Fosbery & Co., London
The Fosbery life preserver factory was owned and founded by Arthur Fosbery. He was born in 1836 in Upper Clapton, Middlesex, as the son of Caroline and John. Arthur was married to Anne Carle and had four children.
In the 1881 census he is listed as a "Manufacturer of Marine Lifesaving Apparatus" and the employer of three men and one woman.
Arthur Fosbery died in the first quarter of 1915. His founding partner was most probably Thomas Jeal (born c. 1842, died 1889). His identity is unconfirmed, but since Jeal is such a rare name other candidates can almost certainly be ruled out – and his early death would explain the name change of the company.
The first cork lifebelt was invented in 1854 by RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) inspector Captain Ward, so the Fosbery and Jeal company must have been founded sometime in the early sixties of the nineteenth century.
A Fosbery advertisement sign in a private collection.
A Jeal and Fosbery advertisement.
- Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, Monday, April 6th, 1874.
Limehouse, London
As can be seen in the above advertisements from 1874, their address was 59, High-Street Poplar, E.
In 1893 the firm was situated at 3, West India Dock Road, London, E.
As per the Trades Directory of the Post Office London Directory of 1910, Fosbery & Co. had relocated to Rich Street, Limehouse.[1]
It was at this address that the White Star Line ordered their new Fosbery Overhead lifebelts to be supplied to their new vessels Olympic and Titanic.
They later moved to the Abbey Road Industrial Estate in Barking. In 1980 the company left the Barking premises and was officially dissolved in 1993.[1]
Prior to one of these moves to a new location, all information about the Fosbery Overhead lifebelts used on the Titanic was discarded and is sadly now lost to history.[2]
[1] Valence House Archive & Local Studies Center
[2] Correspondence from Charles Haas
Above, on the map, the former Fosbery factory was where the furniture factory now is.
Left, the original Fosbery buildings, to the left and right of the General Store on Rich Street.
Colorize photograph of Fosbery at Barking Wharf.
Photo Jonathan Smith collection.
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