A Robins and Sons Co Ltd, its Origins, History and Activities

The Company

A Robins and Sons Ltd was created about the beginning of July 1907, the first known letter signed in the name of the company being dated 6^th of that month and the company was formally incorporated at the end of October of that year.  Its business activities were diverse, initially covering haulage, furniture removal and storage, cab operation and farming.  It continued to trade until it was sold on 22 December 1995.  During those 88 ½ years it remained a family-owned and predominantly family-managed business, operating from Farnham in Surrey.

George and Alfred Robins move to Surrey

“A Robins” was Alfred Robins, who was born in 1840 in Stourton Caundle, a small village in the Blackmore Vale of Dorset.  Alfred died unexpectedly and suddenly on 6^th June 1907 after being involved in a car accident the same day, though he appeared not to have been seriously hurt.  Although Alfred Robins is known to have discussed incorporation of his businesses with his family before his death, he was never formally involved in the company that bore his name.  Retention of his name in the company title was probably a mark of respect for a man who, although believed to have been illiterate, was a natural, prolific and successful entrepreneur.  Through his business activities, he laid the foundations for the formation of the company that bore his name, as well as four other firms.

Alfred Robins was the son of a blacksmith and was a carpenter to trade.  By 1868 he had a building and wheelwrighting business in the village of Ibberton, Dorset.  He appears to have been successful because, by 1875, he was included on the Electoral Register under the £12 occupancy rule.  Alfred’s younger brother, George, was also a carpenter and had moved to Dorking in Surrey about 1865 and then on to Farnham about a decade later.  George had a building business and he and brother-in-law William Foot, who was a bricklayer, bought the freehold to a 4-acre plot of land, The Fairfield, in Farnham in about 1875 and proceeded to develop it for upmarket housing, exploiting its position close to Farnham railway station.  Alfred Robins was also involved in this venture by 1878, if not before.

Farnham was economically successful at the time and the opportunities for building must have been obvious to George Robins and his brother Alfred.  Together they hatched a plan to move Alfred, his family and his business, including employees and apprentices, the 90 miles, by road, from Ibberton to Farnham.  This momentous journey took place in 1880, once accommodation had been constructed to house the families of both George and Alfred on the Fairfield site.  A fuller account of the family history of George and Alfred Robins can be found under “Alfred Robins (1840 – 1907), George Robins (1844 – 1925) - Escape from Rural Dorset and the Expansion of Farnham” on this blogsite.

The Robins Brothers’ Business Activities

George Robins concentrated on the opportunities presented by the demand for upmarket housing.  He ran a successful building business and his 7 sons who survived to adult life all became builders, or building craftsmen, of various stripes. However, once Alfred arrived in Farnham, he not only set about exploiting his existing skills but also branched out into other business opportunities, which must have been obvious to him, in the Farnham of the early 1880s.

The accommodation for the two Robins families fronted Station Road and one of the earliest ventures was the opening of a sweet shop to tempt the foot traffic passing to and from the station.  Some years later a post office was opened adjacent to the confectionary outlet.    As the building activities of the two brothers developed and as their respective families grew up and moved out of the parental home on Station Hill, the spare accommodation was turned into a Temperance Hotel.  The shop and hotel were initially the province of Christian Emma, Alfred’s wife and later his son, Hubert Rose Robins.

The development of The Fairfield estate revealed another building opportunity.  The rising land to the south of the River Wey at Farnham was dotted with numerous pits where sand and gravel were dug and The Fairfields had an underlying layer of good quality building sand which was probably exploited for house construction on site.   A second, much larger development site, the Waverley Estate, was purchased by the Robins brothers and William Foot in 1881.  It too was underlain by building-quality sand. Alfred was already an experienced wheelwright before his arrival in Farnham.  In a workshop at the back of the Station Road premises, he manufactured horse-drawn vehicles of various kinds.  He is believed to have invented the first rim brake to be fitted to horse-drawn tipping carts.  This combination of minerals underlying building land and the manufacture of tipping carts, together with an active local building market, were the ingredients for another business, the supply and transport of flint, gravel and sand for construction.  In combination with local partners, Alfred started supplying these common minerals and this led eventually to the formation of the Farnham Flint Gravel and Sand Company Ltd.  The purchase of sites for mineral extraction, followed by their development as housing estates led to further opportunities in the sale of housing plots to third parties and the speculative building and letting of houses. 

Alfred’s involvement with the manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles and the needs of the nascent mineral industry led to another business, that of general haulage.  This was not confined to minerals but dealt with any local need such as the bulk transport of coal, delivered to Farnham station yard by train.  The location of Farnham railway station close to the Robins base at Station Hill also led to another Robins activity, that of cab proprietor.  Alfred’s involvement in the construction of new housing for the better off members of society must have led him to a further commercial venture, the need for packing, transport and storage of furniture and other household goods.

Robins coach, with horses Victor and Pat, at Castle View stables early 1900s

In the period from 1880 to 1900 essentially all these business activities depended on horse power and the feeding and maintenance of their horse population led to yet more economic ventures.  The horses needed to be stabled, fed and shod.  Stables were acquired at nearby Castle View and, almost as a side-line, a riding school was started by Alfred’s son, Cecil Harry Robins, the family horse expert.  The stables also looked after other people’s animals and provided horses under contract for such services as the local ambulance and fire service.  A farriery was leased near to the station yard and this offered an outside service shoeing horses for any owner, in addition to servicing the needs of the horses in Alfred’s businesses.  Feeding a large fleet of horses was a major undertaking and this probably led to the move into farming, with the lease of Green Lane Farm and later of Park Farm at Badshot Lea, where horses could be grazed and hay harvested and stored.  Park Farm was looked after by Alfred Rose Robins, Alfred senior’s second son.

Alfred senior initially kept cows at Castle view before leasing more substantial agricultural premises and milk production was the start another business, a fresh milk delivery service to the inhabitants of Farnham.  This activity became the responsibility of Alfred’s youngest son, Ernest Harry Robins.  Although not obviously linked to the other Robins business activities, except through the need for horse transport, Alfred also initiated a laundry service, which was probably managed by Dorset man Harry Clist, who would later marry Alfred’s daughter, Fanny.

Thus, these seemingly disparate businesses were essentially linked by common elements such as location, the employment of horse transport and the availability of raw materials.

The Death of Alfred Robins and its Aftermath

Alfred Robins made his will, or at least his last will, in 1895, twelve years before his death in 1907.  Essentially, he left his possessions, real and personal, in trust for the benefit of his wife, Christian Emma, during her life time, with power to either run the businesses or to sell them.  Money realised was to be invested by the executors of his will, his eldest two sons, John James Rose Robins and Alfred Rose Robins, his widow, Christian Emma and his friend, auctioneer, James Winkworth Burningham.  Businesses put up for sale were to be offered first to his sons in order of seniority.  On the death of Christian Emma, assets were to be sold and the proceeds divided equally between his then surviving ten children, or, if any predeceased his widow, their offspring.  From one point of view, this was a very fair arrangement in looking after Christian Emma during her lifetime and all his children equally after her death.  However, it also had the effect of tying up a large amount of money, far more than she might need for her living costs, at a time when his sons, especially the younger ones, were establishing businesses and would have benefitted from earlier access to capital.  Christian Emma survived Alfred for a further 19 years.

Alfred Rose Robins, Chairman of A Robins and Sons Ltd 1911 - 1943

The lifetime of A Robins and Sons Ltd was punctuated by a series of events of international, national or family importance, many of which had a significant impact upon the company and its prospects.  The list included World War 1 (1914 – 1918), the Wall Street Crash (1929), the 1930s recession, World War 2 (1939 – 1945), the General Strike (1926), nationalisation post-WW2, 1970s inflation, the death of Emma Rose Robins (1926) and the death of the original Robins directors (1946 – 1948) and of Ernest Harry Robins (1958).  These events, directly or indirectly, had an impact upon the company, its structure, operations and economic performance, as will be seen in the account that follows.

At the time of Alfred’s death in 1907 his sons were of the following ages, John James Rose - 46, Alfred Rose - 43, Hubert Rose - 33, Cecil Henry - 28, Albert Edward - 25 and Ernest Henry - 24.  John (Jack) had already established his own building business and had been responsible for constructing Alfred’s new house, “Foxwood”, Alfred junior was managing Park Farm, Badshot Lea, which had been leased by his father Alfred and he described himself as a farmer. Hubert was managing the Temperance Hotel and at the 1901 Census was described as a hotel proprietor trading on his own account.  He later became a director of the Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Company, which had been established by his father in association with several non-family business partners.  In the 1907 agreement Albert (Chum) was described as an engineer but by July 1907 he styled himself as a furniture remover.  At the time of the 1901 Census he had been working as an engine maker and general mechanic in West Bromwich.  Interestingly, in 1904 his sister Bessie Rose married John Skidmore, a spring manufacturer from West Bromwich, though it is not known if these family associations with that West Midlands town were related.  Ernest was put in charge of the milk round by Alfred about 1899 and soon developed it to a point where he could afford to buy the equipment from his father.  He was joined by his brother Albert in this venture for a while but the association did not endure.

Incorporation of A Robins and Sons Company Limited    

Under the terms of an agreement made in 1907 between four parties, (1) Christian Emma Robins, (2) A Robins and Sons Ltd, (3) the executors of Alfred Robins’ will and (4) the ten children of Alfred Robins, businesses of Alfred’s to be sold to A Robins and Sons Ltd were described as follows.  “Whereas Alfred Robins deceased late of Station Road Farnham in the County of Surrey carried on for many years prior to his death and was carrying on at the date of his death at Farnham aforesaid the business of Farmer, Cab and Carriage Proprietor, and Job Master Railway Carrier and Agent and Carman and General Contractor”

The following offspring of Alfred Robins, Alfred junior, Cecil, Albert and Fanny Robins, wife of Harry Clist, who had probably managed the Farnham Laundry for Alfred, purchased the sub-set of his businesses described in the preceding paragraph, through the agency of the newly-formed company, A Robins and Sons Ltd.  The company was financed by the issue of 3,530 fully paid-up shares of £1 each, being divided into two classes, 1500 4% Cumulative Preference shares and 2,030 Ordinary shares.  Christian Emma Robins owned the Preference shares and the other parties owned the Ordinary shares, divided as follows: the four children of Alfred senior (Alfred junior, Cecil, Albert and Fanny) 500 shares each and the 3 spouses of the participating offspring (Albert did not marry until 1908) 10 shares each.  The initial share capital would have been the rough equivalent of £395,000 in 2017 money (calculation based on intervening inflation), so the company started from a sound financial base.

There were further share issues in 1927, 1943 and 1944 but unlike share issues in a public company, where they are used to raise funds for a specific purpose, these subsequent issues corresponded more to times when the shareholders had money to invest.  Also, because of the nature of the company, there was no open market in the shares to determine the price to be paid and they were sold at par, ie £1.  This appears to have been less than the estimated “true” value of roughly £3 to £4. (In 1944 the executors of Mrs Delilah Robins, sought to sell her shares at a price of £4 - 10 - 0 but the company directors argued that down to £3 - 6 - 8).  The 1927 share issue followed the death of Christian Emma Robins, widow of Alfred, when his estate was finally converted to money and distributed to his surviving offspring.  This yielded about £1,568 each, roughly £88,000 in 2017 money.  Also, at this time, the 1,500 preference shares were distributed from Alfred’s estate equally to his three director sons plus his daughter, Fanny Clist.  It did not take the directors long (1931) to convert the preference shares, yielding 4%, into ordinary shares yielding substantially more.  The 1943 share issue corresponded with the purchase of the new furniture store at Tongham but the cash raised only covered about a quarter of the cost.  In 1944, 4,700 new ordinary shares were created but only 1,500 issued (for cash) to the existing shareholders, plus Mrs Gwen Covington, daughter of the late Harry Clist.

A Robins and Sons Ltd – a Family Company

The establishment of a private limited (by shares) liability company was an obvious way to enshrine fractional ownership of this complex of business activities and to establish management structures for its control.  However, in June 1908, by a special resolution of the shareholders, the numbers of members of the company (excluding employees) was limited to 50 and public subscription for shares or debentures was precluded, which limited the company’s access to investment capital to what was available from the owners.  A Robins and Sons Ltd was conceived as a family company to be owned and managed by the descendants of Alfred Robins senior and providing employment and income for them and their families.  Even the two spouses of Alfred senior’s offspring involved in the management of the company were only allocated 10 shares each, as was Harry Clist who was both a spouse and a manager.  Genetic linkage appears to have been paramount in the minds of the founding shareholders.  It was subsequently pointed out to the company by its auditors that this arrangement in effect created a private partnership, though that was only true while the initial share ownership obtained. 

The family company concept as perceived by Robins family shareholders put constant pressure on the directors, over many years, to pay dividends, even when there were pressing reasons for the Board to act with restraint.  The directors were still feeling such pressure in 1969, when they circulated a letter to shareholders announcing a resolution for the AGM which proposed a modest dividend of 10%.  The Board, defensively, anticipated a measure of disappointment and felt it necessary to spell out in detail the reasons for its recommendation.  They were being strongly urged by the bank to reduce the level of company indebtedness and pointed out the vital role of the bank in financing the company’s operations.  At the time the company was under pressure, due to customers being progressively later in paying their bills, the increased cost of replacing lorries and the necessity of maintaining them to higher standards than had previously been the case, increases in taxation and the resistance of customers to price increases.

Initial Company Structure

The first formal meeting of the Board of Directors took place on 14^th November 1907 and was attended by Alfred Robins junior, Cecil Robins, Albert Robins and Harry Clist.  The four of them, being the major shareholders (in Harry’s case his wife Fanny was the major shareholder) after Christian Emma Robins, appointed themselves as directors and it was agreed that Harry Clist would serve as Chairman until the first AGM.  James William Wright, a solicitor’s managing clerk who lived at Castle View, was appointed as Secretary and Joseph Lamport, a law clerk, was appointed as auditor.  John Robert Nash of Hollest, Mason and Nash was nominated as company solicitor.  The first AGM was held on 23 December 1907, when the directors’ appointments and company advisor appointments were confirmed, excepting Joseph Lamport.  It was decided to use a qualified accountant in the role of auditor in the future.

All the directors held positions as executives within the company but there was no post of chief executive.  Also, the role of chairman was not invested with power to hold the executives to account, rather it was a more administrative position chairing meetings, otherwise Harry Clist, being merely a Robins spouse, would surely not have found himself in such a position.  The post of Secretary does not appear to have been a modern Company Secretary role at this time, rather Secretary to the Company, ie writing letters on its behalf.   In 1911, Mr Wright, who had held the post of Secretary, resigned on his appointment as Clerk to Farnham Urban District Council.  Harry Clist was then moved to take his place and Alfred junior became Chairman.  A decision was made in 1910 to lease an additional farm, Chapel Farm, Tilford but Harry Clist minuted his objection to this move, declaring that he could not see how the farm could make a profit.  He later proved to have been correct in his assessment.   Interestingly, in 1914, Harry Clist submitted his resignation as a director because he felt that the company had too many directors.  His resignation was declined and he continued as Secretary and a member of the Board.

In the early years of the company’s existence, the directors were growing into their roles.  This was made clear by various statements (some rather cryptic) recorded in the minutes of directors’ meetings. In 1910 it was written that directors would no longer make purchases personally on behalf of the company, also that office correspondence would, in future, be opened by the chairman.  Further, Mr Alfred Robins would be allowed to keep a horse on the farm free of charge, so long as the same privilege was offered to any other director. In 1919 the secretary had to point out to Alfred Robins that he should consult the other directors before appointing staff.  Formal procedures were also introduced for co-signing of cheques.  Each director established an account with the company which could receive dividend payments and from which he could make purchases. It appears that some directors (Ernest Harry was certainly one) were in the habit of running their accounts in debit.  It was decreed that in future this practice would not be allowed.  Director behaviour caused another upset in 1936 when it was resolved that “no chicken belonging to any director can be kept on company’s properties, or garden vegetables grown.”  Although A Robins and Sons Ltd was a family company, the directors clearly had to learn to act collectively and keep to formalities which might have initially looked like unnecessary bureaucracy.  

The Demise of Harry Clist

Between 1907 and 1927 the ownership and management of the company was fairly constant.  Sadly, at some stage in the early 1920s Harry Clist developed a serious mental illness, which ended his involvement with the company, his last attendance at a meeting of the directors being on 25 January 1923.  He also ceased to be a member of Farnham Urban District Council in the same year.  The company continued to pay Harry Clist a director’s fee but then realised that it was contrary to the Articles of Association and wrote to Harry’s wife, Fanny, apologising for its termination, but agreeing to make an ex gratia payment of £1 per week (about £52 in 2017 money) to her as an interim measure.  This act confirms the view that Alfred senior’s children had of the purpose of the company as a means to sustain the economic wellbeing of family members.  Harry Clist died at Brookwood Mental Hospital, Woking in December 1928.

Ernest Harry Robins and his debt to A Robins and Sons Ltd

Within families siblings often develop antagonisms towards each other, while still being bound by family loyalties and this was the case with the sons of Alfred Robins senior.  In the early years of the company one of the most serious such spats was between Ernest Harry Robins, the milkman, not then a member of the company and the then directors of A Robins and Sons Ltd. 

Ernest was the youngest of Alfred Robins senior’s sons and was precipitated into business life at the early age of 16, when an employee working for his father on the milk round absconded with some money and Ernest was drafted in to manage this business.  He has left a fascinating and detailed, though inevitably one-sided, account of his life as a milkman and transport company executive between 1899 and 1924, which he entitled “13^th”.  In spite of immense hard work and effort, he was confronted by many crises in his business and personal life, usually caused by lack of funds at critical times.  By 1924 he had overcome the difficulties that he had faced but with little material wealth to show for his endeavours though, undoubtedly, he had gained a fund of character-forming experiences.  His choice of title, “13^th”, for his autobiographical work was significant and suggested that he believed that his tribulations had been occasioned by his status as the 13^th child in the family, an attribute which superstition associates with bad luck, or the operation of fate, through the link with Judas Iscariot, the 13^th disciple of Jesus of Nazareth.  Undoubtedly, Ernest was very unlucky (the victim of unpredictable, uncontrollable random events) but it seems possible that some of his misfortune was due to natural rather than potentially supernatural influences.  His youth and inexperience, his lack of capital immediately after his father’s death, his naiivity in trusting business associates and his facile assumption that his brothers would cut him rather more financial slack than, in the event, they were prepared to do, were all plausible factors.

When Ernest started his milk round he bought his supplies from Alfred’s leased farm at Badshot Lea and that continued after his father’s death, though the lease of the farm was then held by A Robins and Sons Ltd.  The dairy operations were originally located at The Fairfield but in 1902 moved to 16 East Street and then in 1908, a further move was made to larger premises at 12 West Street.  Ernest had worked hard to expand his milk business and was by this date selling 180 gallons per day.  The expansion of the business had eaten up all his spare cash and he could only buy his new premises in West Street on borrowed money, a £600 loan at 4 ½% from the executors of his father’s estate and a £1000 mortgage at 5% from the bank.  But then he had two pieces of “bad luck” which caused financial stress, the Farnham UDC Surveyor insisted that he install new drains in the West Street premises at a cost of £600 and his wife, Ethel, developed appendicitis which, in those pre-NHS days, cost a further £150+ in medical fees.  In these circumstances, he was unable to pay all his creditors and he allowed his debit account with A Robins and Sons Ltd for milk to mount up.

Although Ernest portrayed his brothers as being uncaring in their dealings with him, in fact they were remarkably forbearing, considering the level of debt involved.  The first mention of this debt in the minutes of the company was in December 1908, when it stood at £200 (equivalent to about £22,000 in 2017 money).  Ernest was also stabling 5 horses in the company’s Castle View stables and it was proposed that in future he would be charged 50/- per week for this service.  The board proposed to meet with Ernest to discuss how he would liquidate his debts.  This information was communicated to him by letter, “The Directors at their meeting last evening had before them the question of the amount of your indebtedness to the Company.  They have of course no wish to embarrass you but their own business engagements prevent them from allowing it to remain at such a large amount (£200) and I am to beg the favour of your meeting the directors on Monday evening next at 7 to discuss the matter…”.  Ernest attended as requested and had reduced his debt to £148 by the time of the meeting.  He offered to pay monthly for milk in the future and to reduce the debt by £20/month and his offer was accepted.

Despite Ernest’s good intentions, the debt did not decline steadily.  In September, 1908 it stood at £150 and in November, 1908 it was £200, when he again attended a meeting of the A Robins board.  He promised not to let the debt increase and hoped to reduce the debt in about 6 months’ time.  By the following March, Ernest owed the significantly increased sum of £300.  In May, 1909 the directors applied further pressure with only a modest result, though in July he reduced his debt by £100.  About this time, Ernest, in an attempt to alleviate his financial difficulties, brought in a partner, Ted Rose, to the dairy business and also increased his own borrowings.  A Robins and Sons Ltd did not react well to this development.  They were not prepared to extend credit on the same scale to a non-Robins business partner.  This was a wise stance as Ted Rose subsequently proved to be deceitful.  The attitude of the directors now started to harden and they threatened legal action unless the debt was brought down.  In August, 1910 the balance of Ernest’s account stood at £85 and the directors pressed for this to be eliminated.  The following summer Ernest and his partner Ted Rose were still not paying regularly for their milk and the threats from the company got stronger.  Unless milk supplied was paid for, the company would stop the milk supply and put the whole matter in the hands of solicitors but, despite these threats, the company held back from taking this final drastic action.  Almost a year later, in June 1912, they were still threatening legal action and the matter was finally concluded when Ernest sold the Farnham Dairy to Mr Radfrith and was able finally to clear his debts.  He had been in significant debt to A Robins and Sons Ltd for four years.  This was not the end of Ernest Harry’s indebtedness to family members.  He had subsequently borrowed money from his mother and in her will, dated 1920, she specifically asked that he be given time to repay debts, if any were still owed on her death.  His inheritance from his father’s estate on his mother’s death in 1927 also allowed Ernest Harry to settle an account for over £92 with his brother, Hubert, some items of which had been outstanding from 1922.

Ernest Harry Robins becomes a Director of A Robins and Sons Ltd

In 1927 Alfred Robins’ youngest son Ernest Harry, the former owner of various dairies, joint founder of the Victoria Transport Company and one-time major debtor of A Robins and Sons Ltd, was admitted to the company as a director.  His debts to the company had been cleared, he was in funds following his mother’s death and the historical antagonisms between him and his three director brothers had faded into the past.  He was also in need of employment.  At that time the ages of the directors were Alfred Rose Robins - 63, Cecil Harry Robins - 48, Albert Edward Robins - 45, and Ernest Harry Robins – 44.  The directorate continued in this configuration until death started to take its toll in the 1940s.

Dissent and Antagonism on the Board

An early disagreement arose between Albert Edward Robins and his fellow directors in A Robins and Sons Ltd.  At the Board meeting of 19^th September 1908, which Albert Edward did not attend, a letter from him was considered in which he resigned his position as a director and requesting that the company purchase his 500 shares for £800, plus accrued dividend.  It is unclear what had precipitated this drastic move.  The secretary wrote to Albert pointing out the seriousness of his proposed action but letting him know that if he persisted his resignation would be accepted, but that the company would only pay him £500 + 10% for his shares.  Albert Edward rejected this offer and countered aggressively with a price of £800 plus a year’s dividend, or he would offer the shares for sale by public auction.  It is not known what further action was taken by the company but Albert was persuaded of the error of his ways and on 23^rd September withdrew his resignation and apologised for the trouble he had caused.  Albert Edward Robins’ antagonistic behaviour did not end with this episode.  His dissent from a position taken by his fellow directors was minuted in November 1908 and at an EGM held in December 1915 he was the only attendee to oppose a change to the company’s Articles of Association.  Some further disagreement led to Albert Edward absenting himself from work from 17^th November 1915 and writing to his fellow directors.  The contents of the letter are not known but they led to the calling of a further EGM in March 1916 and a further change to the Articles of Association, making it possible to discipline a director who did not perform his duties or absented himself from meetings, other than for medical reasons, or with permission.  A 1916 account from Hollest Mason and Nash records that they had provided advice “generally on position of affairs brought about by the attitude assumed by Mr Albert Robins”.   Albert’s behaviour was clearly pushing his fellow directors to the limit of their tolerance.  He attended a meeting of the directors on 18^th April 1916 but was then absent until 21^st April 1919.  Did he enlist?  There had been discussions about this possibility with his fellow directors.  If so, no record has been found of his military service.  At present Albert Edward’s absence for those three years is unexplained.

Antagonism towards his fellow directors was to be a recurrent theme of Albert Edward’s period of office.  Dissent was minuted in 1935 and 1937 before he attempted to resign (twice) in 1941.  His fellow directors persuaded him to withdraw this threat, but it was repeated the following year, with the same outcome.  In 1946 he again submitted his resignation, post-dated to one year hence.  Like repeated attempts at suicide, he appeared to be drawing attention to a long-term dissatisfaction with the way the board was conducting business.  Clues to the nature of Albert Edward’s unhappiness, often cryptic, are to be found in the board minutes.  In 1936, “Several matters concerning the personal conduct of the Directors were raised.  Resolved that no chicken belonging to any Director can be kept on Company’s properties, or garden vegetables grown”.  The same year Albert Edward suffered some illness which required an operation and a period of recuperation away from Farnham.  A year later antagonisms again surfaced and it was minuted that both Albert Edward and Ernest Harry had complained about the methods of brother Cecil Harry.  The pious hope was expressed “that all directors would try to work together more harmoniously in future”.  That desire was not realised. 

In 1940, the three youngest brothers, Cecil Harry, Albert Edward and Ernest Harry, were given the equal titles of “managing director” and with equal salaries.  This was a recipe for disagreement.  By this time, Alfred Rose was playing a less active role, due to his uncertain health and advancing years.  The following year a meeting of the directors was called due to “friction” in the directorate which culminated in Albert Edward’s attempted resignation.  At the next meeting, emotions were still running high. “The matter of friction between the Directors was brought forward and after a somewhat heated discussion Mr AE Robins stated that in view of the circumstances he must request his resignation to stand.  Mr EH Robins expressed the view that should Mr AE Robins resign, he should also put in his resignation. After further discussion, it was decided to ask solicitors to advise on the matter and call an extraordinary meeting of shareholders.”  Wiser council prevailed.  Albert Edward withdrew his resignation and the antagonisms were put to one side as the directors agreed “to try to work together amicably for the next 12 months”.  However, in less than a year emotions boiled up again.  A “heated discussion” on the issue of the company joining the proposed Traffic Pool (see later) led to both Albert Edward and Ernest Harry again tendering their resignations.  No decision had been taken on the issue, “due to the attitude” of Cecil Harry.  Matters within the board were at crisis point and it was decided to call an EGM to consider the future of the business.  Yet again the brothers pulled back from the brink.  In 1943 resignations were withdrawn and cracks papered over.  But Cecil Harry’s behaviour continued to irritate.  The same year it was minuted that Cecil Harry “had again not carried out a request of the board regarding compensation for Home Guard occupation of Snailslynch”.  Cecil Harry became chairman the same year but brother Albert Edward made one final, dissenting flourish in 1946, when he again submitted his resignation over some unknown matter.  Although Albert Edward was most forward in his opposition to the behaviour of brother Cecil Harry, his views were shared to some extent by Ernest Harry and they probably should not be put down entirely to Albert Edward’s emotional fragility.

In other circumstances, it might have been expected that a strong chairman would have knocked heads together and demanded cohesion, failing which resignations would have been required and the board reformed, perhaps with non-family participation.  An independent chairman might also have been expected to engage in succession planning, rather than allowing the company to become managed by a group of directors who were past their time of useful service.  But, that was not the nature of A Robins and Sons Ltd.  It was a family company run by, for and to the benefit of the family.  Dissent had to be managed and resignations resisted.  Further, family shareholders who were not involved in company management, turned up to annual general meetings to engage in ritual gestures of democracy and accountability by proposing, seconding and voting on motions, but apparently never asking difficult questions of the directorate.

An Ageing Board

Between 1928 and 1937 Alfred Rose Robins suffered at least five bouts of illness which kept him away from work.  He attended his last board meeting in 1943 before illness forced his retirement and he died three years later at the age of 82.  He had been chairman of the company for 32 years, since 1911.  The next brother, in terms of seniority, was Cecil and he became the new company chairman, though he only lasted for five years before he too was afflicted by ill health.  He died in office in 1948 at the age of 69.  The mantle of chairman then passed to Albert Edward Robins but a month later he too had become ill and died in office in November 1948 after a reign of only four months.  Ernest Harry, the “unlucky 13^th” (see below) child of Alfred Robins then assumed the chair as last man standing.  He fulfilled the role until he expired in 1958 at the age of 75.

To be fair, the directors were not unaware of the problems of a gerontocracy.  In 1948, Mr Pratt, from accountants, Howard, Morris and Crocker (who served as auditors for more than 50 years) “spoke on present value of the shares and advised the directors on the future administration of the company”.  At the following meeting the directors confirmed that they were indeed “thinking about the future administration of the company”.  A further month on it was clarified that the matter of concern was that the directors were getting on in years, but no action was taken at the meeting.  The next month, July 1948, Ernest Harry proposed that the company should be sold as a going concern, which would have addressed the issue of an ageing board.  He found no seconder for this proposal.  So, while the board was aware of the problem they struggled with a solution.  Death intervened to force a renewal of the board, with Cecil Harry and Albert Edward both being claimed by the grim reaper before the end of the year.

The Attitude to Non-Family Directors

The company was for many years set against having non-family members as directors but it had been prepared to take specialist outside advice, concerning legal and financial matters.  In 1920 Mr Nash, or a deputy, from solicitors Hollest, Mason and Nash, attended board meetings to advise on the wording of the legal agreement dealing with the purchase of Barrett’s Kiln at Fairfield and he later gave advice on other matters.  In the early years, a representative of the auditors generally only attended the annual general meeting but that practice changed in 1925 when Mr Crocker started attending more frequently to advise on financial issues.  By 1928 Mr Selwood of the same firm was attending regularly and appeared to be acting as company accountant, since none of the formal directors had any accountancy qualifications.  Mr Selwood was replaced by Mr Pratt in 1933.  He, or a deputy, continued in this role until 1938, when Mr Crocker replaced him, continuing until his death in 1947.  The role was then filled by Mr Bastow.  During 1948 Mr AJS Pratt occasionally reappeared alongside Mr Bastow and in November of that year Anthony James Sidney Pratt was appointed as the first non-family director of A Robins and Sons Ltd, after the death of Albert Edward Robins.  Remarkably, Mr Pratt was also appointed chairman, underlining the relatively insignificant status of that office within A Robins and Sons Ltd.  Mr Pratt was clearly not an equal with the other directors.  His salary was only about 25% that of his fellow directors (perhaps he was part time?), he did not qualify for a bonus and he was only allowed to buy 1 share (from Ernest Harry Robins).  When he resigned in 1959 his one share was returned to the executors of Ernest Harry Robins.  He was replaced by Mr Bastow who was also appointed as chairman as well as a director.  However, Mr Bastow did not even get the fig leaf of a single share!  Mr Bastow continued on the board until 1968 when he had to resign in order to comply with a change in the law, brought in under the 1967 Companies Act.  He continued to attend board meetings and was elected to the chair, despite no longer being a director!  This anomalous situation continued until early 1972 after which he was characterised as “accountant” in board minutes.

The Next Generation – Sidney Robins joins the Board

Robin Smith (who later joined the board and eventually assumed the role of chairman) has pointed out that one of the problems associated with a family-owned and family-managed company is that in each generation it is necessary to find family members who are both willing and competent to serve.  That can be a difficult objective to achieve.  The first member of the next generation of the family to join the board was Sidney George, the second son of Alfred Rose Robins.  In 1935 he had been taken on as an employee in the company office and was “giving satisfaction”.  In 1943, at the age of 42, he became a shareholder and joined the board.  Perhaps emboldened by the success of his younger sibling, Horace Alfred, Alfred Rose Robins’ elder son, wrote to the board in 1945 asking the directors to consider his joining the board and stating that he was prepared to invest £1,000 in the business.  Whatever the true reason, the board decided that, “Due to family complications and the threat of Nationalisation that the application could not be favourably considered.”  At the same meeting, it had been acknowledged that “the present directors could not continue for many more years”.  Horace Robins’ mother did not take this refusal lying down.  The following year she wrote to the board asking that her elder son become a director of the company.  Horace was interviewed on 31^st May 1946.  No formal decision on the outcome of the interview was included in the minutes, but he was not appointed.

Sidney George Robins had joined the board of A Robins and Sons Ltd in 1943 and in 1948 he was appointed secretary and then chairman in 1968, a post he initially held only briefly. In that year, he attained the age of 67.  Three years later the issue of Sidney’s impending retirement was broached and the following terms were agreed.  He would become chairman, remain a director and attend all meetings.  He would be given a car (registration AHO 957J) or its cash in trade value.  He would receive a pension of £1200pa to be paid monthly in arrears and any work he did for the company would be remunerated by mutual agreement.  His pension would be reviewed and adjusted, if necessary, for the cost of living.  It seems likely that Sidney was being eased out of an executive role by his fellow board members, keen on reforming the operations of the company.  Robin Smith (see below) wrote, “At that time the company was still under the control of Mr Robins and his senior staff.  It was very old fashioned and it seemed that everything was done in the most laborious manner possible.  It wasn’t unsatisfactory by any means but it was very time consuming – and they weren’t very receptive to change.”  It would perhaps have been wise for Sidney to cease regular attendance at board meetings immediately but his presence continued, on and off, until shortly before he died in 1979.

Sydney Robins (right) Director A Robins and Sons Ltd 1943 - 1968 and Robin Smith Managing Director A Robins and Sons Ltd 1971 - 1995

Third Generation Robins Directors

Sidney George Robins was from the second generation of Robinses after Alfred.  Sidney’s sister Sybil Grace married a Basingstoke man, John Cuthbert Smith.  They had two sons, the elder one being Robin Alfred Smith.  Having been endowed with such a name, it is perhaps fitting that he should have been singled out as a 3^rd generation family member qualified to undertake service in the family company.  After National Service, he underwent training with White and Co, the Portsmouth-based removals firm, for three years before joining A Robins and Sons Ltd.  His first day in the family firm was 17^th April 1961 and just under a year later he was admitted to the directorate at the age of 25.  Robin Smith was responsible for introducing the first genuine non-family executive director, David Slape, to A Robins and Sons Ltd.  David, who had a background in insurance, had met Robin during his stint with Whites and in 1968 David joined Robins as their removals and storage manager and became a director.  Unlike previous outsiders he acquired a minor shareholding in the company.  In 1971, on the retirement of Sidney Robins, Robin Smith became managing director of the firm, which essentially left two young men running the company, a marked change from the regime of the 40s, 50s and 60s.  Robin’s wife Ann, who had a legal and property background, was appointed as Company Secretary in 1972 and joined the board in 1985.  This was the year of David Slape’s departure from the firm and the year of accession of David Gerald Robins as a non-executive member of the directorate.  David Robins was a close contemporary of Robin Smith and another 3^rd generation Robins, being the grandson of milkman, Ernest Harry Robins.

Unfortunately for Robin Smith, the commercial environment was very different from the relatively benign post-war period.  It fell to his lot to manage significant retrenchment in and eventually closure of the haulage operations of the company.  By 1995 essentially three options were available.  Firstly, to obtain planning consents on all the company’s sites, sell them for development and utilise the proceeds to purchase a modern containerised warehouse on another site.  Secondly, if no one in the family wanted to take over management of the company, to install an outsider. Thirdly, to sell the company as a going concern and the premises for development.  The containerisation route proved to be impracticable, due to the massive investment required and no one in the family wanted to take on the management role.  Further, the housing market was stagnant, which in turn was depressing the removals and storage business.  This led Robin Smith to the inevitable conclusion that disposal was the only viable option for the company.  Planning permission was obtained for most of the property assets and they were sold.   The removals and storage business went as a going concern to Camberley-based company, Overs, who then re-sold it to Whittles.

The Evolution of Shareholding in the Company

It was pointed out earlier that between 1907, when the company was founded and 1946, the great majority of shares in A Robins and Sons Ltd were owned by the directors.  Over the next twelve years as Alfred Rose Robins (1946), Cecil Harry Robins (1948), Albert Edward Robins (1948) and Ernest Harry Robins (1958) died, the position on share ownership changed dramatically to one where a minority of shares were owned by the members of the board of directors, as the estates of the original holders were distributed to their children.  A sheet produced in 1974, for calculating shareholder dividends, illustrates the point.  Of 7,520 shares issued only 2.94% were in the hands of board members.

Directors’ Responsibilities

During the period from foundation of the company in 1907 to the mid-1940s, when there were mostly four executive directors, it was necessary to delineate areas of responsibility to minimise conflicts and this was largely achieved by playing to the natural strengths of individual directors.  In 1916 it was minuted that Alfred Rose Robins was in charge of all farm work, but he had been looking after Park Farm at Badshot Lea since before 1907.  In the early 1920s, at a time of financial crisis for the company, Alfred Rose took a sub-let of Park Farm from the company in return for cash and remained at Park Farm until he retired.  Cecil Harry was the company horse-man who is known to have regularly ridden his horse down to the bank in Farnham, as well as manning Farnham’s horse-drawn fire engine.  Without doubt his pride and joy was the management of the riding school, operated initially from the stables at Castle View but latterly from Snailslynch Farm.  But as a business it was on its last legs and when Snailslynch was sold riding instruction ceased.  In 1916 Cecil Harry was minuted as being in control of the haulage and cab business, which in those days was largely horse-powered.  By 1930 he was described as being in charge of all horses and vehicles (almost certainly restricted to horse-drawn vehicles), the wheelwrights and the blacksmiths and in 1940 he was “in charge of all outside work”.  In this context “outside work” appears to have included all haulage work, including mechanical haulage, though engines were not his forte.  Albert Edward Robins was the company’s engineer.  In 1916 he managed furniture removal and storage but by 1930 he was responsible for motors, engines and maintenance.  He reverted to management of the furniture business in 1940.  Harry Clist looked after the office until ill-health forced his retirement in the early 1920s.  That role then went to Ernest Harry when he was admitted as a director in 1927.  Curiously, in 1940 Ernest Harry was briefly given responsibility for all motor vehicles, though he was quickly returned to oversight of the office.  It is possible that some of the dissent and antagonism shown by Albert Edward in the 1930s was due to matters which he considered part of his baileywick being redistributed.  There are few clues to the division of responsibilities throughout the period 1940 to 1970 but, once Robin Smith and David Slape took control, the company’s main businesses were furniture and haulage, with David Slape looking after the former and Robin Smith the latter.

Evolving Business Interests

The types of business undertaken by A Robins and Sons Ltd was described in 1909 under the following categories: Cab, Farm, Furniture storage, Railway goods and parcels, Rents, Gravel haulage.  Over the subsequent years this listing evolved but its fundamentals endured.  It is known from a poster preserved in the Queens Head, Farnham, that in the period before the death of Alfred Robins senior, “Cab” work was more fully described as “Single or pair horse carriages for hire.  Superior private carriages, Landaus and Broughams for Weddings, Evening parties, Picnics, &c.  Also, large brakes.  Vans for luggage.”  (A Landau was a horse-drawn four-wheeled enclosed carriage with a removable front cover and a back cover that could be raised and lowered, a Brougham was a light, four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage and a large brake was a four-wheeled carriage for larger parties.  The term “van” was originally applied to a horse-drawn, covered vehicle, normally with four wheels, used for conveying goods.  A pantechnicon van (nowadays shortened to “pantechnicon”) was originally a horse-drawn van for transporting furniture.)  The company bought a Brougham manufactured by East Street-based coach-builders, Sturt and Goatcher, for £5 (about £530 in 2017 money) in 1915.  A Robins and Sons Ltd was granted a Hackney Carriage (public transport vehicle plying for hire) licence to stand at Farnham Station gates in 1908.  The company subsequently considered using motorised cabs for hire but never made the move, perhaps because of Cecil Harry’s attachment to horses.

In addition to servicing the needs of horses and horse-drawn vehicles for company purposes, A Robins and Sons Ltd also serviced the needs of other organisations.  In 1912, British Petroleum contracted with Robins for the stabling of horses for their needs.  A Robins and Sons Ltd was later (in 1914) approached by Pickfords to share the East Street stables, but declined to service that company’s requirements, since it was a competitor.  During WW1 Robins provided horses to pull Farnham’s fire engine and tendered to house the engine.  Cecil Harry Robins often negotiated beneficial deals for the purchase or sale of horses.  He also started the riding school, based initially at the stables and paddock in Castle View.  The date of introduction is unclear but an advertisement in the 1920s described A Robins and Sons Ltd as “The Old Established Riding Masters” and their services as “Everything about the horse and horsemanship taught.  Our own private training grounds where clients are taught jumping etc by expert instructors under the personal supervision of Cecil H Robins.  All our horses are kept under ideal conditions – special grazing grounds – running water – and inspections are always cordially invited.  Specialised training for children.  In the absence of parents abroad children most carefully catered for.”   Further, the riding school offered “Hacks, Hunters & Children’s Ponies for sale or hire.” Cecil himself acted as an instructor and he employed a Mr Poulter, an ex-Army man and a strict disciplinarian.  Cecil’s daughter, Phyllis was also a skilled horsewoman, who won a variety of trophies.

Cecil Harry Robins Director A Robins and Sons Ltd 1907 - 1948, with daughter Phyllis

In the early years of its existence, A Robins and Sons Ltd was almost entirely dependent on the horse for motive power.  That position changed progressively, especially in the two decades from 1920 to 1940 as first steam lorries, then petrol lorries and finally diesel lorries became widely used for haulage.  The equine knowledge and skills which Cecil Harry Robbin, who was a larger than life character, brought to the company were especially important up to about 1930.  He was responsible for buying and selling horses for the company and frequently made this a profitable operation, for example in the acquisition of surplus Army horses in the aftermath of WW1. 

In parallel with the use of the horse, the Robins brothers, especially Alfred junior, were also involved with farming.  They rented Park Farm at Badshot Lea for many years, Chapel Farm, Tilford between 1911 and 1914 and rented, then owned, Snailslynch Farm between 1932 and 1946.  The farms provided both grazing and fodder for the horses but, in addition, the company also had a constantly changing mix of pasture lets from such local landowners as Mr JH Knight, the motor car engineer and the Rev Martin Ware.  The farms also generated other saleable agricultural produce, especially fresh milk and vegetables, such as potatoes and cabbage.

For much of the life of the company, general haulage was a major part of the business and, in the early years, including during Alfred senior’s lifetime, gravel transport from the many gravel pits around Farnham was a staple activity.  In the early years of the 20^th century Farnham did not have a fully developed network of sewers and many residents depended on the use of cesspits, which required regular emptying.  About 1880 Alfred senior had had a serious tussle with the Farnham Local Board over the absence of sewers in Farnham and this probably alerted him to the need for a haulage service for the emptying of cess pits.  Before WW1 the company had two carts devoted to the rather odious trade of sewage transport.  Often the sewage was simply emptied onto agricultural land in the countryside, which may have included land at Park Farm until 1913, when a sewage contract was lost due to Badshot Lea being included within Farnham Urban District Council’s boundary.  

Most towns developed town gas works in the late 19^th century and Farnham was no exception.  A gas works had been developed on East Street, at least on a small scale by 1871 and underwent substantial subsequent development.  Town gas production involved heating coal in a retort to drive off volatile organic compounds, leaving behind coke, largely carbon, as a by-product.  During the 1920s, Robins made many deliveries of gas pipes to build the distribution infrastructure in both Farnham and Alton.  A fine photograph of a Robins-owned Sentinel steam waggon and trailer delivering gas pipes was published in the Farnham Herald in 1981.  Robins also held contracts with the Farnham Gas and Electricity Company to deliver coal to the Farnham Gas Works from Farnham Station.  Initially these deliveries were made using horse-drawn carts.  Three carts were constantly on the move making coal deliveries from the station to the East Street site.  In 1931 the Farnham Gas and Electricity Company complained that the price for coal hauling was too high and that in future Robins would have to deliver using mechanical means.  In consequence, they bought a Fordson tractor and trailer. At this time, (1931) coal was being delivered to Farnham in such large quantities that the tractor and trailer could not cope and Robins resorted to using horse and cart as supplementary transport, to the annoyance of the gas company.  A second tractor and trailer were then acquired, two horses and three carts were sold and two drivers dismissed.  A bottleneck then developed at the gas works, which could not receive coal at the rate that it was arriving at the station and it was the turn of Robins to complain.

Robins Sentinel Steam Wagon, 1920s

In 1938 the start of construction of the Farnham by-pass provided a substantial amount of haulage business for Robins.  By late 1938 the company had 12 – 18 tipper lorries in constant use on the construction of the eastern end of the by-pass.  WW2 brought a pause in construction and it was not until 1956 that the project was completed and the road opened.    

Coal was also hauled, over the years, for other clients, besides the Farnham Gas and Electricity Company and to sites as varied as Farnham Institution, the Courage Brewery, Farnham Laundry, the local hospital and the Surrey and Dorking Brick Company.  Coal haulage was so substantial that in 1944 the company bought a Michigan T6K mobile crane to speed up loading at the station.  However, 1945 saw the election of a Labour Government with its three major policy thrusts of increased taxation, the creation of the Welfare State and the nationalisation of major industries.  Gas generation and distribution was nationalised in 1948 and in 1953 the Farnham gas works were closed.  Immediately, the company considered selling the Michigan T6K, but then backed off as it was thought other uses could be found for it.  This proved to be so and it was employed in pipelaying, digging and in lifting pianos!  Robins gained alternative contracts to haul coal to Aldershot and Camberley and to haul coke from Basingstoke to Odiham aerodrome.  Even so, the loss of business was about £8,000 per year in 1954.  Other contracts for haulage were obtained and by the mid-1960s the company was operating about 24 tipper lorries.  This upward trend did not last, for several reasons.  Consolidation in the local extractive industries led to fewer, larger companies with their own haulage fleets.  Building materials wholesalers filled the niche of supplying small builders and the haulage contracts which were available were less profitable, due partly to competition and partly to high operating costs.  Lorries used for short haulage were heavily worked, requiring frequent maintenance and early replacement. The decision was taken to wind down haulage and to concentrate on furniture removals and storage.  By the end of 1972 the haulage fleet was down to ten vehicles and in 1980, the haulage fleet had further declined to only three lorries.

Robins Michigan T6K Crane, owned 1944 - 1966

Furniture removal and storage was a staple activity of the company from its beginning in 1907.  Indeed, there is some evidence that these services had existed since soon after Alfred Robins had arrived in Farnham in 1880.  It is fitting that this activity still existed in profitable form when the company was sold in 1996.  Furniture storage complemented furniture removals, especially for the wealthy individuals domiciled in the leafy fringe around London, who often had more than one home and who were internationally mobile.  Another category frequently in need of such services was the officer class of the Army, typically being posted abroad from nearby Aldershot for a period of a few years.

Robins horse-drawn Pantechnicon at The Fairfield

The Railway Agency

Prior to 1905 the agency for the delivery of parcels from Farnham station to recipients was in the hands of Thomas Bubb, proprietor of the Bush Hotel in the Borough, the biggest and best-known hotel in Farnham at the time.  However, at the end of 1904 the Railway Agency passed to Alfred Robins, who paid Thomas Bubb £180 for all the appliances connected to the agency and Alfred then advertised the change in the Farnham Herald.  This association lasted, to the manifest satisfaction of both parties, until the intervention of the state in the form of the post-WW2 nationalisation of the railways.

Parcels were delivered initially within a 1-mile radius of Farnham station, though later a scale of charges was agreed for deliveries at a greater distance.  Robins employee, F Smith was responsible for the service for most of the time that the agency was with the company. For a long period, delivery was made using a horse-drawn van. 

In 1929 Mr Towning, the then Station Master at Farnham, gave a talk in the town which was reported in the Farnham Herald.  “It is not generally known”, he said “that they (A Robins and Sons Ltd) keep a whole-time man here to watch the delivery service and to see that there is no delay.  Traders can rely on anything coming in being delivered the same day.  Nothing is left over.  They make a daily clearance.  They are the finest delivery agents I ever struck.  The delivery service is the basis of the trade of a town and if it is not efficient you have the traders all round you.”  Later the same year, when he moved to a new position, he sent a fulsome letter of thanks to Robins.  “The services rendered by you as Delivery Agent for the Southern Railway are such that no complaint is possible from any reasonable person and I thank you for your valued cooperation during my service at Farnham”.

At a Board Meeting in 1934, Cecil Robins complained about the tardiness of railway personnel in getting parcels out of the waggons each morning, which delayed the Robins delivery service but, not wanting to sour relations with Southern Railways Ltd, the directors decided not to complain.  By this time the horse and van had been replaced by a motor vehicle but before WW2 the horse-drawn service was reintroduced for a while before reverting to a tractor and trailer, followed by a second such combination, during the War.  The importance of the railway agency in the pre-war period can be gauged from the 1939 company accounts, when the gross profit from this operation was £781, compared to £1962 from haulage, £126 from furniture and £114 from riding.

In 1947 Robins predicted, accurately as it turned out, that the “Directors are of the opinion that it is only a matter of time before the Railway Executive undertake their own goods delivery or pass it over to their colleagues, the Road Haulage Executive, with the consequent loss of this business to us”.  In 1951 the Railway Executive gave Robins a month’s notice of termination of the contract.  After 46 years of service, the directors were stung and replied, perhaps unwisely, in terms which revealed their irritation.  “I was instructed to say that the contents of your letter are noted and further that the sentiment of appreciation contained in the final paragraph thereof would have carried more sincerity to my Directors had you found time to personally sign your letter and thus obviate the use of a rubber stamp.”  The Station Master, Mr Blackburn, claimed that “Quicker transit and economy in wagon space were the aims of the new service”.  One wonders if this laudable objective was achieved by the newly-nationalised entity.

Company Properties

During its 88 ½ years of existence, A Robins and Sons Ltd acquired, by purchase or lease, many properties and disposed of such assets by sale or sub-lease.  This was predictable, given the make-up of the complex of business activities that the company embraced.  Many of these property transactions were profitable for the firm or brought benefit in other ways, for example the letting of houses to staff to aid recruitment and retention.  Another small property initiative was the construction of nine lock-up garages at The Fairfield in 1929, designed to appeal to wealthy motorists.  “When you go up to Town by train leave your car under lock and key two minutes from the station.  Convenient.  Safe.  Inexpensive.” However, the company did not generally consider property transactions to be a main business activity, though property development did feature in the company’s diversification plan following the decline of haulage.

Farnham was a major centre of hop production during the 19^th century, though the importance of this crop subsequently declined and 100 years later there were no hops being grown in the area.  After harvesting, the crop needed to be dried and bagged before being sent to the brewery and this was achieved using a hop kiln (in neighbouring Kent hop kilns were called oast houses).  These large buildings consisted of two main parts, one for handling the hops before and after drying and the other a furnace below a drying floor, or floors.  Redundant hop kilns abounded in the Farnham area and were often pressed into service for other industrial or even domestic uses.  A Robins and Sons Ltd frequently used hop kilns for the storage of furniture or the garaging of vehicles and agricultural equipment.  In the first few years of its existence, the company leased a hop kiln in East Street from the executors of Alfred Robins and this was used for a variety of purposes including furniture storage but often caused problems due to its poor state of repair.  It was sub-let for a time during the early 1920s but was finally bought from the trustees of Alfred Robins after the death of his widow, Christian Emma in 1927.  The property was sold to Mr Davies in 1932.

The company’s main operational base was established at The Fairfield, close to both Farnham station and to the Temperance Hotel, in 1907.  There were two redundant hop kilns nearby owned by the executors of John Barrett.  The first, which became known as Barrett’s No 1 Store or simply No 1 Store, was bought by the company in 1909 and used for furniture storage.  It remained in the ownership of the company and was used for this purpose until sold for housing development about 1996.  The second kiln (Barrett’s No 2) was leased in 1911 and bought by the company at auction in 1919 for £1,125 (£58,600 in 2017 money).  It was described as “brick and concrete built and slated of 8 holes with stores for green and dried hops and three entrances 95ft 6in x 44ft 6in situate close to the railway station on the Fairfield estate” and had a plot of building land attached.  The following year, at a time of financial crisis in the company it was sold to the directors who then leased it back to the company.  In 1941 the No 2 Store was bought back by the company and, like its sister, was sold for redevelopment in 1996.  In 1932 the company leased Snailslynch Farm from the Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Company.  Included with the property was a hop kiln in Darvils Lane, which was used for garaging lorries and agricultural equipment.  In 1945 it was sold to the Farnham Sea Cadet Corps for their local headquarters.

One of the former Hop Kilns at The Fairfield used by Robins as a furniture store

Various other properties were used for furniture storage over the years, including premises at Red Lion Lane, various domestic houses at The Fairfield, Trape’s Kiln in Alton Road, Bide’s Chantry and Quinnetts in Bear Lane.  None of these premises was used for long, since they were of limited suitability, by reason of location, lay-out, size or state of repair.  The main other building used for furniture storage, after No1 and No 2 Stores was a redundant factory at Tongham, an area on the eastern edge of Farnham.  It belonged to Burney and Blackburne, manufacturers of internal combustion engines for aeroplanes, motor cars, motor cycles, lawn mowers, etc.  The Tongham Store was first leased in 1938 but with an option to purchase and it came into the ownership of the company in 1944.  The building had three floors and eventually all were used for storage, though entry to the first floor and above was from the rear of the building which had restricted access.  Tragedy struck in 1972 when the building was severely damaged by fire.  It transpired that the company had inadvertently underinsured the building and the pay-out was only about 50% of the cost of the damage. It was four years before it was rebuilt and then only to two stories rather than the original three.  In 1994 access to the upper floor of the building was lost when the old railway bridge at Tongham was demolished. The repaired building suffered two serious floods in 1987 and 1990 and was finally sold in 1995.

In the early years of the company, stabling for the fleet of horses was of significance and in 1908 the 35 horses that the company owned were stabled at premises in East Street, Castle View and Red Lion Lane.  The East Street stables were initially leased, bought in 1927 and sold in 1932.  It is not clear when the Red Lion Lane premises ceased to be used for stabling but the company still had a presence there in 1968, long after the age of horse-drawn transport.  The various properties at Castle View, including the stables, in the ownership of the trustees of Alfred Robins were leased to the company in 1907 and bought by it in 1928.  Castle View was the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order from Surrey County Council in 1938 for the construction of the Farnham by-pass but, because of the intervention of WW2, the properties were not sold to SCC until 1950.  Horse operations, including the riding school, which had been based at Castle View were transferred to Snailslynch Farm before WW2 and when the farm was sold in 1946, the riding school was disbanded and its horses sold.  

A Robins and Sons Ltd’s office continued in the premises at Fairfield, which had been used by Alfred Robins, under lease from his trustees.  In 1928, when the trustees disposed of the property which had been owned by Alfred Robins senior, the office was bought by Cecil Harry Robins, who leased it to the company.  This arrangement continued until 1934 when the need for a bigger office led the company to lease adjacent premises owned by Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Co Ltd at the corner of Station Hill and The Fairfield.  This building had been in use as a tea room.  It remained as the office until the company’s demise.  Various domestic properties came into the ownership of the company, including shops at 15 and 16 East Street, cottages at 16, 17 and 18 Castle View, cottages at Snailslynch farm and numbers 27, 29, 31, 33 and 35 Fairfield.  They were let to company employees as a priority, or to members of the public.  One Fairfield property, known as “Heatherlea” was used for a time for furniture storage.  When Snailslynch Farm was purchased three building plots at Bridgefield were also acquired.  These were eventually sold to Albert Edward Robins in 1947, though it required several requests, the first in 1939, to his fellow directors until they acceded.

A large garage and workshop was built at Fairfield in the 1940s, on land which had been occupied by the lock-up garages, but it was still occasionally necessary to garage vehicles at other sites.  For example, one pantechnicon was garaged at the Coxbridge pit site (now redeveloped as Coxbridge Business Park) of Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Co Ltd between 1944 and 1946.

Horses, Lorries, Vans and Cars

The fundamental theme running through virtually all the business areas in which A Robins and Sons Ltd was active was transport.  As pointed out above, the lifetime of the company covered the age of horse transport, steam traction, petrol and diesel internal combustion engines.  In 1908 the company appears to have owned about 25 horses which were distributed between the three stabling sites of East Street (nine horses), Red Lion Lane (four horses) and Castle View (twelve horses).  In 1937 the company was still offering horse haulage as a service at a price of 1/10d per hour.  As early as 1905 the company was using a “pantechnicon”, a specialised van with high capacity for carrying furniture.  It was probably horse-drawn initially but later may have been pulled by the Foster steam engine.

The first towing vehicle owned by Robins appears to have been a Foster traction engine bought from the Lincoln-based company in 1907.  It was damaged in an accident in 1909 and the company intended to make a claim against London United Tramways, so it is presumed that the accident involved a collision with a tram, presumably on a journey to, or through, London.  Instead of having the engine repaired by Foster, they traded it in for a new Foster engine late in 1910.  The second Foster traction engine was retained until 1917 when it was sold back to Fosters with one truck.  In 1919 the company minuted that it still needed a “tractor” (presumably a traction engine) but could not afford one at the time.

Foster Wellington Steam Tractor, owned by Robins 1910 - 1917

Enquiries about Foden steam lorries were made in 1910 and 1914 but there is no evidence that such a vehicle was purchased at that time.  By 1925 the company was operating a Sentinel steam lorry, a forward control vehicle with a vertical boiler, manufactured by the Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd in Shrewsbury.  This vehicle was probably used for general haulage, especially of sand and gravel.  It was a very successful vehicle and was retained until about 1936.  Steam was superceded by the internal combustion engine in the early 1930s.  Six Chevrolet and two Daimler lorries appear to have been in operation with the company, though their date of introduction is not known.  Since the vehicles were not identified by their registration numbers, it is likely that they were in use before 1934, when commercial vehicles were taxed for the first time.  The company also possessed a Bedford 5-ton tipper.  Three Fordson tractors and trailers were operated during the 1930s on the delivery of coal.

Robins Daimler lorry, mid-1930s

By the late 1930s, the company’s fleet was largely composed of Dodge and Dennis lorries, a single REO tipper and a Garner.  (REO was an American company established by RE Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile).  In 1940 Robins operated two Bedford lorries but one was commandeered by the Army, as was the whole of the Bedford production line.  The company used a REO pantechnicon at this time.  During WW2, the company largely did not buy new vehicles, presumably because of limited availability, though a Commer lorry was obtained in 1939.  The post-war period saw Bedford vehicles become available again and the company bought several lorries from this British manufacturer.  It also bought Dennis pantechnicons in 1946 and 1948 and at least five Austin tippers between 1945 and 1949.  During the 1960s Bedford was the favourite marque for both tipping lorries and pantechnicons.  Several Morris Travellers were also bought for staff use.  Vehicle details have not been discovered for the later stages of the company’s history, except for Bedford pantechnicons remaining a staple of the removals fleet.  In 1951 the company’s vehicle complement consisted of 17 lorries, a pantechnicon, two tractors and a car, in a schedule prepared by Morris and Crocker.  In 1959 the complement had increased to 20 lorries and three other vehicles.

Robins Pantechnicon fleet about 1955



New Bedford tipper, VRV161K, 1971

Robins Depositories Ltd

In 1934 a separate company, Robins Depositories Ltd was established by the four directors of A Robins and Sons Ltd, apparently to remove the furniture business from the restrictions imposed by carrier licensing in the Road and Rail Transport Act of 1934.  Initially each of them (Alfred Rose Robins, Cecil Henry Robins, Albert Edward Robins and Ernest Harry Robins) held a single £1 share in the new company.  It made an agreement with A Robins and Sons Ltd (effectively themselves!) to purchase the goodwill of the storage and warehousing of A Robins and Sons Ltd.  This was paid for by issuing a share certificate for 50 £1 shares in the new company in the name of A Robins and Sons Ltd.  The directors were the same in each company, as was the operating year and the auditor (Howard, Morris and Crocker).  No new capital appears to have been raised, the purchase of goodwill having been financed with paper.  After an initial flurry of directors’ meetings of the new company in its first year of existence, only an AGM was minuted each year and that dealt solely with formalities.  All practical aspects of the depository business were recorded in the minutes of A Robins and Sons Ltd.   On one occasion the chairman did not even bother to sign the minutes of the last AGM.  This new corporate entity generated an additional, but unavoidable, administrative burden.

In 1944 the transactions of Robins Depositories Ltd were embodied in the accounts of A Robins and Sons Ltd, only for the accounts of the two corporate entities to be reported separately the following year.  In that year (1945) a dividend of 200% was declared for each of the 11 years since the incorporation of Robins Depositories Ltd.  Bearing in mind that the share capital was nominally only £54, that only amounted to £108 per year, most of which went back to A Robins and Sons Ltd.  Subsequent dividend rates were often in the range 500% to 5,000% but sometimes no dividend was declared at all.  The deaths of the original directors led to penny numbers of shares in Robins Depositories Ltd being passed to non-directors in the company.  In 1969 A Robins and Sons Ltd moved to acquire the four shares held by outside shareholders in Robins Depositories Ltd, by offering 54 £1 shares in A Robins and Sons Ltd for each share in Robins Depositories Ltd.  All the outside shareholders took up this offer, so that the whole shareholding in Robins Depositories Ltd came into the hands of A Robins and Sons Ltd.  Three years later, the directors of A Robins and Sons Ltd discovered this action was technically in default of the law and one share had to be transferred to Robin Smith as a nominee of the company.

Business Interactions

Throughout its life, A Robins and Sons was a largely self-contained entity but it did have a few interactions with other businesses, outwith the realm of property and land leases.  After his phase as a purveyor of milk, Ernest Harry Robins had been involved with the Victoria Transport company, which was incorporated after he bought a Foden steam lorry in April 1919.  This company was a general haulier and A Robins and Sons regularly put business its way.  However, in May 1921, while Ernest Harry was still involved with Victoria Transport Ltd, that company wrote to A Robins and Sons Ltd suggesting that the two should cooperate in furniture removing.  Robins’ response was frosty.  They asked, rather sniffily, if Victoria Transport redirected furniture enquiries to Robins, implying, probably correctly, that Robins were the experts in that field and that Victoria Transport should stick to their knitting.  There was also a threat.  If the potential rival did enter the furniture business, Robins would cease doing business with them.  Victoria Transport did subsequently offer a furniture removal service, but it may have been long after Ernest Harry Robins had ceased to be involved.

The Road Haulage Association is the major trade body representing the road haulage industry.  It was founded in 1944 and A Robins and Sons Ltd was elected to membership in 1945.  Curiously there is a reference in Robins’ records to consideration of joining the RHA in 1934, a decade before its inception!  The company was still a member of the RHA in 1951 but appeared to have been asking itself if the subscription was worthwhile.  In fact, A Robins and Sons did not leave the RHA until the company was sold at the end of 1995.  During the 1940s A Robins and Sons was also a member of the National Association of Warehousemen and Removers.  This organisation was amalgamated into the British Association of Removers in 1977 and Robins continued in membership until 1995.  A further haulage cooperation was mentioned briefly in 1961, the Thames Valley Tipping Group.  This grouping of hauliers was apparently created to allow individual members to be involved cooperatively in contracts which would have been too large for them to bid for individually.  Robins only contributed one vehicle to this initiative.  In 1978 Robins joined the newly-formed Road Operators’ Associated Delivery Services Ltd (ROADS).  The purpose of this new grouping was to share and collate information and to gain extra business such as return loads.

During WW2, in 1942, the Ministry of War Transport introduced a scheme known as the National Hauliers Traffic Pool, in association with the haulage industry.  The purpose of this initiative was to create a national reserve of 4,000 vehicles for the movement of vital supplies, such as food and fuel.  Shortly after the creation of the NHTP the directors of A Robins and Sons Ltd considered whether the company should associate themselves with the scheme.  Curiously, this led to a major disagreement in the directorate, with Cecil Harry opposing membership.  This led, after about six months of argument, to Albert Ernest and Edward Harry tendering their resignations from the board and led to the calling of an EGM to consider the future of the company.  The dispute was finally resolved and Robins did join the NHTP.  This Government-inspired body was organised regionally and in the Farnham area it led to a proposal to create a new company, Transfact Ltd, to regulate the cooperation.  Initially there were to be four members but when the company was incorporated, there were only two, A Robins and Sons Ltd and F Gathergood of Farnborough.  Albert Edward and Ernest Harry became nominee directors of the new entity, with the former holding one share (probably of £5) and the other share in the company being held by Augustus Gathergood.  Transfact Ltd bought a coal business at Ash and the two owners of Transfact then injected another £100 into the business by way of new share capital.  Nothing is known directly of the success, or otherwise, of Transfact Ltd but in 1948 Robins injected a further £100 of share capital, suggesting that it was enjoying some success.  However, Robins was offered another 20 shares in Transfact in 1951 but declined the offer.  The fate of Transfact Ltd is not known.  

In 1948, during a time of tension in the directorate, Ernest Harry had proposed selling A Robins and Sons Ltd as a going concern but proved to be a lone voice.  The concept of A Robins and Sons as an entity owned by and for the Robins family was deeply ingrained.  Some outside approaches to buy all or part of the company are known to have been made.  In 1968, chartered accountant Mr Bradley made an approach to Robins on behalf of an unnamed client for the possible purchase or amalgamation of the removal and storage business.  The directors decided not to proceed while they did not know with whom they would be negotiating.  Early in 1972 an approach was made to Robins to buy the Tongham store but this offer appeared to have been declined, when the scale of disruption to the company’s business was assessed.  The minutes of the board meeting of December 1972 mention that two further tentative approaches to buy or merge the companies had been made.  One appeared to involve Mr Chadwick who ran a local coal business.  He was said to have capital available but the offer was declined “for the present”.  In the 1980s there was some practical cooperation with two other local companies to pool resources for vehicle maintenance.  This was a sensible move at a time when the Robins vehicle fleet had declined substantially in size.  The remaining rump of the company, the furniture removals and storage business was sold in 1996 to Overs of Camberley, another local family-run removal business.

The Company and World War 1

World War 1 (1914 – 1918) and World War 2 (1939 – 1945) both had profound effects on A Robins and Sons Ltd, partly due to national issues and partly due to the proximity of the company to Aldershot, the home of the British Army. Only one of Alfred Robins senior’s sons, Hubert Rose Robins, is known to have served in an active capacity in WW1, being slightly injured in the leg by a German bullet.  In 1914 Ernest Harry Robins was running a dairy in Chatham when that town was the subject of Zepplin air raids, which had a powerful effect on him and his family.  The raids, “prostrated my wife and made me fearful as to what was going to happen to my kiddies at home.  Anyone who lived at Chatham in first year of war will tell you of the daily dread, the anxious nights, and everlasting strain which upset everyone.”  Both Albert Edward Robins and Cecil Harry Robins, directors of A Robins and Sons, considered joining up and the company put in place a mechanism to supplement their military pay, should they have done so.  Cecil Harry did not enlist and though Albert Edward was absent from board meetings between April 1916 and April 1919 it is not known if the reason for this absence was military service.

WW1 resulted in mass casualties and local arrangements were made all over the country to receive the injured.  Waverley Abbey House, near Farnham, was accepted as an annexe to the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot in 1914.  A Robins and Sons Ltd converted the ground floor of the house in the summer and on 24 September seventeen wounded officers were moved into what was then called the Waverley Abbey Hospital.  The company also made contributions to the Red Cross in 1918 and to the Peace Celebration Fund in 1919.

Economic conditions were greatly impacted by the War.  Between 1914 and 1918 there was an 18% decline in consumer consumption due partly to a lack of consumer confidence and partly to substantial inflation.  Agricultural wage rates were imposed by the Surrey War Agricultural Committee and the price of animal feedstuffs rocketed.  In 1918 the company minuted that it had paid £250 (equivalent to about £16,000) in a two-week period for oats and that “this could not continue”.    Also, there was a substantial redirection of resources to the war effort and this impacted the company directly when employees started to be drafted.  Paine, the furniture storeman and the driver of the Foster steam engine were called for service in 1914.  Later in the War the company was involved in appeals to the Farnham Tribunal for the deferral of call up of several employees.  So many men were enlisted for military service that it was difficult to replace those drafted with men of adequate ability.  In 1918 the Surrey War Agricultural Committee offered a Danish blacksmith to Robins.  It had a pressing need for such a tradesman, but he was rejected because “Danes do not work well” and a British worker was requested instead!  Irrational prejudice against “foreigners” is clearly not a recent phenomenon.  Requisition of machines, horses and land by the military authorities also occurred frequently, especially given Farnham’s proximity to Aldershot. In 1914 the company wrote to clients warning them that they could not guarantee to carry out work, as the Military Authorities had warned that they “may require both engine (presumably the Foster) and horses”.

In 1915 the help of the company was sought by Farnham Urban District Council to join the local committee of Lord Derby’s Recruiting Scheme.  Lord Derby was Director General of Recruiting.  He introduced the scheme that bore his name which, in November and December 1915, encouraged men to attest publicly that they were prepared to serve in the armed forces.  Over 300,000 did but 38% of single men and 54% of married men refused, the result being that conscription was introduced.  The company agreed to the FUDC request and Cecil Harry was delegated to serve.

During both World Wars, there was great emphasis on securing the national food supply, especially by encouraging production and ensuring fair distribution.  Formal rationing was almost avoided during WW1, Ration cards not being introduced until July 1918 and applying only to butter, margarine, lard meat and sugar.  Alfred Rose Robins was recruited early in WW1 to serve on the Food Control Committee of Farnham Urban District Council but later, in 1917, he resigned because he felt a conflict of interest as a farmer and food producer.  The Surrey War Agricultural Committee was concerned with encouraging local food production by requiring farmers to plough up pasture land to plant with crops.  A Robins and Sons Ltd was anxious to avoid any such imposition, because of their need for pasturage for their horses.  In early 1918 the company was successful in delaying for three months the implementation of an order to plough up 14 acres of pasture at Weybourne Meadows.  A month later the area was reduced to seven acres and the company managed to delay that order to beyond the end of the War.  

The impacts of WW1 were not all negative.  New contracts were obtained for carting coal and for looking after Army horses.  At the end of the War the Army had a big surplus of horses, some of which were boarded out with Robins.  In 1922 the company recorded buying such animals, “We have purchased Brewer’s horse Dick 20062, Westbrooks 20064, and Ruffles 20066.  Those remaining are Grey 19837, Toby 20063 and Pedler 20065.”  Cecil Harry was tasked with buying the remainder at a good price.

The Company and World War 2

In 1939 Britain imported 70% of its cheese and sugar nearly 80% of its fruit, 70% of cereals and fats and over 50% of its meat.  During January of that year HM Office of Works agreed to rent No 2 room at the Tongham Store for a period of six months, starting at the beginning of February and then monthly, for the storage of ration cards.  Clearly with war anticipated as a real possibility, the Government was being active in preparing for any blockade of Britain’s food supply.  Robins would be involved in more than the storage of ration cards.  “Should occasion arise the Company had agreed to undertake the delivery of the Ration Cards to various towns in Surrey at a charge to be agree, if and when necessary”. Robins did their bit to support the “Dig for Victory” campaign by making land available to employees at Bridgefield for the cultivation of vegetables. Interestingly, experiments were conducted during WW2 to discover if Britons could survive on wholly home-produced food and still conduct vigorous physical exercise.  The diet involved limited meat and fats but unlimited fruit and vegetables and the outcome of the tests was positive, but with some downsides.  There was a significant increase in the time taken to eat food, increased flatulence and increased faecal volume!  Today, it would be called a healthy diet.  During WW2, food rationing was introduced on 8 Jan 1940, when bacon, butter and sugar were limited.  Almost all foods, apart from vegetables and bread, were rationed by August 1942. The first packages of ration books arrived at the Tongham store in early February, 1939 and then at intervals up to June of that year.  They must have been distributed soon afterwards and, though the Robins minutes do not record the timing or extent of company involvement, it is known that Robins carried out ration book distribution in West Surrey.  Subsequently, the Ministry of Food proposed to use the space which had been allocated for the storage of ration cards for the storage of food, to which the company objected strongly.  They were probably worried about the consequences for stored furniture, if a rat or mouse infestation should develop.  The Ministry then vacated the store but failed to pay its share of the bill for employing fire-watchers (see below).

Running a haulage fleet was fraught with problems in time of war.  The company’s Garner 6AX lorry, BPF342, which had been bought in 1934, was out on contract to the Army during the first year of WW2 but was returned because it was incapable of fulfilling the Army’s requirements.  The company proposed to overcome this difficulty by hiring a replacement.  Robins had other lorries on contract to the Army but they were then undercut by another local haulier, Messrs Wort and Way, at a price that Robins considered to be uneconomic.  Maintenance was particularly difficult.  Not only was it problematic to buy new vehicles but it was also hard to obtain spares to repair old ones.  In 1940 the company had a Dennis lorry and the Garner off the road because spares were unobtainable.  By 1943 another Dennis lorry was immobilised with a damaged differential, which could not be replaced because of unavailability of the necessary part.  The following year the company wanted to scrap two Fordson tractors (DCG164 and DCG165) which had been bought in the early 1930s for the Farnham Electricity and Gas Company coal haulage contract.  They applied for permits to replace the Fordsons but this was refused because the vehicles were repairable.  Added to these problems were the hazards of armed conflict.  Flying bombs started falling on London and the Home Counties in June 1944 and that summer Robins took the decision to scatter their lorries, when parked up, to guard against serious loss, though the risk to West Surrey was minimal.  A greater risk was incurred by the continuation of the Robins furniture removal operation throughout the War and saw vehicles negotiating the streets of Coventry and London during air raids.

With the call-up of staff, Robins found it difficult to recruit replacements.  Some staff, such as office clerks were asking for too much money and others were of limited usefulness, due to age or infirmity.  Robins tried to use its availability of staff housing at Fairfield, Castle View and Snailslynch to attract able staff.  In 1940 the company was requested to obliterate “Farnham” from all its hoardings, buildings and vehicles, presumably to make life difficult for the enemy, in the event of an invasion.  The company was also pressured to recruit its staff, especially drivers, as ARP (Air Raid Precautions) personnel but the company was cautious about allowing its staff to use company vehicles and it was left to staff to offer their services voluntarily.  One of the roles of ARP staff was to monitor compliance with the blackout.  In 1940 it was decided that Robins employees should start work at 7.30am to optimise the use of daylight hours.  The company was also obliged to appoint fire watchers in case of air raids starting conflagrations.  They did this in conjunction with Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Ltd, using the gravel company’s Fairfield office as a base, which was provided with beds, heating, messing facilities and six steel helmets!  Rents charged to tenants had to be increased significantly to pay for this additional overhead.  Sidney Robins was the only director of the company to see any kind of military service in WW2.  He served in the local Home Guard, with the rank of sergeant.

Accidents and Incidents

Accidents to and incidents involving Robins vehicles and staff occurred frequently.  As the use of transport, horse and mechanical, increased it became a more prominent subject of Government legislation.  In 1911 Robins had a visit from an inspector concerning the number of Hackney Carriage licences that they held.  The company claimed that they had been informed at the Post Office that they only needed licences for such carriages when on the road, not the total number of carriages owned, which was not the case.  A fine was proposed for this transgression to which Robins responded that they had acted in good faith and sent a cheque for an additional licence but suggested that the fine should be waived.  It is not clear if they succeeded with this ruse.  However, five years later, Surrey County Council imposed a fine of £3 with 21/- costs on the company for failing to display the correct weight on their pantechnicon.  Vehicle accidents were also a frequent occurrence, even in the days of the Foster traction engine, when speeds were slow and traffic densities low, though the consequences were generally less severe, such as damage to the truck of the traction engine at Haslemere in 1907 caused, it was claimed, by the defective filling of a trench by the Haslemere Water Company. A single horse carriage belonging to A Robins and Sons was involved in an accident with a motor omnibus of the Aldershot and District Traction Company near Farnham Station in 1915.   As the carriage was being driven back to the company’s base at Fairfield it was struck by the ‘bus and knocked down a bank.  Fortunately, both horse and carriage driver escaped serious injury.  In 1964, tipper LRV660 (make not recorded) collided with another vehicle on the Hogsback road between Farnham and Guildford and was a complete write-off.  The same year another Robins lorry, driven by GA Spice was involved in a fatal accident on the Burpham to Guildford road.  A Wolseley car driven by a Mr Buchan skidded into the path of the lorry and was T-boned, killing the driver.

One of the most remarkable incidents involving a Robins lorry also occurred in 1964, an incident-packed year.  Vehicle 366CCG was working on contract to Surrey County Council on a road improvement scheme at Brook.  Lorries were being filled with spoil by a Case hydraulic shovel.  It appears that this machine had a fault in a hydraulic line which caused the bucket to sink slowly after it was raised during loading.  It was operated by a young Irishman, Noel McElroy, who adopted the, to him, sensible strategy of dropping his load into the lorries from a good height, so that the shovel arm, slowly sinking, did not contact the lorry.  However, this tactic annoyed the lorry drivers who repeatedly complained to McElroy.  This constant nagging led McElroy to see a red mist and, in a rage, he drove his shovel at the Robins lorry, turning it over and causing £800 worth of damage.  McElroy was convicted of causing malicious damage and assaulting the lorry driver.  The lorry was written off.

Probably the worst tragedy to affect A Robins and Sons Ltd did not involve a motor vehicle.  In 1928 employee Leonard Lampard was killed while engaged in construction works at the East Street store.  Fortunately, the company carried insurance against accidents to its employees and a pay-out was made to Mrs Lamport.

Criminal behaviour only occasionally raised its head.  In 1929, a company employee, Mr TK Ambrose confessed that he had been defrauding the company by not stamping the men’s insurance cards and appropriating cash to the extent of £125 (equivalent to about £7,225 in 2017 money).  Perhaps motivated by Ambrose’s confession, the company decided not to dismiss him but to take 10/- per week from his wages, which would have taken five years to repay the misappropriated sum.  It is not known if the company made a full recovery of the stolen money.  Occasionally theft of items occurred from the company’s stores, one such event being a theft of furniture and china from Tongham in 1966.  It is not known if the thief was apprehended but in 1972 a man was convicted of receiving stolen goods from the Tongham store.  He was fined £100 with £50 costs and received a suspended sentence of 18 months.

The Tongham store was seriously damaged by fire in 1972 (see above), a very disruptive incident for the company.  But it had its lighter side.  Charlie Charlton, a long-time Robins employee, was the chief storeman at Tongham.  When two Farnham lady residents heard about the fire, they dashed out to Tongham by taxi – not to check on their furniture but to see if Charlie was alright!  Fairfield store No 1 also suffered a fire in 1976 when a passenger on a passing train threw a lighted cigarette out of the window.

Fire at Fairfield Furniture Store, 1976 

Letters of Appreciation

A Robins and Sons Ltd kept two albums, containing letters of appreciation, in the company office at Fairfield. It appears that these compendia were for visitors, thinking of using Robins’ services, to browse.  The volumes have survived and contain 248 letters dated from 1923 to 1957. The overwhelming majority relate to the removals service (245) with just three relating to the riding school and none to haulage.  Members of the military were responsible for at least 22 letters.  Such people were identified from their use of rank or a military address.  Eight were sent from overseas destinations.  The same number was written in the 3^rd person and unsigned, using a style which was then appropriate for the upper classes to use when addressing tradesmen, but is defunct today.  Quite a few letters had the address applied to blank note paper using an embossing stamp.  This appears to have been the fashion for the middle classes in the 1930s but also is now nearly extinct, as, indeed, is letter-writing.  Some of the letters were from well-known people and others made comments which were significant in relation to the times, or in relation to the furniture and removals business.

One of the “horse” letters was from Olave Baden-Powell, wife of Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts.  It was addressed to “Mr Robins” and dated 16^th December 1932.  Since it was concerned with horse matters, “Mr Robins” was almost certainly Cecil Harry.  Robert Baden-Powell remained single until late in life.  In 1912, at the age of 55 he met and married Olave St Clair Soames, who was his junior by some 32 years.  They had three children Arthur Robert Peter (1913), Heather Grace (1915) and Betty St Clair (1917).  At the time that the letter was written, the children were 19, 17 and 15 respectively. Between 1919 and 1939 the Baden-Powells lived at Pax Hill, Bentley, near Farnham.  The letter concerned three horses which had been the mounts of the Baden-Powell children. “Gypsy Moth” appeared to have been owned by the Baden-Powells but had been looked after by Cecil Robins and Mrs Baden-Powell complimented him on her appearance.  The other two horses, “Bovril” and “June”, appeared to be Robins horses provided to the Baden-Powells on an extended basis, but with all three horses being looked after by Robins when the Baden-Powells were absent, which appeared to have been quite often.  In 1939 the Baden -Powells moved to Kenya, where Sir Robert died two years later.  Another letter, dated 13^th January 1939 and bearing the address “The Den”, Pax Hill, Bentley is in the Robins collection.  It was written by HJ Court, who had moved from “The Spotted Cow”, location unknown.  The identity of “The Den” is unclear.

A further notable correspondent was Edward Talbot, Bishop of Winchester, who retired in 1923.  In early 1924 Robins moved Bishop Talbot from Farnham Castle, seat of the Bishops of Winchester, to London, presumably to his retirement home.  Interestingly, both Bishop Talbot and his secretary separately wrote letters of appreciation.

William Herbert Allen (known as “WH”) was a well-known English landscape painter, who particularly portrayed rural scenes in the Farnham area.  He was appointed Master of Farnham Art School in 1889 and held the post until the end of 1927.  In 1903 WH Allen had a new house (“Strangers Corner”) built on the Great Austins estate, south of Farnham, possibly the first house constructed on this new up-market estate.  The house was designed by Harold Falkner, a leading Farnham architect of his generation.  After his retirement, WH Allen stayed on at Strangers Corner until 1933 when he moved to Westcombe, Wylye, Wiltshire.  Robins were responsible for moving Allen’s effects, which they clearly did successfully as Allen’s letter of appreciation was fulsome, “Herewith I am sending you a cheque for forty pounds £40 in settlement of your account for moving us a month since.  Unfortunately, I cannot put my hand upon your account, which I have put in some safe place, but I have your original estimate.  I am exceedingly obliged to you and your men for the way in which they, and you, carried out the work and that, successfully, at a far from propitious time of the year.  With Compliments.  Yours very truly, W Herbert Allen”.

A further selection of appreciative letters shows clearly that A Robins and Sons Ltd ran a highly efficient removals service, with dedicated staff prepared to go the extra mile.  “It says much that after such a long day, complicated by snow and slippery Roads, Your Mr Hayes still had the kindness (and the strength) to offer his help in straightening the place up: and this at 7pm.”  “Your men were most efficient, what an excellent foreman.  It is a pleasure to do business with a firm like yours.”  “I would like to take this opportunity of thanking you and your staff for the very great help you have extended to my sister and I over the past few years.  It makes such a great deal of difference especially when you have to work on your own as I do.”

It is also known, partly from letters of appreciation and partly from staff reminiscences, that Robins Removals carried some unusual cargos.  Whalers were moved for Farnham Sea Cadets, “Miss Cooper’s geological collection” was delivered to Stowe School, the transfer of a poultry farm, including 700 chickens, from Kingsley to Wallington, the transport of scrapbooks from David Lloyd George’s Churt house to a large underground shelter in the grounds and, later, carriage of his effects from Churt to Wales, a transfer of books from the House of Commons to a book company in West Street, carting of furniture for Viscount General Montgomery and removal of the figurehead of the famous tea clipper, Cutty Sark, from Farnham to Woolwich.  One of the most amazing feats of removal was the transport of an entire farm from Tisbury to West End Farm, Frensham in one day.  Southern Railways put on a special train and 60 head of cattle, farm implements and a considerable quantity of furniture were moved.

Some comments reflected the mood of the times, such as, in 1931, “….your staff both at Farnham and here worked like true Britons.”  On other occasions the customer showed his or her appreciation by adding a tip to the bill.  In 1933 Mr Apthorpe of Wrecclesham gave £5, which was a substantial sum, equivalent to about £320 in 2017 money.  There were also repeated comments about both the quality of the service and the reasonable prices charged.  The removals service was the jewel in the company’s commercial crown.

Attitude of the Directors to the Employees

Reading the comments on staff interactions in the company’s minute books, the behaviour of the directors can often seem to have been arbitrary and uncaring, especially in the early life of the company.  But the directors should be cut a bit of slack as they were, in the years following incorporation in 1907, learning on the job.  It should also be born in mind that the company went through several financial crises, for example in the aftermath of WW1 and in the 1930s depression, when reducing staff numbers was critical to company survival and the maintenance of the jobs of the remaining employees.  Also, the view looking back in time is inevitably coloured by our knowledge of modern employment practice, hedged around as it is by a volume of legislation delineating the rights of employees and restraining the actions of employers.

In 1908 the directors were unhappy with “one of their engine drivers” who had caused some unspecified damage.  They expected him to pay half the cost incurred.  The company also resolved to dismiss three men from the blacksmith business that they had just acquired, although only two were finally removed.  In 1922 the directors reviewed staff wages and decided to reduce carters’ wages by 2/6 per week.  In the same year, “It was agreed to discharge the following men, one clerk, Cossar Cab, Penfold Farm, Vass Painter”.  At least the directors shared the pain, taking a cut in their fees from £5 to £3 10/-.  This period was characterised by high levels of unemployment and the staff affected by wage cuts had little choice but to grin and bear it.  At the time trades union membership was rising rapidly and in 1926 there was a general strike. On appointing A. Allen to the job of mechanic in 1928 the directors decided to find out if he was a member of a trades union.  They may have been anxious about Allen’s crucial role and the potential for the company to be held to ransom, if Allen were to be pulled out on strike.  The directors made a particularly authoritarian proposal in 1929 when they determined to fine employees 2/6 for failing to switch off the lights.

But there is no doubt that this hard stance towards employees was progressively softened and replaced by a desire to foster good staff attitudes, by the directorate acting with consideration towards those beneath them.  In 1909 a clerk, Mr Smith told the company that he was getting married and the company responded with generosity, giving him a present of 2gns and increasing his salary by 2/6 per week.  From as early as 1913 the company had a policy of letting company-owned houses to staff at a discount from the market rate, to encourage recruitment and retention.  The declining use of horses in the 1930s led to some staff being dismissed but others being retrained for different roles.  For example, in 1935 redundant groom, Gardiner was redeployed to haulage.

Wages, except much later when determined by legislation, were imposed by the directors and not negotiated. There seems regularly to have been an arbitrary element to this action by the directors, with individual employees being favoured, often repeatedly.  Presumably, these were employees that the company perceived to be doing a good job.  This practice was also used later when staff bonuses became a regular feature

When Leonard Lamport died while working on the company’s East Street premises in 1929, the directors wrote a letter of condolence to his widow but the following year they took the difficult decision to give this lady notice to quit the company-owned house she was occupying, because it was needed for another employee.  The fraud perpetrated upon the company by Mr Ambrose (see above) did not lead to his instant dismissal, as might have been expected.  Allen the mechanic was detected selling oil which belonged to the company in 1935 and the decision was taken to dismiss him.  However, bearing in mind the role he played in maintaining the company’s mechanical fleet, pragmatism intervened and the decision was rescinded.  In retrospect, many decisions can be portrayed as too hard or too soft, but that is a hazard that those in charge must assume.

Staff conditions of employment gradually improved, both in the arbitrary element favoured by the directors and through the introduction of standard practices across the whole workforce.  In 1936 all staff were given one week’s holiday with pay “since other companies were doing so”.  The directors also received a request from Mrs Smith to be allowed to take a two-week holiday that year.  This request was granted with pay.  In 1947 staff holiday entitlement was increased to nine days with pay each year.  But the 1930s were largely afflicted by depression and other economy measures were introduced concomitantly.  It was decided that if staff worked less than 48 hours they were to be put off in slack times and this time counted against any overtime due.  

Just before WW2, A Robins and Sons started to wrestle with the thorny issue of the treatment of employees suffering ill health.  In 1937 the company dismissed employee Blunden, who worked on the railway parcel service, due to an absence of three months caused by a medical condition.  Legislation led to a requirement that employees must continue to be paid during periods of illness, no matter how long, unless given a week’s notice of termination.  This forced the company’s hand and they required all employees to sign a form in the following terms “I understand that one of the conditions of my employment is that on my being absent from work through illness I automatically receive a weeks’ notice and that on my regaining my normal state of health my position will remain open for my acceptance.”

Christmas boxes for the staff were donated from as early as 1907, when staff received a ticket which could be exchanged for meat.  This practice was continued at least to 1912 but the next mention of a Christmas gift was in 1917, when each employee received 5/- (equivalent to £20 in 2017 money).  There is then no mention of a Christmas gift, box or bonus until 1944, when each member of staff received 10/-, except Miss Mills (£1) and Mr Smith (£3).  The following year the bonus took a similar format with there being a basic level that all staff received (10/- again), except the usual list of high performers, including Miss Mills, Mr Smith, Arthur and Billy Hayes, who received more.   A further gesture of generosity was made by the directors in 1951when they gave every member of staff 10/- for them to have lunch, which they could arrange themselves. In 1971 a formal staff bonus scheme was introduced, whereby 10% of net profit would be allocated to staff bonuses.  Of this proportion, not more than 2% would be allocated to office staff, who were in the employment of company on the date the accounts were finalised and had been in company’s employment for at least six months, or at the directors’ discretion.       

In 1952 the company gave some consideration to a scheme of pension and life insurance for the staff, but then elected not to take it up, preferring instead their time-honoured system of directors’ discretion for rewarding old and loyal employees.  They decided that they would consider paying an allowance to an employee when unfit for work in respect of past service and having regard to the financial position of the company.  However, a formal staff pension scheme was introduced in 1965 by Robin Smith.  

The paternalistic approach, which had been favoured by the older directors, could generate great loyalty, for example, Charlie Charlton, manager of the furniture stores, served for 46 years.  Some Farnham families had several members working for Robins and often for several decades, such as the Frys, Kinges and Hayeses, all having had three members serving concurrently. However, long service, while generally of great value to the company, could also bring its own problems.  Billy Hayes joined the company in 1929.  He had previously worked for the Victoria Transport Company, driving a Sentinel steam lorry.  Famously, in 1922, he was caught in a police speed trap while travelling through Chandlers Ford.  His speed was 7mph, 2mph above the speed limit!  Hayes was fined £5.

At A Robins and Sons Ltd he worked on furniture deliveries and regularly received substantial bonuses.  He was a very valuable employee and in 1948 was appointed as transport manager. In 1955 he earned a bonus of 2 ½% of net profit.  Billy was the right-hand man to Sidney Robins, when he was the only Robins family member serving as a director and this was the situation when Robin Smith joined the company in 1962.  David Slape joined Robin Smith on the directorate in 1968 and it appears that the two younger men, with their desire to reform the company and change its ways, were not wholly welcomed by Billy Hayes. 

It was minuted in 1969 that, “Lately there has been a feeling of non-cooperation between him (Billy Hayes) and Robin Smith.”  The ageing Sidney Robins was recruited to help broach the question of retirement with Billy.  He was made a generous offer.  He would get a pension of £5 per week, he could continue to occupy his company house on The Fairfield, rent-free and he would be engaged as a “watchman”.  Finally, he would be able to choose his own time of retirement.  Billy left at the end of 1969, still a valued company servant, but he had been a significant blockage to a necessary reform process.  Towards the end of 1969 it was minuted that “A profound discussion took place on methods to be adopted regarding office working.”

A Robins and Sons Ltd Financial Performance

Comment on the financial performance of A Robins and Sons Ltd is constrained by a patchy availability of financial information and, post-1974, its almost complete absence.  Even so, it is possible to evaluate the company’s success, or otherwise, using the quantitative data that are available and qualitative data, in the form of statements taken from the minutes of the board meetings.  In some periods (1915 – 1920, 1940 – 1942, 1947 – 1952, 1969 – 1973) inflation was running at a significant rate.  So, in making a comparison between years, financial data transformed to 2017 money values have been used.  The quantitative metrics employed in this analysis were net profit, dividend/share, average bank balance (credit/debit) and capital distribution/share.  The qualitative metrics employed, by their nature, occurred sporadically.  Typical examples were staff disposal, wage reduction, disposal of assets, increase in prices, statements of business sentiment, attempts to increase efficiency and statements on bad debts.

A Robins and Sons Ltd was incorporated in the middle of the Edwardian era, a time of peace and plenty.  Britain was starting to lag Germany and the USA in productivity but it was still the leading export nation in the world.  The company had a sound basis continuing from the business activities of Alfred Robins senior.  The big shareholders in the company, Alfred Rose Robins, Cecil Harry Robins, Albert Edward Robins and Fanny Clist (500 shares each) had a dividend income in 1910 equivalent to £13,625 and the executives in the company also received a salary.  In comparison, the driver of the Fowler traction engine received an annual income equivalent to £9,000 from his employment in 1910.  This early period in the company’s life saw the dividend per share at its highest level (£27.50 in 1909).  In comparison, by 1974, the last year for which data are available, dividend income had dropped to £1.49/share.  The company was profitable in most years of its life and was continuously so between incorporation and 1920, though there had been some minor crises along the way.  In 1908 the blacksmith business that the company had bought had to trimmed, with several dismissals and an imposed wage reduction and in 1913 a significant loss was incurred on haulage, blacksmithing and on the Tilford farm.

WW1 brought major changes in the economy, with the reallocation of resources to the production of munitions, a fall-off in consumer spending and a major bout of inflation.  Several of the company’s employees were called up and it proved difficult to replace them.  Charges had to be raised at a time when the customer’s ability to pay more was constrained.  Efforts were made to recover long-standing debts and to reduce the head-count, with some success.

Although the company had come through WW1 in reasonable shape, the post-war economy was in crisis.  The returning men found it difficult to secure employment and, by 1921, three million workers were unemployed, though it was the heavy industrial areas of the country which fared worst.  In such circumstances growth in membership of the trades unions boomed and industrial agitation grew, culminating in the General Strike in 1926.  Economic stagnation led to a period of serious deflation between 1921 and 1923.  In 1921 the company made a heavy loss and the directors contemplated the serious actions it would need to take to turn the financial situation around.  Park Farm at Badshot Lea was a cause for concern and staff dismissals and imposed wage reductions followed.  The directors also agreed to cut their own fees.  Also, payment of dividends on the ordinary shares was suspended.  Matters were made worse by an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease and by the onset of Harry Clist’s mental illness.  The situation in 1922 was summarised in a letter written by the company.  “The past year, especially as regards farming, has been for us as for others a very disastrous one.” 

The directors turned to the auditors, Howard, Morris and Crocker, for advice, which came in the form of a letter.  “We have very carefully considered the position of your company as shown by the balance sheet dated September 30^th 1922 and we do not think there is any cause for alarm if the Directors give the matter their close attention with a view to pulling the business round (author’s emphasis).  Besides dealing promptly with the farm the Directors should very carefully examine the book debts and make a real effort to collect them, especially those which have been so long outstanding.”  This looks like a mild rebuke for the directors.  The farm problem was resolved by Alfred Rose Robins offering to buy the company’s lease, at valuation plus a premium of £100 and run it himself.  It is interesting that the company was in the midst of a financial crisis, but Alfred junior had accumulated sufficient resources to be able to take this action, the premium perhaps indicating that he was anxious to get his hands on this asset, confident that he could run the farm profitably.  The farm lease was assigned to Alfred junior and the company’s losses reduced, then eliminated.  By 1924 the company was back in profit.

However, the whole decade of the 1920s was characterised by economic stagnation, accompanied by industrial unrest and, in 1929, the Wall Street Crash precipitated a world-wide depression, with a concomitant rise in unemployment.  The situation of A Robins and Sons Ltd was undoubtedly helped by its location in West Surrey, far away from the heavy industrial areas of the North of England, the West of Scotland and South Wales but it was not entirely insulated from the general down-turn in business.  During this period, profits at A Robins and Sons Ltd were lower than they had been prior to WW1 and while dividends were reintroduced in 1927, they too were generally at a reduced rate.  In 1932 the company minuted that, “Business had recently been very bad due to universal depression.”  Directors’ fees were once more reduced.  The following year the company again made a loss. Unemployment peaked at three million (20% of the workforce) in the same year.  Though the company made a loss of £48,000 (2017 value) in 1932, it still felt it had to pay a dividend, amounting to the equivalent of £6 per share. The family shareholders had come to expect it.

At the end of 1932 there were signs of an improvement in the economic climate, as far as the company was concerned.  It was noted, “Considerable increase in work in December but still of the utmost importance to reduce the bank overdraft.” and “Due to pressure of work directors declined to reduce staff at present.”  The reduction in Directors’ fees was quickly rescinded!  The remainder of the 1930s, to the outbreak of WW2 saw inflation generally kept under control.  Company profitability and the dividend were maintained.

During WW2, industrial production was again ruthlessly re-orientated towards munitions.  Conscription was introduced in 1941 and women were recruited to fill roles normally thought of as a male preserve.  Though Robins employed some women in the office, they do not seem to have considered women for heavy jobs.  In general, WW2 was a good period for the company’s profitability.  Although 1940 to 1942 experienced high inflation, from that year onwards A Robins and Sons Ltd entered a period of sustained economic well-being.  Profits soared and the dividend was maintained.  For this period in the company’s history data are regularly available on the monthly status of the current account and for most of the War the company ran a substantial overdraft.  The years 1943 and 1944 saw very high profits declared, equivalent to £170,000 and £151,000 respectively, despite the interest costs associated with the overdraft.

At the General Election of 1945, the Labour Party swept to power with an absolute majority and introduced a programme of increased taxation to pay for Government spending on the creation of the Welfare State.  A programme of nationalisation was also introduced, including the gas, coal, railways and transport industries.  The company’s current account moved into credit and, except for 1950, remained so until 1963.  In 1948 a program of returning capital to shareholders from the property reserve was introduced, which remained affordable until 1957.  The value of this distribution was much smaller than the income from dividends but still significant.

The late 1940s saw a major turn-over of board members.  Alfred Robins junior had retired in 1943 at the age of 79.  He was followed by Cecil Harry and Albert Edward in 1948, both of whom died in office at the ages of 69 and 66 respectively.  Sidney Robins and Ernest Harry Robins, who were 47 and 65 respectively in 1948, continued to run the company, still grounded in the philosophy of A Robins and Sons Ltd as an entity owned and managed by and for the Robins family.  

Labour Government spending led to a period of high inflation between 1947 and 1952 but, unlike other periods of high inflation in the past, A Robins and Sons Ltd continued to thrive.  In 1949, 1950, 1952 and again in 1953 major price hikes were necessary but were carried into effect without much resistance.  At the 1951 General Election, the Conservative Party was returned to power and inflation pressures eventually abated.

Although the company was too small to be included in the nationalisation programme for the road transport industry, it was affected by the nationalisation of the gas industry.  In 1953 the nationalised Farnham gas works was closed and Robins lost a major, long-standing contract for the haulage of coal from Farnham railway station to the gas works in East Street.  However, contracts were obtained for the carriage of coal and coke to other destinations.  Labour Government policy had restricted general haulage, conducted by Robins, to within a radius of 30 miles of Farnham, but that restriction was withdrawn in 1954.

The period from 1955 to 1968 was one of variable but moderate inflation, helped largely by Conservative Party victories at the 1955 and 1959 General Elections.  This was a golden era for Robins.  The company maintained good profitability and its current account remained in credit, but a change in its fortunes coincided almost exactly with the return of a Labour Government in 1964.  Increasingly, the company found itself having to run to stand still.  The current account ran a persistent and increasing deficit which averaged almost £200,000 (2017 money) by 1969.  Profits declined and in 1967 the company returned a loss.  Robins’ performance in the haulage sector was the main cause of this decline.  Robin Smith, who had joined the board in 1962 at the age of 25 wrote in 1969 that “Haulage definitely needed thinning out”.

Despite a Conservative Government being in power between 1970 and 1974, the decade of the 70s was characterised by high inflation, high unemployment and labour strikes, culminating in the so-called “winter of discontent” in 1978 – 1979.  There were major strikes by coal miners in 1972 and 1974 and then the final miners’ strike in 1984, which preceded the collapse of trades union power in the mines.  In 1971, Robin Smith again commented on the state of the haulage industry.  “The demand for coal haulage and other contracts had dwindled and it was becoming apparent that short haulage in which A Robins and Sons engaged was no longer such a profitable enterprise.”  This was the end of the period of rule by the Robins “old guard” as Sidney Robins retired in that year and left the company in the hands of the “young bloods”, Robin Smith and David Slape. Tellingly, in 1995, Robin Smith wrote, “It can be very frustrating to see with more modern eyes what needs to be done, in order to regenerate a company”.

But the golden era of easy finance and abundant, profitable, general haulage contracts had passed never to return and Smith and Slape were left to manage the decline of haulage and the search for a new focus for the company.  The Tongham store fire in 1972 was costly for the company, since the store was insured for £40,000 when it should have been insured for £90,000.  Added to that one-off incident, short haulage contracts were still to be had but were less profitable.  The Road Haulage Association recommended increasing rates by 10% but the market would not bear that level of rise.  The following year, 1973, the board minuted, “Will allow haulage to run for another three months and then decide what to do but it is likely that this side of the business will have to be scrapped.”    

Although financial statistics post 1974 are sparse, the regeneration of A Robins and Sons had some success.  Profits (2017 money) of £53,000 in 1973, £91,000 in 1974 and £149,000 in 1975 followed.  Haulage was run down to a rump and new business services introduced in furniture repair and carpet fitting.  Furniture removals and storage continued to return good profits.  In 1986 and 1987 profits were at a more modest level of £50,000 in each year.  The sale of the remaining business became inevitable when no Robins scion came forward to carry on the work of managing the family company and it was sold, thus ending Robins family control of a business entity which had its origins, not in 1907 with incorporation, but in the aftermath of the 1880 move of Alfred Robins senior from rural Dorset to Farnham.

Concluding Remarks

A Robins and Sons Company Limited traded, often successfully, for a period of 88½ years, until the surviving rump was sold to a competitor.  It might be concluded that that is the natural life cycle of companies in a market economy.  Companies are born, companies grow, companies die or are taken over, not on a fixed timescale but when they are unable to adapt to changing circumstances or where the interests of the shareholders dictate that liquidation or disposal is the most appropriate action.

But this company was a family-owned and family-managed company of a particularly narrowly-conceived type.  Both the shareholders and the managers, with minor exceptions, were the descendants of one man, Alfred Robins senior, throughout the life of the company.  As has been seen above, this had certain consequences.  Since managers were sought who had this qualification by descent, the field from which to source managers was inevitably limited and in most cases (excluding Ernest Harry Robins and latterly Robin Smith and David Slape) this meant that external experience was absent.  Perhaps this was the reason why the board functioned in such an unusual way for much of the life of the company. 

There was no managing director or chief executive to give vision and direction to the company between general meetings and to crack the whip over fellow directors when necessary.  The role of chairman was down-graded to that of meeting chairman, with no obvious responsibility to hold the executive to account.  Succession planning was largely absent and for much of its life the company was managed by men of advanced years wedded to the family company model.  The shareholders, being equally qualified by descent, had not bought into the company as an investment and took a passive role at general meetings.  Shares in the company had no market-determined value, which would have allowed the directorate and the ownership to evaluate the general level of success of the business.  The issue of new shares was generally not used as a means of raising new finance and, when it was, the shares were valued (under-valued) at par.  For much of its life the company was over-managed, with too many executives for the size of the company.  Indeed, Harry Clist tried to resign over this issue.  Only latterly was the size of the executive brought down to an appropriate level.

In one sense, the company was clearly a success.  It sustained many of Alfred Robins’ descendants economically over many decades, giving them employment, income and status in Farnham society.  It also generated employment for Farnham folk and, though a bit paternalistic, engendered much employee loyalty.  People like Charlie Charlton and Billy Hayes must have enjoyed their jobs and derived much satisfaction from serving the company’s customer base.  They deservedly received many plaudits, as well as financial recognition.

The family company concept had other consequences.  Being primarily a vehicle to generate wealth for the family there was a tendency for the directors to take money out of the business rather too readily in the good years, especially between the end of WW2 and 1964.  With hindsight, a greater retention of value in the company might have made the role of readjustment easier when difficult times came.  Perhaps also, the first and second generation directors did not ever seriously consider merger or sale of the company as being in the best interests of the shareholders, when approaches were made by other companies.

Alfred Robins senior, though he died before incorporation of A Robins and Sons Ltd, was the true founding father of the company and a man of both vision and decision.  The businesses that he founded between 1880 and 1900 were the lifeblood of the new company and, until the advent of Robin Smith, no fundamentally new business activity was taken on by the company.  Would Alfred have acted differently?  Who knows?

Don Fox

20171010
donaldpfox@gmail.com

Acknowledgements

I am greatly indebted to Robin and Ann Smith and to David Robins for freely sharing with me their extensive collection of Robins papers, photos and memorabilia.  Also, they have given generously of their time to provide me constructive comments on drafts of this paper.  However, any errors and omissions are mine alone.