Tintawn and Binder Twine

The Story of Eric Rigby-Jones and Irish Ropes

John Rigby-Jones

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English

Fonthill Media Ltd
21 May 2020

Biography: business & industry; Biography: historical, political & military; History; International relations; Agriculture & related industries; Textile industries; Bargains

When the future of his family's rope business in Liverpool was threatened at the end of the 1920s Eric Rigby-Jones had to leave his wife and young family behind to risk everything on establishing a new factory in the Irish Free State. He was still an officer in the Territorial Army when he leased a former British cavalry barracks in co. Kildare from the Irish government in 1933. It had lain derelict since the departure of British troops in 1922. Within four years his company, Irish Ropes, was supplying nearly all of Ireland's rope. When war came in 1939 Ireland remained staunchly neutral and faced both German invasion and a British trade embargo. With the government determined to make the country self-sufficient Eric had to resort to increasingly desperate measures to ensure that Irish farmers never ran out of twine to gather the harvest.

Tintawn and Binder Twine is the untold story of the foundation and eventual demise of an iconic Irish business, known around the world for its Red Setter twine and Tintawn sisal carpets; of the pioneering Englishman who founded it and introduced new concepts in industrial relations to Ireland; of a family separated in peace and war; and of the regeneration of an Irish town. It is also the story of sisal, the vegetable fibre that became the mainstay of East Africa's colonial economy, and of the first fifty years of an independent Irish state. A member of Eric's wider family, Thomas Jones, was secretary to the British delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1921 and his son, Michael, was killed in the Staines air disaster in 1972 while travelling to Brussels with an Irish delegation for talks about the country's imminent membership of the European Union.

Well-illustrated and drawing heavily on unpublished family letters, documents, and photographs as well as new research in British and Irish archives, the book reveals intriguing but little-known sides to Anglo-Irish relations during the Second World War. It has particular relevance in today's world of Brexit, borders, tariffs, and the bullying of small nations by large.

By: John Rigby-Jones
Imprint: Fonthill Media Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 248mm, Width: 172mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 1.046kg
ISBN: 9781781557914
ISBN 10: 1781557918
Pages: 360
Publication Date: 21 May 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

John Rigby-Jones was educated at Sherborne School and read classics at Oriel College, Oxford. After qualifying as a chartered accountant he spent 35 years in the private healthcare industry before retiring at 60 in 2015. Since then he has spent much of his time researching his family's history and in particular the life of his grandfather, Eric Rigby-Jones, who died before he was born. His first book, 'Best Love To All', about Eric's experiences as a young officer on the Western Front, was published by Helion & Company in 2017.