'Pickfords': Expansion and Crisis in the Early Nineteenth Century
Titel:
'Pickfords': Expansion and Crisis in the Early Nineteenth Century
Auteur:
Halfpenny, E.
Verschenen in:
Business history
Paginering:
Jaargang 1 (1959) nr. 2 pagina's 115-125
Jaar:
1959-06
Inhoud:
The basis of this paper is a small group of miscellaneous letters and documents relating to the Pickford family which have come into my possession because, on 9 May, 1815 Mrs. Elizabeth Halfpenny married Mathew Pickford. This lady's son (my great-grandfather, F. W. Halfpenny) had an interest as residual legatee in Matthew's estate, including, as events showed, an entirely fictitious holding in the carrying business of Pickford & Company. In his pursuit of this matter, Halfpenny, who was a barrister, made voluminous transcripts of wills, partnership deeds etc. relating to his title, the originals of which are either no longer in existence or would be difficult to trace. He also preserved many letters and other personalia of those members of the Pickford family with whom he was in contact. An examination of this material has revealed a series of crises by which the Pickfords gradually seceded from the business during the first half of the nineteenth century: and a fairly simple extension of the investigation into public records has shown how and when the emphasis shifted from Manchester, the birthplace of the family and its earlier centre of activity, to the London-based company whose name still greets us from furniture removal vans in our streets. The results are, it is hoped, a small contribution to the history of a great firm, which certainly deserves a more extended treatment than can be attempted here.
Tijdschrift beschrijving