Meetings of a Lively Character

 The amalgamation of the various companies into the English Sewing Cotton Company in 1897 was meant to improve profits for all concerned through a pooling of resources. However, external forces made sure that this was not as easy as perhaps was initially expected. As early as August 1901, there were difficulties. The Derby Daily Telegraph reported on an ESCC shareholders meeting that was described as having a "lively character". The Chairman was Algernon Dewhurst, and under discussion was the falling off of gross earnings to the tune of nearly £70,000. This huge drop was put down to a range of reasons including the cost of raw materials, high prices of coal and other items needed to run the mills along with reduced selling prices. A foray into the USA market had not gone well either, with a lower than expected return on investment. As a result, it was proposed to shake the board up, getting rid of 3 directors and appointing a small executive committee. "Serious criticisms" of the management were voiced. 

A 1940s meeting taken from the ESCC 50th anniversary book, Through the Eye of a Needle. 

The ructions continued on into 1902. In April of that year, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported on an extraordinary general meeting. It was proposed to reorganise the executive and board - and there was a large attendance there to discuss the matter. This time, a Mr J A Lawton presided over the meeting, and he declared that we wanted "the full light of day thrown on the affairs of the company since its inception." He admitted that there had been extravagances and inefficiencies in the running of the ESCC. He spoke for over an hour about better management, and called the statement that he had made £60,000 out of the company "outrageously untrue." After a break to gather themselves, Mr Roby spoke, saying that while some of the business that the ESCC had bought into were overvalued, others had been obtained cheaply. Again, the call was put out for better management of the group, in order to obtain a better return. 

The early years of the ESCC were therefore turbulent and did not bring the business stability that had been envisaged. A decade after these meeting reports, looms were standing idle in Skipton due to difficulties in the cotton industry.  I guess that it took the demand for khaki cotton in 1914 to pick things up, sadly. 

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