[2] After World War II, engineer Bernard Ashley met Welsh secretary Laura Mountney at a youth club in Wallington, London.
The newly formed company moved to Kent in 1955, but the business was nearly wiped out in 1958, when the River Darent overflowed – leaving equipment, dyes and fabrics floating in three feet of water.
By 1970, sales had reached £300,000 per year, and in one week alone, London's Fulham Road shop sold 4,000 dresses – which resulted in the new factory in Newtown, Montgomeryshire.
Women were making inroads in the boardroom, and sharp suits and shoulder pads were at odds with everything Laura Ashley stood for.
But in early April 1994, Dr Maxmin abruptly resigned from Laura Ashley, citing major differences over strategy with Sir Bernard.
[4] Laura Ashley celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1993, the same year that Sir Bernard retired as chairperson and became honorary life president.
In 2000, Sir Bernard set up a new textile company named Elanbach and requested that daughter Emma Shuckburgh (née Ashley) act as its creative director.
Named after Emma's home in the Elan Valley near Rhayader, it is based at Sir Bernard's five-star hotel, Llangoed Hall, near Brecon, and was to be sold in shops in London and Paris.
[6] Sir Bernard Ashley bought Llangoed Hall, seeing it as the place where he could fulfill his ambition to recreate the atmosphere of an Edwardian house party.
They bought a house in France in the early 1970s, and kept in touch with the family and business through flying, with Sir Bernard's accomplished skills as a pilot.
The astonishing success of what proved to be the ultimate cottage industry, bought the Ashleys a yacht, a private plane, a French château in Picardy, a town-house in Brussels, and the villa Contenta in Lyford Cay, New Providence, Bahamas, which in 2006 was offered for sale at $8.5million.
[10] In 1985, on her 60th birthday, while she was visiting her children in the UK, Laura fell down the stairs and was rushed to hospital where she died ten days later.