| 1812-15 |
Napoleonic war of 1812. Commodity prices fell and stayed low for a long time. |
| 1850 |
Alfred apprenticed to Lamport and Holt, well-known Liverpool merchant house. |
| 1850's |
Liverpool merchants began to replace sailing ships with small steam ones. |
| 1857 |
Alfred Booth went to New York. Worked for Liverpool merchants Rathbone & Co. |
| 1859-62 |
Bad harvests in UK lead to food imports from US through to 65. |
| 1860 |
Elder Mr. Booth died. |
| 1860 |
Walden (USA) and Alfred Booth (Liverpool, UK) founded company
to import light leather from UK to USA, 57 Bond Street, New York. |
| 1861-65 |
US Civil War. |
| 1863 |
Walden becomes incapacitated and Walden and Booth dissolved. Alfred Booth and Company,
Liverpool and Booth and Company, New York established. This new Booth partnership formed, shipping light leather to the US.
Two products: Sumac tanned sheep from Bermondsey for shoe uppers and pickled grains and fleshes from Turneys of Trent Bridge,
Boots of Leicester and Johnston at Bootle. |
| 1863 |
Issue of confederate loan. |
| 1863 |
Open office in Liverpool 5 India Buildings. |
| 1864 |
Decided to enter the steamship business. Plan to sail to North Brazil ports, Ceará,
Maranham and Para (Now called Fortaleza, Sâo Luiz and Belam): return cargos would be cotton, sugar and coffee.
Plus a mail contract if possible. The construction of two steamships, the Augustine and the Jerome was planned. |
| 1865 |
Booth US trade had a good year. |
| 1865 |
Turneys agrees to ship to US on consignment. |
| 1865 |
Contracts placed for first two Booth ships, Augustine launched. |
| 1866 |
February 15th. first Augustine voyage to Brazil. Voyage lost
£3000 but obtained £10,000 annual contract for mail from the Brazilians. |
| 1867 |
Brazil/Paraguay war ends. |
| 1867 |
Alfred Booth Lydia Butler. |
| 1860-90 |
US population doubled. |
| 1869-71 |
Alfred Booth stayed in the US. |
| 1870 |
Franco-Prussian war breaks out. |
| 1870 |
Charles married Mary Macaulay. |
| 1870 |
Office opened in Boston to build on success of Roan business (pickled foreign sheepskins)
141 Purchase Street, Boston. Mr. Gaenslen went to be manager. |
| 1877 |
Office opened in London to deal with French and Belgian sheep suppliers Fenchurch Street. |
| 1877 |
Kent and Steven's tannery in Gloversville hit by Stevens fraud. Booths owed $70,000.
Booths pay off creditors and back John Kent. John Kent is the leather scientist who developed fat liquoring and the
Dongola tannage. |
| 1879 |
Problem of unsold stocks of roans leads to opening of showroom in New York, Frankfurt Street. |
| 1879 |
Dongola tannage successful and Booths begin buying dried goat and Kangaroo skins for it. |
| 1879 |
Liverpool offices move from 5 India Buildings to 14 Castle Street. |
| 1880 |
Launch of Daisy Kid Cear#225; goat tanned with Dongola tannage to make an imitation kid. |
| 1880 |
Augustus Schultz started work with Julius Kutter in Booth Gloversville on perfecting chrome tanning. |
| 1881 |
Booth steamship Co. Ltd. formally incorporated, began looking at Brazil-New York trade. |
| 1882 |
Nuneaton Leather Co. founded when Booths needed to make something out of the Roans. |
| 1884 |
Augustus Schultz had two chrome tanning patents issued. |
| 1886 |
John Kent died. |
| 1887 |
Alfred Booth retired.
|
| 1889 |
Schultz' two chrome patents passed to Franco-American company Messrs Blumenthol.
Blumenthal then passed patents to Marcus Beebe and R. Foederer & Co. in Philadelphia. Philadelphia tanners began working
widely with chrome. |
| 1890 |
First serious marketing of chrome tanned leather under the brand name of 'Surpass'
by Booth and Company in a joint venture with J. P. Mathieu of Philadelphia USA. (A small production of
'Vici' kid did precede it. |
| 1893 |
Formation of the United States Leather Company, the largest US Company ever formed. |
| 1894 |
Booth Gloversville tannery started chrome tanning for Goat and Kangaroo. |
| 1896 |
Daily output at J. P. Mathieu rose to 600 - 700 dozen skins. |
| 1898 |
Daily output at J. P. Mathieu rose to 1000 - 1200 dozen skins. |
| 1898 |
Introduction of enamel process by George S. Wolff to copy patent leather.
Sold by Booths as 'ideal'. Wolff Process Leather Company, Summerdale Station, Philadelphia & Reading R. R.
@One of the greatest and finest leather factories in the world, especially equipped for producing 'Ideal Leather,'
a non breakable enameled leather patented by George S. Wolff, founder and president of the company.
The entire output is handled by Booth and Co., N. Y. |
| 1899 |
Warehouse set up for Surpass UK and European sales in 50, St. Thomas Street, Bermondsey. |
| 1899 |
Joseph Turney Wood discovers artificial bates. |
| 1902 |
Sales office opened in St. Louis (701 Lucas Avenue) to deal with the growing shoe industry,
quickly followed by Cincinnati and Rochester. |
| 1903 |
Daily out at J. P. Mathieu rose to 1500 dozen. |
| 1904 |
Booths supported building Wolff Process Leather Company in Summerdale near Philadelphia. |
| 1905 |
Booths move to complete purchase of J. P. Matieu and change name to Surpass Leather. |
| 1915 |
Lusitania sinks in the Atlantic and was likely attacked since carrying arms under
the name of Booth sheepskins. Paul Crompton and his family were on board. He was VP of Surpass Leather Company,
a partner in the firm of Alfred Booth and Company and a director of the Booth Steamship Company. |
| 1920 |
Walden (USA) and Alfred Booth (Liverpool, UK) founded company
to import light leather from UK to USA, 57 Bond Street, New York. |
| 1920 |
Booth established UK links to Pavlova Leather, a gloving tannery in Abingdon,
Wade and Company in Nottingham to chrome tan kid for the boot and shoe industry
and consolidated an interest in the glue and gelatine through a holding in B. Cannon and Company, Lincoln. |
| 1920 |
British Leather Manufacturers Research Association founded. |
| 1921 |
Alfred Booth and Company purchases the Pavlova Leather Company of Abingdon, England. |
| 1922 |
Tanners Council of America established in New York. |
| 1938 |
Strike in Gloversville. Gloversville closed. |
| 1942 |
Gloversville buildings sold. |
| 1948 |
Booth purchase Melrose Tannery in Beverley, Yorkshire. |
| 1950/60's |
Tanneries built in Kenya, Nigeria and New Zealand as joint venture operations. |
| 1960/70's |
Control of Kemya and New Zealand lost. Booth Overseas continues buying chemicals
and machinery for Nigeria and trading some of the Kenyan sides in the UK. |
| 1966 |
Surpass Leather closed and Booth US HQ moves to Peabody, MASS. |
| 1971 |
Booth purchased ET Holdens tannery in Jedbrough and Turney Brothers Nottingham |
| 1977 |
Mr. Alan Cecil joins Booth and Co, Turney Bros. Nottingham. |
| 1978 |
Wades Nottingham closes. |
| 1979 |
Booth group sold to Garner group, renamed Garner Booth. |
| 1981 |
Turney Bros. closed. |
| 1987 |
Garner Booth bought by Pittards plc and renamed Pittard Garner. |
| 1987 |
The resignation from Mr. Alan Cecil was regretably accepted. |
| 1993 |
Pavlova Leather in Abingdon is closed, leaving only the fellmongers in Scotland
associated with Booth England as the manufacturing remainder of the Booth group. |
| 1994 |
Pittards exit the US office which is retained by the existing management as Booth & Co. Inc. |
| 1998 |
Pittards start marketing natural leather not tanned with chromium,
following on after non-chromium tannages being used extensively in the automobile upholstery business. |