Catalogue description RICHARD JONES AND COMPANY LTD

Legal documents

Richard Jones and Company Ltd, drapers and furnishers

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The firm of Richard Jones and Company Ltd., drapers and furnishers of 11-13 Eastgate Street and 44-46 Bridge Street, Chester, originated in a clothing business, which was started in the late 19th century by Richard Jones, draper.

In Morris and Company's. Directory and Gazetteer of Cheshire, 1874, Richard Jones is described as 'draper, silk mercer, hosier and haberdasher' of 52, 54 and 56 Bridge Street, while the 1878 Post Office Directory of Cheshire, refers to Richard Jones, 'draper and mourning warehouse'. By the 1890s, the business had expanded to include home furnishing, which led to the acquisition of premises in Eastgate Street.

The business was incorporated on 2 December 1903 (see CR 310/1), and the Company's first managing directors, Richard Arthur Jones, draper, and Norman Jones, furnisher, were appointed on 12 December 1903 (see CR 310/36).

Richard Jones and Company Ltd. subsequently became one of Chester's leading department stores, selling a wide variety of household goods and clothing at their two shops in Bridge Street and Eastgate Street. The firm also operated a removal service. In the mid 1960s, the firm was taken over by Owen Owen Ltd.