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On Thursday 8th October 2015, Fellows exhibited it's current products as well as newly designed and developed CopaCure products in Sandwell.

The exhibition was attended by over 300 delegates from various market sectors and was focused on the new £430 million hospital to be built in Smethwick.

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Fellows Terms and Conditions of Purchase

fellows history

It is believed the Fellows family began their ironworks and japanning business in Bilston in the 1730s. About 1800 the business moved to Pool Street, Wolverhampton. In 1860 Samuel James and Edgar Fellows, two of the three sons of the founder joined to form S. J. & E. Fellows, based in Graiseley Row. The business was very successful and began to produce a wide variety of holloware including milk churns, stoves, marine floats and buoys.

In 1888 the company won a gold medal at an exhibition held in Melboume, Australia to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. From the 1920s onwards, the company became involved in the production of metal products for the catering industry.

The original company of James Fellows and Son went on to become a subsiduary of S. J. & E. Fellows. In I 930, to take advantage of the market following the introduction of import tariffs, the company established Fellows Chamberlin Ltd at Barry Dock in Glamorgan to produce goods for the domestic enamelled holloware market. They eventually specialised in holloware production. The 1960s saw rapid expansion and production. However, economic depression in the 1980s and 1990s saw many job losses. Directors have included WH Corker, T Medley, JLF d'Arcy and C Swan.

A reproduction of a photograph taken by H. J. Whitlock & Sons about 1911, of workers producing milk cans at the Graiseley Row site. Note that they appear to be hand made.

James Fellows (right) & his son, Samuel James, playing chess.

James Fellows & Co. 'Tin trays, brassware, and stamping'

The earliest date to which this firm has been traced is 1865 when an entry in Jones's Mercantile Directory for that year reads, "Fellows, Jas & Son, tray mfrs (blank), Pool Street works". But there is also an entry: "Fellows, Jas & Edgar. hollow ware mfrs & iron braziers, Vulcan Works".

In the next available directory, White's Directory for 1869, the entry under Pool Street, in the part of that street which lies between Ablow Street and Jeddo Street, reads: "100: Fellows, Edgar, iron brazier 100: Fellows, James, blanktray maker." The entry in the trades section also has: "Fellows, James, blank tray maker, 100 Pool Street" and "Fellows, Samuel, James & Edgar, Vulcan Works. Graiseley Row".

Crocker's Directory of 1884 shows "Fellows, James and Son, blank tray manufacturer, Poole Street" and another entry gives the same information but with "100 & 101 Poole Street". This suggests that James Fellows and Son made tray blanks at 100 Pool Street. And that the same James Fellows, along with Edgar Fellows (probably a brother) made holloware in Vulcan Works, Graiseley Row. By 1869 Edgar is operating as an iron brazier, sharing the Pool Street works with James, who continued to make tray blanks there. But the two of them, joined by Samuel (possibly another brother or, maybe a son) also operated a general holloware business in Graiseley Row. The firm of Samuel, James and Edgar Fellows, is clearly the firm which became S. J. & E. Fellows.

James' stray blanks would have been sold to many firms who would have engraved or japanned them before resale.

The Wolverhampton County Borough Directory of 1954 includes the following entries:

Fellows, James & Son, Enamelled Holloware, Pool Street Stamping Works.
Fellows, S. J. & E. Limited, Stampers, Vulcan Works.

Both businesses are listed in Kelly's Directory of Wolverhampton for 1962. S. J. & E. Fellows Limited is described as a holloware manufacturer, elevator bucket manufacturer, and producer of steel metal pressings in mild stainless steel, and aluminium.

The site of Vulcan Works is now occupied by the Fellows division of the Rical Group. The factory produces presswork, assembly and catering products.

The brass tray illustrated here has a mark on the back consists simply of the words "James Fellows & Son" and "Wolverhampton" around a kite registration mark. The year is 1878. This tray is the only example of James Fellows work which has ever been identified. Of course, his blank trays would not have been marked, but his brass and copper wares would have been. The suggestion is that his production was very limited and, perhaps, did not last for long.

It seems likely that James Fellows was finding demand for blank trays to be falling off, as japanned wares became generally less popular. He had therefore decided to try something else and had embarked on making the increasingly popular brass and copper wares.

Presumably James Fellows would have expected to use his contacts gained through S. J. & E. Fellows to sell them direct to wholesalers and retailers.