Fort Brothers and Co
of Oakenshaw and Manchester
Calico printers
1817 Changes. '...the Partnership heretofore subsisting between the undersigned, Richard Fort and John Fort, and carried on at Oakenshaw and Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, under the firm of Richard Fort and Sons, and in Bucklersbury, London, under the firm of Richard Fort and Co. as Calico-Printers, was dissolved by mutual consent on the 31st day of December last; and the same business has since that time been continued under the same firms by the said John Fort, and by Lawrence Fort and Ben Fort; and the same will in future be carried on by them at the places aforesaid, under the firm, at Oakenshaw and Manchester, of Fort, Brothers, and Co and in London, under the firm of Fort and Co.; As witness the hands of the said Richard Fort and John Fort...'[1]
1833 Partnership dissolved. '...the Partnership heretofore subsisting between the undersigned, John Fort, Lawrence Fort, William Fielding, William Bates, John Mercer, Thomas Higg, and George Foster, as Calico-Printers and Merchants, carried on at Manchester, Oakenshaw, and Sabden, all in the County of Lancaster, under the firm of Fort, Brothers and Co and in the City of London, under the firm of Fort and Co. expires by effluxion of time on the present day...'[2]
1844 Partnership change. '...Partnership lately subsisting between John Fort now deceased, William Fielding, now deceased, William Bates, John Mercer, Thomas Bigg now deceased, and James Hindle, in the business of Calico Printers, carried on at Oakenshaw and Manchester, under the firm of Fort, Brothers, and Company, was dissolved, by the death of the said John Fort, on the 7th day of April 1842. The business will in future be carried on under the same firm as before by; the undersigned Richard Fort, William Bates, John Mercer, and James Hindle...'[3]
1848 The business closed, faced with severe foriegn competition