Founded | 1760 |
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Founder | John Hepburn |
Headquarters | , |
Barrow Hepburn & Gale is a British luxury leather goods manufacturer best known as the producer of the despatch boxes used by the Government of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1760 as Hepburn and Sons. The company also makes Royal Maundy purses, for which it was granted a royal warrant in 1968. [1] [2] [3]
Barrow Hepburn & Gale despatch boxes have become a symbol of the British democratic system and its constitutional monarchy, being used by successive sovereigns and prime ministers. As a company, Barrow Hepburn & Gale claim they have an unbroken chain of makers whose skills have been passed from one master craftsman to apprentice since 1760. They continue to work closely with the Royal Household, the British Government, and private clients.
Barrow Hepburn & Gale was founded in 1760 under the name of Hepburn and Sons by John Hepburn, after having moved to Bermondsey from Chesham and there opened a tannery. There are records of the Hepburn family working from Long Lane in Bermondsey throughout the 19th century, eventually coming work with the Gales in both Deptford and Bermondsey. Samuel Barrow, originally working as a tanner himself, from 1848 set up his own company, Samuel Barrow and Brother, based in the Grange. In 1901 there was the merger of Hepburn and Gale with Ross and Co., another leather company from the 17th century, which possessed the rights to manufacture ministerial boxes for the government. Over time, the company became a larger supplier to the British Army – for items such as saddles and bayonet scabbards – especially during WW1, but also in the Boer and Crimean Wars. [4]
Through a series of mergers, Barrow Hepburn and Gale came to be "the largest leather concern in Bermondsey in the 20th century", [5] with Hepburn and Gale merging with Ross and Co. in 1901. Ross and Co., another tanning company dating to the 18th century, possessed rights to manufacture ministerial boxes for the government – the famous dispatch boxes with which Barrow Hepburn and Gale would come to be associated.
In 1920, Hepburn, Gale, and Ross merged again with Samuel Barrow and Brother, by this time having become a very successful company, manufacturing a broader range of leather goods and expanding its operations to encompass the production of glue, gelatine and rubber. A number of other mergers followed, such as to Blackman's Leather Goods Company, which supplied baby harnesses to the Duchess of Kent and to Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, [4] resulting in an ever growing company. Eventually, with the acquisition of Thomas Holmes and Son in 1935, it achieved the position of producing a twelfth of the total sole leather of the country. [4]
In the Second World War, the company aided the British war effort as it had done in the First World War, producing leather goods for the government. The tanneries at the Grange in Bermondsey were destroyed during the Blitz. George Odey, the director of Barrow Hepburn and Gale since 1933, would be appointed a CBE for his company's contributions. [6]
In 1967, there was a collapse in the world leather market, due in part to the demand for material caused by the Vietnam war. Price of "notes on the accounts [...] show that for the same amount of leather production the hide cost rose from approximately from £2.9m in 1964 to £3.3m in 1965 and finally to £4.2m in 1966". [7] However, Barrow Hepburn and Gale remained successful despite the slump in the 1960s, seeing a turnover of £22.5 million in 1967, a year that saw a crash in the UK leather industry. The chairman, Richard Odey, took the opportunity to expand and sought to buy up as great a share of the shrinking market as possible.[ citation needed ]
Barrow Hepburn & Gale's roots are in Bermondsey, a historic leather district, known for its tanneries already in the 17th century. The necessity of a guild, the Comonalty of the Mistery of Tanners of St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey of Surrey, which was given royal charter by Queen Anne in 1703, attests to the history of tanning in Bermondsey. Barrow Hepburn & Gale first occupied three tanneries in Long Lane that had been in existence since the middle of the 17th century, purchased by John Hepburn. This site, known as the Grange, comprised two and a half acres by the time of the Topographical History of Surrey published in 1841 by Edward Brayley. [5] In 1898, the Grange tannery site burned down, after which it was restored in its current state, now converted flats at Tanners Yard.
The company is responsible for producing despatch boxes for the UK government, a tradition dating back to Prince Albert. [8] The form of the boxes, with red-stained British leather and gold print, has remained largely unchanged since the 19th century, since Gladstone used such a box for his budget in 1853.[ citation needed ] They have continued to be used by all subsequent chancellors, including George Ward Hunt who supposedly found his despatch box empty, having left his budget speech at home. Since then, a tradition has arisen of the chancellor raising the box up outside 11 Downing Street to prove he has the box and therefore a budget for the country.
The form of the boxes has since been standardised, with each ministerial box bearing its owner's and recipient's names. The modern despatch boxes also have handles on the bottom of the box so that it must be locked properly to be transported, otherwise its contents would fall out. [8]
Barrow Hepburn & Gale continues to supply the Royal Household and the UK government with the original design and specification.
Royal Maundy in England dates back to the 12th century, with the first distribution known from records being that of King John at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, in 1210. The gifts changed over time from clothing and other such alms for the poor to silver coinage presented in a leather purse. Each recipient at the service is given a white purse with green strings and a red purse with white strings with legal tender in place of the clothing allowance, and a white purse with red strings containing the Maundy money, numbered coins equal to the monarch's current age. The purses are produced by Barrow Hepburn & Gale using red-stained British ram's leather.
Bermondsey is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, and to the north is Wapping across the River Thames. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Surrey. During the Industrial Revolution Bermondsey became a centre for manufacturing, particularly in relation to tanning. More recently it has experienced regeneration including warehouse conversions to flats and the provision of new transport links.
Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed.
Royal Maundy is a religious service in the Church of England held on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. At the service, the British monarch or a royal official ceremonially distributes small silver coins known as "Maundy money" as symbolic alms to elderly recipients. The coins are technically legal tender, but typically do not circulate due to their silver content and numismatic value. A small sum of ordinary money is also given in lieu of gifts of clothing and food that the sovereign once bestowed on Maundy recipients.
Acton is a community located in the town of Halton Hills, in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. At the northern end of the Region, it is on the outer edge of the Greater Toronto Area and is one of two of the primary population centres of the Town; the other is Georgetown. From 1842 until 1986, the town was a major centre for the tanning and leather goods industry. In the early years, it was often referred to as "Leathertown".
The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is assisted by the Deputy Treasurer to the King/Queen for the management of the Sovereign Grant, currently Sally O'Neill.
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Although generally regarded as having been founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early 8th century. It was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.
Red boxes, or sometimes ministerial boxes, are a type of despatch box produced by Barrow Hepburn & Gale or Wickwar & Co and are used by ministers in the British government and the British monarch to carry government documents. Similar in appearance to a briefcase, they are primarily used to hold and transport official ministerial papers. Red boxes are one modern form of despatch boxes, which have been in government use for centuries. Despatch boxes of a very different design remain in use in the chamber of the lower house of the British and Australian parliaments. Those boxes hold religious books for swearing-in new members of the chamber, but are also used as lecterns by front bench members.
Ostrich leather is the result of tanning skins taken from African ostriches farmed for their feathers, skin and meat. The leather is distinctive for its pattern of vacant quill follicles, forming bumps ranged across a smooth field in varying densities. It requires an intricate, specialised, and expensive production process making its aesthetic value costly.
A Gladstone bag is a small portmanteau suitcase built over a rigid frame, which can separate into two equal sections. Gladstones are typically made of stiff leather and often belted with lanyards. The bags are named after William Gladstone (1809–1898), the four-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
A despatch box is one of several types of boxes used in government business. Despatch boxes primarily include both those sometimes known as red boxes or ministerial boxes, which are used by the Sovereign and his ministers in the British government to securely transport sensitive documents, and boxes used in the lower houses of the parliaments of the United Kingdom and Australia. The term was used as early as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, referring to a box used to carry an important message for the Queen.
Nokona Athletic Goods Company is an American manufacturing company of sports equipment and clothing products, specialized in baseball gloves. The company, headquartered in Nocona, Texas, is the last major baseball glove manufacturer in the United States.
George William Odey CBE DL was a business leader in the United Kingdom leather tanning industry who held the post of chairman of the Barrow Hepburn Group from 1937 until 1974. He was also a Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1947 to 1955.
St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey is an Anglican church dedicated to St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark. The majority of the present building is late 17th century and is Grade II* listed.
Rouel Road is a street in the Bermondsey area of south London. It crosses the larger Spa Road.
Bark mills, also known as Catskill's mills, are water, steam, horse, ox or wind-powered edge mills used to process the bark, roots, and branches of various tree species into a fine powder known as tanbark, used for tanning leather. This powdering allowed the tannin to be extracted more efficiently from its woody source material. A barker would strip the bark from trees so that it might be ground in such mills, and the dried bark was often stored in bark houses.
East India Leather is an Indian vegetable-tanned leather produced by the tanneries in Trichy and Dindigul in Tamil Nadu.
"The Master, Wardens and Comonalty of the Art or Mistery of Tanners of the Parish of St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey of Surrey" was incorporated by Royal Charter by Queen Anne on 15 July 1703. Its authority was to check on the quality of tanning within Bermondsey and an area of thirty miles from it and to apprentice suitable persons to qualify as tanners to a Master i.e. member of the company. It is therefore a guild.
The British fourpence coin, sometimes known as a groat, "joey" or fourpenny bit, is a silver coin worth 1⁄60 of one pound or 1⁄3 of one shilling. It is a continuation of the English groat series struck intermittently from the late 13th century until the Acts of Union in 1707.
Maltby Street Market is a weekly street-food and provisions market in Bermondsey, southeast London, England. The market is located on a street of the same name near Tower Bridge in the old Horselydown parish of Bermondsey.
Joseph Duclos de Bouillas, born in 1719 in Toulouse and died in 1764, was a French merchant and trader of the Age of Enlightenment. He is also the founder of the Royal Manufactory of Lectoure.