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Reynard Mills Centenary Brochure, 1964

Helen adds: this was in the final effects of a cousin Alex Bartlett. Our grandfather was a mattress maker so perhaps it came from him originally. He was Edmund Bartlett, who died 10th April 1935,aged 75.

Front cover	The late Mr Charles Fox Founder of the Company 1845-1928. Past President of the National Federation of Bedding and Allied Trades. President of the Furnishing Trade Benevolent Association 1914 to 1917.

The brochure adds:
It was nearly a hundred years ago that Mr Charles Montague Fox laid the foundation of his enormous feather business which justly earned him the title of 'The Feather King'.

It continues to explain that on a visit to China he found that the feathers from the extensive duck industry were effectively waste, so he made arrangements to export them in bulk to England. His business started in Seymour Place. In 1892 he secured premises in Harrow Road, Paddington, then in 1900 feather mills were acquired in Woodstock Road, Shepherds Bush.

Initially the mattresses were simply stuffed with various materials: springs came later, initially external to the mattress, then within it.

The back cover of the brochure:

The aerial view is from the south looking north. Windmill Road cuts across the top right corner, with Darwin Road off to the right and the end of Whitestile Road is at the right margin. Reynard Mills occupied around five acres.

The building in the bottom right corner is St Faith's Church Hall.

The empty ground top left was a Territorial Army centre.

(Details from perusing OS 1:2500 map surveyed in 1959, published in 1961. The Reynard Mills site is marked 'Factory')

The site has a Peter Young photo of the Reynard Mills frontage from 1973: it looks to be the building at the right edge of the view, which has been touched up in the photo so that 'Charles Fox Ltd.' is clear.

Notes

West Middlesex Gazette 26 April 1930
GIRL WANTED.- Just left school, to assist in canteen.- Apply Chas. Fox, Ltd., Reynard Mills, Windmill Road, Brentford, W5.

Marylebone Mercury/span> 10 April 1943
PART-TIME Workers wanted for Bedding Trade, Mattress Case Machinists or Mattress Makers. Apply, C Fox, Ltd., Reynard Mills, Windmill Road, Brentford.

The site must have been redeveloped at some point between 1973 and 1977 as there are newspaper articles from 1977-1998 that refer to Reynard Mills Trading Estate off Windmill Road.

Published June 2020