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The Public Benefit Boot Company

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Surnames I to O

Ernest Jesse KEVEREN
Born 1871 at Gloucester, son of Arthur KEVEREN, master painter, and his wife Harriett Gabb SAUL. In 1894 in Somerset he married Beatrice Eliza BOWER (pictured with him at the left). Their children included Gladys Beatrice A KEVEREN 1895, Hilda Violet KEVEREN 1896, Lilian Ruth KEVEREN 1898 and Phyllis Grace KEVEREN 1900. His eldest brother Arthur George KEVEREN was a boot salesman and Ernest followed him into the trade. In the mid-1890s Ernest was based in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset and in South Wales; in 1898 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co shop at 88 Fisherton Street, Salisbury, after which he managed the company premises at The Cross, Worcester. Prior to 1918 he and his family moved to the USA and he died in Utah in 1964 aged 92 years.

George KIRBY
Born 1855 at Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, son of Edward KIRBY, bricklayer. George’s mother died before he reached the age of six. In the early 1880s George worked as a music teacher in Dorking, Surrey, where he married Maria SCOTT in 1885. Their children included Ethel M KIRBY 1887 born Sheffield and Alan John KIRBY 1889 born Dorking. Along with his brother John he moved into the boot trade and managed large boot manufacturing operations in Warrington and Birkdale. For many years he was a shareholder and director of the Public Benefit Boot Co.

John KIRBY
Born 1853 at Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, son of Edward KIRBY, bricklayer. He started his working life as a glover and draper’s apprentice but by 1881 was working as a boot and shoe merchant at the establishment of Jabez HARKER in Nottingham. By 1891 John KIRBY was a boot factor in Sheffield where he successfully set up a large manufacturing operation. In 1885 he married Agnes Martha GOSS of Northampton and their children included Lilian A KIRBY 1887, Winifred KIRBY 1890 and John KIRBY 1896. With his brother George, he was a shareholder as well as a highly regarded and long serving director of the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Henry LACEY
Born 1845 at Leicester, he firstly married Susannah who died in 1872 aged 26 leaving an infant son Henry Baker LACEY. In 1875 Henry married secondly Emma KERSHAW of Leeds. Their children included Emma Kershaw LACEY 1876, John William LACEY 1877, Alice Nicholson LACEY 1878, Lilian Rhodes LACEY 1879, Frank Herbert LACEY 1881, Helen LACEY 1883, May LACEY 1884 and Albert Edward LACEY 1886. Emma died in 1890 aged 46 and in 1892 Henry married thirdly Sarah Jane WILKINSON of Binbrook, Lincolnshire. Their children included Percy Wilkinson LACEY 1895, Cecil Sinclair LACEY 1896, Norman Rhodes LACEY 1899 and Dorothy Margaret LACEY 1900. At the age of 25 Henry was an elastic web manufacturer employing 16 people. By the 1890s he was a commercial traveller in the boot trade and a shareholder in the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Henry James LANE
Born about 1856 at Tewkesbury, son of Henry LANE, shoemaker, and his wife Mary. In 1871 at Tewkesbury he married Emma RUCK and they had one son Harry G LANE born 1882 at New Swindon, Wiltshire. For more than 20 years Henry managed Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 15 Havelock Street, Sheffield.

William LEGGE
Born 1853 at Pinkney, Wiltshire, son of Thomas LEGGE, cordwainer, and his wife Jane. In 1879 he married Augusta Jane BRYANT and their children included William LEGGE 1882, Frank Robert A LEGGE 1883, Frederick Andrew LEGGE 1885, Charles Bryant LEGGE 1888, Winifred Nora LEGGE 1893 and Francis Evelyn LEGGE 1897. William worked firstly as a grocer before moving into the boot trade. In the 1890s and early 1900s William managed Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Sheffield.

Ernest William LENNARD
Born 1888 at Stroud, son of William LENNARD, boot retailer, and his wife Emma KIRCHIN. He joined Lennards Ltd in 1922 and was managing director in the 1930s. In April 1925 as Lieutenant Colonel he assumed command of the 6th Battalion (Bristol) and in 1926 he received territorial decorations. In December 1929 in conjunction with the Cowper Shoe Company Ltd of Shakespeare Road, Northampton, he applied for a patent relating to a fastening device for lace-up boots and shoes; the patent was accepted in August 1930. He was appointed the Sheriff of Bristol in 1938.

Francis Henry LENNARD
Born 1878 at Leicester, son of William LENNARD, boot retailer, and his wife Emma KIRCHIN. At the turn of the century he worked in boot manufacturing in Kettering.

Henry LENNARD
Born about 1857 at Leicester, son of Frederic LENNARD and his wife Mary GANT. In 1881 he married Mary Anne BRENNAN, daughter of Martin BRENNAN, a cabinetmaker from Ireland. Henry devoted his life to the family’s boot and shoe making interests. His wife died after an accidental fall at Leicester in 1902 aged 47 and Henry died at Leicester in 1910 aged 54.

John LENNARD
Born 1845 at Leicester, son of Frederic LENNARD and his wife Mary GANT. In 1870 he married Ellen Mary TOVELL of Ballingdon, Essex. Their children included Mary Tovell LENNARD 1871, Robert Frederic LENNARD 1873 and Clara LENNARD 1874. Initially a schoolteacher, John subsequently joined his brothers in boot manufacturing in Leicestershire and Gloucestershire. In 1897 he was secretary of Lennards Ltd and he served on the board of the Public Benefit Boot Co until 1905.

Samuel LENNARD
Born 5 June 1851 at Leicester, son of Frederic LENNARD and his wife Mary GANT. In 1889 he married Annie Eliza WOOD, daughter of Alderman Edward Wood, JP. Their children included Eveline Annie LENNARD 1890, Edward Wood LENNARD 1892, Kathleen Mary LENNARD 1893 and Samuel Frederic LENNARD 1894. He was chairman of Lennard Bros Ltd, member of London Cordwainers' Guild, president of the National Boot and Shoe Manufacturers' Federation from 1896 to 1899. He was elected Alderman in 1891 and Justice of the Peace for the borough of Lecicester in 1895. In Novermeber 1900 he was elected Mayor of Leicester and died suddenly on 14 September 1901 at Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, aged 50, a few weeks before completing his term of office as mayor. Both of his sons were killed in action during World War One.

Sir Thomas Joseph LENNARD
Born 4 July 1861 at Leicester, son of Frederic LENNARD and his wife Mary GANT. He gained his education from public schools and private tutors in Leicester and commenced business as a boot manufacturer in 1877. He travelled around the world visiting Egypt, India, Ceylon, USA, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. In 1893 he married Edith Georgina SAUNDERS, daughter of a London banker, Horace Edward JAY. In November 1896 he bought footwear retail outlets from his brother Samuel and formed Lennards Ltd of Bristol. In 1904 he acquired a financial interest in the Public Benefit Boot Co of Leeds and became its chairman and managing director – positions he held until 1907. He was appointed Sheriff of Bristol and Gloucestershire in 1912 and he died 1 June 1938 at Cheriton Bishop, Devon aged 76.

William LENNARD
Born 1847 at Leicester, son of Frederic LENNARD and his wife Mary GANT. In 1872 at Loughborough he married Emma KIRCHIN and they had the following children: Annie LENNARD 1873, John Frederic LENNARD 1875, Francis Henry LENNARD 1878, Helen LENNARD 1884 and Ernest William LENNARD 1888. William worked in boot manufacturing in Leicester before managing company retail premises in Stroud and Gloucester.

Charles LEWIS
Born 1858 in Northamptonshire, son of George LEWIS, boot trade foreman, and his wife Mary FLAVELL. In 1879 he married Sarah Fanny COOMBS and their children included James LEWIS 1879, John LEWIS 1882, Mary Flavell LEWIS 1886 and Walter Edward LEWIS 1891. Along with other members of his extended family, Charles was involved in shoe manufacturing and held shares in the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Edward LEWIS
Born 1862 in Northamptonshire, son of George LEWIS, boot trade foreman, and his wife Mary FLAVELL. In 1884 he married Mary LEACH and their children included George LEWIS 1886, Gwendoline Nellie LEWIS 1888 and Elsie Mary LEWIS 1890. A Public Benefit Boot Co shareholder, Edward commenced in the boot and shoe trade as a clicker before taking on factory management.

Thomas Davies LEWIS
Born 1870 at Duston, Northamptonshire, son of George LEWIS, boot trade foreman, and his wife Mary FLAVELL. In 1897 he married Catherine ADAMS and their children included Henry George LEWIS born in 1898. By the age of 20 Thomas was an employer in shoe manufacturing and was, like his brothers, a shareholder in the Public Benefit Boot Co.

Thomas LILLEY
Born 1902, the son of Thomas LILLEY, a former chairman of Lilley and Skinner Ltd, and a great grandson of Thomas LILLEY, who founded the Lilley footwear business in 1835. He joined the family firm in 1925, was made a director in 1944, and chairman and managing director on the death of his father in 1951. He played a leading part in the merging of the firm with the Saxone shoe business in 1957. In 1940 he married Mrs Vera COTTINGHAM and he died at his home in London on 27 November 1959 aged 57.

Samuel Charles LUSTY
Born 1878 at Bristol, son of Charles LUSTY, oil lamp, soap and general dealer, and his second wife Sophia Matilda CRITCHLEY. At the age of 12 he worked as an errand boy for a boot shop (likely one of Lennards Ltd branches). He married in Bristol in 1901 and by 1914 he was a Lennards Ltd shareholder and managed the company’s branch in Grosvenor Road, Aldershot.

Frederick MAGGS
Born 1870 at Twerton near Bath, Somerset, son of Mark MAGGS, boot manufacturer, and his wife Martha BATTEN. In 1896 in Wales he married Decima JENKINS of Bryn-Mawr, Breconshire. He worked firstly as a commercial traveller, presumedly in the boot trade, and by 1901 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co shop at 211 High Street, Exeter. From 1905 to 1913 he managed the company’s premises at 115 High Street, Lincoln.

James Henry Robert Francis MARRIAN
Born 17 June 1881 at Balsall Heath, Worcester, son of James Robert MARRIAN, physician, and his wife Eliza WATKINS. Following the death of his father in 1887, his mother became a boot and shoe dealer, firstly in Kings Norton and later in Balsall Heath. Based in Worcester, James Henry Robert Francis MARRIAN was involved in tanning and shoe manufacturing enterprises. He married in 1909 and had a son Francis John Morton MARRIAN in 1912. He travelled to the USA in 1924, joined the Benefit Footwear board in 1929 and was managing director until 1937. He continued on the board until at least 1947 and died in 1964 aged 82.

John MARSTON
Born 1849 at Coventry, the son of Isaac MARSTON, silk weaver, and his wife Ann HILL. In 1871 at Coventry he married Emily BROOKS and their children included Arthur MARSTON 1873, Emily Elizabeth MARSTON 1876, William John MARSTON 1878, Edith MARSTON 1880, and Frederick MARSTON 1882. In the 1880s he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co shop at 4 Hales Street and Spon Street, Coventry. He later moved to Edgbaston where his son William assisted in the boot shop.

Christopher MERRYWEATHER
Born 1891 at Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, son of Charles MERRYWEATHER and his wife Margaret Hannah CARTWRIGHT.  In 1914 at Darlington he married Gwendoline Annie ARMSTRONG and their children included Nancy MERRYWEATHER born 1917 at Darlington. He joined the Public Benefit Boot Co in 1916 and managed one of the company shops before he was appointed inspector of the northern district in 1937. His primary responsibility in this role was to ensure that the company’s policies were carried out consistently throughout his region. He joined the Royal Navy in September 1942 and saw service abroad.  He returned to the company in March 1946. William CLAYTON, who worked at the Blyth shop from the late 1930s, recalled that Christopher MERRYWEATHER had very high standards as a district inspector.

Henry Abijah Pearce MONDEY
Born 1855 at Southampton, the third son of Thomas MONDEY, cabinet-maker, town missionary, and his wife Rebecca PEARCE of Romsey. At the age of 15 he was working as a Southampton hosier and in 1882 he married Louisa Rosetta MEYER of Bristol. In 1884 at Winchester they had a son Henry Carston MONDEY. In 1891 he was based at 64 Market Street, Longton, and managed a number of boot and shoe stores. Ten years later he was manager of the shop at 15 Market Place, Gainsborough.

Thomas Adonijah MONDEY
Born 1852 at Southampton, the second son of Thomas MONDEY, cabinet-maker, town missionary, and his wife Rebecca PEARCE of Romsey. In 1882 Thomas Jr, at the time a shoemaker, married Elizabeth Naish EAMES of Southampton. Their children included Daisy MONDEY 1877, David MONDEY 1878 and Philip MONDEY 1881. The family moved to Sheffield, where in 1891, Thomas managed the company’s boot shop. He died seven years later at the age of 46.

James Augustine MORAN
Born 13th August 1878 at Doncaster, Yorkshire, the son of Irishman John MORAN and Bridget Theresa MORRIS of Epworth, Lincolnshire. He left school by age 12 and worked initially as an errand boy. By 1901 James was managing a boot shop in Eccleshall Bierlow and by 1910 managed the boot department of Huddersfield Co-operative Society. He went into business as a master boot and shoe maker in 1912 but by June 1915 had been declared bankrupt. He moved with his family to Birmingham and was appointed the manager of The Public Benefit Boot Company branch at 42 Corporation Street, Birmingham. In May 1916 as the Great War progressed the British Government began the conscription of married men and James was called up. He spent the next three years serving in France and Belgium with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as a Lance Corporal. James was transferred to the reserve in 1919 and he returned to Huddersfield where he was appointed manager of the Barnsley Co-operative Boot and Shoe Store. He worked there until his retirement after which he ran a confectionery and tobacconist business with his wife until his death in 1950.

John MORRIS
In 1914 he was a Lennards Ltd shareholder and managed a company branch shop at 35 Pandy Square, Tonypandy, Glamorgan, Wales.

Arthur John MORRISH
Born 1871 at Bridford, son of John MORRISH, boot-maker, and his wife Sophia JOINT. In 1894 at Plymouth he married Ellen PARNELL. He worked firstly as a boot-maker in Plymouth and by the turn of the century he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch in Market Place, Penzance. By 1914 he was based in Leicester, a shareholder in Lennards Ltd and worked as a district inspector of branches for the company.

John MORRISH
Born 1847 at Holcombe Burnell, Devon, son of Samuel MORRISH, shoe maker, and his wife Salome. In 1869 at Exeter he married Sophia JOINT and their children included Arthur John MORRISH 1871, Florence Lydia MORRISH 1872, William Henry MORRISH 1873, Lily Sophia MORRISH 1879, Walter Herbert MORRISH 1884 and Victor George Leonard MORRISH 1885. John worked firstly as a boot-maker in Bridford and later in Plymouth where it is thought he worked for the Public Benefit Boot Co. Following John’s death in early 1890, his widow Sophia took over the management of the Public Benefit Boot Co premises at 152 King Street, Plymouth, continuing in that role into the early 1900s.

Victor George Leonard MORRISH
Born 1885 at Plymouth, son of John MORRISH, boot-maker, and his wife Sophia JOINT. At the age of 16 he was a boot trade apprentice based with his brother Arthur at the Public Benefit Boot Co premises in Market Place, Penzance. In 1912 at Dudley he married Jane LEE.

Walter Herbert MORRISH
Born 1884 at Plymouth, son of John MORRISH, boot-maker, and his wife Sophia JOINT. At the age of 17 he was assisting his mother in the management of the Public Benefit Boot Co branch at 152 King Street, Plymouth.

G R MOUNT
Chairman and managing director of Lennards Limited, 1960-1961.

Wesley NANCARROW
Born 1865 at Summercourt, St Enoder, Cornwall, son of John NANCARROW, draper and grocer, and his wife Ann BROAD. He worked as a draper’s apprentice in Boscawen Street, Truro, before becoming a travelling salesman. At the turn of the century he was a dealer in china, glass, earthenware, boots and shoes and by 1906 he managed the Public Benefit Boot Co branch in Honey Street, Bodmin. By 1914 he managed businesses in Wadebridge and Redruth. In 1919 at Bodmin he married Kate CAMPS.

Charles Llewellyn OLIVER
Born 1871 at Swansea, Wales, son of Charles OLIVER who at that time managed a boot and shoe establishment at 30 Castle Street, Swansea. Both the Charles Sr and Charles Jr were shoe factors and subsequently held executive positions with Lennards Ltd of Bristol.

Charles Edward A OWEN
Born about 1861 at Uppingham, Rutland, son of Henry Joseph OWEN, formerly a grocer, later a boot merchant, and his wife Ann Eliza WESTMORELAND. In 1885 at Chorlton, Lancashire, he married Elizabeth Patience HADWIN and their children included Lillian OWEN 1886 and Gertrude OWEN 1890. Charles was initially a boot and shoe salesman before becoming a dealer in Ardwick and Newton in Makerfield.

Joseph Henry OWEN
Born about 1858 at Peterborough, son of Henry Joseph OWEN, formerly a grocer, later a boot merchant, and his wife Ann Eliza WESTMORELAND. In 1871 Henry managed a Leicester shoe shop and 10 years later he was a boot manufacturer’s manager. Both Joseph and his father Henry were listed in 1891 as boot and shoe merchants in Toxteth Park. In 1892 Joseph married Lydia PENNINGTON of Prescot and a few years later he managed a boot dealership in Warrington and became a shareholder in the Public Benefit Boot Co.