Area Club
John Thomas Illingworth was the commercial traveller for Samuel the First, and had been for some 10 years at Samuel‘s death, himself then aged 35 years.
In 1842, Samuel Gawith (The Second) was born, and over the next 14 years 5 siblings followed.
In greater detail, the business was now to be run by Samuel the 2nd, and the next eldest son, John Edward. John was only 18 (and therefore a minor at law) at the time, and his directorship had to be sanctioned by the Lord Chancellor. The property at Lowther Street was bequeathed to the other children as a home, for as long as they required it, provided Samuel and John had access to the business section.
In 1867, J.T. Illingworth left the company to set up on his own, building a factory on Sandes Avenue in 1869 and then moving to larger premises on Canal Head (literally next door to the Kendal Brown House!). 1931 saw the company cease tobacco production and become "Illingworth Snuffs Ltd." The premises were destroyed by fire in the early 1980s, after which the company continued in Kendal for a few more years before being bought up by Joseph Wilson‘s.p>
Back to Samuel Gawith.
The partnership between the two brothers worked for some years, but, not for the first time in a family firm and surely not for the last, Samuel and John decided that they would be best served by not working in partnership anymore and on 31st March 1878 an "agreement of seperation" came into effect. The premises at Lowther Street, and the mill at Meal Bank were to be split and that Samuel Gawith was to have the choice of which to possess. Samuel chose the mill, and Lowther Street passed to John E. Gawith, Tobacco Manufacturer.
Prossimo articolo: The history of Samuel Gawith and Company - part IV
