Topic: Czech Stairfoot (Barnsley) question

[Sklounion]

Hi,
Does anyone have a Kelly's Directory for Yorkshire, from the period 1910-1930?
I am trying to discover who, operating from Stairfoot, near Barnsley, was acting as a significant importer of glass, particularly that made by Feigl and Morawetz, and then Libochovice a.s. during that period.
I believe the imports came into the U.K via Eagle Wharf in London.

According to Wikipaedia

"n 1867 Ben Rylands founded the Hope Glassworks at Stairfoot on what is now derelict land alongside the Aldi supermarket. During 1873 Ben Rylands was heavily involved in perfecting the manufacture process for Hiram Codd's new globe stoppered mineral water bottle. Codd rewarded him with a licence to manufacture the bottle in April 1874 and the business took off. Orders for the new bottle were so good that Rylands could not meet demand from his original works so work was commenced on a second factory on land now occupied by Beatson Clark. Hiram Codd joined Ben Rylands in partnership at Stairfoot in May 1877.

In 1881 following four years together Ben died leaving Codd to carry on the business alone. In 1882 Codd admitted Ben's son Dan Rylands as a partner at Stairfoot. Their stormy relationship lasted until 1884 when Codd sold his part of the business to Dan and left to pursue other interests. The Hope Glassworks under the stewardship of Dan Rylands was now the largest factory of its kind in the world."

Was this company still around? Was Ryland likely to be the importer? Or was someone else involved?

Thanks in advance,
Regards,
Marcus

[Frank]

Possibly (1907 directory): Rylands Glass & Engineering Co. Ltd. Glass Bottles. Barnsley. No other data but at least there will be records in company house.

[Frank]

Yep, Rylands were at Stairfoot. Named as above. They installed auto-bottle machines in 1919 but by mid to late 20's in serious difficulties. Beatson Clark tried to buy them out but the deal fell through in 1928. Interestingly BC then considered buying an I.S. machine but decided it was to complex and ended up buying a Monish machine introduced by Moncrieff in 1928. (Don't you love these wheels within wheels). Back to Rylands. Following the breakdown of talks they must have gone out of business. BC bought the lands and buildings at Stairfoot on Jan 3 1929. The Stairfoot works were the first user of Yorkshires corporation gas and it is believed the first to melt glass with this fuel. Full details will be in the Glass-Study in due course.

No trace of the importing operation.

[Frank]

Found another Glass bottle works in Stairfoot (1931) Tomlinson & Co. Ltd, Manor Flint Glass Works. established 1891

[Frank]

For $39  you can read this 1907 article where there is a partial quote "The Rylands Glass and Engineering Co., Limited. (London Agents: Messrs. Sanderson and Young, 21, Red Lion Square,. W.C.), supply excellent jars. ..."

You might get some more data from the guy mentioned at the bottom here

[Anne]

Rylands Glass and Engineering Co -  sale of business & assets by order of the receiver  - dated 1927. Details sent to Marcus directly.

[Frank]

I have added part of the 1931 PG diary to the Glass-Study, just the glass-maker list and Trade names list - so now search actually finds Stairfoot  :chky:

The rest of the diary will wait, but I will start doing the same for all the other diaries once caught up on Zoo backlog and US catalogs for Kristi.

[Littleblackhen]

I hope this will work.  Here is the 1891 census showing Dan Rylands as Glass bottle Manufacturer and Colliery owner.  By the next census in 1901 he is living in Harrogate, and his profession is Coal Factors Clerk, so I don't know if this meant he had left the factory by that time, or if it was in the hands of a manager.

[Sklounion]

Thank you all for the help.
The fact that Rylands had agents in London ties in nicely, as the Czech source does not make clear the companies involved.
Apparently, the archivist in Barnsley says the Rylands papers are numerous, and it would require extensive searching to discover papers relating to Czechoslovakian imports. However, he is now contacting someone who has been through the papers, and I await the result of that contact with interest.
Regards,
Marcus

[Littleblackhen]

I have access to all England and Wales censuses between 1841 and 1901 and I am happy to do look ups if it helps at all to track down glassmakers.

My husband is a researcher in archives - funnily enough he sometimes works at Barnsley, but he isn't planning a visit anytime soon unfortunately.