Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
There may be much to tell about this old Birmingham Merchant Company, which passed to the Dixon family in the mid 1800s. Amongst other investments it allowed George Dixon MP (1820-1898) to be able to follow his pursuit of reform causes.
In the report of the death of Edward Rabone in 1865, at the age of 82, he was said to be the former head of Rabone Bros in Broad St, which was founded by his two uncles almost a century earlier. He had retired around 1852, and was reported to have been a constant supporter of local charities. In 1828 Samuel Rabone, the surviving partner of Rabone Bros, had declined the trade in favour of his nephew Mr. Edward Rabone and the firm continued under the old firm name.
Abraham Dixon, and later his brother of George, moved to Birmingham to work in the firm and by 1844 had become partners. In 1846 there is a notice to say the Business is to be carried on by George and Abraham Dixon and Thomas Lloyd. Thomas Lloyd undertook the foreign travel needed by the commitments of the firm. This included a residence for a couple of years in Australia, and also journeys to Mexico and parts of S. America.
The firm had begun by importing wine from Portugal and Spain, but soon began to export various metal products from Birmingham and the surrounding area. The firm tended to focus on markets in Central and South America, along with the West Indies. The business expanded greatly and around the late 1850s according to George’s daughter “the money came rolling in.”
One of their main trades was the gun trade. It is reported that during the American Civil War Washington requested the firm to purchase every available gun in Birmingham and the district. In 1860 the firm also obtained the management of the patent for the Wilson breech loading rifle.
In his book, Out of Birmingham: George Dixon (1820-98), Father of free education, James Dixon says that in the late 1850s the firm had a large contract to supply for the construction of the Cuban railways, which needed the charter of no less than 47 ships. However as early as 1848 the ship Queen Dowager sailed for Havannah with 45 tons of cast iron from Rabone Bros.
In 1885 Rabone Bros & Co was dissolved by mutual agreement and replaced by a new company Rabone Bros and Co. Abraham Dixon was able to withdraw from the company having been a sleeping partner for many years.
When George Dixon died in 1898, he left a personal estate of nearly £170,000, and it was advertised that Rabone Bros would be carried on by his sons Arthur Stansfield Dixon and James Ernest Dixon in conjunction with Mr JR Meyer.
In 1930 a new company was formed Rabone, Petersen and Co. Ltd, with £200,000 capital to acquire the business formerly carried on by JE Dixon, GHS Dixon, and FJL Hickinbotham, and also TW Petersen and Co of 26/27 Newhall Hill; To carry on the business of merchants, importers, exporters, warehousemen, ship and insurance brokers, strippers and shipowners, etc. Among the Directors was JE Dixon of Eastcote Manor, Hampton in Arden.
By 1970 Rabone and Petersen had joint MDs, RN Dixon, the grandson of George Dixon, and a Mr. Eccles-Williams. In 1977 RN Dixon was to retire after 50 years with the Company at the age of 70. The Birmingham Post said that “through the business he became the Consul in Birmingham for Equator and Venezuela. If that was not good enough tribute to the company's esteem, then turn to the Columbian dictionary and the adjective meaning quality and integrity. The word is rabone."
This ended the Dixon involvement with the Company in which the shareholders were to hand over control to GR Dawes, who were themselves were in voluntary liquidation. The company would pass into the private hands of the three GR Dawes directors
After 1977 Rabone and Peterson Co. fail to get a further mention in the Press, and the same applies to GR Dawnes after December 1979. Looking on a few company search sites Rabone and Petersen Co shows the company dissolved. However on another there is a record of the foreign company being incorporated in 1981 and struck off as of 6 June 2017. The address being 405, Battery Road, Singapore.
In the report of the death of Edward Rabone in 1865, at the age of 82, he was said to be the former head of Rabone Bros in Broad St, which was founded by his two uncles almost a century earlier. He had retired around 1852, and was reported to have been a constant supporter of local charities. In 1828 Samuel Rabone, the surviving partner of Rabone Bros, had declined the trade in favour of his nephew Mr. Edward Rabone and the firm continued under the old firm name.
Abraham Dixon, and later his brother of George, moved to Birmingham to work in the firm and by 1844 had become partners. In 1846 there is a notice to say the Business is to be carried on by George and Abraham Dixon and Thomas Lloyd. Thomas Lloyd undertook the foreign travel needed by the commitments of the firm. This included a residence for a couple of years in Australia, and also journeys to Mexico and parts of S. America.
The firm had begun by importing wine from Portugal and Spain, but soon began to export various metal products from Birmingham and the surrounding area. The firm tended to focus on markets in Central and South America, along with the West Indies. The business expanded greatly and around the late 1850s according to George’s daughter “the money came rolling in.”
One of their main trades was the gun trade. It is reported that during the American Civil War Washington requested the firm to purchase every available gun in Birmingham and the district. In 1860 the firm also obtained the management of the patent for the Wilson breech loading rifle.
In his book, Out of Birmingham: George Dixon (1820-98), Father of free education, James Dixon says that in the late 1850s the firm had a large contract to supply for the construction of the Cuban railways, which needed the charter of no less than 47 ships. However as early as 1848 the ship Queen Dowager sailed for Havannah with 45 tons of cast iron from Rabone Bros.
In 1885 Rabone Bros & Co was dissolved by mutual agreement and replaced by a new company Rabone Bros and Co. Abraham Dixon was able to withdraw from the company having been a sleeping partner for many years.
When George Dixon died in 1898, he left a personal estate of nearly £170,000, and it was advertised that Rabone Bros would be carried on by his sons Arthur Stansfield Dixon and James Ernest Dixon in conjunction with Mr JR Meyer.
In 1930 a new company was formed Rabone, Petersen and Co. Ltd, with £200,000 capital to acquire the business formerly carried on by JE Dixon, GHS Dixon, and FJL Hickinbotham, and also TW Petersen and Co of 26/27 Newhall Hill; To carry on the business of merchants, importers, exporters, warehousemen, ship and insurance brokers, strippers and shipowners, etc. Among the Directors was JE Dixon of Eastcote Manor, Hampton in Arden.
By 1970 Rabone and Petersen had joint MDs, RN Dixon, the grandson of George Dixon, and a Mr. Eccles-Williams. In 1977 RN Dixon was to retire after 50 years with the Company at the age of 70. The Birmingham Post said that “through the business he became the Consul in Birmingham for Equator and Venezuela. If that was not good enough tribute to the company's esteem, then turn to the Columbian dictionary and the adjective meaning quality and integrity. The word is rabone."
This ended the Dixon involvement with the Company in which the shareholders were to hand over control to GR Dawes, who were themselves were in voluntary liquidation. The company would pass into the private hands of the three GR Dawes directors
After 1977 Rabone and Peterson Co. fail to get a further mention in the Press, and the same applies to GR Dawnes after December 1979. Looking on a few company search sites Rabone and Petersen Co shows the company dissolved. However on another there is a record of the foreign company being incorporated in 1981 and struck off as of 6 June 2017. The address being 405, Battery Road, Singapore.
