HISTORY

Thame, like many market towns, has been involved in the wool trade for centuries. In the early 1800’s brothers Henry and Charles Pearce were taken on as apprentice wool graders by the Payne family business. In 1825 the two brothers took over the business which then supplied graded wool to the mills in Witney, Chipping-Norton and Trowbridge. In order to seek extra outlets for their wool, one of the brothers walked from Thame to Yorkshire to show the Pearce flag. An agricultural fair on Main Street, Thame
The "Woolstapling" business continued throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries buying wool, grading it and selling it on to the trade. The origins of the term "Woolstapling" are as follows:
when grading wool a grader will pull from each fleece a lock or curl of wool known as a "staple" and by examining this will decide the grade.
During the Second World War the Ministry of Agriculture took control of the pricing an allocation of wool. In 1950 the British Wool Marketing Board was formed whereby all producers had to sell their wool to an allocated agent in return for a guaranteed price. This is basically the same system which is in place today except that the "guaranteed price" is dependent on the market value.

 In 1962 Reginald, the last of the Pearce’s to work in the company, sold the business to a company controlled by the Behrens family who owned textile businesses in Bradford and Manchester.
Wool grading at H & C Pearce & Sons Ltd In 1966 the company diversified into supplying animal health and associated products. Despite temptation to diversify further still and enter the gardening and retail markets H & C Pearce has remained within agriculture and is now recognised as being one of the principal animal health suppliers in Southern England.

 H & C Pearce & Sons Ltd began as a Woolstaplers over 200 years ago and until 2005 was grading around 3.5m kg of wool, approximately 10% of the national clip. In 2006 the British Wool Marketing Board took over responsibility for grading at Bromyard where it operates as a tenant of H & C Pearce & Sons Ltd. Wool still comes to Thame, but is no longer graded. Instead it is compressed and sent to Bromyard. This allows the company to concentrate on its Farm Supply business.

 Today we operate from four sites: Thame, Market Harborough, Bromyard (as landlord only) and Andover. We employ around 40 people and has sales approaching £7m.