| Administrative History | James Oakes & Co was originally known as Thomas Saxelby & Co until it changed its name in 1817. Confusingly there were three generations of men called James Oakes connected to the company. The second one was a partner in Saxelby & Co and was eventually sold all the shares in stages between 1808 and 1810. In 1817 he brought the business at auction and became the sole owner. It was after this point that collieries became a part of the business. Prior to this, the company originally focused on ironworks in the Alfreton/Riddings area. When the company began to expand, the offices still remained at Riddings/Pye Hill Colliery, from which the whole business was organised from. The Oakes family were one of many local supporters for bringing the railway to the area, so they could use it to transport the materials they produced and could easily move them between the different aspects of the business.
The company opened a clay works at Jubilee in 1846 and erected the world’s first oil refinery a year later. These were created to use other materials found whilst digging for coal in their collieries. The company also created other new ventures, such as the Riddings & District Gas Company, a joint venture with Butterley Company established in 1888. It ran until the nationalisation of the gas industy in 1948. The Midland Acid Company, another joint venture, but this time with Kempson & Co, opened in Pye Bridge in 1913. This produced sulphuric acid, as well as tar and coal derivatives. It closed in 1971.
In 1920 the company were sold to Stanton Ironworks Company, who had been their selling agents for a couple of years. In 1947 the James Oakes and Company's collieries came under the control of the National Coal Board with the nationalisation of the coal industry. At that time the collieries consisted of Cotes Park at Alfreton, Pye Hill and New Selston in Nottinghamshire. At around the same time, the business that remained changed its name to Oanco, dealing with the clay side of the business until this finally closed in 1987. |