Ashley and Dumville was established in 1880 as a coal and coke merchant.
By 1939 it had been developed by Albert Smith, into a leading wholesaler for the North West of England, supplying a large part of what was then Europe's largest industrial estate Trafford Park, Manchester.
In the 1950s the company diversified into the marketing of fuel oil.
James Smith, who had been working with his brother Bill, split off from the company and formed Knutsford Domestic Fuel Oil company in 1975. It was an authorised distributor for Philips Petroleum, supplying rural domestic and small business customers.
Alongside this he ran a business selling fuels for industry and power generation sourced from the Eastham refinery.
Having worked as a journalist and newspaper proprietor earlier in his career James Smith started a newsletter for local distributors which became Fuel Oil News in 1977.
Knutsford Domestic Oil Company was sold off to the North West Farmers Group in 1995, but the company continued to market Pureflame industrial fuels until 2002.
Oil Recruitment was started in 1998 by Nick Smith who had recently joined the business.
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