Sunderland man documents 130 years of a shop's history - including all its traders over the decades

A Sunderland man has researched the history of a shop owned by his family.
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William Blackett has looked into the past of a building which is on Chester Road and which was formerly part of General Gordon Terrace.

And he has found a fascinating history which includes one resident of the property serving his country in the First World Way and dying at the Battle of the Somme.

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Mr Blackett said: “I was drawn to research it after looking at who'd lived in my house over the years and when I had researched that, I started to look at the history of the shop my family has owned for decades and the other buildings on the street.”

The shop pictured in the 1970s.The shop pictured in the 1970s.
The shop pictured in the 1970s.

He added: “The shop is still operating as Greeners Wallpaper and paint and in the difficult times of the moment its important to support such old local family businesses.

“Since 1967 to present it has been E & S V Greener Wallpaper and Paint, one of the few remaining small wallpaper and paint shops run by the same family, and the oldest in the city still in the ownership of the family that founded it. I am the grandson of the founders.”

The building, he said, ‘was built in the late 1880s with the address honouring General Gordon of Khartoum. It was built on land owned by Nathaniel Killingworth Punshon.”

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The list of traders at the premises goes right back to 1890 when a chemist and letter press printer, MJ Todd, plied his trade.

A current day photo of the shop.A current day photo of the shop.
A current day photo of the shop.

Henry Davis, a block and mast maker, took it on from 1902 to 1907 and he was followed by Agnes Dodds, a draper and milliner, who ran it until 1927.

Trades which followed after that included a butcher up to 1946, followed by Matthew Chalk, a grocer and Freemason serving as the Worshipful Master of the Palatine Lodge in 1953. He ran it from 1946 to 1957.

Mr Blackett said: “Matthew Chalk ran a successful chain of grocers in Sunderland his son was married to a great auntie on my father’s side.”

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Next came draper and milliner Margaret Hagel who ‘ran a dress shop on leaving the armed forces', and the latest to run the premises are the current traders, he said.

A nostalgic view of the area.A nostalgic view of the area.
A nostalgic view of the area.

It all started, he said, after watching a television series.

“After watching the Newcastle series of a house through time I became curious about who had lived in my house and other properties connected to my family and started to research the past residents.”

His painstaking research also included a list of everyone who lived there, and it includes an electrical engineer Joseph Davis, confectioner Ethel Davis (in the 1880s), and chartered accountant Henry Christopher Davis who was also a 2nd Lieutenant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps.

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He died on the second day of the Battle of the Somme in the First World War.

‘Henry lived at the shop with his parents and siblings from 1902-1907 before moving to the Westlands. He is one of dozens of individuals to have called the shop home over the years.’

Mary Dodds lived there in 1889 and later moved to Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

“Aabout a year ago a lady and her husband who had travelled from Port Elizabeth in South Africa bumped into me outside of the shop,” said Mr Blackett.

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“They had travelled across the world to see where her grandmother had lived from 1907-1927. They were a little surprised when I knew exactly who they were referring to and I was able to provide them with more information about her ancestor’s family.”

Mr Blackett hopes to produce a book or pamphlet ‘recording the history of the property and of others buildings on the street’.

Is there an aspect of Sunderland history you have researched and unearthed some fascinating finds?

Tell us more by emailing chris.cordner@jpimedia.co.uk

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