gregnorris55
proper brummie kid
During the research of this subject my colleagues and I have had some very helpful feedback from the Birmingham History Forum on aspects of this story.
The "Pioneers" involved in the formation of this business include J W Pickavant himself, a Royal Flying Corps mechanic/driver and veteran, and his partners Millie Baker and Wilfrid Hill.
Wilfrid Hill was a highly successful chemist in the Midlands and his County Chemical Company and products became very well known, including "Brylcreem".
A few years following the formation of this partnership the Mindelsohn family became investors. It turned out that the Mindelsohns were very prominent figures in Birmingham society both pre WW1 and after. We also discovered a second family were involved, The Gordons, another significant Birmingham family with both a furniture manufacturing business, and a car coachwork factory supplying car bodies to Austin Motors. I should add that J W P himself moved to Canada in the mid 1920's and his claim to be the "first importer" of Morris Motors into North America also turned out to be true!
We've documented this fascinating story and it can be viewed in a "Flipbook" which you can find here:
The full archive covering the entire 100 year history of this company, and it's Pioneer founders, can be found here:
www.sparchive.org
I hope this is the appropriate place to share this story, and hope that "history fans" will enjoy discovering the journey we've been on.
Thanks to all the contributors who have helped us piece this jigsaw together.
Thanks
Greg & the SPArchive project team.
The "Pioneers" involved in the formation of this business include J W Pickavant himself, a Royal Flying Corps mechanic/driver and veteran, and his partners Millie Baker and Wilfrid Hill.
Wilfrid Hill was a highly successful chemist in the Midlands and his County Chemical Company and products became very well known, including "Brylcreem".
A few years following the formation of this partnership the Mindelsohn family became investors. It turned out that the Mindelsohns were very prominent figures in Birmingham society both pre WW1 and after. We also discovered a second family were involved, The Gordons, another significant Birmingham family with both a furniture manufacturing business, and a car coachwork factory supplying car bodies to Austin Motors. I should add that J W P himself moved to Canada in the mid 1920's and his claim to be the "first importer" of Morris Motors into North America also turned out to be true!
We've documented this fascinating story and it can be viewed in a "Flipbook" which you can find here:
The Sykes-Pickavant Story
This book covers the 100 year & 4 generations story from 1918 to 2026
heyzine.com
The full archive covering the entire 100 year history of this company, and it's Pioneer founders, can be found here:
www.sparchive.org
I hope this is the appropriate place to share this story, and hope that "history fans" will enjoy discovering the journey we've been on.
Thanks to all the contributors who have helped us piece this jigsaw together.
Thanks
Greg & the SPArchive project team.