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Article by Peter Butler Presented by Karon Rice |
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Tom Thacker - Memories of Jaques and Clark Ltd
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In the later years of his life, Tom Thacker, who had been, I believe, Managing Director of Jaques and Clark Ltd, lived at The Shrubbery in Higham Ferrers where I used to visit him. Bearing in mind that he was in his eighties I cannot be sure that what he told me was accurate, or what I recorded of our conversations. The company was founded in 1890. The business started life in a small factory off Fitzwilliam Hill. I knew these premises when I started working for Geoff Morgan in 1949, since Geoff rented all the first floor, whilst Teddy Chettles had his stables underneath and, I assume, owned the property. Jaques and Clark factory in Midland and Station Road was built in two stages. The first part, the vee, was owned by a firm called Austin and Bond. The second phase of building was done by Jaques with its name in brickwork in Midland Road. The Company became a Liability Co in 1924. with its address being 42 Midland Road. The factory closed on December 12th 1980. It was still financially viable at the time of closure, but a combination of there being no one to take over the business coupled with the general decline in the industry were the main reasons for closure. The history of the green Tin Tabernacle that stood in the grounds of the factory on the Station Road side has been documented in the past. Suffice it is to say that its final use was a garage for Tom's car.
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