Brian Yet again, a most beautifully written & eloquent piece. By the way, my father knew the Curry family. I have saved all your Victorian Letters for re-reading again later. Do you realise how stimulating your contribution of these letters to the List has been? I have had e-mails from people who had, for whatever reason, allowed their interest in Genealogy to wane, but you have re-awakened this interest for them. For that alone, we thank you Brian. Cannot wait to read your next piece....... Regards June Fleetwood West Yorkshire From: Brian Binns <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, 21 February 2012, 10:01 Subject: [LEI] Shop connections One of my paternal lines can be traced back to a William Campion who lived in Loughborough for the first half of the 19th century. He was born c. 1783, married in Loughborough in 1808, and died there in 1848. Campion is an odd surname to trace as it occurs in enclaves across England and Ireland too. There are those that think it is a corruption of a French surname - Champion? - and perhaps is of Huguenot origins. Whatever, this William was recorded on the 1841 census as being born outside of Leicestershire, and my guess, as I cannot trace back further, is that his family moved to Loughborough from Nottingham. His occupation, from various sources, is either recorded as a Machine Smith, Blacksmith, or Whitesmith. Two of his sons, George b. 1813 and William b. 1822 followed on as machine smiths, George remaining in Loughborough, but William moving to the Sneinton area of Nottingham in the 1840s. Following George's death in 1858 in Loughborough, two of his sons William and Henry moved to Nottingham along with sisters Emma and Ada. This William then formed a company with his uncle William in Nottingham as Sewing Machine Manufacturers, employing brother Henry. Another brother, George, also moved to Nottingham as a Frame Smith. The two Williams worked together for a few years before dissolving the partnership. There are dozens and dozens of patents taken out by a William Campion over this period and later, some minor, some major, but it is impossible on many of them to determine exactly which William it was. Yet another instance of our ancestors using the same Christian names, just to confuse future genealogists! The elder William then concentrated more on industrial knitting machines, whereas the younger William opened a factory making home Sewing Machines following him establishing a patent on the Jenny Lind machine. He also visited France and saw the production of bicycles, which led him to start cycle production alongside making Sewing Machines. One of his early employees was a Thomas Humber, who subsequently founded his own cycle works in Beeston, Notts, before expanding into motorised tricycles. He opened a factory in Coventry to produce Motor Cars, which then became The Humber Car Company. Brothers George and Henry both moved from being smiths into the pub trade, with differing outcomes, and incidentally both Williams also ran pubs in later life - a boozy family! But back to Campion Cycles. These proved very popular, and William, now with his eldest son Edwin, developed the company and opened several retail premises in Nottingham, and as far as Mansfield, Ilkeston, Long Eaton and Newark. They also had three branches in Leicester; 12 Welford Place, St. Nicholas Street, and 45 Braunston Gate. The company was now making motor cycles and motor tricycles, and even a small car. But their cars never took off as had the ones of their former worker, Thomas Humber. In researching the Campions, (and I have a lot more detail than I can include here), I wondered what happened to the company, and this is where I found another Leicester connection. The retail side was apparently bought by Curry's in 1927, and this is when I discovered that the firm of Curry's was in fact founded in Leicester, and also started out as a cycle maker and retailer. This is their entry from Wikipedia. Curry's was founded in 1884 by Henry Curry (born in Leicester in 1850), when he started to build bicycles full time in a shed at the back of his garden at 40 Painter Street, Leicester, England. He opened his first shop in 1888 at 271 Belgrave Gate, Leicester. In 1890 he moved to larger premises at 296 Belgrave Gate, then in 1900 to 285-287 Belgrave Gate. The company was put on a proper financial footing in 1897 when Henry formed a partnership with his sons, calling the company H. Curry & Sons. The business continued to grow and floated on the stock exchange in 1927. By this time the shops sold a wide variety of goods including bicycles, toys, radios and gramophones. Curry's pulled out of cycle manufacturing in 1932 when they closed their Leicester factory but continued to retail Hercules bikes (badged as Curry's) until the 1960s. It would appear that Campion continued with making and selling motor cycles as they are listed as such in phone books in Leicester and Nottingham well into the 1930s. Another Leicester connection is that Edwin Campion once owned and lived in Wymeswold Hall. To find partnerships, patents etc which add so much to the meat of Family History when you have ancestors who were in Manufacturing, it is easy to search The London Gazette site for free - www.london-gazette.co.uk Brian Binns Loughborough   _____  No virus found in this message. 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