Thomas Whitelegg & Sons Ltd (Established c1880 - 1899)
Dates
- Existence: Established c1880 - 1899
Biography
The Whitelegg family started travelling the fairs in the South-West of England in the late 1980s. The branch of the current business came from Thomas and Rose who started operating on their own just before World War One from their base in Plymouth. In 1916 they purchased their first ride in 1916 a hand-turned juvenile roundabout and the following year Thomas was conscripted and joined the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry. Rose continued operating the family business during the war which included a shooting gallery and café at Anderton and Rowland’s Winter Gardens in Plymouth.
After the war the family resumed normal business and purchased a set of Gallopers and their three sons, Tommy, Frederick and Arthur, soon joined the business which now was called ‘T. Whitelegg and Sons’. The business expanded over time comprising two fairground sites in Plymouth; The Olympia in Union Street and the New Passage.
In 1949 Thomas Whitelegg & Sons Ltd was registered as a limited liability company. Rose dies in 1959 and Thomas a few years later in 1962 and their children took over the business.
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Photographic Album, 1937 - 1941
Photographic album containing black and white photographs of fairgrounds, fairground rides, steam engines and transport, circus, wall of death and fairground shows including Holland, Pat Collins, Butlin, Tom Norman, Manning, Pullen, Ling, Farrar, Tuby, Whitelegg and Anderton and Rowland at Huddersfield, Holmfirth, Lincoln Fair, Horton Feast, Manningham Feast and other locations and showmen with notes. Photographs taken and collected by Rowland Scott, 20p.p.
Photographs and Postcards, c1899 - 1969
Photographs, postcards and negatives of fairgrounds taken by Rowland Scott and other fairground enthusiasts.
Rowland Scott Collection
Photographs related to all aspects of British travelling fairgrounds including; rides, transport, living wagons, showpeople, fairground shows, circuses and organs by Rowland Scott and other authors, a selection of manuscripts by Rowland Scott and a small amount of correspondence.