Liberty and Co
Liberty's of London is a long-established department store in Regent Street and Great Marlborough Street.
1875 The business was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty to sell ornaments, fabrics (for which it became especially famous) and miscellaneous objets d'art from Japan and the Far East.
1875 Acquired the lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street, opposite where he used to work, and called it Liberty and Co. William Judd, a former colleague, joined his company and they began to sell ornaments, fabrics and other items from Japan.
1876-7 The other half of the shop was acquired.
1882 Company owned premises at 218-220 Regent Street, London.
1885 Company purchased 142-4 Regent Street, to sell carpets and furniture.
1888 Partnership dissolved. '...the Partnership heretofore subsisting under a deed dated 18th June, 1887, between us the undersigned, Arthur Lasenby Liberty and Frank Brunton Goodyer, carrying on business at Chesham House, Nos. 142, 144, 148, and 150, Regent-street, East India House, Nos. 218 and 222, Regent-street, and 2, Argyll-place, all in the county of Middlesex, as East India Merchants and Oriental Warehousemen, under the style or firm of Liberty and Co., has been dissolved, by mutual consent...'[1]
1890s Work was commissioned from leading English designers.
1894 Became a limited company. Directors are Arthur Lasenby Liberty, Mr. Street and Mr. Howe who have been partners for the past five years.[2]
1898 Haseler and Co went into formal partnership with Liberty and Co (registered in 1901) when the two firms joined forces to launch the Cymric silver scheme under the title Liberty and Co (Cymric) Ltd - using freelance designers.
1899 The 'Cymric' line of silver and jewellery was launched, the idea being that the best designers of the day would help to create a range of Arts & Crafts style pieces to retail in-store. These ranges were highly popular.
1903 A few years later the 'Tudric' collection was launched, made in pewter to make the 'Liberty Style' more affordable. As with the silver collection, pieces were machine-made but hand-finished as a homage to the Arts & Crafts style that the pieces portrayed.
1903 "CYMRIC and TUDRIC work in gold and silver and pewter... is so instinctively associated with the name of Messrs. Liberty and Co., Ltd. of Regent-street, W that it was a foregone conclusion that the quaint and lovely "Cymric" ..."[3]
1914 LIBERTY & CO., Ltd., London, Paris, and Birmingham. Makers, Importers, and Dealers in Furniture, Furnishing and Dress Fabrics, and Eastern and Western Decorative Wares (wholesale and retail). London: ("Chesham House" block), Nos. 138 to 154, Regent Street, and 18 to 20 and 25 to 34, Warwick Street, and 2 to 6, Beak Street; ("East India House" block), 208, 212 to 218, and 222, Regent Street, and 32, 35 to 39, and 42 to 46, Kingly Street, W. Workrooms: 5 to 14, Little Marlborough Street, Factory: Highgate. Paris: 3, Boulevard des Capucins. Birmingham: 117 and 119, Corporation Street. Staff: Over 1,300. Founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875. Incorporated as a Limited Company in 1894. Directors: Sir Arthur Liberty (Chairman), William Street, John Llewellyn (since Feb. 25th, 1898), Alwyn Ernest Lasenby (since March 3rd, 1903), Harold Close Blackmore (since March 6th, 1905), the last-named acting also as Secretary and Solicitor to the Company. Specialities: The production of Furnishing and Dress Fabrics, Costumes, and Decorative Wares in artistic Designs and Colourings, and the manufacture of Artistic Furniture and Jewellery.
1924 The new Tudor building was built using timbers of two ships, HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The front of the store on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the Hindustan.
1957 Liberty's celebrated its centenary.
2008 Liberty plc still sells products designed by leading artists.
Merton Print Works
Block-printed textiles and scarves were printed for Liberty by E. Littler and Co. (William Morris had his print works at Merton Abbey but his property was downstream from Littler's works.) [4]
By the 1890s Liberty were taking up the whole of Littler's production.
1904 Liberty purchased the Merton print works. Shortly afterwards a number of the early weatherboarded buildings on the site were demolished. Liberty's gradually replaced the old weatherboarded workshops in brick.
1922 Liberty acquired the freehold of the works.
1940 Liberty leased part of the factory, set aside for screen-printing, to Parnall Aircraft Components Ltd, an aircraft manufacturer. Parnall's also leased the 1929 shop. The work included the assembling of gun turrets for the Bristol Blenheim Fighter Bomber.
1945 Liberty's took back the building that had been leased to Parnall's and finally set up their screen-printing shop.
1972 The firm continued to hand print there until 1972/3 when the Merton Abbey Works were sold but textile production was continued at Merton by Vita-Tex Ltd., Riseline Ltd. and finally Merton Fabrics Ltd.
1982 The Merton premises finally closed.
See Also
- [1] Liberty website
Sources of Information
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:16 November 1888 Issue:25875 Page:6228
- ↑ Buckinghamshire Examiner - Wednesday 07 November 1894
- ↑ Lady's Pictorial 05 September 1903
- ↑ [http://www.achome.co.uk/antiques/liberty.htm%7CArts and Crafts