After the excellent standard set by Volume I (see my review
in The Local Historian Vol.52 No.4 October 2022), it was with mild trepidation
that I awaited the publication of Volume 2, which brings the history of Market
Harborough up to the Present. One need not have worried, as it is a worthy
successor. Again, it is salutary to note the involvement of so many
contributors: there are fourteen individuals responsible for writing the
chapters; others loaned photographs or instigated maps, plans, tables and graphs;
the proof reading was first-class as was the typesetter and designer. When one
adds the knowledgeable support of the County Records Office staff and members
of the Museum Service, it is no surprise that this second volume is such an
informative and (also thanks to Biddles, the printer and binder) quality
production. The Market Harborough and the Bowdens Charity and the Howard Watson
Symington Memorial Charity are again to be saluted for funding the entire
project. In fact, along with the Grand Union Canal (1809) – “Canals did not
increase the pace of life, rather they broadened the scope of opportunity” –
and the LNWR and Midland Railway (1850), the factories of W. Symington and R
& W.H. Symington (starting humbly with a grocer’s shop in 1827) were
mainstays in the steady growth of the market town.
The sequence of Maps, showing the expansion of the town –
from that of Samuel Turner in 1776 which highlighted the recently enclosed
fields, through the OS maps of 1885, 1920, 1961 and 1968, to the Google Earth
views of 2004 and 2021 – are a clear way of understanding the type of growth as
well as its extent. Ribbon development, council houses, infilling and the large
housing estates all around the town, highlight where the population of c.2,800
in 1800 had expanded to over 25,000 in the present day.
Chapter I, ‘The Development of Market Harborough since
1800’, is a splendid overview. It describes how a small, compact market town
developed, due to the emergence not only of canal and railway linked buildings,
but also other industrial units, residential developments and public buildings.
It highlights the 1990s, when the whole canal basin was redeveloped and the
area of water was doubled in size for leisure purposes, with residential
apartments surrounding it. It charts the importance of Samuel Symington, who
erected a large four-storey, red-brick factory, now converted to apartments.
“Few of the many 19th and 20th century purpose-built industrial buildings
remain, but none is still in industrial use, all having been adapted for other
uses or demolished.” A salient point is made that, although in 220 years
Harborough’s and the Bowdens’ population increased almost tenfold, its area
increased a hundredfold. “Its growth reflects that of many small market towns.”
Further chapters concentrate on the growth of retail – most
retailers became primarily sellers of goods made by others – and town
improvement schemes: the overcrowded residential yards of the early 19th
century, which housed many of the working class, were gradually demolished or
converted for storage or into workshops; local government and public services;
health and educational provision; the religious make-up and buildings of the
town (the Congregationalists were the largest non-conformist group); more on
the canal and railway effects are added to by addressing the development of the
road system – such as the 1992 bypass diverting the busy A6 and the 1994
opening of the A14, which removed much of the east-west traffic. Recreational
pursuits are well covered, showing how, from the mid-1840s onwards, cricket,
football, tennis, golf, hockey and rugby clubs were established. In 1893 the
Market Harborough Choral Society was founded, followed five years later by the
Operatic Society.
There are other interesting chapters on ‘Town Life in War
Time’, looking at the effect of the Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer and the two World
Wars on the town’s life; on ‘Changes in Farming Practice’; and a long account
of ‘Industrial Harborough’. The latter goes into some detail on the importance
of W. Symington & Co. William Symington opened a business in 1827 from a
small warehouse in Adam and Eve Street, selling mainly tea. As the business
prospered, he added coffee and groceries; then, in 1850, he purchased land and
buildings in Springfield Street in 1850. Here he patented a method of ddrying
peas and barley, which was then turned into flour so it could form the basis of
a soup. Patents were taken out on ‘Roasting and Treating Coffee’ Buildings were
built or extended. In 1882, the company won a Gold Medal at the New Zealand
Exhibition. In 1901, the company was commissioned to supply Pea Soup and Pea
Flour for Captain Robert Scott’s first expedition to the Antarctic. Around
1919, the company branched out into an important catering business. The 1930s
saw the introduction of canned soups and ready meals in a can. However, the
company was taken over in 1969 by J. Lyons & Co. and, then in 1980, by
Golden Wonder and its sister company HP Foods. The factories in Market
Harborough were closed in 1996. There is an equally interesting section on the
R. & W.H. Symington & Co business, where the first mechanised corset
factory was born. The more casual fashion after the Second World War led to the
demise of the corset and by the mid-1960s Symington’s factories were closing.
The company finally shut down in 1990. Sic transit gloria mundi. The chapter
has some fine colour illustrations.
The final chapter deals with ‘Some Notable People Associated
with Harborough’. Living in Melbourne, Derbyshire myself, I was particularly
pleased to read the account of Thomas Cook, who was born here in 1808. I hadn’t
realised he lived in Harborough between 1832 and 1841. He had a shop in Adam
and Eve Street, signing ‘The Pledge’ to forsake alcoholic drink, preaching the
benefits of temperance locally. The many tavern owners were not impressed and
his shop window was smashed on more than one occasion. He moved to Leicester in
September 1841. Another ‘Notable’ is Martin Johnson, who lived in the town from
the age of seven and was educated there. Captain of the English Rugby team from
1999, he led them to victory at the World Cup in 2003.
Once again, there is the most useful Time Line – which has a
few additions from that of Volume 1 – and detailed Bibliography. This time,
there is a separate ‘Sources’ section, which links the list of material such as
Primary Sources, Reports, Journals, Directories, Newspapers and Web sites,
directly to the relevant chapters. I ended my previous Review, “I look forward
to the second volume”. It was well worth the wait. It is noteworthy, but not
surprising, that Volume 1 has been reprinted this year.
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