Gerald Croft (played by Michael Warren)

...was born in 1880, the only child of George and Marjorie Croft. By the middle of the 19th century, George Croft’s father Samuel, who had started with a small number of boats, had created a relatively large, successful shipping company, primarily through his involvement in the lucrative slave trade to America. Additionally, with the business of using his ships to bring cotton back to the textile mills in England from the American south, he developed a related, lucrative enterprise. It was through both of these activities that Samuel Croft had met and become a business associate of William Langford. Langford’s family had, for over a century, owned land in the American south run as cotton plantations, somehow managing even to keep the land in the family through the American revolution. The Langford family’s plantations produced vast amounts of cotton, and with the help of Croft’s ships, kept a steady stream of slave labor in-bound to America and a steady stream of boats loaded with cotton sailing and steaming to England. However, in 1860, anticipating civil war in America and the cessation of both the slave trade and a ready supply of raw cotton for his mills, Langford sold the plantations advantageously and invested both in new textile manufacturing equipment for his modern factory in Brumley as well as in various sources of supply elsewhere in the world, including India. Seeing his associate Croft struggling economically as a result of the civil war in America and needing an on-going means of cheap shipping, Langford proposed a combination of the two companies. The partnership, originally undertaken in 1863 under the name Langford & Crofts, was further cemented in 1872 when Samuel Croft’s son George married Langford’s daughter Marjorie. William Langford died in 1875, and thereafter until his own death in 1879, Samuel Croft and his son George successfully ran the company.

In 1880, Marjorie Croft finally gave birth to a son, Gerald, and shortly thereafter, the company was renamed Crofts Limited. From an early age, Gerald was a bright, lively boy. The relative wealth of his parents afforded him every opportunity in terms of the finest schools, tutors, social opportunities and the like. At preparatory school, Gerald excelled in many subjects, particularly mathematics, science and Latin. He was a relatively clear-headed, logical thinker. But these “left-brain” characteristics toward reason were mediated by a strong “right-brain” tendency to express himself well, though sometimes emotionally. This combination led Gerald to join the school’s Debating Society, at which he excelled. It was through his obvious skill and elation with competitive debating that Gerald discerned that he wanted to become a barrister. This decision was enthusiastically supported by his mother, Marjorie, while at the same time maligned by his father, George who wanted his son to join him in the family business. Nevertheless, Marjorie’s influence won out and Gerald’s academic path eventually led him to King’s College in London where he studied law and eventually earned his law degree in 1904. Although fully prepared to embark on a legal career in London, two things occurred that prevented this. First, his father was knighted that same year. The festivities and activities surrounding this were significant enough to require Gerald to spend much time shuttling between Brumley and London. His father certainly had expectations that Gerald would help out at the factory. And then, Gerald was surprised and disappointed to learn that his mother had made an agreement with his father that Gerald could be allowed to go to law school only if he eventually joined the business.

In light of all this, combined with the fact that he would not longer receive financial support otherwise, and since his mother had promised her husband that Gerald would accede, in the middle of 1904 Gerald returned to Brumley and joined Crofts Limited. He principally was responsible for maintaining the company’s books and accounts, and he used his legal background as the fine toothed comb when reviewing or writing the company’s contracts. But he continued to long for the opportunity to use his legal background more effectively, perhaps if not through the practice of law, then perhaps through eventual public office or service.

In late 1906, during a visit to the home of a competitor and town Alderman, Arthur Birling, Gerald met Birling’s lively daughter Sheila. He was not experienced at all with women at the time, but he thought Sheila was bright, attractive and articulate, though perhaps a bit head-strong. In 1908, after hearing that Arthur Birling had substantially recovered from his illness, but more for the purpose of seeing Sheila again, Gerald called at the Birling home to extend his regards and good wishes. This apparent act of goodwill warmed Sheila’s heart a bit toward Gerald. And later, when Birling became Lord Mayor, Gerald’s own interest in law and politics and in Sheila Birling resulted in his attending many civic functions at which he knew she’d be in attendance with her father. In early 1911, Gerald began to call on Sheila and became a regular fixture at the Birling home, though in the summer of that year, he seemed to virtually disappear for a time, claiming that it was because of the amount of work he had at the Crofts Limited.