Sampson Lloyd Photography

A brief History of the Lloyd Family

The Birmingham Lloyds

My great grandfather, Samuel Lloyd 1827-1918, seen above with his children outside the family home, "Farm" in Sparkbrook, Birmingham. He was the great great grandson of Sampson Lloyd II, founder of Lloyds Bank. My grandmother Margaret Ellen (Daisy) Philips and my grandfather Samuel Janson Lloyd are standing third and fourth from the right.

Samuel Lloyd founder of steel makers Stewarts & Lloyds

He founded the steel business Lloyd and Lloyd Ltd in Birmingham in 1859. The company became one of the largest manufacturers of steel in the 19^th century.  By 1910 the steel business was flourishing in Corby when the first two blast funaces came into operation on 27th February. The company had merged with the Glasgow steel maker A&J Stewart and Menzies Ltd becoming Stewarts & Lloyds. The story goes that Lloyds Ironstone had the iron ore in Northamptonshire and Stewarts had the work force in Glasgow. The consequence of which was a large number of Scottish families from Glasgow settled in Northamptonshire to work in the steel industry. Hence the Corby nickname of ‘Little Scotland’. My grandparents, Daisy and Sam, settled in Gretton-on-the-Hill nearby to Corby in 1896. After the arrival of their first child Samuel Charles Edward Lloyd, they moved to Maunteley House, Brigstock. The family moved to Pipewell Hall in 1921 where I was born in 1946. Samuel Janson took over the running of the company on the death of his father in 1918. 

The Brigstock and Pipewell Lloyds

Photograph taken in the 1930s

Samuel Janson Lloyd 1870-1943

Pipewell Hall in the 1930s

My father, number eight of 13 children, was born in 1910 (standing on the extreme left in the photograph above). He was a bit of a rebel and never really settled into the steel business. His passions were flying and rifle making. His first aeroplane was a Gipsy Moth, G-EBQX which he purchased with a friend in 1935.

Gypsy Moth G-EBQX on Jubilee Day in 1935

He was a controller in the Battle of Britain stationed at Tangmere in Sussex and had amassed an extraordinary 2900 hours of flying time by the outbreak of war. Achieved in many different types of aircraft. He used to fly to work in a Comper Swift he kept in a field at Pipewell to Castle Bromwich on a daily basis in the 1930s. His original aeroplane has been restored and is on display at the RAF Museum Cosford.

DLL with his Comper Swift G-ACGL on his "landing strip" at Pipewell in 1932

After the war he bought a pillar box red tiger moth which he continued to fly in the summer months up until the age of 70. He was reprimanded on one occasion for swooping down on Pitsford Resevoir to join the  boats and their brightly coloured sails. News of this escapade had reached Sywell even before he returned to the aerodrome. So, on the way home he drove by Pitsford to apologise in person to the sailing club. Much to his surprise they were delighted with his aerobatics and invited him in for a drink ! David Lloyd's Flying Memorabilia"

DLL at Sywell Aerodrome with his Tiger Moth G-AIXD in August 1979 

His other passion was deer stalking and the manufacture of deer stalking rifles for which he was world-renowned. The David Lloyd .244 magnum rifle was rated number 8 in the all time list of rifles by the Shooting Times in 1996. The AK47 Kalashnikov was voted number 7.  The .244 went out of production in the 1970s and David Lloyd continued ro produce rifles in different calibres. He died in 1996 and my mum carried on the rifle business until her death in 2003.

.25-06 Remington David Lloyd Stalking Rifle