John Ashworth Crabtree
John Ashworth Crabtree (1886-1935) the founder of J. A. Crabtree and Co
1886 Born in Manchester the son of John Ashworth Crabtree, Senior, a yard manager at coal wharf, and his wife Martha
1911 Married Gwendoline Edith Mason
Birth of son Jack Crabtree
1935 December 3rd. Died. Probate to his widow Gwendolen Edith Crabtree, his widow.
1936 Obituary [1]
MR. J. A. CRABTREE, head of the firm of J. A. Crabtree & Company, Ltd., of Walsall, died on December 3, 1935, at the age of 49.
Mr. Crabtree was born in Rochdale in 1886 and started his industrial career in Birmingham as an apprentice to an electrical manufacturing concern. He displayed marked ability which led to a rapid rise into other spheres of activity, and during the War his inventive faculties proved of great value to the country.
The electrical accessory company which bears his name came into existence soon after the War and was housed in a tiny factory in Rushall Street, Walsall. The present factory in Lincoln Road was started in 1923, and its rate of growth since that date has been of such a nature that it is now probably one of the largest and best-equipped factories of its kind in the British Empire.
The Rotary Movement was foremost amongst Mr. Crabtree's many interests, and he achieved the highest office in British Rotary in 1933. He was also an economist of considerable standing.
Mr. Crabtree was elected a member of the Institute of Metals on September 11, 1918.