Millbay Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Co Ltd

1011

Millbay Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Co Ltd

1811 - 1980

Records of the Millbay Laundry Group

This accession comprises records of the Millbay Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Co Ltd with records of eight other laundry companies taken over by the Millbay management and retained as bases for subsidiary companies. In addition there are one or two records of Capital and County Laundries, popularly known as Kneels of Exeter, which purchased the Millbay Group in 1972.

The records were deposited by Kneels of Exeter and date from 1811 - 1980. Much material may have been destroyed by enemy action in 1941 when the company's head office was destroyed and the majority of records in the accession were generated around 1950 - 1980 and created by the Company Secretary. The accession is therefore large but rather incomplete, for example, there are relatively few accounting and production records. It should also be noted that poor series of records remain for some subsidiary companies, the survival rate for these papers seems dependent on the period between closure of the subsidiary and deposit of the records.

CORPORATE RECORDS

RECORDS OF INCORPORATION

Memorandum & Articles of Association

Resolutions

BOARD & COMMITTEE RECORDS

Board of Directors Minutes

Steering Committee Minutes

Managing Directors Committee Minutes

General Meeting Minutes

Sales & Production Staff Meeting Minutes

Agenda Books Board & Committee Papers

Reports of Directors & Statements of Accounts

RECORDS OF TAKEOVERS

Teignmouth Steam Laundry Co Ltd

Newquay Laundry Ltd

Bude Sanitary Steam Laundry & Carpet Cleaning Co Ltd

Launceston & District Laundry Co Ltd

SHAREHOLDING RECORDS

Share Registers

Returns to the Registrar Of Companies

Records of Individual's shareholding

Registers of Dividends

Circulars to Shareholders

Shareholding Administration

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Records of Administrative Function

General Correspondence

Records of the Production Of Resolutions

Records of the Production Of Directors Reports & Annual Accounts

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL RECORDS

BOOKS OF ACCOUNT

Balance Sheets & Annual Accounts

Ledgers

Journals

Miscellaneous Books Of Account

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

Financial & Accounting Files

Taxation Records

RECORDS RELATING TO

EMPLOYMENT RECORDS

Terms of Employment

Service Agreements

Personnel Records

SALARY RECORDS

Directors

Senior Staff

General

PENSION RECORDS

Pension Scheme Rules

Pension Files

TRADES UNION RECORDS

Papers concerning recognition

MISCELLANEOUS

Miscellaneous

PRODUCTION RECORDS

Turnover Returns

Service & Maintenance Contracts

MARKETING RECORDS

Advertisements

Photographs

PROPERTY & PLANT

TITLE

Deeds & Associated Papers of Plymouth Properties

Schedules of Deeds

4 Richmond Street

5 Richmond Street

6 & rear of 5 Richmond Street

7 Richmond Street

6, rear of 5 & 7 Richmond Street

8 Richmond Street

7 Richmond Lane West

York Street

LEASES

Lease Series

PROPERTY & PLANT ADMINISTRATION

Property Books

Property Files

Valuations

Rating Returns

Property Administration Files

Inventories & Stock Books

Fire Safety Records

INSURANCE ADMINISTRATION

Insurance Reports

Insurance Policy Series

Miscellaneous Insurance Policies

Insurance Administration Files

CONSTRUCTION

Building Leases & Agreements

Building Contracts

Estimates

Bills of Quantities

Building Accounts

Construction Files

Plans of Laundry site, Stonehouse, Plymouth

Plans of 81 & 83 Cornwall Street, Plymouth

MISCELLANEOUS

Miscellaneous

English

575 Files

Company History

Pre-World War II

Millbay Laundry was originally started by Harold Roberts in around 1885 when he added a laundering service to the family outfitting business. The business operated from houses in Millbay Road and a shed in Martin Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth and soon expanded from offering just cleaning to undertaking dyeing as well. In 1896 with the help of W Oliver Hosking, F Adams and R J Bazeley a limited company was floated - The Millbay Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Co Ltd - and a properly equipped factory erected along Millbay Road and Battery Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth.

In 1897 Millbay Laundry opened its first branch shop in Torquay, the company was to concentrate on branch shops and delivery vans to carry out its trade and used such means to extend its business outside Plymouth. There were even outlets in London and Bath as well as Devon and Cornwall in the early years.

In 1922 the company made its first takeover - of the Central Steam Laundry (Plymouth) Ltd, Richmond Street, Plymouth. Although the business itself was unprofitable and sold after 12 months, Millbay Laundry gained a certain amount of property in the area.

The first full-time Company Secretary appears to have been Stanley Marks FIAC appointed in 1931 to cope with the business's growing financial administration. The Millbay Laundry Company Secretary was to retain a central role in the company throughout its future expansion. Many of his original areas of responsibility however became designated to individual specialists - such as the Group Accountant - and each subsidiary company was to appoint their own Company Secretary rather than to be run directly from Millbay as originally occurred.

In 1932 Millbay Laundry purchased its second company, the long established cleaning and dyeing business of Mortimers (Plymouth) Ltd, founded 1773. Unfortunately very few badly damaged records survive of this original business. The company continued to be run by Millbay Laundry until 1958 when it became one of the constituent companies of the Millbay and Nerwquay Laundry Co Ltd.

Millbay Laundry also acquired in 1932 the nearby Eddystone Works, Millbay Road, Stonehouse, Plymouth - a clothing factory run by Tippetts, Son and Co Ltd. The building was modernised and used for all specialised cleaning, dyeing and carpet-beating work.

The company was very badly affected by war damage in 1941. The original Millbay Works was destroyed and the Eddystone Works badly damaged. Work however continued, fulfilling military contracts, in a series of small buildings along Battery Street: The works site was extensively redeveloped after the war to consist of a set of 4 buildings - The Eddystone Works, a reconstructed Millbay Works and newly constructed Battery Street Works and Smeaton Works. A good series of property and construction records survive.

Growth of the Millbay Group

Post-war expansion was fuelled by the opening of many more branch shops and the purchase of 6 new companies. These were:-

Teignmouth Steam Laundry Co Ltd of Station Road, Teignmouth, purchased 1952

Port House Laundry Co Ltd of Alphington Street, Exeter, purchased 1957

Newquay Laundry Ltd of Lanhevor, Newquay in Cornwall, purchased 1958

Bude Sanitary Steam Laundry and Carpet Cleaning Co Ltd of Higher Wharf, Bude in Cornwall, purchased 1958

Plymouth Sanitary Steam Laundry Ltd of Hyde Park Road, Pennycross, Plymouth, purchased 1959

Launceston and District Laundry Ltd of Hurdon Road, Launceston in Cornwall, purchased 1965.

The purchases marked several changes for the company. Prior to 1952 branch shops had been created with their own laundry facilities or local companies purchased and their business amalgamated with that of the parent company. No large independent concerns had had to be run. As such the post-war era saw a change in trading strategy and also in the administration and organisation of the company.

Proposals were rejected for the formation of a holding company and a system of subsidiary companies with a group administration and identity adopted. In 1958 Mortimers (Plymouth) Ltd and Newquay Laundry Ltd merged to become the Millbay and Port House Laundry Co Ltd (it also administered the Bude Sanitary Steam Laundry) and the Teignmouth Steam Laundry changed its name to the Millbay and Teignmouth Laundry Co Ltd. In 1960 the Plymouth Sanitary Steam Laundry became the Hyde Park Laundry Ltd and in 1965 changed its name again to the Millbay and Hyde Park Laundry Co Ltd. In 1965 too the Bude Sanitary Steam Laundry was also renamed to become the Millbay and Launceston Laundry Co Ltd, in the same year it purchased and merged with the Launceston and District Laundry Ltd. A diagram showing these developments follows this introduction.

Each subsidiary company had its own directors, (often made up of Millbay directors and those of the former constituent companies) company secretary and administration. Central control was maintained by a hierarchical series of directors meetings, culminating in the parent company board meeting as is shown below:-

Parent Company Board Meeting

(held monthly)

*

Steering Committee Meeting

(held monthly from 1968, met the Tuesday before the Parent Company Board Meeting)

*

Managing Directors Committee Meeting

(held weekly from 1968)

*

Subsidiary Company Board Meeting

Two of the subsidiaries soon failed to remain viable. The Millbay and Port House Laundry had closed by 1966 and the Millbay and Hyde Park Laundry closed in that year. The remainder of the Millbay Group was taken over by Kneels of Exeter in 1972. The Millbay and Launceston Laundry ceased trading in 1976 and the Millbay and Teignmouth Laundry in 1977.

Kneels themselves were taken over by the Johnson Group in 1978.