Thomas Tickler

Tommy Tickler (30 September 1852 – 19 January 1938) was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician from Grimsby in Lincolnshire.

Life Tickler was the son of George Tickler, a miller from Withern in Lincolnshire . He established his own fruit growers and preservers business, serving as managing director (MD) of T.G. Tickler Ltd, which operated from Grimsby and Southall, and was also MD of Heathcote Pottery Ltd of Swadlincote following the death of the Conservative MP Sir George Doughty. Doughty had held the seat for almost 20 years, with a short break in 1910.

Family In 1878 he married his childhood companion, Frances Wells, second daughter of W. T. Wells, of The Hall, Withern. All five of his sons served in the British army and survived the First World War.

Ticklers Jam From a small grocery business established in 1877, Tickler soon ran one of the largest factories in Grimsby, producing jam and marmalade. 'Tickler's Fruit Growers & Preservers' was taken over in the late 1950s.

At the outbreak of World War I, Ticklers secured a contract with the government to supply front lines with plum-and-apple jama contract worth £1 million between 1914 and 1918 (equivalent to £ million in ). Its empty jam tins were used as makeshift grenades referred to as 'Tickler's artillery'.