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Article ViewThe Story of Hiatt-Thompson
In the year 1780 when Birmingham, England was little more than a village, any passer-by walking down the well known thoroughfare called Masshouse Lane, might have stopped out of curiosity to look at a new sign which had recently gone up at Number 26. This intimated that a certain Mr. Hiat was a maker of Prisoners'' Handcuffs, Felons'' Leg Irons and Gang Chains to the Trade. Actually, "to the Trade" referred to the Merchant Gentlemen who at that time toured the world in adventurous manner doing business in any article and place where opportunity occurred. Subsequent evidence has shown that Mr. Hiat''s products, by the 19th century, were used extensively and covered most of the civilized and uncivilized world. One such proof of this occurred in a curious way. A few years ago one of the Directors, whilst touring in Italy, was being shown around the dungeons of an ancient castle. The guide was describing the various restraints, all of which he said were over 500 years old. As the party moved on, the Director lingered behind for a minute to examine a pair of leg irons on which (after the dust and rust had been rubbed off) could faintly be seen the word HIAT. By 1812 Hiat''s (still with only one "T") were sufficient national importance to be entered in the Trades Directory of that years, and although no records now exist of those early years, it can be reasonable assumed that the nature of the firm''s products continued to be very much the same for the first hundred years of existence. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, the firm extended its range of restraint product to animals and soon became well know for its Bull-Leading Devices. But, came WWI and the emphasis of demand was again on handcuffs. For 4 years the handcuff makers in the works toiled daily from 7 in the morning until 9 at night. Another "rush period" came during the General Strike of 1926 when at one time there was a queue of police cars outside the Masshouse Lane premises waiting their turn to collect all possible supplies of handcuffs, truncheons, whistles, armlets and badges for the use of the many thousands of Special Constables who were hurriedly called into service. A few years later, during the world slump of the early 1930''s, Hiat''s were severally "slowed down", but by following the then current system of putting all workers on a 3 or 4-day week, they came through the slump without having to dispense with the services of a single employee... . Early in 1938 as the dark clouds of war rolled near once again, the Company was consulted officially as to suitable warning sounds which might be used in Civil Defense to denote the presence of poison gas, and subsequently an "All Clear" from gas. For this use of rattles and hand bells was suggested, and as everyone knows, they later became the recognised official Gas Warning. Fortunately they were never needed. Notwithstanding this, Hiatts anticipated the events of the 1938 to such an extent, that when the war scare really broke in September and within a day were flooded with orders, they had available large stocks of whistles, rattles, handbell''s, etc., which considerable eased the situation. It is perhaps of interest to record that on the first morning of the "scare", the pressure of telephone orders alone was so great that for a time the ''phone had to be shut off to allow even the clerical department to catch up. Immediately after this came the "Munich Treaty" and with it a year''s respite. But with the actual breakout of war in 1939, the rush was on again, and, as far as handcuffs were concerned, has continued without a break for many years right up to the present time. During the dark days of the winter of 1940, when Birmingham was getting frequent air raids of from 6 to 12 hours duration at night and many minor raids in the day time, working life at Hiatts (now spelt with two "T''s) became very difficult; but no one weakened. All realized that the mid-eighteenth century premises in Masshouse Lane, which in peace time were quite an antique show place, would be a veritable death trap against the blast of any near-by H.E. bomb. The first trouble came in November when all the Company''s workers were shut out of the area whilst awaiting the removal of an unexploded bomb. After 24 hours the Managing Directory, Mr. H.H.Latrobe, became impatient and ''gate-crashed'' the barriers to go down to the adjacent Churchyard where a bomb removal squad were trying to get the bomb out of the ground. His inquiries as to how much longer, were suddenly cut short by the action of the corporal of the squad, who suddenly leapt out of the bomb hole, falling flat on his face as he did so. Thinking the bomb was about to explode, all present also dropped flat on the ground. But tension was suddenly eased by the corporal, who go up and remarked that he didn''t mind shifting bombs but that corps had given him a nasty turn, and he drew the line at interfering with the dead !! On the night of April 9th, 1941, it happened. Vast quantities of incendiary bombs rained down on Masshouse Lane and despite the gallant efforts of the fire watchers, nearly the whole area was wiped out by fire. Hiatts lost everything except one workshop where the special lathes were kept. That these valuable tools were saved was due to the gallantry of their 16 year old fire watcher, Joey Brooks, who somehow got hold of a Fire Brigade pump and hose, and continued to play water from it for several hours on the valuable machine Shop, and so kept it from igniting. During this time Joey stood fearlessly in the middle of the road while H.E bombs were dropping all around him. It would be pleasant to write a happy future for this young man, but alas, it was not to be. Some 15 months later, whilst doing a turn of voluntary fire watching near his home, and explosive incendiary bomb blew his head off. His name is now inscribed on the Roll of Birmingham''s Gallant Civil Dead. Due to the tremendous hard work and general spirit of determination not to accept defeat on the part of everyone, Hiatts were once again in full production in 4 weeks. New premises at 109 Northwood Street were found and taken on the very next day after the fire. As soon as the wreckage at Masshouse lane was cool enough, salvage operations began among the debris.. it is amazing how indestructible handcuffs can be, as the following true story will show. Some months before the Hiatts fire, the firm supplied 400 pairs of handcuffs to an R.A.F. Stores at Coventry. They were lost when the said stores were destroyed in the famous Conventry blitz of November 1940. later 396 of the 400 pairs were salvaged and returned to Hiatts for repair. Of those, 392 were successfully repairs and were awaiting dispatch when they were caught a second time in fire and debris. Ultimately all 392 were again salvaged and 391 were successfully repaired and sent back to the R.A.F. with whose Military Police they are doubtless still in use. After the war the Company grew and moved to new and larger premises in Baltimore Road. By 1957 the firm had established a tremendous and profitable trade by entering the Plastic Moulding Industry. Another mark of their success was the invention of a new improved type of handcuff in 1960. This was followed in 1970 by a further new model which was at that time the lightest weight yet produced. It is now true to say that all Police and Prison services in Great Britain, and many others throughout the world, have changed to one or other of these patterns. The Company of Hiatts has had several setbacks during its 200 years existence but still maintains a steady and successful progress into the future". In 1985 Hiatts England and The Thompson Corporation U.S. created a joint venture to determine if there was a viable market for Hiatts handcuffs and restraints in the U.S. and Canada. After considerable research, development and marketing, it was determined that, not only was there a good market for Hiatts handcuff''s but that it was definitely a market that needed Hiatts quality products. In 1986 Hiatts, thru Hiatt/Thompson Corporation, introduced its range of chain style handcuffs at the International Association of Police Chiefs Conference in Austin, Texas. Acceptance by attendees was so well received that Hiatts determined that a strong presence in the U.S. market could be achieved and that other styles of handcuffs should be made to fill voids in the handcuff market that were needed by Law Enforcement. The following is a short list of products/events and the year they were introduced to the U.S. Market.
Hiatts ships their products to law enforcement throughout the world. Hiatt-Thompson, thru its development of quality transport restraint products and legcuffs, is currently shipping to over 20 Countries requiring safe, economical restraints. H-T offers a lifetime limited warranty on its transport restraining devices and a limited 5 years warranty on its legcuffs.
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