Interior Brown's Shoe Factory- Women on sewing machines

Workers on the sewing machines at Brown's Shoe Factory.

By 1862 a factory had been constructed between Cheese Lane and Midland Road and employed around 300 persons. The business was now being solely run by Mr. Gibbs, with Mr. Charles Freeman as manager. In 1867 Mr. Gibbs retired from the business (and died in 1868). He sold the business to his manager Charles Freeman and Benjamin Brown and Sons of Birmingham. The two sons were called William and Thomas. The business became known as Brown, Son and Freeman. By 1870 Charles Freeman had left the business and it became known as Benjamin Brown and Sons. The company became a Limited Company in 1897 and became known as Brown & Sons (Wellingborough) Ltd. They developed into Upper, Gaiter and Legging Manufacturers, Curriers and Leathers Dressers.

The factory made uppers for the boots worn by the members of the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904 who sailed with Captain Robert Scott in the ship ‘Discovery’. It is also known that the feet of royalty were covered by products produced by the Wellingborough Factory.

Following the Wall Street Stockmarket Crash of 1929 and the ‘Great Depression’ that followed, the factory in Midland Road was to close in the early 1930s. The factory was subsequently demolished and The Lyric Cinema was built on the site and opened to the public on 14th December 1936