John Pound & Co.

John Pound & Co. was a manufacturer and retailer of high quality luggage and luxury dressing cases.

The business was originally started by John Pound's father, Henry Pound, who established the company in Leadenhall Street, London in 1823 with his partner Mr. Tasker. Pound & Tasker were makers of trunks and packing cases. Tasker died in 1857 and Henry Pound admitted his son into the business. John Pound took control of the company following his father's death and he developed the business into one of the largest of its kind in Britain. By 1871 John Pound & Co. had three factories, eight distributing warehouses, and five shops in central London; at Leadenhall Street, Regents Street, Oxford Street, Picadilly, and Tottenham Court Road. As well as luggage and dressing cases, John Pound & Co. also made and sold hunting bags, hat cases, writing cases and purses.


John Pound became Lord Mayor of London in 1904. With less time to run his business, he gave contol of the company to his two sons, John Lulham and Percy Albert. John Pound & Co. continued to trade until the 1940s or 1950s when it was taken over by John Lewis.

By Mark Matlach

William Whiteley Limited

Whilst working as a draper's assistant as a young man, William Whiteley dreamed of one day owning a grand shop which would sell everything. Whiteley lived frugally. He did not drink or smoke and survived on a diet of tea, bread and cheese. He managed to save £700 which was enough to open a draper's shop at Westbourne Grove, London in 1863. By 1867 Whiteley had acquired a row of shops along Westbourne Grove which he turned into 17 departments. Dressmaking was started in 1868, a house agency and a refreshment room opened in 1875, and a building and decorating department was added in 1876. Claiming that he could provide anything from a pin to an elephant, William Whiteley dubbed himself "The Universal Provider."

Whiteley met with strong opposition from smaller tradesmen and also from the local authorities over his grand business plans. Several fires in the 1880s may have been arson attacks by his opponents. Despite these setbacks business continued to prosper. By 1890 over 6000 staff were employed by Whiteleys, most of them living in company-owned dormitories, having to obey 176 rules and working from 7am to 11pm six days a week.

In 1897 another fire resulted in the Westbourne Grove store burning to the ground. William Whiteley was not to be defeated and in 1911 he opened a new store in nearby Queensway. This was claimed to be the largest British store in the world. Whiteley continued to work in his business and it was whilst in one of his shops that tragedy struck on 24th January 1907. A young man called Horace Rayner entered the premises and claimed to be Whiteley's illegitimate son. Considering him to be a blackmailer, Whiteley was about to call the police when Rayner shot him dead. Rayner received the death penalty though this was later commuted to life imprisonment.

Whiteleys department store closed down in 1981. In 1989, after extensive reconstruction, Whiteleys was re-opened as a shopping centre.

By Mark Matlach

Whiteley Ltd. used commercial overprints for decades and you would think that they would be common. In a sense, they are--but there are many varieties of wording and font spread over quite a range of issues. Each combination of pattern and issue is a bit of a challenge to find:

Henry Bannerman & Sons Limited

Henry Bannerman was a successful farmer in Perthshire, Scotland when at the age of 55 he decided on a complete change of career. In 1808 he moved with his family to Manchester, determined to get involved in the burgeoning Lancashire cotton industry. Within a month he had rented a warehouse and established a company with the name of Henry Bannerman & Sons. The new enterprise began trading in cotton, calicoes, muslins and plain fabrics.

Henry Bannerman died in 1823, his second career having lasted some 15 years. His eldest son David took over until his death six years later. The business was carried on by David's brothers, and after their retirement, by David's two sons.

Bannermans was by this time prospering and in the late 1830s the company moved to a huge warehouse in York Street which was right in the centre of the Manchester cotton trade. Bannermans also had four cotton mills in the Manchester area : Brunswick Mill in Ancoats, Old Hall Mill in Dukinfield and the North End Mill and River Meadow Mill, both in Stalybridge .

In 1880 Charles Macara became the manager of Bannermans. He concentrated the firm exclusively on “heavy” goods such as curtains, quilts, sheets, blankets and calicoes. Macara remained in charge until his death in 1929.

By this time the Lancashire cotton industry was dying. The First World War had halted the supply of raw cotton and the British Government had encouraged its colonies to build their own cotton mills. With the War over, Lancashire never regained its markets and the independent mills were struggling.

The Bank of England set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 in an attempt to save the industry and Bannermans' mills were taken over a few years later. The mills were acquired by Courtaulds in 1964 and all production ceased in 1967.

By Mark Matlach

Woodhams & Levy

Woodhams & Levy were brewers, salt merchants, corn dealers, and coal merchants based in Rochester, Kent. Goods for sale were transported in vessels up the River Thames to Liddard's Wharf in London twice a week to be traded. The company operated a brewery at Bulwark Hill for a short period from 1890 to 1895.

The Bulwark Hill Brewery changed hands several times during its relatively short history. The first definite mention of it is in the 1840 Pigot's Directory which states that Walker & Son were the brewers in this year. Sometime between 1844 and 1847 the brewery must have changed hands because from 1847 to 1882, Henry Cliffe is listed as the brewer. There then follows a quick change in ownership, J.A. Rolls is the brewer in 1889, but in 1890 Woodhams & Levy have taken over. Woodhams & Levy's control of the Bulwark Hill Brewery lasted for just five years as in 1895 the company was taken over by the East Kent Brewery. The East Kent Brewery did not stay long at Bulwark Hill, moving to new premises at Commercial Quay in 1905. In 1907 the site of the Bulwark Hill Brewery was occupied by the Piers Infant School.

By Mark Matlach

Russian Bank for Foreign Trade

The Russian Bank for Foreign Trade was a private bank established in St. Petersburg in 1871. At this time St. Petersburg had the status of the biggest banking centre in Russia and was also beginning to play an important role as an international banking centre.

The bank was one of the biggest in Russia and invested significantly in the development of heavy industrial enterprises, especially during the industrial boom of 1909 – 1913. Its influence was felt most of all in the machine-building and railway construction industries. The bank also served as an intermediary between foreign money markets and Russian entrepreneurs. Before the outbreak of the First World War the bank had 76 branches in Russia as well as foreign branches in London and Paris. The Russian Bank for Foreign Trade was nationalized in October 1917.

By Mark Matlach

The Gas Light and Coke Company

The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company involved in the business of gas lighting and coking. It was located on the Horseferry Road in London's Westminster district. It is identified as the original company from which British Gas is descended.

The company was founded by Frederick Albert Winsor 65 (originally from Germany) and incorporated by Royal Charter on 30 April 1812, under the seal of King George III. It was the first company set up to supply London with (coal) gas, and operated the first gas works in the United Kingdom which was also the world's first public gas works. It was governed by a "Court of Directors", which met for the first time on 24 June 1812.

The original capitalisation was a million pounds, in 80,000 shares.

Offices were established at Pall Mall, with a wharf at Cannon Row. In 1818 the company established a tar works in Poplar and expanded their works at Brick Lane and Westminster. Under the guidance of the company's chief engineer, Samuel Clegg (formerly of Boulton and Watt), a gas works was installed at the Royal Mint in 1817 and by 1819 nearly 290 miles of pipes had been laid in London, supplying 51,000 burners. Clegg also developed a practical gas meter. The vast Beckton works were built on East Ham Levels to the east of London in 1868, named after company chairman Simon Adams Beck.

The company had an especially large and diverse transport fleet including shipping, barges and railway engines for the import and export of coal and by-products, and road transport for local delivery and maintenance.

With the advent of electricity the company expanded into domestic services, with lady Demonstrators employed to promote gas cooking. This Home Service eventually developed into a full advisory service on domestic gas use. The company was so large that after nationalisation of the gas industry in 1949 the area it covered, which stretched from Pinner in North West London to Southend-on-Sea in Essex, became North Thames Gas, one of the twelve regional Gas Boards.

By Paul Green

Trapnell and Gane Ltd.

Trapnell and Co. was begun by Henry Trapnell in 1824 in Host Street. As it developed new premises were acquired in St.James's Barton, Queen's Street, St.Michael's and Barrs Street, St.Paul's.

In 1860 the headquarters of the business moved to College Green. By 1889 branches had opened in both Cardiff and Newport. A final expansion of the firm's manufacturing resources took place in 1903 when a five-floor factory was opened in Hill Street, Bristol.

During the 19th century, Henry Trapnell's sons William and Caleb helped build up the business. Philip Endres Gane, who had been employed since boyhood, was taken into partnership and at the end of the century took over proprietorship, the company becominga limited company Trapnel and Gane

In 1851 an imposing exhibit was designed and made by the firm's craftsmen for the Great Exhibition and in the following year there is record of a notable exhibit prepared for the Paris Exhibition. Royalty, too, were furnished direct in the 19th century and the furnishing of reception rooms for royal visits was often entrusted to the firm.

In 1909 a private limited company was formed of which Philip Endres Gane was chairman and managing director. His two sons, Leslie and Crofton, became associated with the firm as directors. The latter took over the chairmanship on the death of his father in 1933.

Air raids during the Second World War took a heavy toll of company premises. The large showrooms on College Green were totally destroyed in 1940 along with much furniture and many records. Shortly afterwards its workshop in St.Paul's and also its warehouse suffered the same fate.

The wartime destruction and other factors effectively ended the company's long-held reputation as a manufacturer of high-class house furnishings. In post war years the company operated from its showroom at 79 Park Street, Bristol. Unfortunately, these premises provided a totally inadequate single window display for its various departments. In 1950 the company's Newport branch closed (its Cardiff branch had already been sold in 1930) and four years later the company itself passed into voluntary liquidation.

By Paul Green