A Business Perfect For The English Weather!
In 1830 James Smith founded the famous firm of James Smith and Sons at Foubert Street in London's West End. His Son, also called James, was quite an entrepreneur and moved the business to New Oxford Street in 1857 - he also opened six other businesses including Hatters and a BarberShop. He had eight sons and a daughter and when he moved to Tasmania with two of his sons to take up farming, he left the others to run the business at home. In 1930 it was his grandson Mr Mesgar (great grandson of the Founder) who moved back from Tasmania to take over the running of the business.
A branch shop was opened just off Savile Row and it was from here that umbrellas were sold to Gladstone, Bonar Law and Lord Curzon among many dignitaries. When this shop was pulled down to make way for a new road, the branch moved to New Burlington Street, but this was unfortunately bombed by the Luftwaffe in World War II
The business in umbrellas has always thrived - perhaps because of the English weather, but also because of the outstanding reputation the company has for new umbrellas and their repair service. The company was one of the first to use the famous Fox Frame and have led the field in utilising the most recent advances in fabrics and structure.
For a long time the company specialised in making Ceremonial Umbrellas and Maces and gentlemen's canes and these are in service around the world. Until the 1920's the cane or stick was an essential part of the well dresses males attire. During World War I many hundreds of thousands of military 'swagger sticks' were sold to soldiers but today the cane or stick is used mostly as an aid to walking.
Much of the business for sticks comes from America where there has always been a shortage of good sticks and canes. One client even asked the company to make him a stick in every English wood possible - he received over 70 sticks in total!
Apart from being the leading umbrella company for 170 years and the first name in sticks and canes, the shop on New Oxford Street is a legend in itself. It is a perfect example of Victorian shop front design and has remained virtually unaltered in 140 years. Inside it is a unique experience; most of the fittings were designed and made by a fitter kept in full employment by Mr Smith. It is a must on any visit to London.
devise a new form of embroidery, hoping to encourage needlewomen to use his silks. The dyes produced near colour-fast, clear soft and bright tones, Art Colours’ which were a great contrast to the harsh shades of aniline or chemically dyed wools used in Berlin woolwork. It was Elizabeth’s skill in blending the colours which was such a feature of Leek Embroidery Society pieces. Elizabeth and her gentlewomen embroidered secular and religious pieces with the Indian tussore floss silk skeins onto a tussore printed silk ground, the pattern acting as a transfer. Thomas had the silk printed in India to his own designs, in turn influenced by Indian designs. Damasks, brocades, silk plush and velvet, all dyed in Wardle’s works, were all used for backgrounds.
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