As a successful family business, we’ve been crafting our skills for over 150 years.
We are proud of our long and illustrious textile manufacturing heritage, and the knowledge and experience that comes with this.
We have worked with airlines for around 40 years, understanding our customers’ needs, and the levels of comfort and enjoyment that enhance the in-flight experience.
You can see how our history unfolds around some of the key events in the history of aviation and the aviation industry.
John Horsfall History
Aviation History
Cool Timeline
1863
Company established 1863 by John Horsfall and James Clay in Luddenden Foot, Halifax.forest
1903
Bought West Vale Mill and became John Horsfall & Sons Ltd.forest
1903
First aeroplane flight (Orville Wright).desert
1914
First passenger aeroplane service in USA – lasted four months (St Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line).desert
1924
First round-the-world aeroplane flight.desert
1919
First nonstop transatlantic aeroplane flight (John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown).desert
1939-45
War work – workers given special dispensation to work in the mill. Good quality blankets were essential to the war effort. John Horsfall also made ‘Fearnaught’ – heavy wool cloth that was fire proof and used to line ammunition boxes.forest
1952
First jetliner passenger service started between London and Johannesburg.desert
1978
John Horsfall sold its first airline blankets – to British Airways, Kuwait Airways and Malaysian Airlines.forest
1969
First Concorde passenger flight.desert
1994
Boeing 777’s first flight.desert
1993
First Queens Award for Export 1993. Further awards were won in 1998 and 1999.forest
2000
John Horsfall produced fine lambswool blankets for British Airways Concorde, until the aircraft retired from flight in 2003.forest
1997
Peter Horsfall Benson became the current Managing Director (5th generation of the Horsfall family).forest
2005
John Horsfall China office established.forest
2004
Beginning of offshore production in India and China, enabling the company to diversify to a larger range of products including duvets, pillow and table linens.forest
2014
After 118 years at West Vale Works, the Head Office relocates to its current home: Birkby Grange, Huddersfield.forest
2007
Airbus A380 Super Jumbo’s first passenger flight.desert
2017
Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s first flight.desert