Reference
Z1671/1
Title
Papers of Mrs. Earey's grandfather, Edwin John Bates of Luton
Date free text
1915-2017
Production date
From: 1915 To: 2017
Scope and Content
Edwin John Bates was born in Luton in 1863, the youngest son of George Bates, a corn merchant and master miller, and Harriet Bates (nee Bishop). He was educated at the Mead House Boarding School in Biggleswade and married Ann Wood Brandreth from Doncaster in 1881.
After several years working for the Great Northern Railway he joined his father's business of George Bates & Son at Pickford Mill in Harpenden. The firm went into liquidation in 1895 but Edwin carried on trading as the Hides & Feathers Food Factory, grinding corn for animal feeds, until 1901. In this year he began working as an engineer for the Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Company in London, returning to Luton to see his family at weekends. In 1915 the company sent him to work at their Phoenix works in Petrograd in Russia. He remained there for two years and left in 1917, shortly before the revolution. He died in Luton in 1949.
The items deposited by Mrs Earey relate to Edwin's time at the Phoenix works and include letters written to him, after his return to England, by his former colleagues caught up in the after effects of the revolution and civil war in Russia.
A more detailed account of the life of Edwin John Bates, written by Mary Earey, can be found in Z1671/3.
Level of description
sub-fonds