Timeline of the Land
1669 - Record of Wilden Forge owned by Foley's
1692 - Forge uses more river pig iron than others
1812 - Forge sold to pay Baron Foley debts
1840 - Baldwin's own Wilden Iron & Tin Plate Co.
1879 - Alfred Baldwin is benefactor to Village
1888 - Aged 21, Stanley Baldwin joins company
1892 - Alfred Baldwin is elected to Parliament
1908 - Alfred Baldwin dies
1908 - Stanley Baldwin is elected to Parliament
1923 - Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister
1945 - Baldwins Ltd. & Richard Thomas merger
1958 - Closure of Wilden Works announced
1964 - Malcolm Lee & Harold Pearson buy site
1964 - The Wilden Industrial Estate established
1984 - Malcolm Lee buys out Pearson family
1993 - Malcom Lee dies
1993 - Kelvin Lee takes over industrial estate
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin was born in Bewdley on 3rd August 1867.
In 1906 Baldwin was elected as Conservative MP for Bewdley. In 1916 he became Private Parliamentary Secretary to Andrew Bonar Law, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the government led by David Lloyd he served as Junior Lord of the Treasury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and President of the Board of Trade.
In 1922 Baldwin organised the plot that ousted David Lloyd George as Prime Minister of the coalition government. The new Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law, appointed Stanley Baldwin Chancellor of the Exchequer. When ill health forced Bonar Law to resign in 1923, Baldwin became the new Prime Minister.
History of Wilden Industrial Estates
Wilden Industrial Estate was established in 1964 when Harold Pearson and Malcolm Lee formed a partnership to buy and develop the former Wilden Iron Works off Richard Thomas and Baldwin Ltd.
Wilden Iron Works had dominated this small Worcestershire Village for three hundred years. Being one of a number of varying types of mills powered by the waters of the Stour, the earliest record is that in 1669 Wilden Forge was well established on the site.
George Pearce Baldwin came from Broseley in Shropshire and moved to Worcestershire at the turn of the 19 th Century. He had 12 children, the youngest of which, Alfred was born in 1841, the year that George died.
Enoch Baldwin took over the Wilden Iron and Tin Plate Co in 1840 and ran the business with his nephews, Pearce and William trading as "E.P.& W. Baldwin of Wilden".
Alfred Baldwin started work under his brothers, half-brothers, uncle and cousins.
in 1879. Alfred and his brothers dissolved the partnership. Alfred then moved into Wilden House and took over the Wilden Works, changing the name of the business to Baldwins Ltd.
On May 3 rd 1879, Alfred Baldwin laid the Foundation Stone for Wilden Church, which he generously built for the community. He also built the village hall and the school and playing fields were also provided where the Baldwin Works' cricket team played and most employees lived in company houses.
In 1888, Alfred's 21year old son Stanley joined the company as a partner. He was to spend twenty years in the business before following his father into politics and ultimately becoming Prime Minister (1923, 1924-29 ,1935-37).
Baldwins Limited continued to operate under Baldwin family control, expanding through acquisitions in South Wales and the Midlands. In 1945 the company merged with Richard Thomas & Company, creating an organisation of some 27,000 employees.
Two hundred employees worked at the Wilden site in 1958 when Richard Thomas & Baldwin Limited announced its plans to close the works on economic grounds. Unfortunately many were made redundant and this bought devastation to the tight knit community of Wilden.
Lee and Pearson continued to run the estate until the Partnership was eventually dissolved in 1984. Malcolm Lee was then able to buy the Pearson Family's shares and invest further money on improving the Estate. Unfortunately Malcolm Lee died in 1993, however his son Kelvin took over and bought in a full time estate manager called Clive Felton to look after the day-to-day running of the estate.
Kelvin Lee has continued to invest in the refurbishment of existing buildings, building new roads and car parks, and the construction of new industrial units.