AU34/20

Flitt Cycle Company and Flitt Motor Company

1890s to 1948

From: 1890 To: 1948

Collection of files pertaining to Flitt Cycle Company and Flitt Motor Company in Ampthill, owned and operated by Albert Edward Grimmer. [Following notes made by Andrew Underwood , Albert's grandson.] "Grimmer material came to me piecemeal between 1950 and 1991 and when the early records were received I was not aware of the full extent of material which would be available. On AEG's retirement in 1948 and the family's removal from 7 Church Street to 3 Station Road, family papers were stuffed in the loft and garage roof space while business files etc, went down into the cellar. For years I had been curious about the contents of the cellar cabinets (it had always been damp down there), but it was not until the early 1970s when there was some mild flooding that my moment came and I was free to load my car with the semi-sodden files and trundle them up to the churchyard where (appropriately) I could sort them in the wide open air and preside over a great cremation. What was worth keeping from this sortie (quite a bit) I listed and took to the BRO where it was catalogued under my X291 collection there. Later the loft of 3 Station Road yielded a mass of family material, much from East Anglia. Rather than split the archive, this was taken into the bosom of Bedfordshire as being part of the whole - X291 again. In 1979 my aunts moved from Station Road to 6 Church Avenue, taking almost everything archival with them. But when my Aunt Nora died in 1991, I (as her executor) had a free hand and with the blessing surprisingly given by my Aunt Lil (who took herself off to Australia for a holiday) I went through the whole house in a great purge! Most of what I retained has become part of AU34, although some general material did go into X291. Because of all this, there has not been the consistency of sorting that there ought to have been and AU34 must always be used in conjunction with X291, as there is much unavoidable overlapping of subjects, though not material."

file

Grimmer,
Grimmer, Albert Edward,
Underwood, Andrew,
Flitt Cycle Company,
Flitt Motor Company