In the dining room at Castle Mount (the home of Mr S O Gill) and around the table where the decision was made in 1937 to bring the Axminster carpet industry back to the town, Miss Mary Whitty of Bath, a descendant of Thomas Whitty, inventor of Axminster carpets, presented on Thursday, to the Coat of Arms Committee of Axminster Chamber of Trade, the manuscript copy of “a retrospective view of the origin and progress of the Axminster carpet manufactory” made in 1857 by her grandfather, together with silhouette portraits of Thomas Whitty’s son and daughter-in-law and a manuscript advertisement of the carpet manufactory.
These documents were the gift of Miss Whitty and her sister, Miss Dorothy Whitty and they will remain in the custody of the Chamber of Commerce until such time as a Town Museum is provided. Miss Whitty brought with her the original manuscript written by Thomas Whitty in 1790 and many family heirlooms, including a piece of carpet carried in the Lord Mayor’s procession in 1814 after peace with France had been declared, artistic designs used by her ancestor and one of the cups given him by the Sultan of Turkey, to whom he sold an Axminster carpet for £1,000.00.
Mr W H Dutfield, managing director of Axminster Carpets Ltd. announced that they had been asked to supply the carpet for the opening of the Johannesburg exhibition by their Majesties in March next. It would be a green ground carpet with an old gold crown.

World Famous
Mr H Cawley, chairman of the Urban Council who presided, said no doubt Miss Whitty, in visiting the carpet factory, had found it somewhat different to anything she might have been told of the factory which her relative of long ago started in Axminster and which had made the name of Axminster famous throughout the world. They were trying to continue that as far as they were able and he thought that what Miss Whitty had seen would have impressed her that they were making a very good attempt. Forever they would link the name of Whitty with the manufacture of carpets, because they felt all honour was due to the man who, all those years ago, put Axminster “on the map”.

Looking at a flashlight print of a School Board election in 1898, he saw the query raised “Is it true that certain premises in the town have been earmarked for a carpet factory?” Ever since the Whitty family ceased to manufacture carpets, it had been the ambition of each succeeding generation to re-start the industry in the town. At last it had been successfully re-started and was being successfully run. They were grateful to know that the name of the town had been perpetuated.
Mr T Mayo felt it was particularly fitting that the Coat of Arms Committee of the Chamber of Commerce should have this work as perhaps its last function. They were called into being when the idea originated of presenting a coat-of-arms to the town. They succeeded in getting the grant of a coat-of-arms and were delighted when the grant contained a carpet shuttle, thereby embodying the carpet industry with which the town was so actively associated. They knew that carpets and Axminster, by the coat-of-arms would be connected for all time.
It was particularly fitting that the kind offer of Miss Whitty to present the manuscript to the town should come first through the Coat of Arms Committee. It had come through the kind interest of Miss Chapple, who had been a personal friend of Miss Whitty for many years. The manuscript was being presented by her, on behalf of her family, through the Chamber of Commerce of the town, eventually to be placed in a town museum when one was available.

A royal visit
Thomas Whitty, Mr Mayo said, was the son of Thomas Whitty, cloth weaver and mercer of Axminster. He went to London in 1755 to an exhibition and saw there a piece of carpet without a seam, which was quite an original thing. He thought he could do something better. He came home and on Fairday in the same year, when all his workers were having a day’s holiday, he experimented on the cloth-weaving looms and turned out a piece of carpet which experts stated was far superior to the carpet which had been exhibited in London. Eventually, on mid-summer day that year, he started on the cloth looms to weave a carpet. He took his children and their aunt, Betty Harvey, who overlooked them, to help him in the work and from that day he never looked back.
Within two years of the manufacture of the first Axminster carpet, Thomas Whitty began to take prizes at exhibitions up and down the country. The fame spread far and wide and within the short time of 34 years after the origin of the industry it had attracted so much attention that King George III and the Queen and their three Princesses visited the carpet factory – a very great honour, especially in those days of restricted travel.
Whitty made wonderful preparations for the reception of the Royal family. The town made arrangements too – they saw that the streets were properly cleaned and garnished from the George Hotel to the carpet factory. Certain parts were roped off to allow the thousands of people to see the Royal party. When they arrived at the factory, Mr Whitty was there with his young girl workers on one side, dressed in red, white and blue, a band of music was behind a screen and on the other side a screen with a choir of singers, who struck up “God Save the King” and the young ladies made their low curtsies as the Royal party proceeded into the factory. One could imagine the pride of Mr Whitty in attracting the Royal family to his manufactory.

Transferred to Wilton
His success continued until he died in 1792. He was succeeded by his son, another Thomas Whitty who carried on for a short time before he died in 1799. He left two sons, the elder of whom died in 1810, leaving Mr Samuel Rampson Whitty to carry on the business. He had a rather bad time. The whole of the carpet factory was destroyed by fire and some cottages as well. The carpet factory was rebuilt as it was today (the Drill Hall ) in 1828 and in 1835 the whole thing came to an end and the looms were taken to Wilton.
Going behind the facts they could find out much about Thomas Whitty, which was not recorded. He was not afraid to go outside Axminster: he was in business with his father, but he sought wider fields, wanting to see what other people were doing. He saw a carpet in London and had enough faith in his enterprise to come back and say he could do something better. In spite of all the handicaps he achieved his purpose.
He was a wonderful man for publicity. One of the guide books to Axminster told that whenever a carpet of particular importance was finished the church bells were rung; people were invited from a distance to come and see it and he had between 20 and 30 men who would carry this from the factory to the Congregational Church where the carpet was laid out over the seats and exhibited. There were many qualities in Thomas Whitty which, in his opinion they could copy. He had enterprise and initiative. He carried Axminster with him as he went on in success. Everybody associated and would always associate Axminster with carpets, just as they associated Cheddar with cheese and Bath with buns.

Reciprocal Gift
Making the presentation of the manuscript to Miss E Sheppard, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Miss Whitty said she was only one member of the Whitty family, all of whom felt a very great interest in the town owing to their connections with its past history. They were very proud to belong to a family that had helped to bring prosperity and fame to Axminster. From what she had seen of the new carpet factory she felt that its prosperity was assured and she hoped it would continue to increase.
On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, Miss Sheppard thanked Miss Whitty and her family most sincerely for entrusting them with these documents, which would be highly prized in Axminster.
Mr Dutfield said the directors of Axminster Carpets Ltd appreciated Miss Whitty’s visit there. He asked her to accept a gift from them of two Axminster rugs of present-day manufacture.
How the Chamber of Commerce came to be formed early in 1945 was explained by Mr H R Jeffery, who stated that it was doing all it could not only for trade and commerce but also for the general advancement of the town. Mr E M Cuming, chairman of the Chamber also spoke.

Local Government Future
The town’s activities from the local government standpoint were outlined by Mr E G Kirby, Clerk of the Urban Council, who thought the town was trying to progress on the right lines and that the Council were doing their best in administering its affairs. From the housing point of view he thought they could hold up their heads with a good many other local authorities. They claimed to be second in the county in getting off the mark in the actual construction of houses and their programme was a fairly ambitious one. In other things perhaps they were not so far forward. The Council had been fortunate in having a Chairman who had stuck to his job, a man who had put everything in the background to further the cause not only of local government, but also the safety of Axminster. The Council were hoping to get some better car parking facilities in the town. At the moment the only public parking place was Trinity Square, which became very congested. Improved facilities in this connection would be a blessing not only to the tradespeople of the town, but to its numerous visitors. Mr Kirby touched on the work of the Boundary Commission and said Axminster might either lose its Urban status or take in outside areas and become much bigger.
Mr Cawley thought that the advancement of industry in Axminster might have an effect on its ultimate status as a local authority. By its development industrially and as a market town, Axminster might be able to command the sympathy of the Boundary Commission, retain its identity and perhaps have other towns allied to it rather than become allied to them.
An explanation of the coat-of-arms was given by Mr W V Thomson, who pointed out that it retained the old Council seal – the arms posthumously awarded to King Athelstan, who was connected with the history of the town as a basis and included a shuttle at the suggestion of the College of Arms.
Thanks to Mr Gill for his kindness and hospitality were proposed by Mr Kirby and suitably acknowledged.
Miss Whitty afterwards inspected the coat-of-arms in the Council Chamber.