Wilson & Stafford

The Art of Feltmaking entered England in the reign of Elizabeth I and was centered around Southwark in London. It spread north to Cheshire and Lancashire in the early 17th Century and was active in Chester in 1629. It reached Coventry by 1636, introduced by Edward Owen, where it replaced the woolen cap- making industry which was so important to that city during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Article by Tony Stafford – January 11, 2010
I’ve just come across your website, and I thought that this article which I compiled for visitors to our factory might be of interest.

Felt hat making was first recorded in the Atherstone area in 1658 and became the main source of occupation for the working people of the town until the 1920′s, along with the local coal mining activities.

Although London and Northern hatters produced mainly fur-felt derived from beaver, and later angora rabbit pelts; Atherstone appeared to have developed as a centre for wool felt production. Hatting flourished here during the 18th century. The Atherstone ” Cordier ” (a term possibly derived from the French town of Courdebec, which was also a centre for wool felt manufacture); was a favorite in the days of the slave trade; mainly due to a statute of George III which required all slave owners to provide suitable head wear for their slaves.

With the demise of the slave trade, the early 19th century brought other business opportunities. During the Napoleonic war, Atherstone was supplying the army with Shako helmets and other forms of headwear. Peace and the growth of England’s industrial might saw great changes for the Atherstone hatters. Until the late 1850′s, feltmaking had been a hand-crafted process. The American Civil War brought dramatic advances in clothing manufacture which also included hatting. Such developments introduced machinery, not only to the northern hatters of both continents but also to Atherstone.

It was during this time of rapid expansion that the firm of Wilson and Stafford was established on its present site in 1871 .There had already been hatting activity in the original buildings during the previous decade by William and Katherine Simmonds, who employed about 20 people between them. The area of the canal basin and wharves had been connected with the making of hats and the transportation of raw materials such as wool and coal since its inception in 1771.

William Wilson was well acquainted with the skills of felt-making since both his father and mother had come from local hatting families. Richard Stafford was a member of a Leicestershire farming family, but had entered the trade in a management capacity in the 1860′s.

Initially a partnership, the business soon established itself as a leading company in the town, employing more than 300 people by the 1880′s. In 1890, the firm became a limited liability company and continued to expand both in the home and export markets.

The last member of the Wilson family to be active in the management of the Company was Charles Wilson who died in 1912. Since the turn of the century, members of the Stafford family continued to oversee the business until the factory closed in 1999.

Wilson and Stafford absorbed the feltmaking interests of Austin Aspden Ltd (formerly Denham & Hargreaves) and Vero & Everitt Ltd during the 1980′s.

Image © Copyright Ian Filmer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

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