Herbert George Mullard was born in Oxford in 1895, the son of Henry James Mullard and his wife Jane. He was educated at the East Oxford School which he left at 13 to take up an apprenticeship in ironmongery. Later he became a photographer for the Oxford Journal newspaper. In the First World War he served as a Private in the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars before returning to Oxford where he set up his own business, the Cowley Concrete Company, in his shed in Cowley. On 5 May1920, aged twenty-five, he married Elsie May Horrobin. In the 1920s he was finding his site at Springfield, Cowley, too cramped to expand his business but was fortunate to find a suitable location on the Radley Road in Abingdon, namely St Helen’s Gravel pit, today occupied by the Radley Green estate, and moved his business there in 1926. Mullard proceeded to take over the Abingdon Brick and Tile Company, already in operation on the site, which had developed a Cotswold-stone finish concrete roofing tile as a cheaper, lighter and durable alternative to the natural stone roofing slates.

He took up residence at 21, St Helen’s Estate, a new development at the far end of the Radley Road close to the works. Plans were passed in 1939 for the construction of a bomb-proof shelter and a billiard room at his residence. Meanwhile the business was expanding to include a variety of concrete products ranging from garages to community halls, from bricks and fountains to concrete beams. A large commission was the production of beams for the Chiswick Flyover, designed to reduce traffic congestion on the western approaches to London and today incorporated into the M4 motorway. Newsreel of the event in 1959 shows Mr Mullard standing next to Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield who performed the opening ceremony.

The commentary on the newsreel clip is very much of its time.

In 1970, Cowley Concrete was taken over by Amey’s and the land was sold and rezoned for housing.

Bert Mullard, as he was known locally, was a man of great energy, and was soon involved in the service of the town. In 1945 he was elected to the Borough Council and became an Alderman in 1952. Two years later he resigned after disagreeing with the Council’s decision to change the management of labour in the local construction of non-traditional houses. Instead of using the directly employed council workforce, the building of non-traditional houses would be contracted out.

Though at this period the Borough Council did, in fact, contract out the building of non- traditional houses constructed from concrete panels, there is no evidence that any houses were to the designs produced by Cowley Concrete.

During his period as councillor, he chaired both the Housing and Planning Committees where his drive led to the construction of over one hundred council homes annually. He was elected Mayor in 1951/52 and again in 1952/53. On the sudden death of King George VI on 6 February 1952, it fell to him to read the Accession Proclamation of HM Queen Elizabeth II from the steps of the County Hall.

Herbert George Mullard as mayor. He was elected mayor in 1951 and 1952.(© Abingdon Town Council
Image reproduced by kind permission.)

After his time on the Borough Council Mullard became a Corporate Governor of Abingdon’s oldest charity, Christ’s Hospital. His association with the charity began in 1958 when he was co-opted as a Governor. In 1962 he was elected to the office of Master, a position he held for a record fourteen years until his death in 1976. It was during this long association with the charity that his greatest benefactions to the town took place. It was agreed in 1956 that there should be a new roadway and bridge to give direct public access to the new recreational facilities in Abbey Meadow, and the 1958 the Borough Council minutes record that a private donor had come forward offering to underwrite the cost of materials and work involved in constructing a new footbridge over the millstream In 1962 Bert Mullard and his wife Elsie financed the construction of the bridge over the millstream obviating the need for permission to pass through the grounds of Cosener’s House as had been the case previously. The plaque on the bridge records that the gift was ‘in appreciation of a happy life spent in Abingdon’.

The plaque on the millstream bridge (© Jackie Smith)

In 1965 he founded the Mullard (Abingdon) Housing Trust, of which Governors of Christ’s Hospital were Trustees ex officio. He and his wife donated £10,000 towards the erection of eight flats in the Motte, subsequently named Mullard House. Later the Trust also built flats towards the west end of Ock Street. A short stretch of road constructed from Bostock Road to give rear vehicular access to these flats was named Mullard Way in his honour.

Industry, education and local sport also benefitted from his largesse and expertise in management. Mullard was a founder member and President of the town’s Chamber of Trade and Rotary Club and sat on national councils for the pre-cast concrete industry. He was a Manager of Tesdale Special School in Blacknall Road (closed in 1995) in addition to being a Governor of Abingdon School. He was also a liberal patron of Abingdon Town Football Club and served as President of Caldecott Youth Club. Both he and Mrs Mullard were appointed JPs. Mrs Mullard also served on the Abingdon Hospital Committee and was President of the British Legion.

Bert Mullard was also involved in organising the town’s contribution to the Festival of Britain celebrations in 1951. At his suggestion the creation of public gardens in Roysse Court, to be known as the Festival Gardens, and his donation of a concrete fountain manufactured by his firm, were conceived as a lasting commemoration of the event. Sadly, the fountain, no longer functioning as intended, was demolished in 2015.

At the age of sixty-five, in recognition of his service to the community he was created an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Abingdon at a special ceremony of admission in the Corn Exchange on 25 January 1960.

The scroll recording the admission of Herbert George Mullard to the Freedom of the Borough.The picture border around the scroll illustrates connections with Christ’s Hospital, Abingdon School and the Oxford District Hospital Management Committee on the right and, on the left, the Chamber of Trade and the Rotary Club.(© Abingdon Town Council
Image reproduced by kind permission.)

In 1976 Bert Mullard died at his home in Burcot at the age of 81.

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