Notes from the Archives: Ephemera in the Papers of Arthur Hussey
Imagine a shop where you can buy a dresser, new curtains, a carpet and a coffin for your late relative. No, this is not a new Hypermarket on the edge of town. A shop like this, called E & G Hobday, existed in 1890 at 60-61 Palace Street in Canterbury. Their range was impressively wide, they advertised themselves as Upholsterers, Decorators, Undertakers, Auctioneers and Valuers, offering removal services, painting and decorating, furniture repairs and sale of household furniture and furnishings. They proudly displayed their state-of-the-art removal van, the Pantechnicon, on their advert.
In April 1900, Arthur Hussey obtained quotes from E & G Hobday and the company Kennett & Chamberlain for his move from Wingham to Whitstable. He kept these quotes, crossed them out and wrote research notes on the back of them, which is why these quotes are among the content of the KAS Archive. They provide a glance of local businesses and the people behind them. For a start, E & G Hobday were not unique in offering a wide selection of services. Their competitors Kennett & Chamberlain of Westgate, Canterbury also described themselves as Cabinet, Upholstery & Furnishing Warehousemen, Auctioneers, Valuers & House Agents and advertised that they did funerals too. Looking through the local directories of the time this combination was commonplace and reminds us that jobs were not always as specialised as they are now.
E. H. Hobday quoted a £7 fee for moving Arthur Hussey’s belongings to Whitstable in the Pantechnicon van.
A Pantechnicon was a specialised horse-drawn removal van which developed after 1836. It was long and broad with a low floor and hinged doors at the back. At the time they were thought to be very large and they made furniture removal a lot easier. It wasn’t long before they were put on railway trucks to facilitate moves between towns. Adverts in local directories frequently display them, just as the advertising of modern removal companies display pictures of their trucks, and probably for the same reasons. For a time, until the arrival of trucks, the Pantechnicon showed that you had modern equipment and inspired confidence.
The Hobday family was well established in Canterbury. In 1878 John Hobday was established in Palace Street, offering a full range of cabinet making and upholstery services. By 1881 he was a widower, but a son, George, was living at home and described as a Managing Upholsterer. John Hobday was doing well at this time, employing 6 men and a boy. At the same time Edwin H. Hobday and his family were living in Best Lane. Edwin H. Hobday was an upholsterer and probably an elder son of John and the late Sarah Hobday. The company name, E & G Hobday, may be the initials of Edwin and George Hobday. Edwin and his wife Mary Ann had seven children, some of whom followed them into the business. One son, Arthur E. Hobday, became a cabinet maker, and is listed as a dealer in antiques and art in the 1901 census. A daughter, Laura Hobday, became an upholstress. The Hobday business in Palace St. can be traced from 1878 to 1918 in Kelly’s Directory of Kent, but disappears by 1922. The family may have ceased to have involvement by 1918 when a Frank Amos is listed after the company name in the Canterbury and District Local directory. From 1928 onwards there is still a thriving House Furnishing business at the address, but by then it is called Wm. Lefevre Ltd. These days the building is home to an Italian Restaurant.
It is not known whether Arthur Hussey employed the Hobday firm for his move to Whitstable. Rivals Kennett & Chamberlain came in a fraction cheaper at £6.12s.6d and one assumes a third quote existed at some time; maybe the lost quote was the winning one. However, this piece of ephemera opens up a door to the history of a family business in Canterbury and removal services.
Pernille Richards
