JOHNSON,S DYE WORKS

Your place to talk about your Bootle memories
PeterR
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: Evandale Tasmania

Very interesting picture -Note people present "Condron" HE Joe Condron was the first person i ever worked with , I have mentioned this in earlier posts =that was 1949.
Peterr
Born in Spenser Street
Google girl
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 5:50 pm

Hi there just joined, my very first job in the office of Johnson's dye works, my name then Isabelle Smith at st.Johns rd Bootle ,I was the young girl I had to find cloth's that went missing,job took me all over dye works, I loved it, used to bike to work, funA : life was good then ,xx
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filsgreen
Posts: 3392
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:28 am

Welcome to the forum, Isabelle. :D
Google girl
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 5:50 pm

Thank you feeling my way around, memories are brill, born and bred in st. Johns rd Bootle, I loved it
lynne99
Posts: 1206
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:55 pm
Location: Rugby

Lovely to see all these new people. Welcome
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fatboyjoe90
Posts: 5648
Joined: Tue Sep 15, 2009 6:29 pm
Location: merseyside

Welcome to all you new guys. :wink: :) :)

Johnson Bros DYERS, Carpet Cleaning Dept, Linacre Road 1907. :)
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Cheers Joe.
GillNY
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:07 am
Location: NYC & Charlotte

Wow. Great pic. Where’s Health & Safety? :)
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Dan
Posts: 4730
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:24 pm

Don't know how far this project has got.

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Enlarged aerial photo before demolition of the rear of the factory.

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October 2009

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June 2014

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Regards

Dan
PeterR
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: Evandale Tasmania

GillNY wrote:Wow. Great pic. Where’s Health & Safety? :)
Health and Safety was unheard of -or 90 years away from this picture, However Johnsons had a "Welfare" dept as they were concerned for wellbeing of the workers , most particularly Women and Girls, the biggest health risk that DID exist was inhalation of benzine vapour and dust from newly arrived clothes and in the Dye House unguarded machinery, however there was a fatal accident there when a young lad got jammed in the coal plant gear about 1948 .
Peterr
Born in Spenser Street
Walsh
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:44 pm
Location: Southampton

Joe, Dan,
Thanks. The photos of the early dye works and its site redevelopment were fascinating. Most of the industrial sites from the Bootle of my youth, so important to our community and the economy, are long gone - but remain iconic. Johnsons Dye Works on Linacre Road is an important example. Time has progressed; open machinery and organic solvent smells would not be tolerated now. One of my major interests as a scientist and engineer, over the last 40 years, has been the electrochemical removal of persistent dyes from factory effluents, by in-situ generation of peroxide in the presence of dissolved iron (electrochemical Fenton oxidations, if you’ll forgive the chemistry). In favourable cases, residual dye levels in treated effluent waters can be far below 1 ppm (1 part per million). I first saw dyeing of textiles and leather in Johnsons, the Tannery and Courtaulds, Aintree as a lad and student in the 60s and 70s. Lessons of a lifetime. Walshy.
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Dan
Posts: 4730
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:24 pm

Couple of photos of some of the staff at Johnson's, around 1976, from FB.

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PeterR
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: Evandale Tasmania

Yes two very nice photographs of Johnson Ladies 25 years after I had left 1951.
Kind Regards
Peter
Born in Spenser Street
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Dan
Posts: 4730
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:24 pm

Couple of photos from 1949 that I've enlarged.

Think they were the drivers.

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1951

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PeterR
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: Evandale Tasmania

Yes the vans would load at the finishing department each evening (We called them the "Manchesters") taking care to load the boxes in correct order to deliver and pick up from the shops all over as far as Burnley all round Manchester and Wirral There were seven vans that did this every night and sometimes on a bad night with fog they would not get back till 10am or 11am .
Tom Johnson on left of pic and Mr hunt to his left I cant pick out Mr Ellison who was the "Production "manager.
The receiving dept where I worked was boarded by Hornby Rd and Mildmay rd -at lunch time we used to play football in the street with a ball made of rags and string -great fun with the gateway as the goal Mr Hale (Dougie) was the foreman Mr Pearson His assistant Miss Webb was the boss of the Girls who were sorting through the garments -Jack Keeiling was in carpets (He also ran the football team ) Larry Oates actually did the carpet cleaning in the shed across Hornby rd and just come to mind the receiving dept was called "The Shed" it was bombed during the war.
I left there in April 1951 to join the Merchant Navy
Kind Regards
Peter
Born in Spenser Street
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Dan
Posts: 4730
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:24 pm

Bootle Times May 10 1957.

Golden Jubilee of the JB Journal.


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Dan
Posts: 4730
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This is the most complete article I've found on the history of Johnson Bros. from its founding in c1817, by William Johnson (silk dyer), to 1974.

The original company was set up in 1817 by William Johnson (silk dyer), in Bold Street.

Johnson Bros. was founded in 1832 by William's son, William Johnson II (in Bold Street) and his brother Thomas Sands I (in Ranelagh Street).

The information is from the History of King's Lynn site.

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Dan
Posts: 4730
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Photos from an urban explorers visit to the site in 2008.

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Dan
Posts: 4730
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More from 2008. From the roof.

Towards Litherland.

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Towards Seaforth/ Waterloo.

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Towards The Strand.

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Dan
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Crosby Herald March 18 1955. Job advert for Easter school-leavers.

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Dan
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Financial Times August 31 1984.

Half-year results. Didn't realise how big the company was.

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Ernie Jackson. (Bunty)
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Location: Stalybridge Manchester
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I remember in 1952 Johnsons had a football pitch directly opposite over the road. Was there a Social Club there???
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filsgreen
Posts: 3392
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:28 am

Yes, Ernie, it became the Bootle Corporation (Corpy) Club, it's now called the Linacre Community Club.
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Ernie Jackson. (Bunty)
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Location: Stalybridge Manchester
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I could never get a game at Johnsons but signed for LFC soon afterwards. Not too fussed at the time as the pitch was notoriously atrocious. :D :D :D

Mellands was fantastic. :wink: :wink: :wink:
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