The firm was founded by John James Hardy in 1856 at Bond St. Hartlepool. The company prospered and moved to Throston Bridge in the 1880s. W.H. Hardy (Billy) took over as M.D. on his fathers death and continued in that position until 1937 when he sold the company to T.H. Pailor.

Ald. T.H. Pailor bought the company, limited liability since 1929, and ran it until his death in 1963.

His widow, Marion Isobel Pailor, was M.D. until 1967 when his son, Tom Pailor, took over on her death.

Tom supervised the move to Brenda Road and the company’s transition from brassfounders and finishers to CNC machinists and railways parts suppliers. On his retirement in 2002, his son Andrew Pailor became M.D. – only the sixth person to hold this position in 150 years.

(courtesy of J.J. Hardy's website)

Minnie Hardy born Durham in 1864 was the daughter of John James Hardy. She married Arthur Stein in 1887. Arthur (1861-1910) born in London was the son of Carl Heinrich Stein (1835-1890) born in Denmark and naturalized in 1865 after his arrival in Hartlepool. Carl owned the Stein Hotel and Gaiety Theatre in Mainsforth Terrace. Arthur later managed them both. Arthur and Minnie had a son Carl who emigrated to the United States and died in Galveston in 1973. Minnie died in 1951 when visiting a daughter Doris Elizabeth in Glasgow and while living with another daughter Queenie in Darlington, but she was buried in Hartlepool North cemetery with Arthur.

Queenie Corona Stein was born in Hartlepool in 1902 daughter of Arthur STEIN and Minnie HARDY. In 1927 she married Frank GRIFFITHS and moved to Darlington where she died in 2009 aged 106. This photo was taken on her birthday in 2009.

 She was given these names because she was born on the coronation day of Edward VII.