The Gee Family lived at ‘Knighton Frith’, on the Avenue Road and London Road corner, between 1879 and 1924.
The photograph shows the family of Harry Simpson Gee (1842-1924) on the steps of their home ‘Knighton Frith’ c1882.
Gee was a boot and shoe manufacturer, whose company, Stead & Simpson (named after his mother’s brother and his business partner), became one of Leicester’s largest. Born and educated in Leeds, Gee came to Leicester as a young man in his late teens and set up the company in the 1860s, initially as leather tanners and curriers (his uncle’s business) but soon focussing on manufacturing. He was also the director of several other companies, including the Leicester Banking Co and, by the time of his death, one of Leicester’s most influential businessmen.
Gee’s mother, a formidable figure who accompanied him when he first came to Leicester from Leeds in the 1850s and kept home for him well into her 90s, is pictured on the left.