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The Public Benefit Boot Company

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Surnames A to D

William ALLEN
Born 1865 at Stourbridge, Worcestershire, son of William ALLEN, chain maker, and his wife Sarah. In 1896 he married Emma Elizabeth STORER and their children born at Ripley, Derbyshire, included William Joseph ALLEN in 1898 and John Eric ALLEN in 1901. In the 1880s and 1890s he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Market Place, Ripley.

John Herbert ASHWORTH
Born 1871 at Bramley, son of Abraham ASHWORTH, Baptist minister from Lancashire, and his wife Isabella ASHWORTH. In 1896 at Bramley he married Hannah BARKER. Two of his brothers-in-law, Nelson ELLIS and Brow DICKINSON, were also imtimately associated with the Public Benefit Boot Co. He worked firstly as a clerk, then as a warehouseman and traveller.

Thomas ATKINSON
Born 1850 at Wolverhampton, son of Thomas ATKINSON, a Wolverhampton clothier originally from County Mayo, Ireland, and his wife Ann REABY. In 1885 at Wolverhampton he married Emma and their children included Wilfred Augustine ATKINSON 1888 and Augustine Leo ATKINSON 1892. In the early 1890s he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 216 High Street, Dudley, Worcestershire.

Thomas William BADGERY
Born 1868 at Worcester, the eldest son of James Thomas BADGERY, leather dresser, and his wife Mary JONES. He followed his father’s footsteps into the tanning and leather manufacturing business and went on to become principal of Ward & Co (Worcester) Ltd, chairman of British Chrome Tanning Co and chairman of James Cycle Co of Birmingham. He served for many years as president of the British Glace Kid Tanners’ Association. He married in London in 1896, travelled to Boston, Massachusetts in 1927, was appointed to the board of Benefit Footwear in 1929 and became chairman in 1931.

William BARKER
Born 1868 at Lunedale, Yorkshire, son of Robert BARKER, boot and shoemaker, and his wife Phoebe BRUNSKILL. In the 1890s he assisted in his father’s boot and shoe shop in Middleton, Co Durham. At the same time his brother John George BARKER managed a boot and shoe shop in Darlington, very likely a branch of the Public Benefit Boot Co. Early in the 1900s William managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 78 Lynn Street, West Hartlepool.

Disney Charles BARLOW
Born 23 June 1880 at Braunstone, Leicestershire, son of Thomas Disney BARLOW, Church of England clergyman (Curate of Braunstone) and his wife Letitia Amelia McLEAN, both originally from Ireland. At the age of 20 he worked as a cashier for Lennard Bros in Leicester, going on to become secretary and managing director of the company. In February 1919 with fellow Lennard Bros director Samuel BRIERS, he travelled to New York on a business trip. He married Ethel Mabel SEXTON, granddaughter of Sir Robert SEXTON. In 1939 he was appointed High Sheriff of Leicestershire and he continued on the board of Lennard Bros until at least 1951. He was a shareholder in Lennards Bros for more than half a century. He was a director of the District Bank and chairman of Liberty Shoes Ltd. He died 16 February 1965 aged 84.

Herbert Arthur BASTIN
Born 1875 at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, son of William BASTIN, draper’s warehouseman, and his wife Hannah DAVIES. At the age of 16 he was a Cheltenham music seller’s assistant and a decade later he worked in Derby as an accountant’s clerk. He married in 1902 and in 1913 resided at Rosegarth, Tranby Avenue, Hull, serving as district manager for the Public Benefit Boot Co.

John William BILTON
Born 1860 at Ripon, Yorkshire, son of Joseph BILTON, labourer and mattress maker, and his wife Mary Ann ROBINSON. He and his wife Mary Jane had a son John Ewart BILTON born 1888 at Ripon. John senior was a boot and shoe dealer in 1891 at 9 Fishergate, Ripon, and a decade later he had moved to 18 Fishergate. By 1917 the dealership had become a Public Benefit Boot Co branch.

Thomas Norton BIRD
Born 1886 at Kettering, son of Thomas BIRD, boot and shoe manufacturer, and his wife Mary SPENCE. In 1911 he married at Kettering. He was a principal of the firm Thomas Bird & Sons Ltd, shoe manufacturers and in 1937 he joined the board of Benefit Footwear.

George Frederick BLACKBURN
Born 1861 at Diss, Norfolk, son of Philip BLACKBURN, agricultural labourer, and his wife Ann Elizabeth TWAITES. In 1888 he married Ellen Elizabeth TAYLOR at Nottingham where he worked as a porter and boot shop assistant before taking over management of the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 73-75 Radford Road.

Robert Holliday BLACKBURN
Born 1874 at Bramley, son of William BLACKBURN, clothing manufacturer, and his wife Maria HOLLIDAY. Robert and his brothers Richard Arthur BLACKBURN and William BLACKBURN worked initially in their father’s manufacturing business. In 1906 at Bramley Robert married Ethel Ann DICKINSON, daughter of Brow DICKINSON, managing director of the Public Benefit Boot Co. Robert served as a director of the company in the 1920's and was Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1932. He died at Leeds 31 August 1950 aged 76.

Hamilton BONNER
Born 1857 at Rodley near Leeds, son of Benjamin Holme BONNER, boot manufacturer, and his wife Sarah Ann LISTER. In 1880 at Bradford he married Emma POLLARD and their children included William BONNER 1882, Rhoda BONNER 1891 and Lilian BONNER 1898. Hamilton’s father Benjamin manufactured footwear in 1899 as B Bonner & Sons and built the Gladstone Works in Stanningley (occupied in 2004 by Dents, Dyers & Cleaners). Benjamin’s two sons Hamilton and Lonsdale, were both shareholders in Lennards Ltd in 1914 and carried on the business their father founded until 1930.

Lonsdale BONNER
Born 1865 at Bramley near Leeds, son of Benjamin Holme BONNER, boot manufacturer, and his wife Sarah Ann LISTER. In 1890 at Bradford he married Sarah Ada GUDGEON and their children included Thomas William BONNER 1895 and Robert Arthur BONNER 1900. With his brother Hamilton, he was a Lennards Ltd shareholder and continued in his father’s business B Bonner & Sons. One hundred employees were engaged in manufacturing heavy boots, mainly for farmers and the Army. The firm enjoyed a large export trade with Ireland.

Isaac BOSTOCK
Born 1860 at Stockport, Cheshire, son of Isaac Moore BOSTOCK, postman and shopkeeper, and his wife Jane WHITAKER. Isaac worked initially as a tailor’s salesman but in the 1890s and early 1900s he was a Public Benefit Boot Co shareholder and managed a boot shop at Douglas on the Isle of Man.

Frederick James BRAGG
Born c1871 at Bristol, son of John Bragg, bootmaker, and his wife Sarah Ann JONES. Frederick and three of his brothers (Albert, William and John) commenced their working life in the boot trade. In 1893 at Bristol he married Kathleen ABBOTT and their children included Frederick John BRAGG 1894, Herman Abbott BRAGG 1895, and Kathleen Vera BRAGG 1897. From 1901 to 1906 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at 43 Market Place, Falmouth.

John Thomas BRAY
Born 1851 in Leigh, Gloucestershire, the son of John BRAY, tailor, and his wife Maria POWELL. In 1879 at Axbridge, Somerset, he married Mary Sims RAYNER and their children included Mary Gertrude BRAY 1880, Ethel Kate BRAY 1882, William John BRAY 1884 and Arthur Henry BRAY 1886. There are some inconsistencies in the records and more information is sought, but it is thought he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at Penryn in 1898 and from 1901 to at least 1913 he managed the boot shop at 19 The Homend, Ledbury, Herefordshire.

Samuel BRIERS
Born 1868 at Leicester, son of Frederick BRIERS, a Hugglescote wheelwright. In 1892 Samuel married Mary GRIFFITH and their children included Gladys Mary BRIERS 1893, Dorothy Harriet BRIERS 1896 and Winifred Emily BRIERS 1898. Along with his brother-in-law Thomas HATTON, Samuel was a shareholder in Lennard Bros. Samuel commenced working as a clerk before taking over the management of the company’s warehouse in Leicester, later serving as managing director. In February 1919 with fellow Lennard Bros director Disney Charles BARLOW, he travelled to New York on a business trip.

John James BRITTEN
Born 1845 in London, he married Sarah Ann TURNER in 1869 at Hackney. Their children included Sarah BRITTEN 1872, Louisa Mary A BRITTEN 1874, Ellen Elizabeth BRITTEN 1875, Florence May BRITTEN 1877, Henry Warner BRITTEN 1879, John Turner BRITTEN 1883, James William BRITTEN 1885 and Charles Wallis BRITTEN 1888. John was a boot manufacturer at Bethnal Green, London and a shareholder in the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Charles Henry BROWN
Born 1866 at West Hartlepool, Co Durham, son of James BROWN, a tailor from Lancashire and his wife Jane. In 1893 at Hartlepool he married Agnes WOODHOUSE and their children included Gladys BROWN 1894, Winnie BROWN 1896, Adolph BROWN 1897 and Ida BROWN 1900. He was a boot salesman and 1900-1901 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 23 Northgate Street, Hartlepool.

Ernest Henry BROWN
In 1914 he was a Lennards Ltd shareholder and managed a company branch shop at 175 Commercial Street, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales.

John William Lawrence BURMESTER
Born 1883 at Sutton, Surrey, son of John William Stanley BURMESTER, an architect and surveyor and his wife Rose Guillonneau LAWRENCE. In 1918 he married Erica S C ROSE. He was appointed a director of Lennards Limited in 1969.

Samuel BURTON
Born 1841 at Sawtry, Huntingdonshire, son of William BURTON, grocer and draper. Samuel worked in the family business for many years. Later in life he married Isabel MARK and managed the Public Benefit Boot Co shop in Rugby, Warwickshire. He was a brother-in-law of the Coventry boot dealer Samuel HARKER and died in 1903 at Rugby aged 61.

John CASHMORE
Born 1855 at Stone, Staffordshire, son of John CASHMORE, shoemaker, and his wife Mary. In 1877 at Stafford he married Emma MOULD and their children included Mary May CASHMORE 1877, Arthur John CASHMORE 1879, Helen Lucy CASHMORE 1882, Bertram Charles CASHMORE 1886 and Reginald George CASHMORE 1893. He worked as a boot maker and in the 1890s and early 1900s he was a foreman and manager of the Lennards' shoe manufacturing operations at Blaby, Leicestershire.

John Gordon CHATTAWAY
Born 1854 at Earlsdon, Warwickshire, son of Thomas CHATTAWAY, writing master, and his wife Mary. In 1882 John married Sophia HANGER of Kettering and their children included Sophia Lillian CHATTAWAY 1883 and Charles Gordon CHATTAWAY 1892. John was a Leicester boot and shoe manufacturer and served as a director of Lennards Ltd. His son Charles followed him into the footwear manufacturing business. With his colleagues W EVANS and Joseph Wallis GODDARD, John provided business finance to a Spanish-American engineer, Hildalgo MOYA, who went on to become his son-in-law and establish the Imperial Typewriter Co in Leicester in 1908. He died 16 November 1936 aged 82.

John Arthur CLAPHAM
Born 1874 at Pluckley, Kent, son of John Palliser CLAPHAM who had worked variously as a rope maker, marine store dealer, fishmonger and fruiterer. By the age of 16 John junior was a boot and shoe salesman in Peascod Street, Windsor. In 1894 at Bristol he married Eunice Clara M HOWE and their children included Dorothy May CLAPHAM 1895, Elsie Gladys CLAPHAM 1897, Eunice Gertrude CLAPHAM 1900 and John Arthur H CLAPHAM 1904. In the early 1900s John managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at 90 Queens Street in Cardiff and by 1914 he was a district inspector of Lennards Ltd branches.

Arthur Russell CLAYTON
Born 1859 at Belgrave, Leicestershire, son of Thomas CLAYTON, framework knitter. In 1884 he married Eliza Jane WELCH of Birmingham and their children included two daughters Amy CLAYTON 1887 and Edith Welch CLAYTON 1892. Arthur commenced his career as a shoe warehouseman in Preston and went on to manage Public Benefit Boot Co premises at Blackpool in 1891 and at 109 Bath Street, Ilkeston 1894-1901.

William CLAYTON
He commenced work as an errand boy for Benefit Footwear in 1938 at the Blyth shop and was soon sent to the Northumberland Street branch in Newcastle to learn window dressing. He served as a driver/gunner in Belgium, Holland and Germany. After being demobbed in 1945 he returned to the Benefit Footwear branch in Blyth and continued with window dressing the company’s branches in various regional towns. His first management position (on a wage of £5) was a small Benefit Footwear shop in Spennymoor, Co Durham after which he went on to manage branches in Morpeth and Ashington.

Joseph Otley COLLETT
Born 1890 at Diss, Norfolk, son of Christopher COLLETT, postman, and his wife Rachel OTLEY of Tostock, Suffolk. Joseph was later based in Leeds where his wife Dorothea died in 1937. He worked for the chartered accountants Price Waterhouse and during the 1941-45 period when the Benefit Footwear managing director was serving in the army abroad, Joseph took over the managing director’s role.

Walter William COLLINS
Born 1862 at Kelston, Somerset, son of William COLLINS, agricultural labourer, and his second wife Emma. At the age of 10 he worked as an agricultural labourer along with his brothers and father and by the age of 20 he was undertaking a boot making apprenticeship. In 1882 he married Mary Jane PROWSE and they had one daughter Mary Edith COLLINS born 1883 at Bristol. At the time of his marriage he was a boot salesman in Bristol. From 1901 to at least 1911 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at 19 Stall Street, Bath, where his wife and daughter assisted in the store.

Anderson CROSSGROVE
Born 1874 at West Auckland, Co Durham, son of Thomas Anderson CROSSGROVE, a Prudential Assurance agent, and Jane BROWN. In 1896 he married Ada SIMPSON of Newcastle. The following year he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 78 Lynn Street and 113 Musgrave Street, West Harlepool and at the turn of the century he managed a boot shop in Middlesbrough.

John Thomas CROSSGROVE
Born 1872 at West Auckland, Co Durham, son of Thomas Anderson CROSSGROVE, a Prudential Assurance Agent, and his wife Jane BROWN. In 1893 he married at Middlesborough where he was employed as an assistant manager in the boot trade.

David CROW
Born 1876 at Liverpool, the son of Scottish immigrants David CROW, brass finisher, and his wife Margaret. By the age of 25 he worked as a boot salesman and he went on to manage the Public Benefit Boot Co branch in Eccleston Street, Prescot, for some three decades.

Cornelius CURRINS
Born 1865 in Northumberland, son of William CURRINS, labourer, and his wife Bridget McINTYRE. He and his wife Sarah Annie were married in 1886 at Newcastle upon Tyne and they had a son William CURRINS the following year. At the age of 14 Cornelius worked as a shoemaker at Belford, Northumberland where he grew up. In the 1890s he operated as a boot shop manager and dealer in Leeds and Harrogate and by the turn of the century he managed a boot shop in Prospect Street, Hull. He was a Public Benefit Boot Co shareholder and lived in Hull until at least 1913.

William John CURTIS
Born 1864 at Docking, Norfolk, son of William CURTS, builder and bricklayer, and his wife Rose Ann WICKS. In 1888 at Derby he married Mildred Jane KNIGHT of Leeds. Their children included Dorice Hilda CURTIS 1891, Claude William CURTIS 1892 and Cyril George CURTIS 1894. At the age of 16 he worked as a shop assistant in Derby. Following the 1889 death of the Public Benefit shop manager in Grantham, Richard FRANKLIN, William CURTIS took over the management of the premises at 7 London Road, continuing there for more than a decade.

Brow DICKINSON
Born 1857 at Bramley near Leeds, son of John DICKINSON, quarryman, and his wife Ann. By the age of 14 years Brow and his brother George DICKINSON aged 15 years, were working as shoe riveters. Brow, George and a younger brother John DICKINSON, commenced making boots in the front room of their house. This was the beginning of the ‘Benefit Boot’, a vast manufacturing empire and a long association with the Public Benefit Boot Co. In 1897 Brow was appointed managing director of the Public Benefit Boot Co – a position he held at his death in 1931 at the age of 74. In 1882 Brow married Jane Isabella ASHWORTH originally from Bury, Lancashire, who at the time was a Bramley schoolmistress. Their children included Ethel Ann DICKINSON 1883, Evelyn May DICKINSON 1885 and Dorothy DICKINSON 1891. He was elected a member of Leeds City Council in 1911. Following the death of his first wife, Brow married secondly in 1924 to Winifred GILL at Goole.

George Brow DICKINSON
Born 1855 at Bramley near Leeds, son of John DICKINSON, quarryman, and his wife Ann. In 1883 at Leeds he married Tamar Alice BERRY and their children included Annie DICKINSON 1883, Hilda DICKINSON 1885, John DICKINSON 1888, Fred DICKINSON 1890, Mabel DICKINSON 1891, George Brow DICKINSON 1893 and Stella DICKINSON 1899. His wife Tamar died in 1903. Along with his brothers he devoted his working life to boot manufacturing and maintained strong links with the Public Benefit Boot Co.

John DICKINSON
Born 1860 at Bramley near Leeds, son of John DICKINSON, quarryman, and his wife Ann. He and his wife Hannah had a daughter Emma G L DICKINSON in 1883. He and his brothers managed major boot manufacturing operations in Bramley via Leeds. He was a director of the Public Benefit Boot Co in 1920.

William Walter DICKSON
Born 1869 at Leicester, son of Thomas DICKSON, a tea dealer and commercial traveller, and his wife Harriett Yates TAYLOR.  He worked initially as a Leicester boot & shoe warehouseman and in 1891 at Leicester married Kate Elizabeth SMITH. Their children included Douglas Gordon DICKSON born 1895 in Leicester and Irene Lilian DICKSON born 1901 in Bristol. From 1901 to at least 1914 he managed a boot warehouse for Lennards Ltd in Bristol.

Walter DOBINSON
Born 1878 at Stockton-on-Tees, son of John Robert DOBINSON, agent for sewing machines, pianos and organs, and his wife Isabell Douglass STAINSBY. At the age of 23 he was a messenger for a Stockton-on-Tees boot shop and by 1913 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises on the corner of Hessle Road and Coltman Street, Hull.

William North DRIVER
Born 1863 at Wakefield, the youngest of three children born to Joseph DRIVER and his wife Emma NORTH. By early 1871 at the age of seven, William, and his sister Jane North DRIVER aged 11, worked as boot closers with their father Joseph, a Wakefield boot maker. William worked as a boot maker for some years but by the age of 27 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch in Wakefield. In 1895 he married Lily WADDINGTON of Castleford. From the 1890s until the 1920s he managed Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Carlton Street, Castleford. William was civic minded and well known in Castleford where he helped establish the town’s free library.

Henry DUFFIELD
Born 1869 at Kilburn, Yorkshire, son of Thomas DUFFIELD, farm worker, and his wife Elizabeth. At the age of 21, when he was working as a shoemaker, Henry married Annie HARLAND at Leeds. Their children included Henry DUFFIELD 1892 and Ethel DUFFIELD 1894. By the turn of the century he was the resident manager of the Public Benefit Boot Co shop at Market Weighton.

Henry Leopold DURHAM
Born 1885 at Bredenbury, Herefordshire, son of William DURHAM, grocer and farm foreman, and his wife Margaret WILLIAMS. In 1901 he worked as an apprentice to John James TYLER, manager of the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at 161 Cricklade Street, Cirencester.