William Tarn & Co. was a large department store in the Elephant and Castle district of Southwark, London. The business seems to have begun as a drapery shop c. 1799. In 1841, William Tarn & Co. is listed in a London Directory as "silk mercer, linen draper and general house furnisher."By the 1870s, the company had expanded to become a huge department store. There were departments for silks, velvets, furniture, haberdashery, millinery, boots and shoes, furs, carpets, and suits. The store was the largest retailer in Elephant and Castle—a thriving shopping area at this time—known as "the Picadilly of south London."
William Tarn & Co.'s Illustrated Catalogue published c. 1890-1900
by Mark Matlach
My GG Uncle Frank Winter's first wife, Katie Lake, worked in Tarns as a drapers assistant according to the 1871 census. It's quite possible that he also worked there at a later date. There is however a mystery surrounding their marriage, because later, Katie reverts to her maiden name when she is admitted to Newington Workhouse where she dies two weeks later from tuberculosis. Frank remarried in 1890 and bought a hotel in the Isle of Wight.
ReplyDeleteMy GG Uncle Frank Winter's first wife, Katie Lake, worked in Tarns as a drapers assistant according to the 1871 census. It's quite possible that he also worked there at a later date. There is however a mystery surrounding their marriage, because later, Katie reverts to her maiden name when she is admitted to Newington Workhouse where she dies two weeks later from tuberculosis. Frank remarried in 1890 and bought a hotel in the Isle of Wight.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the odds of this happening twice?
ReplyDelete