{"id":8294,"date":"2025-02-20T02:32:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T02:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/?page_id=8294"},"modified":"2026-04-17T22:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T22:08:58","slug":"harrisons-hooks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/hook-reference\/harrisons-hooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrison’s Hooks"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7983,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template-manufacturer-index.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"","footnotes":""},"gw_hook_concept":[],"class_list":["post-8294","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"mfr_key":"harrison","mfr_display_name":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.)","mfr_country":"edditch, England","mfr_founded":"Est. 1865","mfr_series":"Spring Steel \u00b7 Carlisle \u00b7 O'Shaughnessy \u00b7 Dublin Limerick","mfr_history":"

Richard Harrison was born around 1808 in Carlisle, Cumberland, and arrived in the Redditch area before 1839 \u2014 most likely as a commercial traveler, a connection he maintained through a long-running agency for the Star Fire and Life Insurance Company. In 1840, a Richard Harrison was listed among fifty-seven Redditch needle manufacturers who signed a memorandum presented to the House of Commons Board of Trade. Coulthart<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> By 1851 the census recorded him simply as a \"fish hook maker and traveler in the needle trade,\" and by 1855 he was formally listed as a \"fish hook and tackle maker\" operating on Fish Hill.<\/p>\r\n

During the period from 1851 to 1861 the family moved from the Retreat in Redditch to Prospect Hill, where the Harrison family most likely became acquainted with their wealthy neighbors, the Bartleet family. Coulthart<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> By 1861 Harrison was listed as a fish hook and fishing tackle manufacturer on Prospect Hill. The business grew substantially through the early 1860s: by 1865 Harrison had attained a high degree of success and now had a large needle and fish hook factory known as Metropolitan Works located on Hewell Road on the east side of the railroad tracks near the intersection with Clive Road. Coulthart<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> Prior to 1866 he had also achieved the status of Esquire and moved his family to a large estate named The Cedars on Hewell Road near the factory. The firm operated under the name Richard Harrison & Co., documented in trade directories as needle and fish hook manufacturers at the Metropolitan Works until at least 1873.<\/p>\r\n

The firm produced a catalog of utilitarian and premium hooks serving both the coarse fishing and fly fishing markets. Documented patterns include the Celebrated Dublin Limerick (bronzed, tapered), the O'Shaughnessy Dublin (japanned, tapered), the Spring Steel Carlisle, and the Round Bent hook \u2014 all reflecting the full breadth of Victorian angling demand from trout wet flies to heavy bait fishing. The Spring Steel designation was a meaningful quality indicator, signaling that the wire had been drawn and tempered specifically for resilience under the sudden shock load of a striking fish rather than the brittleness that plagued cheaper, poorly-tempered hooks of the era.<\/p>\r\n

Around 1876 the firm was reorganized when Arthur Greame Bartleet became a partner, renaming the business R. Harrison, Bartleet & Co. Coulthart<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> Richard Harrison died in 1880 at his residence The Elms in Alvechurch, his estate valued under \u00a37,000. The partnership era that followed \u2014 and the Bartleet family's stewardship of the Metropolitan Works until the 1902 sale to Henry Milward & Sons \u2014 is documented separately under Harrison & Bartleet's Hooks.<\/p>","mfr_timeline":[{"tl_year":"1808","tl_event":"Richard Harrison born in Carlisle, Cumberland"},{"tl_year":"1839","tl_event":"Harrison arrives in Redditch; begins commercial traveling"},{"tl_year":"1840","tl_event":"Listed among 57 Redditch needle manufacturers petitioning the House of Commons"},{"tl_year":"1851","tl_event":"Census: \"fish hook maker and traveler in the needle trade,\" 3 Retreat, Redditch"},{"tl_year":"1855","tl_event":"Listed as \"fish hook and tackle maker\" on Fish Hill; still Star Life Office agent"},{"tl_year":"1861","tl_event":"Fish hook and fishing tackle manufacturer on Prospect Hill; family neighbors with the Bartleets"},{"tl_year":"1865","tl_event":"Richard Harrison & Co. formally established at Metropolitan Works, Hewell Road"},{"tl_year":"1873","tl_event":"Silver Medal, Berlin Exhibition; last confirmed directory listing as solo firm"},{"tl_year":"1876","tl_event":"Arthur Greame Bartleet joins as partner; firm renamed R. Harrison, Bartleet & Co."},{"tl_year":"1880","tl_event":"Richard Harrison dies at The Elms, Alvechurch, age ~72; estate under \u00a37,000"}],"mfr_hook_types":["wet_fly","salmon","bait","other"],"mfr_categories":[{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 All entries","cat_type":"all","cat_page_id":15980,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Salmon hooks","cat_type":"salmon","cat_page_id":15981,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Wet fly & trout","cat_type":"wet_fly","cat_page_id":15982,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Dry fly","cat_type":"dry_fly","cat_page_id":15983,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Nymph","cat_type":"nymph","cat_page_id":15984,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Streamer","cat_type":"streamer","cat_page_id":15985,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Sea trout","cat_type":"sea_trout","cat_page_id":15986,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Spey","cat_type":"spey","cat_page_id":15987,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Bait","cat_type":"bait","cat_page_id":15988,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Saltwater","cat_type":"saltwater","cat_page_id":15989,"cat_color_":""},{"cat_label":"Harrison's (Richard Harrison & Co.) \u2014 Specialty","cat_type":"specialty","cat_page_id":15990,"cat_color_":""}],"mfr_analysis_context":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8294"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15979,"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8294\/revisions\/15979"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"gw_hook_concept","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrenwood.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gw_hook_concept?post=8294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}