My great-grandfather (1849 - 1916)
This photo (1907) shows Thomas Swaine Kaye with his second wife Louisa and two of his sons William Henry (left) and Tom (right, who established Kayes of Middlesborough - also tool merchants).
Thomas Swaine was apprenticed for six years in 1864 to his saw-maker uncle George Rusby Kaye, in Leicester (see the Indenture document below). At the age of 20, he started going to evening classes to further his education, married, and then with the help of three friends (a bricklayer, a joiner, and a plumber) built two houses. He sold these in 1877 for £600 to raise the capital to buy Thos. Thacker's tool (and bird-stuffing) business in Hull. The bird-stuffing side of the business soon died out - apparently T.S.Kaye was "..not interested in dead birds except as food".
The business flourished under Thomas Swaine's rule: he imported iron nails from France and Belgium, and machine tools from Germany. He visited tool-makers in Sheffield regularly to order his stock (which he ensured was always stamped with the 'Kaye' brand), and he even designed and had made new tools - for example a very successful shipwright's saw, which sold very well in the Hull dockyards. Sadly, his first wife, Jane, died in 1884, leaving him with six unruly children to look after. After getting through twelve different housekeepers in nine months, he married Louisa, the widow of his brother-in-law Henry Ringrose, a butcher from Leicester, who brought her own two sons into the family (the eldest, John, came into the business at the age of 12, until his death 48 years later).
Thomas Swaine was apprenticed for six years in 1864 to his saw-maker uncle George Rusby Kaye, in Leicester (see the Indenture document below). At the age of 20, he started going to evening classes to further his education, married, and then with the help of three friends (a bricklayer, a joiner, and a plumber) built two houses. He sold these in 1877 for £600 to raise the capital to buy Thos. Thacker's tool (and bird-stuffing) business in Hull. The bird-stuffing side of the business soon died out - apparently T.S.Kaye was "..not interested in dead birds except as food".
The business flourished under Thomas Swaine's rule: he imported iron nails from France and Belgium, and machine tools from Germany. He visited tool-makers in Sheffield regularly to order his stock (which he ensured was always stamped with the 'Kaye' brand), and he even designed and had made new tools - for example a very successful shipwright's saw, which sold very well in the Hull dockyards. Sadly, his first wife, Jane, died in 1884, leaving him with six unruly children to look after. After getting through twelve different housekeepers in nine months, he married Louisa, the widow of his brother-in-law Henry Ringrose, a butcher from Leicester, who brought her own two sons into the family (the eldest, John, came into the business at the age of 12, until his death 48 years later).
Here is an image of the apprenticeship Indenture document dated May 7th 1864, signed by my great-grandfather, his father (Thomas Kaye), and his uncle (George Rusby Kaye).