George Sargent (businessman)

After winning a contract to supply bread to a tea house chain, the strain to meet the demand badly affected George Sargent's health.

Deciding that it was time to reenter business, Charlotte prevailed on a man to put in a bid on her behalf for bakery equipment and then found an empty shop to house it.

When almost broke, the couple opened the ‘Little Palace’ at 390 Oxford Street, Paddington (opposite the fire station); it soon became a popular landmark.

Upon their return, George and Charlotte Sargent effectively resumed their family businesses from these premises, but prudently traded under the name 'F.

[16] By 1913, Sargents were producing 125,000 meat pies per week at their factory in Burton Street, Darlinghurst and, by 1915, were operating 36 refreshment rooms and shops.

[20] Their son, Foster Sargent, although newly-widowed with five children and a wealthy man already in his mid thirties, enlisted to fight in the First World War, in 1915.

Corporal Foster Sargent was wounded, in 1916, and later became a prisoner of war at Pozieres; he was subsequently held at in Germany, at Hameln and Minden.

[26][27][4][28][29][30][12] Foster Sargent returned home, with his health permanently damaged by his war service, after spending time at a hospital in England.

[16] In 1919, a boarding house keeper named Mary Mahony sought damages of £400 against Sargents, having claimed that she had been served a pie containing portions of a rodent.

[36][37][38][39] George Sargent died at home, aged 62, 13 August 1921, after leaving the office somewhat earlier than usual on the previous evening.

[3][16][41][42] The business troubles were seen by some to have hastened Charlotte's death, which occurred on 15 May 1924, and to have further affected the already poor health of her son, Foster.

[47][48] Foster Sargent may have retained only minority support on the board, by the end of August 1924, when the committee's report was released and he stood down temporarily as Chairman, to recuperate.

Evidence was given, by his wife, at a coronial inquiry, that he did not have work-related worries, was in good spirits, and was looking forward to this return to work, but that was not consistent with the very troubled circumstances of Sargents Limited at the time.

[56] In November 1924, shortly after the tragic death of the last founder of the company, Sargents started using a huge new gas-fired travelling oven, which was capable of producing 30,000 pies daily.

[58] In 1927, over 10,000 left over Sargents pies—out of a total of 30,000 that had been supplied for the opening of the Old Parliament House in Canberra—needed to be buried because the size of the crowd had been overestimated.

[18][59][60] In 1928, the Chairman and General Manager of Sargents Limited, Charles Bridges, who had been a Sydney council alderman until 1924, stepped down after being implicated in corruption associated with a contract for the Bunnerong Power Station.

After six months, the exhausted workers' trade union imposed an overtime ban, and the company ceased supplying meat pies to other than its own cafes.

Dissatisfaction from affected retailers—threatening a deputation to the Prime Minister over the matter, if necessary—resulted in scarce manpower being allocated to restore supplies of meat pies.

In December of that year, Sargents halted pie production, due to an industrial dispute over employee remuneration.