Pope Products Ltd. was an Australian manufacturer, based in

Beverley, South Australia Beverley is a western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Charles Sturt. Geography The suburb is mainly bounded by Port Road, East Avenue, Ledger Road and Grange Road. History Beverley incorporates the formerly ...

, best remembered for washing machines and refrigerators. The company was founded in 1935 by Sidney Barton Pope (18 February 1905 – 2 September 1983) (generally referred to as "Barton" or "S. Barton Pope" and from 1959 "Sir Barton") and his brother Harley Clifford Pope (6 April 1908 – ) to manufacture irrigation equipment with an initial capitalisation of £15,000 in £1 shares.

History

Barton Pope and his brothers Raymond and Harley were born in

Northam, Western Australia Northam () is a town in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers, about east-northeast of Perth in the Avon Valley. At the 2016 census, Northam had a population of 6,548. Northa ...

and moved to South Australia with their parents in 1913. Their father, previously a storekeeper, began manufacturing irrigation components at their 56? 66? Robert Street, West Croydon home. The boys were educated at Pulteney College (later

Pulteney Grammar School Pulteney Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, co-educational, private day school. Founded in 1847 by members of the Anglican Church, it is the second oldest independent school in South Australia. Its campuses are located on South Terrace ...

) and at age 14 Barton began working for his father. What started as a father and son operation grew into a small business registered in 1928 as "Pope Sprinklers Ltd." with shareholders Henry, Barton and Harley Pope, Lily Maria Pope and J. H. Richards. A new company, "Pope Products Ltd." was floated in 1934 to take over the assets of the old company, which went into voluntary liquidation. Shareholders were the two Pope brothers, R. F. Smith, S. H. Carman and Winifred Laura Browne. Around 1935 the company moved its operations to Charles Road,

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

. From 1939 an increasing output from the factory was directed towards the war effort; chiefly stamped and cast parts for munitions destined for the Commonwealth munitions factory at

Maribyrnong, Victoria Maribyrnong () is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Maribyrnong recorded a population of 12,573 at the . ...

and for aircraft production at the

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) was an Australian aircraft manufacturer. The CAC was established in 1936, to provide Australia with the capability to produce military aircraft and engines. History In 1935 the Chief General Manager ...

Fishermans Bend Fishermans Bend (formerly Fishermen's Bend) is a precinct within the City of Port Phillip and the City of Melbourne. It is located on the south of the Yarra River in the suburb of Port Melbourne and opposite Coode Island, close to the Melbourne ...

. The factory underwent significant expansion in the immediate post-war period. The company acquired premises in

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn ...

The company was not noted for employee relations: in the early days they made extensive use of juniors 14–16 years of age as machine operators and menial labour to avoid paying award wages (hence its local nickname "The Boy Farm"). Accidents were not uncommon. With growing union militancy and the Communist threat in the late 1940s, Pope Products became a model employer. It introduced a generous incentive scheme; in 1953 bonuses to its workers exceeded dividends paid to shareholders; the same year it instituted an employees' recreation hall and sponsored sporting activities for its workers and staff. The company entered the Australian vernacular. "Is the Pope a washing machine" was a popular play on the rhetorical question "Is the Pope Catholic?"

Products

The output of the various Pope Products factories included: *Lawn and garden sprinklers *Agricultural Sprinklers: Typhoon, Monsoon, Premier and Butterfly. With the Butterfly sprinkler also being extensively used in domestic applications. *"Ned Kelly" repeating

cap gun A cap gun, cap pistol, or cap rifle is a toy gun that creates a loud sound simulating a gunshot and smoke when a small percussion cap is ignited. Cap guns were originally made of cast iron, but after World War II were made of zinc alloy, and mos ...

, "Aussie" single-shot cap gun *Woodworking tools: planes, chisels *Rotary lawn mowers, endorsed by

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...

*Hand and powered "tumbler" mowers *Wringer washing machines *Refrigerators *PopeAire air conditioners *Pope-Motorola television sets and Hi-Fi Stereo Cabinets, endorsed by

Jack Davey John Andrew Davey (8 February 190714 October 1959), known as Jack Davey, was a New Zealand-born singer and pioneering star of Australian radio as a performer, producer, writer and host from the early 1930s into the late 1950s. Later in his caree ...

*Electric motors

Amalgamation

In 1963 Pope Products and A.Simpson and Son amalgamated as

Simpson Simpson most often refers to: * Simpson (name), a British surname *''The Simpsons'', an animated American sitcom **The Simpson family, central characters of the series ''The Simpsons'' Simpson may also refer to: Organizations Schools *Simpso ...

-Pope Holdings Ltd. to manufacture washing machines and refrigerators. This company became Simpson Holdings in 1979 was absorbed by

Email Limited Email Limited was a manufacturing conglomerate operating mainly in Australia, best known for domestic electricity meters and major appliances. History The company was formed from the merger of Electricity Meter Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd, establ ...

in 1986, which in turn became part of the

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool. Electrolux products sell under a variety ...

manufacturing group in 2000.

Family

Raymond, Barton and Harley Pope were sons of Henry Pope and his wife Sarah Anne, née Nunn (ca.1868 – 7 March 1947). The two younger sons were talented violinists; Harley in particular was described as "brilliant".

Barton Pope

Sidney Barton Pope married Lily Maria Howard on 19 March 1927; they divorced in 1942. He married again, to Ada Lillian McCarthy née Hawkins on 15 June 1944 shortly after her divorce. Barton's children included: *Barbara Barton Pope (9 September 1928 – ) *John Brenton Pope (20 February 1933 – ) *Ian Murray Pope (13 June 1938 – ) *adopted daughter Susan Pope Barton Pope was admitted to the SA Chamber of Manufactures in 1929 and was its president in 1949. He was knighted in 1959 "for services to commerce and industry". Their home for many years was Martin Ave, Fitzroy, South Australia. He owned a number of country properties: Yarindale station, 17 miles (30 km) from Meningie and citrus orchards at Swanbury and Allawah, near Swan Reach He was a pioneer of the use of

trace elements __NOTOC__ A trace element, also called minor element, is a chemical element whose concentration (or other measure of amount) is very low (a "trace amount"). They are classified into two groups: essential and non-essential. Essential trace elements ...

to restore fertility to ancient soils.

Harley Pope

Harley Clifford Pope (6 April 1908 – 14 July 1985) married Alison Victoria Sterling (24 May 1910 – 21 October 2009) on 23 April 1935. Their children were: *David Pope ( – ) *Elizabeth Pope (4 April 1943 – )

References

External links

*
Pope and Falcon woodworking planes
{{Tool manufacturers Australian companies established in 1935 Manufacturing companies based in Adelaide History of Adelaide Home appliance manufacturers of Australia Lawn mower manufacturers Tool manufacturing companies of Australia Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies Garden tool manufacturers