03-03 Taking in a Partner

He was my uncle, Jack Young and my father's partner. His wife was Aunty Ray and mother's younger sister by a year and a half. Jack and Ray were married in London England in 1933 and moved to Canada in 1939 when war threatened. In the photo, they are well dressed, and the reason is simple; Uncle Jack was in the high-end clothing business as a wholesaler and a manufacturer.
And of course, with them came my new cousin Linda who was born in 1937. They were able to emigrate because Aunty Ray was a Canadian citizen and Uncle Jack had the kind of skills needed as Canada was approaching war and manufacturing uniforms would become a national priority.
In a priceless letter sent to her parents, Aunty Rae is asking for their support to marry because she is only 20 and the legal age without your parent's consent is 21. She was using Uncle Jack's stationery which tells you the business he was in at the time.
Dad had only started his business in 1938 and within a year was focused on manufacturing officers' uniforms. Dad knew woollens because he had apprenticed in a wholesale woollens establishment that distributed English, Irish and Scottish woollens throughout the world.
He was also a great salesman. When he decided to provide a five-piece uniform for only $200 and to call on personally to the camps in Ontario on the weekends, his business soared. It would not be unusual for Dad to come home on a Sunday with over 20 orders.
Dad got Uncle Jack a position with Schiffer-Hillman, a key supplier. But it was Uncle Jack who suggested that Dad do the manufacturing himself, thereby saving the Manufacturer's Sales Tax that Schiffer-Hillman had to charge him. There would be no tax to pay when manufacturing yourself. Dad discussed the idea of opening a factory with grandma Halter, and it was she who suggested making Uncle Jack a partner. It was 1941.
The factory was in a new space above the retail area they were using at Hayter and Bay Street. The plan was to make only jackets and sub-contract everything else. Dad said that together they reduced their costs by $25 a unit. And their first level of production was 50 uniforms and suits a week. They soon became very profitable.
In a WW2 ad that brother Peter framed for posterity, we have an idea of what he was producing and selling at the time. At the bottom, you can see the name John Bulloch and Jack Young.
Dad never had a formal partnership agreement with Uncle Jack, and in later years I asked him why. "We are family." That was all he said. Uncle Jack put up the capital to buy the sewing machines and presses and ended up owning 50% of the business. Dad was proud that Uncle Jack was honourable and very smart.
The partnership broke up in 1946; not because there were any disagreements between them, but because Dad decided to join the Plymouth Brethren, a fundamentalist religious sect that his parents belonged to in Ireland. They said that he could not be "equally yoked with an unbeliever". I always hated that quote.
Dad felt terrible and offered the business to Uncle Jack, but he declined to say, "All the customers will follow you wherever you go, John." So dad took a huge loan out from the old Imperial Bank to pay Jack for his stock. With the partnership severed, Uncle Jack returned to the wholesale business.
I remember taking woollens and furniture over to his new office and showroom on Spadina Ave. just north of College St. And both Dad and I helped paint the new store.
We have all been so proud of our father and the incredible business he built over 40 years, but everything he learned about manufacturing he learned from Uncle Jack. Dad and Uncle Jack made 80% of the officers' uniforms during WW2. There should be a plaque somewhere honouring the two of them. Oh well, I guess this story is the plaque.