Baxter Hart & Abraham Ltd (BHA Ltd) was incorporated in 1956 with the merger of Baxter Hart, George Carruthers Ltd and H. Abraham (Dyers) Ltd by Aubrey Horn. It was formed as a millinery dyeing company; specifically for dyeing grosgrain petersham ribbon and straw plaits that were used in the manufacture of hats in Luton, mainly the Luton Boaters.
The company is run by the Horn family, who have been in the hat trade since the 1750's.
In 1951 Tony Horn (Aubrey’s only son) was sent to Bern, Switzerland, to learn the fine art of material dying by his father Aubrey Horn. Returning in 1953, he then set about updating the dyeing processes used in the Millinery trade and travelling up and down the country touting the company’s new found skills and dyeing accuracy to all the Mills, Weavers and Loomers around the UK. Tony took up the reigns of BHA Ltd upon his fathers death (Aubrey Horn) in 1964, where he invested heavily in our bleaching and dying operations on our current site. Since 1978 the dyeing was transferred to our sister company Barford Brothers Ltd - run by John Horn (Tony’s second son) since 1976. This allowed BHA Ltd to then concentrate on being a grosgrain petersham ribbon and wool felt merchants to the hat trade through to the mid-1980’s. In 1984, Richard Horn (Tony’s first son) joined BHA Ltd (after qualifying as an ACA Chartered Accountant) and greatly diversified our product range to include fur felts, feathers, papers, viscas and more. At the very end of the 1980’s, BHA Ltd were the first supplier to introduce Sinamay to the UK industry. A partnership between BHA Ltd, Alan Fischer and Barford Brothers resulted in custom machines being built in Luton at Barford Brothers, by John Horn, to allow the commercialisation of the Sinamay hat. Our machines are still used to this day, which allow Barford’s to dye, stiffen and dry Sinamay on the same machine - years before any of our competitors! By the end of the 20th century, BHA Ltd had become the largest Millinery suppliers in the UK with an extensive range of products and the largest stocks around. At the start of 2011, Nicholas Horn (Richard’s second son) joined the BHA Ltd team…
