Heritage

SHAWSTEPHENS combines the family names of six generations of artisans and craftspeople in the branches of Edmund’s family tree, beginning with the Inghams who were enterprising shuttlemakers in Thornton, Yorkshire in early Victorian times, and the Ridges, four generations of 19th century master saddlers in Wedmore, Somerset.

The Shaw element traced down through the Hainsworths, shows occupations closely connected to the making and processing of textiles, ending with Edmund’s maternal grandmother, Hilda Shaw, a linen shroud-maker, her sisters Marian and Lucy, a mender and a warper, and her brother Edwin Shaw, an intending fashion designer killed in World War 2. This family name only remains through his father Christopher Shaw Stephens, a children’s author, and the present business name SHAWSTEPHENS.

The Stephens family’s creative talents lay originally in leatherwork. The Ridge family, who married into the Stephens branch, were notable craftsmen working out of a small saddlery with stabling, in Church Street, Wedmore from the late 18th century until approximately 1900. Edmund himself, developed his interest in wood from both the DIY enthusiasm of his paternal grandfather, and his late uncle’s professional career as a craft teacher and canoe builder.