This is a business card which advertised the family hosiery concern owned by Thomas Crowder Johnson during the first part of the twentieth century. Thomas spent his teenage years with his uncle, William Crowder, on Matlock Bank^[1] and Crowder's Hosiery Works was on Wellington Street^[2]. William and his wife Eliza had no children so, after William died in 1900 and Eliza retired, Thomas inherited their business. By 1916 there was an additional department making blouses based in Smedley's Buildings on Smedley Street^[3].

Crowder Johnson's card shows the company had a national, not a local, telephone number^[3].

Below is a second card showing more of the work's interior and four of the staff. It is interesting that they were prepared to show visitors around the works; they must have believed it would increase their business.