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Mr G Denton - 1905
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Mr W Wilkins - 1905
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In 1840 Benjamin Denton from Stanwick, having failed to secure land at Higham Ferrers, came to Rushden and found a small building in the High Street. This is where he started his boot making and later a currying business.
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His son George joined him in 1867 and the company was renamed B Denton & Son. It was a time of great change in the boot & shoe trade with the coming of machinery and they were the first factory to install a Blake Sewer for stitching the sole to the upper. Benjamin died in 1873 leaving his son in charge of a thriving business and he joined forces with a Mr Wilkins who ran a wholesale business in Bishopgate in London, so they renamed that company Wilkins & Denton.
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William & John Denton
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The two companies provided contacts for each other and some lucrative contracts came to provide large quantities of army boots.
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Advert 1905
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The main factory at Rushden was supplemented with another at Irchester where boys’ shoes were made and this was managed by twin sons of George – John & William - by 1914. In 1908 George had been joined by his older son, another George and the company had changed its name again to B Denton & Son Ltd, and prospered greatly during the First World War still making army boots. During the depression of the 1920s fortunes began to change and George junior’s health was fading so his son George Henry was asked to return home form his world travels and he took over as managing director in 1931 aged 26. He recruited a friend Len Bryan, whom he’d met in New Zealand whilst on his travels to join the company as sales director and Frank Brown became the company secretary. These three took the company through the second World War when they refurbished 1.5 million pairs of boots with new soles, as well as making the boots. This work led to George Henry being made president of The British Footwear Manufacturers' Federation.
The Wilkins & Denton premises in London were destroyed in the Blitz of December 1940, but Mr H G Wilkins had been careful to keep a set of duplicate records at his home in St Albans and so the company was able to pick up its business quickly.
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The house next to the factory Elsie Gell, left, made the boxes & Vera Meadows, right, put labels on 2000 boxes a day - 1948
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Steel toecaps had been invented by American Arthur Williams and George Henry wanted to secure the British rights to use them and in 1944 the Ministry of Labour arranged for George Henry to visit Williams. He returned with an agreement to be the sole distributor in England.
With renewed prosperity the warehousing distribution company Wilkins & Denton moved up to Rushden but maintained an office in London for a time. The name Totectors was registered to them and they developed a full range of the safety footwear. George Henry retired in 1970.
In 1974 Totectors Ltd was created by the unity of B Denton & Son Ltd and Wilkins & Denton Ltd., and the company went on to acquire more premises and saw the huge changes in footwear manufacture with the new sole construction from modern materials by injection moulding. Specialist shoes for industry were made to suit the environments in which they were worn and the company also expanded its lines with protective clothing for workers using hazardous materials. A new factory was built at Crown Park in the 1990s but the company succumbed to modern pressures and cheap imports in 2004.
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Mrs Wright talks about working at Totectors
I got a job with Totectors who ran a bus to Rushden from Oundle where I lived. My job was called “back part moulding” and I put the lining, stiffener and leather together and held them against a former and then a hot clamp pressed the three parts together over the former and turned under the bottom edge ready to take the sole. I never injured myself but sometimes would get a small burn. My husband got a job with Totectors too, after he was made redundant from bus conducting when the buses went “driver only”. He operated a press cutter, but sometimes the cutters would do a double action and that flipped the cutter and cut off the top of one his fingers; that was in his first week there. He also cut his hand badly one day. But there was no Health & Safety in place at any factories in those days.
For many years we rented a council house but then worked all the overtime we could get in order to save enough to buy our own house, which we did in the 1970s.
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| Memories of Engineering by H Packwood written in 1988:
Another phase of Rushden history was the building of the Local Electric Light Co. in Shirley Road.
Mr. Sammy Scragg and Mr. Sam Bailey arrived in Rushden in 1903 being qualified to do the wiring necessary to wire the factories.
The wiring used was known as capping and casing, the wire being in wood casing.
Mr. Sam Bailey on finishing the wiring etc. at B. Dentons, High Street (now demolished) was offered the position of engineer, which he accepted. This entailed looking after the Gas plant etc. and engines and the small tannery they owned in Rectory Road.
Mr. Sam Scragg then started the Central Electric Co in High Street South, he soon had plenty of work especially Government contracts.
On his death the business was transfered to W. Timson and W. Ekins and is now owned by W. Timson junior.
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Rushden Echo, 24th January 1908.
Shoe Trade Affairs At Rushden
Messrs. B. Denton and Son - Shoe Factory To Be Continued
The shoe trade papers are a little premature in their announcements regarding the future of the firm of B. Denton and Son, boot and shoe manufacturers, of Rushden, but we hope shortly to be able to make a definite statement on the matter.
Yesterday’s issue of the “Boot and Shoe Trade Journal” contains the following:- “We understand that a small company is about to be formed of Messrs. B. Denton and Sons, of Rushden, now in the hands of Mr. A. C. Palmer, as trustee, on behalf of the creditors of the estate. The directors are to be Mr. Edward Lewis, of Northampton; Mr. Thomas Lilley, sen., of London; Mr. Wilkins, London; and Mr. Brawn, of Rushden; whilst Mr. George Denton’s services are to be retained as general manager.”
“The Boot and Shoe Record” says:- “We understand that negotiations have practically been completed for the take-over and continuance of the business at Rushden of B. Denton and Son, boot manufacturers. A well-known Northampton boot manufacturing firm and a director of an equally well-know Metropolitan limited company will control the destinies of the Rushden business under the new dispensation.”
Messrs. C. and E. Lewis state that so far as that firm is concerned there is no authority for the statement in the “Boot and Shoe Trades Journal.”
A representative of the “Rushden Echo” was this morning informed that the shoe factory is to be continued. This is settled, but it is at present too early to give details. Our representative has every reason to believe that Mr. Lewis and Mr. Thomas Lilley are interested in the business, but there is at the present time no authority for the statement that a company will be formed.
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Wellingborough News, January 18th 1879, transcribed by Kay Collins
RUSHDEN - WORKMEN'S TEA
The clickers and machinists employed by Mr. G. Denton drank tea together in the National Schoolroom on Saturday. The meeting was a very pleasant one, and was much enjoyed by all who were present.
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Wellingborough News, 20th January 1883, transcribed by Kay Collins
WANTED, a CLICKER on Men's Calf and Kip work, only good workmen need apply.-Apply, B. DENTON & SON, Rushden.
WANTED, LADS for Finishing-room.—Apply, B. DENTON & SON, Rushden.
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Rushden Argus, December 1889, transcribed by Kay Collins
Denton and Son’s Benefit Club - Presentation—The annual meeting of this club was held on Thursday evening, when there was a very good attendance of members. Mr H Warren (treasurer) presided. From the report of the secretary (Mr Battle), it appeared the society had now been in existence ten years, during which time £141 8s had been paid to sick employees. During the present year a new departure had been made by admitting the female employees to full membership, their expenditure only averaging about 50 per cent of the contributions. This year, too, instead of joining the Band of Hope excursion, the donations received were devoted to the funds of the club, with the result that though the expenditure for sick pay had been the heaviest on record—29 members declaring on the sick fund, the amount paid in benefit amounting to £25 8s 6d—they had been able to declare a dividend of 5s per member, and left a balance of £5 10s as a nucleus for next year. The adoption of the report was moved by Mr Mackness, and in seconding this Mr J Jaques, who has been with the firm 36 years, said he had a pleasing duty devolving upon him, viz., the presentation to Mr Warren—who has been manager at the factory for 18 years—of a small token of their esteem and respect. The presentation took the form of an elegant hall clock, supplied by Mr J Carter, to which was affixed the following inscription: ‘Presented to Mr H Warren, by the employees of Messrs B Denton and Son, as a small token of their gratitude and esteem. Christmas 1889.’
Mr Warren was visibly affected, and thanked the donors most cordially, and said he should prize the gift very much.—The officers of the club were re-elected unanimously.
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Rushden Echo & Argus, 2nd March 1951, transcribed by Kay Collins
Denton's Party at Rushden
Employees from their closing factories at Kettering and Oundle, as well as from the main factory at Rushden, meant gay at the annual employees' party of Messrs. B. Denton and Son, Ltd., at Rushden Windmill Hall last day.
Over 350 were present, and there were games, dances and competitions to the music of Ted Riches and his band. Activities stopped only for refreshments and a short speech of welcome from the managing director, Mr. George Denton.
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