Page 31 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

81 Howard Reginald WILKS (1892-1974) (Elected 15.8.1923; resigned 5.1.1925.) Sparking plug
manufacturer. Managing Director of The Igna Engineering Company, High Street, Dudley which
he formed with another engineer, Fred Brown, in 1919. The firm manufactured ‘Igna’ spark
plugs, which were fitted in leading British brands of motor cars and motor cycles. The company
was a pioneer in early radio equipment, making ‘Ignaphone’ valve radios and crystal radio sets,
and owned one share in the British Broadcasting Company, commercial forerunner of the BBC.
Before joining Igna, Howard was a draughtsman and designer with Thomas Crosbee & Sons Ltd,
spark plug manufacturers in east Birmingham. He left the Rotary club in 1925, and Igna soon
afterwards, to set up his own firm The Birmingham Art Metal Works, manufacturers of hearth
furniture and other fancy domestic metal items. The business failed in 1939 - blamed on keen
competition and ‘the introduction of tiled hearths which do not require furnishing’ - and he was
declared bankrupt. He returned to being an engineering draughtsman. Howard was an
inventive designer: he obtained numerous patents including improved spark plugs, adjustable
spanners and hearth fenders. He lived at various addresses around Birmingham but never in
Dudley. Around 1959 he retired to Douglas, Isle of Man, where he spent his final years.

82 William Henry HILL (1876-1966) (Elected 1.10.1923; membership terminated 8.4.1929.) His
original classification was Stationer but this was changed to Printer a few months later. He was
proprietor of the old-established firm of printers and stationers Charles Poultney of Newhall
Street, Dudley. (Newhall Street was cleared to make way for the Churchill shopping arcade.) In
1939 he restructured the business as Poultney Phoenix Printerie Limited, printers and stationery
manufacturers, later renamed Poultney Phoenix Press. The business, founded in 1742,
continued until 2005. He was a long-time leading member of the King Street Wesleyan
Methodist Church and during the First World War was Secretary of the Dudley Traders
Association.

83 Thomas Henry SMITH ( - ) (Elected 1.10.1923; membership terminated 19.3.1928.) Licensed
Houses Manager. He was a manager with Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries and lived at
Bromley House, Dixon’s Green, Dudley but little else is known about him. There are too many
people of the same name.

84 Theodore (‘Theo’) Wrigley QUARMBY (1886-1971) (Elected 15.10.1923; resigned 22.4.1929.)
Clerk to the Guardians. The Board of Guardians were elected representatives responsible for
the relief of the poor in the town. He came to Dudley in 1919 from his home town of Oldham
where he was Deputy Clerk to the Board of Guardians, having started with the Board in 1901 as
a junior clerk. In 1929 responsibility for welfare of the poor was transferred to county and
borough councils. This coincided with his move from Dudley to Stafford to become Public
Assistance Officer for Staffordshire. He retired in 1946 after over 40 years’ service in Poor Law
work. During the First World War he served first with the Lancashire Fusiliers and then the
Machine Gun Corps in France, holding the rank of Lieutenant. After the war he continued in the
Territorials, transferring to the 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment on his move to Dudley,
where he was second-in-command. Whilst working in Dudley he lived at Netley House, Gravel
Hill, Wombourne and briefly at Pedmore. From Stafford he retired to West Mersea near
Colchester where he was a prominent bee-keeper. He was involved in running the Essex County
Honey Show for a number of years and was Vice Chairman 1958-59 of the National Honey Show.