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St Margarets Co-operative Bowling Club - A History

The Corah Company and the "St Margaret" Brand

The company was founded by Nathanial Corah and was so successful that in the first 40 years it rapidly outgrew its premises on more than one occasion. By 1865 the huge St Margaret factory, named after the district of Leicester in which it stood, opened. In 1875 the company was quick to register its popular "St Margaret" brand. This was one of the first names to be registered under the 1875 Trademark Registration Act.  The company had a close relationship with Marks & Spencer and business did so well that it could soon claim to be the largest clothing manufacturer in Europe. The "St Margaret" lable proved so successful as a mark of high quality manufacture that in 1928, M&S took up the idea and created their own "St Micheal" brand which is well known to all and ran for over 70 years. The Corah family sold their last  holdings in the company in 1989, when it ceased to be a family business. Times were extremely difficult for UK hosiery manufacture and the factory closed altogether in the 1990s. 

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