History of Your Accident Solicitors
Your Accident Solicitors is the specialist personal injury accident and industrial disease department of Poole Alcock LLP solicitors. Poole Alcock has been established for over 120 years.
The prominent firm of solicitors, Poole Alcock LLP, with offices in the North West, is one of the longest established legal firms in the region.
Founder of the firm was Francis Joseph Poole. Born in 1867 he was the third son of Mark Poole, a Boot and Shoe Manufacturer in Sandbach.
Francis Joseph trained as a solicitor, which then involved five years as an articled clerk, and a fee of £80 - in those days a large sum. Francis was initially articled to a solicitor of Oldham. However, this was not satisfactory as the practice comprised, for most part, small debt collecting. Francis Joseph was re-articled to a firm in London, and half the £80 fee returned.
Francis Joseph Poole began his own practice in a one-room office in Widnes. An office was also opened in Sandbach.
A younger brother, Charles, born in 1877, also qualified as a solicitor and the two set up in partnership.
Francis Poole married Hannah Foden in 1895. Hannah was the daughter of Edwin Foden, founder of the rapidly growing firm of steam-wagon makers Edwin Foden & Sons. Francis Joseph was at one time Chairman of the Directors of Foden’s Limited, and Pooles were, of course, the solicitors for ‘Fodens’. Francis and Hannah had only one child, a son Francis ‘Frank’Foden Poole, born in 1902.
In 1926 Elworth Cricket Club was looking for new premises and as Captain of the team, Frank approached his parents who donated land to the rear of Boothville, their family home, to the club. In 1937, jointly with a Mr and Mrs Alec Palmer, they gifted Elworth Park to the town.
Francis Joseph was a leading member of the United Methodist Free Church. He served on the Cheshire County Council, became an Alderman, and was a Governor at Sandbach School. One of his main interests was improving Elworth. The preservation of trees and wide road at Park Lane, Abbey Road and Middlewich Road are a result.
Francis Joseph Poole died in 1937, his wife Hannah in 1948. Their son Frank Poole died 1979.
Meanwhile Thomas Jones Alcock was born in 1882 in Everton, Liverpool, the birthplace of his mother Sara. In the 1890s the family were living in Congleton where his father, William, was a pawnbroker. By 1901 Thomas, aged 18 years old, was a Solicitors Clerk and was Articled locally.
With the start of the Great War in 1914 Thomas joined the Royal Engineers and fought in France and Italy. Thomas later married Minnie Charlesworth. They lived in Crewe Road, Sandbach. They had two sons (William) Arnold born in 1923 and Ronald Thomas Born in 1925, both joined the practice. Arnold stayed with the company as a clerk, whilst Ronald did not stay and took up managing a farm instead.
Thomas’ nephew John Alcock was born in 1928. After completing National Service he joined the firm as a Legal Executive, working there until the mid-1990s.
Thomas J Alcock was the Chairman of the Local Law Society and also a Lay Minister of the Methodist Church. He continued working until his death in 1963 aged 81. His wife Minnie had died in 1957.
(William) Arnold Alcock died in 1998 aged 75, Ronald Thomas Alcock in 2007 aged 82. John Alcock died in 2008 at the age of 80.
Harold Charlesworth, Minnie’s nephew, was Senior Partner throughout the 1960s, followed by David Ellis Harrison in the 1970s and 80s.
