A local landmark that was in Batsworth Road, off Church Road, Mitcham.
The firm of Donald Macpherson occupied the site until 1969, and the chimney had their brand ‘Foochow’ in letters running down the side of the chimney. Macpherson was started in 1884 as a paint, varnish and Chinese lacquer business, based in Manchester. The company’s telegram address was ‘Foochow, Manchester’.
Photo taken by Eric Montague in 1967. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society. Image reference mhs-em-pb-62
The history of the firm, and how it got the name Foochow, is told in this article from The Birmingham Post
Wed, 27 Apr 1966, page 17, accessed via Newspapers.com.
Foochow enamels in the 1880s were the basis of the firm’s success.
More than 2,200 people are employed by the Donald MacPherson Group of Companies,
which is one of Britain’s leading manufacturers of paints, lacquers, varnishes and other surface coatings.
The foundations of the group were laid in Manchester in 1885, when Donald MacPherson formed a company to produce enamels.
Having travelled in the Far East, MacPherson had been impressed by the beauty and quality of Chinese lacquers, and these he reproduced as nearly as possible in a range of enamels to which he gave the name Foochow.
In the first year, Foochow Enamels gained awards at international exhibitions in London and France. Later, the name Foochow gained wider international recognition and the number of employees increased steadily to keep pace with the demand.
As early as 1890, the firm developed special finishes for use in the gas industry, both on industrial installations and domestic appliances. Production was by this time centred in Bury, Lancashire, and as trade grew it was decided to open a second factory at Mitcham in Surrey. A policy of expansion in the 1950s led to the acquisition of allied interests and formation of the Donald MacPherson Group. R. Cruickshank, Cellulose Ltd, was the first company to be acquired. It was taken over in 1954. The next step in the group’s development was the purchase in 1957 of Sherwood’s Paints Ltd, founded in London in 1777 by William Hughes, a dealer in oils and greases. This company soon became concerned with paints. The first Sherwood entered the business in 1850, and it was 100 years before the last Sherwood retired from it.
All the axle grease and harness oil were still being taken within living memory, but the advent of the car turned the company’s attention to the more sophisticated finishes for car bodies. Today decorative paints, industrial finishes, lacquers and varnishes carry the name Sherwood all over the world.
In 1958 the group acquired control of Mody & Co Ltd of Warrington, Lancashire. This company was founded in 1925 for the manufacture of French spirit and paper varnishes. Expanding business after the war led to the move to its present factory at Orford, Warrington, where the premises have been expanded since the company’s entry into the Donald MacPherson Group.
Another acquisition of the group has been that of Wilkinson Companies, LG Wilkinson Ltd with headquarters in Clapton, a factory in South Mimms,
and a depot at High Wycombe, Gerald Carter Ltd with a factory at Welling Garden City, and Wilkinson Paints Ltd operating from Scrutton Street, London.
The interest of these companies is almost exclusively in the manufacture of wood finishes and their relationship with the furniture industry, both in London and High Wycombe, is close. The substantial proportion of their trade is in nitrocellular lacquers, but their products also include catalysed lacquers and the latest developments in melamine, polyurethane and polyester finishes.
The most recent development has been the entry into the group of Thomas Parsons & Sons Ltd of Mitcham Surrey and its integration with an existing subsidiary to form Sherwood Parsons Ltd. Parsons was established in 1802 to manufacture coach colours and barges.
The founding family entered this field because they were coach operators connecting London and Bath with the Flying Wagon coaching service.
Since then the firm’s interest in coach finishes has developed and broadened. Today it’s not only a major supplier to the coach finishing and car refinishing trades, but has established a solid reputation in the building industry.
An Irish branch of Parsons, formerly situated at Inchicore but now at Sutton Dublin, continues to manufacture and supply under the original name of Thomas Parsons & Sons Ltd, but manufacturing and selling operations in Britain have been fully integrated with those of Sherwood’s.
Macphersons Trade Paints became part of the Crown Paints Group in 2008.
The chimney was first mentioned in Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter – Saturday 17 August 1889 from the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)
Fatal Fall from a Chimney.
—An inquest was held at the Mortuary on Saturday last before Mr. R. D. Muir, deputy coroner, and a jury, concerning the death of Thomas H. Haslam, 25, Cow Cross-street, St. Luke’s, an engineer’s fitter. It appeared that on the previous Thursday the deceased, with a labourer, was sent to some repairs to what is known the “Cock” chimney at a varnish factory in Church-lane, and, having engaged lodgings at 15, Holmwood-road, proceeded to inspect the shaft.
Having ascended to some considerable height, deceased by some means lost his hold and fell with great force to the bottom.
Medical aid was summoned, and the man removed to his lodgings, where he expired the same night.
The jury having viewed the body and having heard the medical and other evidence, and the Deputy-Coroner very carefully summed up, a verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned.
1945 ad
Donald Macpherson co. Ltd., Cock Chimney Works, Mitcham (paint manufacturers), require the following clerical staff: 2 Invoice Clerks. Order Clerks, Shorthand-Typists, Telephone Operator; good post-war prospects, possibility of advancement. Please reply to the above address or telephone for appointment, Mitcham 2963.
Source: Surrey Advertiser – Saturday 13 January 1945 from the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)
aerial photo from 1947 and 1952 OS map
Merton Memories Photos
JJ Schweizer
Foochow
1970
From the phone book
1910
In the 1896 street directory, listed as John Jacob Schweizer, varnish manufacturer.
1912 to 1914
1915 and 1916
1919 to 1921
1923
1926
1968
From the minutes of the
Town Planning and Development Committee
31st October 1968
1266. COCK CHIMNEY WORKS, BATSWORTH ROAD, MITCHAM
– The Borough Surveyor reported that the Cock Chimney Works, which occupied four detached sites in Batsworth Road and Chapel Road comprising a total area of approximately 1.56 acres, had been offered for sale to the Council. He explained that the works were situated in an area allocated primarily for industrial use in the Initial Development Plan, but which had been re-allocated primarily for residential use in the First Review of the Plan now before the Minister of Housing and Local Government. He reported: —
(i) that the works were within an area at present being studied with a view to environmental improvement and adjoined other property which had been purchased by the Council, or its predecessors. for ultimate redevelopment for residential purposes;
(ii) that, to implement planning objectives in the area, the acquisition of the works had to be firstly considered from a town planning point of view and secondly as a prospective housing site; and
(iii) upon the estimated cost of acquiring other properties in the neighbourhood to form a viable site for residential redevelopment and on the likely housing gain which would be achieved.
Resolved – That the Borough Surveyor be authorised to negotiate terms for the purchase of the Cock Chimney Works and requested to report further to a subsequent meeting.
Source: Minutes of Proceedings of the Council and committees, London Borough of Merton, Volume 5 1968-69, page 806
Minutes of meetings held by the Mitcham Borough Council are available on request from the Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre at Morden Library.
Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.
