Al & Alan
Patterson & Co are listed in the Newcastle and District Trades Directory,
1916-17 as being brassfounders at Croft Stairs, Manor Chare, Newcastle
upon Tyne (a few hundred yards from The Side). It seems that at some time
the concern moved to a former printing works on Sunderland Road, Felling,
right on the boundary with Gateshead, and was probably then known as the
Patterson Lamp Works, specialising in miners’ safety lamps. This works was
destroyed by an explosion in the early months of the Second World War, although
not, apparently, due to enemy action.
There may not have been a move from Felling to Gateshead, as the Felling
factory could easily have been described as being in Gateshead. It has also
been suggested that the firm had its origins in the Smith Patterson Iron
Foundry formed in Blaydon in 1873, although I cannot confirm that.
Cheers
Stafford
|