The partnership of George A. Harrop and James Ogden first appears in Manchester trade directories in 1894. They were merchant calico printers, purchasing designs for their own use, and having them printed by a North West calico printer - possibly Edmund Potter and Co. who has a nearby Manchester office. The partnership lasted until 1906, after which date the company continued under a new partnership called G.A. Harrop and Co., jointly run by Harrop and Harry Ernest Berry, By 1915, Berry seems to have taken over full management and ownership, and in 1920, he established the firm as a limited company. When the company was eventually wound up in 1932, a valuation estimated the 'goodwill, trade fixtures, and pattern books' at £109, and the copper rollers at £4364. The company that printed for Harrop probably acquired the pattern books at that time. Dated notes in some books indicate that by 1936 they were being used as design reference material within an English design studio.
