Advertisement for J. J. Crompton & Son, boot & shoe dealers, 7 Victoria St., Grimsby 1934.

John Joseph Crompton (1874-1941), son of a shoemaker, was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire on 10th October 1874. He was still in Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1891.

John Joseph Crompton married Alice Esther Herbert, daughter of a bootmaker, in New Clee on 9th September 1897. They had two children, Lilian (born 1898, died 1983) and Frederick (born 1901, died 1974). John Joseph Crompton was a boot machinist at 28 Victoria Street, Grimsby in 1901 and was a bootmaker dealer at the same address in 1911.

The J. J. Crompton & Son shop in the advert was at 7 Victoria Street by 1933 and was still there in 1970. John Joseph Crompton died on 21st September 1941, aged 68. Presumably the family carried on the business until at least 1970.

John Joseph Crompton lived at “Littlecroft”, 9 Abbey Park Road, Grimsby from before 1918 until his death. His daughter, Lilian Roberts, lived in the house until her death in 1983. “Littlecroft” had a lucky escape in August 1940 when a Luftwaffe bomb damaged 15 and 17 Abbey Park Road.

Note: Some will remember the wonderful service in Crompton’s shoe shop. Each shoe box was beautifully wrapped in brown paper and tied up with strong, narrow ribbon with the business name running along it. A carrying handle was made using the ends of the ribbon.