Jewish owned businesses of the Team Valley Industrial Estate

Elizabeth Booth, a student from Northumbria University, researched the records relating to Team Valley Industrial Estate, Gateshead, to find information about the Jewish owned businesses that set up there during it's early years. 

I’ve recently completed a placement at Tyne and Wear Archives, working with the Unlocking Jewish Heritage Project. During my time here my work has consisted of examining and studying the Jewish owned businesses of the Team Valley area during wartime effort, sifting through the various records that remain and correlating them into accurate profiles, as well as exploring the relation to Jewish families through cross-referencing data.

Not only do the records of Tyne and Wear Archives show a detailed overview of the inner-workings of each business and their commitments to both their employees and the rest of Tyne and Wear - but also the rich history and necessity of the Jewish migrants, who aided in the success of employability and growth within the North East at such a difficult time.

Special Areas Act

The Team Valley Estate, established in 1936, became not only the first, but largest government financed industrial estate, through which employment increased to 250,000 workers by the end of 1947. This was achieved through the funding from central government by the Special Areas Act of 1934, encouraging development and improvement as a response to the failure of traditional industries residing in the Gateshead area.

Team Valley became a sector of economic generation and investment. Similarly, this encouraged a more positive outlook surrounding the most desolate areas of the North. However, these goals would not have been possible without the entrepreneurial role of immigrant families, who migrated to these new, prospective areas.

Penal taxes and currency regulations caused German-Jewish descendants to arrive with very little, but the tenacity of these individuals meant that instead of dissolution, these families were able to start and build their own businesses. Ultimately, they were imperative in the production of Team Valley into an industrial estate, as employability and monetary gain increased and contributed to the prosperity of the area’s economy.

These Jewish migrants are often referred to as ‘refugee industrialists’, an area of research currently substantiated by Tiffany Beebe, in which they rebuilt their lives in these new ‘Special Areas’ of Britain, aiding in the monopoly of new business ventures to generate income.

Alsco Cardboard Boxes, Ltd.

Founded by M. Mayer, Alsco Cardboard Boxes was taken over by his successor, twenty-three year old William Alberti in 1928. The company specialised in a range of products, with many early prototypes including the distribution of pillboxes, cartridge cases, and most importantly, cardboard boxes for trade. Both he and his wife had decided early on in the Nazi period that if emigration became necessary, they would make a lateral move to settle in Britain due to Alberti’s fluent English.

He and his family arrived in Gateshead in January 1939, after a variety of delays from Nazi officials, who attempted to block his emigration. However, their impending departure to Britain meant that W. Alberti was freed from the Dachau concentration camp he had been sent to. Spending half his capital upon arrival on second-hand box-making machinery, Alsco Cardboard Boxes had very little competition, with only one other business specialising in box-making within Team Valley: Fibre Board Boxes Ltd.

There remains even record of the first order obtained – a milliner at Tynemouth, through which thirty-six hat boxes were requested. Other orders of note includes that of Alligator Leather Co., whose order was so large that Alberti had to ask for an advance to cover the cost of the boards requested. These interpersonal relationships that were established between other businesses residing in Team Valley Estate provided a variety of recommendations to other prospective customers, further contributing to the growth of the business, where by July 1939, the original space the company resided in was too small.

However, in May of 1940 W. Alberti was interned, transferring between positions such as at the Royal Army Service Corps, where finally he reached the rank of lieutenant, in charge of printing and stationary supplies for the British Army of the Rhine. Due to this managerial shift, during the October of 1941, Mrs Alberti herself took over the management of the business. She learned the operation of the machinery, bringing the company out of the financial debt and decline that was earned throughout the difficult circumstances. By the end of April 1942, the Directors agreed Mrs Alberti should continue to run the business due to her success.

In November 1946, Mrs Alberti gave up her managerial role due to the impending birth of another child and soon after the factory was acquired from the Estates Corporation.

Loblite Ltd

Two brothers, Herbert and George Loebl, originally began as manufacturers of electrical accessories in their hometown of Bamberg where they had developed a small manufacturing business after the end of the first war, with employment estimated to be around 200 individuals. However, in October 1938, the brothers were forced to sell their business by Nazi decree, where they turned to settle in the Team Valley Estate of Britain, due to its closeness to the Scandinavian markets.

Arriving on Tyneside in September 1939, they began supplying for the small Irish market due to the adoption of the German electrical standards. The business was failing as due to a lack of demand, and the brothers were interned together for a year in the May of 1940, the business itself surviving through the War by producing parts for munitions and armaments.

It was at this time that the production and development of electrical accessories for the British market began and soon business steadily grew. After the death of the brothers in 1949 and 1956, the business was championed by Fritz’s sons, R.F and G.F Loebl, where sales continued to increase steadily.

In some specialised lines within the British electrical market Loblite still remains a major producer, managed by G.F Loebl.

Post War Impact

With 106 businesses established within the Team Valley Industrial Estate within 1938 onwards, it’s hard not to consider the impact of these refugee industrialists and of the Jewish owned businesses that remain tantamount even today as we consider the many ways that these individuals have contributed to the employment and economy of the North East. Although many of these businesses were expected to aid the distribution of local goods within the area for local consumption, as per the Special Areas Act, instead a new change was seen as businesses explored the nation. Products were specialised and attracted these national market, serving retailers such as Marks and Spencer and Woolworth. These businesses represent the tenacity and the strength of the work ethics of the Jewish families forced to migrate to these areas, who prospered through the variety of hardships that they faced as they were forced to uproot their lives.