Crookes Centenary.Pdf
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CONTENTS Introduction by MD 03 The pioneers 04 Crookes Brothers established 06 A burgeoning industry 08 The specialist farming company 12 Into Africa 16 25 year club 18 Crookes and the community 20 A bright future 21 GEORGE CROOKES JOHN CROOKES VERNON CROOKES CHARLES CROOKES 1913-1948 1948-1962 1962-1970 1970-1985 IVAN GILLATT DENNIS CROOKES FRED PALMER GUY WAYNE 1985-1993 1993-1998 1998-2008 2008-current 02 INTRODUCTION BY MD Crookes Brothers Limited was registered as a joint stock company 100 years ago in June 1913 by brothers George, Fred and John Crookes. To mark the company’s centenary we have compiled a short e-book which chronicles the history of the Crookes family in South Africa and the company itself, from the arrival of Samuel Crookes in Durban in 1860 to the present day. We, the management, employees and shareholders, are extremely proud of the history, traditions and reputation established by Crookes Brothers as a pioneering company in the South African sugar industry. While the demands and challenges of the 21st century business environment are very different from those faced by the pioneer farmers of the early Natal colony, we remain committed to the values of integrity, excellence and fairness championed by our founders 100 years ago. Guy Clarke Johannesburg Stock Exchange One of the original plaques from the prices board of the trading One of the many floor which closed on 7 June 1996 Top Hundred Companies awards 03 THE PIONEERS The story of Crookes Brothers is intricately woven into the story of the growth of the South African sugar industry and the development of the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast which became the home of the Crookes family. Crookes Brothers Limited officially came into being in 1913 when the company was formally registered as a joint stock company. But the story of Crookes Brothers dates back to the mid 1800s and the Byrne Settlers, in particular British immigrant Joseph Landers, a farmer and brick maker; and to the arrival of another English immigrant, Samuel Crookes, in 1860. Both Joseph Landers and Samuel Crookes were from Finningley in Yorkshire. Joseph Landers and his family left the Byrne Valley in 1858. He and his son Thomas established themselves on two portions of wild virgin land of 600 acres (243 hectares) each obtained on favourable terms from the British Crown under a scheme to encourage new immigrants. They chose their land on the Mpambanyoni River, at what is now Scottburgh on the South Coast of Natal. Samuel Crookes’ properties in the 1890s Samuel Crookes, the patriarch of the Crookes family, arrived in Durban at Fanny and they duly produced three the age of 21, where he was apprenticed sons, George, Fred and John, and three as a wainwright or wagon builder. In daughters, Clara, Helena and Emily. the same year the first 600 indentured In 1878 Samuel Crookes registered a Indian labourers arrived in Natal to company, S Crookes & Sons, to house work in the cane fields. At the age of 26, his farming and milling interests. At the after completing his apprenticeship, he age of 16 John, who was the youngest, moved south to Scottburgh to work for left the Berea Academy in Durban to the Landers’ and soon started his own become an overseer in the cane fields. cane farming venture. Within a year The company prospered and expanded its he married Joseph Landers’ daughter farming and milling activities. 04 The early Crookes’ company set the pace for innovation in the sugar industry. As early as 1894 Samuel Crookes developed a hill plough to deal with the steep gradients on the Renishaw farm. Ploughing, which had earlier been scorned, was now becoming accepted as farmers looked for greater efficiency. Working the fields at Renishaw in the early 1900s Samuel Crookes died at the age of 67 in 1906 and left the business in equal shares to his three sons along with £6 000 each. George was Managing Director, Fred ran the factory and John managed the farms. Fred had excellent mechanical and financial skills. Following his persuasion the brothers decided that they needed a market agent in Durban, namely Charles George Smith, the founder of CG Smith & Co. Samuel Crookes and his children at Cypress Hill, 1905 (front, from left) Emily, Samuel and Lena; (back) John, George and Fed 05 CROOKES BROTHERS ESTABLISHED The early South African sugar industry consisted The inaugural board meeting took of an exclusive circle of family businesses all place on July 8, 1913. At the time pioneered before the turn of the 19th century. the board was acting for only 17 The major powers in the agricultural industry shareholders. George, Fred and John were Natal Estates (the Campbells), Tongaat Sugar between them held 79% of the 95 000 (the Saunders’), Illovo Estates (the Pearces), shares in issue, CG Smith 7% and Reynolds Brothers, Sir JL Hulett and Sons and the Frank Reynolds 5%. Lena and Emily Crookes’. These were all planters-cum-millers and Crookes held 2% each, while other their output was sold through agencies such as family members held token quantities CG Smith. of shares. In 1909 shares in Illovo Sugar Estates became Crookes board meetings were held available as James Renault Saunders wanted out. monthly and are said to have been Fred and George bought in and were appointed short and sharp with the three to the Illovo board (along with CG Smith, William brothers in full control. CG Smith had Pearce and Frank Reynolds). high praise of the new company and congratulated the brothers on the In 1913 the brothers consolidated the family “extraordinarily satisfactory condition farms and milling operation into Crookes Brothers of everything in connection with Limited. The first board of directors included the the company”. In his capacity as a three brothers as well as Frank Reynolds and shareholder Smith wrote that he was CG Smith. By then the mill production had perfectly sure that it was impossible increased from 100 tons produced by Samuel for anyone to have a straighter deal in the 1870s to around 3 000 tons of sugar per than the shareholders had had from annum. the inception of the company. Renishaw as it looked in 1911. The mill is to the left, Renishaw House is on the hill to the right and the building in the foreground is a rum distillery 06 John Crookes’ Restilridge, completed in 1913 Crookes Brothers’ first foray into foreign land was in 1914 when they invested in a sugar venture in the north of Mozambique, Beira-Illovo Sugar Estates. The motivation was that this sugar could be imported into the Transvaal free of duty. But things did not turn out as expected and in 1916 the Crookes sold their share to CG Smith at a loss and then helped bail him out in 1917 when floods destroyed the estate. An interesting note in the history is the 1915 establishment of Natal Cane By- products Limited which extracted wax from the caked waste on sugar mill filters. The company was a co-operative venture by Smith, Reynolds, Pearce and George and Fred Crookes who were all appointed to the board. The manufacture of vehicle fuel, called Natalite, from molasses as a substitute for petrol was also planned and the company erected a distillery at Isipingo. Fuel was supplied to the railways and military authorities in support of the war effort in the Middle East. In 1917 CG Smith & Co was reconstructed with the constituent miller-planters subscribing for shares according to their size. Reynolds had 15 000, Illovo 8 000 and Crookes Brothers 5 000. The shares gave the three companies a direct interest in CG Smith’s assets. Among the assets were two cane farms, Umzimkulu Estates near Port Shepstone and Chaka’s Kraal near Stanger. In 1919 all the companies in the industry came together to form a new organisation, the SA Sugar Association (SASA), to be followed several years later by the SA Cane Growers Association. This was also the year in which the next generation came into Crookes Brothers, cousins Fred Gillatt and Victor and Vernon Crookes. 07 A BURGEONING INDUSTRY The early history of the company is inextricably tied to that of CG Smith and Co and Reynolds Brothers, which were linked not only by complex cross-shareholdings, but also by shared management, with the Crookes family playing a dominant role in the management of the farming and milling operations. The group was a significant force in the sugar industry. It owned mills at Chaka’s Kraal and Gledhow on the North Coast and Illovo, Renishaw, Sezela, Esperanza and Umzimkulu on the South Coast, as well as Natal Cane By-products and the Smith marketing and distribution business. 1929 was marked by the Wall Street crash. It also signalled a sugar price slump - by 1932 the price had dropped by 40% and several companies were forced out of business. Crookes Brothers’ profits were down, yet it was in better shape than most industry players with cash in the bank and it declared a dividend. At the same time the Uba variety across trying terrain. Crookes Brothers of cane, which had served the sugar experienced its fair share of these industry since the 1880s, was fighting a mishaps. losing battle with Mosaic disease. Crookes Brothers were the first to experiment In 1934/35 farmers were dealt one with the new varieties being developed at blow after another. Locusts appeared the Mt Edgecombe experiment station. in great swarms in 1934, moving from A 1934 board meeting noted that the area to area, leaving behind eggs that best of the new cane produced a third hatched into hoppers blackening the higher tonnage per acre and stood up ground.