PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Nobody in Victorian Plymouth would have regarded Mr Thomas Henry Lidstone as a Prominent Citizen and yet wherever they walked they would have seen his name on the bill-boards and advertising hoardings that dotted the Three Towns. He was a bill-poster and advertising agent. Actually it was his father, Mr John Lidstone, who started the business. He was born at Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, and started out as an upholsterer. Thomas Henry Lidstone was born to his wife, Elizabeth Catherine Lidstone, in 1847, just over two years after their first child, a daughter also named Elizabeth Catherine Lidstone. What brought John to Plymouth to be a bill-poster is not known but it would undoubtedly had something to do with rural poverty during the 1850s. Both Thomas and his younger brother William George Lidstone were attending school in 1861, before the advent of the Plymouth School Board. The family were then living at 7 East Street, close by St Andrew's Church but the eldest daughter was not with them. Thomas Henry Lidstone followed his father in to the bill-posting business but William became turner and carver. John Lidstone's 55-years-old wife died on November 14th 1870 and their daughter re-appeared on the scene to act as housekeeper. At the time of the 1891 census Mr Thomas Henry Lidstone was the head of the family at 95 Union Street, Plymouth, and calling himself an Advertising Agent, with his older sister still acting as housekeeper to him and young William. It is interesting to note that all three stayed single throughout their lives. In 1898 Mr Thomas Henry Lidstone was living at Greyville, Elburton Road, Elburton, Plymstock, which is where he died on March 11th 1911. The funeral took place on March 15th. His sister continued to live at Greyville. By 1920 the business had become the Lidstone Billing Company Ltd and in 1922 Lieutenant-Colonel William Alfred Ewart Northcott was appointed as managing director. Between 1955 and 1958 the title was again changed, to the Lidstone Advertising Service Ltd. Mr Northcott died in April 1961.
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