The Business

Edwin Cottam & Co Limited was founded by my great grandfather, Edwin Cottam. He worked in the steel industry all his working life and for many years, he was employed by William Oxley & Co, Parkgate, Rotherham, as a Steel Melter, but by the time of the census in 1891, he had progressed to Works Manager. Shortly afterwards he and his family moved to Cardiff, where he founded the Edwin Cottam & Co Ltd, in 1892, at East Moors, in the docks area of Cardiff. The company manufactured a range of heavy duty coil and laminated steel springs, mainly for the axles of rail locomotives and carriages, which were owned by the many private railway companies. The reason for establishing the business in Cardiff, was probably to take advantage of the growth of the rail industry arising from the expanding coal and steel industries in South Wales. The business was very successful and within a few years, the company acquired a 3.6 acre freehold site at the Don Works, Lincoln Street in Rotherham, to increase manufacturing capacity and to expand sales in the midlands and the north. Edwin remained based in Cardiff with his eldest son, Frank assisting him and his other son, Harry, ran the Rotherham factory from around 1905. At a later point another of Edwin's sons, Wilfred, also joined the business for a number of years. Edwin died in 1938 and about that time, Frank's eldest son, Geoffrey, joined the business in Cardiff and in the late 1940s, Harry's son, Basil, joined the Rotherham factory. After, Frank and Harry died in the 1950s, the business continued to be run by Geoffrey and Basil, but the nationalisation of the rail industry after WW2, resulted in orders becoming increasingly fragmented and they tended to veer between 'feast and famine'. The radical cut back of the railways in the 1960's arising from the Beeching Report, further reduced demand and in 1965, it was decided to rationalise the business, by closing the Cardiff factory (which was the smaller of the two factories and was leasehold) to concentrate the production at Rotherham. However, the volume of available business continued to decline and in 1967, spring production was stopped, leaving just the rolling mill producing spring steel, mainly for the British Rail repair workshops. In 1972, Geoffrey and Basil decided the business was no longer generating sufficient income to make it worth continuing and as they were both near retirement age anyway, they put the company into voluntary liquidation and sold the Rotherham site. 

The Family History

Edwin Cottam (1853-1938) was one of eleven children born to John Wilson Cottam (1830-1898) and Mary Ann Robinson (1832-1878). They were a working class family and lived in Sheffield; John, and later the boys, worked in the steel industry. Edwin married a local Sheffield girl, Mary Jane Durham (1851-1884) in 1874 and they had three children; Frank Herbert Cottam (1878-1955), Gertrude Cottam (1880-?) and Harry Durham Cottam (1882-1954). After Mary's death in 1878, Edwin married Clara Harriet Pollard (nee Pinnington) (1860-1925). Clara already had a daughter, Nellie Marion Pollard (1881-1963) by her first marriage and they had six more children: Irene Mary Cottam (1887-1918), Wilfred Evelyn Cottam (1888-?), Dorothy Winifred Cottam (1891-?), Ethel Muriel Cottam (1893-1975), Lilian May Cottam (1895-1897) and Violet Doreen Cottam (1899-?).

Edwin's eldest son, Frank Herbert Cottam married in 1908 to Marjorie May King (1888-1956). They initially lived in Penarth (near Cardiff), but then moved to Llandaff, Cardiff, where they remained for the rest of their lives. They had three children, Geoffrey Vincent Cottam (1911-1998), Valerie Cottam (1915-1998) and Clive Lovelace Cottam (1923-2003). Geoffrey married in 1940 to Doreen Patrica Johnson Thomas (1915-1958) and they had one child, Edwin Paul Cottam (that's me).


Paul Cottam