Catalogue description HIGHAMS LIMITED

The records

This important accumulation substantially comprises the major records of those companies which were liquidated in 1987. Those of the Ash Group Ltd predominate, and appear to have been removed to Grape Mill when Ash Mill closed in 1984. There, they joined the collected records of other companies taken over by Highams Ltd.

A 1985 survey found many of the records of the Royton Textile Corporation's predecessor companies at Shiloh Spinners Ltds' Elk Mill, Royton, where they remain. Hence few are to be found with this accumulation. Similarly, there are few records of Highams Ltd itself. It is surmised that many were not brought from Wood Nook Mills when company control moved to Grape Mill in the 1980s. An apparently stray volume for the Bee Spinning Company (Royton) Ltd has been listed separately (q.v. D-BEE).

The existence of these records was made known to Oldham Archives Service in August 1994. They were found totally disordered within seven very large packing cases on the top floor of Grape Mill, together with a four-drawer filing cabinet holding a number of defunct company minute books. Totalling five cubic metres, they were about to be destroyed, to provide additional working space. In-situ appraisal was not possible, but the records' potential archival value was recognised.

They were thus transferred to Oldham Archives Service, Highams Ltd's headquarters and manufacturing base at the time of deposit being within Oldham Borough. However, the records refer to enterprises which operated across a far wider area of Lancashire, and further afield.

Subsequent appraisal confirmed the records' exceptional value for study of the 20th century Lancashire textile industry. External funding was sought to bring them to public availability as soon as possible. Of the 5 cu.m. appraised, some 1.6 cu.m. (32%) have been selected for preservation, and have been donated by Highams Ltd. They substantially comprise minute books, a major series of accounting records, and a group of documentation which has been described under the general class, Statutory Records.

Of the major accounting records which survive for each company, the most important are the Audited Accounts, described in the industry as the Stock Books. These are sets of half-yearly, and later annual, audited accounts, held in large ledger-type books signed by the auditors and countersigned by a director. A summarised version usually formed the basis of the printed accounts sent to shareholders.

In addition, most companies produced a Private Ledger, Nominal Ledger, Sales Ledger and Purchase Ledger. Each Ledger normally had its own set of ledgers, cash books and journals (or day books). Those which survive have been preserved because taken together, they contain a great deal of important information which is not otherwise available.

The Statutory Records comprise those which have to be created under the Companies Acts. They consist mainly of Registers of shareholders and directors (usually called the Combined Register), Share certificates and Share counterfoil books, and Annual Returns to Companies House. Although technically they have no long-term value, they have been kept because they are very often the only source through which company ownership can be traced. Some printed Directors' Reports and Annual Accounts have survived. Later typescript versions, for companies which are no longer public, have been filed with them. Some legal papers - mainly agreements - correspondence and other papers are available for some companies. There are also a few early private papers from the Higham family.

The larger part of the recovered papers consisted of recent non- and semi-current commercial, accounting and wages records of Highams Ltd and some of its subsidiaries, notably the Ash Group Ltd, up to the late 1980s. Such later financial records, from the era of mechanised, and now computerised accounting, show much less detail than their earlier counterparts. Weighing their long-term value against their bulk, it was decided that preservation could not be justified. With the depositor's permission, this residue has been destroyed. A summary list of those records is appended to this catalogue.

The overall scheme of arrangement of the accumulation has been carefully constructed, to reflect the corporate hierarchies which could be determined from the records themselves, with some additional research. It shows administrative change, take-over, amalgamation and liquidation of companies throughout a century of changing fortunes. At a more detailed level, it was possible to re-create original order in the minute books and financial records' series for many companies. Where original order could no longer be discerned for other papers, they have been artificially brought together into standard classes. An index to personal, corporate and place-names has been constructed. The company administrative histories have been substantially written from the records' internal evidence.

The records comprise volumes of minutes and accounts, files and loose documents, created in manuscript and typescript, with some printed papers.

D-HI SUMMARY OF CLASSES

D-HI/A Minutes of directors' meetings

D-HI/B Statutory records

D-HI/C Correspondence

D-HI/D Financial records

D-HI/E Private papers

D-HI/F Illustrations

D-HI/G Staff Retirements Benefits Plan

D-HI/H Miscellaneous

In consultation with the depositor, access restrictions have been applied only to a few more recent papers, on personal privacy grounds. Single copies of material may be made available, subject to standard conditions. However, any use with a view to publication, substantial reproduction, legal or commercial activity would necessarily first be referred to the depositor.

Accn 1994-021

Company history

Highams has been an integral part of the Lancashire textile industry for over 100 years. Their corporate records illustrate not just a single company, but the changing fortunes of the entire industry during that time.

Highams Ltd was incorporated as a private company on 22nd June 1908, No. 98469, and was converted into a public company on 7th March 1947. To preserve its public status it re-registered its name to Highams plc on 8th March 1982. The company was formed to acquire the undertaking, trading assets and goodwill of the old-established business of the Higham family, who were manufacturers of cotton yarn, sheets, sheeting and other cotton cloths.

The business had been founded in 1857 by Eli Higham (1833-1896) at Wood Nook Mills, Accrington. Its subsequent development in Lancashire up to 1908 included the acquisition of the Sudden Mills at Rochdale, and the continuous expansion of the mills at both Accrington and Rochdale. The family had also acquired a substantial shareholding in John Warburton Ltd of Haslingden (q.v. D-HIM) when that company was established in 1905. The shareholding was later transferred to Highams Ltd.

By the time the Higham family had steered the company into public status, the mills at Accrington contained 269 Northrop Automatic Looms, with another 126 new looms on order. The mills were self-contained units, electrically driven by their own generating plant, and comprised weaving, bleaching, finishing, dyeing, laundering and making-up plant. The annual production at the outbreak of war in 1939 had been running at more than a million pairs of cotton sheets and over 150,000 dozen damask cloths.

Output at the Rochdale mills was equal to 20,000 mule spindles devoted to waste spinning, and 394 Lancashire looms engaged in the manufacture of cotton blankets and flannelette sheets. This formed another self-contained unit comprising spinning, weaving, raising, finishing, dyeing and making-up plant. Pre-war production had been over a million pairs of blankets annually.

Other subsidiary companies

By 1947, the company's shareholding in John Warburton Ltd had increased to over 60%. This company was engaged in the spinning and weaving, raising, finishing and making-up of waste sheets, cotton flannelette sheets and blankets in two Haslingden mills, Waterside Mill and Sykeside Mill. It also leased from Highams the Victoria Mills at Accrington.

Highams also owned 50% of William Fell & Co. Ltd of Nelson, Lancs., which was engaged in the weaving of fancy cloths, shirtings, handkerchiefs and light fabrics, and also dyeing. Highams (Saftex) Ltd, a private holding company, was incorporated on 22nd January 1947, No.428096, to take over Highams' shares in a South African company, Saftex (Pty) Ltd of Cape Town.

Chronology

The following companies joined the Group in:

1953 Buckridge & Gardner Ltd, Victoria Mills, Accrington

1955 A. Worsley & Sons Ltd, Duckworth Clough Mill, Haslingden

1961 Wendy Wools (Pty) Ltd - a South African company

1965 Royton Textile Corporation, Grape Mill, Royton

1968 Lawson Phillips Ltd, Red Bank Mills, Radcliffe.

In spite of the acquisition of these companies, by 1969 the directors felt that they could not remain as they were, and that they should develop into other fields, e.g. knitting and the production of knitted goods, and should acquire any other suitable businesses. The Board of Trade identified the company as a specialist domestic textile group, and offered the services of the Industrial Re-Organisation Corporation to provide the finances needed for any further expansion. Although these were not used, the directors felt that growth in the industry was impossible without acquisitions, and set about acquiring new businesses.

These further companies joined the Group in:

1969 Townhead Mill (Holdings) Ltd, Rochdale

William Stannard & Co. Ltd, Biddulph, Staffs.

Tetems Ltd, Darwen, Lancs.

1972 Leslie Blass Ltd, Glasgow

1975 Skol Clothing Co. Ltd, Middleton, Lancs.

1982 Trendywear (Manchester) Ltd, Manchester

Seal Marine Corporation Ltd, Liskeard, Cornwall

Proposition 13 Ltd, Accrington

1987 Halldeed Ltd, Grape Mill, Royton.

In 1975, Courtaulds informed Highams that it owned a 29.75% stake in the company, but pressure was brought to bear on them, and Courtaulds informed the Director of Fair Trading that their shareholding would be reduced, to avoid a Monopolies Commission investigation.

Divisional organisation

By 1982, many smaller subsidiaries had ceased trading, and the mills had been re-organised into seven divisions:

Sheeting - Wood Nook Mills, Accrington: Polyester cotton and cotton sheets and pillow cases;

- Victoria Mills, Accrington: Flannelette sheets and pillow cases, warehousing;

- Premier Mill, Great Harwood, Lancs: High speed automatic looms weaving cotton and flannelette sheeting for making-up at Wood Nook and Victoria Mills;

Merchanting - Based at Wood Nook Mill;

Blanket - Grape Mill, Royton: a "vertical mill" engaged in the production of blankets;

Furnishing - Curtain fabrics and bedspreads made mainly at Grape Mill and Premier Mill;

Spinning - Grape Mill: Acrylic and condenser type yarns;

Knitting - Grape Mill: Production of cleaning cloths;

Clothing - Leslie Blass Ltd, Glasgow: Tailoring of men's suits, blazers and trousers, marketed under the "Vanderbilt" brand name;

- Skol Clothing Co. Ltd, Royton: a leading manufacturer of men's fashion wear sold under the "Skol" brand name;

- William Stannard & Co. Ltd, Biddulph and elsewhere: children's clothing and swimwear, with an export trade in home dressmaking and repair kits of embroidery and sewing threads;

- Kamella Ltd, Accrington: Children's anoraks.

Companies no longer trading included Buckridge & Gardner Ltd, Lawson Phillips Ltd, the Royton Textile Corporation Ltd, Townhead Mill (Holdings) Ltd, John Warburton Ltd and A. Worsley & Sons Ltd. It is not known when Highams withdrew from William Fell & Co. Ltd of Nelson.

Take-over and expansion

Largs Ltd was an Isle of Man-registered investment company owned by Mr and Mrs J. Whittaker, with interests in property and manufacturing. On 26th March 1983, it bought the issued ordinary share capital of Highams plc, although the public still held £520,795 of the 7% debenture stock 1986/91. Largs Ltd had already acquired manufacturing interests in the cotton industry through the acquisition of John Bright Group Ltd of Rochdale, who had previously taken control of the Ash Spinning Co. Ltd (q.v. D-HIA).

The acquisition of Highams plc gave Largs Ltd the chance to form a broad-based textile manufacturing group. All the manufacturing interests not owned by Highams (i.e. John Brights and the Ash Group) were brought together into one company known as Access Crown Ltd, and then sold on in 1983 to Highams Ltd, (now a private company), for £4m.

In the preceding six months, all aspects of Highams' business had been examined and the Group completely re-organised. Subsidiary companies which could not be made profitable were closed. These included Proposition 13 Ltd, the Seal Marine Corporation Ltd, Leslie Blass Ltd and the Skol Clothing Co. Ltd. Production facilities in the Domestic Textile Division were re-organised, releasing a considerable amount of space which was surplus to requirements. Plans were put into place to convert the space into profitable letting units. Product design and development was strengthened, and new product ranges in keeping with market trends were introduced. The Sales function was significantly strengthened with the appointment of experienced and proven senior managers.

By the end of 1984/85, Highams and its subsidiary companies consisted of:

Highams Ltd - Wood Nook Mills, Accrington, Premier Mill, Great Harwood and Grape Mill, Royton

Kamella Ltd - Wood Nook Mills, Accrington

William Stannard & Co. Ltd - Biddulph

Codaprint Ltd - Liverpool

Trendywear Ltd - Denton, Manchester

John Bright & Bros. (Machinery) Ltd - Fieldhouse Mills, Rochdale

Park Yarns (Rochdale) Ltd - Park Mill, Rochdale

Ash Group Ltd - trading as John Bright & Bros. Tyre Cord Division, Rochdale.

Ash Group Ltd - trading as John Bright & Bros. Technical Yarns, Rochdale.

By the end of March 1987, Largs Ltd had purchased 41% of the issued share capital of the Manchester Ship Canal Co. Ltd, and owned over 60% of Peel Holdings Ltd. Highams Ltd served as the nominee shareholder in both companies, the company holding the shares as an investment. Its more normal business was organised as follows:

Clothing Division - Kamella, Wm Stannard, Trendywear

Domestic Textiles - Grape Mill, Sheeting Division (closed March 1987)

Industrial Textiles - Tyre Cord, Technical Yarns, Park Yarns, Ash Spinning Ltd

Printing Division John Bright & Bros. (Machinery) Ltd - Codaprint Ltd (closed 1987)

Halldeed Ltd - Acquired 1987

Leasing Division - William Stannard & Co. Ltd.

Later in 1987 all the Highams' properties were transferred to Peel Holdings Ltd. The companies which had been closed down were liquidated, and the assets transferred to Highams Ltd in the form of dividends.

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