Reference
Z874/2
Title
Showroom catalogue entitled ‘Furniture of Quality’ and marked ‘Book 1, Showroom’, with the name and address F Gamman & Sons, Ltd, House Furnishers, 85 High Street, Bedford. Front cover embossed with a brass illustration of a dressing table. Contains black and white photograph illustrations of various ranges of oak furniture, including bedroom and dining room suites. Prices are marked on the reverse of the photographs, and one is marked with the date 3/3/39. A note on the inside cover requests the return of the book from customers within 3 days.
Date free text
1939
Production date
From: 1939 To: 1939
Admin/biog history
Originally from Faversham in Kent, Francis Gamman and his family moved to Bedford in the 1870s, with Francis initially working as a warehouseman at 91 High Street. By 1881 they had moved to 85 High Street where Francis began a house furnishing business which was to last nearly a century, expanding to include warehousing in nearby 31 Howard Street, and for a short while in the late 1890s to premises at 74 High Street..
In 1881 Francis was 35, living with his wife Caroline, and their children Frank, Percy, Arthur, Horace, Edith, and Algernon, shop assistant Eliza Davison and maid servants Mary Hardwick and Emma Keep above the shop premises. Ten years later there was another son, Sydney. Frank and Percy were assisting their father with his business, while Arthur was apprentice to a grocer, and Horace to a draper. Eliza Davison was still employed in the business, and the family had a cook, Emma Gillett, and housemaid Louisa Mason.
From 1920 the business became known as Francis Gamman & Sons, House Furnishers, and by 1936 was a Limited Company, with a directory entry listing their business as ‘upholsterers, cabinet makers, general house furnishers, new designs in curtain materials and furnishing fabrics’. The business continued throughout the war years, and in 1955 they were also offering a furniture removal service. In 1970 the company became known as Gammans of Bedford, reverting to F Gamman & Sons, House Furnishers, by 1977, and closing shortly afterwards.
Gift from Mr Ian Slatter of Bedford. Mr Slatters’ great-uncle, Benjamin Smith, was manager at Gammans in 1939.
Level of description
item