George Orton (1843–1924) was born in Measham, Leicestershire, and trained as a wheelwright and coachbuilder (sourced — Wikipedia; Fairground Heritage Trust). He moved to Burton-on-Trent in 1875 and set up in Princess Street, establishing the Lion Carriage Works in 1885 (sourced). His first recorded commission from a travelling showman dates to approximately 1883–1884, and over the following decade the business shifted progressively from general wheelwrighting and brewing-trade work toward the construction of showmen's living wagons, which doubled as the highly decorated show fronts of the period (sourced — Fairground Heritage Trust). Orton retired in 1910, after which the firm was run by his sons Tom and Charles, his daughter Annie, and his son-in-law Charles Spooner (sourced). George Orton died at his home in Stretton, near Burton-on-Trent, in December 1924, two days after the destruction by fire of the company's Crescent Erecting Sheds (sourced — Fairground Heritage Trust; Grace's Guide).

Charles Spooner (1871–1939) was born in Burton-on-Trent, the son of the landlord of the Old Swan Hotel (sourced — University of Sheffield Library Blog; Fairground Heritage Trust). He was apprenticed to Walter Gifford Hilton, a wood carver of Victoria Street, Burton, and on completing his apprenticeship in 1892 set up his own business in the Old Swan Hotel yard under the name "Swan Works" (sourced). His initial trade was the supply of carved drays and handcarts to Burton's brewing industry. The quality of his carving brought him to the attention of George Orton in 1894, and from that year the two firms began working together as supplier and customer (sourced). Spooner's first wife died in childbirth in 1894, leaving him to raise their son Jack; in 1897 he married Orton's daughter Rose Ann (Annie), becoming Orton's son-in-law (sourced). With the partnership prospering, Spooner moved his works to Meadow Road, near the Burton Bridge, in 1900 (sourced). He is widely regarded in the British fairground literature as the finest showman's carver of his generation. By around 1914 he had stopped designing and carving and shifted into a travelling sales role for the amalgamated company; he died in 1939 (sourced — Fairground Heritage Trust; Wikipedia).