I knew already from the Census returns that my Nottingham Oldhams were heavily involved in the machine lace making industry, both in Calais, France and at home in Nottingham.
This cutting from the London Gazette shows a partnership between Gervase Oldham (1842-1914) and his nephew John Oldknow Oldham (1858-1913) being dissolved:
Whilst flicking through the card indexes in the Nottingham Archives, I came across Gervase on one of the cards, so ordered up the original document that the card referred to. It was this agreement dated 1882, between Gervase and John’s lace company and that of Lambert & Wood.
Gervase and John are agreeing to use their lace machines to fulfill work solely from Lambert & Wood for a minimum of six months.
I was thrilled to see this original document, not least because of the signatures of Gervase, my 3x great-grand uncle, and John, my 2x great-grand uncle.
I have to add though, that behind every find like this are many hours of unrewarded ‘digging’!
© Caroline Cox and Caroline’s Chronicles. 2011 – current year
Caroline's Chronicles 
That's a great find. What is the significance of the dissolution, do you know? Would it just be that they were getting on in years and there was nobody lined up to take over Gervase's share of the business?
Nice to have found your blog, in any case!
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Thanks for your comment!
I think the partnership was dissolved because they were getting older; Gervase died in 1914 aged 72, and John in 1913 aged 54. The lace industry was booming at this time, so I doubt it was due to any financial problems.
Gervase had two daughters & two sons. I suppose the daughters wouldn't be expected to take over the business & of the sons one became a hairdresser & the other a librarian.
I'm still looking at John's family.
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I am a descendent of Alice (May) (Oldham) Richardson's “May” family – from her brother, William. He married Emma Carr. Then after two sons, cohabitied with a Mary Hunt. They had three children. I have pages of the history of the May family, if you are interested, going back to late 1400, then a gap back to William – 1066. It was good to see your photo of the shop Alice (May) and her first husband Wm. Oldham, had. It was interesting to see that Alice's daughter (Alice) and her 2nd husband, Ernest Richardson”s, son married. When I had previously found Alice's new marriage and saw the ages of those two,in 1911 census, I wondered if they ever got together!!scorgie_jonathan@yahoo.com
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Thank you for your comments – I'll email you direct
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Thank you for sharing such documents and writing a post about it. You may feel unrewarded for that digging, but what you discovered are rare finds.
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Hi Caroline – think there is a strong possibility that we are related. My great great Grandfather is John Oldknow Oldham. My wife and I would be very interested in meeting up at some point. Best Regards, Neil Neil Keighery, Arnold, Nottingham. neil.keighery@ntlworld.com
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Thanks for posting – I'll email you direct
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Hi Caroline my fathers middle name was Gervase and his mother was an Oldham . Her father was Gervase and a hairdresser I have been doing a bit of digging and appreciate you sharing your finds
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Hi, thank you so much for your comment. I believe I have some details of Gervase the hairdresser – was he married to a Rosa? If you'd like to swap info I'm calliec21@gmail.com or via Twitter @cally_c
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