Chas. F. Thackray Company, Archive
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
A.2023.7
Date
1902-1997
Extent and medium
27 boxes
Administrative / Biographical History
The Chas. F. Thackray Company was established in 1902 by Charles Frederick Thackray (1877-1934) and Henry Scurrah Wainwright (1877-1968). After qualifying as a pharmacist, Thackray opened a small family-run chemist shop on Great George Street, Leeds in 1902 with his friend and financial partner, Wainwright, purchased from Samuel Taylor. From here, Thackray developed the business into a major medical supply firm, manufacturing and supplying drugs and medical instruments and equipment across the world. In 1906 Thackray had purchased the sterilizer which he used to supply dressings to Leeds General Infirmary, and that same year sold his first surgical instruments, and made instruments for well-known surgeons such as Berkeley Moynihan.An office in London was opened in 1910.
During the First World War, the company became recognised throughout the North of England as a major distributor of a broad range of surgical supplies, supplying drugs and equipment directly to Yorkshire hospitals, and were accepted by the War Office as a standard for supplying field dressings. This caused the business to prosper and by 1921 Chas. F. Thackray was included in the list of Leeds Chamber of Commerce members under "Scientific Instrument Makers".
During the 1920s and 1930s the company changed an emphasis from pharmaceuticals and dressings to surgical supply and the company took over a new building in Park Street, Leeds. While the retail pharmacy shop continued to thrive, the company increased its manufacturing capacity, making hospital sterilizers, operating tables and other hospital furniture. At that time, the Thackray Company also began to export products overseas, sending representatives to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and West Africa. Chas. F. Thackray died in 1934 and Mercer Gray succeeded him as Managing Director, with Thackray's sons, Noel and Tod, serving as directors, who would later succeed Gray in 1956. After the Second World War, the Thackray company created a subsidiary company in South Africa, which lasted until 1969.
Already highly respected, the company’s long-term collaboration with Professor John Charnley brought about its major achievement in contributing to the development of the Charnley Hip System in 1963, the first successful total hip replacement procedure which is still the best-selling cemented hip system in the world. Charnley had first asked the Thackray Company to make surgical instruments in 1947, but developed an artificial hip, which comprised a ball-ended stem which fitted into the patient's thigh bone, and a cup, which took the place of the socket in the pelvis.
The Thackray Company continued to establish new products and services throughout the twentieth century, including Thackraycare, which employed trained nurses to work in the community, fitting appliances required by customers and providing advice. The success of this appliance centre meant that Thackraycare centres were opened across the United Kingdom.
Following the sale of the company in 1990 to DePuy Synthes (a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson), one of the directors, Paul Thackray (Chas. F. Thackray's grandson) established the Thackray Museum of Medicine, to support the company’s collection as a resource for research and public education.
During the First World War, the company became recognised throughout the North of England as a major distributor of a broad range of surgical supplies, supplying drugs and equipment directly to Yorkshire hospitals, and were accepted by the War Office as a standard for supplying field dressings. This caused the business to prosper and by 1921 Chas. F. Thackray was included in the list of Leeds Chamber of Commerce members under "Scientific Instrument Makers".
During the 1920s and 1930s the company changed an emphasis from pharmaceuticals and dressings to surgical supply and the company took over a new building in Park Street, Leeds. While the retail pharmacy shop continued to thrive, the company increased its manufacturing capacity, making hospital sterilizers, operating tables and other hospital furniture. At that time, the Thackray Company also began to export products overseas, sending representatives to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and West Africa. Chas. F. Thackray died in 1934 and Mercer Gray succeeded him as Managing Director, with Thackray's sons, Noel and Tod, serving as directors, who would later succeed Gray in 1956. After the Second World War, the Thackray company created a subsidiary company in South Africa, which lasted until 1969.
Already highly respected, the company’s long-term collaboration with Professor John Charnley brought about its major achievement in contributing to the development of the Charnley Hip System in 1963, the first successful total hip replacement procedure which is still the best-selling cemented hip system in the world. Charnley had first asked the Thackray Company to make surgical instruments in 1947, but developed an artificial hip, which comprised a ball-ended stem which fitted into the patient's thigh bone, and a cup, which took the place of the socket in the pelvis.
The Thackray Company continued to establish new products and services throughout the twentieth century, including Thackraycare, which employed trained nurses to work in the community, fitting appliances required by customers and providing advice. The success of this appliance centre meant that Thackraycare centres were opened across the United Kingdom.
Following the sale of the company in 1990 to DePuy Synthes (a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson), one of the directors, Paul Thackray (Chas. F. Thackray's grandson) established the Thackray Museum of Medicine, to support the company’s collection as a resource for research and public education.
Scope and content
Memorandum and articles of association, finance records, personnel records, recipe books, publicity material, staff publications, pattern labels, correspondence, operational records, instrument drawings, magazine files, press cuttings, scrapbooks, catalogues and photographs. The collection also contains records relating to the Thackray Company subsidiary in South Africa (1945-1969) and order books compiled by T.S. Beardmore, Chas. F. Thackray's overseas representative, between 1930 and 1937.
Conditions governing access
Parts of this collection are restricted - please contact Collections Department for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Not permitted.
Language
English
Contents
- A.2023.7.1 - Memorandum and Articles of Association
- A.2023.7.10 - Finance Records
- A.2023.7.12 - Recipe Books
- A.2023.7.13 - South African Company Records
- A.2023.7.14 - Publicity Material
- A.2023.7.15 - Staff Publications
- A.2023.7.16 - Sealed Pattern Labels
- A.2023.7.3 - Operational Records
- A.2023.7.4 - Order books compiled by T.S. Beardmore
- A.2023.7.5 - Surgical Instrument Design Drawings
- A.2023.7.6 - Magazine files, Press Cuttings and Scrapbooks
- A.2023.7.8 - Manuals
- A.2023.7.9 - Catalogues and Product Literature
- A.2023.7.7 - Photographs