The Meechan Family

This page and the photographs were kindly provided by Pauline Meechan whose parents met at Franklin's and several other relations worked there.

My niece recently came across the website related to Franklin's where you are creating an archive of the family and factory history and you were asking for anyone who knew anything or who worked there to get in touch.

Although most of the people have now passed away my family was very heavily involved with Franklins from when my Grandfather Hugh Meechan came down to London from Motherwell. He worked as a stoker in Franklins until he died he and introduced his son (my father) William John Meechan and his daughter Sally Meechan into the firm. My father met my mother Rosina Maud Freemen there and Sally met her future husband Stan Harris as he also worked there briefly.

When my Aunt Mary returned from the USA she worked briefly for the firm and she also she met her future husband Jim Wright through Franklins as he was the firm Chauffeur. My father took a fellow Scot Jock Koch under his wing as Jock did not know anyone in London when he joined Franklins. He became a close friend to my Father, a very good friend of the family and an honorary Uncle to my two sisters, my brother and I. We know that his christian name was not Jock but none of us can remember his real name, his nickname came from the fact that he was Scottish and because of his surname. My great Uncles Harold Scott and Jack Scott also worked there and my Father had another close friend William Grimes (or Bill as we knew him) that he met through Franklins. I was told by my eldest cousin that almost all of our family at one point worked for Franklins and most of them met their future wives and husbands there.

My father worked there from when he was 16 with a break during the war but retuned to work there until he retired through ill health in about 1976/78. He continued to work there for a couple of years after the take over from Searles and my mother had a widows pension from Searles until she died. Searles used to give a tie pin for long service to staff and my father was awarded two of the highest awards of two larger diamonds and one small then three larger diamonds in a platinum bar because of his long service with Franklins. My elder sister currently has a ring made out of these tie pins.

My Aunt Sally had a serious accident in the factory where she got her clothing caught in the rollers on a machine and burnt her arm badly and the side of her face. She continued to work there after her recovery but in the office area.

My mother was in an orphanage and she was only released from there because her Uncle Tom Prosser had obtained a job for her working at Franklins and that is recorded on the back of the copy of her birth Certificate from the orphanage. The certificate is in a very bad state and the reference to Franklins is in the most damaged area but can still be seen if enlarged on screen.

In my late teens I came to the factory to interview for a job in the research section but I didn't take it up as I had another offer which was in statistics and more aligned to what I was interested in.

If we come across any further documents or photos I will let you know.

We all remember J G Franklins with fondness and we were all at some time shown round the factory by my father.

Subsequent additional comment -

Further to my previous message it is possible that the photo of my Father was not taken at his leaving party because of a possible mismatch of dates with the others in the photo. However no one in the family can think of any other occasion it may have been. We always knew that one of the gentlemen in the photo was a Director of Franklins so it was really good to find out from the Franklin family that it was Burke Franklin and that the other gentleman was Frank Dulwich.

We have since discovered from further research into the family history that my mother's elder sister Harriet Ivy Freeman (known as Ivy) also worked at Franklins and she too met her future husband, Charles Cochrane, there. We now think that it was probably my Aunt Ivy who arranged the job for my mother at Franklins and she must have approached their Uncle to get my mother released from the orphanage.