- TitlePhotographic prints of bomb damage to David Moseley & Sons premises
- Reference2021-1665/5/1/5
- Production date1940 - 1940
- Daily ExpressBiographyBiographyBritish National newspaper founded in 1900 by Cyril Arthur Pearson and bought by Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was printed in Manchester between 1927 and 1989 and also in Glasgow between 1936 and 1974. It was bought by United News Media in 1985.
- The Daily HeraldBiographyBiographyThe Daily Herald was launched in January 1911 as a strike sheet for the London printing unions, then involved in an industrial dispute, to support their pleas for improved pay and conditions. So successful was the sheet in helping the unions win their argument, that a movement began for the Herald to be adopted as the daily newspaper in support of the socialist cause. In April 1912, this mobilisation of effort resulted in the paper being relaunched as a daily dealing with issues directly relevant to the working man and woman. The early days of the paper were, however, beset by lack of money, even though the Trades Union Congress (TUC) took the paper over in 1922. The paper reeled from one financial crisis to another until, in 1929, Odhams Press stepped in to save it. The financial injection meant that the paper's immediate future was secured and in March 1930 the new Daily Herald was launched. Odhams Press held 51% of the shares, with the remainder owned by the TUC. The immediate priorities of the new owners were to increase the circulation, broaden the socialist profile of the paper and ensure its financial viability. Late 1929 saw a massive drive to achieve these aims. The size of the paper was doubled from ten to twenty pages; rallies and events promoting the new Herald were held across the country; members of the Labour Party were recruited to promote the paper and a prize incentive scheme was implemented where premium cameras and free gifts were given away on purchase of the paper. These initiatives resulted in a steep increase in the Herald's circulation from 250,000 to a million. This trend continued until, in 1933, the Herald became the world's top selling popular daily newspaper, with certified net sales of 2 million. The sharp increase in circulation spurred the Herald's rivals into action; they envisaged the erosion of their financial and political powerbase. Soon newspapers from the more conservative Beaverbrook stable (e.g. the Daily Express) began to solicit support for their publications. The ensuing circulation war took both an immediate and long-term toll on the Herald. The paper's circulation declined. Throughout this period, and for many years afterwards, the Herald continued to espouse official Labour policies, defined by the Labour Party and at TUC conferences. However, whilst its appeal had broadened, Odhams Press felt that the political ties were hampering its growth. Nevertheless, the increasingly uneasy TUC - Odhams relationship managed to last for about thirty years until finally, in 1960, faced with downwardly spiraling sales and the loss of advertising revenue, Odhams persuaded the TUC to relinquish their shares. The slide had, however, become irreversible and, in March 1961, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN\IPC) assumed ownership of the paper on taking over the Odhams empire. The company began a massive drive to revive the ailing Herald. After an initial period of assessment, MGN\IPC decided to enliven the image of the paper in order to broaden its appeal. In September 1964 the paper was relaunched as The Sun with the slogan 'A Paper Born of the Age We Live In'. Despite this change of image, the paper’s format remained stale and uninspiring. After an initial upsurge in circulation, sales again declined. MGN\IPC decided to cut their losses and in 1969 sold the Sun to Rupert Murdoch's News International, whereupon its content and message completely altered.
- Scope and ContentFolder of black and white photographic prints showing damage to one of the company sites during the Manchester Blitz.
- Extent6 items
- LanguageEnglish
- Level of descriptionFILE
- Repository nameScience and Industry Museum
- David Moseley & SonsBiographyBiographyEstablished in 1833, David Moseley & Sons of Manchester manufactured a range of india rubber and gutta percha goods. The company is notable as one of the first in Britain to be involved in telecommunications. In November 1877 Charles Moseley recruited the engineer William Fereday Bottomley, who had worked for the Magnetic and Indo-European Telegraph Companies. The company began providing private telephone services to local customers as a telephone agent. Wishing to connect his premises on Dantzig Street and Shudehill by telephone, hardware merchant Thomas Hudson became the first customer. The next step for David Moseley & Sons was to become telephone manufacturers. Alexander Marr joined the company as head of the construction department, patenting a granular carbon transmitter in 1879. The company began supplying apparatus to the Post Office, railway and private companies. Marr soon developed another granular carbon transmitter especially for the transmission of opera, which was used in Manchester theatres in 1880 to 1881. In 1880, Charles Moseley, William Bottomley and William Edwin Heys (local consulting engineer and electrician), patented a system for erecting telephone wires, called the ‘twist’ system, which was designed ‘to diminish or prevent the results of inductive action’. Although the patent was never enforced (Professor Hughes having previously described the same principle), the ‘twist’ system was adopted universally in Britain. Moseley patented another three types of telephone apparatus in 1881 and 1882. As well as in-house designs, the company also made telephone equipment under licence, such as the Gower-Bell wall telephone. David Moseley & Sons advertised plans to open a telephone exchange at its offices and warehouse in New Brown Street. The business received a licence in August of that year, but by October the Lancashire & Cheshire Telephonic Exchange had bought the licence to head off its competitor. Moseley & Sons continued to trade as telephone constructor and erector until around 1890, but by 1897 its entry in the Manchester street directory no longer listed these activities. The Moseley company maintained its original business of manufacturing india rubber and gutta percha, branching out into plastic products. David Moseley & Sons moved to the Chapelfield Works in Ardwick in 1845, and kept a warehouse in New Brown Street. From 1906 to 1961 there was also a separate waterproof clothing factory on Dolphin Street in Ardwick. In 1964 David Moseley & Sons was taken over by Avon Rubber and was renamed Avon-Moseley in 1968. In 1981, economic recession led Avon Rubber to rationalise its operations, and the Avon-Moseley factory was closed.
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- contains 6 partsTOP2021-1665 Documents relating to David Moseley & Sons
- contains 2 partsSERIES2021-1665/5 Photographic prints
- contains 5 partsSUB-SERIES2021-1665/5/1 Promotional photographs