Golden Hammer
- the company history
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At first glance the sight of ‘lists’ tends not to arouse the average person’s curiosity and certainly the discovery of a small selection stashed away amongst far more visually exiting documents, drawings and photos was not a particularly memorable moment in my research! However, they were dutifully copied to the computer and there they have remained taking up memory space.
Searching for material for another webpage I by chance came across one of these lists and I have reproduced it below for all to examine. I think it was the page entitled “Office Staff” that attracted my attention - after all it is unusual to see, at the top of the list, the Office Cleaner! - I know, a list has to begin with something on the top. Curiously it should be Adams, W.J. at the top - not Mrs Anderson, I might have skipped it had that been the case.
   Workforce 1950. |
Here we have a complete Nominal Roll of the Workforce of Garton & King on the 5th October 1950 - not only the names but in many cases what it was they were employed to do, even now sixty years on there will be names people will recognise and perhaps identify a family member. I was only five at the time and have never worked for G & K but familiar names are there - Jackson, Venn, Miss Bendle, Tarr, & Cavill.
Realising that there might be other Lists that are Jewels of Information I have included here a Timesheet for the Foundry Staff dated July 1928. Another gem I discovered was a list of employees who had enlisted into His Majesty’s Forces in the Great War, 1914.
 Timesheet 1928 |
 Men who enlisted - 1914 |
I also came across a list of Staff Members dated 4th May 1944, their addresses and their wartime duties, ie: Home Guard, Auxiliary Fire Service, Warden etc etc.
One item I discovered was unfortunately too feint to reproduce so it has been retyped exactly from the original “Letter from Palestine”.
 Workforce 1944 |
 Letter from Palestine 1918 |
   1900-09 & 1915-23 Staff, Skills and Addresses from Pay Records |
I occasionally get asked if I have any record of the names of employees that worked for the Company when the Foundry was located in Waterbeer Street and in fact there are ledgers existing relating to Wages paid to Foundry Staff for the period 1890 through, I believe, to 1939 when the Foundry relocated to the new Foundry in Tan Lane that opened in August 1939.
I have picked three lists, the first relates to the Foundry Staff existing the week ending the 19th December 1890. The second is for the week ending the 20th December1895 and the third for the week ending the 3rd August 1900. There is no indication of Christian names other than the occasional initial letter should there be more than one member of staff with the same surname. The ledger is completed by different clerks and the handwriting is often quite hard to decipher. Some of the spelling of surnames is questionable. Whether these lists are of use to anyone is hard to tell but it takes little effort to add this detail to this page so here they are.
| WEEK ENDING
19TH DECEMBER 1890 BOND BURNETT CARTER CHAMBERS CHARLES COURTENAY DARCH DREW ELDERBRAND GODSLAND HANNAFORD HAWKER HILL ISAACS JOHNS JONES H J JONES J KERSLAKE LAZARUS MADGE MARTIN MARTIN MELHUISH MINARD MITCHELL NEWCOMBE A NEWCOMBE E NEWCOMBE J NEWCOMBE R NEWCOMBE W NEWTON ALF NEWTON C IAN NEWTON C Son NICKS PEARSE PIERCE RICHARDS ROUSE SANDERCOCK SMEATH E SMEATH G SWANSTON TAPSON TUCKER VINNICOMBE WALDON WARREN WARRY WELSHMAN WEST WINSBOROUGH WINSOR WOOD WOLLACOTT WOTTON |
WEEK ENDING
20TH DECEMBER 1895 BLATCHFORD BUNKAM BURNETT CARTER CARYL DARCH DREW ENDICOTT GILL GOLSWORTHY HANNAFORD HAWKER KERSLAKE LANG LANGFORD LAZARUS LEWIS MADGE MARTIN MELHUISH MILLER E MILLER J MINARD MORTIMORE NEWCOMBE E NEWTON A PEIRCE PIERCE F PIKE PRESTON RATTENBURY RICE RICHARDS ROUSE SEWARD SMEATH E SMEATH G SMITH SNOW TAPSON TUCKER TUCKER VINNICOMBE WALDON WARE WARREN WELSHMAN WEST WINSBOROUGH WOLLACOTT WOOD WOOD WOTTON |
WEEK ENDING
3RD AUGUST 1900 BENNETT BROOKS BULLER BURNETT CAMBLE CAPE CARTER CORK CORNELIUS A CORNELIUS W CORNISH DARCH DREW DREW E HAWKER LEWIS MADGE MAYERS MELHUISH MINARD NEWCOMBE PIERCE POLLARD RATTENBURY H RATTENBURY W ROACH ROLESTONE SMEATH E STONE TAPSON WALDON WARE WEBBER WELSHMAN WOTTON |
Please note that these names have been copied from a handwritten ledger. The names might have been spelt phonetically and some names I may have misread.
Eg:- Minard = Maynard
Camble = Campbell
This image of the Wages Book is for the Pattern Shop, AGA Installers, Machine Shop & Smiths’ Shop Staff and dates from early 1949.
Top and bottom sections of a page from the 1949 Wages Book
We have shown below four columns from the Wages Books at approximately 10 year intervals. As time passed by the entry layouts changed and the lists were divided in various ways according to the area of operations within the foundry. The first two columns show Foundry Staff at the Waterbear Street Premises, the second two relate to the Foundry in Tan Lane that opened in 1939.
The last Wages Book takes us up only as far as January 1954 and is the far right column – Maybe you recognise a familiar name?
There are various permutations of entries – I am unsure of the distinction between ‘Productive’ and ‘Unproductive’ Staff – perhaps it applies to those who were paid Piecework and those that weren’t.
FOUNDRY WORKFORCE From Wages Books
| October 1924 Andrews Baker Beavis Bradford Cavill Clarke Clarke Jnr Davis Dingle Dommett Evans Hamell Jefferies Lemon Lockyear Mardles Ransome Reed Saunders Sheppard Skinner Stone Tuckett Venn Watts Wellington Yardley |
October 1934 Andrews Andrews S Bainborough Baker Bidgood Bradford Brown Caines Call Cavill F Cavill N Clift Commins Croft Darch Davey Davis Dawe Elliott Eveleigh Gibbons Hawkey Hitchcock Jackson A Jackson W Kellaway Lockyear Mardon Mathews Mercer Randall Saunders Spencer Spurrill Stannard Stannard Jnr Venn Wallace Williams Wren |
October 1944 Bolt Cann Chase Childs Clarke S Cleave Commins Dart Davey Downing Drew Dyke Gundry Gill Harris Hedgeland Hillman Jackson A Jackson W Jackson Jnr King Long Mardon Martin Mills Montandon Morris Needs Pinfold Robert Sheppard Slade Stannard W H Stannard J H Stocker Thorn Venn Vosper Welsh Wyke Fitting Shop Adams Bagwell Beer Chadwick Collett Edmonds Ford Gilsham Harris Hayman Heard Horn Horwill Murton Prout Richards Troke Wedlake Williams Pattern Shop Arnold Searle Priest AGA Baker Brown Harris M W |
m fu la f m f m m m la m f f whm f f f ap f ap f f ap la ap f ap pmkr pmkr ap |
January 1954 General Productive * Commins Murch Jun Stannard Drew P Martin Murch Senr Productive Black Brammer Carpanini G Drew D Fitzgerald Harris A J Kettell Lee A E Lockyear Lomas Mardon Melhuish Montandom Morrish Nickles Pinfold Raddenbury Reed Salter Scott Shervington Shute Spencer Tapp Unproductive Supervision Bye Hedgeland Pitts Sambell Westcott Unproductive Abday Carpanini J Greenaway Holmes Huxtable G R Luxton Mills O’Flynn Smith H F Stocker Warren Way Woolacott Fettlers Cockram Davey Johns Sheppard Sidley General Fettlers Roach Vickery Shearman Slade Lane Harris S Mellish Gilks |
| KEY f fitter ap apprentice m moulder pmkr patternmaker la labourer whm warehouseman fu furnaceman |
When it comes to the Office Staff we do have a ledger that shows not only those that were located at the new offices at Tan Lane but also includes Alec Holladay (who had recently been appointed a Director) and perhaps one or two others that were based at the new Showroom at Central Station Buildings. The Wages book covers the period Week Ending 29th August 1939 through to the week ending 16th December 1961.
It is impractical to list everyone who was employed by the Company in an administrative or clerical capacity during this period but I have selected four examples starting with the Week Ending August 29th 1939. This was probably the first Pay Week for those Staff now operating out of the Tan Lane Foundry Offices. In all four examples it includes the Directors and the amount they drew each week as well as the weekly salaries of the Office Staff. The Week Ending August 29th 1939 is reproduced in the first two columns of the Chart.
By the Pay Week commencing the Week Ending 7th August 1943 the Staff situation had changed somewhat and I have reproduce in the third and fourth Columns the names of the staff and their weekly drawings for that period.
| Week Ending 29/8/1939 Holladay, Hugo Holladay, Edgar Holladay, Henry E. Holladay, Alec H. Horwill, F (Chief Clerk) Randle, E Piper, A Sampson T.W.A Taylor Venn A. Wellington Acton, Miss Kemp Miss Rigg Taylor Mills, Major Car Expenses Wright, Captain Car Expenses |
£1.0.0. £2.0.0, £6.0.0. £2.0.0. £5.10.0. £2.0.0. £3.12.6. £2.10.0. £1.15.0. £1.12.6 £1.2.6. £3.10.0. £1.15.0. £1.15.0. £0.17.6. £5.0.0. £5.0.0. |
Week Ending 7/8/1943 Holladay, Hugo Holladay Henry E. Holladay Alec H. Horwill F. Piper A. Smith, Miss Acton, Miss White, Miss Whitty, Miss Willis, Miss Jackson A. Baker F. Wren F. Kenny F. |
£1.0.0. £7.10.0. £2.0.0. £6.5.0. £4.15.0. £1.10.0. £3.10.0. £3.10.0. £2.5.0. £1.0.0. £5.15.6. £5.0.0. £6.7.6. £2.0.0. |
We now move on to the Week Ending the 12th August 1950 and in the third and fourth columns the Week Ending 12th August 1961.
Compared with the 19th century the records are becoming more ‘humanised’ and the use of Staff Members’ Initials is far more commonplace whereas back then you had to have a close relative of the same surname to have any mention of your initial, and even then it was purely to avoid bureaucratic confusion!
| Week Ending 12/8/1950 Holladay, Henry E. Jackson A. Adams W.A. Taylor R.G. Herring D.C. Lampson T.W.A. Rowland P.K. Sleeman J.H. Brown P.J. Shell J.E.G. Saunders A.E. Edwards C.G. Cooke, Miss Jackson W. Rice R.L. Venn A.G. Priest E.G. Passmore A. Page, Miss Horwill F. Webber P.J.N. White, Miss E. Bendle, Miss Showroom Holladay. Alec H. Piper A. Loosemoore, Miss |
£7.10.0. £7.0.0. £8.10.0. £6.5.0. £5.15.0. £6.0.0. £4.2.0. £4.1.0. £5.7.0. £2.8.6. £8.0.0. £1.0.0. £4.5.0. £8.10.0. £7.10.0. £6.12.6. £5.15.0. £5.10.0. £4.0.0. £6.17.6. £4.17.6. £5.5.0. £4.0.0. £17.5.0. £6.10.0. £3.10.0. |
Week Ending 12/8/1961 Holladay, Henry E. Jackson A. Williamson A.S. Newton J.H. Jackson W. Venn A.G. Passmore S.H.L. Withers, Mrs C. Webber P.N.J. White, Miss E. Sampson T.W.A. Camble, Miss D. Turner, Miss A. Wood K.R. Muxlow, Mrs K. Baker H.W. Wilcock C. Kemp A. Kellaway A. Showroom Holladay, Alec H. Piper A. |
£ 9.0.0. £10.15.0. £17.10.0. £17.5.0. £15.7.6. £15.8.6. £12.8.6. £7.18.0. £12.16.0. £11.3.0. £12.16.0. £7.18.6. £2.10.0 £12.8.6. £4.3.6. £10.15.0. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- £17.5.0. £12.16.0. |
Just how much use all this information will be to readers I have not a clue – it is useful to remember however that any records that do exist, which are actually the property of the Holladay Family, are in the care of (but not property of) The South West Heritage Trust and the Reference for the whole collection is 2783B. Whilst they cannot be removed from the Heritage Centre they can all be viewed there during their Open Hours.
Go to the South West Heritage Centre Trust Website for more information:-
https://swheritage.org.uk/devon-archives/visit/devon-heritage-centre/
If you have any information, archive material, memories, photographs etc etc relating to Garton & King that you would be happy to share please go to the About Me page for my Contact Details.
See also:
Workforce at Leisure — Personalities
Tan Lane Foundry
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