The history of Samuel Gawith and Company - part II

"In 1841, Thomas Harrison died, leaving the premises, and his share in Harrison and Brocklebank, to Jane and her sister Ann. Consequently Samuel and Jane moved into Lowther Street, the former relinquishing his earlier trade and working alongside the elderly Thomas Brocklebank.
In 1842, Samuel Gawith (The Second) was born, and over the next 14 years 5 siblings followed.
Somewhere in the mid 1840s Thomas Brocklebank passed away, and when Ann Harrison died in 1852, the ownership of 27 Lowther Street, and by now the whole of the business, fell to the hands of Samuel Gawith.
In 1864, after serving some years as councillor, Samuel Gawith was elected mayor of Kendal, but suffered a personal tragedy also when Jane died on 3rd October. A year and six days later, Samuel followed his wife, to be buried together at the cemetery on Castle Street, a few minutes walk from the current company premises.
Samuel Gawith left the business, and the well being of the family, in the hands of 3 trustees, as Samuel the Second, already active in the business, was only 22. The trustees were Samuel himself, Henry Hoggarth and John Illingworth. Those familiar with snuff in the UK, and especially production within Kendal, will now recognise names associated with 3 seperate snuff manufacturers, and their significance will unfold in this text.
Henry Hoggarth was apparently a "land surveyor" of Kendal, indeed, of no.29 Lowther Street, so we can assume a friendship existed between him and Samuel the First, as well as some civic responsibilities that were shared between the two."

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