Trunk-making division
James Alexander Box, saddler to the Royal Field Artillery, was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1918 and declared unfit for service. Sent to Papworth, he set about putting his leatherworking skills to good use and was the driving force behind the creation of the trunk and portmanteau workshop set up at the settlement in 1919.
With the unpredictability of the Papworth labour force, Box suggested that Papworth should form an alliance with his wife's family, the Charnocks, owners of a bag-making firm in London. The initial agreement made was that the Charnocks should finish off orders that Papworth was struggling to meet. Varrier-Jones took the idea a stage further and persuaded the Charnocks to shift their business to Papworth. The father wound up the London operation and the three sons spent the rest of their working lives at Papworth, each in turn running the trunk-making business.
Following a devastating fire in 1925, Papworth Industries opened a new well-equipped trunk-making factory in 1926 that was able to produce a wide range of goods from utility fibre suitcases to handcrafted attaché cases, from canvas kit bags to vulcanized fibre cabin trunks.[19] A reputation far and wide was soon established and the buyer from Saks Fifth Avenue is recorded as coming in person to select items for the prestigious New York store.
By 1937 output had reached thirty thousand pieces of luggage a year and the new factory was bursting at the seams. A brand new factory was completed a month before the outbreak of the Second World War and was well placed to switch production to meeting wartime needs, ranging from attaché cases for the Admiralty to canvas covers for Spitfire, Halifax and Stirling aircraft. In mid-1940 just after the evacuation from Dunkirk, Papworth Industries won a contract to produce 30,000 sets of leather personal equipment for infantrymen. The order, dubbed the Dunkirk Order, was deemed to be the crowning achievement of the department by Sidney Charnock.
After the war production methods changed considerably, driven by shortages and changing requirements. The growth of air travel brought with it the need for sturdy but lightweight luggage and new materials were utilized, including plastic and vinyl. There was still a clientele, however, for traditionally made high-quality leatherwork, and skills in that area were maintained.
A travelling wardrobe and matching travelling case were made for Princess Margaret on the occasion of the royal family's tour of South Africa in 1947.[20]
In the early 1950s, the ballerina Margot Fonteyn was one of the first customers to buy a set of luggage with aluminium and plywood frame hidden from view beneath the full-grain hide exterior and the moiré silk lining.
The travel goods business and Pendragon brand name were acquired by Swaine Adeney Brigg in 1997. The original workforce was retained but manufacturing moved to Bar Hill. The name Pendragon was dropped in favour of Papworth Travel Goods, still the brand name for a range of luggage and leather goods made by Swaine Adeney Brigg.
Coach-building
The coach-building workshop was established in 1962 and won contracts to build the yellow Post Office vans and the Green Goddess fire engines.[22] However, in the immediate post-war period, between 1947 and 1949, Frank Jordon, who had been head coach-builder for the London General Omnibus Company, and became head of carpentry at Papworth Industries, secured for Papworth Industries orders to build 500 shooting brake bodies on the Austin 16 chassis. Later, 900 A70 Hampshire Countyman woodies were built by Papworth Industries followed by more than 1,500 A70 Hereford Countryman woodies.[23][24] The business later became ATT Papworth and by 2008 Papworth Specialist Vehicles trading from Stirling Way, Papworth. They went into liquidation in 2013. The premises are now those of Supply Plus Ltd, a company which designs, manufactures, supplies and distributes safety and fuel delivery equipment.
