The Joseph Pickering & Sons story
In 1824 John Needham (born 1773) produced a polishing paste for the burgeoning cutlery and Sheffield Plate industries from his home and premises in Harvest Lane. As the business built up he was joined by his niece, Harriet Needham (born 1829), who assisted him. He seems to have moved about as trade directories list his address as 50 Harvest Lane in 1833 and 120 Harvest Lane in 1841.
James Dixon & Son works, Sheffield
Joseph Pickering, the son of a silversmith and a young apprentice of James Dixon & Son (Cornish Place, Sheffield – premises still extant but converted to apartments) lived in nearby Fitzalan Street, Bridgehouse, Sheffield (Fitzalan Street now lost to new development but was in the area of Derek Dooley Way). He often collected polishing paste from Needham’s on his way to work and this is where he met young Harriet and a romance blossomed. After completing his articles in 1847 Joseph married Harriet. John Needham had died the year earlier (aged 73) so Harriet and Joseph had been running the business themselves.
Changing the business name to ‘Joseph Pickering (late John Needham)’ and they had moved further up the road to 128 Harvest Lane by 1849 and then to their ‘Polish Works’ just around the corner at 32 Mowbray Street (no longer extant) where they also owned nine houses.
Expanding the business and adding new products by 1860 Joseph had a small workforce and had also begun a family. As a principal in the Parkwood Springs Land Society he built a house in Vale Road (no houses extant today). He was a churchwarden at St Michael & All Saints Church, Ball Street and was later a Councillor for the Sharrow Ward after he bought a house there. Prospect Road adjacent to Vale Road was later renamed Pickering Road in honour of the Councillor.
Despite flood damage in the Sheffield Flood of 1864 (for which the company lost 10 days business and was awarded compensation of £45 in June 1865) the business flourished and outgrew its premises again. Joseph, who by now had three sons working with him, renamed the company Joseph Pickering and Sons and moved to a new ‘Polish Works’ in Burton Road in 1875 (still extant but now a small business centre). As a caring employer, not unusual in these times, he provided housing in Percy Street, let to his workers at special rents, and a sickness and benefit club (none still extant) for his workforce, which had grown to over 100.
Polish Works frontage (later renamed Albyn Works), Burton Road, Sheffield
Burton Road works showing the 'Blanco' single storey extension at rear of works
By 1871 the Pickerings have a family home 87 Pomona Street, Sheffield (not extant). Joseph’s son John Needham Pickering developed new products for the family company which by 1880 including the famous ‘Blanco’ – a pure white compressed block product that could, by the addition of a little water, be applied to soldier’s leather-work with a sponge, rag or brush. They sold it to the local Hillsborough barracks who adopted his product and their extra white webbing was admired and led to it’s adoption by the rest of the army. A new single storey extension was built to accommodate the manufacture of the successful Blanco product. The Polish Works was renamed ‘Albyn Works’ (from the Latin Albus – White).
The packaging needs of the factory were met by Arthur Truelove, a tin plate and cardboard box merchant based in Moore Street. Arthur married Joseph’s daughter Mary and Arthur’s elder brother Isaac Truelove married Joseph’s sister Hannah. These close family and business ties led to the merger of the two companies in 1900 to form Joseph Pickering & Sons Limited. Arthur Truelove was a Councillor and later Alderman of Sheffield. He built two hostels which gave clean and cheap accommodation for men working in the town.
The packaging side for the business was a great success and in 1906 a new factory was built in Moore Street for the production of cartons. Designed by city architect CM Hadfield the splendid fireproof concrete and steel flat roofed factory was faced with ornate terracotta. Now a listed façade, it fronts a stylish modern office block.
Joseph Pickering & Sons Ltd packaging works, Moore St, Sheffield (2010)
For three quarters of a century, ‘Blanco’ was the company’s major product, sold to the Military in over sixty countries. However, with the end of conscription production of Blanco and the later Pickering’s web cleaners declined and sales of other polishing products fell away as Sheffield began to lose its industry of silverware, cutlery and knife-making. In the 1980s the cardboard box business become the company’s lifeline.
Both the Burton Road and Moore Street factory sites were sold and carton production switched to more modern new premises in Little London Road. In the process all equipment used for the manufacturing of web cleaners was left behind.
Chairman Joseph Pickering's house 34 Kingfield Road, Sharrow, Sheffield as listed in 1925 trade directory
In 2005 the shareholding of the company was widely spread around the Pickering family, many of the shareholders being over 70 years old. The family members unanimously decided they wanted to pursue other interests and chose to sell the business. It had a turnover of £3m and employed around 70 people in the design and manufacture of cases, cartons, flatpacks and corrugated boxes for a wide range of industries including healthcare, food and various manufacturing sectors.
The company was bought by Robin Batchelor in a typically modern arrangement funded by a business finance deal and a £150,000 regional development loan, with hopes to take the company forward with plans for growth. Instead the company’s decline was rapid. With large loans to repay, cash loaned against invoices and bad debts the burden lead to strangled cash flow and creditors unpaid.
Pickering’s new owner and managing director, Robin Batchelor (left) with Investment Manager Karl Hodson.
With £1.2 million debts the company ceased trading on 30th January 2009, 40 employees were made redundant and the company’s administrators set about selling off the assets.
The company had been witness to the reigns of eight monarchs. It had survived two World Wars, the Wall Street Crash, the three-day week of 1974, and the dark days of the recessions of 1980 and 1992. But now, after 185 years trading, Joseph Pickering and Sons Limited of Sheffield, had gone bust – another victim of the credit crunch sweeping Britain. And in many ways typical of the rise and fall of successful, self-funded, family run Victorian industries who fall foul of the high debt, complex business models of modern times.
Pickering's Little London Road works up for sale (2010)
In the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division – Leeds District Registry No 168 of 2009
JOSEPH PICKERING & SONS LIMITED (Company Number 00068068)
Nature of Business: Manufacturing.
Registered Office of Company: KPMG LLP, 1 The Embankment, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4DW.
Date of Appointment: 30 January 2009.
Joint Administrators’ Names and Address: Mark Granville Firmin and Howard Smith (IP Nos 9284 and 9341), both of KPMG LLP, 1 The Embankment, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4DW.
Written by David Pratt
Moore St and Little London Road photos by David Pratt
White Blanco photo by StigRoadie
Burton Road and Kingfield Road photos by Google Street
Reference:
“Blanco – made in Sheffield” Burngreave Messenger
“Family Agrees To Management Buy-In” Manufacturing Talk
“£150,000 loan” South Yorkshire Investment Fund
“Historic Sheffield firm forced to pack up after 185 years” The Star
“Joseph Pickering brought down by debts” Packaging News
“Sheffield Flood claim” Sheffield Flood Claims Archive