Continued from Letter 5
February 18th, 1938.
Returning down Bath Street on the West side, was Mr. Turton’s tailor’s shop. Mr. Rose had the next as a shoe shop. He was also a rate collector. He had one daughter married to Mr. Phillips, who was away in India. They had one little girl. The next was Mr. Solomon Beardsley’s bread and confectionery shop. He built a bakehouse at the rear. His first wife died leaving him with four children, Lizzie who married Potter Hardy, of Kirk Hallam; John, Catherine, who married M(r). Northwood, and Willie, who died when a young man. Mr. S. Beardsley’s second wife was Miss Sudbury, who had lived with her mother in Anchor Row. They had one little daughter, Annie Maria. Then came Mrs. Joseph Scattergood’s fancy shop. I remember her selling off the stock. Her eldest daughter was named Lilly. Afterwards the shop was taken by Mrs. S. Beardsley, one side being used for confectionery, the other for under-clothing. The small shop was taken by Mr. George Domleo, of Long Eaton, and opened as a bookseller’s and stationer’s business.
Below was Charles Chadwick’s greengrocer’s shop. He also had a stall in the Market Place on Saturday nights. At the bottom of Mount Street on the south side was Mr. George Purcell’s chemist’s shop. He and his wife attended the Independent Chapel in Pimlico. Mrs. Pursell was lame. On the north side was Mr. Burgin’s butcher’s shop. She was a widow, with two sons. William, the elder, worked at Carrier’s Factory, and Sam helped his mother. Mr Paxton, who at that time was a noted cricketer, lived at the same house. Next below the British School, was the draper, Mr Hickman. When he gave up the business the shop was empty for a long time, until Thomas Small, son of the nurseryman, Mr. George Small, took it, and started as a draper. He had been for some years with Mr. Joseph Carrier, draper. Thomas Small afterwards became connected with the Denby Colliery Co., and his one-time apprentice, George Barker, carried on the drapery business. George Barker married the youngest daughter of Mr. Clay, the landlord of the Mundy Arms. The next shop was empty until Mr. Wood, provision dealer, took it. Next was Mr. William Henshaw, fishmonger. His son William and daughter Augusta, helped their father in the business. This shop was, I believe, the oldest in Bath Street. The rooms were very low and dark, and the entrance to the shop was lower than the street. Mr. George Tooth, leather merchant, had the next shop. Below was Mr. Pickburn, the plumber. He afterwards took one of the new shops in the Market Place, and Mr David Pressland, cabinet maker, followed in the Bath Street shop. Then came gardens, facing Club Row, a few cottages on the bank, and then we come to the small shops against the Primitive Methodist Chapel. These shops were very seldom let, as most of the business at that time was done in the upper part of Bath Street. Mrs. Calladine’s greengrocery shop was next, and then we come to Mr. Kelly’s furniture shop. He had two daughters and one son. Harry followed in his father’s footsteps. The elder daughter became Mrs. Fullwood. Lizzie was a teacher in the Church Girls’ School. The last tradesman on the West side of Bath Street was Mr. Whitehead, the Parish Clerk, who displayed a few bottles of drugs in the window of his small cottage.
In the Market Place, starting from the Old Harrow Inn, two new shops had been built, the first one being empty for a long time. Mr. W. Allsopp, a chemist and druggist, started his business in it. Next was Mr. Wragg, with all kinds of carpet, cloth, American and leather travelling bags. I remember Mr. Wragg selling off his stock, and Mr. Pickburn removing into the shop. Next was the single storey building occupied at one time by Mr. William Sudbury, butcher. The next two shops were taken by Mr. William Merry and his two sons, William and Jim. William became the Registrar of Marriages. Jim later on left the town. This family came from Derby. They all attended the Independent Chapel in Pimlico. Mrs. John Childs had the next shop for millinery, costumes, etc. Mr. John Childs was a china dealer. He had the prison attached to the old Butter Market. The inner cell he used as a store. When the weather was fine, Mr. Childs arranged his china outside the prison, had a chair against the door, and here he sat waiting for his customers. Mr. and Mrs. Childs, who had no children, adopted a niece – Millicent Fisher. Jedediah Wigley, known as Jerry Wigley, built two shops, also the Market Tavern. One shop was empty for a long time until taken by Mr. John Wombell, stationer, of Bath Street. The second shop, used by Jerry’s daughter Sophia for a millinery and dressmaking business. Jerry was the landlord of the Market Tavern. Next was Mrs. West’s drapery establishment. She was a widow and was assisted in her business by her two sons, John and Charles, and her daughter, who had married a Mr. Finch. This family were Baptists. Mr Woolstan Marshall had the next shop, as a corn dealer and seedsman. The shop had two small bow windows. After Woolstan gave up his business, Mr. John Wombell bought the property, took out the bow windows, modernised the shop, and then removed into it. Mr. Bourne, who had married one of Jerry’s daughters, followed Mrs. Wombell. He started in business as a bookseller and stationer.
Continued in Letter 7
