Butchers Cart Object Number(S)
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Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 1DL Tel: 01449 612229 www.eastanglianlife.org.uk Objects(s): Butchers Cart Object Number(s): STMEA:A.1121 Researcher details: Richard Hall, Volunteer Butchers Cart A common sight around the village of Boxford at the turn of the 20th Century. This item in our collection is a horse drawn delivery cart used by the local butcher, Webb and Sons, to deliver meat orders to local housewives. The cart consists of a body with a compartment for containing meat, the back can be dropped down. Inside the cart is a sliding tray. The rail 2” (5cm) above the top, surrounds it at the back and sides. In front is a railed seat, the rail rising from 6” (15cm) in front to 8” (20cm) in the rear. The wooden wheels are slightly dished, with an iron hub and rubber tyres. They are painted yellow and lined with black, as are the springs. The body is painted dark green with the inscriptions ‘Webb and Sons Family Butchers’ on the rear and side. The cart has brackets for 2 side lamps. It was used by the firm at Boxford until the 1930's/40's to carry meat to customers. The cart was donated to the Museum in 1967 and can be seen in our tithe Barn. Webb and Sons Butchers Walter Webb and his wife Annie, moved to Nayland in 1899 and were listed in the Kelly’s Directory for 19001 as Butchers. An article entitled ‘Memories of Mary Taylor (Neé Webb) 1931-1999’ appeared in the February 2015 Edition of the Nayland - Wissington Community Times2. Mary was the granddaughter to Walter and Annie and she provides an interesting insight into the family business. Mary says that her grandfather Walter quickly outgrew his premises on Birch Street, Nayland and moved to a more prominent location on the High Street. The butcher’s business proved very successful and was soon expanded to include butcher’s shops in Boxford and later at Needham Market. Kelly’s Directory for 19103, lists ‘Webb and Copsey’ as butchers in Boxford. It is unclear exactly when the shop at Needham Market was opened but it was certainly there by the time of the 1939 England and Wales National Register4, when the Webb family are listed as Butchers at 58, High Street Needham Market. Mary’s Father, Frank Webb, ran the family business until he retired in 1974. She recalls her father making deliveries of meat to his customers using a horse and cart similar to the one used by the baker opposite her father’s shop. Before she married, Mary has memories of 1 Kelly's Directory of Suffolk 1900-09. London: Kelly's Directories Ltd; 1900. 2 Taylor M. Memories of Mary Taylor (Neé Webb) 1931-1999. The Nayland - Wissington Community Times. 2015;(153): Page 30. 3 Kelly's Directory of Suffolk 1910-09. London: Kelly's Directories Ltd; 1910. 4 UK Government. England and Wales National Register. 1939. UK Government; 2020. Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 1DL Tel: 01449 612229 www.eastanglianlife.org.uk using the same cart to make deliveries for her father. The last time Mary saw the cart was at the Museum of East Anglian Life. As a child, Mary grew up in the village of Nayland. She remembers that the village was much smaller then but “self-sufficient”. Mary could well be describing most small villages in rural Suffolk in the 1930’s and 40s. With the increasing popularity of supermarkets, many of the smaller local shops and businesses were unable to compete and when Mary’s father retired in 1974, the family business, which had been trading for 75 years, finally closed. Deliveries to your door We might be forgiven for thinking that deliveries of groceries, vegetables and cleaning products is something new offered by supermarkets. Of course, for supermarkets it is a new service but local shops and traders have actually been doing the same for years before supermarkets grew in popularity. Having the local tradesman deliver to your door, became popular in the Victorian era. Many of the larger country houses and estates, which grew significantly during the industrial revolution, had accounts with national and local tradesmen. Sambrook5 writes from the household accounts, that in 1834, “Stafford House lived almost entirely off bought produce…” She adds that, “the Household kept accounts with a butcher, baker, brewer, confectioner, oilman, poulterer, butterman, milkman, fishmonger and greengrocer; all of whom were paid weekly.” Less well to do households were not denied access to similar deliveries. Small Bakeries in towns and villages became focal points for locals to come together and for news to be spread. Many local bakeries such as Girlings of Stowmarket (See STMEA:2006-82) had regular delivery rounds, for fresh bread and cakes, to houses in surrounding areas. Over the years Girlings, for example, included deliveries to several local villages. Similarly Palmers Bakery in Haughley, still delivers fresh bread and cakes to shops in: Claydon, Ipswich, Needham Market, Stanton, Stowmarket and Woolpit and a monthly market in Rickinghall. An image of a Palmers delivery vehicle from the 1920’s can be found in the ‘Book of Haughley’.6 The demise of the tradesman’s home delivery There are several items in our collection that relate to shops delivering items to the customer. See how many you can spot. Deliveries were made by bicycle, by horse drawn 5 Sambrook P. The Servants Story – Managing a Great Country House. Amberly Publishing. November 2016. 6 The Book of Haughley – Haughley History Forum, Celia and Howard Stephens – 2005. Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 1DL Tel: 01449 612229 www.eastanglianlife.org.uk cart and later by motorised van. I would suggest a combination of factors led to the demise of the home delivery by horse and cart. Firstly, the increasing volume of traffic on the roads (Department of Transport statistics7 suggest a 13-fold increase between 1950 and 2012). Increasing volumes of traffic also indicate increasing personal mobility. People have been prepared to travel further to work and to shop. For some producer’s health and safety regulations have enforced the use of refrigerated transport. Increasing price competition from supermarkets has made the local tradesman’s service uneconomical. What is clear however, is that by the mid to late 1960’s, tradesman’s home deliveries were becoming a thing of the past. The brewery trade is perhaps one example of a business, who still relies on local delivery by horse and cart. A visitor to Southwold can still be lucky enough to see the Adnams Brewery horse drawn dray manoeuvring around the tight streets of the town. Image: Adnams Dray making a delivery in Southwold.8 For anyone searching for the nostalgia of those times, there are several enthusiasts who spend considerable time restoring and displaying old carriages and delivery vehicles. On a visit to a County Agricultural Show in any part of the UK, you will be able to find a stunning display of working horse drawn delivery vehicles. Is it really the end of the tradesman’s delivery vehicle? I don’t think so! 7 UK Government. Road and Rail Travel since 1950. Department of Transport. 2017. 8 Image. Henderson E. Bowing Out [Internet]. 2006 [cited 13 May 2020]. Available from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Bowing_out_-_geograph.org.uk_-_192236.jpg .