8 - The Company Under Duncan Webb
1892 Advertisement
Initial Share Register
Duncan Webb took over from his father in 1887 and would lead Molineaux & Webb for over 30 years as the company chairman. Of the 207 shares issued in the company, Duncan always held the largest amount. The second largest shareholder was his father-in-law, Daniel McGregor, who died at the end of 1888. Another family member on the register was his brother-in-law Daniel Campbell McGregor. Other significant shareholders were Duncan's wife Agnes, the company agent in London, William Henry Woods, and John Wilson Davidson, about whom we know nothing.
Molineaux & Webb Share Register
1888
Duncan and Baden Webb
Ten years later in 1898, Duncan held roughly 90% of the company, with approximately 5% going to his wife and 5% going to William Henry Woods. The company accountants held single shares.
What is curious is that Duncan's brother Baden was significantly marginalised to the point of owning a single token share in the company. Baden was the older brother and we would have expected him to be leading the firm. We suspect he spent part of his life abroad. Baden is discussed further on his biography page.
Duncan Webb early in his career
Activity before the First World War
Information on Molineaux & Webb almost completely dries up between Duncan assuming control and World War 1. A pre-war advert that we have seen describes their wares as: "cut and pressed table glass for hotels, ships, and family use." We have found only two newspaper entries of note which both have an industrial focus, and a further hit in the BT archives shows them applying for permission to manufacture glass mouthpieces in 1913.
May 1894
The Imperial Institute - A Pottery Exhibition, London
The summer and autumn season of the Imperial Institute will be inaugurated tomorrow by a pottery exhibition to be opened by the Prince of Wales. Much glass, besides pottery, is shown, but perhaps none needs particular description. It should, however, be mentioned that Messrs. Molineaux, Webb, and Co., of Manchester, have a fine display of their dioptric ships' lenses.
March 1913 - Manchester County Court
Miners' lamps: A Home Office test
Messrs. Molyneux, Webb, and Co., glass manufacturers, of Kirby Street, Ancoats, yesterday sued Messrs. Richard Johnson, Clapham, and Morris, of St. Mary's Road, Newton Heath, for £6 0s 7d for a quantity of glasses intended for miners' lamps. Mr. Kershaw was solicitor for the plaintiffs, and Mr. Start for the defendants.
Mr. Kershaw said the question at issue was whether a guarantee was or was not given by the plaintiffs in booking the order for the glasses. The plaintiffs' case was that they distinctly insisted that the order should be subject to no particular test. They said they had great experience and would do their best to turn out satisfactory goods, but no more. The defence was that the plaintiffs assured the defendants' representative that the glasses would pass the Home Office test, but he submitted that if that were so the defendants would have inserted the qualification in their written order. As nothing to that effect appeared in the written order, or in a subsequent order increasing the quantity, he submitted that the plaintiffs must succeed.
The Judge: But of what use could such glasses be unless they passed the Home Office test? If the test is arbitrary there would probably be an implied condition that the manufacturers were going to turn out a glass that would meet the requirements. Mr. Kershaw: The point of our case is that at the time of the order, September 23 last, the Home Office tests were in a purely experimental stage.
Duncan Webb, managing director of the plaintiff company, said that at the time of the order no glass manufacturer had been able to fulfil the test of the Home Office. He knew of many who had tried and failed to come up to the standard. His firm had supplied thousands of glass which were in use today. If the Home Office had insisted on its test at the time of this contract, trade would have been at a standstill. He plainly told the defendants' representative that the order must be an open one without any conditions.
For the defence, William Francis Comer, traveller for the defendants, said that, as a result of the Home Office test, they had hundreds of thousands of lamp glasses in their possession which had become useless. Before the order was given Mr, Webb said he fully understood the test required, and that the glasses would be up to the standard. When the first consignment came to hand he applied the test, found the glasses did not stand it, and at once cancelled the order. It was not necessary, he considered, to send the glasses to the Home Office, as he had the means of applying the test himself. He had applied it in connection with supplies from German firms who had already got on to the approved list of the Home Office.
After reading several orders issued by the Home Office in connection with the coal mines' regulations, the Judge said he was not satisfied that the plaintiffs had proved their claim. One of these orders was in force at the time of the contract, and it clearly stated that lamps would be rejected the glasses of which did not withstand the test of 210 degrees Fahrenheit in a hot-air chamber and plunging afterwards into water of 60 degrees. There would consequently be judgement for the defendants, with costs.
Registered design 251393 - 15th March 1895
Pressed Glass Production - links to Robinsons of Warrington
Molineaux Webb maintained their links to Warrington glassmakers throughout their history. The Warrington firm of Robinson & Skinner (various names, later Robinson & Co) were involved in cut and pressed glass production, but gave up on the pressed side once soda lime began to overtake lead potash as an ingredient of pressed production. They gave up manufacture of pressed goods and gave the moulds to Molineaux Webb. Robinsons continued to advertise pressed lines in their catalogs but these were produced at the Molineaux Webb factory. The date of the transfer of the moulds in uncertain, but mid 1890s is the best guess.
Cut Glass Production
Little is known about cut glass production in the Manchester area at this time, but we have been fortunate that some examples have survived from a glass cutter who once worked at the firm. It is probable that such items were sold through retail stockists, either directly to the public, on onwards to companies in the cruise and railway business. A wine glass is shown here.
Image courtesy of the Quinn family
The full set of items can be seen in the Manchester registrations section at Molineaux Webb 20th Century Cut Glass
A declining force?
Although the newspapers tell us little during these years, circumstantial evidence would suggest that Duncan was less of a force in the glass industry than his father. Of the domestic glassware produced at this time, little is of particular note. Only 20 or so decorative designs were registered in a 30 year period, compared to the 50 or so designs registered by his father in a similar timescale. All but four designs were registered in the first half of Duncan's leadership. During Duncan's time, the company shifted more towards industrial glassware which has left fewer signs of their activity, and the tailing off of registrations around the turn of the 20th century is reflective of this.
20th century domestic registrations are for smaller trinket items, such as pots, ashtrays and bowls. One of the bowl designs is visible in the 1913 Harrods catalogue as "The Georgian", a design made to mimic Georgian glass of a century prior.
Whereas his father issued many patents, we have only one that we are aware of for Duncan, issued in 1916, related to the manufacture of glass tubes for gauge glasses and miners lamps. In terms of land occupancy too, the company had declined significantly since the Manchester Rate Books of 1871. The works building at 83 Mill Street had gone. The number of properties owned by the Webbs (still under the name of Duncan's grandfather Thomas) had decreased. The rateable value of the main works building was down by a third compared to its 1871 value.
1901 Manchester Rate Books - Relevant Entries
Duncan Webb in mid-career
World War One
If the company was in a slow decline in the early 20th century, it at least managed to stay in operation, unlike the nearby Percival & Vickers, which shut in 1914. Molineaux & Webb gave up the production of table glass during the war years to concentrate on lighting, chemical and medical goods. They held optical munitions contracts with the government during the war.
Molineaux & Webb Share Register
11th April 1918
As the war drew to a close, the company share register had changed little over the previous 20 years. In 1908, Duncan Webb had transferred some of his holdings to his brother, Baden Webb, but the transfer of 50 shares to his son, Duncan Webb Junior, in 1918, was of more significance.
It is not possible to be sure exactly when Duncan handed over the business to his son. It seems to have been a gradual process - Duncan left himself with a majority shareholding of 1 in 1918 and was still on the list of directors when the company folded in 1929, but we think he effectively passed control some time around the end of the war.
Other shareholders still on the register included Duncan's wife Agnes, the now retired London agent William Henry Woods, and the company accountants.
September 1919 - Duncan Webb with family members on the Lancashire coast
