Womenswear gloves

Historical Associations:

Donor Craig Bailey wrote to Douglas Sweet:"My relationship to the Fownes family is through marriage. Ada Bailey, who was my father's sister, married Stanley Fownes Rigden in 1914. Uncle Stanley was my Godfather, my first name being Stanley, The name changed to Fownes Rigden when the daughter married W G Rigden, Uncle Stanley's parents.Stanley and Ada Rigden had two children, my cousins. John, the elder and Anne. John was with the firm, but his heart was not in it, he always wanted to be an engineer. Anne was with the firm, being an astute businesswoman. She worked in sales and travelled extensively buying leather. (Mainly Germany, Czechoslovakia, and France). Neither John nor Anne married. John died a few years ago and Anne four years ago, my family being sole relatives.I found the gloves and documents at Anne's home in Worcester. I feel sure the gloves were samples.The Company's head office was in Gresham Street in the City. (It survived the Blitz), I frequently visited there. The factory was in Worcester which is now the Fownes Hotel, and a factory at Grenoble, France. Hence the reason why some of the gloves are made in France. They had a French factory until after the last war.Eventually the Company merged with the "Opposition", Dents and is now Fownes-Dents. The family no longer have any connection with the Company.Uncle Stanley offered me a job in the Company when I left the army after the war. However I could not face a life in the City and joined the Essex Police instead !!!"