Adolphus Parkin Barker

Adolphus – known within the family as Dick -married Annie Louisa Duckworth in 1899.  They had two children Ada and Edwin.  Adolphus followed his father and grandfather into woodturning and bobbin making and took over the shuttlecock making business.  Shuttlecock and battledore -a different affair from badminton – was popular at Shrove Tuesday, especially in the north.  It was possibly a humane development of the cock fighting and cock stoning that used to happen happen on the day in the distant past.  Shuttlecocks did not last beyond the season and needed to be bought every year which is why  there was a steady demand.  AP Barker Ltd claimed to be be the largest manufacturer in the world and unlike many others to produce shuttlecocks throughout the year.  They were producing half and million a year at one time using two and a half tons of feathers.  They also made the tops which boys tended to play with -80 000 per year – and piggies and sticks.

AP Barker Ltd was still in business in 1934 -possibly run by Ada who was working in the firm in 1921 – and still producing 180 000 shuttlecocks a year.  They were different from badminton shuttlecocks, using a longer length of feather, eight in all.

Adolphus does not seem to have been the sharp elbowed entrepreneur.  He like reading and there was a second hand bookshop on his way to work.  When his wife came down with his dinner she often, apparently, found him sitting there reading.  He was also an early photographer and a little album of photographs of his siblings survives.  Included is a photograph of Ada and Edwin in the Rugby Street house which gives a rare interior view.