Market St, Denton
This business was founded in 1880 with the partners George Shaw and George Brownson. The latter stepped down in 1896 and George Shaw continued the business on his own account. Prior to setting up in business George Shaw described his occupation as a commission agent. Eventually, he became a hat trimming merchant and it is understood that the business expanded to become an importer of hatters' furs, linings and galloons, these being decorative trimmings consisting of narrow bands of embroidery, lace or braid used as trimmings on hats, clothes and upholstery, etc.

From the outset the company catered for the requirements of the numerous local hat manufacturers clustered around the hatting districts of Denton, Audenshaw, Hyde and Stockport, by the supportive introduction of hat trimmings of every kind, making specialities of certain lines of goods for which the company acted as the sole official agent.

George Shaw was born at Denton in 1844 to Thomas Shaw and Hannah Hill who were married at Manchester Cathedral on the 17 Mar 1839. His father was a hatter born at Elton (east of Ellesmere Port), Cheshire. He married Frances Brogden at St Paul’s Church, Portwood, Stockport, in 1866. In 1891 he was resident on Manchester Rd, Denton, with his wife, four children and one domestic servant, occupied as a hat trimming merchant. His sons, John William and Charles Henry, were a warehouseman and warehouse boy, respectively. He died at Denton on the 30 Apr 1929, aged 85 years.

George Shaw & Partners Ltd, 1920s.
Credit: J Marlor.

George Shaw & Partners Ltd, 20 May 2007.
 

When the business was founded its premises were located on the north side of Stockport Rd, between Pitt St and King St. In 1909 it was still on Stockport Rd but sometime afterwards it moved to new premises next to the Post Office on Market St. Previously, the site was occupied by John Ditchfield, a hat block maker, Samuel Ridgeway, a wheelwright, and a Salvation Army Barracks.

The company was still trading as hat trimming manufacturers in January 1950 when it was mentioned in the Hatters' Gazette. However, by this time the hatting industry was in decline and consequently the company diversified to become a dealer in industrial abrasives. At a company meeting held on the premises on the 14 Apr 1976, a resolution was passed to voluntarily wind up the company. The company chairman and liquidator was Claude Hermann Shaw.

Other notable Denton suppliers of hat trimmings*, etc, to the hatting industry were:

T W Bracher & Co Ltd, Hat Trimmings Manufacturers, Frederick St, now Royal George St (via Charlesworth St) Stockport.

Ernest Catlow, Hatters’ Specialities, Manchester Rd.

May, Clarke, & Co, Hat Trimmings Manufacturers, Ashton Rd.

Clayton & Webb Ltd, Hat Leather Stitchers & Printers, Wilton St/Palatine St (illustrated).

Samuel Hilton & Co, Hat Trimmings Manufacturers, Ashton Rd.

John Lever & Co (Holdings) Ltd, Hat Trimmings Manufacturers, Palatine/Clare St.

E Senior & Son (Denton) Ltd, Hatters’ Specialities, Ann St (illustrated).

*Hat trimmings are also known as galloons.

The company of E Senior & Son (Denton) Ltd was principally engaged in lithographic printing for the hatting industry. The date of the incorporation of E Senior & Son as a limited company is uncertain but it was trading on Ann St, Denton, by 1931. Known family members associated with lithographic printing are as follows:

1911 resident on Ann St, Denton

Francis Edward Senior, printer’s cutter.

Wife, Lydia, hat label cutter.

Daughter, Minnie Una, Leather stitcher for felt hats.

Son, George Henry, apprentice printer.

1939 resident on Windmill Ln, Reddish, Stockport

George Henry Senior, printers’ overseer.