Meanwhile, a young man not yet 18, Charles Luker had joined the firm two years previously as an 'improver'. No one knew the great influence he would have on the company in years to come.
Thomas Higgs's widow Eliza disposed of the company in 1897 to a partnership of members of Henley's Hobbs family.
Later, in 1900, Charles Luker became the sole proprietor of Higgs Printers. He would have to wait until 1919 to unite the printers and the Henley Standard under one ownership though, when the previous owners finally relinquished their connection to the paper.
A second generation of the Luker family joined Higgs & Co in 1926, with the arrival of elder son Charles Thomas Luker, known as 'Mr Tom', aged 20.
The Second World War saw many members of staff called up to help the war effort including Mr Tom, so it fell to his father, Charles 'the Guv'nor' Luker, to keep the business running through this difficult time, often single-handedly.