John White (1884-1974)
John White (1884-1974) of John White (Impregnable Boots)
John White was born in 1884 the youngest of nine brothers and sisters, descending from a long line of shoemakers and cordwainers.
He began his own business at the end of the First World War in 1918 in an old paint shop.
When he launched his own brand of shoes in the 1920s, he catalogued them with the letters KB. It was not until 30 years later he revealed the letters stood for Keep Believing - his motto.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the firm supplied boots to both sides.
By 1941, John White had nine factories, a staff of nearly 2,000 producing three million pairs of boots and shoes a year.
When the Evening Telegraph ran an appeal for money for fighter aircraft during the war, Mr White donated £5,000. A Spitfire, called Impregnable, the trade name of his boots, was bought.
Mr White was mayor of Higham Ferrers for two years, including Coronation Year. In 1952 he was made a Freeman of the Borough and his portrait still hangs in the town hall.
When he retired in 1962, employees presented him with a leather-bound book inscribed with the name of every worker.
Just before Mr White’s death in June, 1974, a £4m merger was announced with Leicester firm George Ward.
Mr White was unhappy the name of the company would change to Ward White Group and won a battle to retain the John White trademark, even though he had retired.
In 1990, the parent company UK Shoe Group sold the firm to a new company known as John White Footwear Ltd.
The company suffered falling orders and a closure was announced in November, 1990, although a plant in Warwickshire was saved following a takeover by a subsidiary of Wollaston company, R. Griggs and Co.[1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph - Friday 04 March 1994