Digging into the Newman's Drapers photograph...but what happened to them?
Industry & Business
It does seem to be a bit hit and miss sometimes - especially when you want to go back to something you know you've seen!
Forum Activity for @iamtimbo
Digging into the Newman's Drapers photograph...but what happened to them?
Industry & Business
Interesting that the shop was still going in 1927 - you must have a posher Ancestry subscription than me! I got Percy's age from the 1911 census, so was guessing a tiny bit. I wondered if they might have gone back to Littlehampton or Steyning - or even Brighton, where Emma was from.
updated by @iamtimbo: 07 Apr 2020 18:08:06
Digging into the Newman's Drapers photograph...but what happened to them?
Industry & Business
As mentioned on the original image post, this picture also shows the Newmans' shop:
Digging into the Newman's Drapers photograph...but what happened to them?
Industry & Business
Around 4 years ago, I posted a photo of Newman’s drapers shop on the High Street:
I’m always fascinated by the people in old photos, and the stories behind them, so I thought I’d do some digging, and see if I could find out who they were. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to track down the owner of the shop from census records, and then piece together the background story.
Frederick John Newman was born in Steyning, Sussex in 1857, the son of Richard Newman, the landlord of the Chequer Inn on the High Street, and Mary, his wife. The Chequer Inn has been in existence since the 15th Century, and by the time Frederick was 13, his father had done well enough out of it to retire.
Frederick was still a scholar then, but by 1881 he was living in Littlehampton, working for his brother, William, who was a draper by trade, and who had a shop on the High Street. His brother (14 years Frederick’s senior) had clearly made a success of himself as he had 10 employees – plus his wife, four children and a cook and a servant - living with him at his shop on the High Street.
Fast forward 10 years to 1891 and Frederick now has his own shop in Wimborne Minster’s High Street. Like his brother, he has a sizeable staff in residence with him and his young family – 11 in total. He has a young son at this time – 6 year-old Percy – who will one day work in his father’s shop.
The 1891 census tells us that Percy was born in Wimborne in 1885 – suggesting that Frederick and his wife Emma Louisa (originally from Brighton) had been in Wimborne since at least 1885.
By 1901, Frederick and family had moved out of the shop to their own house – ‘The Leaze’ at 23 Julian’s Road. The photograph outside the shop isn’t dated, but it would appear that Percy is in his late teens, suggesting it was taken in the early 1900s. Rolls of material are piled up outside, and the signage announces them as ‘silk mercer’ and ‘hosier’, and the agents of Pullars cleaners and dyers.
The family were still living in Julian’s Road in 1911, and by 1915 the business was described as a ‘drapers and undertakers’ in Kelly’s Directory:
But that’s where the trail goes cold. Documents after that date are hard to come by, and the 1922 census hasn’t been released yet.
When I was growing up in Wimborne, the building was always McIlroys, but I don't know at what stage it stopped being Frederick/Percy Newman's shop; if you do know anything, feel free to offer it below!
Problem with uploading
Bug Reports
Hi, there; I think this is a caching issue, especially if you are using Chrome. Best thing to do is find an offending page and the do CTRL + F5, and that should force it to fetch the latest version from the server, rather than use the local cached version.
Let me know how you get on.....sorry that took time to reply to, as I couldn't replicate the issue!
Problem with uploading
Bug Reports
How strange! What platform are you on? I’ve just uploaded an image on my iPad, and all seems well. I’ll try it again in the morning on a laptop, and see if I can replicate the issue.
updated by @iamtimbo: 15 Sep 2019 23:12:16
Eclipse Works
Industry & Business
The Eclipse Works was in Eden Grove and made parts for brewers. Does anyone know how many people it employed?
Looking for information on Collyer's Farm / Thomas Robert Crayden
Local Genealogy
I know that my great-grandfather, Thomas Robert Crayden, was living at Collyer's Farm in Lynsted, having been born in Hartlip (@hartlip-kent-england-me9-7). According to the 1901 census, he was in service as a gardener, and I'm wondering if anyone has any information on Collyers Farm, what he might have been doing there as a gardener (beyond the obvious!), or the Craydens in Hartlip/Lynsted, at around that time?
Although his family were from around the area, he didn't end up staying much longer, marrying my great-grandmother in London 6 years later.
updated by @iamtimbo: 15 Nov 2017 10:05:01
