Not what they appear to be!

Whether you call it Badge Engineering, White Labelling or Private Labelling, the practice of Garton & King Ltd and its predecessors producing a product such as a stove, a lamp standard, an inspection cover or a pavement channel (to name but a few possibilities) and allowing the purchaser, often as an incentive, to have their own name cast into the product has been around since Victorian times, maybe even earlier. On pages in the catalogues of those times there is indeed mention of this service as can be seen as in the image on the right.

Not only did the Company offer this service to selected customers, they also took advantage of this service as it was offered to them by other manufacturers – see the images of a Garden Roller on the Mixed Bag Page.

Over the years I have discovered many examples of this practice, sometimes on Stoves, occasionally on Lamp Standards but more frequently in Pavement Channels and Manhole / Inspection Covers. Some of the names on the items shown are very much part of the history of building development in Exeter and the surrounding towns and villages. Others are a little more obscure but hopefully viewers may recognise, or even be related to the businesses owners, usually builders, plumbers and ironmongers and contractors whose names appear on the castings.

Of course the displaying of names of undertakings that definitely did not operate an iron foundry does not mean the product was made by Garton & King Ltd or its predecessors, some of those shown may well have been produced by other Foundries and below is a collection of newspaper advertisements for some of the Exeter Foundries that may well have cast these products - but of course back in the late 19th century and into the 20th century Iron Foundries were commonplace, not only in Exeter but in Tiverton, Sidmouth, Exmouth and Buckfastleigh as well as further afield.

The images that follow are mainly displaying names of Exeter undertakings and are intended to provoke interest and perhaps even add to information relating to family and local history, and it seems a shame not to add them to this site. It is unlikely that I will add images in the future, the images shown here I have collected over many years. As sales ledgers do not exist it is impossible to say with 100% certainty that any of these items were definitely produced by Garton & King Ltd or its predecessors, but I’d guess at least a third were.

Click on images to enlarge, browse or start slideshow


School Street, Sidford F Algar & Sons, Ironmongers Waterbeer St, Exeter	St Thomas Exeter Baker Brothers of Exeter	Dunsford Hill area, Exeter W.T. Bawdon, Builder, Exeter

Exeter E. Blacking, Exeter	Exeter J.Blatchford, St Thomas, Exeter	Buckfastleigh Blight & Scoble, Builders Buckfastleigh / Ivybridge

Blackboy Road, Exeter Bradbeer & Sons, Contractors, Exeter	St Margaret’s School Site, Exeter W. Brealy, Builders, Exeter	Exeter The Devon Trading Co. Ltd, Exeter

Exeter Diggines, Bartholomew St. West, Exeter	Exeter Down & Baker, Sanitary Engineers, Exeter	Exeter Higher Cemetery Harris & Son, Clyst Hydon

Dawlish Hawkins & Best, Builders, Dawlish	St James, Exeter G. Herbert, Exeter	Topsham Hopewell & Co, Topsham

Exeter Hubber & Son, Plumbers, George St. Exeter	Exeter Huxham & Browns, Commercial Rd, Exeter	Topsham Kerslake & Son, St Thomas, Exeter

Exeter Knott & Horne, Builder?, St James, Exeter	St Margarets School site F.J. Lias & Son, Builders, Exeter	Exeter Martin & Sons, Builders, Exeter

Ashburton Newcombe & Co Ironmongers, Fore St, Exeter	Exeter Walter Otton, Ironmongers, Fore St. Exeter	Pennsylvnia Park, Exeter W H Oliver, Importers, St Thomas, Exeter

Waterloo Rd, Exeter W. Perkins & Co, Builders, Exeter	Chudleigh Pratt & Sons Ltd, Builders & Contractors, Clyst St Mary	Exeter J & W.J. Saunders Ltd, Brick Mnfrs, Howell Rd. Exeter

Rewe Churchyard Short & Sons, Builders, Silverton	University Chapel M T Sleeman & Sons, Contractors, Exeter	Toronto Road, Exeter C H Stile & Sons, Builders, Summerland St. Exeter

Dawlish South West Gas Board	Whipton, Exeter Wakeham & Tucker, Builders, Exeter	Streatham Drive, Exeter Wilson (Edward), Engineers, Exeter

Harcombe House, Chudleigh Woodman & Sons, Builders, Exeter	Exeter G Young, Builder?, Exeter	137 Cowick Street, Exeter W J Gosland & Son, Ironmongers, South St, Exeter

Alphington Church John Eddy, Kennford Iron Works, Kenn (name is on post)	Water Pump, Clyst St Lawrence Damerell, Ironmongers, Sidwell St, Exeter	Exbourne Church J Wippell & Co, Church Furniture, St Thomas, Exeter

Mol's Coffee House, Exeter Norman, Exeter. Trade Unknown

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January 2023