The Jewel of Knightsbridge

by Harrod, Robin;

  When the money was returned the next day, Cohen forgot the incident until several months later, a woman’s voice spoke to him on the telephone saying she was Mrs Harrod and imploring him to come over and see her husband, who was heartbroken because his store had been burnt down.

  Harrod, who was almost prostrate with grief, asked Cohen to take charge. Cohen went to the Haymarket Stores and asked them to deal with all of Harrods’ orders, putting Harrods labels on the parcels, and otherwise doing the business as though it were their own.

  Then going to the site of a Japanese market which had just closed down near Harrods in Brompton Road, he rented it and opened there a temporary Harrods until the real store was rebuilt.

  Well, this is a different story to that given by William Kibble, who didn’t mention Edgar Cohen, so it is difficult to know how much credence to give this report. It certainly does not fit in with the ‘strong man’ and indefatigable image of Charles Digby, but may reflect his need to get as much help as he could after the fire.

  There are a few parts of the story that make me wonder about the rest of the report. With the lack of a personal telephone, Mrs Harrod must have used another phone to contact Cohen, and would Charles Digby have taken an omnibus from Bloomsbury rather than a cab? Omnibus services of the day were in the form of mostly double-decker buses drawn by two or three horses abreast. There were numerous services, but they were expensive, overcrowded and relatively slow. They were faster than walking, perhaps a problem for Charles Digby, and much less expensive than a hansom cab. The detail of the solicitor in Bloomsbury rings true; many of the legal profession of the day were located in that area. The jury must remain out.

  The Daily Mail Harrods centenary issue in 1949 reported another story – although the reader might feel it would, wouldn’t it?:

  While others stood watching the final scenes of destruction to the premises, Charles was sitting at a table in a public house nearby organising a new, temporary Harrods, to handle the Christmas trade his competitors thought he had lost.

  Was it Charles Digby, William Kibble or Edgar Cohen who saved the day? There was probably some truth in each of the versions. Haymarket Stores were used and Cohen certainly became more deeply involved in the story, as we shall see later. Charles had just seen his life’s work destroyed in one night and may have had a reaction to the event after a day or two, and sought help then – he was human, after all.

  Soon after the event, in the manner which we might expect of him, Charles Digby proceeded to turn a disaster into a triumph. He was feeling better. Despite the fire, Harrods’ trade that Christmas of 1883 was the best Charles Digby had ever achieved. He couldn’t wait to get started on a new five-storey building which was to be built on the same site.

  Clancy described in 1923 how the work had been continued after the fire:

  The Hall [Humphreys Hall] during our tenancy resembled a huge bazaar, with the departments arranged around the sides, the centre being reserved for stock, and just enough room for customers to move about.

  During this time we were executing the Town Orders, but the Country [orders] were sent to the Haymarket Stores, to be debited and executed by a number of Grocers [ours] sent there to work.

  I should like to mention that this hall held a Music Licence, and to retain that licence a band performance had to be given once annually. This occurred during our tenancy on one Saturday evening, and you can imagine the excitement and distraction felt, as we were working until 9 p.m.

  One can imagine the carnival atmosphere that must have been created with the band.

  Whilst the temporary premises continued to trade, the new premises were well on the way. British History Online records:

  In 1884 the old site was hastily reconstructed to the design of Alfred Williams, assistant district surveyor for Kensington, who had been Harrod’s architect since at least 1881. The rebuilt store was little more handsome than its predecessor and perpetuated the single-storey extension towards the street, but it stretched back to embrace many of the old cottage sites on the east side of Queen’s Gardens and was of course built on a ‘thoroughly fire-proof principle’. General provisions, meat, flowers and fruit were sold at ground level. In the ‘warehouse’ above were silver goods, lamps, china, saddlery, turnery, ironmongery and brushes. On the second floor along with games were the departments ‘sure to find favour with the gentler sex’, namely perfumery and patent medicines, while in the attic were beds and bedding. At an intermediate level was a large furniture department. Rebuilding began immediately and the new premises were opened in September 1884.

  Remarkably, this was only nine months after the fire. Mr Clancy’s report of 1923 continues:

  Eventually we got into the new building. This of course was up-to-date, and had all the facilities for new departments, such as Meat, Poultry, Vegetables, Fruit, Confectionery, Wines, Cigars, etc.

  The Chelsea Herald of 30 August 1884 reported the transformation brought about by the new build, once again at some length, in a piece attributed to a journalist with the nom de plume ‘The Baron’. He is rather given to flowery language and long sentences, which identifies him as the likely author of the previous piece. However, the language and detailed description of the shop at that time makes it worth reading:

  One of the most noteworthy instances of what energy and perseverance will do is to be found in a visit to the stores that are to be thrown open to the public on Tuesday next, September 2nd.

  They are built in the Brompton-road, and are number 101, 103 and 105, and although the absolute frontage is not great, they run back a long distance, and spread over ground in Queens-gardens that but a few months ago was covered by small and dilapidated tenements [the shop frontage was about 180ft].

  We have great pleasure in being able to chronicle the result of our lounge over these extensive premises which owe their origin to the father of the present proprietor, and are the outcome of a business started in the most unpretentious manner in Brompton some thirty or forty years ago, at which period the trade was of such limited dimensions that one or two employees were ample, but as the neighbourhood increased – which it did very rapidly – Mr C.D. Harrod grasped the opportunity (which has luckily for him turned out to be a golden one), and finding that so-called Co-operative ‘stores’, started by government officials, were underselling the retail traders, he resolved to drop the ‘shop’ and enter the competitive field against those formidable rivals who had already created quite a scare amongst the shop-keeping classes of the community.

  He saw clearly that the true system of co-operation meant the entire wiping out of a credit business, and that if he could but secure a cash trade, he could sell in most cases at the same price, but in many, much lower than the newly fashioned establishments, for he would be directly untrammelled by any Board of Directors – a costly article – entrance fees or share liability, three items in a retail business which in themselves mean a large charge on first cost of the articles sold.

  As a further thorn in the sides of his opponents he determined to deliver all his goods free, thus serving his customers as they should be served, and not leaving them to carry their parcels away, or be put to the expense of paying an account for carriage; he had clerks to make out the order sheets, and so save customers the annoyance of having to be their own bookkeepers, and above all he guaranteed that his staff should be ‘civil’, a word only applicable in one sense to many of the employees at the government ‘stores’. In other words he wiped out anything like red-tapism, a Gordian knot, which it has been impossible to cut in any matters in which the governmental element is introduced. How far these plans have succeeded, and his ideas have been appreciated, is best shown in the enormous – and we use the word advisedly – business he has got together, in fact, it speaks for itself when we record that at the present time his employees number close – very close – upon two hundred, and a business which at one time was a purely local one, is now worldwide, and his clients – or customers rank f
rom the ‘Peer to the peasant’.

  But while Mr Harrod has had what the world is pleased to call ‘luck’ (an ill-natured way of admitting that he, having worked hard, has reaped the reward of his labour) he has assuredly had a share off ill-luck in his business career, for on the night of December 6th, 1883, his premises were attacked by the demon ‘Fire’, who, during his absence, gained a complete victory.

  At first it looked as though the toil and trouble of years had in a few short hours been utterly destroyed, but here again his energy saved him, and being fetched in the dead of winter’s night from his residence many miles away, he never rested until a temporary office was opened with a small stock, just enough to supply his customer’s immediate requirements, a notice sent out asking indulgence for a few hours (not days or weeks) and all this was the work of twenty-four hours.

  At the end of three days great changes had come about. Humphreys Hall – luckily just roofed in – was hired, fixtures, desks, counters and offices were in their respective places and most of the departments in good order. We think, therefore, this feat is worthy to be classed as one of the ‘local’ wonders of the world more particularly when it is taken into account the thousands of articles that had to be got together to avoid customers being in any way inconvenienced.

  The public, every ready to acknowledge merit, responded to his call and whether from selfish motives or from sympathy the result is that the nine months working in the temporary building has been in no way the worse for the customers and certainly none to the proprietor, than if the fire had never taken place.

  It was but the work of a few days after the fire that the ground was cleared and the contractor for the rebuilding was hard at it, and the new building Phoenix-like began to rise from the ashes, the result being the rapid completion of a warehouse considerably larger, and in every way more convenient than the old one, for where departments were once crowded, ample room is now provided for the display of goods that must of necessity be inspected before being purchased, and there is room for branches that are now added to the already imposing list.

  It would be a work of time to fully describe this ‘store’ and would encroach too much on the limits of our lounge, but we may mention that the new building is an erection of somewhat imposing exterior and we are informed is put on a thoroughly fire-proof principle so that although this precaution is somewhat like ‘shutting the door after the steed is stole’ it will be readily admitted to be a wise one.

  As we enter from the street we are struck by the vast area that opens to our view, but we proceed at once to the basement and here we find strong rooms where the silver goods kept in stock can be placed safely after closing hours; here too are cellars built purposely for the storing of sugar, others for provisions, and bins by the score for the varied assortment of wines and spirits. There are also tea rooms piled up with chests from the lowly ‘mixed at two shillings per pound’ to the aristocratic ‘scented pekoe’ and another ‘all the sweet perfumes of Arabia’ containing the spices and other condiments of an appetizing nature.

  Ascending, we are in the ‘shop’, and in the centre we see a large circular counter where orders are to be written out and instructions given to a staff of clerks specially appointed for the purpose. On the left there are the wines, and we find a stock assorted to suit the tastes of all opponents of total abstinence. There are clarets from ‘ordinaire’ to high class Château productions, ports of the vintages sacred to those who have no dread of the gout, and selected from the best shipments of Cockburn, Kopke, Graham, Morgan and others. Champagnes from that bearing the very broad description “superior” up to such luxurious drinks as Giesler, Mumm, Perinet, Piper or Pommery, while for those of smaller means or semi-abstainers there are the exhilarating but somewhat saccharine liquors that owe their origin to fruits grown on British soil. Then there are spirits called not ‘from the vasty deep’ – for water is a matter that when Gin, Brandy, Rum or Whisky are concerned Mr Harrod prefers to leave to the discretion of his customers – but there those of the mineral class from soda to the medicinal Carlsbad, Schlossbunnen, Taunas and some which are bottled for the fair sex namely, Mesdames and Celestines.

  Stretching from here for a long way into the distance is the tea and grocery counter where pyramids of tea and sugar, mountains of coffee are mixed up with tins of biscuits, breeches’ paste, blanc-mange, glycerine, lobsters, plate powder, sugar candy, boot top powder, wax vestas, salt, prawns, phosphor paste, oysters, milk, knife polish, house flannel, dog biscuits, mustard and a thousand and one other articles of a heterogeneous nature but all of which meet in the store room of any well-ordered household.

  Next on the right comes the fruit and flower department and here is to be a collection that will hold its own against any of the Covent Garden shops, while in flowers there are to be daily supplies of shrubs and blooming plants, not are the beau, and belles’ requirements in the shapes of bouquets and ‘button holes’ to be forgotten.

  Beyond this is the ‘stall’ where poultry and game are to be on view, and we are informed that arrangements have been made for a constant and daily supply direct from the country so that the handling, packing and repacking which is so objectionable but which it is impossible to prevent with ordinary market-bought produce will be entirely avoided, and to complete this side of the place there is a long counter where cheese from America and the foreign Gruyère, Chapzugar Camembert, with the delicious productions of Wilts are to be found. Here too will be seen the goods comprised under the heading ‘general provisions’ such as Australian meats, bacon, butter – not bosch – and hams from York, Ireland, Canada or Westphalia.

  As we look around this ground floor we are quite surprised at the enormous quantities of each article that it appears necessary to keep ready but it is to be explained that often, and more particularly at holiday times and on Saturdays, there is such a rush of customers that unless this precaution was taken it would be impossible to serve quickly enough to keep the place even moderately clear.

  In the middle of this floor is a grand staircase wide enough for 5 or 6 persons to ascend or descend abreast and this takes us to a spacious warehouse where we find an amazing show of sterling silver and electro goods, and being all perfectly new and freshly unpacked the effect is somewhat more than one would expect to find in any retail establishment of ordinary dimensions.

  There are spoons and forks of all sorts, tea services, trays, biscuit boxes, soup tureens, kettles, and stands, but a very noticeable feature is a splendid assortment of the goods that are now somewhat the rage, namely jugs, flagons, salad bowls, trays, &c, made of oak and mounted in electro. These of themselves are worth seeing, and will, we doubt not, attract a good many people to take a lounge on this floor.

  But this is not all that is to be found here, for there is a big show of lamps, from those burning benzoline and costing a few pence, to the delicately painted china varieties for the drawing room or boudoir, and as a direct contrast there are lanterns for stable use and the burglar’s bull’s-eye.

  Around the wall are cases for saddlery, and the stock comprises everything from the donkey’s pad to the racing saddle, or from a halter to a set of four horse harness, while further on there are boxes, portmanteaux, overland trunks, hat cases, in fact travelling luxuries of every conceivable shape and size. To the left there are the modern brass goods comprising high class fenders, fire-irons, coal boxes, and beyond are kitchen requisites and turnery, mats, brushes, &c. The whole of this spacious floor is under the management of Mr Smart, and he is to be congratulated on having produced a show that being almost unique in this class of business deserves to be fully patronized by all who visit his employer’s new premises.

  One flight higher and we are in a portion of the building that is sure to find favour with the gentler sex, for here are displayed all sorts of fancy requisites for the toilet, perfumes from the laboratories of Atkinson, Plesse, and Rimmel together with the countless odds and ends in the way of cosmetiques that
are eagerly sought after by those who indulge in ‘paint, powder, and patches’. Then there comes a stock of articles equally or even more necessary, but not quite so much sought after, namely, patent medicines, and arrangements have been perfected with a competent dispenser in the neighbourhood so that prescriptions at store prices can be made up without delay.

  After all this realism, turning to something of a lighter character, we find ourselves surrounded by games of all sorts – croquet,billiards, chess boards and the racing game, and another bearing the somewhat wild title of go-bang. There are also coupelette, magic skittles, targeteer, la poule, knock-’em-downs, and last, the dear old soul for whom we have such affection at holiday times, ‘old Aunt Sally’.

  On the third floor we find iron and brass bedsteads and bedding, suited for high, low, rich or poor, but on the way down we are passed through a pair of iron doors, to find ourselves in an immense place set apart for the exhibition of furniture, and thence into a huge reserve store of all the goods that are in daily requisition in the different departments.

  Descending once more we are shown over the stables, where there are stalls and loose boxes for a large number of horses, together with standing room for carts, vans and hand-trucks, in endless variety, and with this our tour of inspection ends.

  We then had handed to us a copy of the list of everything that is to be obtained, and setting aside the matter of price we must notice how complete the book appears to be in every particular. The extraordinary assortment of qualities in every article shows that no stone has been left unturned to provide for the wants of not only all the present customers, but of the numberless new ones that will doubtless give their support to such a well-arranged mart for every-day wants.