Vintage Huckerby & Growdridge Ltd Hosiery Trade Trunk – Hinckley, Leicestershire

This one has a bit more going for it than a standard vintage fibre trunk. The bold company branding, Hinckley hosiery connection and accompanying research give it genuine local and industrial-history appeal.

Displayed with other items illustration only not included for sale separately

54 cm wide

56 cm depth

19 cm tall

Vintage Huckerby & Growdridge Ltd Hosiery Trade Trunk – Hinckley, Leicestershire – Mid-20th Century

A wonderfully evocative mid-20th-century commercial fibre trunk / storage case, boldly printed for Huckerby & Growdridge Ltd of Hawley Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire, manufacturers of ladies’ hosiery.

Made from sturdy brown fibreboard with riveted reinforcing bands and black protective corner pieces, the case has exactly the sort of honest, workmanlike construction associated with factory and commercial luggage of the period. Across the front is the particularly attractive original black lettering:

HUCKERBY & GROWDRIDGE LTD

HAWLEY ROAD, HINCKLEY, LEICS.

TELEPHONE – HINCKLEY 38381 / 38340

It is a lovely survivor from the days when Hinckley and the wider East Midlands were at the heart of Britain's hosiery and knitting industries. Historical industry records specifically list Huckerby & Growdridge at Hawley Road, Hinckley, alongside many of the town's other hosiery manufacturers.

Huckerby & Growdridge History

Huckerby & Growdridge Ltd was established in 1922 and became a manufacturer of ladies' fine-gauge hosiery. A surviving 1940 trade advertisement identifies the company as manufacturers of stockings in pure silk, rayon, lisle and cotton, sold under the registered Cubex Hosiery name.

The firm appears to have had quite a long life. Later industrial records still identify Huckerby & Growdridge Ltd as a Hinckley company, although by that stage its address was given as New Road rather than Hawley Road. The company was still officially described as a hosiery manufacturer when a liquidator was appointed in February 1985.

The five-digit Hinckley telephone numbers on this case differ from the much earlier "Hinckley 181" number shown in the 1940 advertisement, so I would describe the trunk cautiously as post-war / mid-20th century, rather than dating it specifically to 1940.

Although its precise original function cannot now be confirmed, its robust construction and company branding suggest it was made for use within the business, quite possibly for carrying or storing hosiery stock, samples or other factory material. That commercial provenance makes it far more interesting than an anonymous vintage storage trunk.

The case comes with a copy of a 1940 hosiery trade advertisement relating to Huckerby & Growdridge, providing a fascinating piece of supporting history.

Condition

A genuine working piece which has certainly earned its patina. There are marks, scuffs, rubbing, discolouration and wear to the fibre covering, together with age-related wear around edges, corners, rivets and reinforcing pieces. Some of the applied reinforcing material has become worn and slightly ragged in places. The interior also shows expected signs of previous use.

We have deliberately left all of this untouched; the wear is very much part of its industrial character and history. Please study the photographs carefully as they form an important part of the condition description.

A superb piece for a vintage interior, retail display, textile collection or industrial/social-history collection, while also providing useful decorative storage. The typography alone is terrific.

Suggested price: £78

Why we love it: This isn't simply an old trunk with a name painted on it. It can be tied to a real Hinckley hosiery manufacturer operating for more than half a century, and the wonderful factory lettering turns an everyday working object into a small piece of Leicestershire's textile history.

Vintage Huckerby & Growdridge Hosiery Trade Trunk Hinckley Leicestershire