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Description
Three black and white photographs of the constriction of the factory for B. Prince and Co. Ltd, from a series of ten albums commissioned from photographer Leonard Taylor by the engineering firm Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, who acted as consultants on the creation of the Treforest Trading Estate. The photo albums were deposited at Pontypridd Museum by the granddaughter of the photographer.
B. Prince & Co. Ltd was founded in 1938 by B. Prince, a refugee from Nazi-Europe. They produced watch straps in leather and plastic, metal bands, leather cuff links, men’s toilet cases and link stud boxes and jewellery cases. The factory was located at Unit C5. The business later moved to Fairfield House, Treforest.
The first image shows the completed steelwork.
The second image shows the brickwork in progress.
The third image shows the interior of one of the completed units.
All photographs are from Album B.
Treforest Trading Estate, near Pontypridd, was set up as part of the Special Areas Act of 1934. The Act was created to help parts of Britain with high unemployment, and it offered support to businesses to set up in these areas. When the Nazis began seizing Jewish businesses in Germany in the years after 1933, many Jewish refugees fled here to establish their businesses with help from this scheme.
By May 1940, 55 businesses started by Jewish refugees were running at Treforest. They provided jobs for around 1,800 local people.
Sources:
Beebe, Tiffany, Britain’s special areas and the refugee crisis (2024) https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c04a1a0d2897409d84ee2169cfb4f914 [accessed 26 September 2024]
Graces Guide, B. Prince and Co (2020) https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/B._Prince_and_Co [accessed 15 October 2024]
Parry-Jones, Cai, The History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales (doctoral thesis, Bangor University, 2014)
https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/20579001/null [accessed 26 September 2024]
Refugees from National Socialism in Wales, Treforest Trading Estate https://wp-research.aber.ac.uk/nsrefugeeswales/history/life-for-refugees-in-wales/treforest-industrial-estate/ [accessed 26 September 2024]
Depository: Pontypridd Museum.
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