Book Review

Watford and South West Herts in the Great War

….   is a slim volume of 150 pages about the lives of ordinary people in a corner of Hertfordshire during the upheaval that was World War One. Divided into an Introduction, 4 main sections and an Afterword, most of the content is parcelled into section 2 entitled Civilian Life. Which is as it should be for a book aiming to tell the story of ordinary life in Watford and its neighbouring villages at this time.

Drs Eugenia and Quentin Russell have done an admirable job in portraying the everyday life of a community that contributed to the war effort through industry, health, transportation, art and voluntary work. From the introduction we have a brief summary of the growth of Watford, how brewing and printing came to dominate the town. But also how manufacture such as the Cobra Polish Works in Bushey and the Watford Manufacturing Company played an important role in Watford’s growth. The former employed “a large number of young women…. where one employee on the filling line was capable of filling 20,000 tins per hour”. That’s roughly 5.5 tins of polish per second!

Watford and Balmers Glass Companies

Watford Glass Company

The Watford Glass Co Ltd appears to have been in manufacturing from the late 1920's to the early 1990's. Founded by Gus Kiwi, from Germany and continued by Felicity Peck, Gus's daughter, followed by her children until the works closed. The company produced cut clear and coloured tableware and other glassware for sale through several department stores, including Cawdells in Watford, now long gone. Two vases were made as a special order for Buckingham Palace.  

The 1953 Pottery Gazette & Glass Trades Review Reference Book lists this firm as being in 13A Liverpool Road, Watford, under Glassware Decorators, but not Glass Manufacturers. In the article below, Mr Woodland states that after demob he went to Watford Glass, which at that time was in Greenhill Crescent. 

The following is an article from the Barnet & Potters Bar Times printed in 2005. 

Watford Glass Company. 

This article on Cutting Watford Crystal by Beowulf Mayfield comes from the Barnet & Potters Bar Times, Thursday 20th October, 2005.

W H Humphreys and Son, Removals

W H HUMPHREYS & SON REMOVALS

Our Founder, the Great Grandfather of the current Managing Director, William Henry Humphreys, commenced in business in Watford in 1918 with the   gratuity  payment after leaving service following being a P.O.W.  during World War I.

A horse and cart was purchased and away he went moving such wares as turf for the new Vicarage Road football ground to the rather grim loads of grave stones during the pandemic of 1919. With a base in Clifton Road Watford he was in a handy spot for both jobs.

A Chevrolet lorry was purchased later and the haulage business was up and running.

William’s son Horace Henry takes over as Managing Director during the 40’s and the company relocates to Sydney Road securing the two acre businesses head quarters that are used to this day.  Horace was a forward thinker and soon acquired land behind the Sydney Road small holding which was ideal for securely parking the growing fleet of trucks with their loads.

Fowler's Jams

Fowler's Jam Company was founded in 1905 by H.W. Fowler and A.E.D. Fowler and had premises at 29/43 Sydney Road, Watford. They produced jam, marmalade and mincemeat. In 1938 the business was expanded and products were distributed over a wide area, including London and the Home Counties, Southern England and parts of the Midlands. Goods were not packed for export. The firm closed in about 1960.
An advert produced at the time (1930's) stated:

"FOWLER BROS. (PRESERVES) LTD."
29/43 SYDNEY ROAD, WATFORD
TELEPHONE 4257  (3 lines)
Jam, Marmalade and Mincemeat

In 2001, Mr Stewart Mold contacted the Hertfordshire Genealogy website with a query regarding his family research. He was particularly interested in what had become of his Great Aunt Clara Mold who had married Henry William Fowler in the summer of 1896. He had discovered in the 1902 Kelly's Directory for Herts that a Henry William Fowler, Grocer, had an address at 152 St Albans Road, Watford. Then in 1929 there was a H.W. Fowler living at 77 Rickmansworth Road, along with several other Fowlers. 

In 2002 there was a further response to this from Mr Stuart Fowler who brought the matter up to date. He stated that his grandfather Hugh Russell Fowler had passed away in December 1999 and his grandmother, Edna Ethel Fowler passed away in June 2002. Together with Hugh's brother John Fowler, they had owned the factory site at Sydney Road. Though then currently occupied by five different firms as a kind of mini industrial estate, it was then owned by his father Malcolm George Fowler, his uncle Richard Fowler and Jon Fowler.