Sophia and Edwin - post 1895
Date of birth: Wednesday, 2nd February, 1853.
Birthplace: Balsall Heath Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
Date of death: Thursday 25th May, 1933 (aged 80 years).
Place of death: Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.
Buried: Buried in Yardley Cemetery, Birmingham, England.
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Edwin George Derrington (1859-1943). |
Date of marriage: 1885.
Place of marriage: Solihull, Birmingham, England.
A Brief History of Derrington Brick Makers and Builders Merchants
The company had its origins with Edward Hales (1828-1902), a practical brick maker who moulded bricks by hand using clay ground by a horse working a circular track. In 1858, Hales partnered with Josiah Derrington (1835-1920) and founded Derrington and Hales in Duddeston, Birmingham. The company held premises at Great Lister Street and Lord Street in Duddeston, and Leopold Street and Darwin Street in Highgate.
Following the dissolution of Derrington and Hales in 1869, Josiah went into business on his own account and brick manufacturing continued at Leopold Street. The company had also extended into the sale of building materials and a builder’s yard was established on Dartmouth Street in Duddeston.
Josiah’s son Josiah Pearce Derrington (1856-1924) joined the company at the turn of the decade and was closely followed by his brother Edwin George Derrington (1859-1943). A second builders’ yard was opened on Heneage Street in Duddeston c1872 and brick production was transferred to the Midland Brick Works on Garrison Lane, Small Heath c1876.
Josiah Junior. and Edwin were made partners in 1883 and the company became known as Derrington and Sons. Further builders’ yards were opened on Lawley Street in Duddeston and South Road in Camp Hill, and a brickworks was opened on Speedwell Road in Hay Mills. All brick manufacturing was transferred to Hay Mills in 1892.
In 1901 Josiah Snr. retired and full control of the company was given to his sons. Lawley Street and South Road premises closed shortly before the arrival of Edwin’s son Edwin David Derrington (1887-1968) in 1908.
David became a partner in 1911 following the retirement of Josiah Jnr., and in 1912 a builders’ yard was opened at Midland Siding in Great Malvern.
In 1923 Edwin retired and David became managing director. In the same year a branch was opened on the Birmingham Road in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a Kidderminster branch was opened on Coventry Street in 1928.
In 1930 the firm became a limited company and David became chairman.
David retired in 1963 and his sons Paul Derrington (1912-2000) and David Pearce Derrington (1929-1990) became joint directors.
By 1990 the company had changed its name to Derrington Builders Merchants and was under the control of Paul’s son David James Derrington (1946-) and David’s son Nicholas Derrington (1960-). In 1992 the company filed insolvency proceedings thus bringing an end to the company after 134 years and five generations.
1853 - Balsall Heath Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England.
1855 - 399, Bristol Road "Sussex Place", Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
Demolished between 1956-1966.
1861-1862 - 30, Balsall Heath Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
1862-1870 - 75 Ryland Road (Gothic Cottage/Gothic Lodge), Edgbaston, Birmingham, England.
1871-1874 - 25 Balsall Heath Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England.
Annual rent: 1874: £20 10s. (£9k in 2016), or £1. 5s. 7d. a month (£750 in 2016).
Occupants (1871 census): Robinson Enock, Edwin Enock, Sophia Elizabeth Enock.
Appoximate location.
1879 - Westwood House, Avenue Road (The Avenue), Acocks Green, Birmingham, England.
Robinson and his sister, Sophia, were lodging with the Maddocks family.
1888-1892 - The Laurels, St. Oswald's Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, England.
1895-1933 - Tufa Mount, Willard Road, Yardley, Birmingham, England.
Rateable value (1912): £42 10s.
"The reason it is called Tufa Mount is because that is where they brought the stone from in the USA." - James Darby
"It is interesting to note that Willard Road is named after an American woman preacher Frances Willard due to the fact that the founder member of a local building firm Josiah Derrington and his son went to the USA in 1886.
They were so impressed by her that on her return they named Willard Road in her honour and built Tufa Mount after the type of stone which was reset in the part of America in which they were staying." - Taken from an unknown newspaper article.
"Mr. Edwards is a landscape gardener, and on seeing the name he told Mr. Powell that he hewed tons of Tufa stone every year from Tufa Mount, a hill near Chicago. This caused Mr. Powell to make enquiries of the builders of the house, the firm of Derrington. Apparently, in 1886, long before the days of productivity teams, Mr. Josiah Derrington and his son went to U.S.A. to study house-building trends.
Being keenly religious men and temperance advocates, they made it their business to meet a famous American woman preacher, Frances Willard. The year after their return they built an American style house in a new road at Yardley, calling the road Willard Road, and the house Tufa Mount." - Birmingham Weekly Post, Friday, October 5, 1951.
1881 census - Governess.
Sophia became totally deaf in 1896.
Hearing trouble is a common trait in the Enock family family; Sophia's brother Robinson Enock (Robinson's sister), Madge (Robinson's daughter) and Ernie Wildridge (Robinson's grandson) all experienced hearing issues.
Robert Doeg - 1886
£37 10s. - "I give and bequeath the sum of One hundred and fifty pounds (£150) to be equally divided to my nieces Mary Kirkbride Sedgwick now residing at Chesterfield, Elizabeth Macdonald Doeg whose last residence was at Reddish near Stockport, Ellen Bowcon of Liverpool and Sophia Elizabeth Enock of Birmingham."
Henry Dell - 1924
"To my sister-in-law Sophia Elizabeth Derrington the wife of Edwin Derrington fifty pounds."
Page updated 30th March, 2021.
