Chance Bros. Limited

Chance Brothers Limited was at one time a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glass making technology. The company continues to function today as Chance Glass Limited, a specialized industrial glass manufacturer in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Robert Lucas Chance established the company in Smethwick, West Midlands, in 1824. In1832 William Chance joined his brother in partnership and the company became Chance Bros. & Co. The firm was among the earliest glass works to carry out the cylinder process in Europe and in 1837 it made the first British cylinder blown sheet glass. The company adopted the cylinder method to produce sheet glass, and became the largest British manufacturer of window and plate glass, and optical glasses.

Chance Brothers' projects included the glazing of the original Crystal Palace to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the Houses of Parliament, (built 1840 – 1860). At that time it was the only firm that was able to make the opal glass for the four faces of the Westminster Clock Tower which housed the famous bell, Big Ben. Other projects included stained glass windows, ornamental lamp shades, microscope glass slides, painted glassware and glass tubing. In 1889 the business was formed into a public company and became Chance Brothers Ltd. In the early 20th century, many new ways of making glass evolved at Chance Bros. such as the innovative welding of a cathode ray tube used for radar detection.

Pilkington Bros. Acquired a 50 % shareholding in 1945 but the Chance operation continued to be largely separately managed and a factory was established in Malvern in 1947 to specialise in laboratory glass. In 1948 the Malvern plant produced the world's first interchangeable syringe. By the end of 1952 Pilkington had assumed full financial control of Chance Bros., but did not become actively involved in its management until the late 1960s.

In 1992, during a period of rationalisation at Pilkington, a management buy-out reverted the Chance plant in Malvern to private ownership and it once again became an independent company, changing its name to Chance Glass Limited. Since then the company has continued to develop its range of products and processes, and areas now served include the pharmaceutical, chemical, metrology, electronics and lighting industries.

The extensive Chance Bros. Glassworks in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands. All the buildings are part of the works.

by Mark Matlach

Life Policy Stamps

The Life Policy stamps of Great Britain are surely the most striking, and arguably the most attractive, of all the revenue stamps to have been issued there.

In 1853 a new stamp duty was introduced on life insurance policies. The scale was:

Sum insured £500 or less - 6d for every £50 or part thereof
Sum insured over £500 to £1000 - 1/- for every £100 or part thereof
Sum insured over £1000 - 10/- for every £1000 or part thereof

Values of 6d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6, 5/-, 10/-, and £1 were recess printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. Sheets were of 18 stamps, three rows of six. Although the stamps were issued in the same month as the introduction of official perforation in Great Britain, the size of them was problematic and it was not until 1872 that they were first perforated. Until that date, all the stamps were issued imperforate. Stamps on the sides of the sheet were left imperforate during the perforating period.

In 1860 duty was imposed upon policies covering accidental death at the following scale:

Sum insured less than 2/6 - 1d
Sum insured over 2/6 - 3d for each 5/- or part thereof

As a result a 3d stamp was issued, though a 1d stamp was not issued until 1870. Life Policy stamps were withdrawn in 1881, though the tax remained in force for some time later, the duty being paid by embossed general duty adhesives. 

For the overprint collector Life Policy stamps present a real challenge. A few insurance companies are known to have overprinted these stamps but they are extremely scarce. I have only two in my own collection and the rest of the stamps shown here represent the sum total of overprinted Life Policy stamps that I have seen.            

by Mark Matlach

Pawsons & Leafs Ltd.

In 1780 William Leaf opened the first wholesale silk warehouse in London, at 110 Fleet Street.The firm underwent a number of name changes over the next century before becoming Leaf & Co. Ltd in 1877. In 1832 John F. Pawson established I. F. Pawson & Co., a textile and clothing wholesaling company based at 5 and 9 St. Paul's Churchyard, London. The business was later styled as Pawson & Co., becoming Pawson & Co. Ltd in 1873.

In 1892 the two textiles companies merged to become Pawsons & Leafs Ltd. The company operated from Pawson's original premises at St. Paul's Churchyard until 1964, when the business relocated to 32/43 Chart Street. The company appears to have ceased trading some time after 1968.

There are 16 different overprints recorded for Pawsons & Leafs and the pre-merger companies of I. F. Pawson & Co.; Leaf, Sons & Co. and Leaf & Co. Ltd.

Overprint	Style	SG Cat. Numbers
Received for / I. F. PAWSON & Co. / £........ / …........	H4a	IRL, IRS
Received for / LEAF, SONS & CO. / £	H3a	IRL
Received for / LEAF, SONS & Co. / £	H3b	IRL
Received for / LEAF, SONS & CO. // £	H3e	IRS
Received for / LEAF, SONS & CO. // £	H3e	IRS
Received for / LEAF, SONS / & Co. / £	H4a	IRS
Received for / LEAF & CO. LTD.	H2d	172
Received / with thanks for / PAWSON & Co / LIMITED	V4b	172
Received, / with thanks, for / PAWSON & COMPANY / (LIMITED). / £............. / …...........	H6a	IRS, 172
Received for / PAWSON & COMPANY / (LIMITED). / £............... / …...........	H5b	IRS
RECEIVED / £ / for / PAWSONS & LEAFS / LD.	V5b	172
RECEIVED / £ / for / PAWSONS & LEAFS / LD.	V5d	172
RECEIVED / £ / for / Pawsons & Leafs / LD.	V5d	172
RECEIVED / £ / for / Pawsons & Leafs / Limited.	V5d	357, 368, 421
Received / £ / for / Pawsons & Leafs / Limited.	V5b	329, 368, 421, 442, 465
PAWSONS // & LEAFS, LTD.	H2d	465, 488, 506

Legend : 

IRL = 1d Inland Revenue (large) type of 1860 - 1867

IRS = 1d Inland Revenue (small) type of 1868 - 1881

by Mark Matlach

J. W. Allen

J. W. Allen was a military outfitter, luggage manufacturer and one of the longest standing barrack furniture makers in British history.

The business was established in London in 1788 under the name John Allen, but little is known of its early existence. By the 1820s the firm began to appear in the London Trade Directories under Trunk Makers and listed as Allen, John 22 Strand. By the 1840s the company had workshops in Hungerford Street, Whitechapel. By 1865 the company name had become J. W. Allen and there were large, smart premises at 37 Strand. Catalogues from this period show that the company was selling travel items such as portmanteaus, trunks, and leather traveling bags, as well as barrack furniture such as portable armchairs, portable washbasins and portable beds. The business advertised heavily in Army Lists and periodicals likely to be of interest to the travel-minded. The company name in the advertisements appeared as either J. W. Allen or simply Allen; presumably the firm was so well known at this time that it was recognized by the abbreviated name.

The last known entry for J. W. Allen in the London Trade Directories was in 1913. The company's fortunes had declined by this time and it was trading from much smaller premises on the Strand.

Advertisement 1868

by Mark Matlach

W. C. Jay & Co. / International Fur Store (I. F. S.)

William Chickall Jay opened the London General Mourning Warehouse at 217 Regent Street in London's West End in 1841. The business was essentially a department store that sold everything that could possibly be necessary for mourning. Mourning attire made from the finest black silks was on offer as well as a range of items such as mourning jewelery, ribbons, hats, shoes, flowers, black sealing wax and black-bordered envelopes and paper.

Victorian funerals were big business. People desired a good funeral as a sign of their social status. Even the very poor would subscribe to funeral funds, to have the comfort of knowing that they would have a respectable send-off and not a shameful pauper's funeral. There was a widespread belief that a brand new mourning dress should be purchased for each death. The rules of mourning were strictly observed in society. Briefly, a widow was expected to wear mourning for two years; the mother of a dead child, twelve months. A dead sibling required six months of mourning. But the etiquette and society magazines argued obsessively about the minor details of even these matters.

W. C. Jay's store supplied fashionable mourning attire for the well-to-do Victorian society. Mourners, despite their grief, still had to keep up with the latest fashion and could certainly not be seen in last year's model. Jay was also careful to offer goods in a wide price range so as to attract the lower classes. The firm's buyers traveled every year to the silk marts of Europe to buy black silk at the most reasonable prices.

The Jays were later involved in another store in Regent Street. In 1882 the International Fur Store was established at 163-165 Regent Street under the management of a certain T. S. Jay, a probable descendant of William Chickall Jay. Advertisements of the time claimed that the store produced “the finest furs in the world” as well as sealskin coats and jackets and articles made from sable, sea otter and silver fox skins. The International Fur Store traded until at least the 1930s.

by Mark Matlach

Hooper & Co.

Hooper & Co. was a coachbuilding company in Haymarket, London, originally founded in 1805 as Adam & Hooper. Following the death of George Adams, one of the founding partners, the business became Hooper & Co. in 1896. The company specialized in the very top end of the market, building coaches and later the most luxurious cars possible without consideration of cost. At one time or another, Hooper & Co. had Royal Warrants granted by virtually every one of the crowned heads of Europe.

The company built top class horse drawn carriages for Queen Victoria and later King Edward VII. In the early 1900s Hooper & Co. began to build custom bodies for automobiles, using mostly British chassis, particularly Daimler and Rolls-Royce. The first royal car, a Hooper body on a Daimler chassis, was delivered to Sandringham on 28th March 1900. It was painted chocolate brown with red lines; a livery which continued for the Royal Family well into the 20th century. By 1904 the company had opened its famous showrooms in Piccadilly, which became a popular London attraction with its fine displays of automobiles and carriages.

During the First World War, Hooper & Co. turned to aircraft manufacture, eventually producing Sopwith Camels at the rate of three a day. After the War a new factory was built in Acton in west London. In the peak year of 1936 over 300 car bodies were made in the factory.
In the late 1930s another factory was opened in Park Royal which made fuselage sections for De Havilland Mosquito bombers, Airspeed Oxfords and gliders. In 1940 Hooper & Co. was taken over by B. S. A. (Birmingham Small Arms). With the advent of the unibody, special coachbuilding diminished and the firm closed in 1959, although B. S. A. transferred the business to a new entity named Hooper Motor Services Ltd. which acted as a sales and service company.

 

Hooper-bodied Bentleys outside the factory in Park Royal

by Mark Matlach

J. C. & J. Field Ltd.

J. C. & J. Field Ltd. was a candle and soap manufacturer in Lambeth, south London. The company was one of the oldest in this part of London; it was established c.1642 and continued on the same site for nearly 300 years. Founded by Thomas Field, the firm continued through a descendant, also named Thomas, who was listed in 1768 as a wax-chandler of Lambeth and by 1800 the company was known as John & Charles Field, candle makers from Lambeth Marshes.

In 1820 another John Field joined the company which became J. C. & J. Field. At this time the firm was producing candles made of spermaceti (the oil from the head cavity of the Sperm Whale). These candles were more expensive than the ordinary tallow candles popular at the time, which were cheap but noxious and sputtered when burned.

In the 1840s the company began to manufacture household and laundry soap. In time this became the company's main production as the demand for candles declined due to the popularity of oil and gas lighting. By 1873 J. C. & J. Field was making Ozkerit Candles for export to British Colonies in Asia and Africa. These candles were made with ozkerite, a naturally occurring mineral wax, and had a higher melting point than regular  types, making Ozkerit candles extremely popular in tropical climates.

In 1887 the firm was incorporated as J.C. & J. Field Ltd. During the early 20th century the firm acquired premises in Rainham, Essex. The company diversified into the manufacture of toiletries and luxury products such as skin and dental creams and talcum powder. In the early 1940s the firm moved to Wimbledon and then onto Amersham, Buckinghamshire. J. C. & J. Field Ltd. was acquired by E. Griffiths Hughes in 1958 and became part of Aspro-Nicholas in 1960.

Soap pressing machine used by J.C. & J. Field in 1886

by Mark Matlach