PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Messrs W H HAM Ltd / W H HAM & SEWELL Ltd
The Plymouth business house of Messrs W H Ham Ltd, stationers, was located at 11 Market Buildings, East Street, Plymouth, before the Second World War and at 11 Ebrington Street thereafter. William Henry Ham was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1871. Ten years later the family were living at New London, Lydford, Devon. The family consisted of Mr William Davis Ham, who was born at New Passage, Devonport, in 1833, an Assistant Warder of the Convict Prison; Mrs Isabel Ham, 30-years-old, from Devizes, in Wiltshire; Miss Prothesa Ann Ham, their only daughter, born in India; William Henry Ham; George Arthur Ham, born in Plymouth; Charles Ham, also born in Plymouth; Harry Samuel Ham, born at Tavistock; and Percy Frederick Ham, born in Plymouth. [1] By 1901 young William had become a lithographic writer and was living on his own at number 3 Eton Place, Plymouth. [2] Mr William Henry Ham married Miss Blanche Charlotte Horrell at Christ Church, Plymouth, on August 22nd 1905. [3]. She was 27-years-old and a Board School teacher, probably at Tracy Street Board School as she lived at number 10 Tracy Street in 1901. [4] In that same year, 1905, Mr Ham acquired the engraving and copper plate printing business belonging to Mr William Henry Foster. This was located at number 86A Treville Street and had been founded in 1875. [5] He immediately moved the business to number 10 Market Buildings, East Street, adjacent to the Plymouth Market, where he introduced stationery and shop equipment [5a]. On March 20th 1940 the business was re-formed as a limited liability company, with Mr William H Ham, Mrs Blanche C Ham, of 19 Endsleigh Place, and Mr Robert S Menhennet and Mrs Edith I M Menhennett, of 14 Maple Grove, as the shareholders. [6] Miss Edith Isabel Margaret Bromley was in fact Mr William Henry Ham's half-sister and she had married Mr Robert Stephen Menhennet on April 5th 1926 at Charles Church. [3] This transfer of business was timely because during the night of March 21st/22nd 1941 their business premises at number 11 Market Buildings, East Street, were totally destroyed and they were forced to find a temporary home. [5] They eventually settled at number 9 Market Buildings, East Street, in refurbished premises just doors away from where they had been before the Blitz. Listed as general commercial and wholesale stationers, they were also paper merchants, poster and ticket writers, printers, rubber stamp specialists, and sold shop and display fittings and anything else likely to be required by shopkeepers. [7] Mrs Blanche Charlotte Ham died at 8 Ridge Park Road, Plympton, on January 31st 1944. She was 70 years of age. [8] Mr William Henry Ham, of Hellbrun, Ridge Park Road, Plympton, died in a nursing home on August 14th 1944. The funeral was at Plympton Saint Maurice Church at 9.30am on August 17th 1944. [8] In 1954/55 the business moved into number 11 Ebrington Street, where they quickly established a reputation for being able to supply items not universally available. [5][9] Mr Harold Stephen Rooker acquired the business in 1960 and the following year he took over the typewriter business of Mr A M King and added portable typewriters to the stock range. [5] During 1962 Ham's took over a similar business, Messrs Rowland Sewell & Son Ltd, of North Hill, as a result of which the trading name was changed to Messrs W H Ham & Sewell. However, it seems as though the formal name remained as simple Messrs W H Ham Ltd. [5] This new acquisition was a fairly new business. Mr Rowland Frederick Sewell was born at 24 Cross Park Terrace, Heavitree, Exeter, on May 25th 1898, the son of a commercial traveller [10]. In 1951 he was trading in partnership with his wife, Mrs Hilda Eleanor Sewell, as a stationer and bookseller at number 4 Portland Ope, Plymouth, selling Twinlock loose-leaf books, ledgers, cash books and wage and analysis books as well as suspension filing equipment. Mr Sewell was at that time resident at 9 Woodford Villas, Hermitage Road. [7a] In 1954 Mr Sewell was joined by his son, Mr Michael Arthur Sewell, who on Wednesday September 7th 1955 married Miss Lorna Mary Paul at Emmanuel Church [11]. The business then became Mr Rowland Sewell & Son and was trading as stationers, booksellers and office equipment suppliers from a shop on North Hill [9]. Around this time the office machinery and typewriter manufacturing firm of Messrs Remington, Rand Ltd, who had an office at 43 Woolster Street, closed down their repair office in Plymouth and their service engineers transferred to Messrs Ham & Sewell. [5] But this expansion in business meant that the premises at North Hill were too small and so the whole operation moved to a Armada House, 172 Armada Way, where it re-opened on Wednesday October 20th 1965 as a Business Equipment Centre. This was managed by Mr H J Rooker, assisted by Mr P O'Donoghue, sales manager for business equipment, and Mr W J Cunningham, merchandising manager. The stationery shop in Ebrington Street continued to do business, with Mr W Launce as its manager. [5] In 1966, after spending many years at home raising their children, Mrs Lorna Mary Sewell opened the Polytechnic Bookshop in Mayflower Street. However, in 1971 she swopped the role of running the Bookshop with her husband and went back to managing Messrs Louis F Paul Ltd, the wholesale newsagents. [12] Both Mr Rowland Frederick Sewell and his wife, Mrs Hilda Eleanor "Nora" Sewell died in 1976 [13]. The Hampshire-based Terry Printing Group, which already owned Messrs Underhill (Plymouth) Ltd, took over Messrs W H Ham & Sewell in July 1984 [14]. However, the Group went into administrative receivership on Thursday January 9th 1992, following which Messrs W H Ham & Sewell Ltd was saved by a piece of luck -- Mr Martin Luck, to be precise. He had joined the firm as a sales assistant straight from school but had been made redundant ten years previously. Now he was able to acquire his old employer for an undisclosed sum and expand the business into a two-floor retail unit still in Armada Way but between Cornwall Street and New George Street. [15] Several years later this thriving location was closed down and the business moved to a hidden unit in the Armada Shopping centre, where it now concentrates on art and craft products. In the meantime, Mr Harold Stephen Rooker, died at Mount Gould Hospital, Plymouth, on Monday February 18th 1991, shortly before his 87th birthday [8]. He was survived by his widow, Ethel. The funeral took place at Efford Crematorium on February 22nd 1991. Mr Michael Arthur Sewell, who had suffered from terminal cancer for many years, passed away at his home on September 25th 2006. He was survived by his widow, Lorna, and three children, Sarah, Andrew and Richard. [8] The Ham & Sewell's shop in the Armada Centre is now closed, probably because the Martin Luck organisation went into administration on Thursday April 22nd 2010. Principal Sources:
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