Lynne About Loughborough

Sunday, 17 November 2024

Builders Thomas Barker and Sons

Following on from last week’s post about the family of Thomas Barker, this time we’ll have a look at some history of the building firm he was part of. Thomas was the son of bricklayer, Joseph, and Thomas himself started work as a bricklayer. By 1871 however, he is recorded on the census returns as a builder, but I have been unable to discover when exactly he started his company, except that by 1881 he was employing 17 people so sometime after 1861. Let’s have a look at some detail around the company.

A selection of companies from 1887

A Selection of Contracts won and lost (not a comprehensive list!)

Although the Barkers tendered to complete the irrigation works on the Loughborough sewerage farm in 1913, they lost out to Moss. They also lost out to Hammonds for the erection of buildings required in connection with the extension of the Electricity Undertaking.

From 1913-1915, Barkers were advertising their fireplaces, and that they were agents for the Stonestill cleaning processes for cleaning and renovating brick and stone exteriors.

In 1915, Barkers were repairing a property occupied by Mr Antil in Bedford Square Loughborough.

Barkers were successful in being awarded the contract to build houses at Rotherham in 1926, being 50 houses at Ravenfield, at a cost of £23,420 and 54 at Brampton Bierlow, costing £23,424.

A report in the 'Nottingham Journal' in August 1926 reported on the house building that was currently happening in Loughborough. The only such housebuilding scheme at that time was the building of 42 houses on Derby Road by Barkers.

Later that same year, Barkers won the tender to build a pressure filter house and mains apparatus at Blackbrook Reservoir. Their competitors were William Moss, and the Hodsons, and their success was probably down to quoting the lowest cost.

Barkers were undertaking the building of 38 parlour-type houses (having two rooms downstairs), at a cost of £18,050, and 104 non-parlour-type houses (those with only one room downstairs) costing £39,520, on the Whitehall Estate in Ramsgate in 1927. These houses were the last of the Corporation’s house-building scheme. There was some discussion as to why a firm from Loughborough, and not a local firm from Ramsgate were given the work, and there was some worry that Barkers might bring their own workers with them. However, it was likely they might take their regular foremen, but it would cost them too much to temporarily house workers from Loughborough, so there would definitely be jobs for the locals of Ramsgate.

In 1928 Barkers were given the contract to build 134 Admiralty houses in St Budeaux, Plymouth. The firm appear to have upset the local workers a little by taking some of their own workers from Loughborough with them to Plymouth, and also there was some concern about the rates of pay. Some Union officials had agreed a rate, but others argued that the rate of pay for certain tradespeople should be higher, like joiners, pipe layers, and pipe joiners. There were about 150 people involved in the work altogether.

In April 1928, representatives from Barkers were present at the opening ceremony of the new garage for petrol buses at Rotherham. It’s not clear if Barkers were actually involved in the building of the garage, but it is quite possible. The garage adjoined the Corporation tram depot on Rawmarsh Road, Rotherham, and had cost £9,000 to construct, with an extra £1,000 for the construction of a concrete bridge.

Closer to home, in 1932, Barkers were unsuccessful in their tender to build a quarter of a million-gallon capacity reservoir at Blackbrook. Their tender was the 11th lowest at £4,960, compared to that of another local building firm, William Moss 6th lowest at £4,400. The contract was granted to a firm from Hugglescote.

Barkers were among the eight firms who tendered to erect 26 non-parlour houses on Welland Road in Market Harborough, and were successful in 1933. The 26 houses cost £6,683, the sewage and surface water drainage, fencing and water services cost £356 10s., 13 pairs of tool houses (I presume this means sheds attached to the actual houses) cost £155 5s. bringing the total cost to £7,195 10s..

Late in 1933, Barkers tendered to build 20 houses on Meadow Lane to house people affected by the ‘slum clearances’, at a cost of £6,573, but were unsuccessful.

In 1934, Barkers were involved in the building of an office block for Genatosan, which was adjacent to the corner of Derby Road and Broad Street. The foreman at the time was Mr Fred Wootton, and one of the apprentices, aged 14 at the time was Ernest Spicer. Barkers were responsible for another Genatosan building in 1938, built on Derby Road.

At the end of 1934, the tender of Thomas Barker and Sons, Loughborough, was accepted for the erection of 14 houses at Asfordby at a cost of £4,046, and for road and sewer work in connection with the scheme at £430. [I’m wondering if these might be the houses off the main street, on Jubilee Avenue - see photos below - given that if they were actually built in 1935, this year was the silver jubilee of King George V].

The contract to build 40 houses at Market Harborough in 1934, on a road called Walcot Road was awarded to Barkers, and the cost was £13,714

Barkers tender for the contract to build a new fire station at Melton Mowbray in 1936 was not successful. The fire station was built on Nottingham Road, and was demolished in 2012, and replaced with a new building.

Melton fire station, demolished in 2012 and replaced by a new one on the same site

Barkers appear to have lost a mare in 1938, as they advertised in the Leicester Evening Mail that a bay mare of 15 hands, with 3 white legs was missing from a field on Burton Road, Ashby.

In December 1962, builders Thomas Barker and Son won the tender to construct a cafeteria, bus crews room, shelters, public conveniences, and parcels office at Loughborough’s proposed central bus station. There were 8 tenders altogether, and as part of the acceptance, the work was to be completed within 32 weeks. I assume this is the bus station that was on Biggin Street, before being demolished for The Rushes shopping complex.

Legal-ly Things

1913 fined for not adequately marking out a sewer hole in Woodhouse while they were doing some work on a house called The Oatts in Woodhouse. The magistrate fined them 20s., including costs.

In January 1915, some lead piping valued at 4s. was stolen from the back of Mr Antil’s property on Bedford Square which Barkers were in the process of repairing.

The Workers

In 1928 a 67-year-old man who worked for Barkers in Loughborough was cycling to his home in Hathern, and had almost reached it, when he was in a collision with a car. Sadly, he died two days later.

In 1954 a 15-year-old boy became an apprentice bricklayer with Barkers, at a time when it was not compulsory to stay on at school until the age of 18. From 1959 until 1963 he, his wife, and his young daughter lived in a flat which was part of the building firm’s offices on Swan Street.

A building contractor will always be on the lookout for workers! Here are a few examples of the adverts placed in the newspapers by Barkers!

In 1912 the company were looking for someone to work in the office – a smart boy was required, and one just leaving school was preferred!

In 1915 the builder’s office required a junior assistant immediately!

In 1916 the company were looking to employ good bricklayers and labourers immediately to work on an extension of a large works – I wonder where that was?!

In 1929, “good bricklayers” had become “practical bricklayers” and “capable bricklayers”, but again, they were needed immediately!

By 1931, the standard of bricklayer needed was now “good”!

In 1950, bricklayers and labourers were invited to apply at the works site on Southfields Park, and also at the site of the Co-operative Society’s New Stores at Barrow-on-Soar.

In 1960 Barkers advertised for carpenters and joiners, and promised them good prospects.

It would appear that by 1967 the company had folded, and the builders plant machinery and stock in trade was up for auction on 6 July 1967 at Armstrong’s on Devonshire Square. This was possibly as Thomas Barker had died in 1952 and his wife, Sarah Ann in 1966.

The Social-ly Things

The company created a Welfare Club and held an annual dinner, starting in 1927. The third of the annual dinners took place at the Great Central Hotel. The workmen had contributed to a penny-in-the-pound scheme, which meant that at the dinner, they presented a cheque for £60 towards the Loughborough Hospital extension. The ninth annual dinner took place in the Bulls Head, Shelthorpe in 1935.

Miscellaneous Things

In June 1951, a voluntary works and buildings emergency organisation was being formed. The purpose was that during times of war, the organisation could arrange building and civil engineering contractors to deal with demolition, debris clearance, and repairs following damage. This was, I believe, a national initiative, and one of the leaders in the Leicestershire area was Mr Frederick Barker, of Thomas Barker and Sons, Swan Street Loughborough.

And here we must leave the story of Barkers the builders. I hope you have enjoyed this series of posts.

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). Builders Thomas Barker and Sons. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/11/builders-thomas-barker-and-sons.html [Accessed 17 November 2024]

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Monday, 11 November 2024

So Who Was Thomas Barker?

Last time on the blog I mentioned that the gates leading into the churchyard of the parish church from Steeple Row were being re-dedicated. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the event as I had already agreed to support the OH by watching him running at Prestwold Hall.

This time, I thought I’d share with you some research I’ve done into the Barker family. And very tricky it was too! The gates on the parish church were dedicated to Thomas Barker and his wife Sarah Ann, and it has taken a while to establish exactly which branch of the Barker family they were from, which of the numerous Thomas Barkers, many with similar occupations, this particular Thomas was. I do hope I’ve got it right, and huge apologies if I haven’t.

Let’s go back a few generations to Thomas’s grandparents …

Joseph (sometimes listed as Jos.) Barker had married Sarah (nee Mansfield), in All Saints Church on 1st December 1794, both having been born and brought up in Loughborough. Joseph and Sarah had numerous children, all of whom were baptised in All Saints Church, including (but there may be others) Christiana baptised 13th November 1795; Rose baptised 12th Feb 1797; Joseph baptised 13th November 1798; John baptised 6th July 1800; Mary baptised 13th November 1801; William baptised 17th June 1804; Sarah baptised 22nd Aug 1806; Charles baptised 14th November 1808.

As mentioned above, Joseph and Sarah’s son, Joseph was baptised in All Saints Church on 13th November 1798, and on 19th March 1820 he married Mary Jennings at All Saints. So far I’ve only been able to trace their children who were born from 1829 onwards, so there may well be children born earlier.

Hannah was born on 14th June 1829, and baptised at All Saints Church on 16th February 1836. Sarah was born in 1831, Henry in 1832, Lucy in 1834, and then came our Thomas, born on 8th January 1837. A further daughter, Elenar, (sometimes known as Martha Ellen, or Helen) was born in 1839 and baptised on 21st July 1844, and twins Sophia and Edward were born in 1842 and baptised on 13th February 1842. Sadly, Joseph’s wife, Mary died on 19th October 1843.

In 1851, Thomas was aged 13, and living in a yard off Baxter Gate, with his father, Joseph who was a journeyman bricklayer. Daughters Hannah and Sarah were no longer living with the family, but son Henry was now aged 19 and like his father was a bricklayer, Lucy (17), Helen (11), Edward and Sophie both aged 9 were all living with Joseph.

On 12th December 1859, Thomas Barker married Eliza Towers in the parish church of St Mary’s, Nottingham. They both lived on Island Street, Nottingham. Eliza was born in April 1838, and was the daughter of John Towers, a cordwainer. Thomas and Eliza’s first child, Mary Jane was born in January 1861 when the family were living on Pinfold Street, a few doors down from the Half Moon pub. Thomas was a bricklayer, as was his father, who was still living in a yard off Baxter Gate, with his 21-year-old daughter Martha Ellen who was a dressmaker.

Over the next ten years, Thomas, now a builder, and Eliza had a few more children! Sophia Ann in 1863, Florence Lucy in 1865, John Edward in 1867, and Ellen Maud in 1869. By 1871 Thomas was now a builder aged 34, and the whole family were living at Cemetery Place (which I think was later called Aumbry Gap). Meanwhile, Thomas’s father, Joseph was still a bricklayer aged 72, and was living with granddaughter Sophia, a hosiery warehouse hand now aged 27, and a grandson, Frederick Bradbury a blacksmith aged 20. They were living next door to, or behind the Fox Inn where William Underwood was the landlord, and the actual address seems to be 1 Court Street, or 1 Court H.

On 3rd January 1874 Thomas Barker’s father, Joseph, a bricklayer of Wards End, died at the age of 74. Joseph was buried on 6th January 1874, and the burial ceremony was performed by Octavious Glover, the rector of Emmanuel. However, probate was not granted until 9 June 1896, to Henry Barker, cabinet manufacturer. Effects were £375.

In 1876 Thomas and Eliza had another daughter, Chrissy Alberta, followed by Mabel who was born in 1879, and Thomas in 1880. By the time of the 1881 census, builder Thomas Barker, aged 44, was now employing 15 men and two boys in his business. The family, who were living at 14 Swan Street, included wife Eliza (43), Mary Jane, a dressmaker aged 20, Sophia Ann, a warehouse assistant aged 17, Florence Lucy (no occupation listed) (16), John Edward, scholar (14), Maud Ellen, scholar (12), Crissy Alberta (5), Mabel (2) and Thomas jnr. aged 11 months. Thomas and Eliza’s youngest child, Henry was born in 1884.

With the Barker family being quite extensive and Thomas having lots of siblings, and lots of children, this blogpost is concentrating on Thomas’s direct ancestors and only some of his descendants. It is relevant to this piece to mention that Thomas’s daughter, Sophia Ann married Zachariah Onions in 1886.

Thomas the builder and his family were still living at 14 Swan Street in 1891, and this appears to be next door to the Nag’s Head pub, which was demolished and replaced firstly by a Co-operative food store, and more recently by the former Wilkinsons store. The family consists of Thomas and Eliza, Mary Jane aged 30; John Edward a bricklayer, aged 24; Maud Ellen 22; Cressy Alberta 15; Mabel 12; Thomas 10 and Henry 6.

In 1892, Thomas and Eliza’s son, John Edward married Mary Elizabeth Barker in Nottingham. She was the daughter of Henry Barker, a furniture dealer in Nottingham in 1871, who had been born in Loughborough in 1833 – son of Joseph and Mary, and brother of our Thomas. Mary Elizabeth’s mother was Mary A. who was aged 31 and also born in Loughborough, and her siblings were Ernest born in 1856 in Loughborough, Alice born 1864, Charles A. born 1870, and another child (name unknown) born in 1871. Sibling Ada was born in 1876, Frank in 1877, and Selina in 1878. Alice and the other younger siblings were born in Nottingham.

Some 10 years later, in 1901, Thomas Barker and the family were still living at 14 Swan Street, by which time Thomas was aged 64 and his wife, Eliza was 63. Thomas was still a builder who had people working for him, and one of those was likely to be his son Henry now aged 16. No occupations are listed for Mary Jane now aged 40, Ellen M. 32, Chrissy A. 25, Mabel 22, but son, Thomas aged 20 is a plumber.

Meanwhile, son John Edward was now living at Northview on Bridge Street, possibly number 21. He was a 34-year-old employing builder. His wife was Mary Elizabeth aged 39, who had been born in Nottingham, and they had several children - Albert Edward aged 7, Frederick aged 5, and Eric aged 4.

On 14th November 1902 Eliza Barker (nee Towers), wife of Thomas, and mother of Mary Jane, Ellen, Sophie Ann (married an Onions), Florence Lucy, John Edward, Maud Ellen (or Ellen Maud), Chrissy Alberta, Mabel, Thomas, and Henry died. She was buried at Leicester Road cemetery on 17th November 1902.

By 1911, the widowed Thomas Barker aged 74 had retired from the building trade, but was still living at 14 Swan Street with daughters Mary Jane (aged 50), and Ellen Maud (aged 42) and son Henry, now aged 26, who was a builder and contractor employing people, as was Henrys brother, John Edward, 44, recorded on the census as a builder and contractor employing people. He, and his wife Mary, 49, were still living at Northview on Bridge Street, with children Albert Edward 17, Frederick 15, Eric 14, and Olive Eliza 8.

John Edward, now aged 54, and his family were still living on Bridge Street in 1921. His occupation was listed as a building contractor and employer, with Thomas Barker & Sons, and his two sons, Frederick 25, and Eric 24, are both working for the company. Frederick being a joiner, Eric a bricklayer. John Edward’s wife Mary Elizabeth was now aged 60, and daughter Olive Eliza, still living at home was aged 18.

By the time of the 1921 census, Thomas Barker was aged 84, still retired from the building trade, and still living at 14 Swan Street with daughters Mary Jane and Ellen Maud. Thomas died on 24th March 1922. Probate was granted on 28 July 1922 to John Edward Barker, Thomas Barker, and Henry Barker, builders. Effects were £6,493 11s. Thomas was buried at Leicester Road cemetery.

The following year, on 26th October 1923, Thomas and Eliza’s daughter, Sophia Ann Onions, who lived on Derby Road, died. Probate was granted on 20th March 1930 to Zachariah Onions (the younger), an engineer, and effects were £498 10s.. Thomas and Eliza’s daughter Maud died on 1st April 1929.

On 7th November 1933 Mary Elizabeth Barker, wife of John Edward Barker died at 70 Forest Road. Probate was granted 10th May 1934 to John Edward Barker. Effects were £87 8s. 5d..

John Edward Barker, son of Thomas and Eliza, died on 13th April 1945. He is buried in Leicester Road cemetery. His son, Albert Edward Barker, who was born in 1894, died in 1963 at Loughborough Hospital, a couple of days after collapsing. At the time of his death, he was a senior partner in the building firm.

John Edward’s brother, Thomas, aged 72, died on 4th September 1952, at Loughborough General Hospital. Probate was granted on 15th November 1952 to his wife Sarah Ann, and John Cockerill and Edward Wood, both bank cashiers. Effects were £15,641 18s. 5d.. Thomas’s wife, Sarah Ann died on 12th February 1966, aged 71. She left £5,497 2s. 7d. gross.

It was John Edward Barker, son of Thomas and Eliza, who with his brothers and sisters who had desired to offer wrought iron gates to the parish church authorities in memory of their father and mother, and also of their sister Sophia Ann.

Although this post does not follow the life and death of all members of the family, and certainly the last bit is somewhat morose, I hope this has given a little insight into the family. Next time on the blog I'll probably be able to tell you some of the buildings they were responsible for building!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). So Who Was Thomas Barker? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/11/so-who-was-thomas-barker.html [Accessed 10 November 2024]

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Lynne

Sunday, 10 November 2024

Remembrance 2024

Sadly, this year I have been unable to attend the annual Service of Remembrance which takes place in our beautiful Queen's Park, under the watchful gaze of our wonderful war memorial, the Carillon. It's always a poignant service, and serves to remind us all of who we lost so we can be here today, and to remind us to look after each other, now and in the future

I visited the park earlier in the week, and was truly amazed by the fantastic poppy display that rose up from the ground, and swirled around the trunk of a tree that lines that path to the Carillon! Members of the Loughborough in Bloom group, aided by many individuals and volunteer groups, created the 6,500 poppies that make up the display!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). Remembrance 2024. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/11/remembrance-2024.html [Accessed 10 November 2024]

Take down policy:

External Links:

Blog archive and tags:

Searching the blog:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Friday, 1 November 2024

Re-dedicating the memorial gates at the Parish Church

The gates from Steeple Row that open onto the churchyard of what is now All Saints with Holy Trinity church always seem to be open, and so it is that when walking past, or walking through, one probably pays them no attention at all. However, these are no ordinary gates! The area around was much altered between 1914 and 1924, and the gates were created and installed at the time as a memorial to a local family, with a dedication service taking place on Sunday 2nd November 1924.

The gates on Steeple Row, lead into the west end of the parish church of All Saints with Holy Trinity, and were created in 1924 by students of Loughborough College. They were commissioned and given to the church by John Edward Barker, and his siblings, as a memorial to their parents, Thomas and Eliza (nee Towers).

The clearance of substandard housing in the area of Steeple Row had finally been completed by 1924, and the length from Church Gate to Rectory Place became a tree-lined, and grassed boulevard. There had not previously been an entrance to the church on the west side, but part of the work involved creating a wall around the churchyard. The town council paid for half the church wall as part of the works to improve the area, while the church authorities provided the rest of the wall. It was decided to create an entrance into the churchyard, and the wrought iron gates offered by the Barker family were a perfect fit.

An article in the Loughborough Echo of 7 November 1924 described the dedication ceremony and the gates in detail.

The short service was held in the road, after which, Mr John Edward Barker, representing the Barker family, gave a key to Canon Briggs, the rector, with which he was able to unlock the gates. Canon Briggs then dedicated the gates in memory of Thomas and Eliza Barker, and their daughter Sophia Ann Onions, who had married Zachariah Onions in 1886. Thomas had died in 1922, but his death had been preceded by that of his wife, Eliza in 1902, while daughter Sophia Ann died the year after her father, in 1923.

The wrought iron gates themselves were described as handsome, had what were described as handgates – basically a pedestrian entrance - either side, and reached to a height of 17 feet, and being 25 feet wide. They weighed in at 4.5 tons, and the main frames had been electrically welded together to ensure the structure was stable. The top of the central gate was quite ornate and showed the coat of arms of the Soke of Peterborough, while each corner of the central gate showed shields monogrammed with the initials of those who were commemorated, as well as the vicar and churchwardens. At the time of dedication, the coats of arms of the Loughborough Grammar School and Loughborough College were not yet affixed to the upper panels. I believe these are still not in place?

While the gates commemorated the donors, they also served as permanent evidence of the skill of the craftmakers at the college. Indeed, there were quite a number of people from various of the college departments who had been involved in the making of the gates, including students in the pattern shop, drawing office, foundry, smithy, electrical welding shop and the machine shop.

On 3 November 2024, a short re-dedication service will be held at the start of the usual Sunday morning service on at 10.45 am at the parish church. The gates are still standing tall and proud, and still bear the makers’ marks, and the coats of arms, shields, and intertwined monograms of those commemorated or otherwise involved in their production.

Next time we shall have a look at the Barker family in more detail … in the meantime, here are some pictures of the gates, taken this year.