Adverts in The Book of Bolton, 1929 : official handbook issued by Bolton Corporation, Lancashire, UK
One of the many municipal publications issued by UK local authorities during the mid-20th Century intended to describe the services, industries and amenities of the borough. This, from 1929 and issued by the County Borough of Bolton in industrial Lancashire, is one that is firmly aimed at attempting to introduce the town to perspective investors as well as imparting information to the town's residents.
As usual the descriptive text is interspersed with adverts for many local manufacturers and undertakings. Two adverts appear here; one of the local Municipal Technical College and the other for the clog manufacturers of Edwin Lee Ltd.
Bolton's Technical College was typical of those institutions that were set up to halp educate and provide training for the wide range of industrial and commercial activities that a Northern industrial town offered and for which highly a skilled workforce was required. As can be seen the Textile Department was particularly valued with a wide range of courses and quite an impressively equipped practical spinning and weaving section. The fees are quite high; the Corporation made a big point of providing a wide range of free scholarships that encompassed these courses. I suspect at the time the majority of these courses would have been 'manned' by the boys - as I recall from my family background in Lancashire women were usually expected to do the donkey work in spinning and weaving although my mother did make it into textile design through the municipal Art School in Rochdale this being seen as more 'appropriate'.
Clogs are footwear so associated with industrial Lancashire we almost forget that they were for centuries the common footware of most workers, industrial or agricultural, and most towns had cloggers or clog makers. Edwin Lee Ltd. was founded in c1857 and by 1929 they were claiming that the Crown Street Clog Works were the largest in the world making the "Elephant & Castle" brand of clogs. I suspect the elephant element comes from the Borough's coat of arms with the castle being a convienent addition!
Adverts in The Book of Bolton, 1929 : official handbook issued by Bolton Corporation, Lancashire, UK
One of the many municipal publications issued by UK local authorities during the mid-20th Century intended to describe the services, industries and amenities of the borough. This, from 1929 and issued by the County Borough of Bolton in industrial Lancashire, is one that is firmly aimed at attempting to introduce the town to perspective investors as well as imparting information to the town's residents.
As usual the descriptive text is interspersed with adverts for many local manufacturers and undertakings. Two adverts appear here; one of the local Municipal Technical College and the other for the clog manufacturers of Edwin Lee Ltd.
Bolton's Technical College was typical of those institutions that were set up to halp educate and provide training for the wide range of industrial and commercial activities that a Northern industrial town offered and for which highly a skilled workforce was required. As can be seen the Textile Department was particularly valued with a wide range of courses and quite an impressively equipped practical spinning and weaving section. The fees are quite high; the Corporation made a big point of providing a wide range of free scholarships that encompassed these courses. I suspect at the time the majority of these courses would have been 'manned' by the boys - as I recall from my family background in Lancashire women were usually expected to do the donkey work in spinning and weaving although my mother did make it into textile design through the municipal Art School in Rochdale this being seen as more 'appropriate'.
Clogs are footwear so associated with industrial Lancashire we almost forget that they were for centuries the common footware of most workers, industrial or agricultural, and most towns had cloggers or clog makers. Edwin Lee Ltd. was founded in c1857 and by 1929 they were claiming that the Crown Street Clog Works were the largest in the world making the "Elephant & Castle" brand of clogs. I suspect the elephant element comes from the Borough's coat of arms with the castle being a convienent addition!