Percy
Shaw (15th April 1890 to 1st September 1976)
Percy was an inventor and businessman who made a fortune
when he invented the reflective road stud known as the "cat's eye."
He patented the idea in 1934, started manufacture 1935 and the cat’s eye was at
the centre of his days for the rest of his life. Here I am at his home where it
all happened and part of the company is still operating behind the house.
There was
nothing in Percy’s childhood that showed signs of the extraordinary success
he’d find. He was born in Halifax, the fourth child and his dad was a labourer
at a dye works. He had lots of siblings as his dad had been married before and
produced seven children by his first wife. His parents moved their sprawling
family to this house Boothtown in Halifax and Percy
left in a coffin.
Aged 13 he
left school and started working in a cloth mill. The wages were crumbs and he
went onto various unskilled jobs locally. When the dye house where his dad
worked closed down Percy and his dad set up a partnership here at this house.
They made workshop in the stables attached to the house repairing household
implements. They set up tool-making equipment and could engineer most things to
manufacture parts for local mills. With the advent of the First World War they
won government contracts to manufacture cartridge cases and shell noses.
Things started
to happen when Percy was 39. His parents died and he set up a small road
contractor company repairing roads and this would be his main business until
his death. Though known for inventing the cat’s eyes he invented a motor roller
that meant his lads didn’t have to hand rolling asphalt. This reduced labour
times drastically and he had an edge on his competitors. Though he employed
teams to lay tarmac drives and paths he still loved tinkering with mechanical
things. This led to the cat’s eye stud still in use today.
Supposedly the
idea was born when Percy was driving home from the Old Dolphin pub in
Queensbury village one dark night. A cat on a fence reflected the car’s
headlights back and Percy realised he was on the wrong side of the road.
However when interviewed by Alan Whicker for his Whicker’s World programme Percy said a foggy
night had prompted him to put the reflective strips in road signs into the tarmac.
This might not be accurate either as children who were allowed to visit the
factory said Percy told them his car headlights reflected on tram tracks helped
him maintain the correct position in the road.
Whatever is
the truth Percy invented the cat’s eye (patent numbers 436,290 and 457,536)
after much strife. Like most inventions there were long period of setbacks and
frustrations. Percy was so dogged in his pursuit of perfection that he’d
illegally dig up roads, install a cat’s eye, try it out with his own car
headlights, reinstate the road, and then take the stud home to improve it. Within
a year of the patent the newly-formed Reflecting Roadstuds
Ltd was manufacturing the eyes but they did not sell well. Percy was allowed to demonstrate his invention at his own
expense. The council allowed him to install 50 studs at a foggy crossroads between
Leeds and Bradford. Sales were poor. And it was World War Two that set fire to
the sales figures. As the war aged and the country was often blacked out
something was needed to help road safety. Approval of the stud came from The
Ministry of Transport and production was boosted tremendously. Soon the factory
was making a million cat’s eyes per year and exporting them all over the world.
A minor improvement made a major difference: a shallow reservoir was fitted
into the shoe which would collect rain and wash the cat’s eye when a car drove
of it.
Percy might
not have become one of Yorkshire’s most famous people had it not been for his
odd ways. I remember seeing him on Whicker’s World
and thinking how odd that such a wealthy man led a spartan
and reclusive lifestyle. He never married, had no children, didn’t go on
holidays, removed most of the furniture and carpets from his home, kept four
televisions running constantly (all muted, the fourth in colour) and never
indulged his whims. When he built a roof over his yard he left a hole in the
top so a tree could grow through it. He bought tripe in the market and ate it
with his fingers. Despite his lean life he owned two Rolls-Royce Phantom cars,
one spare when the other was being serviced.
When Percy was
75 he was awarded an OBE due to his company’s worldwide exports. All the time
he had remained in this house. It was the family home. His parents had bought
it and Percy lived in it for all but two of his 86 years.
In 1976 he died
here from cancer and despite rumours of a personal fortune his estate was
£193,500 (now about £1.2 million.) Though he was an agnostic a funeral service
was held at Boothstown Methodist Church and he was
cremated in Elland near Leeds.
When I arrived
at the house I was sad to see a fence prevented intruders getting up close
however a lady was sat in the garden sunning herself. I’m virtually invisible
to women and it was her lively dog running at me that alerted the owner. She
came over clutching an 8-week old puppy and was friendly.
“I’m a bit of a blue plaque nerd,” I said
hoping the lively dog didn’t want my arm for its supper, “and was wondering if
I may take a quick close-up photo please.” She seemed to hover for a few
seconds and then allowed me in. She’d lived there for about four years and lots
of Percy’s play things - pool table, dart board, etc. - were still in the huge
room to the left hand side of the house. I asked what happened to the cat-eyes
fortune but she didn’t know if it had gone down the line but Percy’s nephew was
still alive, lived locally and propped up the bar of a pub most nights.
When the owner
had gone inside I took a few photos of the house. This had been Percy’s castle
where he’d lived and played for eighty years. As a boy he’d grown vegetables on
this land and used a donkey and cart to sell it. Though famous for being a rich
oddity he was an inventive man with an unremitting Yorkshire grit, commercial
ingenuity and dogged determination. Most patents die away quietly and never
happen. Millions of cat’s eyes are looking up from roads all over the world
today and have saved countless lives. Plaque deserved.
Some of Percy’s stuff were in the
huge room to the left-hand side of the house…
To the right of the house is where
part of the factory once stood…
Looking down on the house…
The house is off a main road…
