Reverend Charles Copeland-Smith
Title: Reverend
Epithet: Methodist minister and industrialist
Record type: First World War Biographies
Biography: Reverend Charles Copeland-Smith was a Methodist minister in Douglas during the First World War. Seeing the widespread distress caused by the collapse in the tourist industry following the outbreak of war, he resolved to take direct action to alleviate it. Copeland-Smith opened a number of factories producing textiles, under the title of Manx Industries Association. He quickly secured government contracts for socks and such like, and his workforce consisted mainly of working class women who had been left in financial difficulties following the loss of their seasonal work in boarding houses. (Image ref: PG/8655/1097).
Gender: Male