William Wycliffe Spooner son of Dr William Archibald Spooner and Frances Wycliffe [1] Spooner founded the Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company in 1932 in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
Biography edit
Born in Oxford on 29th March 1882, William Spooner read engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge before undertaking an Apprenticeship at ‘The British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company’ in Manchester in 1902. On 23rd November 1905 he received his certificate of completion, recognising him as “competent to follow his career as a mechanical engineer”. Various engineering posts followed, including a position studying Diesel Engines in Germany. He became an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1910.
He married Marian Edleston the daughter of a Halifax mill owning family in 1920, and they set up their home in Ilkley, a town in West Yorkshire. Their only son William Edleston Spooner (Billy) was born in 1921. Marian died tragically young in 1938 and his son Billy was killed in action whilst serving in the Royal Air Force in 1941. He remarried in 1954 to Mercie Milling.
The Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company edit
William Spooner started his company, after he had spotted the one fundamental need of almost all industries which was crying out for development – the development of industrial drying equipment, in a scientific way. His aim was to revolutionise the techniques of industrial drying by increasing its speed and efficiency. Inspiration came to him whilst watching washing dry on lines outside, William noticed how much quicker they dried on windy days. He realised that this simple principle could be applied to industrial drying and textile applications, and thus introduced the concept of Forced convection.
The Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company started in a one roomed building in Shipley, West Yorkshire, in 1932 by William Wycliffe Spooner when he was fifty years old. He employed two men as well as a 16 year old school leaver as his secretary – Arthur B Rooks – , who later went on to become a Director of the company.[2] He first tackled the Textile industry drying processes; once he had succeeded there he turned to the paper trade. On some machines his technology raised the output by as much as a third, half and even doubled it.
After three years the company outgrew its premises in Shipley, Mr Spooner bought part of a small mill in Yeadon and moved his company there. The outbreak of World War II delayed the firm’s expansion but once it was over the expansion continued. Mr Spooner began to explore the possibility of applying the drying technique he had evolved for textiles to the food industry, he baked some Bread in a drying oven of his own design and found it both tasted better and stayed fresher longer! In 1947 when William was 65 his business was booming with the annual output rising by 50% a year. Despite his age William had no intention of slowing down and he developed the Spooner Food Machinery Company as a subsidiary of the Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company.[2]
Mr Spooner was chairman of both companies and Managing Director of The Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company. The Spooner Food machinery company really got into full production in 1949 which was followed by swift growth.
Mr Spooner’s ethos was “Don’t drive your workers, create a happy atmosphere, let enthusiasm for their jobs and for their machines drive them on.” [3] This enthusiasm started at the top and passed on through the executives, managers and foremen to the rest of the staff. The effect was such that the workers were known as the “Spooner Family.” He acquired Ilkley Hall, in West Yorkshire as offices for the food company, but he also developed part of it into a recreational and social centre for his employees. In 1952, for his 70th birthday his employees presented him with an oil painting portrait of himself by Patrick .E. Philips as a token of their esteem and affection.[3]
In his 70’s Mr Spooner was still going strong and not thinking of retirement he was always looking forward to see what more could be achieved and how he could stay one step ahead – He was known as “The Industrial Peter Pan.” [3] He had hundreds of Patents for his inventions.
In 1951 with the companies further expansion he bought the old Brewery Company in Ilkley, West Yorkshire as the new home for his parent company, and an adjoining old corn mill was converted into a drawing office block. Originally housed in a disused chapel in Hunslet, Leeds, The Spooner Food Machinery Company moved to the Carlton Works in Armley, Leeds in 1956.
By 1957 Mr Spooner’s companies were producing machinery for the Textile, Paper, Paperboard, Leather, Nylon, Fiberglass and Mine Belting trades, employing 300 people and had subsidiaries in North America and South Africa.
The group became a Public company in 1959 – Spooner Industries Ltd - and Mr Spooner retired as Chairman in 1962 but remained as Life President, actively involved until his death in 1967. He passed away peacefully at his home, Ashbrook, in Ilkley on 17th September 1967 [2] and he is buried in Ilkley cemetery along with his first wife and their son.
William was a supporter of local causes and established his charitable trust in 1961 –W.W Spooner Charitable Trust.
Mr Spooner and his wife – Mercie – were keen collectors of English Watercolours, upon his death their collection was bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute of Art,[4] which were published in the book “The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours” in 2006.
In 2008, Spooner Industries moved into a £3 million purpose built headquarters. The state-of-the-art building was built on land next to the previous site. It features 4,500m2 of manufacturing space, a dedicated R&D test centre, with modern office complex and visitor facilities.[5] Spooner Industries continued expanding and developing, celebrating 80 years in business in 2012. Today Spooner Industries employees 150 people, at the Railway Road site in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Mr Spooner’s portrait still hangs proudly in the building and his three core values are still the basis of the company today -
- Being thoroughly competent in your technology and be innovative in how and where you apply it
- Make your customers happy
- Recruit good people, then train and develop them to do these things very well
References edit
- ^ Spooner, A. (1980). The Spooners of Middle England. Australia: Emerald. (See page 152)
- ^ a b c Broughton, M, et al. (2005).The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours. Great Britain: The Courtauld Institute.
- ^ a b c The Yorkshire Evening Post. (15th March 1957) "Famous Yorkshire Firms" The Yorkshire Evening Post (Leeds)
- ^ Lewis, C. (22nd December 2005)"Gainsborough to Turner - Watercolours At The Hermitage Rooms" Culture24
- ^ Holland, C. (13th November 2008)"Ilkley firm moves into new £3.5m HQ" The Ilkley Gazette (Ilkley)