Alfred Pegler (1820-1900) was a merchant and industrialist who founded the Northern Rubber Company and through his sons Pegler Brothers and Co.

Personal life

Alfred Pegler was born in 1820 in Camden, London, the son of Moses and Susanna Octavia Pegler (b. 1789). In 1847 he married Elizabeth Selina Partridge (b. 1826-1904)) in Lambeth, London and they had a daughter Josephine (b. 1850) and sons

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

Francis (b. 1852-1937) and Francis Egerton (1856-1938). Alfred died in 1900 in

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterf ...

at the age of 80. His great grandson (the son of Francis Egerton Pegler and grandson of Frank Pegler) was

Alan Pegler Alan Francis Pegler OBE, FRSA (16 April 1920 – 18 March 2012) was a British businessman, entrepreneur, and railway preservationist. Early life Born in London on 16 April 1920, he was the great grandson of Alfred Pegler, founder of the No ...

. Pegler lived at Grade II* Amcott House, Grove Street, Retford (now the site of Bassetlaw Museum) until his death in 1900, after which his widow remained there until she died in 1904.

Professional life

Pegler was the founder of a what later became an important manufacturing company in the North of England and was a pioneer of the rubber industry. Originally working as a merchant, he acquired the Victoria Works in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

in 1870, which had been producing a type of linoleum and in 1871 formed the Northern Rubber Company in Retford to make India Rubber Products. Initially the company made hose, protective aprons, rubber sheets, and hot water bottles. In 1881 it employed 21 men, 11 boys and 13 women. By 1914 it employed 400 who manufactured rubber fittings for railways, steamships and mines. There are very few records remaining, but Nicholson (1974) states that he originally intended the Northern Rubber Co for his son Stephen, who became "a cripple as a child, resulting in his son Frank purchasing his interest". Nicholson states (p58) that Alfred resided in Sutton Manor and later Amcott House. Through his sons, Stephen and Francis, Pegler set up a general engineers merchants in Glasgow, which later became Pegler Brothers and Co. manufacturers of plumbing fittings. It was renamed 'Peglers Limited' in 1932, eventually becoming Pegler Yorkshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pegler, Alfred 1820 births 1900 deaths British company founders English industrialists 19th-century English businesspeople