Thomas Tickler

Tickler was the son of George Tickler, a miller from Withern in Lincolnshire .[2][3] He established his own fruit growers and preservers business, serving as Managing Director (MD) of T.G. Tickler Ltd, which operated from Grimsby and Southall, and was also MD of Heathcote Pottery Ltd of Swadlincote[3] in Derbyshire. He was a Justice of the Peace (J.P) in Grimsby, and for fifteen years he was a member of Grimsby Town Council, serving as Mayor in 1907.[3]

Tickler was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby at a by-election in May 1914[4] following the death of the Conservative MP Sir George Doughty.[5] Doughty had held the seat for almost 20 years, with a short break in 1910.

In 1878 he married his childhood companion, Frances Wells, second daughter of W. T. Wells, of The Hall, Withern. All five of his sons served in the British army and survived the First World War.[6]

From a small grocery business established in 1877, Tickler soon ran one of the largest factories in Grimsby, producing jam and marmalade. ‘Ticklers Fruit Growers & Preservers’ was taken over in the late 1950s.

At the outbreak of World War I, Ticklers secured a contract with the government to supply front lines with plum-and-apple jam —– a contract worth £1m between 1914 and 1918. Its empty jam tins were used as makeshift grenades referred to as ‘Ticklers artillery’.[6]

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Tickler