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The Mason Family
Liverpool is a city of ‘firsts’, in 1227 Liverpool was the first place to conduct a census, the result revealed a population of 804, Liverpool had the first ferry service, the first Lord Mayor and the first Town Hall. In 1884 Liverpool had the first woman ever to practice as a Doctor in the world, open a surgery in Liverpool and in that same year Mrs Mary Mason of Wavertree saw a need for a new moving business in the city and started ‘ John Mason Movers’. Mary’s husband John was a carter a time honoured profession in Liverpool. Carters and their horses were used to move goods to and from Liverpool docks and businesses. At their peak more than 20,000 horses worked on the streets of Liverpool, more than in any other city outside London. Mary had helped her husband with his business, so was no stranger to the task of moving goods. So it was that the business began at number 89 High Street Wavertree.
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87 High Street Wavertree
In 1887 Mary’s son John joined the business which at the time was mainly involved in coal deliveries, the 17 year old saw the potential for the company to expand into a general carrying firm. He Offered to ‘carry anything, anywhere’, including laundry from wealthy merchants in Wavertree and Woolton. Even though in those early days he only had a pony and cart, the young John Masons entrepreneurial skills were to see him sign a contract that would see the company through its next 68 years.
In 1897, John married Mary Hannah Baker who assisted her husband with clerical work, a role that by this point in the company’s history, would have been essential. Early clients of John Mason long distance removals in the 1900 included companies such as the Anglo American Oil Company (Esso), Cheshire Lines Railway Company and the English Margarine Works.
The company also carried much of the carved stonework for Morrison Ltd, the firm given the contract to build Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
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All photographs (C) John Mason International
