A link to the Sealey family

[Mark]

I received a lovely email today from a kind gentleman who has direct links the Sealey family. He is not a fisherman and so suggested that I post this on the forum for him.

Here it is chaps.

I have to confess that I am not a fisherman and was only vaguely interested in angling during the late 1950s and early 1960s. My only intention when registering for your forum was to be able to offer just a little bit of information about the companies Edgar Sealey and Bernard Sealey.

My surname is Gorton but my mother's maiden name was Sealey and I lived in Redditch from 1948 until 1970. My maternal Grandfather was named Harold Sealey and two of his brothers were Edgar Sealey and Bernard Sealey who were thus both my Great Uncles. To the best of my knowledge all of them lived in Redditch for most of their lives. Edgar Sealey and Bernard Sealey started the two fishing tackle companies which bear their names. My grandfather, Harold Sealey lived from 1881 (I believe) until 1955. He fought and was decorated in World War I.

My grandfather was not on particularly good terms with either of his fishing tackle maker brothers and after returning badly wounded from World War I he worked as caretaker of the Liberal Club in Redditch until he retired.

I know little of the two fishing tackle companies apart from the fact that my Uncle, who was Edgar Sealey's son, (I can't for the life of me recall his Christian name) was at the time a director of the former Edgar Sealey Company which by then had been taken over by Dunlop, offered me part time employment during the Summer of 1968, when I was home for the holiday from Teacher's Training College. I worked in the packing department and despatched Edgar Sealey rods all over the world. At the end of my employment, my uncle gave me a split cane Salmon fly rod and allowed me to buy several other Edgar Sealey fishing rods at very reasonable prices and gave me a Dunlop holdall to keep them in. All of that equipment is now owned by my son who lives in Wales.

That is about all I can contribute to the Edgar Sealey company story but I may be able to offer a little help to several of your contributors about the Bernard Sealey company.
Bernard's son, who inherited that company was named Robert and he is the R. Sealey whose name appears on several of the rods which are pictured in your forum.

I was never really in close contact with my Uncle Bob (Robert) as I was never really interested in fishing but my cousin Paul Gibbs who was a keen match fisherman, was in contact with Uncle Bob and he was given a personalised Bernard Sealey (R Sealey) rod with his name painted onto it, by our Uncle Bob. My cousin sadly passed away two years ago but the rod which Robert Sealey gave to him is also now in the possession of my son.

By the late 1960s, both Edgar Sealey & Bernard Sealey companies had been taken over by other companies and I can offer no information about them.

I am not particularly interested in becoming a member of your forum but thought that perhaps the little information which I could pass on about the two companies and especially my knowledge of who R Sealey was, may be of interest to some of your contributors, so perhaps you might pass this very little information on.

Sincerely

Charles Gorton.(aged 66)

PS. I would mention that the mother of Edgar, Bernard and Harold Sealey was originally Annie Millward, who was related to the Millwards of yet another Redditch fishing tackle/Needle manufacturer. During my youth I knew many people who worked for one or other of the local fishing tackle factories and we lived next door to the Martin James factory in Beoley Road, Redditch and very near to another factory A E Rudge.

Thank you for sharing that with us Charles, it was a very interesting read.

[Bumble]

Fascinating stuff and very incestuous during this period.
Bumble

[JohnL]

Wow, the links between the various companies are incredible. Thanks for posting.

[AshbyCut]

Wonderful information ... especially the confirmation that "R. Sealey" was "Bernard Sealey's" son.

[Barbulus]

I really found this post absolutely fascinating. A great piece of history and a marvellous example of how this Forum has even managed to illicit information from someone who is not interested in fishing but felt a willingness to contribute to others knowledge of relevant and important family history. Thankyou for posting this and thankyou to the good Mr Charles Gorton for originating the contact with a real link to recent history. A really nice read on a Tuesday night. Many thanks.

[Nobby]

Well, we'd all thought that the Sealeys must be related...and now we know!

And Milwards too!


Mark, if you are able, please pass on my gratitude to Mr. Gorton. It was indeed interesting and has answered so many questions.


So now we can tie up the Sealeys, including Robert, and I guess Precision Rods too, the Milwards and the neighbours Martin James and Rudge too.

Marvellous!

[NiceRoach]

What a superb email to have received

[Northern_Nomad]

Having grown up knowing that the Sealey name and fishing were intertwined as much as Redditch as a place was, I found this a fascinating read, even more so as I've just reacquaintenced myself with messr's E Sealey via a recent Octofloat restoration.

As with other correspondance between I believe Tim Walker on another forum, who expressed amazement on the ongoing fascination at the followers of his father, similar with a Hilton relative (forgive hazy details - memory!!) It would seem a shame that the Sealey input should die out. Could an appeal to his natural curiousity with his ancestry be made?

[Mark]

I have given Charles the link to this thread and have asked him if he wants me to set him an account up it would be a pleasure as I am sure some of you chaps would like to communicate further.

[GazTheAngler]

Great Read, thank you Charles.