• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Wolseley Sheep Shearing Co Witton

sparks

sparks

knowlegable brummie
Following the killing of the mouse (see City Electric Co) I moved to my second job in 1952 as a trainee draftsman at Wolseley Sheep Shearing Co, as it was then known, in Witton.
My mother never told anyone that I was an electricians mate, but decided that a trainee draftsman sounded very posh, so she told everybody.
One of my jobs was to copy the large drawings, and this was done by wrapping them round a large clear plastic tube, clamping a canvas cover round the tube, and then lowering a carbon arc light slowly down the tube and back.
I should have worn special glasses, but no one bothered in those days, and I still have a small area in my right eye that I can’t see through.
I remember spending many weeks attending the Birmingham Eye Hospital. There were about six long benches, and when you arrived you sat on the last bench and slowly slid your way along until you reached the front. There were four examiners standing behind four tall desks and your eyes were examined standing up in front of everybody.
more memories
 
Great memories on your site Sparks. I worked at Wolseley but much later than you 1964-1968. I am pretty sure there is a thread for Wolseley - type Wolseley it the search box in the blue band at the top of the page and you should find it.
 
You may remember Sylvia that my father Len Gibson worked for pretty well all of his working life at Wolseley, my grandfather om mom's side also worked there for quite a long time. E
 
There was a very atractive young lady in the drawing office called Sylvia but I had very little contact with anybody outside of the office. Len Gibson does not ring a bell but I must admit to having a very bad memory.
 
Hi to you all.I was amazed when I saw " wolseley sheep shearing company" in Witton.My Father Benjamin Robinson worked there for over 25 years from 1955 to 1983.I remember going on coach trips to pantomimes at wolverhampton theatre I think it was.If anyone has any photographs of all us kids with our name tags attached to our coats,outside the theatre,in between 1962 and 1968 I would be so grateful. My sister has 2 photographs,but myself and other sister are not on them. Would love to know if anyone remembers these outings.
Thanks

Jill
 
Some background on the WSS Co. These illustrate how the fortunes of the early company were tied in to farming conditions, not just at home, but aboard. Viv.

image.jpeg
August 1908

image.jpeg
August 1913
 
The earlier history suggests that the Wolseley machine inventor - Frederick Wolseley - was to realise a large fortune from his sheep shearing machine, but by 1889 was a "squatter". Presumably squatter has the same meaning as today. Or did squatter have another meaning in Aus ? Viv.

image.jpeg
1887


image.jpeg
1889
 
I have this photo from the Birmingham Post & Mail, (my dad's copy) of the Australian sheep sheering champion doing a demo for the staff at Wolseley. My dad and granddad (on mom's side) are in the crowd.
Wolseley SS.jpg
 
What a great photo Eric. Some interesting reactions on the faces in the audience. Expect this was, for many, the first time they'd seen a sheep sheared. Thanks for posting. Viv.
 
Eric Gibson said:
I have this photo from the Birmingham Post & Mail, (my dad's copy) of the Australian sheep sheering champion doing a demo for the staff at Wolseley. My dad and granddad (on mom's side) are in the crowd.
View attachment 122568
Click to expand...
Hi Eric,
Any idea what year this pic was taken? I was apprentice at Wolseleyfrom '61 to 67 and worked in maintenance for a year or two after. Acouple of good looking Tony Curtis haircuts on view!
I remember a sheep shearing demo but it may have been later as I seem to remember it was on the back of a lorry.
 
This is my first post so I hope I am in the correct part of the site
I am originally from Oldbury but am now living in Bristol and am a member of the Bristol Philatelic Society. I have recently acquired a large number of envelopes addressed to the above company from all over the world. These are all from the late 1940s and 1950s. I would be grateful if anyone has any information about the goods traded by this company based in Electric Avenue Witton. I believe at this stage they were not selling Sheep Shearing Equipment!
Many thanks.
 
corporate.wolseley.co.uk

Our History

Wolseley has a rich and proud history. It was founded in 1887, when Frederick York Wolseley launched the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company. The firm soon expanded into manufacturing and twelve years later, in 1899, the first Wolseley horseless carriage went on sale in the UK at £120. In...
corporate.wolseley.co.uk corporate.wolseley.co.uk

Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Co - Graces Guide

www.gracesguide.co.uk www.gracesguide.co.uk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My father worked there for pretty well all of his working life, they made all sorts of machinery from the sheep shearing stuff to lawn mowers, hay lifts etc. and during the war munitions of course.
They also made barbers tools, hair clippers, scissors under another name which I can't remember at the moment.
 
Thanks for the information. It explains the diversity of companies from all over the world which were in correspondence.
 
Hi everyone. Mum (Pauline Palmer) told me today that she too worked at Wolseley Sheep Shearing in the 1940s. My parents are from Aston and migrated to Australia in 1958. She's 89 now, but remembers. She told me how she used to make shears.
 
Ask her id she remembers Len Gibson or Charles Coughlin, my dad and granddad or Len Howell dad's friend and neighbour. All worked there through the war and until retirement.
 
Eric Gibson said:
Ask her id she remembers Len Gibson or Charles Coughlin, my dad and granddad or Len Howell dad's friend and neighbour. All worked there through the war and until retirement.
Click to expand...
The early history of this company, 1889 to 1902, is covered in great detail in a book "Herbert Austin - His Wolseley Years", in fact far more accurately than the Wolseley Company's account.
PA739
 
Im201106SMVR-Wols.jpg

where does the sheep go?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top