by Keith Jenkin, SMSQF of Minster Saddler
We count ourselves fortunate indeed to
have the services of Edward Lawrence a Master Saddler with forty-seven
years’ continuous service in the trade. He joined Champion
and Wilton of London in 1956 and served a five-year apprenticeship with
them. Champion and Wilton were founded in 1780 and had premises
in Oxford Street, opposite Selfridges, in London’s West
End. At one time they employed over one hundred saddlers making
saddles, harness and other saddlery items and became, as holders of the
Royal Warrant, the most highly respected firm in the country and I
don’t doubt that many a stately home will still have a Champion
and Wilton saddle tucked away somewhere in their tack room.
Obviously, in common with every other saddlery firm, the motorcar
decimated their business when the harness side fell away to virtually
nothing.The saddles they made were true bespoke
saddles, hand made in the traditional manner, involving several
fittings. This method has now largely died out by virtue of cost
and most of today’s riders are completely unaware that most
saddles were made in this way until the middle of the twentieth
century. Nevertheless, our competitors continue to denigrate our
made to measure system and we continue to emphasise that we do not
pretend that our system is the same as the outdated bespoke method
employed by Champion and Wilton and their contemporaries. Our
method is simply an up-to-date process taking advantage of the
economies of scale available from the modern Walsall saddle
makers’ methods of production. Still I suppose they would
not keep banging on about it if our method were not causing them
problems. I suppose we should be flattered!
Champion and Wilton were taken
over by Giddens, another large London firm, in 1962, shortly after the
death of Major William Palmer Wilton who was the last of the Wilton
dynasty. Giddens themselves naturally trained apprentices as did
most saddlers in common with every other trade and many boys on leaving
school became apprenticed in one trade or another and in consequence
resultant skilled tradesmen were plentiful, valued and respected.
Regrettably due to misguided policies by both politicians and industry
alike apprenticeship schemes have largely died out. Instead our
government wants half the population to be university graduates many of
whom will leave university with degrees in subjects which will not
obtain them gainful employment, but will leave them deep in debt.
Meanwhile skilled tradesmen in most trades will become fewer, could it
be a case of too many (aspiring) Chiefs and not enough Indians.
Meanwhile, for the present, we
still enjoy the skills of Ted Lawrence whose knowledge of the Saddlery
Trade is encyclopaedic. But in common with most “time
served” saddlers, he does not agree with the practice of
re-flocking saddles without taking the panel out, a method taught by
some saddlery colleges and others where many of today’s saddlers
are
trained. In any event it is not possible to remove old flocking
from a panel and then re-stuff it without taking the panel out and
re-lacing it back in again, but in twenty or thirty years time there
will be hardly anyone left capable of doing this job outside Walsall
where 99% of all English saddles are made. Meanwhile because of
Ted’s experience and skill we are able to overhaul and renovate
second-hand saddles and supply them modified to a template to fit a
specific horse and most of our trade in used saddles is uniquely
supplied in this way.
Unfortunately, like me, Ted is
no spring chicken and when his skills are in time lost to us they will
be impossible to replace. But not to worry, we will have lots of
graduates, many of whom will be obliged to accept employment in
occupations where a degree is far from necessary. Would it not be
more sensible for the government to make every effort to encourage
industry to reinstate apprentice schemes?