Short answers, pulled from the story.
Ralph and Albert Slazenger opened a small shop on Cannon Street in London during 1881. These Jewish brothers from Manchester began selling rubber sporting goods to local customers.
Incendiary bombs fell on the Slazenger factory during the Blitz on London on the 15th of September 1940. The competing William Sykes Ltd factory at Horbury remained undamaged by these bombings.
Frasers Group now owns the British sports equipment brand through this chain of acquisitions. This ownership follows a series of sales involving Dunlop Rubber, BTR plc, and Sports Direct International.
Production at their Barnsley plant closed in 2002 because the company could not re-gear its existing factories to produce products using new composite materials like fiberglass and graphite. Manufacturing is now based in the Philippines.
Slazenger was appointed as the official tennis ball supplier to The Championships at Wimbledon in 1902. This association remains the longest unbroken sporting sponsorship in history.