Bennett - Brickmakers in Derby, Nottingham & Lincoln.

Since taking Nottingham Brickmakers - Part 1 offline for an update I have found that search engines are taking you to a blank page, so here is the direct link to this post with it having connections to this post.
https://eastmidlandsnamedbricks.blogspot.com/2016/05/nottingham-brickworks-part-1-mapperley.html

This post all started with an email from Canada, requesting two Bennett of Spondon bricks, which led to me to delve into my shed & the archives of the web. With the help of Carole & Avril (nee Bennett) & others, I have been able to put this post all together & bring it to the Web. I wish to say a big "Thank You" to all those who are credited in the post. 

Originally I had only got two Bennett of Derby bricks, but with the help of fellow brick collector Phil Sparham, who's bricks I had photographed for my blog, I was able fulfil Carole's request for two Spondon bricks made at her descendants brickworks. A trip up to Skipton was next on the list, to deliver the bricks which Avril had searched the past 10 years for. Carole is hoping to be able to take her's back to Canada. I'll keep you posted on that one. Below are the bricks for the sisters, kindly donated by Phil Sparham.

First of all I have identified that there are two possibly three separate Bennett families working at six different brickworks in the East Midlands, which I believe are somehow connected & with so many Bennett's making bricks, brickmaking must be in their blood. I have been unable to establish the direct connection between Carole & Avril's Bennett's who operated their Spondon works around 1851 to the Derby Bennett's who are recorded as owning the Spondon works from 1857. I have wrote about the third Bennett family in my Derby Brickworks part 1 post.

So I first start with the Bennett's that established the Slack Lane Brickworks in Derby & with me doing new research on this branch of the Family in depth on Ancestry I have now updated the post. The main point that I have established was that there was only one Richard Bennett & after his death in 1885 his business was run by his Executors as Richard Bennett & Co. So the theory of a second Richard Bennett has now been removed & some information gleamed from the web has had to be dismissed. However Richard's son, Richard C. Bennett b.1877 is recorded as Brick Manufacturer aged 24 in the 1901 census. Hopefully this new account is more accurate, but there are still gaps to be filled.

Thomas Bennett was born in 1806 in Stapenhill, Derbyshire & I have found that Thomas Bennett is listed in trade directories at various addresses in Derby & these addresses equates either to his home address or to his works which was accessible from both Slack Lane & Uttoxeter Road. Thomas's works is only recorded as the Slack Lane Works in his 1852 & 1857 trade directory entries. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey. Published 1886, surveyed 1882.

Slack Lane & Thomas's brickworks are both coloured yellow on the 1882 OS map above.

Trade Directory listings for Thomas Bennett.
1849 Glover - New Uttoxeter Road, Derby.
1852 Freebody - Builder, brick, tile, quarry, Newcastle Tile & Sanitary Pipe Manufacturer, residence, 44 Old Uttoxeter Road, brickyards Slack Lane & Burton Road, depot, Siddals Road. I have been unable to establish the location of this Burton Road works.
1855 Kellys - 44, Old Uttoxeter Road & Siddals Road.
1857 Whites - Slack Lane & Siddals Road Wharf.
1864 Kellys - New Uttoxeter Road & Siddals Road.

Thomas is also recorded as owning a second works at Spondon in White's 1857 edition & Harrow & Harrod's 1860 edition & I write more about this works later.  

This Bennett brick has raised letters & maybe an early example made by Thomas.

1852 Advert.

Thomas & his wife Mary produced four sons & four daughters, of which two sons became brickmakers & one daughter married Henry Leese who later became a brickmaker. The 1841 census records Thomas & his family as living on Old Uttoxeter Road. Then the 1851 census records Thomas & family as living at 44, Old Uttoxeter Road. The three children which play a part in the next part of the Bennett story are eldest daughter Mary born 1833, 3rd son William b. 1844 & 4th son Richard b.1847 & it was Richard who was to be the next owner of Company after Thomas had passed away. I have not been able establish if Thomas's other two sons, Thomas junior & John became brickmakers as they are not listed in the next census with Thomas & Mary.

In either July, August or September 1853 eldest daughter Mary married Henry Hugh Leese (b.1830) of Tunstall, Staffs., a Commercial Traveller (salesman), a job which he is still recorded as doing in the 1861 & 1871 Census, becoming a brickmaker/partner by 1876. I write more about Henry Leese later.

In the 1861 Census Thomas Bennett was still living at the same address & recorded as a Master Brickmaker & employing 38 men & 18 boys. Third son William, born 1844 is recorded as a Grocer aged 21 at the time of his marriage in 1865 to Fanny Margaret Hunt aged 22. The couple went on to have three daughters & in the 1871 census William is recorded as a brickmaker & living at 1, Granville Street, Derby. So I am taking it that he was brick making with his father Thomas. From the 1881 census we find Fanny is listed as a widow & head of the family, so William had died by 1881. I have been unable to find the date of his death, but he would have only been in his early thirties. 

It appears Thomas Bennett must have first leased the land his brickworks was situated on because in March 1863 together with William Ratcliff a Derby Ironmonger, they purchased the Slack Lane brickworks site from Thomas Cooper, a Fellmonger (a preparer of skins or hides of animals, especially sheepskins, prior to leather making). Cooper's works may be the one marked on 1882 OS map above as the Granby Leather Works, situated on Slack Lane. The purchase of the Slack Lane land came from an Indenture dated 25th of March 1863 which I have images of. 

My next find is that Thomas Bennett owned a brickworks in Stoke & he is listed in Kelly's Staffs. 1868 edition at Spoutfield, Stoke. This will be a brickworks called Spoutfield Tileries which was in Cliff Vale & was situated at the end of Brick Kiln Lane where the road meets Shelton New Road. I have coloured this works yellow on the 1898 OS map below. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1898.

Photos by Ken Perkins.

This Bennett reverse Derby brick was found in Stoke & is thought to have been made at the Spoutfield Works, Stoke because the colour of the clay is totally different to Bennett bricks which were made in Derby. The brick collector who found this brick has said that several of these dark coloured bricks have turned up in the Stoke area, hence me coming to the conclusion that they were made at Spoutfield & I have not found any of these dark coloured bricks in the Derby area. As to the reverse being stamped Derby & not Stoke, Thomas Bennett may have stamped them this way to distinguish his bricks from Joseph Bennett who produced his bricks at nearby Basford Tileries in Stoke. As of yet I have not been able to establish if Thomas Bennett was related to Joseph Bennett with Joseph being born in Stoke & Thomas in Stapenhill, Derbys.

I found this blue Bennett brick at Spondon reclamation yard in May 2021 & my thoughts are that this example was made by Thomas Bennett at his Spoutfield Works in Stoke, as the clay is similar to other bricks found in the Stoke area. There is no town name on the reverse of this one. The reclamation yard had many pallets of bricks made by Stoke brickmakers, hence me leaning towards this brick coming from Stoke. If it had been made by his son Richard at his Tamworth Works the clay would be more smoother in texture, an example of which turned up in September 2022 & is shown next.  

The 1871 census for Thomas records him aged 65 & now living at 49, Old Uttoxeter Road with Mary aged 61 & Richard aged 24, a traveller (salesman). I am assuming Richard was a brick salesman for his father's company. This census records Thomas was now employing 250 men & boys, so it appears brick making at his three works, Slack Lane, Derby, Spondon & Spoutfield, Stoke was thriving. 

Sadly Thomas died on the 8th of October 1871 leaving a Estate valued at £8,000 pounds, that equates to nearly a One Million Pounds in today's money - WOW. The Executors in Thomas Will are listed as his wife, Mary; Thomas Slack, brickmaker; Henry Leese, Commercial Traveller & son-in-law; & Richard Bennett, son & Brickmaker. This document is the first recording of son Richard being a brickmaker, so I am taking it that it was after his father's death that he took control of his father's three brickworks. Kelly's Staffs. 1872 edition reads Thomas Bennett (exors of), Spoutfield, Stoke & this is the last entry for this works being owned by the Bennett family, so I am taking it that it was sold soon afterwards. This Spoutfield works was next operated by Joseph Caddick. I do not have a 1872 trade directory recording the two Derby works, the next entry is in Kelly's 1881 edition recording Richard Bennett at the helm. For some unknown reason Thomas Bennett's Estate was not finalised until 1885 & this notice appeared in the London Gazette dated 22nd September 1885.

THOMAS BENNETT,Deceased.
Pursuant to the Act 22 and 23 Victoria, cap. 35, intituled " An Act to further amend the Law of Property, and
to relieve Trustees."
NOTICE is hereby given, that all persons having any
claims against the estate of Thomas Bennett, late of Derby, Brick Maker, deceased (who died on the 8th day of October, 1871, and whose will was proved by Mary Bennett, since deceased, Thomas Slack, Henry Leese, since deceased, and Richard Bennett, the exe- cutors, in the Derby District Registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate on the 24th October, 1871), are hereby required to send particulars of their debts or claims to us the undersigned, on or before the 17th October, 1885, at the expiration of which date the said surviving exe- cutors will proceed to distribute the assets amongst the parties entitled thereto, having regard to the claims only of which they then have notice.—Dated this 14th day of September, 1885.
MOODY and WOOLLEY, Solicitors, Bank-cham- bers, Derby.
© Crown Copyright. The London Gazette. Published 22nd September, 1885. Issue 25513 Page 4484.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/25513/page/4484

Before I write about Richard Bennett I tell you about the partnership which was formed between Richard Bennett & his brother-in-law Henry Leese & as previously wrote Henry Leese married Thomas Bennett's eldest daughter Mary in 1853 & they went on to have two daughters. The 1871 census & Thomas Bennett's Will in October 1871 still record Henry Leese as a Commercial Traveller, but by 1876 Henry Leese was in partnership with Richard Bennett as Bennett & Leese, brickmakers at Derby & Spondon. This is the entry in Kelly's 1876 edition - Bennett & Leese, 49 Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby; & at Spondon; depot, Siddals Road, Derby. They were making bricks, roofing tiles, pipes & chimney pots. There is also one entry for Bennett & Leese at the Cliff Brickworks near Tamworth in Kelly's Warks. 1876 edition.

This Bennett & Leese brick which is stamped Red & Blue Brick Works, Derby is in Derby Museums brick collection. I first thought this brick had been made at the Spoutfield brickworks in Stoke when it was owned by Richard Bennett & Henry Leese when they were acting as Executors of Thomas Bennett's Will in 1872, but now with studying the colour of it's clay I have come to the conclusion that it was made by Bennett & Leese at their Cliff Works near Tamworth around 1876 as per Kelly's Warks. trade directory entry for the duo.  The type of clay required to make blue bricks is not found in Derby, hence the conclusion that it was made in Tamworth were this type of clay is found.

The partnership of Bennett & Leese are next listed in Kelly's 1881 edition at 49, Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby; & at Spondon; depot, Siddals Road, Derby.  

Many thanks to Frank Lawson for finding me this Bennett & Leese, Melbourne brick, but it has raised the question in what year did this partnership purchase the Melbourne works as Richard Bennett is not recorded until Kelly's 1881 edition as owning this works on his own. This works is certainly not listed as being owned by Bennett & Leese in their Kelly's 1881 entry, but we do know this partnership had been formed by 1876 as per trade directory entries for the duo. I have established this brickworks was not actually in Melbourne, but was in Kings Newton which is in the Parish of Melbourne. This brickworks had been run by Henry Orton up to 1861, then after it had been run by someone else (unknown), Richard Bennett purchased the works at a date unknown. We know this works is listed as being owned by Richard on his own in Kelly's 1881 edition. Maps showing the location of the Spondon & Kings Newton (Melbourne) works are shown later in the post.

1881 sees Henry Leese setting up a new brick venture on his own, either purchasing or leasing the Rowditch Brickworks which was situated on New Uttoxeter Road, Derby & was adjacent to the Slack Lane Works. This is the entry in Kelly's 1881 edition - Henry Leese, offices, 14, St James Street; works Rowditch Brickworks, Uttoxeter Road, Derby. I have coloured this Rowditch Brickworks purple on the 1881 OS map above. Henry is recorded in the 1881 census as Brick manufacturer employing 23 men & 14 boys, living with his wife Mary & two daughters at Rowditch House, New Uttoxeter Road, Derby. There are no more trade directory entries for Bennett & Leese as I sadly tell you that Henry Leese passed away in 1882 aged 52. A document on Ancestry does not give the exact date of his death, but it was in either July, August or September of 1882. As of yet no bricks stamped Leese, Derby have been found. 

Richard Bennett was born 31st of March, 1847, the youngest son of Thomas & Mary Bennett. In the 1871 census Richard aged 24 is recorded as living with his parents at 49, Old Uttoxetter Road, Derby, profession, Traveller & this may have been as a brick salesman for his father's company. Then in his father's Will dated 24th of October 1871, Richard is recorded as being a Brickmaker & one of the Executors of Thomas's Will. This 1871 document is the first reference recording Richard Bennett as a brickmaker.

On the 15th day of September 1874 Richard Bennett married Elizabeth Yates. They produced four sons, Thomas W. Bennett, b.1876 (possibly died as an infant, as I cannot find him in subsequent censuses); Richard C. Bennett, b.1877; Edward H. Bennett, b.1879 & Robert Chambers Bennett, b.1882. 

With Richard now running the family brickmaking business from 1871 we find that in 1876 he is listed in two Kelly's 1876 editions (Derbys & Warks) as being in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henry Leese trading as Bennett & Leese, brickmakers in Derby & Spondon; & Cliff near Tamworth. This partnership may have been formed as early as 1872 with the duo still owning Thomas's brickworks in Stoke at this 1872 date. It appears the Stoke works was sold shortly after 1872. The partnership of Bennett & Leese are again listed in Kelly's 1881 edition at Derby & Spondon. As previously wrote Henry Leese died in 1882.

It's at this point that I tell you about my first reference that I have found recording Richard Bennett manufacturing brick-making machinery together with William Sayer. It's in the form of a Bennett & Sayer letterhead which gives the date of 1877 when the company was Established in Nuns Street, Derby. Although not dated this letterhead may have been come from the 1920's/30's. Previously this Nun Street site had been a Silk Mill. 

Martin Hammond (sadly passed away) a well respected authority on writing about brick making & brick companies wrote in the British Brick Society's Journal that the Nottingham Patent Brick Co. in 1879 installed brick-making machinery using the wire-cut method made by Richard Bennett of Derby. The Company of Bennett & Sayer at a later date played a significant part in the running of the Slack Lane Brickworks & I write more about Bennett & Sayer later.

Kelly's 1881 edition for the first time records Richard Bennett in his own name as Manufacturer of red, white & blue bricks, roof tiles, quarry tiles & sanitary pipe with offices at 100 Liversage, Chamber Street, St James Street, Derby & Works at Uttoxeter Road, Derby & at Melbourne, Spondon & Tamworth. On the next line in this 1881 directory Richard is also listed at Kings Newton, Derby & as previously wrote the Kings Newton & Melbourne works were the same works with it being situated in the village of Kings Newton which was in the Parish of Melbourne. 

When I wrote this post I did not know the location of Richard's Tamworth Works, but in 2021 with new info found I can now enlighten you. A Richard Bennett "Bill of Sale" dated July 1885 lists his three works as Uttoxeter Road, Derby; Kings Newton & Peel Tilleries, Cliff near, Tamworth. I then found in Kelly's Warwickshire directories not Staffordshire directories as you would expect with Tamworth being in Staffordshire the listing of Bennett & Lees, Cliff, Kingsbury, Tamworth in it's 1876 edition. Lees in the entry should read Henry Leese, Richard's brother-in-law. Kelly's 1880 edition only lists Richard Bennett at Cliff, Kingsbury, Tamworth; & at Derby, so it appears some time after 1876 & before 1880 Richard took sole charge of running the Cliff Works. Richard is listed again at Cliff in Kelly's 1884 edition. I have coloured Richard's Cliff Works yellow on the 1887 OS Map below. The partnership of Bennett & Leese still continued at Derby & Spondon until Henry Leese's death in 1882. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.

In the 1881 census Richard Bennett aged 34 is recorded as a Brick Manufacturer employing 90 men & 60 boys, living at Thorne Cliff Villa, Derby with his wife Elizabeth aged 26 & their three boys, Thomas 5, Richard C. 4 & Edward 2. Their youngest son Robert was born in 1882 & as previously wrote it appears Thomas may have died before the 1891 census. Also in Richard's 1881 census entry there is the listing of William Sayer, Engineer aged 27 who was a visitor to Thorne Cliff Villa on the day of the Census. As we know he was the Sayer in Bennett & Sayer. 

Examples of Richard's white & red bricks made at Derby, blue bricks made at his Tamworth works, then five bricks made at his Kings Newton/Melbourne works. It is unknown if the Bennett reverse Spondon bricks shown at the beginning of this post were made by Richard or his father Thomas, but I am favouring Thomas. 

Photo by Simon Patterson.

R. Bennett rev. Kings Newton by Frank Lawson.

Richard Bennett reverse Melbourne.

This brick has Melbourne on it's reverse.

This brick has Melbourne on it's reverse.

Added October 2022, two new finds. R. Bennett rev. Melbourne & Bennett, Spondon, also made by Richard.

On the 1881 Spondon OS map below I have marked three brickworks, one of which is marked disused. Although I do not have proof of the ownership of these yards, I think that the yellow works was owned by Richard Bennett at this date & the blue disused works may have been owned by Richard's father Thomas Bennett. This leaves the red works & I have two entries in Kelly's 1876 & 1881 editions for the Antill Brothers brickmaking at Spondon & this may have been their yard. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey. Published 1885.
1885 OS map showing the location of the Kings Newton yard.

Richard Bennett continues to run his brickworks until his death on the 9th of October 1885. His abode is given as 47, London Road, Derby & he left a Personal Estate of £7,729 pounds which equates to One Million Pounds today. The Executors of his Will are given as his Wife, Elizabeth; farmer Henry Boam the Younger & William Sayer, Engineer. After the death of Richard in 1885 I think this was when his Executors decided to sell the Cliff Brickworks near Tamworth to the Hathern Station Brick Co. who are listed at the Cliff Works in Kelly's Warks. 1888 edition. 

Kelly's 1887 edition now records, Richard Bennett, brickmaker, Slack Lane, exors (executors) of. Then on the next line it says, Mrs. Bennett, Brick & Tile manufacturer, Uttoxeter Road. So it appears Elizabeth Bennett, Henry Boam & William Sayer as Executors were now running the brickworks & the brick-making machine side of the business. The 1891 census records Elizabeth Bennett as Head of the family & "living on her own means." Sons Richard C. aged 14, Edward aged 12 & Robert aged 9 are listed scholars. 

In Kelly's 1891 edition there is the first entry for Richard Bennett & Co. at Slack Lane, Derby & this Company was run by Richard's Executors as Richard's boys were still listed as scholars in 1891. Kelly's 1895 edition records the same entry as the 1891 edition.

I then found this Advert in Kelly's 1895 edition for Bennett & Sayer, Engineers having their Head Office at the Slack Lane Brickworks.

Bennett & Sayer Engineers Ltd. are listed in the Machine Manufacturers section of Kelly's 1916 & 1922 editions at the Engineering Works, Nuns Street, Derby with Head Office at Rowditch, Uttoxeter Road, Derby. Now this office address of Rowditch, Uttoxeter Road will be the Slack Lane Brickworks as recorded in the 1895 advert. Rowditch comes from Rowditch Farm which had occupied the area of land between Uttoxeter Road & Slack Lane. I also have to add to save confusion that there was also a brickworks owned by Joseph Tomlinson called Rowditch Brick Works (coloured purple on the 1881 OS map above) which was situated on the former farm land at this time & was next door to the Slack Lane Brickworks. Another Bennett & Sayer advert can be seen at this Link, on a fellow brick collector's Flickr site.

I have reason to believe that the Bennett's Spondon brickworks had closed by 1897 because the 1899 OS map now shows a Tar Works occupied the site. With the death of Richard in 1885 the Spondon Works may have closed back then as there are no trade directory listings for the works after his death. From a written account of the Kings Newton works that closed in 1899 & the 1899 OS map only shows the marked "Old Clay Pit". Kelly's 1899 & 1900 trade directories just lists Richard Bennett & Co. at Slack Lane, although there is the addition of a distribution yard at London Road Wharf, Derby.

We next find in the 1901 census that Richard's son Richard Charles Bennett aged 24 is listed as Brick Manufacturer living with his mother Elizabeth at 126, Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby. Brothers, Edward aged 22 is listed as a Surveyor & 19 year old Robert is recorded as a Builders Apprentice. So it appears from 1901 or even a couple of years earlier Richard C. Bennett was now running the brickmaking side of the family business. From information found it appears William Sayer was involved in the running of both Bennett & Sayer Ltd. (Engineers) & Richard Bennett & Co. Ltd. Kelly's 1904 edition is the last entry for Richard Bennett & Co. at Slack Lane, Derby. 

The London Gazette dated 28th of August 1906 (page1, page 2) reveals Richard Bennett & Co. was voluntarily wound up on the 2nd of July 1906 by it's members & on the 24th of July an agreement was signed for the Derby Brick Co. to purchase the brickworks previously owned by Richard Bennett & Co. Shares & debentures in the DB Co. were then distributed to the share holders of the former company. This notice was signed by Chairman William Sayer. The formation of the Derby Brick Co. had all come about with an amalgamation of five local Derby brick companies with the common interest in saving unnecessary expense & to stop the under-cutting of the price of their bricks between themselves. With William Sayer being Chairman of Richard Bennett & Co. he then took up a position within this new company of the Derby Brick Co. At the time of his death in 1918 William Sayer was the Chairman of the Derby Brick Co. It is unknown if Richard Bennett's son Richard Charles Bennett, brick manufacturer in 1901 took up a position within the DB Co. after 1906, but by the 1911 census Richard is recorded as a "Engineer Disengaged" & still living with his mother Elizabeth in Derby who is listed as "Living on her own means". I have written a fuller account of the formation of the Derby Brick Co. in Derby Brickmakers - part 1.

Although owned by the Derby Brick Co., the Slack Lane brickworks in 1931 was still closely associated with Bennett & Sayer & Co. (Engineers) with me finding this letter in Nottingham Archives. Wrote to The Radcliffe Brick Co. & dated 9th December 1931 it states Bennett & Sayer's Mr. Needham would like to arrange a visit to the Radcliffe Brick Co. about their machinery requirements. The letter then goes on to say that Bennett & Sayer would be glad to arrange a visit for Radcliffe's owner Mr. Joseph Onions to visit their Slack Lane brickworks, signed F.L. Nadsworth for Bennett & Sayer. This statement appears on the letterhead shown earlier "As brickmakers, we have perfected our machinery by actual use". You can't say better than that as a recommendation for their products. Then surprisingly the first entry for the Slack Lane brickworks listed as a works owned by the Derby Brick Co. is in Kelly's 1925 edition.

Another snippet of information found in the Derby Daily Telegraph dated 7th of August 1936 regarding the Derby Brick Co & the history of it's Slack Lane Works, tells you "the works was now in it's 100th year. The works Hoffmann Continuous Kiln had been installed by the late Richard Bennett in 1866 with it being only the second kiln of this type to be installed in this country, & the fire which was then kindled has never since been out. In this particular kiln it has been computed that 300,000,000 bricks have been burnt, a quantity beyond the power of mind to conceive." I have to correct the writer of this article to the point that in 1866 the Slack Lane brickworks was owned & being run by Richard Bennett's father Thomas Bennett, so it was Thomas who had the Hoffman kiln built. The earliest reference I have for Richard is the 1871 census recording him aged 24 as a Traveller (possibly a brick salesman or someone who was learning the trade of brickmaking) & living with his father. Then the first Hoffmann Kiln to be built in this country was by Edward Gripper at the Nottingham Patent Brick Co's works in Nottingham. Gripper had negotiated the sole rights with it's inventor to build this type of kiln in the East Midlands, therefore anyone wishing to build a Hoffmann kiln within the area had to apply to Edward Gripper for permission. So I am assuming Thomas Bennett was a very close friend of Edward Gripper with Gripper only getting the rights in 1866. From my findings several other local brickmakers were turned down by Gripper to protect his monopoly in the sale of the vast quantities of bricks that could be produced in a Hoffmann kiln. 

It is unknown in which year the Derby Brick Co. closed it's Slack Lane works, but the company as a whole went into Liquidation on the 6th of March 1968 as recorded in the London Gazette. This notice was signed by Chairman Norman William Sayer, son of William Sayer (as in Bennett & Sayer).  

As wrote William Sayer died on the 14th of December 1918 at his abode, The Mount, Uttoxeter Road leaving effects to the value of £34,727. Recorded in William's Will son Norman William Sayer, Engineer was left all his shares in Bennett & Sayer, taking full control of the running of Bennett & Sayer. As a footnote Bennett & Sayers as Engineers went into voluntary liquidation in 1990.

I now move on to the family history that Avril has sent me & the information that I have gathered from the web covering the Bennett's Carole & Avril are connected to. These Bennett's are more than likely related to the Bennett's that I have just written about, but with the family tree Avril sent me, I have been unable to find the link.

I first start with their direct descendants at Spondon, then Mapperley, Nottingham & then Lincoln, followed by other members of their Bennett family who continued to work at Nottingham.

Francis Bennett 1806-1877, Carole & Avril's 3 x Great Grandfather is recorded in their family history, in making bricks at Spondon in 1851 & was a member of the large Bennett family who were all well known brickmakers & workers at Spondon.

Followed by his son Charles (born 1832), who at the age of 9 started at the yard, learning the art of brick making. Charles progressed in the brickworks & in 1854 he married Mary Ann Holloway who produced him a son, Francis in 1855. The couple when on to have three more children in the following years.

By 1857 the Spondon works owned by Charles family was now in the hands of Thomas Bennett owner of the Slack Lane Works in Derby & as of yet I have still not found the connection between these two Bennett families. 

Charles moved with his young family in 1861 to take up the job of foreman at a brickworks owned by Edward Gripper, in Mapperley, residing at 22 Mapperley Hill, Nottingham. 

Edward Gripper who had been a farmer in Layer Marney, Essex had moved to Nottingham in 1855 to start his brick making company at Mapperley Top, something which he had no experience in. Edward is recorded in Kelly's 1855 edition as Edward Gripper & Company, Mapperley Hill, Nottingham.
The company succeeded & in 1867 Edward Gripper together with William Burgess, who was a brickmaker & coal merchant, formed the Nottingham Patent Brick Company. This new company used the Hoffman Kiln process which Edward Gripper & his managers had previously negotiated the local use of, drastically increasing the companies brick output to 27 million per year. In Edward Gripper's honour bricks were produced with his name on & an example is shown below. 

NPBC went on to produce the millions of facing bricks for St. Pancras Station in London, which they were the main contractor for. When demand outstripped supply Tucker's of Loughborough supplied the extra bricks required to keep the construction of Station on time. So Charles Bennett could well have been involved in overseeing the production of these Nottingham Patent Brick Co. stamped facing bricks (example below) with him being a foreman at Nottingham Patent Brick Company's Mapperley Works.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw057127

Two ariel photos of the works at Mapperley in 1938.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw057128

After Charles's wife passed away in 1869, he remarried for the second time to Elizabeth Cooper, producing five more children. 

So with Charles transferring over to the new company, NPBC, he progressed his way up to Works Manager. He then moved to a new house that he had built at 752 Woodborough Road. Along side this house he built a row of terraced houses for his workers. Charles also gave land to build the Wesleyan Chapel on Mapperley Road. 

752 Woodborough Road. Photo by Avril.

Charles rose to great heights in the local community, he was a town councillor, then elected Alderman in 1880 & was also a magistrate. He then marries for the third time to Louisa Crisp. He died in 1909 at the aged of 77. Bennett Street & Bennett Road in Nottingham are named after him in his honour. 

Charles eldest son Francis Thomas (Carole & Avril's Great Grandfather) followed in his father's footsteps becoming clerk at NPBC, with him then moving to Lincoln around 1885/6 to run the Bracebridge brick works. 
Francis Thomas is first recorded in Kelly's Trade Directory as Manager at the Bracebridge Brick & Tile Co. Ltd., works Bracebridge in the 1889 edition. I also have this advert for him from the same year, but in this it records him using his second christian name only. 

A 2023 find in the Lincolnshire Chronicle newspaper dated 3rd of April 1885 reveals T. Bennett, Manger of the Bracebridge Brick Co. was advertising bricks for sale at the works. So this advert firmly puts Francis Thomas Bennett at the Bracebridge works in April 1885.  

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I have found from the web that the Cross O'Cliffe works together with the South Cliffe & Bracebridge brickworks were amalgamated into the Lincoln Brick Company in the early 1890's.
Francis is next recorded in Kelly's 1892 edition as the Manager of this newly expanded company, The Lincoln Brick Co. with works at West Cliffe & Cross O'Cliffe, Bracebridge. Then in Kelly's 1896 edition, Francis is recorded as Manager at the Lincoln Brick Co. with works at Burton Road, West Cliffe & Cross O'Cliffe, Bracebridge.

Recent find, June 2015, Lincoln Brick Co. 

B denotes Bracebridge Works. 

Francis had fourteen children which is recorded in the 1891 census all living in a small workman's cottage next to the works.  He died at the age of 45 in 1900. His son Charles born 1875 follow his father as manager of this works.

Photo take at & with the courtesy of Lincoln Museum of Life.

W denotes West Cliffe or Waddington Works.

The Lincoln Brick Co. had operated six different sites during it's lifetime. They were West Cliffe, South Cliffe, Cross O'Cliffe, Albion, Bracebridge & Waddington.

Carole & Avril's Grandfather Benjamin did not follow in the family business, becoming a dentist instead, he sadly died at the age of 38 of TB in1929. 
Carole & Avril's father Desmond moved to Yorkshire, with them both only knowing that their Grandfather Benjamin had left shares to him in the brickworks at Bracebridge. It was only after Desmond's death in 2002 that they found out they were descended from a brick making dynasty, coming from Spondon & Mapperley, which went back many years.

Now back to Nottingham, part of works had moved from Mapperley to Dorket Head, Arnold, a site which had been purchased by NPBC from Robinson & Sykes in 1895 to replace the Mapperley Lower Yard which was worked out.  

Other members of the Bennett family to be connected to NPBC have included M. Frank Barnes NPBC manager married to Georgiana Bennett born 1863, Charles Lawrence Bennett NPBC director born 1874, Leslie Charles Bennett director born1902, John Raymond Bennett NPBC director born 1908 & Peter Bennett, director, son of Leslie Charles.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

Charles Lawrence Bennett.

Charles was born in 1874 & died on the 30th November 1950 at his home, Hilcrest in Mapperley, aged 77. Charles had been at the Nottingham Patent Brick Co. for 60 years with him being in the position of Chairman & joint Managing Director when he passed away.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

Leslie Charles Bennett.

Avril has sent me a newspaper article about Leslie Charles, Charles's (1832-1909) Grandson, which I have transcribed below.
Retiring around 1973, Leslie played an important role in progressing the company forward in planing, development & commissioning the works at Dorket Head. Joining the company in 1921, he was works manager by 1928, then general manager in 1931. He joined the board in 1938 progressing to Managing Director in 1950.
Leslie pioneered the development of the mechanical handling of unfired bricks & bringing the six old brickyards in Arnold, Mapperley & Carlton together at Dorket Head. 
He was awarded the Honria Causa Silver Medal by the Institute of Clayworkers in 1971 for his outstanding services to the industry.
He was the eighth generation of the Bennett family to work in the industry started by Robert Bennett some 200 years earlier.

Mike Chapman has supplied me with some photographs of the machinery which Leslie designed & developed in conjunction with the manufacturers Woodfield. These mechanical handling machines where installed at the Top Yard & were in operation until the yard closed in 1967. 

  Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

First moved by fork truck from the hot floor dryer, the unfired bricks were then loaded on to cars, which then went into the kilns.

  Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

In this 1962 photo Leslie's son Peter (aged 12) is doing the honours of the first lighting of the newly installed Gibbon's style kiln at Dorket Head. (Leslie is on the left).
Peter followed in the family brickmaking tradition & became works manager & then a director at Lime Lane, Dorket Head before leaving the Company in 1991. Peter's last job at the Company was as Technical Manager at the Maltby Brickworks which Nottingham Brick PLC (NPBC) had purchased in 1979 from the Maltby Brick Company & this works was producing 450,000 engineering bricks per week. Avril tells me that Peter sadly passed away in 2012.  

The Nottingham Patent Brick Company's works at Dorket Head after being run under the Nottingham Brick PLC name & then owned by Marley Brick is now owned & run by Ibstock.

Peter was possibly the last Bennett to be associated with this proud brick making family. 
Unless, out there in this Wide World there is still a Bennett making bricks ?

Update - 5.10.14

Carole & Avril with their bricks at Avril's house, just before Carole's trip back home to Canada.

Carole has just sent me these two pictures of her Spondon brick in Canada, proudly being displayed on her mantlepiece.

She was unable to take the Derby brick because of the baggage weight limit, but is hoping to take it home on her next visit.

Avril is displaying her two bricks in her front porch & they have attracted much interest already.