Shops

40

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40, High Street.

Until about 1865, No. 40 was a separate shop but at around that date it was combined with No. 39 as Thomas S. Stevenson’s grocery and tea dealership. In 1875, Ladymans & Sons (later J. H. Ladyman & Co.), of Gentleman’s Walk in Norwich, acquired the business, which flourished, expanding into No. 41 in about 1900. More details about Stevenson & Co., and J. H. Ladyman & Co. are given in the account for Nos. 39 – 41, High Street.

c1822 – 1854 (Michael Jackson) (Henry Jackson) (William Jackson)

Pigot’s directory for 1822 lists Michael Jackson, a grocer and tea dealer, at High Street. Although no number is given, it may be that the Jackson family ran a grocery business at this address for many years.

There is no record of Michael after 1822, the next reference to the family being in Pigot’s directory for 1830 when Henry Jackson, a cheese monger, bacon factor, grocer, tea dealer and tallow chandler, is listed at No. 40. Henry died in Lynn in 1839/40.

The next to take over the business was William Jackson (b. c1815 in Lynn). In 1841, aged about 25, he was living here with his widowed mother, Elizabeth (b. c1777 in Welton-le-Wold, Lincolnshire). William I married Mary Anne Greenacre (b. c1816 in West Winch, near Lynn) in 1845, and they were living on the premises in 1851. They had five children:-

1) Sarah (b. 1851 – d. May 1852). 2) Elizabeth Ann (b. 1847). 3) Mary Keed (b. 1848/9). 4) Hannah (b. 1850 – d. 1856). 5) William II – see No. 114, High Street (b. 1853 – d. 1886, aged 33).

Following William I’s death in 1854, the family moved to Railway Road in Lynn, where they were living in 1861 and 1871.

William II served his apprenticeship with grocer Adam S. Clarke at his shop in Lowestoft High Street, where he was in 1871. Coming back to Lynn, he established his own grocery business at No. 114, High Street. In 1881, his mother and his sisters Elizabeth and Mary were staying with him at his house over the shop. However, he was to die young, aged 33, in 1886. Elizabeth then became head of the household, moving to Whitefriars Road in the town with Mary Keed and their mother Mary Ann, where they were in 1891. Mary Ann died in 1896, aged 79, and the two sisters moved away from Lynn, first to Cambridge, where they were in 1901, and then to Balham in London, in 1911.

1854 – c1877 (Thomas Samuel Stevenson)

The first record of Thomas Samuel Stevenson at Lynn’s High Street is an advertisement in the Lynn Advertiser on 29th April, 1854 in which he refers to having been open for ‘so short a time’. The entry in the burial register for his infant daughter, Christiana Mary, on 20th October, 1854, gives his address as High Street. The business is first listed here in Kelly’s directory for 1858.

Born in about 1827 in Uppingham, John Stevenson married Mary Smith in Birmingham in 1853/4. The couple then set up home in Lynn at No. 40, High Street, where they had seven children:-

1) Christiana Mary (b. 1854 – d. 1854). 2) Ellen Mary (b. 1855 – d. 1925, aged 70). 3) Catherine Elizabeth (b. 1857 – m. John Price, a tea dealer, in 1884 – d. 1931, aged 74). 4) Dora Ann (b. 1860 – d. 1911, aged 50). 5) Thomas Samuel (b. 1861/2 – d. 1861/2). 6) George Thomas (b. 1863 – d. 1863). 7) William Curtis (b. 1864 – d. 1873/4, aged 9).

In 1865, the business expanded into no. 39, and in Kelly’s directory for 1875, it is described as:- ‘Thomas Samuel Stevenson & Co., grocers & tea dealers, provision merchants & agents for W. & A. Gilbey, wine merchants – 39-40, High Street’.

By about 1877, Thomas had retired from the retail trade and was working as a wholesale supplier. He moved with his family to ‘Wildfield House’ at Clenchwarton, near Lynn. Catherine was the only one of his children to marry but had no offspring. He had been made a widower by 1901 but continued to live at Clenchwarton with his daughters Ellen and Dora until his death in 1912, aged 85.

1875 – 1969 (Ladyman & Sons) (Ladyman & Co.) (J. H. Ladyman & Co.)

Details of the combined premises are given at Nos. 39 – 41, High Street  (see under 39. High Street).