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Category Archives: Stafford
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Stafford Box Company
The Stafford Box Company still stands proud on the corner of Marston Road and Wogan Street. Although the company closed in 1997, the building has been converted into flats and apartments, and is an examplar for the successful conversion of … Continue reading
Posted in Associated industries, Stafford
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C.H. Riley & Son
The closure of C.H. Riley’s Albion Works factory on Marston Road in 1957 left Lotus Ltd. as the sole surviving boot and shoe manufacturer in Stafford. The company’s origins dated from 1864, when William Wycherley set up business as a … Continue reading
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Keats & Bexon Ltd.
John and William Keats set up a company manufacturing shoe making machinery on Gaol Road in the 1870s as Keats Bros. & Co. From about 1890 they were operating from the Albion Works on Marston Road. In 1904 the company … Continue reading
Posted in Associated industries, Stafford
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James Dyche Ltd.
James Dyche Ltd., later Cook & Dyche, were one of only five boot and shoe manufacturers to survive into the 1950s. They were typical of the smaller companies in the town, employing 58 people in 1939. James Dyche was born … Continue reading
Posted in Boot & shoe making companies, Stafford
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