Photos From London’s Oldest Ironmonger
David Lewis (the former proprietor of London’s oldest ironmongers, specialising in serving the coach-building trade and operating from the same location in the Hackney Rd from 1797-2013) was the proud custodian of this archive of photographs which illustrate the history of the business and some of its key protagonists.
Originally opened as H. M. Presland & Sons, the business became W. H. Clark Ltd in the eighteen-nineties and traded as Daniel Lewis & Son Ltd – The One Stop Metal Shop from 2002 -2013. In a rare and astonishing survival, the company traded from premises built to suit their purpose in the early nineteenth century, remaining largely unaltered over two hundred years until parking restrictions resulted in the loss of their customers and they left the Hackney Rd forever.
Timber components for assembling wagon wheels in the wheelwright’s shop, c.1900.
This wheelwright’s shop, c. 1900.
Mayor of Hackney, W.H.Clark’s car parked outside his business in 1920.
Mrs W.H.Clark who managed the business on her husband’s behalf – she was a member of the businesswomen’s league and an active participant in many local social charitable projects.
W.H. Clark vans, 1930
Gwladys Lewis outside her grocer shop and dairy in the Hackney Rd with her son Daniel on the right.
The gasometer at the rear of the premises next to the Regent’s Canal.
Daniel Lewis and his dog in the yard with the bombsite of the Chandler & Wiltshire Brewery, 1945.
Daniel Lewis at his sloped-top desk in 1953.
Daniel & Audrey Lewis.
The staff, 1950.
Daniel Lewis outside the premises, 1963.
Lewis Lewis, dairyman, outside his grocer’s shop and dairy in the Hackney Rd with his grandson David and daughter-in-law Audrey, nineteen sixties.
Lewis Lewis and David in the nineteen sixties.
Daniel Lewis with the Royal Carriage for which he supplied two-hundred-year-old-oak panelling from his stock for restoration, 1975.
Arthur Hinton, shop manager, 1980.
Shop staff, 1980
W.H.Clark van, 1960.
In the twentieth century.
In the nineteenth century
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Having originally discovered this while doing some work on my family tree, I have been really interested in the fact that so many Welsh people were involved in the dairy industry across London. Apparently, the milk really did come up from Wales on the 5am, so called, ‘milk train’ & then much of it was either wholesaled & retailed by Welsh families. The dairy shop shown in your photos, being run by a ‘Lewis Lewis’ must denote a Welsh connection, somewhere along the line.. Those shops were everywhere across London & in some cases, you can still see the vestiges of them
One of my uncles by marriage came from the Price family-another great Welsh name.
His maiden Aunt, who had brought him up in her home in Forest Hill, ran a dairy based business on her own & did very well from it-not only having bought her own brand new semi-detached home in the 1930’s, but managed by the 1950’s, to have acquired such state of the art belongings as a full size Kelvinator fridge and, the thing that impressed me most in the 1960’s, a telephone in her bedroom!