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Full Description
This book explores the history of the furniture manufacturer Harris
Lebus from 1840 to 1970. Four generations of the Lebus family were engaged in
the business which evolved from a family partnership into a public company. Oliver Lebus was chairman when the company ceased cabinet furniture
manufacturing at Tottenham Hale in 1970.
Using personal testimonies from those who were there, aspects of the story of 'the largest furniture factory' in the world
are told through their eyes and using, in as far as possible, their own words.
On a relatively, unremarkable North London
Street, at Tottenham Hale, a set of railings stops short at a bricked wall on
which a metal gatepost is affixed - this was the Ferry Lane entrance to Harris
Lebus 'the largest furniture factory in the world'.
Beyond the solitary post, a sloped, grass
verge leads to a pleasant, low-rise housing built in the 1970's - Ferry Lane
estate, and it is hard to imagine that this was once a bustling, energised
furniture manufacturing hub. For seventy
years furniture flowed on conveyor belts, and through a tunnel under Ferry Lane
as the factory expanded in the fifties to occupy what is now Hale Village.
During both World Wars the parts for wooden aircraft were made and assembled in
huge workshops that were shrouded in secrecy.
With the discovery of the factory underground
war shelters in 2008 under what is now Hale Village and a subsequent Lebus
exhibition curated by Haringey Local History Archives, interest was generated
in this aspect of history and which has subsequently gathered momentum.
Thousands of workers, each living individual lives came from near and far to
spend their working days at Lebus. Many formed lifelong friendships, and just
as four generations of the Lebus family spent their working lives in the
factory, so too did successive generations of other families. Seemingly
forgotten in the passing of time, they all left an indelible mark in this
history. And in the case of some, their identities now emerge as their stories are
explored; they are brought back to life telling their experiences in their own
words.
This is Paul Collier's first foray into
authorship. In 2008, shortly after moving to Ferry Lane estate, Paul made a
connection with Oliver Lebus, then in his nineties and who was the last family
member of four generations at the company. They formed a special friendship and
over several afternoons at his home in Kensington, Oliver introduced the author
to his personal archives on which the foundations of this book were laid.
Fully supported by both
Haringey Local History Archives and members of the extended Lebus family, Harris
Lebus - A Romance with the Furniture Trade, fully illustrated with over 200 photographs
and images is a must read! His debut book appeals to a wide audience - interest
in this history extends far beyond the locality of Tottenham Hale and Haringey,
and will delight social historians and those with connections to the furniture
trade, past and present.
