Percy Lander

This photograph is of Percy Lander who founded Landers Bakery in Mansfield, (my grandfather).

Percy was born in Nottingham in 1896 and was the middle child of Joseph Lander and Sarah nee Hopkinson, Joseph and Sarah were both born in Derbyshire but their children were born in Nottinghamshire.

Little is known of Percy’s early life. In 1901 he was living with his parents and sister Sarah Ann at Highfield Terrace, Mansfield. His father was a frame work knitter. Around 1903 Percy’s brother Theodore was born in Mansfield

In 1911 the family were living at 15 Chaucer Street, Mansfield and both Percy, his father and sister were working in a hosiery factory.

Percy married Gertrude Bakewell at Mansfield in 1920, at the age of 24, they had 2 daughters Kathleen & Thelma.

At a date unknown Percy started a bakery business and he worked hard to establish and found Lander’s Bakery, in Mansfield. Both his daughters worked for Landers, Kathleen in the offices and Thelma in the bakery itself.

Percy was only 49 when he died of a heart attack in 1949. The bakery was sold and taken over but still maintained the name Landers until 1981 when it finally closed.

Maybe other members of the Landers family will be able to add comments to this page.

Landers Bakery still has memories for many people – see the other relevant pages on

Comments about this page

  • I knew Thelma a bit and worked for her husband Bill Laughton, a nurseryman of Park Hall Rd. Thelma a lovely lady. I was told Percy was to build a house on Crow Hill Drive, a quarter way up from Chesterfield Rd. however the mortuary was near, no air conditioning then, so built on Stanton Place.

    By Mark Wilson (30/06/2019)
  • Well Done Beresford for finding that conformation…All this history appears to be coming together….And the Newspaper report confirms just about everything that has been written on this site.

    By alan curtis (29/01/2013)
  • Giving a lot more thought to the information above and what I already know, I feel it would be safe to assume that where Percy’s mother had her small shop and bakery on the corner of Oxford St. was the building that eventually became the garage and petrol pumps for the Landers’ vans at a later date. It would have been the success of the baking skills of his mother that prompted Percy to open another bakery across the road at the bottom of York St. as there were plenty of potential customers in the homes of people on York St. and the surrounding areas. 

    By alan curtis (29/01/2013)
  • Hello Sally, I feel I should reply to your comment, although, perhaps if Carol,( Percy’s granddaughter ), reads your comment, she may wish to reply or even make contact with you. I guess you must be cousins of some kind. Carol is the daughter of Kathleen who was Percy Lander’s first born. I knew the Landers family through working for them from 1949 and have great memories. I do have to thank you for supplying the name of the missing member of the Landers family, Theo. It is my guess , like many other families, they all went their different ways.

    By alan curtis (28/01/2013)
  • In answer to your question above about Percy and his military days. I have an old newspaper cutting that features news of Percy Landers death in 1949, it reads; DEATH OF WELL-KNOWN LOCAL BAKER. A well-known North Notts. Wholesale and retail baker, Mr Percy Lander, of 15 Stanton Place, Mansfield, died suddenly at his home on Tuesday (24th May) morning. He was 53 and leaves a widow and two daughters. A native of Duffield, Mr Lander had spent most of his life at Mansfield, and was educated at the Rosemary School. During the Great War he served in the Royal Ordnance Corps for a time in France and the Middle East. The bakery business was actually started by his mother in a small grocery shop at the corner of Oxford Street, Mansfield Woodhouse. On returning to civilian life Mr Lander opened a in Yorke Street, Mansfield Woodhouse and at the time of his death owned shops at Mansfield and East Kirkby. He also built up a large wholesale connection from his bakery in Oxford Street. Mr. Lander was a past President of the Mansfield and Sutton Master Bakers’ Association, a former member of the Sherwood Forest Golf Club and a member of the Rotary Club. He was also a member of the Borough Club and belonged to the Forest Lodge of Freemasons.

    By Berisford Jones (28/01/2013)
  • I am Theo’s granddaughter, nee Clayton. Theo married Alice Cox and their only child Mary married Ernest Clayton in 1949. I am in the middle of two brothers. Its the first time I have seen a photo of Percy but can see they are brothers. I was told their was an argument between the brothers, but don’t know what it was. What is your connection to the family please? 27/01/13

    By Sally Jubb (27/01/2013)
  • I have previously mentioned on the Landers Bread History page about Percy Lander having a Bread Slicing machine stored away in a shed at the top of Oxford Street. Of course, the reason being, during the war there was a shortage of paper and all wrapping of bread was prohibited I knew there had been wrapped bread somewhere, but where I don’t know. So it was therefore that progress to having wrapped and sliced bread was postponed until after the war had ended… I do not know if I am allowed,but I will try and give a brief history of bread of what I know… In the eleventh century, water mills were used for milling flour…It was at the end of the 12th century that the first windmill came to be, I think it was in Suffolk … I read somewhere that in 1150 the Bakers Guild was formed as a protection against the Barons…And soon after, the bakers in London formed a Brotherhood…In the 13th century , the assizes of bread regulated the price and weight of a loaf.. In 1912 a bread slicing machine was invented and patented in America by an inventor named Otto Rohwedder. This was an incredible invention, bread had been wrapped before,but no one had ever dreamt of being able to slice it… Mr Rohwedder struggled with the heavy machine,and went on to sell the patent for it…. Other inventors took up his patent, and with help of Baking operatives they improved the wrapping and slicing machine….Success was achieved, and in 1928, wrapped and sliced bread was being sold in the stores in America…It was at this time that the saying ” The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread ” came Into it’s own… It was 1931 before the wrapping and slicing machines came to England …Gas ovens were replacing coal and wood burning ovens…Productivity increased through automated baking…I feel this may co-inside with Percy Lander’s move to Oxford Street… 1950 saw the end of the prohibition of the wrapping and slicing of bread after world war two. This was when Percy Lander’s wrapping and slicing machine came out of the ” Moth Balls “. Following this, the next big change in the industry , was The Chorley Wood Process… This process reduced the time of fermentation, and the time of producing bread… The Baking Industry is a huge industry with : 46 large plant bakeries in the United Kingdom.Selling 80% of the volume…Supermarket In-store bakeries.Selling 17% leaving Master Bakers…Selling 3% of the volume. Of the Large Plant producers. of 80%..Three quarters are wrapped and sliced…Most made up of Own Label… Allied Bakers —Kings Mill. Premier Foods—Hovis and Warburtons. about 10% to Food Services I have read somewhere that we now export bread to France.. wow !

    By Alan Curtis (20/11/2011)
  • The petrol station is no more, last time I saw it last November it was a double glazing showroom as for Percy Lander being conscripted for the first world war the only suggestion I have is during the second world war bakers were a reserved occupation. As for flour supplies during the first world war Joseph Rank was recruited by the government in 1912/13 to go to america and buy wheat ready for the outbreak of war and he went as an unknown wheat buyer and bought hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat prior to the outbreak of war

    By jim cairns (05/05/2011)
  • I can remember Highfield Terrace. It was off Portland Street, at the top of Station Street,and opposite Wharf Road. I believe Duke Street leading to Nottingham Road was where the Terraced houses of Highfield Terrace ended. The houses were up some steps and had a stone slab walkway with iron railings, and was only a stones throw from the midland Railway Station. The Bulls Head was also close by, as was the Mansfield Town football ground. An old school friend from High Oakham School also used to live on Highfield Terrace. A.C.

    By alan curtis (26/04/2011)
  • Following the information given about Percy Lander on this site. I was wondering if Percy was in the First World War. He would have been 18 in 1914…. Or was Percy in the second World War…Or did his occupation in the food industry during the war take precedence to help feed a starving nation ? Baking was hard work,and the hours were long,and so it would have been for Percy’s wife Gertrude. During WW2 the Bakers had to take whatever flour they were allowed. It was mostly from English Wheat, and the bread wasn’t white as it is today, it was a dirty grey in colour. The best wheat came from Canada, but during the war, shippings from Canada were very few and far between, if at all !… All foods were scarce, and so rationing for everyone was introduced…Bread was the main diet, you had bread with everything to fill fill up your tummy…Many older folk will remember having ( Pobs ). This was a cup of hot water and a broken up slice of bread added to it, with condensed milk poured over, then stirred before eating…Litterally everything was in short supply. Initially bread was a 2lb, loaf, and a small loaf was 14ozs. I cannot remember when it changed to 1/3/4 lb. It was common place to see a youngster with a thick slice of bread and jam, this was called a Doorstop. I believe rationing finished altogether around 1952, and other things came off of rationing as they became more plentiful. a.c.

    By alan curtis (15/04/2011)
  • In the late 1950’s a petrol station was built on the old bakery site. I used to fill up there with petrol. Is it still there ?

    By alan curtis (14/04/2011)
  • Jim. What you have been told is correct. Percy Lander’s original bakery was on the opposite side of Woodhouse Road.

    By alan curtis (13/04/2011)
  • Thank you Alan and Jim for your added snippets – yes it sounds familiar from my family hisory research. As has been noticed my grandfather died at 53 (not 49).

    By Carole Clark (13/04/2011)
  • Carole I was told be it right or wrong that the bakery was started by your great grandmother in 1913 in the shop opposite the Black Bull public house coming from Mansfield the first shop on the left and up into the nineties there appeared to be a stable with a flour loft above it. The move into the Oxford Street bakery was in the 1920’s, 1922 seems to ring a bell, this caused problems later because Oxford Street was designated as housing and as such the drains and such like were already in place so later if the bakery had a problem with the drains it was hunt the active ones and not the 1920’s original ones, but as for start up date as I said above it is just what I was told, and in the Bakers Union magazine article bemoaning the passing of Landers Bakery the dates given are 1913-1981.

    By jim cairns (11/04/2011)
  • Wonderful. Thank you Carole.for presenting me with the lost piece of my Jigsaw ! Do hope we can meet up one day..? A.C.

    By alan curtis (09/04/2011)

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