1849


JAMES BLACKLEDGE

Founder of the Firm

'James Blackledge hailed from Ormskirk farming stock and decided to move to Everton and seek work in town. He started work as a mill hand in a flour mill. Many bakers' shops in those days were owned by millers who let them out on condition that they bought their flour.'

1849

James ran a bakery business in 26, Fox Street in Liverpool 3. By working hard and saving he was able to buy his shop and then continued to buy other "corner shops" for "the sale of bread."

1875

James had a mill of his own built in Derby Road, Bootle, equipped with the latest flour milling machinery. His sons, James and John, now joined the business which became known as "James Blackledge and Sons. Millers and Bakers."

1888

A disastrous fire in 1888 destroyed the mill and James decided to concentrate on the bakery side of the business. James the younger became Managing Director and had a bakery built on the Derby Road site to sell ready-made bread to all the shops - thereby becoming the first manufacturer of bread in England.

1896

James Blackledge died. By then the firm had 23 shops, over 10 branches, and 22 delivery horses. James Blackledge Jnr. took over and increased the number of shops to around 90.

1900


57, Seaforth Road, Seaforth

1903


South Road

1919

Another disastrous fire which put considerable strain on the capital, but the firm managed to survive.

1920


Brook Road West & Waterloo 

1935


South Road, Waterloo

1939

In January of that year, Sayers the confectioners bought Blackledges.

1944

1945

Mr. Fred Sayer offered the business back to James G. Blackledge, who restarted it with the help of family, friends, and staff. Basil Blackledge also joined the firm before being made director in 1953.

1950

Ewan Blackledge, who was an architect, joined the Board and modernised the shops and also designed a new garage in Raleigh Street.

1952

James G. Blackledge bought Kelly's Bakery with their 19 branches. 

1956

James G. Blackledge accepted an offer from Spillers the flour millers. Later Spillers closed their subsidiary United Bakeries and Blackledges was bought by Mr. Ossie Shaw, a successful business man.

1965

 

James Gressier Blackledge made a Knight of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Paul VI for his public service in 1965. Also awarded the Order of the British Empire.

 

1975

Newspaper Report:

Man who gained Papal honour has died aged 87

 

Mr. James Gressier Blackledge, of Blackledges the Bakers, a well known Crosby firm, died on Wednesday aged 87.

Mr. Blackledge, of Adelaide Terrace, Waterloo, was made a Knight of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Paul VI for his public service in 1965. He also held the O.B.E. 

He studied at Ampleforth College (where he got to know Abbott Byrne and later, Archbishop Hulme), and at Liverpool University. 

He then joined the family milk business started by his grandfather in Liverpool in 1849.

He was vice-president of the National Federation of Master Bakers for 10 years and chairman of the Liverpool Factory Bakers' Association.

Mr. Blackledge was also a Justice of the Peace for 40 years in the former Borough of Bootle and was chairman of the Justices for 11 years.

He served on Bootle Hospital Committee for more than 30 years and was a town councillor for six years, also serving for a while on the West Lancashire Rural District Council.

As the first chairman of Bootle Juvenile Committee, he helped promote boys organisations in the then borough.

Mr. Blackledge, a parishioner of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Waterloo, was keenly interested in parochial affairs. He was benefactor of numerous charities and, for a time, was chairman of the Friends of Nazareth House, Crosby.

His first wife was Helen Mary Chamberlain of Grassendale, whom he married in 1914. They had three sons and two daughters. Some years after her death he married Maureen Earle from Garston.

The funeral will take place at St. Thomas' of Canterbury Church at noon today. Interment will be at the Garden of Rest, Thornton.