A Worcestershire Dynasty: Dixons of Tardebigge - The History of a North Worcestershire Family and Business Empire

Synopsis

For many years the firm of T & M Dixon was a large business empire centred in the northern part of the Parish of Tardebigge, between Bromsgrove and Redditch, in north-east Worcestershire. It all began when Thomas Dixon, a canal carrier and coal dealer in Birmingham was alloted a boat-length and stacking ground for coal at Tardebigge Old Wharf in 1807 and two years later rented the nearby Lower House Farm and began to farm locally. Eventually two of his grandsons, Thomas and Matthew, developed the business in partnership as T & M Dixon. Over the years more and more local farms were taken over and the business diversified until it embraced, besides coal and a wide variety of farm produce distributed and sold widely, also animal and poultry food, lime, timber, building materials, and garages in Redditch. Dixons also had their own means of transport, a fleet of canal boats, railway waggons, steam and petrol lorries. This work tells the history of the Dixon family and the involvement of its members in the growth and development of the family business over five generations, and of the eventual decline and disintegration of the business following World War II. This book contains the memories of many people who were connected with T & M Dixon in its later years.