IN PAST CENTURIES

Hokitika Guardian, 11 June 1932, Page 6

IN PAST CENTURIES

LONDON’S OLDEST FIRMS. KING’S PERFUMERY BILLS. LONDON, May 30. A census compiled by the London Chamber of Commerce shows that there are 650 London firms that have enjoyed a continuous existence for more than a century. Many of them have been in existence for- several hundreds of years, and more than a dozen of these centenarians of commerce are in Regent'.street. The oldest firm in London is the Oxford ' University Press. This firm i* (relieved to have been established in 1468, but bibliographers are somewhat dubious about the accuracy of this date, as. Caxton’s first hook was not printed until 1477. The first book published by the Oxford University Press gives the date in Roman numerals. ft is possible that an “X” was ommitted. in which case the date would Ire 1478. No matter whether 1468 or 1478 be the correct date, the firm is easily the oldest in London. • The seconcl oldest firm was not established until U 92. This is a ery company, and originally known as “The King’s Brewhouse.” Two .members of the firm have been Lord Mayors of London, and one of them, Sir John Parsons, travelled hv barge on the Thames to Ire sworn in at Westminster in 1703.

■’ The banking firm of Hoare and Co., in Fleet Street has been handed down from father to son since 1573. The oldest bank in London was founded in 1573. Compared with- these, the Bank of England seenis a mere “infant,” for it was not established until 1694—121 years after tbe oldest bank that still survives. One of the oldest of London’s business houses is a firm of hell-founders which dates from 1570. They were the founders of Bow Bells, the Westminster Abbey bells,and “Big Ben.” One city firm of caterers have catered for nearly every Lord Mayor’s banquet since the foundation of the firm in 1690. This firm did the - catering for one of the biggest banquets on record in England. It was held in 1815 in honour of the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia,- and the King ol Prussia to celebrate the victory of Wellington at Waterloo. The expenses totalled £20,347. A firm of court tailors and robemakers lias executed orders for 10 successive English Sovereigns, from William ill to tbe present King. Curious records are held by a firm on Tower Hill, showing that George IV spent £7OO a year on soap and perfumery. This is equal to nearly £2009 a year f at present-day values. Records preserved by a firm of manufacturing tobacconists show that in tlie early nineteenth -century peers bought fourpenny cigars and ordered them to be sent to them at Brighton by stage coach from the “Gloucester ■doffed House,” which then occupied the site of the Piccadilly Hotel.

“Slimming,” too, deems to have been fashionable in those days, for a weighing book which is still retained by tbe firm shows that society people had themselves weighed regularly—some of them over a period of 12 years. Eventually the “young bucks” began to gamble beavilv over their weights and made themselves such a nuisance that tile firm removed tbe scales.

Tim contract for the uniforniis worn by the British troops nt Waterloo is still preserved by a firm of tailors. There is scarcely a trade or profession that is not represented in these centenarians of commerce. Some of the businesses have been banded down from father to son through seven generations', and many firms have served the same families for more than 200 years.