ABOUT / Sanders

Sanders & Sanders Ltd. (or Sander Bros., as it was first named) was established in 1873 by brothers William and Thomas Sanders of Rushden, Northamptonshire. William Benjamin Sanders was apprenticed to the shoe and boot trade as a lad and then went on to work in London as a clicker before returning to Rushden in 1871, at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, with the vision of setting up his own shoemaking business with his brother.

By 1873, they and their five craftsmen had a workshop in the centre of Rushden town. The labour was hard; the hours were long, and with only five men to accompany them, they were faced with an on-going endeavour. However, it wasn’t long before they moved premises further up the street into a larger building. Despite this, the struggle still continued.