It was 80 years ago when an enemy aircraft flew over a bruised and battered Norwich – and dropped one large bomb which destroyed a world famous city centre factory.
But what happened next illustrated so well the determination and spirit of the people on the ground as Norfolk came under attack during the Second World War.
The family firm of F W Harmer & Co, went on to become one of the biggest private clothing companies in the land with headquarters in Norwich and branch factories in Diss, Fakenham, Stradbroke, Syleham and Watton.
And it was a family concern with a busy and bustling social side which played a leading role in so many lives over the generations.
It all started in 1825 when William Harmer would travel by stage-coach to the north of England to buy cloth which would be delivered to Norwich months later by horse-drawn wagon or boat and packmen would sell the goods to tailors.
Rivett & Harmer grew. Other members of the Harmer family joined and then, in 1850, when Samuel Rivett retired, Frederic William, aged just 15, a very clever and much respected young man who went on to play a prominent role in city life, arrived.
He heard about a French invention for the “stitching together of materials by machine.” He ordered some of the first sewing machine to reach England and the manufacturing began.
Frederic added a small factory to the warehouse in Bethel Street, Norwich, and the demand for the ready-to-wear clothing for men and women took off.
Other members of the family came along and in 1889 the renowned architect E.T. Boardman designed a landmark factory in St Andrew’s Street.
Next door the brilliant William Harding Scott, founder of Laurence, Scott & Electromotors, was making dynamos and the new factory became one of the first to have electric lighting.
Business boomed. They were making thousands of garments every week. During the First World War Harmers made uniforms for the soldiers. The company provided work for many people and at the start of the Second World War more government orders came in.
Then, in March 1943, the factory was destroyed but it did not take long for Harmers to carry on. Empty properties around the city were offered, Chamberlains lent their cutting room for night work. They operated from the old Drill Hall and a disused Baptist Chapel on Unthank Road.
The generous help of friends in the trade, kept the company going and in 1948 a brand new, high-tech, large clothing factory opened on Havers Road. It included two canteens, a hairdressers, surgery and many different departments where clothes were made.
It was said the first impression upon crossing the threshold was one of cleanliness and efficiency. There was also a busy and active social side for the employees. They weren’t people who just worked together…they were friends.
When Harmers celebrated their 150th anniversary in 1975 it was among the biggest privately owned clothing manufacturers in the country. But times were changing, Cheaper clothes were coming in from overseas. By 1990 the end had arrived…but the memories remain.
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