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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Mr William Sleep was the more well-known, but junior, partner in the agricultural implement manufacturing business of Messrs Davey, Sleep and Company. William Sleep was born in 1837 at Caerhayes, near St Austell, Cornwall. He had an older sister, Melvina, and was soon to have another sister, Lucinda. Sadly his father, Mr Henry Sleep, died in 1842 and his mother, Mrs Susanna Sleep, passed away in 1845, so the family were orphans before William reached the age of 9. It is said that he started work as a farm boy at Mevagissey and later took up an apprenticeship with the village blacksmith. While he was there he educated himself in the "Three R's". Once his five years' apprenticeship was up he got a job with Mr John Davey, a blacksmith in the village of Crafthole, in the parish of Sheviock, Cornwall. In 1861 Mr Davey employed three men and one boy and was also an agricultural engineer as well as being the blacksmith. He also had a young apprentice, 14-years-old Master John Henry Davey, who was his nephew, while helping his wife, Elizabeth, was his 21-years-old niece, Miss Ann Davey. With the fresh sea air off the English Channel and the endless sandy beach at Whitsands, love blossomed and Mr William Henry Sleep married Miss Ann Davey at St James the Great Church in Stoke Damerel on March 29th 1862. Their first child, Lucinda, was born in Morice Town, Devonport, in 1863. By 1864 he and Ann were back in Crafthole, where he was an agricultural smith, not a blacksmith. By 1871 the family had grown, with Laura, Robert and John all being born at in Sheviock Parish. Exactly when William developed his new plough is not known but it was well received and he set about making improvements to it. John Davey died in 1878 and in 1881 William, now aged 43, and his family were still at Crafthole, where he was employing ten men and one boy. Thus, the business of Messrs Davey, Sleep and Company had already been started but was originally based at Crafthole and it would also appear that Mr John Davey was the "Davey" of the firm's title. In 1883 it was known as the Excelsior Plough Works. The business had moved to Plymouth by 1891, when Mr William Henry Sleep, his wife, Ann, and son Robert were living at 11 Tothill Avenue. Robert was also an agricultural engineer but he left Plymouth and moved to Axminster, where he set up in business in partnership with Mr Thomas Henry Symons. At the time of the 1901 census, and for a couple of years thereafter, Mr Sleep was living at 203 Embankment Road, overlooking the Works but he disappears after 1905. Likewise, his son's business in Axminster, Messrs Sleep and Symons, disappeared in around 1910. Mr Peter Hall, from New Zealand, his Great Grandson, revealed that Robert went to New Zealand and married Miss Nelle Ford in 1898. They returned to Axminster, where they had three children. In 1908 the family returned to New Zealand and settled in the Taranaki area, where Robert worked as an engineer on the farms. He died in Gore, Southland Province, New Zealand in 1943. Mr Sleep's youngest daughter, Laura, apparently married Cornishman, Mr Frederick Saregent, and moved to the United States of America. It is believed that Frederick was one of the founders of Messrs Sargent and Lundy in 1891. Presumably her father sold the business around 1905 and went out to join them in Chicago, Illinois, where he died. One of his sons, Mr John Davey Sleep, had died there in 1891. In any event, the onslaught of developments in the agricultural world, such as petrol-driven tractors replacing horses, slowly brought about the decline of the business. In 1935 it was amalgamated with Messrs Bickle & Company, iron founders, at Millbay Docks and the site of the Works was taken over by the Western National Omnibus Company Ltd for an extension to their depot.
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