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The Public Benefit Boot Company

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Surnames E to H

Reuben Thomas EGGLETON
Born 1902 at Leicester, son of Thomas Henry EGGLETON, clerk and commercial traveller, and his wife, Elizabeth SAW. He worked all his business life in the shoe trade, initially with Norvic Shoe Co. He then spent three years in the USA gaining further experience in shoe manufacturing and retailing. He was appointed director and general manager of Benefit Footwear in 1929 and managing director in 1937, a post he held for at least a decade. In 1966 he retired from the boards of British Shoe Corporation and its subsidiary, Benefit Footwear, after 37 years' service with companies in the group.

Nelson ELLIS
Born 1862 at Bramley, Yorkshire, son of Joseph ELLIS, manager of a shoe factory, and his wife Harriet STEAD. In 1885 at Bramley he married Sarah Ann ASHWORTH, daughter of Baptist minister Abraham ASHWORTH. Their children born at Bramley included Joseph Arthur A ELLIS 1886, Annie ELLIS 1889 and Harriet Isabel ELLIS 1889. He worked in the shoe trade firstly as a clicker then as a commercial traveller. In 1897 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 144 High Street, Stockton and died the following year aged 36 years.

Cornelius John FENTON
Born 1862 at Deptford, Kent, son of Richard FENTON, coach maker, and his wife Lucy STILLIARD. In 1888 at Wem, Shropshire, he married Hannah CARR and their children included Dorothy Ann FENTON 1890, Norah Lucy FENTON 1891, Hilda Mary FENTON 1893 and Leslie Carr FENTON 1895. He worked at various Public Benefit Boot Co branches when he was based at Stroud and Pendleton and in 1901 he managed the company’s premises at Pride Hill, Shrewsbury.

Frank FORD
Born c1876 at Bristol, son of Henry FORD, cooper, and his wife Mary Jane MAGGS. He grew up in Cardiff and at the age of 15 worked as an errand boy. In 1897 at Cardiff he married Florence BENDALL and their children included Elsie FORD born in 1900. In 1901 he was the resident manager of the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 7 Commercial Street, Aberdare, Glamorgan.

Sir Walter FORREST
Born 28 July 1870 at Yeadon, Yorkshire, the son of William Croft FORREST (later Sir William and seven times Mayor of Pudsey, Yorkshire), and his wife Ellen SMITH. Walter became a partner in his father’s textile manufacturing business and in 1890 at Bradford he married Kate STILLINGS. They had one son, Harold Stillings FORREST born in 1893. His first wife died in 1913 aged 47 and he married secondly in 1915 at Sheffield to Mary MacDUFF. He served on Pudsey Town Council 1900-1919 and was mayor 1909-1912. He was a British Liberal, later Liberal National politician. He developed business interests in a number of companies, including investment trusts and insurance as well as heavy industry. He was chairman of Lennards Limited and was knighted for political and public service in 1935. He died 18 July 1939 aged 68 and is buried in Pudsey with his father and second wife.

Frederick FRANKLIN
Born 1866 at Elton, Huntingdonshire, son of Richard FRANKLIN, baker and grocer, and his wife Eunice HARKER. At the age of 15 Frederick was an assistant in one of the Public Benefit Boot Co shops in Hull and he went on to manage company premises in Hull and Grimsby. In 1888 he married Alice DRINKALL and they had three daughters. Frederick died in 1938 aged 72.

George Edward FRANKLIN
Born 1849 at Elton, Huntingdonshire, son of Richard FRANKLIN, baker and grocer, and his wife Eunice HARKER. In 1872 at Grimsby he married Elizabeth HUNN. George first worked in his father’s grocery business but soon joined his brother William Henry FRANKLIN in the very early days of the Public Benefit Boot Co. He was subsequently based at Derby from where he managed the company’s branches in the region. He resided at a large mansion ‘The Field’ on Osmaston Road, Derby. A talented organist, antique collector and horse breeder, he entered Derby Town Council in 1898. He was a major shareholder and served on the board of the Public Benefit Boot Co. He died in 1913 aged 64.

Henry FRANKLIN
Born 1877 at Elton, Huntingdonshire, son of William FRANKLIN, shopkeeper and baker, and his wife Ellen BROWN. He was a nephew of Richard FRANKLIN and in 1900 at Peterborough he married Louisa Alice DONE. Henry worked in a number of Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Hull and in 1905 managed a branch at 38 Market Place, Gainsborough.

Louisa FRANKLIN
Born 1862 at Elton, Huntingdonshire, daughter of Richard FRANKLIN, baker and grocer, and his wife Eunice HARKER. In the early 1880s she assisted her brothers and father at the Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Hull. In 1891 she married Edward DOLAN.

Richard FRANKLIN
Born 1823 at Elton, Huntingdonshire, son of John FRANKLIN, baker, and his wife Elizabeth RUDKIN. In 1846 at Crowland he married Eunice HARKER and they had 15 children of whom 10 survived to adulthood. He worked most of his life as a grocer and baker but later assisted his sons as they developed the Public Benefit Boot Co. Richard died in 1889 aged 65 – at that time he managed the company’s shop in Grantham.

William Henry FRANKLIN
Born 1848 at Elton, Huntingdonshire, son of Richard FRANKLIN, baker and grocer, and his wife Eunice HARKER. In 1883 in London he married Ellen SARBUTT and they had three children:  Ethel May FRANKLIN 1884, William Henry FRANKLIN 1886 and Hilda Constance FRANKLIN 1890. In 1875 William opened the first Public Benefit Boot Shop in Hull and he was one of the driving forces behind the growth of the business into a nationwide network of stores, repair shops and factories. He was a major shareholder, served on the board of the Public Benefit Boot Co and died in 1907 aged 59.

George Marmaduke FREAR
Born 1895 at Hartlepool, Co Durham, son of Marmaduke FREAR, a railway porter, and his wife Mary Jane SIMPSON. In 1922 at Hartlepool he married Rebecca ARBUCKLE. During the 1930s and 1940s he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at Regent Street, Blyth, Northumberland. He rode a bicycle to work and half a century later his former employees still fondly remembered him.

Edwin Stanley GANGE
Born 1871 at Bristol, son of Rev Edwin Gorsuch GANGE, Baptist Minister and Pastor of the Broadmead Chapel, Bristol, for 24 years, and his first wife Ann HACKETT. In 1895 at Bristol he married Alice Maud DENNING and they had two sons, William Stanley GANGE 1896 and Gerald Henry GANGE 1900. He was a merchant, JP, Member of Parliament for Bristol North 1922–1923. He was a director of Lennards Real Property Co Ltd, Bristol and died 29 February 1944 aged 73.

Harry GILL
Born 1889 at Chiswick, Middlesex, son of Henry GILL, cabman, and his wife Margaret. In 1914 he was a Lennards Ltd shareholder and managed the company branch at High Road, Chiswick.

John Ferguson GILLISON
Born 1855 at Birmingham, in 1879 he married Sarah Jane WALKER. Their children included John Ferguson GILLISON 1880, Norman Weir GILLISON 1882 and Elizabeth Jane GILLISON 1886. John was a salesman and the family lived variously in Lancashire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire. He was a shareholder in the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Joseph Wallis GODDARD
Born 16 February 1852 at Leicester, son of Joseph GODDARD, pharmaceutical chemist, and his wife Eliza. As a chemist and county analyst in the 1830's, Joseph Goddard senior was often called upon to assay fine silver owned by England's wealthy families. Following the discovery of electroplating, silver-plated serving-ware became affordable to the average English home. The initial exuberance of those who bought new silverware, however, quickly turned to disappointment. The commonly used mercurial silver polish ate away the thin-layered silver-plate. In 1839 Goddard perfected a polish that would safely remove tarnish from even the thinnest plated silver and the fame of Goddard's non-mercurial plate powder quickly spread. In 1885 his products won six gold medals for excellence at the American Exposition. For decades Goddard's products have been used to maintain priceless treasures and antiques in renowned museums, state houses, hotels and private estates throughout the world. Joseph Wallis GODDARD, who trained initially as an architect, designed a new factory to produce his father’s non-mercurial plate powder. He subsequently joined his father in the business, working as a manufacturing chemist. In 1878 at Leicester Joseph Wallis GODDARD married Ellen Jane VICCARS and their children included Dorothy GODDARD 1879, Margaret GODDARD 1880, Annie GODDARD 1882, Joseph Holland GODDARD 1883, Janet Mary GODDARD 1884, Eric Edwin GODDARD 1885, Charles Viccars GODDARD 1888, Harold Warner GODDARD 1890, Janey B GODDARD 1896 and Emily Rosamond GODDARD 1896. He was a shareholder in Lennards Brothers of Leicester, and served on the boards of the Public Benefit Boot Co of Leeds and Lennards Ltd of Bristol. He died 9 April 1927 aged 75.

Elkan GOLDMAN
Born 1855 in Russia, he and his wife Zara joined other Jewish immigrants in Leeds in the 1870s. Their children included Jacob (Jack) GOLDMAN 1877, Leah (Cissy) GOLDMAN 1882, Israel (Manning) GOLDMAN 1883, Maurice GOLDMAN 1886, Abraham GOLDMAN 1888 and Alexander GOLDMAN 1889. His only son-in-law Herbert KLEIN drowned when the Titanic sank in 1912. A Public Benefit Boot Co shareholder, Elkan initially made slippers but then he and other family members moved into shoe and boot manufacturing.

George GOODHAND
Born 1845 at Bonby, Lincolnshire, son of Elijah GOODHAND, shepherd, and his wife Mary. George worked variously as a carter on a farm, a preacher and a stone quarryman before getting involved with the boot trade. In 1870 he married Eliza BEACOCK of Bonby and they had a son Charles Henry GOODHAND in 1879. Following the death of Eliza at the age of 41, George married secondly to Mary Jane DRINKALL in 1892. Their children included Harold GOODHAND 1894, Ernest GOODHAND 1897 and Elsie GOODHAND 1900. George managed the boot and shoe shop situated on High Street, Barton on Humber from 1891 to 1913.

William H GOODLAND
Born 1911 at Bristol, Gloucestershire, son of Charles John Goodland, commission agent, and his wife Adelaide Hamblett UNDERWOOD. He was appointed a director of Lennards Limited in 1969.

Christopher Colborne GRAHAM
Born 1857 at Lambeth, Surrey, son of Christopher North GRAHAM, wholesale grocer, and his wife Isabella McANDREW. In 1883 at Hull he married Mary Johnstone BREMMER of Glasgow and their children born in Hull included Christopher Norman GRAHAM 1884, Hugh Colborne GRAHAM 1888 and Mary Bremmer GRAHAM 1890. He worked as an analytical chemist and in 1891 was secretary to a paint company. In 1897 he was appointed a director on the first board of the Public Benefit Boot Co and he was a director of the Scarborough Hospital. His brother Norman Child GRAHAM, an artist and sculptor based in Guildford in the 1890s, was also a Public Benefit Boot Co shareholder.

George GRAHAM
Born 1869 at Carlisle, Cumberland, son of William GRAHAM, boot manufacturer, and his wife Dinah Chambers HENDERSON. In 1894 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne he married Margaret Ann CORBY and their children included Ella Elsie GRAHAM 1895 and Rothes Olga GRAHAM 1898. He followed his father and his brothers William GRAHAM and John GRAHAM into the boot trade. In 1891 he was a boot salesman in Newcastle and after spending some years at Middlesborough, by 1901 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 19 High Row, Darlington.

Edgar Louis GREENSLADE
Born 1872 at Bath, son of Abraham GREENSLADE, butler’s assistant, and his wife Jane PAYNE. In 1893 at Bath he married Ada Ellen ATKINS and their children included Clare Noella GREENSLADE 1894 and Arthur Louis GREENSLADE 1900. He worked for some time as a cabinet maker but in 1895 managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 19 Stall Street, Bath.

Joseph HAIGH
Born 1866 at Leeds, in 1889 he married Emily BOOTH of Leeds. In 1891 he was the resident manager of the Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Toll Gavel, Beverley (next door but one to the Holderness Hotel). Ten years later he and Emily lived in South Shields.

Frederick Henry HALSE
Born 1878 at Exeter, son of Charley HALSE, a warder at Her Majesty’s Prison, Exeter, and his wife Ellen SELLEY. By the turn of the century he worked as a boot shop assistant and from 1913 to 1919 he managed the Lennards Ltd branch at 212 High Street, Exeter.

Edith Ann HARKER
Born 1869 at Stevington, Bedfordshire, daughter of Samuel HARKER and his wife Jane BURTON. At the age of 22 she was, with her brother and sisters, assisting in her father’s Public Benefit Boot Co shop in Coventry. In 1893 at Coventry she married Jonathan BRAY, bank actuary.

Elizabeth HARKER
Born 1870 at Peterborough, daughter of Jabez HARKER and his wife Mary Ann ADAMS. For at least a decade Elizabeth worked as a boot and shoe saleswoman in her father’s Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Nottingham.

Frederick John HARKER
Born 1867 at Stevington, Bedfordshire, son of Samuel HARKER and his wife Jane BURTON. In 1897 at Warwick he married Maria COLLEDGE and their children born in Coventry were George Frederick Herrenden HARKER 1898 and Muriel May HARKER 1902. He worked at the Public Benefit Boot Co dealership established by his father in Smithfield Street, Coventry and died in 1952 at Loughborough aged 85.

Gertrude Ruth HARKER
Born 1879 at Bedford, daughter of Samuel HARKER and his wife Jane BURTON. At the age of 12 she was, with her brother Frederick and sisters Edith and Miriam, assisting in her father’s large Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Smithfield Street, Coventry. At the turn of the century she was living with her parents at ‘Avonhurst’, Waverley Road, Kenilworth, and in 1903 she married Walter Edward NOBLE.

Jabez HARKER
Born 1840 at Crowland, Lincolnshire, son of William Herrenden HARKER, tailor, and his third wife, Susannah PARKER of Thorney, Cambridgeshire. In 1864 at Peterborough Jabez married Mary Ann ADAMS of Maxey and they had five children. He first worked as a grocer and tea dealer in Peterborough but by the 1880s he had joined forces with the Franklins (with whom he had family connections). For some decades he managed the large Public Benefit Boot Co premises in the Albert Buildings, Derby Road, Nottingham and in 1897 served on the first board of directors of the company. He died in London in 1912 aged 71.

Miriam HARKER
Born 1873 at Bedford, daughter of Samuel HARKER and his wife Jane BURTON. At the age of 18 she was, with her brother and sisters, assisting in her father’s Public Benefit Boot Co shop in Coventry. In 1898 at Kenilworth she married Frank HEWSON, stationer and leather goods dealer and their children born in Coventry were Miriam Winsome HEWSON 1899, Christine Ruth HEWSON 1904, Frances Margaret HEWSON 1905 and Frank Samuel HEWSON 1911.

Nellie HARKER
Born 1874 at Peterborough, daughter of Jabez HARKER and his wife Mary Ann ADAMS. Between 1891 and 1901 Nellie worked as a cashier in her father’s Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Nottingham.

Samuel HARKER
Born 1828 at Crowland, Lincolnshire, son of William Herrenden HARKER, tailor and draper, and his second wife Mary GROUND. Samuel married Jane BURTON in 1861 at Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire and their children included: Mary Sophia HARKER 1863, William Burton HARKER 1864, Frederick John HARKER 1867, Edith Ann HARKER 1869, Miriam HARKER 1873 and Gertrude Ruth HARKER 1879. Samuel had strong family connections with the founders of The Public Benefit Boot Co and many of his family members were involved with the company in various capacities. He worked in drapery and lace manufacturing in Bedford before establishing a large boot dealership in Smithfield Street, Coventry. He died at Coventry in 1907 aged 79 and his wife Jane died at Coventry in 1930 aged 95.

William Herrenden HARKER
Born 1868 at Peterborough, son of Jabez HARKER and his wife Mary Ann ADAMS. In 1894 at Barton on Irwell, Lancashire, he married Eleanor DERNALEY. He had connections with the Rendable Shoe Co and managed Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Bolton, Chester and Urmston. He died in 1953 at Bournemouth aged 85.

John James HARTOPP
Born 1856 at Leicester, eldest son of Thomas HARTOPP, stocking maker, and his wife Elizabeth GROOCOCK. He started in the Leicester boot and shoe trade as a warehouseman. He married in 1903 by which time he was a director of the Leicester boot manufacturing business Walker Kempson & Stevens Ltd. He was a shareholder in both the Public Benefit Boot Co of Leeds and Lennards Ltd of Bristol.

Thomas HATTON
Born 1876 at Manchester, son of James HATTON and his wife Ellen. In 1899 at Leicester Thomas married Emily GRIFFITHS and their first child Phyllis Emily HATTON was born in 1900. Along with his brother-in-law Samuel BRIERS, Thomas was involved in boot and shoe manufacturing with Lennard Bros in Leicester.

Edward Thomas HAUGHTON
Born 1841 at Leeds, son of Thomas HAUGHTON, grocer, and his wife Ann. In 1863 he married Sarah Ellen SUNTER and their children included Alice HAUGHTON 1864, Arthur Hockley HAUGHTON 1868, Maud HAUGHTON 1870, Florence HAUGHTON 1872, Frederick HAUGHTON 1875 and Jessie HAUGHTON 1877. He was a salesman in a Leeds woollen warehouse before moving into the boot trade. Both he and his son Frederick were salesmen for the Public Benefit Boot Co and in 1891 Edward managed the company premises at 189-197 Roundhay Road, Potter Newton, Leeds. He was a Public Benefit Boot Co shareholder and died in Leeds in 1903 at the age of 61.

Thomas Bertie HEDGE
Born 1876 at Longford, Ireland, son of Robert John A HEDGE, a police constable, and his wife Louisa PEARCE. He married in 1900 at Wandsworth and the following year he was working as a boot shop assistant at Maidstone, Kent. By 1914 he was a shareholder in Lennards Ltd and managing the company’s branch at 137-138 St Mary’s Street, Southampton, Hampshire.

George Edwin HEYDON
Born 1865 in Oxfordshire, in 1888 he married Ada Ellen FISHER of Bedford. Their children included Laura May HEYDON 1891, Olive Ada E HEYDON 1892, Lily Annie HEYDON 1894, Elsie Maud HEYDON 1897 and Mabel Grace HEYDON 1901. George managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch in the Market Place, Newark, until around 1895 when he took over the management of the company’s premises at 7 Parsons Street, Banbury.

Sir Henry Nicholas HOLMES
Born 1868 at Norwich, son of Joshua Henry HOLMES, inspector of weights and measures and collector of cattle market dues at the Norwich Markets, and his wife Emma SKIPPER. In 1894 he married Gertrude Flora HUTCH and their children included Gertrude Edith HOLMES 1895, Doris May HOLMES 1898 and Geoffrey Nicholas HOLMES 1900. He was apprenticed to the boot and shoe industry under Mr Bostock and in 1891 he formed a partnership with W E Edwards. The business started in a little back bedroom at the Edwards home. Henry did the ‘clicking’ while Edwards did the ‘making’ and his mother the machining. The business slowly took off and they started to take on workers making shoes. First in Pitt Street but after that place burnt down they moved to Pottergate and then again before settling in Esdelle Street, Norwich. The partnership was dissolved in 1902 but huge expansion took place under the name of Edwards & Holmes and by 1912 the firm employed one thousand people. Henry was a Lennards Ltd shareholder, magistrate, alderman and Lord Mayor of Norwich 1921-22 and again 1932-33. He died at Norwich on 19 January 1940 aged 71. His son Geoffrey Nicholas HOLMES and grandson Peter HOLMES continued in the family shoe business.

William HOWKINS
Born 1851 at Markfield, Leicestershire, son of John HOWKINS, cordwainer, and his wife Martha MORRIS. The children of William and his wife Emma included Emma Elizabeth HOWKINS 1873, John HOWKINS 1874, William HOWKINS 1877, Herbert HOWKINS 1880, Alexander HOWKINS 1882 and Lucy Ellen HOWKINS 1885. Following the death of his first wife Emma in 1897, William married Cecelia KITCHEN in 1899 at Leicester. From the age of 10 William worked in the shoe trade and by his 30's he was a boot and shoe manufacturer. He was a shareholder in the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Arthur R HUDSON
Joined Benefit Footwear in March 1947 following three years of wartime service in the Royal Navy. In 1960 he took over management of the Benefit Central Repairs Factory in Templar Street, Vicar Lane, Leeds. In 1961 upon the merger with British Shoe Corporation, a new company was formed, BSC (Shoe Repairs) Ltd, an amalgamation of all the repair divisions of Benefit, Saxone, Freeman Hardy Willis, True Form, Dolcis & Manfield. The new company was responsible for servicing the entire 2,200 retail outlets that comprised the British Shoe Corporation. His initial responsibility at the formation of this new company was as Area Manager for the North of England and Ireland. In 1978 he was appointed Chief Executive and remained in that position until the disposal of the repair company in 1988, a decision to his mind and in the minds of many others, that triggered the ultimate decline of the British Shoe Corporation. In 1985 he became President of the National Association of Multiple Shoe Repairers (NAMSR). Upon his retirement from British Shoe Corporation in 1988, he was invited by the industry to take on the mantle of Chairman of the Shoe Repair Industry Training Organisation (SRITO). During his period of office 1988 to 1994 he worked in conjunction with the City & Guilds of London Institute and was responsible for the successful introduction of National Vocational Qualifications into the shoe repair industry in 1994. He served on the National Wages Council from 1976 until 1988 and following his retirement in 1994, he continued as an industry consultant until 1998.

Henry John HUGHES
Born c1856 at Liverpool, son of John HUGHES and Margaret JACKSON. In 1871 and 1881 he was living with his widowed mother and he firstly worked as a shop boy and then as a porter in a Liverpool boot shop. In 1886 he married Helena Maria PARKER and their children included Florence Edith HUGHES 1887 and William Lawrence HUGHES 1889. He managed boot shops in Liverpool in the 1890s and early 1900s and from 1905 to 1908 his wife Mrs Helena HUGHES managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 120 Earle Road, Liverpool.

Herbert Sydney HUGO
Born 1877 at Redruth, Cornwall, son of John HUGO, porter, and his wife Mary Ann ANDREW. He worked firstly as a boot shop assistant in Redruth and in 1897 managed the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 32 Fore Street, St Austell.

Benjamin HUNN
Born 1845 at Bourne, Lincolnshire, son of Job HUNN, hairdresser, and his wife Elizabeth RIPPIN. In 1873 he married Eleanor HELLON and their children included Edith HUNN 1874, Florence HUNN 1877 and Herbert William HUNN 1878. He initially conducted business as a chemist and wholesale druggist but with family links to the Franklins, by 1891 he had moved into the boot trade. He managed the substantial Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 42 Corporation Street, Birmingham. In 1897 he was appointed a director of the first Public Benefit Boot Co board and continued on the board until at least 1922. He was a prominent Freemason and held the highest office being appointed Grand Standard Bearer in the Grand Lodge of England in 1914. He died in 1928 aged 83.

Robert HYSLOP
Born 1859 at Leicester, to a Sottish father Robert HYSLOP, boot manufacturer, and his English wife Mary ADCOCK. In 1886 Robert Jr married Louisa Emma WOOD, daughter of Sir Edward Wood, JP. Their children included Mary HYSLOP 1886, Robert Edward HYSLOP 1889, Arnold George HYSLOP 1897, Ronald Wood HYSLOP 1900 and Annie Louisa HYSLOP 1908. He was a boot factor, neighbour, business associate and brother-in-law of Samuel LENNARD. His wife Louisa died in 1918 aged 51 and the following year he married Clara ORTON in Leicester. He was a shareholder in Lennards Brothers, and a director of Freeman, Hardy and Willis for many years. He died 26 November 1938 at Bournemouth aged 79.