SOUND ARCHIVE

Living Linen Interview LL2_R00/39

Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel

Titterington, Basil (Mr) (Primary maker)
Titterington, Basil (Mr) (interviewee)

25/05/2000
25/05/2000

Sound Recording on Reel: Titteringtons Flax. Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: Mr Titterington's Grandfather, James, started the family flax and yarn merchanting business after WWI. He had previously worked in John Preston & Co. The business was based at 22 Bedford Street. Basil trained initially as a Chartered Accountant before entering the family business in 1960. Although Basil's father, also James, felt that it would have been useful to have an accountant in the firm, it was his own decision to join the company. It had been already established that, once suitably au fait with the trade, Basil would travel to Courtrai to work in the flax end of the business. The Belgian branch of the firm had been established in the 1930s. Wilfred Parker and Jack Heaney were Titterington's employees in Belgium and would travel to the major flax markets. Mr Titterington served a six-month apprenticeship or training period in Jennymount Mill. Jennymount, and Herdman's were Titterington's biggest local flax customers. They also supplied yarn to India and the USA. The firm bought flax in Belgium, France and Holland. The amount of flax bought from France increased dramatically with the advent of dew, as opposed to dam, retting. Titterington's introduced dew-retted flax to the spinners of Northern Ireland. Few flax farmers and vendors were able to speak English (despite the importance of the Irish market). Wilfred Parker in particular had an excellent command of the Flemish as well as the French language. Although it was usual to buy flax to order, rather than to stockpile, speculative purchases were made if a particularly fine batch was offered at the right money. Flax was also stockpiled if a shortage was predicted. It was possible to buy a sample to send to a spinning mill on approval and to retain an option on the remainder of the crop. Flax, like wine, can have a vintage and keeps for many years without any quality degradation. Flax merchants tended to blend different flax crops so as to standardise the quality of flax coming out of the region as much as possible. After 1945 the flax markets lost their influence and agents like Titterington's began to deal with the farmers directly. There was a good deal of competition between the flax agents, and commercial espionage was not unheard of: lorries were followed and bales of flax counted on the quays. More recently the firm began to have the flax processed in Belgium so that it was effectively ready for spinning when it arrived in Northern Ireland. Titterington's pioneered this approach. The firm also ran a winding operation in Jennymount called 'ZS'. Titterington's supplied yarns as well as flax. In certain cases they commissioned yarns to be spun from their own flax. It was an unwritten rule, that flax and yarn merchants were expected to buy yarns from the mills they supplied with flax. Titterington's also bought from Greeves, Sinton's and Herdman's. They sold yarns to Ulster Weavers and Falls Flax amongst others. The flax and yarn ends of the business were run separately. The flax from Belgium and the yarn from Belfast. Where requested, Titterington's could supply bleached and dyed yarns, although they had no processing equipment of their own. Merchants were affected by the contraction of the linen industry in Ulster and the decline in the numbers of independent spinners/weavers. Basil wrote a feasibility study for his father in 1965 or so recommending that the family gradually withdraw from the flax and yarn merchanting business. His father reluctantly agreed. The Belgian office closed in 1967 and the firm itself finally ceased trading in 1970.

HOYFM.R2000.84

National Museums NI