William Sykes

William Sykes – Horbury

Having completed his apprenticeship as a saddler, William Sykes married Louisa Crabtree in 1874, and with financial help from her family purchased a saddlery business in Horbury. He soon found that making leather footballs was a more profitable line of work, and by 1878 he was advertising his business as the ‘Yorkshire Football Manufactory’. A few years later he had expanded into the manufacture of a variety of other sporting goods, including cricket and tennis equipment.

By 1885 the works had been renamed the ‘Yorkshire Athletic Manufactory’ to better reflect his diverse output, although it would still be some years before he became involved with billiard table manufacture. William Sykes had two sons, Henry Osborne Sykes (1875-1939) and William Oates Sykes (1883-1935) who both became involved with the business, and the introduction of billiards to the range of products seems to coincide with the start of their influence. The first definite reference to the company advertising themselves as a billiard table manufacturer comes in 1900 when they also start to offer a repair service.

1903-1907 – Horbury and Leeds

Their interest in the game extended to opening a billiard hall and specialist showroom in Leeds in 1903, where they appointed George Nelson as manager. Nelson would, of course, go on the establish his own billiard table business in Leeds, trading in partnership with Willie Smith.

The plate below, which references ‘Horbury & Leeds’ would have been produced within a few years of the opening of the Leeds showroom.

1907-1917 – Horbury, Leeds and London

In 1907 the company opened additional showrooms at 1 Blythe Street, London, and from this date they began to advertise their address as ‘Horbury, Leeds, London’. These three locations would appear on their table plates until 1917.

The business was registered as a limited company in 1912. The plate shown below is made from metal and carries Horbury-Leeds-London locations together with the reference to the company being ‘Ltd’, which places it within this time period. It also displays the company’s first attempt at a registered trade mark.

1917-1930 Horbury and London

The Leeds showroom was closed in 1917 and thereafter just the Horbury and London locations were shown on plates for tables and scoreboards.

Manufacture of all sizes of billiard tables continued after the war, and at this time they were advertising themselves as ‘specialists in the complete fitting of billiard halls’. The works at Horbury were usually referenced as the ‘Yorkshire Athletic Manufactory’ for most of the products they made, but when dealing with billiard tables, they also inserted those words into the description, as shown on the metal plate below.

In the early 1920s the facilities were also being described as the ‘Victoria Billiard Works’ and some table plates from this period carry this address, although use of this title seems to stop about 1930.

1930-1942

Some time around the late 1920s, Sykes introduced a new trade mark which they began to display on table plates from 1930. This would have been used for undersize and miniature tables within this period.

From 1935 they started to manufacture the “Joe Davis” miniature billiard table. Sykes had previously been involved with Willie Smith, supplying tables for his billiard halls in the early part of his career. It is possible that the arrangement with Joe Davis came through a recommendation from this source.

This table came as various models, which were called the ‘Super Champion’, ‘Boy Champion’, ‘De-Luxe’, and ‘Tournament’. These names were reflected on the table plate along with a facsimile signature of Joe Davis. Some examples made from plastic to imitate tortoiseshell.

By the start of the second world war the company was headed by Henry Osborne Sykes’ son, Richard Berry Sykes (1901-1985). Wartime production switched from athletic goods to component parts for guns, and in 1942 they were taken over by Slazenger. Although the company continued to trade the Sykes name until 1950, the goods produced from the Horbury factory after the war were branded as ‘Slazenger’.

Peter Ainsworth

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