An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St Helens, Lancashire
Part 23 (of 95 parts) - History of Industry in Sutton Part 4 - Crone & Taylor
Industry Part 1 | Industry Part 2 | Industry Part 3 – The Story of Sutton Mill
Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXX Contact Me Research Sources
Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXX Contact Me Research Sources
An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St Helens
Part 23 (of 95 parts) - Industry in Sutton 4 - Crone & Taylor
Industry in Sutton Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (Sutton Mill)
Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXX
Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXX
An Illustrated History of
Old Sutton in St Helens
Old Sutton in St Helens
Industry Part 4
Crone & Taylor
Crone & Taylor
Researched and Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXX
Crone & Taylor was a major industrial concern in Sutton Oak in St Helens for almost 100 years. Initially their factory produced fertilisers (known as artificial manures) and animal feed before re-inventing themselves during the 1940s as an engineering business. Then the family firm began making mechanical handling equipment – such as mobile conveyors for the gas industry – before switching focus to the coal industry.
Prior to Crone & Taylor beginning their operations in Worsley Brow, Newton Keates & Co. kept a bone manure plant on the same site. They were the owners of the Sutton Copper Works, which was also situated in Sutton Oak. On March 20th 1881, a fire of bones eight to nine feet high took place, which caused considerable alarm in the district.
On October 6th 1885 John Crone and David Cronk Taylor bought the manure business from Newton Keates & Co. However in the company's advertising, Crone & Taylor always stated 1886 as their year of foundation. John Crone had previously been a partner in the firm of George Hadfield and Co. of Lightbody Street in Liverpool, who described themselves as chemical manure manufacturers. Crone appears to have worked for the company from at least 1881, as he is listed in the census of that year as a chemical manufacturer living at 11 Sefton Drive in Liverpool. Crone quit his partnership with Samuel and Herbert Horton in July 1885 to form his own company with David Taylor.
Taylor resided initially at The Cottage in Lea Green, then Oaklands in Rainhill (pictured above in 1890 - contributed by Sheila Crone) and finally Fair View East in Mill Lane, Rainhill. The businessman was clearly considered to be an important person. On one occasion while commuting to St Helens Junction from Lea Green, David found that his train had left early. Upon complaining to the stationmaster, a steam engine was dispatched from the Junction and he travelled to work on the engine's footplate.
Crone & Taylor began with just nine employees and a modest turnover of £7,000. Their letterhead (pictured above) contained an illustration of late Victorian Sutton with numerous smoking chimneys. Crone & Taylor then described themselves as 'Bone Crushers and Manufacturers of Blood & Bone Manures', or alternatively makers of 'Artificial Manures'.
George Downs of Mill Brow in Sutton was a traveller for Crone & Taylor, visiting farms on behalf of the company. In April 1893 it was reported that he had inherited £50,000 from his uncle George Sugden, a founder of a Bradford cloth manufacturer. In today’s money £50,000 is worth about £6 million.
For some years Crone & Taylor's storeroom served as the chapel for the undenominational Welsh. This was prior to 1893 when they acquired the Methodist Church's chapel in Lancots Lane. To gain access to the storeroom the congregation had to pass through a hole in the surrounding wall and the chapel became locally known as "The Hole in the Wall church".
During the 1890s the company's works extended across two acres of Sutton Oak, for which they paid £360 rent per annum. In 1896 Crone & Taylor began making feeding cake for cattle in addition to their artificial manures. This was mainly sold as fattening food for calves.
Personal contact with their customers was considered very important and the company appointed agents in a number of districts to liaise with farmers and take orders. They looked for individuals that already had business connections with the agricultural community and who regularly attended markets. After all it would be many years before farmers had telephones and so face-to-face contact with their customers was vital. Travellers representing Crone & Taylor would look for new business in areas were agents had yet to be established.
Crone & Taylor's three regional strongholds outside of Lancashire were Cumberland, Lincolnshire and Wales, although they also had a good presence in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Annual dinners and competitions were held to encourage loyalty to their products.
On December 17th 1897 the Monmouthshire Beacon reported that the company had held their annual dinner at the King's Head Hotel in Monmouth for almost thirty farmers from the district. David Taylor was in the chair, with the company's local agent as vice-chair. Mr Taylor said he was "coming to consider this annual fixture as a meeting of old friends". Prizes were handed out for the best fields of swedes and mangolds.
Judges were appointed to inspect crops and award prizes in various districts. These were reported at length in local newspapers, giving the company much free publicity. At the Crone & Taylor Green Crop Awards in Penrith in October 1903, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald stated that the judges' report had praised the Sutton Oak firm's product. They said: "the manure supplied by you is gaining a wonderful power in the district, and the result can be easily detected".
In 1907 Crone & Taylor made an agreement with St Helens Corporation for the supply of electricity to their works. During the same year the company expanded its operations onto an adjacent site, which – they promised the Corporation – would obviate their smoke emissions nuisance. A chimney 185 feet high and 12 feet 3 inches in diameter was erected through which all harmful fumes would be passed. Although this might have reduced the emissions, it certainly did not do away with them all. In his book 'Clog Clatters in Old Sutton', Frank Bamber (b. 1910) wrote:
In 1899 at the Vale of Glamorgan Cattle Show, a 'silvered tea service' was presented to Mr. Thomas for two acres of swedes that the farmer had grown with Crone & Taylor manure. The above photograph of a silver teapot (contributed by David Tait) is thought to have been presented to the winner of a Cumberland Wrestling Competition at Keswick Sports.
Above is a photograph of a mantel clock (contributed by Michael Robinson) with an inscribed plaque on its front, which was also probably presented by Crone & Taylor to the winner of a best in show competition. The clock movement was made by the British United Clock Company, the first mass producers of clocks in the UK.
During the early years of the twentieth century, Crone & Taylor produced a number of promotional postcards and pencils, as shown above. They became incorporated in 1910 and were listed as manufacturers and dealers of products including animal feedstuffs, fertilisers, engineering equipment and brewing.
In 1925 the two founders of the business became linked by marriage when John Crone's son Arthur (known as Alan) Crone married David's daughter Mary Beatrice. During the '30s the company advertised their main product as "balanced fertiliser" with the slogan "Keep the bank balance right by using balanced fertilisers made by Crone & Taylor, Ltd."
During the 1940s the company moved into engineering, adding mechanical handling equipment – such as roller conveyors, loaders and disintegrators – to its existing fertiliser range. This diversification arose through their use of such conveyors when handling and delivering fertiliser sacks. Other companies showed interest in their equipment and so the Sutton Oak firm started manufacturing it. Two separate companies were created in Crone & Taylor (Fertilisers) Ltd and Crone & Taylor (Engineering) Ltd.
The latter's machine shop was at the bridge end of Ellamsbridge Road and was elevated about two metres above the ground as a result of periodic flooding from Sutton Brook. The company was so successful with their engineering products that they began phasing out the fertiliser side of their business. They even published their own news sheet, which they called 'Conveying Times'.
Many contracts were obtained to produce mobile conveyors for the gas industry. As the gas industry's output changed dramatically, so Crone & Taylor quickly lost 80% of their work. However the company's main strength was their adaptability and the Sutton Oak firm decided to switch focus to the coal industry, building plants capable of handling 1½ tons of coal per year. Fertiliser was still being produced, however, which was now being advertised as “granular fertilisers”.
In 1958 David Taylor – the company's co-founder – died at the age of 103, having only retired eight years earlier. David's son Geoffrey Taylor also worked for the firm and rose to become its Managing Director and his nephew Antony Crone served as Technical Director. Antony was a mechanical engineer, who designed what, for a short period, was the highest conveyor in the country and used to say that at one point the Sutton Oak factory employed the hooter from Brunel's Great Eastern steamship.
During the 1960s 'C & T' – as they now preferred to be known – were employing about 100 people with a record order book. On February 24th 1968 the St Helens Reporter published a lengthy article on C & T. They wrote that the firm had achieved record sales at home and abroad over the past year and were planning to increase its workforce by 15%.
The article described how C & T had spent between £40,000 to £50,000 over the last few years improving its efficiency. The company’s managing director was now Stan Walker, who had succeeded Geoffrey Taylor. He regularly left his “luxurious office” to promote his firm, spending about 40,000 miles on the road each year.
Mr. Walker described to the newspaper how the streamlining of the coal industry during the ‘60s had forced C & T to diversify their interests yet again. The Reporter said they had begun specialising in package deals and with a "smart team backing him, Mr Walker contacts buyers, advises them on their needs, produces the scheme and even helps with finance. They have also entered the building trade, and are at the moment hard at work constructing process plants for the production of cement bricks, currently popular. Their crying need is for turners, platers, welders and fitters." Mr Walker also explained to the Reporter how his company hoped to double the size of their existing premises, which then stood on three acres of land.
In another article in the St Helens Reporter published on October 3rd 1969 Stan Walker said their firm considered themselves to be “engineers in mechanisation”. Recently they had been the main contractors in the design and build of a £130,000 coal concentration depot at Norwich and since the Beeching Report of 1961 had recommended the concentration of coal sidings, Crone & Taylor had built 48. Mr Walker said the company’s current order book included the building of a large coal concentration depot at Aberdeen, the first to be built in Scotland.
The Reporter on January 16th 1970 described how a 96-ft. high gantry-like structure that towered over Crone and Taylor's engineering yards was causing much comment. With Apollo 11 still very much in people's minds, remarks were being made that it resembled a rocket gantry. It was in fact a £30,000 ship loader, which would be dismantled before being sent to Greece where the machine would be used in grain exports. It was one of several similar loaders that the firm had sent abroad during the past twelve months, with two having been despatched to the West Indies.
In 1971 Crone & Taylor was acquired by Wm. Brandt & Sons and the plant closed in 1983. A large quantity of documents and photographs was donated by Crone & Taylor to the St Helens Local History & Archives Library during the 1970s and details can be viewed in their online catalogue. Below is a further collection of advertisements and promotional items pertaining to the company.
An illustration of the Sutton Oak works of Crone & Taylor in Worsley Brow, manufacturers of artificial manure
An illustration of the Sutton Oak works of Crone & Taylor
An illustration of Crone & Taylor
The founders of Crone & Taylor of Sutton Oak, David Cronk Taylor (left) and John Crone (right) - contributed by Sheila Crone
Crone & Taylor’s founders David Cronk Taylor (left) and John Crone
David Cronk Taylor (left) and John Crone
George Downs of Mill Brow in Sutton was a traveller for Crone & Taylor, visiting farms on behalf of the company. In April 1893 it was reported that he had inherited £50,000 from his uncle George Sugden, a founder of a Bradford cloth manufacturer. In today’s money £50,000 is worth about £6 million.
For some years Crone & Taylor's storeroom served as the chapel for the undenominational Welsh. This was prior to 1893 when they acquired the Methodist Church's chapel in Lancots Lane. To gain access to the storeroom the congregation had to pass through a hole in the surrounding wall and the chapel became locally known as "The Hole in the Wall church".
Crone & Taylor promotional picture postcard extolling the benefits of their manure for growing root vegetables
Crone & Taylor promotional postcard extolling the benefits of their manure
Crone & Taylor promotional postcard
Personal contact with their customers was considered very important and the company appointed agents in a number of districts to liaise with farmers and take orders. They looked for individuals that already had business connections with the agricultural community and who regularly attended markets. After all it would be many years before farmers had telephones and so face-to-face contact with their customers was vital. Travellers representing Crone & Taylor would look for new business in areas were agents had yet to be established.
Crone & Taylor's three regional strongholds outside of Lancashire were Cumberland, Lincolnshire and Wales, although they also had a good presence in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Annual dinners and competitions were held to encourage loyalty to their products.
On December 17th 1897 the Monmouthshire Beacon reported that the company had held their annual dinner at the King's Head Hotel in Monmouth for almost thirty farmers from the district. David Taylor was in the chair, with the company's local agent as vice-chair. Mr Taylor said he was "coming to consider this annual fixture as a meeting of old friends". Prizes were handed out for the best fields of swedes and mangolds.
Judges were appointed to inspect crops and award prizes in various districts. These were reported at length in local newspapers, giving the company much free publicity. At the Crone & Taylor Green Crop Awards in Penrith in October 1903, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald stated that the judges' report had praised the Sutton Oak firm's product. They said: "the manure supplied by you is gaining a wonderful power in the district, and the result can be easily detected".
Crone & Taylor office outing to the River Dee in 1903 - contributed by Sheila Crone
Crone & Taylor office outing to the River Dee in 1903
Outing to the River Dee in 1903
Crone and Taylors, across the brook along Worsley Brow to the rest of the [Sutton National] school, contributed to a large extent to the various noxious smells in Sutton. When they were in full song, in production of what we called at the time the "artificial manure works", later claimed to be fertilisers and conveyors and light engineering, all windows in the school and the streets nearby were tightly closed.
Crone & Taylor understood the benefits of marketing their wares and they regularly exhibited in agricultural shows, where they awarded prizes to the best exhibits. The company had a presence at many Welsh shows, as well as some English ones and held annual exhibitions in Aberdaron. At the first in December 1894, John Davies won a silver breakfast cruet for having the 'heaviest and soundest four swedes and four turnips'.
In 1925 the two founders of the business became linked by marriage when John Crone's son Arthur (known as Alan) Crone married David's daughter Mary Beatrice. During the '30s the company advertised their main product as "balanced fertiliser" with the slogan "Keep the bank balance right by using balanced fertilisers made by Crone & Taylor, Ltd."
The latter's machine shop was at the bridge end of Ellamsbridge Road and was elevated about two metres above the ground as a result of periodic flooding from Sutton Brook. The company was so successful with their engineering products that they began phasing out the fertiliser side of their business. They even published their own news sheet, which they called 'Conveying Times'.
L - R: Arthur Alan Crone and David Cronk Taylor (taken on his 100th birthday) - contributed by Sheila Crone
Arthur Alan Crone and David Cronk Taylor (taken on his 100th birthday)
Alan Crone and David Taylor
L - R: Managing Director Geoffrey Taylor and Technical Director Antony Crone - contributed by Sheila Crone
Managing Director Geoffrey Taylor and Technical Director Antony Crone
Geoffrey Taylor and Antony Crone
The article described how C & T had spent between £40,000 to £50,000 over the last few years improving its efficiency. The company’s managing director was now Stan Walker, who had succeeded Geoffrey Taylor. He regularly left his “luxurious office” to promote his firm, spending about 40,000 miles on the road each year.
Mr. Walker described to the newspaper how the streamlining of the coal industry during the ‘60s had forced C & T to diversify their interests yet again. The Reporter said they had begun specialising in package deals and with a "smart team backing him, Mr Walker contacts buyers, advises them on their needs, produces the scheme and even helps with finance. They have also entered the building trade, and are at the moment hard at work constructing process plants for the production of cement bricks, currently popular. Their crying need is for turners, platers, welders and fitters." Mr Walker also explained to the Reporter how his company hoped to double the size of their existing premises, which then stood on three acres of land.
In another article in the St Helens Reporter published on October 3rd 1969 Stan Walker said their firm considered themselves to be “engineers in mechanisation”. Recently they had been the main contractors in the design and build of a £130,000 coal concentration depot at Norwich and since the Beeching Report of 1961 had recommended the concentration of coal sidings, Crone & Taylor had built 48. Mr Walker said the company’s current order book included the building of a large coal concentration depot at Aberdeen, the first to be built in Scotland.
The Reporter on January 16th 1970 described how a 96-ft. high gantry-like structure that towered over Crone and Taylor's engineering yards was causing much comment. With Apollo 11 still very much in people's minds, remarks were being made that it resembled a rocket gantry. It was in fact a £30,000 ship loader, which would be dismantled before being sent to Greece where the machine would be used in grain exports. It was one of several similar loaders that the firm had sent abroad during the past twelve months, with two having been despatched to the West Indies.
In 1971 Crone & Taylor was acquired by Wm. Brandt & Sons and the plant closed in 1983. A large quantity of documents and photographs was donated by Crone & Taylor to the St Helens Local History & Archives Library during the 1970s and details can be viewed in their online catalogue. Below is a further collection of advertisements and promotional items pertaining to the company.
Other Relevant Pages and Articles on Sutton Industries:
Industry in Sutton Part 1, 2 & 3 (Sutton Mill); Mining in Sutton; Sutton Manor Colliery Part 1; Memories of Sutton Manor by Stan Johnson; Clock Face Colliery; Bold Colliery; The Poison Gas Works; Sutton Trivia & True Facts! article 'Royal & Noble Visits to Ravenhead'.
Other Relevant Pages & Articles on Sutton Industry:
Industry Parts 1, 2 & 3 (Sutton Mill); Mining in Sutton; Sutton Manor Colliery Part 1; Memories of Sutton Manor by Stan Johnson; Clock Face Colliery; Bold Colliery; Poison Gas Works; Sutton Trivia & True Facts! article Royal & Noble Visits to Ravenhead
Next: Part 24) Sutton Shops & Businesses
Copyright Notice / Factual Accuracy Statement
This website has been written and researched and many images photographed by myself, Stephen Wainwright, the Sutton Beauty & Heritage site owner. Individuals from all over the world have also kindly contributed their own photographs. If you wish to reuse any image, please contact me first as permission may be needed from the copyright owner. High resolution versions of many pictures can also be supplied at no charge. Please also contact me if you can provide any further information or photographs concerning Sutton, St.Helens. You might also consider contributing your recollections of Sutton for the series of Memories pages. Sutton Beauty & Heritage strives for factual accuracy at all times. Do also get in touch if you believe that there are any errors. I respond quickly to emails and if you haven't had a response within twelve hours, check your junk mail folder or resend your message. Thank you! SRW
