Formed 42 years ago by the late Mr. T. W. Cox and the late Mr. C. J. Newton, the Coxton Shoe Co., Ltd., Rectory Road, Rushden, is to go into voluntary liquidation.

A meeting of creditors was held on Monday at the Queen Victoria Hotel, Rushden, attended by representatives of 16 creditor firms. The company’s nomination of Mr. R. A. Haigh, of A. C. Palmer, chartered accountants, Leicester, as liquidator was accepted.

Mr. Haigh presented a list of 25 trade creditors of over £200 and others of smaller amounts, including a reserve for contingencies totalling £2,756 10s 3d. Total liabilities, including loan creditors, public services, preferential creditors for wages, holiday pay, PAYE and other contingencies were a gross £27,833, the net liability after allowing for preferential creditors, being £24,593. Total assets were £19,528.

Mr. Haigh said that there was often difficulty about firms having to go into liquidation but he noted that the Coxton Shoe Co., seemed to be the “one per cent” which did not cause a lot of trouble through being mortgaged up to the hilt, with no assets.

The troubles of the firm, he said were mainly because of uneconomic running and the increased costs of materials and labour. He declared: “There has been five per cent too much value in the shoes for their price.”

Telling of the decline in trading and the gradual dropping of profits, Mr. Haigh said: “A whole life’s savings in the shoe trade can go bang so quickly.”

Wrong Decision

He told the creditors that the company had discussed its future at a meeting a year ago and it had been decided to continue in business. He described this as a wrong and unfortunate decision.

People in the clickers’ room had already been dismissed, but the factory would go on until the present stocks were completed, he said.

It was expected that the creditors would receive at least 13s 4d in the £.

Reviewing the history of the firm, he said the Coxton Shoe Company had been formed by Mr. Cox and Mr. Newton in 1912 and had carried on reasonably successfully until the middle thirties. In 1939 business began to pick up once more, continued satisfactorily for about 12 years and then began to drop. A limited company was formed in 1955.

Since that date poor trading had made the position extremely serious. The money of Mr. Cox (who died on April 3) and the family of the late Mr. C. J. Newton went first; he pointed out, adding that he thought it well that it had been decided to call the meeting before the position became more serious. He was glad to note that the company property was not in mortgage and that there was still a little money in the bank, in three accounts; there was not the usual difficulty of having to find the employees’ wages.

Principal Creditors

Mr. Haigh said that the company directors had decided that the only thing to do would be to go into voluntary liquidation.

At the end of the meeting a small committee was formed to inspect the company’s premises.

Principal trade creditors are: Atwell Edwards and Co., Rushden (£304), British United Shoe Machinery Co., Ltd., Leicester (£2,031), Boston Sole Co., Ltd., Rushden (£213), Convoys Ltd., (London) (£214), J. Chambers and Son (Raunds) Ltd. (£616), W. W. Chamberlains and Sons, Ltd., Higham Ferrers (£345), H. W. Chapman, Ltd., Wellingborough (£615), A. W. Durrad and Co., Ltd. Leicester (£364), Davis and Co., Ltd. Kettering (£257), Richard Davies Leather Co., Ltd., London (£637), G. H. Frecknall and Co., Ltd Northampton (£234), T. A. Hall and Co., Ltd., Kettering (£1,041).

W. L. Ingle and Co., Ltd., Leeds (£312), Itshide Rubber Co., Ltd., Petersfield (£234), Keunen Bros. Ltd., Irthlingborough (£235), Phipps and Son Ltd., Northampton (£519), Raunds Welts, Ltd. (£412), E. and J. Richardson, Newcastle (£318), R. W. Spice Rand Co., Ltd., London (£985), Rowland Saxby, Ltd., Higham Ferrers (£203), Stimpson-Perkins, Ltd., Northampton (£225), Tebbitt Bros. Ltd., London (£388), Edward Woodley and Sons, Ltd., Higham Ferrers (£300), Wildman and Bugby, Ltd., Rushden (£210), Walker-Bolton, Ltd., Bolton (£972).