Antique Golf Clubs from Scotland: Clubmakers

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Clubmakers

Frank Johnson
London

With £50 of borrowed money, Frank Alexander Johnson opened his business at 29 Paternoster Row in London in 1907. An inventive clubmaker, he was not so successful in business or perhaps just illustrated the problem of smaller limited companies versus family operated enterprises in the golf market, a topic often discussed in the press at the time.

He advised J H Taylor on the foundation of the PGA and served as its first secretary and treasurer until February 1902, the PGA presenting him with a marble clock and a pair of vases when he stepped down.

He is known for his Cygnet series of anti-shank irons and for the Premier range of clubs. A cleekmark of a key identifies his clubs. He also produced The Buzzard, modestly advertised as 'the finest golf ball ever made' in 1907 and, the following year, introduced The Sikh, 'never known to disappoint'.

Clearly he was under-capitalised and tried expanding too quickly. As soon as his profits reached £500 per annum he opened branches in Glasgow and Birmingham yet, at the same time, he was drawing a salary of £500 as managing director.

In 1909 he attempted to raise £10,000 by means of a flotation yet this only realised £850 when he converted his business to Frank A Johnson Ltd. Still he pressed on with expansion. He brought in Hugh Logan to manage the London clubmaking operation in 1910 but, a year later, the business failed with debts of £17,000.

The advertisements show him as a reseller for Hutchison Main . Their agent for England and Wales, he went to court in 1908 to restrain A W Gamage Ltd from undercutting prices on the balls, an out of court settlement being arrived at with costs awarded to Johnson.

£14,000 of his final debt was owed to Hutchison Main and there is a further footnote in history for Frank Johnson as, when Hutchison Main also went into liquidation in 1913, the ownership of his debenture in their favour was fiercely contested between the liquidators and the Bank of Scotland, the Bank taking the case all the way to the House of Lords (and losing) [Bank of Scotland v Liquidators of Hutchison, Main and Co, Limited, 1914].

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