. He hoped that the tenants who were going to occupy the houses would be house proud and would take advantage of the land at the rear or the houses. He saw no reason why this housing site should not become one of the most picturesque of its kind in the country.

Mr. Mollekin had been responsible for the building of about 1500 houses in Maltby, and the miners in the district were very grateful to him for the splendid houses he had erected for them.

The vice-chairman of the Council (Mr. H. Shaw) endorsed all Ald. Dunn had said. The Maltby Council, he thought could fairly claim to have set a good example to many other local authorities.

Mr. Mollekin, replying, said he had been living in Maltby for 21 years. He recalled the time when big houses were built and sold for £135, and the contractor had to make the roads as well. Nowadays, the bricks alone cost that amount.

Speaking of the relations which should be maintained between employer and employee, Mr. Mollekin said, “If there is any distinction between employer and employee, we shall never get on well with labour in this country.”

He refused to believe that the British workman had altered since the Great War.