History

History

Humble Beginnings

The beginning of the 1920s saw the Spanish Flu Pandemic spread across the world killing an estimated 100 million people. In 1922 Thomas Charles Morris lost his father and brother to the disease. Struggling to cope, his mother did the best she could and gave Charlie away to a pig farm in the West Midlands. There Charlie helped on the farm, slept in the stables, and looked after the pigs.

Several years later, Charlie met Lilly Placket while working in Smith’s – a butcher’s shop in Willenhall marketplace. Deciding to marry in 1938, together they were able to buy their first butcher’s shop a year later, on Lower Lichfield Street just before the start of World War II.

During the war, Charlie and Lily managed to keep the butcher’s going and when the war ended, they were able to make a reasonable living. Eventually, they were able to buy the butchers in Willenhall marketplace where they originally met.

The business grew and Charlie, together with Lily’s brother Zebulon, brought a farm in Essington to provide produce for the shops.

Transition to Manufacturing

During the late 1960s Charlie’s two sons, John and David Morris, entered the business. Predicting the decline of the traditional butcher shop, they decided to sell the shops and farm to concentrate resources on manufacturing.

The factory on Walsall Street was purchased where they produced various meat products including pasties, sausages, and pies. The product range became more specialised and in the 1990s T.C. Morris began to concentrate solely on the manufacture of quality pork pies.

To the present day

David’s daughter Charlotte had worked in the business during holiday seasons as she was growing up and had a true passion for carrying on the family name. She gained experience in various positions within multi-national manufacturing and Transport organisations after leaving university and decided to enter the business full-time in 2010 beginning a new era of investment and improvement for the Company.

Allan Jones joined the business as General Manager in 2019 bringing over 30 years of experience within the food industry across multiple disciplines.

Today… Many of the staff have been employed in the business for over 35 years and are highly skilled at their craft. Together we are very proud of our heritage and are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.