Originally Posted by Atarah (Post 886312)

What a gem of a photo this is! Employees of Howard and Bulloughs. Must be in the late 60's or 70's at a guess. Wonder if any of our members can recognise themselves?

Originally Posted by Tealeaf (Post 800086)

Here is a map of the location of Howard and Bullough's factory as most of you will never have seen before. My apologies for the quality, but the plant is that which is outlined in the red:


H & B were in Pawtucket from the 1870's to the 1920's. This area was the American answer to the Lancashire cotton industry. The irony of it all was that the yanks offered bounty money to English textile engineers to go over there in the late 1700's - England was trying to keep our inventions safe and taking manufacturing ideas out of the country was regarded as treason. By the 1870's this idea had long gone and H & B - by then the world’s largest textile machinery manufacturer -came to the conclusion it would be cheaper to build out there rather than build and ship from out here. So out they went. Early globalisation from the Globe works, so to speak.

But in the 1920's it all came to an end. A somewhat further irony is that this area is where Sacro-Lowell came from, which some would argue would partially responsible for H & B's final demise.

One final little gem, though. H & B took with them some of their English corporate philosophy, which included the creation of a works football team. "Soccer" was at the time, relatively strong in the USA - there had been massive European immigration throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the gridiron game was still relatively novel. So much so that the American football Association was directly affiliated to the English FA. They even had their own version of the FA Cup....the American Cup (not to be confused with the America's cup).

...And guess which team won it in 1913? Yep, Howard and Bulloughs!

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp (Post 209440)

Howard & Bulloughs, Accrington formed in 1851. Partners James Bullough and John Howard. Engineering firm making machinery for the cotton industry.

James's son John joined them business in 1862 and he helped to build up the company to one of the largest employers in the Accrington area with over 2,000 workers which eventually grew to over 6,000 in its heyday. The factory, known as "Globe Works" was a huge square building covering more than 50 acres, with an open interior area like a quadrangle. It totally dominated the town. Most of the building has now been demolished but the front part remains as "The Globe Centre". There was even a link across Ormerod Street to a smaller building (now occupied by the Council as Scaitcliffe House) which was connected by overhead covered walkways.

Up to 75% of the factory's output was exported and most of the people in the town worked there, had family who worked there or knew someone who worked there. It was commonly refered to as "Bulloughs" (Poor old Mr. Howard being totally ignored)

During the second world war they turned to manufacture of armaments such as bayonets, shells, gun carriages, mine sinkers, aircraft components.

After the war they returned again to machinery manufacture. However, by the late 1980s things were in decline. The company had been taken over by Platts whose logo appeared on the front of the building. American company Saco Lowell took over Platts and the firm became Platt Saco Lowell, which finally closed down in 1993.

Originally Posted by Atarah (Post 886450)

I think the people who were in Accrington when Howard and Bulloughs were in there prime, forget just how HUGE the company was. I took this photo last night with my digital camera, off the original. Not brilliant, but better than nothing.

Originally Posted by Atarah (Post 886459)

This posting was from Nov 2005 by WillowTheWhisp. Just seemed a nice bit of info for new members to read in connection with my last photo.

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 886449)

That has answered a question of mine, why so many men came over from Pawtucket, and enlisted in Accrington, into the British Army, one or two even served Pals.
Those that survived were given paid passage back to America.
Retlaw./

Originally Posted by Tealeaf (Post 886766)

You may wonder, Walter, where I first picked up on the Pawtucket connection.

About 10 years ago, I was propping up a bar in London on a hot summer afternoon when an elderly, obviously Yank, tourist wondered in and ordered a pint of lager.

I asked him if this was this first time in London and when he replied in the affirmative, I informed him that lager in England was only drunk by women, children, gays and dogs and as he did not appear to fall into any of those categories, he may wish to consider revising his choice of beveredge. Which he promptly did.

Anyway, we got talking and after a while he seemed to recognise my accent; he asked, and I told him Accy, and he told me his grandad had emigrated from Accrington in the late 1890's to work for H & B in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. However, he was not one of those who returned to the town.

I asked the old gentlemen if he had any plans to visit Accy but he said no, as him & his mrs were off to Paris the next day. Accy would have been better, I replied and stated that no true Accy man would let his mrs make such a decision, but it was to no avail.

I didn't get his name.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 886770)

From Accrington?

Trying to impress, and appear cosmopolitan?

You're from Church.

Take the shame.