John Smith and Sons – Smith & Walton, 1857 – 1961
It was John Smith, the great, great grandfather of founder of the Smith (Haltwhistle & District) Trust, Douglas Smith, who started making varnish in Haltwhistle in the 1850s. He set up, with his son Robert, John Smith & Sons, with a workforce of just 5 people.
By the end of WWI, this small private firm was run by John Smith’s grandson, Frank Smith and his son Robert; the firm was registered as a Limited Company. Frank was married twice and his son Raymond by his first marriage was a Captain in the 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion of the Border Regiment and was killed in the ill-fated attack at Thiepval Redoubt on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916.
It fell to Frank’s son Douglas Smith by his second marriage to Mildred Dixon, to help him take the Company forward. In 1921 Robert Smith and Sons amalgamated with a local paint manufacturer, followed by further amalgamations in 1929 to form British Paints Ltd. This was just as the great depression hit the northeast hard.
British Paints Ltd, against the wishes of Frank and Douglas Smith, decided to close the Haltwhistle operations and focus on Tyneside leaving Haltwhistle with an unemployment rate of nearly 50%.
To address the employment problem, Douglas joined with a British Paint sales manager, Thomas Walton, to launch Smith & Walton Ltd. With no capital, a small band of John Smith & Sons employees, using bricks from a demolished chimney, steel from a dismantled shed and second-hand roof a nascent factory was built. An engine for power was bartered for, and in 1931, 80 gallons of varnish were produced, quickly followed by paint production.
With a leap of faith, Smith & Walton salesmen went out to sell the products from this unknown company. The company focussed on quality and an excellent distribution system was set up. Smith & Walton Ltd of Haltwhistle and the Hadrian Paint Works grew from strength to strength and soon became the major employer in Haltwhistle.
Innovation was key to the success of the company with Dr Alick I Escolme, a polymer chemist, at the forefront of developments. Smith & Walton were the first to use alkyd resin gloss and PVA emulsion paints – trading under the brand names of Hadrian and Synflat, paints for decoration, anti-corrosion, marine and a range of industrial uses were manufactured.
Paint was provided to HM Forces throughout WWII, including a range of camouflage paints. In 1944, after the invasion of Italy, Smith & Walton took over the running of a paint factory in Naples to produce paint for the local war effort.
In November 1935 Douglas Smith had bought a number of items from the sale at Jarrow of the RMS Olympic, the Titanic’s older sister, as she was scrapped at Jarrow. A second class stairway, boardroom, canteen fittings, doors, panelling and lightings were all installed in the rapidly developing Hadrian Works. The Olympic canteen became a focus of hospitality for the town of Haltwhistle and as a recreation base by HM Forces from 1939-49.
After WWII, Smith & Walton continued to expand worldwide, factories were built in Durban - South Africa, Bulawayo - Rhodesia, Melbourne and Perth – Australia. In 1955 Smith & Walton was amalgamated with paper manufacturer Ashley United Industries, and Oldham Paper Staining Co. Ltd.
In 1961 Wallpaper Manufacturers (WPM) bought Smith & Walton Ltd taking control of the production lines, the 23 depots and over 300 Brighter Homes Stores. Although Hadrian Paint Works continued to make paint until 2002. Douglas Smith relinquished his roles in the Company in 1965.
It was with gratitude and respect for the Haltwhistle workforce that made Smith & Walton Ltd such a success that Douglas Smith and his mother Mrs F P Smith (Mildred) set up the Smith (Haltwhistle and District) Charitable Trust, and funded the building of ten bungalows for retired Smith & Walton employees.
