Tailoring memorabilia, 1920s-40s

An anonymous donor has sent us a box of ephemera relating to the tailor’s business of Fred Wilson of Chesterfield.

The collection consists of branded ephemera – receipt books, coat hangers, brushes, envelopes, post cards, headed stationery, labels and more. They offer a glimpse into the way an interwar high street business was run, and show the trouble that Fred went to to create and promote his brand. This could not have been cheap, but I guess Fred saw it as necessary if he were to compete as a credible and reliable tailor against stiff competition. In this age of emails and social media, when very little is now actually real beyond what appears on a screen, it’s sobering to see the extent of the stationery – to make receipts, notes, bills, to send by post. Everything was recorded on paper by hand.

Fred, we learn, was born in the 1890s and he and his brother William were orphaned at a tender age. Both brothers went on to fight in the First World War – William was killed at the Somme, and Fred lost four fingers on one hand. Starting out as a harness maker, he had a stint working for Montague Burton in Chesterfield. After this he set up his own shop in the 1920s but died of a heart attack in the 1940s, the shop being sold on in the 1950s.

We are thrilled to receive this collection – this will now be catalogued and preserved for the public to see.