News and views

Snippet of Kirkpatrick Ltd History – Kirkpatrick Scholarship Update

Last year, we published a post about the Kirkpatrick Scholarship and asked if anyone could shed more light on the history of this award and our company.

Today we were contacted by Margaret, who has informed us that the Kirkpatrick Scholarship Programme was established in 1894 from £500 donation made by Miss Sarah Janet Kirkpatrick.

Margaret is currently writing a biography on Ethel Clara Liggins, an artist who was awarded the Kirkpatrick Scholarship in 1905.

Ethel was a student at the Walsall Science and Art Institute and was the first women to receive the scholarship. £13 per annum was awarded for three years.

It is great to learn about the history of the family of Mr William Kirkpatrick, who founded our company over 160 years ago and how involved they were in the Walsall community.

We would like to say a special thank – you to Margaret for enlightening us on this snippet of Kirkpatrick Ltd History.

Here is an image showing the foundation stone of the Science and Art Insitute being laid, Mr Kirkpatrick, the Mayor of Walsall at the time, is in this photo.

Below you can read the previous post about the Kirkpatrick Scholarship.

We recently received a visit from a family who needed to purchase some coal tongs for a Christmas gift. Nothing unusual in that and we are always keen to show visitors around and demonstrate the high quality of our products and how they are superior to any others. It transpired that the family had connections with Walsall so this made the choice even more appropriate.

We subsequently received an e-mail from the family informing us that they had recently been sorting out their late father’s papers and had found a certificate showing that he had been awarded the “Kirkpatrick Scholarship” at Walsall Technical College in 1950/51. The family was wondering whether there was a connection with Kirkpatrick Ltd.

We are unable to say for sure but we are fairly certain that there is a connection. It is well known that William Kirkpatrick, our founder, was Mayor of Walsall in 1886/87 and was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Walsall Municipal Science and Art Institute. Indeed, the foundation stone still shows his name on the building. After his death, his son Vincent Kirkpatrick, was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Institute. It seems reasonable to assume, therefore, that given their philanthropic nature, then it would not be unusual for them to sponsor a local scholarship.

The image to the left shows a copy of the Certificate from 1950/51. If anyone can shed any more light on this or on any more history of our Company then we would be glad to know of it.