by Maurice Baren - from "How it all began in Lancashire" - published 1999

John Spencer was a warehouse lad earning 2s6d a week, but he dreamed that one day he would become a business magnate!  Many of us dream, but our ambition often stops there.  Not so with John; he became a grocer in Lanebridge in Burnley and saved every penny he could. He put his son, also John Spencer, to the trade of a weaver early in life, and for some years he was manager of Clifton Mill in Burnley.  However, in 1871 John Snr started in business with his son John, and John's brother, at Waterloo shed on Trafalgar Street, where they had 110 looms.

As the years passed, orders got larger and larger, so the firm moved to Ashfield Mill, where the company is based today, before moving to Elm Street.

Primrose Day, 19 April 1887, was a great day in the firm's history, for that was the day they opened their newly-erected Queen's Mill.  They were people with a great faith in the cotton industry, and although they had hard times, this faith was justified.   At one stage they had over 2,000 looms - 857 at Queen's Mill and 1,276 at Imperial Mill in Rosegrove, which they had built in 1905; these were powered by a large horizontal steam engine.  At the time of the jubilee of Queen's Mill, Tertius Spencer was the head of the firm; he was named Tertius because he was the third son born to his parents, the previous two having died in infancy.  To celebrate the mill's jubilee he took about 800 cotton workers on two special trains to Blackpool where they were provided with tea and free access to the Winter Gardens.  Whilst there, Tertius Spencer, speaking about his employees, said, "They are grand people.  I have been working with them since 1898, so I should know."

During the early years of the century the firm largely wove a cloth used for African prints, but after the Second World War became famous for its high quality cotton shirting, manufacturing about 300,000 yards a week, and supplying many of the leading shirt manufacturers.  Marks and Spencer bought a third share in the company, in return for a similar allocation of the cloth which was at that time in very short supply.

Even in the 1930s the firm was exporting cloth to many parts of the world; it was said that British needs could be woven before breakfast, the remainder of the day being given to production for export!

In the early post-war years great-grandson John replaced 1,400 traditional Lancashire looms with 576 weaving machines; the company invested heavily in the modernisation of their machinery, but by the 1960s it was clear that further redevelopment was again necessary.  It became obvious that various shareholders felt the industry had a doubtful future and preferred to have their capital returned to them; Marks and Spencer also withdrew from the production process. In 1970 John Spencer, the third member of the family to bear the name, was awarded the OBE, not least for his work as a member of the standing consultative conference of the Industrial Research Association, and as a member of the Textile Council.

However, 1971, the firm was wound up.  The major shareholders at this time were John H Spencer who had about a 20% holding,Marks and Spencer with about 33%, the remainder being held by about 12 other people.  Working in the business was JH Spencer, Jack Spencer, Mark Collinge (nephew of JH Spencer) and David Spencer, son of Jack.  JH Spencer's only son Jonathan had been killed in a gliding accident, aged 17, in the 1960s, and as a result a certain amount of dynamic impetus was lost.  Tertius' grandson, Mark Collinge, was now managing director and he kept the family name alive by setting up John Spencer (Textiles) Ltd.  This was no easy option for it meant Mark had to raise £60,000 share capital and secure a £20,000 overdraft from the bank - today these might not seem vast amounts but at the time it was a lot for a family business to assemble.   The share capital came mainly from within the family, but the bank overdraft was more difficult to finance and meant Mark had to surrender the deeds of his house and his share certificates; he put almost everything on the line!

The old business involved the mass production of textiles to supply chain stores, the Ministry of Defence, and Local Authorities with a range of three or four basic cloths, but many of these customers started obtaining their stocks more cheaply from developing countries where labour rates were much lower.  Mark Collinge bought 112 looms from the old company and decided to produce a wide range of fabrics, but not more than 10% of any one particular type of cloth. He found the Burnley Corporation had Ashfield Mill empty, so quite fortuitously moved back to where his forebears had started their business, bringing with him the best of the workers from the old business.  He was innovative in labour relations which was reciprocated, and all worked very hard together.  He offered them a share in the company profits and also a pension scheme - benefits which at the time were probably unique in the textile industry.

The Lancashire textile trade had seen dramatic changes over the previous seventy years.   In 1912 712,000 people were employed in cotton and allied trades; by 1982 that figure had plummeted to only 34,000.  Similarly in 1912 only about 8% of textiles used in this country came from abroad; by 1982 import penetration had risen to 77%.

Although John Spencer (Textiles) Ltd had still only 112 looms in 1983, at any one time they could produce 45-50 different cloths.  The end products ranged from cloths for the covers of books, ones upon which a PVC covering would enable them to be made into fancy aprons, tracing cloths for architects' offices, cordite bags for guns, poplin for use in hospital gowns, but also very fine poplins for Jermyn Street tailors in expensive shirts and suits.

Mark Collinge was managing director, bought the yarn and sold orders for the finished cloths and directed production at the mill!

In 1991 a major fire engulfed the mill and everything was destroyed except one weaving shed.  This became the core centre for production over the next few months, but with the money received from the insurers a modern £2.5 million mill has been developed.   Mark Collinge is now retired and his son, David is now managing director of this unusual family business.