Middlemores Saddles
| Traded as | Richard Middlemore & Sons, William Middlemore, Middlemore And Lamplugh, Middlemores (Coventry) Ltd |
|---|---|
| Industry | Leather goods, mainly saddlery |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | Early 1800s |
| Founder | Richard Middlemore |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Birmingham, Birmingham and Coventry, Coventry, England |
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Key people
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Richard Middlemore, William Middlemore, James Middlemore, Thomas Middlemore |
| Products | Bicycle saddles, horse saddles, harnesses, military ammunition pouches and belts, cigar cases |
Middlemores Saddles was a horse saddles and accessories company based in Birmingham, England, with origins dating to the early nineteenth century. After several name changes they ended their time as a bicycle saddle and accessories company in Coventry in the late twentieth century. The company had a trading period that can be documented to at least 160 years; making it one of the most companies to operate in England.
The origins of Middlemores Saddles go back to when Richard Middlemore had a company at 31 Holloway Head, Birmingham. On 31 December 1831 Richard Middlemore & Sons was dissolved and debts paid off by his sons William (1802-1887) and James Middlemore (1807-1891) and the company started again as William Middlemore.
The sons had joint control until 1841 when William took over by mutual consent. Their brother Richard, 1804-1891, chose medicine to become an eye surgeon. William's son, John, (1844-1924) worked with them but later became an MP and Baronet, a title his son William Hawkslow Middlemore (1908-1987) inherited.
The factory supplied horse saddles and accessories to the military in the pre-motorised days. A House of Lords Select Committee survey into wages paid by such contracted companies found William Middlemore paid the best wages. In 1860 they employed 400 workers being one of the largest employers in the UK.
William retired in 1881 and another son, Thomas Middlemore (1842–1923), who was also a well-known mountain climber, became head of the company.
Thomas retired in 1896 and in 1898 purchased the Melsetter Estate on the Orkney Islands. Also in 1896, the firm William Middlemore joined Lamplugh & Co. to become Middlemore & Lamplugh Ltd. this was after buying an additional factory at 89 Little Park Street, Coventry, to make bicycle saddles and accessories.
In 1920 the company was liquidated, the Holloway Head factory absorbed by D. Mason & Sons Ltd, Birmingham and the Coventry bicycle saddle division becoming a separate company Middlemores (Coventry) Ltd. A 1920 advert shows them as 'Middlemores (Coventry) Ltd (late Middlemore & Lamplugh Ltd)'.
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Wikipedia