THE GROWTH YEARS

Initially purebred stock was the main business; and Edgar was hatching eggs from 20-30 varieties of poultry. Gradually however, crossbred pullets for egg laying were introduced. Geese and turkeys too came on the scene. The business had been built up exclusively on livestock, but soon after the family moved to Newhouse Farm a friendship developed between Edgar and Ben Stansfield which would lead to important changes.

Ben Stansfield was a partner in a sheet metal business in Hebden Bridge. It was Ben who designed ‘Silver Hen’ chick rearers and other equipment which would be sold by ‘Thornber Bros’. As a result, in 1913, the appliance side of the business began. That same year another major step was taken: Thornbers bought Newhouse Farm.

Any optimism in 1913  was soon dissipated the next year which saw the start of the First World War. During the war years of 1914-18 the firm may have bravely used the slogan ‘Business As Usual’, but times were actually far from usual. Ralph Thornber went off into the Royal Flying Corps – forerunner of the RAF. At home Edgar carried on alone, doing his bit in the Local Defence Corps at evenings and weekends. Ben Stansfield used any time he could spare to keep an eye on the administrative side of things.

Poultry keepers found that their supplies of grain were severely restricted, although this was later helped by supplies of ‘ship-wrecked grain’ classified as unfit for human consumption. The price of hatching eggs rose to between six and seven shillings a dozen (30-40p), twice the price they had been before the war. But there remained a good demand for chicks. Other prices included purebred pullets, available from January to April each year at 12s 6d (62 1/2p), whilst ‘exhibition’ specimens ranged in price from that same price up to an astonishing £20.

During the war the appliance side of the business was cut back. By the early 1920s however, such was the demand that a mill known as Square Works was taken over by Thornbers. The sawdust produced in cutting timber at the mill was used in a ‘Kynock’ gas production plant to provide power, thus the waste from one section drove the two engines which powered the works.

In 1928 however, there was a flashback from the gas plant. Burning shavings scattered over the mill causing a disastrous fire. Attending fire engines pumped water for a whole week. In total the fire cost Thornbers some £10,000.

Such a terrible setback was not to deter further progress. In the early 1930s Edgar, together with a Lancashire duck breeder developed a new duck, based on the Aylesbury, which would fatten quickly and hatch all year round. At the Elphaborough Estate, which had been purchased in 1928, Thornbers were soon raising a million ducks a year.

In 1937, by which time Thornbers output was 3,500,000 chicks and ducks, Cyril Thornber joined the staff. Straight from school he passed from one department to another learning the job the hard way.

With the start of the Second World War two years later Thornbers business was not as badly affected as many others. Grain rationing was based on the numbers of stock at the outbreak of war and Thornbers stocks were very high at the time a census was taken. Even so ducks were considered a luxury and that side of the business was much reduced.

Meanwhile householders were encouraged to raise hens of their own. This created a large demand for chicks from Thornbers.

Edgar Thornber died in 1944. Though having built up a business with an annual turnover of £200,000 he had little interest in wealth for its own sake, taking more pleasure from his garden than in money.

During the war the appliance side of the business was cut back. By the early 1920s however, such was the demand that a mill known as Square Works was taken over by Thornbers. The sawdust produced in cutting timber at the mill was used in a ‘Kynock’ gas production plant to provide power, thus the waste from one section drove the two engines which powered the works.

In 1928 however, there was a flashback from the gas plant. Burning shavings scattered over the mill causing a disastrous fire. Attending fire engines pumped water for a whole week. In total the fire cost Thornbers some £10,000.

Now at the age of just 23 Cyril Thornber found himself with the responsibility of running a large firm – at the centre of one of the greatest concentrations of hatcheries in the world. Thanks to Thornbers and others, Mytholmroyd railway station was despatching up to 2,000 consignments of day old chicks per day.

During the 1950s Thornbers introduced battery cages as the most economic method of rearing chickens and sold them around the world.

Meanwhile in the late 1940s Cyril had been to the USA and met Henry Wallace who later visited Mytholmroyd. Wallace was an expert in breeding hybrid chickens, combining the best characteristics to produce the perfect bird. The result was the 404, which laid brown eggs, and would be the most popular chicken ever bred in Britain. By 1974 Thornbers had sold 250 million. The breeding programme which led to the 404 was helped by the introduction of a computer in 1962. The Elliott 803 cost £30,000 and was one of the first such devices in Britain. It was used for genetic research, accountancy and data processing.

Copyright True North Books Limited © 2008 extract from "Halifax and Calder Valley Memories".