Page 35 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

Motor-Car Co. in Birmingham. He soon branched out on his own, starting by buying a small firm
in Tividale that enamelled stoves, briefly in partnership as Ballard & Pepper until the end of
1912, and then as F J Ballard & Co. His business interests expanded rapidly: he became
Chairman of Macfarlane and Robinson Ltd, holloware manufacturers and enamellers of
Bushbury, Wolverhampton; chairman of Edward Wright & Sons, Victoria Foundry, Stourbridge;
proprietor of the Dudley Guild of Metal Manufacturers; managing director of the Cradley Heath
Manufacturing Company; and a Director of the Criterion Picture House, Dudley and cinemas in
Cradley Heath and Kidderminster. He also had mining interests in Spain and Portugal.
He was a Liberal member of Dudley Council for Netherton ward from 1912 until his death,
Mayor twice (1927-28 and 28-29, ‘the best that Dudley has ever had’), and alderman and
magistrate from 1929. In 1923 he stood in the parliamentary elections as Liberal candidate
against the sitting Conservative member and came a creditable second. As Chairman of the
Public Health and Public Works committees he directed a period of considerable progress in the
town, and was awarded the OBE in 1933 for public services in Dudley. At his death he was
described as ‘the Man who re-made Dudley’, ‘the most outstanding figure in the town’s
municipal and industrial life, and one of the greatest in its whole history.’
He was also well known for his charitable and philanthropic work, notably as Chairman of the
Netherton Comforts Fund that sent thousands of parcels to Netherton soldiers during the First
World War, and later as head of the Dudley Hospital Efforts Committee that raised large sums
for the Guest Hospital. He lived at High Street Netherton until moving to the Stewpony near
Stourbridge in 1928.

95 Arthur Benjamin MARTIN (1874-1958) (Elected 3.3.1924; resigned 5.10.1925.) Assistant
Overseer & Rates Collector. He held this position with Dudley borough council for 37 years, from
1903 to 1940, although the job title and responsibilities changed over the years: at first he was
Poor Rate Collector to the Borough and Assistant Overseer & Collector for the County District
(as opposed to the Town District); from the mid-1920s the distinction between Town and County
areas disappeared; and at his retirement he was Assistant Rating & Valuation Officer under the
Borough Treasurer. Although raised in Kingswinford, son of a colliery manager, he worked
briefly as Chief Clerk to a haulage company in the Potteries before returning to Dudley. He was
a prominent freemason in the Harmonic Lodge (Worshipful Master 1923) and the Dudley
Chapter of Royal Arch masons. For leisure he was active in Dudley Musical Club and Dudley
Amateur Operatic Society. He lived in Bean Road, Dudley for many years but he moved to
Handsworth Wood following his retirement.

96 Harry Vincent STANTON (1869-1960) (Elected 3.3.1924; resigned 20.9.1926.) His classification
was Constructional Engineer but he was Company Secretary to ‘gasworks engineering company’
Gibbons Bros. of Dibdale, Upper Gornal from the early 1900s until about 1946. The company,
later Gibbons (Dudley) Limited, was for many years one of the UK’s largest builders of gas coking
ovens. He was a qualified ‘Incorporated Accountant’ and Fellow of the Institute of Secretaries.
However his trade up to 1899 was as ‘Foreign Correspondent’. He was a distinguished
freemason, having been Provincial Grand Warden, Provincial Grand Secretary and Grand Deacon
for Worcestershire. He was organist at Dixon’s Green Wesleyan Chapel for some years from the
age of 19, and then at Hall Street Congregational Church. He lived in North Street, Kates Hill to
1906, then Wellington Road, Dudley to 1925, Hagley Road, Stourbridge to 1936, before retiring
to Worcester.

97 Charles Ernest KING (1876-1964?) (Elected 17.3.1924; membership terminated 18.7.1927 on
leaving the district.) Hotel Proprietor. Owner and Licensee of the Saracen’s Head Hotel, Stone
Street, Dudley from 1922 until he became insolvent early in 1927 and entered into an
arrangement for the benefit of his creditors. (Ironically the Trustee responsible for