Categories
Author Archives: shoead
Fowell & Jones, Rugeley
Fowell & Jones were manufacturers of cork socks (linings for shoes) and lambswool slippers in the 1920s and 1930s. They occupied the Forward Works in Rugeley, a former corn mill in Mill Lane. Among other products, they made ‘Baggaley’s Premier’ … Continue reading
Posted in Associated industries, Rugeley
Leave a comment
Stokes & Co., Tanners, Rugeley
Stokes & Co.’s origins lay with Stephen Stokes and John Negus, a Walsall tannery business founded in 1851. Stokes acquired John Cox’s tannery in Rugeley in 1865, which thereafter became the focus of the company’s leather production. However, the tannery’s … Continue reading
Posted in Associated industries, Rugeley
4 Comments
Edward Pinchess & Co. Ltd., boot and shoe manufacturers, Rugeley
Based in Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, Edward Pinchess & Co. Ltd. opened a branch factory in Mill Lane, Rugeley in 1945. Founded in the 1890s, the company’s Earl Shilton factory had been heavily hit by war-time requisitions of its premises and … Continue reading
Posted in Boot & shoe making companies, Rugeley
Leave a comment
Strikes and sewing machines
Before 1855, most shoemaking processes took place in people’s homes, with outworkers carrying out work in their own houses. Women and children would sew together the leather uppers, made from pieces of thin leather, while men would carry out the … Continue reading
Posted in Bostock, Stafford, Stone, Strike, Working life
Leave a comment
Heels Ltd
In about 1920 Heels Ltd. built their factory in Friars Terrace, Stafford, specialising in the manufacture of wooden heels for the boot and shoe trade. They became the largest manufacturer of heels in Britain, producing 400,000 dozen pairs a year … Continue reading
Posted in Associated industries, Stafford
Leave a comment
Mason & Marson
Frederick Marson was operating as a shoe manufacturer in Stafford in the 1870s. The company of Mason and Marson first appear in local directories in 1888, when they were operating as boot and shoe manufacturers at 74 Eastgate Street. The … Continue reading
Posted in Boot & shoe making companies, Stafford
2 Comments
Trade Unions
Early workers’ organisations Early trade societies in Stafford and Stone appear to have been friendly societies, which provided benefits for members and their families when they were sick or unemployed. There were a number of these organisations in the 1850s, … Continue reading
Posted in Stafford, Stone, Strike, Working life
1 Comment
Invogue Shoes of Stone
Invogue was the only shoe manufacturer apart from Lotus Ltd. to survive beyond the Second World War. By 1932 the company, which belonged to the Reinli family, had taken over Perry’s shoe factory which stood behind 59 High Street. Perry’s … Continue reading
Posted in Boot & shoe making companies, Stone
1 Comment
Richard Podmore & Son
Richard Podmore was born in Sandon in 1815, the son of an agricultural labourer. Richard was apprenticed to Edward Lloyd, shoemaker, in Stafford. The 1841 census records him as a shoemaker living in Union Buildings on Gaol Road. He is … Continue reading
Posted in Boot & shoe making companies, Stafford
Leave a comment
Edward Lloyd & Son
Edward Lloyd began his shoemaking business in Stafford in about 1828, and became one of the town’s most successful businesses in the later 19th century. He was born in Birmingham in 1803, and was making shoes in Stafford by 1823. … Continue reading
Posted in Boot & shoe making companies, Stafford
Leave a comment