Patons and Baldwins

Patons and Baldwins Ltd

Company type| Private
Industry| Clothing
Founded| 1770s
Founders| John Paton
James Baldwin
Defunct| 1961
Fate| Merged
Successor| Coats plc
Products| Yarn

Patons and Baldwins was a leading British manufacturer of knitting yarn. It was an original constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange.

## Early history

[edit]

The business began as two separate companies: J & J Baldwin and Partners, founded in the late 1770s by James Baldwin of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, and John Paton Son and Co., founded in 1814 by John Paton of Alloa, Scotland.[1] Both men had formed their businesses using the spinning mule developed by Samuel Crompton. They mainly produced yarns for commercial knitting machines.

The Paton family were regarded as generous benefactors in the town of Alloa, where they provided funding for a significant range of public building projects, including Alloa Town Hall, public libraries, a school, a swimming pool, and a gymnasium.

The two companies merged in 1920 and diversified into producing wool for home knitters, as well as publishing knitting patterns under the "Patons Rose" and "Baldwins Beehive" trademarks.

## Expansion

[edit]

By the mid-1930s, the company had establishments across Scotland and Northern England, including factories at Billingham and Jarrow, as well as in Canada, New Zealand, and a large factory in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. The company branched out into various related lines of business, including the running of an angora rabbit farm in Staffordshire between 1932 and 1934,[2] and the development of new products such as nylon and Terylene.[1]

In 1951, the headquarters of the business was relocated from Spring Hall, Halifax to a 140-acre site in Darlington, County Durham, where a single-storey factory employing 4,000 people was developed at a cost of £7.5 million.[1] The factory had its own railway sidings and produced 113 tons of yarn every week.[3]

## Demise of the business

[edit]

In 1961, the company was merged with J & P Coats Ltd. The Patons trademark is still in use today.[4] Ownership passed from Coats plc to Mez Crafts and then in 2020 to DMC.[5]

The yarn production facility at Alloa was closed in 1999.[6] The bulk of the surviving business records from the Alloa operation, together with some material from other factories, is now held by Clackmannanshire Archives in Alloa.[7]

The large factory in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, a 35-acre site, employed over 2,000 people in the 1960s. By 1982 the factory employed 604 people. The business was sold in the late 1980s; it passed through several owners until 1995 when it produced its last bail of yarn. The factory closed on 31 July 1997.[8][9] In Australia the Patons brand is manufactured by Wangaratta Woollen Mills in Victoria, and has been a heritage Australian brand since 1923.

## Works football club in Tasmania

[edit]

The factory in Tasmania operated the Patons & Baldwins Soccer Club, a football club that played in the local Northern Premier League. The club was state champion in 1926[10] and 1930, and won the Northern Premier League 10 times between 1925 and 1958. It was closed in the early 1960s.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Great yarn of knitting wool giant's rise and fall". The Northern Echo. Newsquest (North East) Ltd. 24 September 2001. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
2. ^ Greenslade, M.W. (1990). A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield. London: Victoria County History. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
3. ^ "Pull over for exhibition". The Northern Echo. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
4. ^ "Our Brands: Patons". Yarnspirations. Coats plc. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
5. ^ "Rowan and Patons Sold to DMC". 4 May 2020.
6. ^ Fraser, Ian (22 August 1999). "Neglected wee county languishes in the doldrums". The Sunday Herald. Herald & Times Group. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
7. ^ "Patons & Baldwins Archives". Clacksweb. Clackmannanshire Council. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
8. ^ Johnson, Hayden (13 August 2017). "Launceston's Coats Patons celebrates reunion". The Examiner. Tasmania. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
9. ^ Williams, Laura (2006). "Patons and Baldwins". The Companion to Tasmanian History. Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
10. ^ "Soccer In the North and UK - Tasmanian Premiership". The Referee. 20 October 1926. p. 16. Retrieved 18 May 2015.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Patons and Baldwins.

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Original companies of FT 30 in the United Kingdom

As of 1 July 1935

* Associated Portland Cement
* Austin Motor
* Bass
* Bolsover Colliery
* Callenders Cables & Construction
* Coats
* Courtaulds
* Distillers
* Dorman Long
* Dunlop Rubber
* Electrical & Musical Industries
* Fine Spinners and Doublers
* General Electric Company
* Guest Keen & Nettlefolds
* Harrods
* Hawker Siddeley
* Imperial Chemical Industries
* Imperial Tobacco
* International Tea Co. Stores
* London Brick
* Murex
* Patons & Baldwins
* Pinchin Johnson & Associates
* Rolls-Royce
* Tate & Lyle
* Turner & Newall
* United Steel Companies
* Vickers-Armstrongs
* Watney Combe & Reid
* FW Woolworth & Co

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Soccer in Tasmania

Football Tasmania

NPL Tasmania|

* Clarence Zebras
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* Launceston City
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Northern Championship|

* Burnie United
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* Launceston City B
* Launceston United
* Northern Rangers
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* Somerset FC
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Southern Championship|

* Clarence Zebras B
* Glenorchy Knights B
* Hobart City Beachside
* Hobart United
* Kingborough Lions United B
* Metro FC
* New Town Eagles
* Olympia Warriors B
* South East United
* South Hobart B
* Taroona FC
* University of Tasmania

Women's Super League|

* Clarence Zebras
* Devonport City
* Kingborough Lions United
* Launceston United
* Olympia Warriors
* South Hobart
* Taroona FC

Other clubs|

* Barnstoneworth SC
* Brighton
* DOSA
* Peninsula Pirates
* Huon Valley SC
* Woodbridge SC
* North Launceston Eagles
* Derwent United
* Nelson Eastern Suburbs

Past clubs|

* Cascades FC
* Clarence United
* Elphin FC
* Hobart Rangers
* Hobart Zebras
* Invermay FC
* Patons and Baldwins
* Prospect Knights
* Sandy Bay
* Tamar FC

League seasons|

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Milan Lakoseljac Cup|

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* Tasmanian football cups
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Knitting

Tools and materials|

* Knitting needle
* Knitting needle cap
* Needle gauge
* List of yarns for crochet and knitting
* Row counter
* Stitch holder

Yarn styles|

* Bouclé
* Eyelash
* Lopi
* Novelty
* Variegated

Yarn brands|

* Coats Group
* Eisaku Noro Company
* Kraemer Yarns
* Lion Brand Yarns
* Patons and Baldwins

Styles|

* Circular
* Combined
* Continental
* English
* Flat
* Norwegian
* Warp

Stitches|

* Stockinette/Stocking stitch
* Garter
* Decrease
* Dip stitch
* Elongated stitch
* Increase
* Loop knitting
* Plaited stitch
* Yarn over

Techniques|

* Arm knitting
* Basketweave
* Bead knitting
* Bias knitting
* Binding/Casting off
* Bobble
* Brioche knitting
* Buttonhole
* Cables
* Casting on
* Double knitting
* Drop-stitch knitting
* Entrelac
* Faggoting
* Finger knitting
* Gather
* Gauge
* Grafting
* Hand knitting
* Hemming
* Illusion knitting
* Lace
* Medallion knitting
* Picking up stitches
* Pleat
* Ribbing
* Short row
* Slip-stitch knitting
* Spool knitting
* Steek
* Three needle bindoff
* Thrumming
* Tuck
* Twined
* Weaving
* Welting

Patterns|

* Aran
* Argyle
* Fair Isle
* Intarsia

Machine knitting|

* Complete garment knitting
* Fully fashioned knitting
* Knitting machine
* Knitting Nancy
* Stocking frame
* William Lee (inventor)

Knitters and
designers|

* Sam Barsky
* Nicky Epstein
* Kaffe Fassett
* Marianne Kinzel
* Frances Lambert
* Herbert Niebling
* Shannon Okey
* Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
* Alice Starmore
* Debbie Stoller
* Meg Swansen
* Barbara G. Walker
* Elizabeth Zimmermann

Organizations|

* I Knit London
* Knitta
* Knitting clubs
* Knitty
* Ravelry
* Revolutionary Knitting Circle
* Stitch 'n Bitch
* UK Hand Knitting Association
* World Wide Knit in Public Day
* The Knitting Guild Association

Related|

* Basic knitted fabrics
* Blocking
* Dye lot
* History
* Knitted fabric
* Knitting abbreviations
* List of knitting stitches
* Selvage
* Yarn bombing

Authority control databases |

* VIAF

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