I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My great grandfather (on my father’s side) was the Mayor of Morecambe in England… and worked for himself. He was even awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by the King of England for his contributions to the local fishing economy.
My Great-Grandad Herbert Willacy – the Mayor of Morecambe (obviously the guy wearing the fancy mayor-necklace)…
The BBC came to interview my great-grandad about the whole shrimp–thing. Here’s a cool photo of some of the fishermen with the BBC guy (and my great-grandad in the background)…
And here’s another awesome photo of the BBC guy interviewing the women who worked in the factory. Great-Grandad still lurking in the background… and in the foreground, to the left, my great grandmother.
Great-Grandad Willacy’s daughter (my granny) married a similar-minded entrepreneur who packed up the family (my dad and his 4 brothers) and sailed to South Africa where he immediately set to work… paving his own way and building his own business. Grandad… (and this seems to be a running theme in my family)… didn’t like being told what to do. Grandad (like Great-Grandad) wanted to be his own boss.
So… when I was born, my Dad was working for Grandad at the family-run, Cape Town-based business… and, true to form… Dad (who, like his father and grandfather… hates being told what to do)… left the comfort and confines of the Patterson family business (much to Grandad’s chagrin) and moved us all inland to Johannesburg, in order to (drum-roll)… start his own business and be his own boss… because even working for his father still required being told what to do… and Dad… (all together now!)… hates being told what to do!
Dad (white overalls in the centre) with his brothers, Mike and John… at the family business (before Dad left to start a business of his own)…
So, I grew up in a home with a successful, strong-willed (read: stubborn) entrepreneur.
From a young age, the idea that one could forge their own path… and make a plan to generate their own money… was the only way we knew.
In our home, there was never a fear around the topic of money. Dad firmly believed that everyone was capable of generating it. He was a visionary who easily recognised gaps in the market (where money might be made). He was also not afraid of hard work… nor of taking risks.
Even when he lost (a very large sum) of money in a failed business… he simply picked himself up, dusted himself off, started from scratch… and built another business – starting from the garage of his home.
“It’s only money”… he’d say.
Dad’s first successful business venture (after leaving Cape Town) was Cosy Gas Log Fires. He built and sold these fireplaces. This is the company brochure (I’m the one in the blue nightgown)…
A newspaper article published in the Benoni City Times (after Dad had opened his new factory and showroom). He later sold Cosy Gas Log Fires to a company called Jetmaster (for a significant sum)… and moved on to other business ventures.
Today, Dad runs a business that manufactures electrical components. The business is housed in a newly-built factory complex near his home in the south of Joburg. He owns the other 5 factories in the complex – and rents them out to tenants.
The point of this post is this: throughout my childhood, my family’s risk-taking entrepreneurial modus operandi was the lens through which I viewed the world. I never thought: “One day, once I’m properly educated… I will hopefully get a good job that will pay a good salary”.
I never thought in terms of “the job” I would one day ask someone else for…
It never occurred to me to think in terms of “someone else”… like a boss or an employer… being responsible for my financial wellbeing. I – and I alone – would be responsible for the money I made (or didn’t make).
I always thought in terms of the business I would run… or the freelance work I would do (on my terms)… or the money I would generate by selling something (again: on my terms). I always assumed that I would carve my own path in some kind of creative entrepreneurial pursuit… and generate my own income… and live on my own terms (which I have done – for better or for worse) without having to rely on a corporation or a boss to generate it for me.
Nobody in our immediate family worked for a boss. Everyone was their own boss.
My mom… even as a stay-at-home-mom (who didn’t need to generate an income because Dad’s financial provision was more than enough to support us all)… generated her own money nonetheless. She hosted pottery classes, dressmaking and pattern-making workshops… sweet-making courses (and many – many – countless other things too).
One of my Mom’s money-making ideas… she created these different shapes which could easily be fitted together to make unique playhouses for kids (I’m the one on the inside)…
Another one of Mom’s business ventures: a Play-Group at our home… and art lessons for kids (I’m on the left)…
(Mom’s grandfather – interestingly – was also a self-made entrepreneur in the beverage industry).
After my parents were divorced (many years ago), Mom continued with her creative entrepreneurial ways – and today she owns and operates Fisherman’s Village (conference centre, coffee shop and Christian ministry of restoration).
My younger sister also went through a stint of owning her own business but decided that the corporate life was just a better fit for her. Soo enjoys competition, people, minions and corporate perks and, for a number of reasons (which she has mentioned in her blog here)… has chosen to go that route. Not because she “can’t” make it as a business owner (she can… and she has)… but rather, it didn’t quite suit her unique design.
It suits mine, though.
Much like Dad… and Grandad… and Great-Grandad… I, too, am a stubborn creature who hates being told what to do. And for the (short) seasons when I did work for a boss… I loathed it deeply and sunk into a miserable depression.
Another interesting dimension of this story: I married Nick (spawned from generations of Greek entrepreneurs). Greeks seem to be natural-made entrepreneurs (possibly also something to do with that hate-being-told-what-to-do thing??)…
Almost everyone in Nick’s family is a self-made entrepreneur.
Nick’s parents (together with his uncle and aunt) began their South African business ventures (in true Greek style) with a corner café and bakery – which later grew in to a bit of a food empire (the older Greeks have now retired and the company is now run by Nick’s cousins, Helen and Sandra).
Helen’s husband, Vasco, is a structural engineer with his own business. Their son, Alec, is a professional drummer and music producer. Their other son, Mike, is a professional freelance photographer (both Mike and Alec are based in Liverpool). Nick’s brother, Dino, is a sound engineer with his own recording studio. Nick’s sister, Angela, is an interior decorator with her own consultancy and shop. Nick’s cousin, Peter, has a business manufacturing jewellery… on and on it goes.
Even more interestingly… (come to think of it)… almost everyone in our closest circle of friends work for themselves. Rogan is a mastering engineer with his own studio. Tracey is a professional photographer. Ray is a professional musician. James and Anel are professional actors and producers. Ryley makes documentary films. Josh is a director and production-studio owner. Joel is a published author and speaker. Joe is a popular singer… (and, of course, all of my travelling family & nomadic friends either work freelance or own a business)… (and most of my homeschooling & unschooling friends too!)…
Come to think of it… very few of our friends work for a boss or within the constraints of an 8-5, rush-hour traffic sort of job. (I can think of 5 good friends who are required to ask for leave or clock in on time).
I wonder why this is?
It’s not as though we deliberately set out to surround ourselves with people who are… similar.
And I definitely don’t scorn those who work full-time jobs for bosses.
It’s a DIFFERENT life to mine… a different choice. It has nothing to do with right or wrong… or good or bad (I love diversity – and neither want, nor expect, everyone to be the same as me!)… but that said, the Life-of-the-Entrepreneur is just so familiar to me… so deeply ingrained in my DNA (and in Nick’s)… that I would be genuinely surprised if Morgan or Joah grew up with aspirations to work for a boss at a big corporation.
(Notice: I didn’t say “disappointed”… I said: “surprised”).
I’m kinda expecting that Morgan and Joah will naturally pattern what has been modelled to them and, like the generations before them, they will either open their own business… or freelance… or make their own films… or write their own books… or open a restaurant… or a guest house… or whatever…
I’m sure they’ll have a season of working for a boss (as I did… as Nick did too) – but ultimately, I kinda imagine that they’ll be entrepreneurs too.
After all, it does seem to run in the family…. 🙂
The young man being interviewed by the BBC is my Dad Sam Baxter MBE and next but one to the right of him is my granddad John Baxter who can also be seen squashed in the corner of ‘the picking room’ at Morecambe Trawlers.
(Strictly speaking- if Herbert Willacy was a fisherman then he would be self employed and an entrepreneur, if however he was the manager of Morecambe Trawlers which it appears he might have been then he would have been an employee of the firm.
Cheers
John
Wowzers, John… what a small world! It’s amazing how something so seemingly simple as putting an old photo online connects us with further stories and history. I appreciate your “strictly speaking” note. I’ll have to dig up the scrapbook that I have (from that time) with all the newspaper clippings during the time that my great grandfather was mayor. I know that there were newspaper articles (written after his death) that detailed his involvement and role in the Morecambe Trawlers. I was also told that his MBE was awarded due to his role in Morecambe’s fishing industry. Was that also true of your dad? I would have to do some more digging and research to better understand those technicalities you mentioned. Interestingly, my grandad (son-in-law of Herbert Willacy) was also a stubborn entrepreneur & self-starter. It was he who got the grand idea to move the whole family to South Africa to start a business. My granny supported him. Apparently she was tired of being snubbed by the community where she lived who believed her to be snobby and uppity (due to her father being mayor). I am fascinated by this kind of thing. History and stories always continue to thrill me. My husband and I are planning a Family History Tour to Morecambe (and Durham – where my Dad was born). I want to visit the places of my family heritage… the home where my dad was raised… the church where my grandparents were married… and the graves of my great grandparents. Should be fascinating.
Heather
On further examination it may be that I am wrong about the photograph being taken in Morecambe Trawlers ‘Picking Room’ – it may be prior to the formation of the fisherman’s co-operative I’m not sure. However I am sure that the co-operative was constituted so that all fishermen members benefited equally from any profits made. A manager if employed would have been an employee of the co-op as in due course was my dad. (Yes he did get an MBE ‘for services to the fishing industry’.
I can remember a Herbert Willacy but I don’t think it was the same one as you refer to. He had a son called ‘Jack’ or ‘Jackie’ and Jackie’s son (whose name I don’t know) is just about the only shrimp fisherman left working full-time in the bay. His family have a shop in Poulton Square which is close to the Parish Church where you will find many fisherman’s gravestones should you make it to Morecambe.
Another fishing ‘Willacy’ I know of still lives in Morecambe called Keith. Keith fished the bay until about 1970 before becoming a fisheries protection officer.
My dad and mother received a telegram from the Mayor of Morecambe when they got married and I am certain this will be from your relative. If she has still got it, it’s in my mother’s things.
Cheers
John
(I live near Inverness, Scotland otherwise I would offer to show you round if you came over to the UK.)
You’re very fortunate to be supported and raised in such an individualistic-minded atmosphere. We definitely need more “do for yourself” mentality these days!
Yes… I do see it as being a fortunate thing. We were raised with a very strong sense of do-for-yourself… and that has never changed. I often think about how massively our childhood impacts our lives as adults. I was enormously impacted by my parents (in good ways – and bad ways). The thing I’m still trying to figure out – is how to truly EMBRACE the strengths… and the good things… that were passed on to me – whilst figuring out what to do with the (not so positive) family mindsets that I ALSO inherited. There are a few ways that I still shoot myself in the foot… simply out of habit. And I’ve found that it’s quite a challenge to de-program certain mindsets that have been with me for so many years. Lots of food for thought (that I’m chewing on). Thanks for connecting, though. 🙂
Hello,
I’m a member of another set of this family! My great-grandmother Isabella Rhodes was born Isabella Willacy, and I understand she was a half-sister of Herbert Willacy. Their father married twice, Isabella was from the first marriage and Herbert from the second – so there was quite an age gap between them, I think.
Wow!!! I will never cease to be amazed by the people I discover online! I never knew that my great-grandfather – Herbert Willacy had a half-sister. That would mean that your great-grandmother was my grandmother’s aunt…(?) or half-aunt…? Since my grandmother’s name was Isabelle – perhaps her father (Herbert) named her after his half-sister (your great-grandmother)…?? WOW! (I love this family-history stuff… I find it utterly fascinating!!)… Where’s your side of the family now, Judith? Still in England??
Hello Heather,
yes, we’re still in England. Isabella had 2 children (I think), of whom Charles Henry Rhodes was my paternal grandfather. He was raised in Barrow, apprenticed in the shipyards, moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he met and married my grandmother. My father was born in Newcastle in 1923, the family moved around a lot in the 1930s and then of course came World War II, so more moving around. But still in England.
Herbert had A LOT of siblings and half-siblings! I have a photocopy of a newspaper article which names them, so I will dig that out and list them for you. I’ll do that later today or at the weekend.
Judith
Hello again!
Herbert’s siblings are all listed in a obituary of his brother Tom who had emigrated to the USA. It says that the ages of the siblings spanned more than 35 years – so Isabella (who I think may have been the oldest) was probably old enough to be Herbert’s mother.
Here they are – Isabella (who is listed as Isabell), David, Maggie, Eve, Charles; then the second family were Ernest, Brinder, John, Emily, Tom, Herbert, Hannah, Jim, Albert, William, Esther, George and Edgar.
I feel exhausted just looking at that list!
Judith