IN PARTNERSHIP WITH AN ORAL HISTORY OF BRITISH FASHION Angus Cundey Interviewed by Linda Sandino C1046/03 IMPORTANT Please refer to the Oral History curators at the British Library prior to any publication or broadcast from this document. Oral History The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB United Kingdom +44 [0]20 7412 7404 [email protected] Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this transcript, however no transcript is an exact translation of the spoken word, and this document is intended to be a guide to the original recording, not replace it. Should you find any errors please inform the Oral History curators. THE NATIONAL LIFE STORY COLLECTION INTERVIEW SUMMARY SHEET Ref. No.: C1046-03 Playback No.: F13130-31; F13325-26; F13453-54; 13547-48; F13672; F13873-74 Collection title: Oral History of British Fashion Interviewee’s surname: Cundey Title: Mr Interviewee’s forenames: Angus Sex: Male Occupation: Tailor Date of birth: 07.06.1937 Mother’s occupation: Father’s occupation: Tailor Date(s) of recording: 16.04.2003; 20.05.2003; 24.05.2003; 10.07.2003; 24.07.2003; 09.09.2003 Location of interview: Name of interviewer: Linda Sandino Type of recorder: Total no. of tapes: 11 Type of tape: Mono or stereo: Speed: Noise reduction: Original or copy: Additional material: Copyright/Clearance: Interviewer’s comments: Angus Cundey C1046/03/01 Part 1 Page 1 Part 1 [Tape 1 Side A] My name is Angus Howard Cundey, and I was born on the 7th of June 1937. And I was born, Muswell Hill in fact, north London. And what were your parents doing in Muswell Hill? Well actually, Muswell Hill was, I believe the nursing home, but we lived at that time in Hampstead Garden Suburb, where my father was, was then running this company, Henry Poole. And for the purposes of the tape, could you just tell me his full name? Yes, it was Samuel Henry Howard Cundey. And your mother’s? Eileen Florence, obviously Cundey, but she was, before that, Fitter. And her father was a, a very well known meat wholesaler in Smithfield, and in fact the company Fitters were the first to import New Zealand lamb into this country. And, he in fact made a lot of money, retired at fifty-five, and he built a very nice house in Aldeburgh in Suffolk, and that’s probably the reason that, that, and I went to school there, is probably why I live in Suffolk now. Could you tell me...could we start with your grandparents? Could you tell me a bit about your family sort of connection with Poole, and, and...? Yes, indeed. Well, we would in fact have to go to my great-grandfather, who was simply Samuel Cundey, and he married a publican’s daughter, whose name was Howard, the family name Howard. And that’s how we all have Howards in our name. So my grandfather was cousin of Henry Poole, and when Henry Poole died, he left half the business to his sister and his wife, and perhaps fortunate for us he had no children, so the other half of the company was left to my grandfather, great- Angus Cundey C1046/03/01 Part 1 Page 2 grandfather, Samuel Cundey. And that’s how... And at that time, my great- grandfather was sort of showroom manager of, of the company. And your grandfather? My grandfather, he entered the business when he was, I think about eighteen, and, strangely he was sent to Germany for further education. I say strangely, because, though Germany was, and still is, an important market for us, I would have thought French, France was more important. But any rate, he went to Germany. And when his father, Samuel, died, Howard Cundey took over the business, and eventually bought out the Henry Poole interest, and became the sole proprietor at the turn of, about, 1905 I think it was. So what about your grandmother, his wife? Ah, yes, now that... Her name was Houle, her maiden name was Houle, and her parents, or her, certainly her father, ran at that time a famous jeweller’s in St James’s Street called Ortner and Houle. And you still see occasionally a clock with Ortner and Houle written on it. And, I suppose, through being two tradesman, they...and St James’s Street being near to Savile Row, they, that’s how they met and subsequently got married. My grandfather, Howard Cundey, he married quite late, I think he was about forty-six years old. And, therefore, sadly, he died when my father was only twenty-five. And in fact, perhaps that’s something I should mention, because, my father was sent to St Paul’s School in London, and when he was eighteen he was summoned into my grandfather’s study, and at that time they were living in a, quite a substantial house in Queen’s Gate in Kensington. And he was asked, or rather, my father was told, that, ‘You are leaving school on Friday, and on Monday you’re taking the ferry to Paris, or to France, to work in our Paris branch.’ And my father said, ‘Well Father,’ I’m sure he didn’t call him Dad, ‘we haven’t discussed this, I haven’t thought about what career I’m going into.’ But, my grandfather would have none of that, and, needless to say, my father was shovelled off to the ferry, and to the, the Paris branch. Which, I always understood from him, was not a very good experience, because, here was the boss’s son, and they didn’t really know what to do with him. So all he did was to open and shut the door, like a doorman, and say, ‘Bonjour Angus Cundey C1046/03/01 Part 1 Page 3 Monsieur’ to...[laughs]...to the customers. So I don’t think that was a very happy time for him. And I’m not sure even today if he really did want to be a tailor. And then as I say, when he was twenty-five his father, my grandfather, died, and so there he was, head of this very, in those days, a very substantial tailoring company. Fortunately he had a brother, a younger brother, who became a chartered accountant, and did in fact come into the business, and so, the two managed to put it all together and run it. But, so that when I reached eighteen years old, by that time I was at Framlingham College in Suffolk, and I always wanted to go into the Royal Air Force and fly an aeroplane, and the headmaster summoned me into his study, and said, ‘Now what are you going to do when you leave, leave the college?’ And so I said, ‘I want to go into the Royal Air Force.’ And, he said, ‘Are you sure Cundey? Do you not realise that you could inherit a most wonderful firm, probably the most famous tailor’s in the world?’ And, well it obviously made me think. Because my father had never spoken about the company in that way, and never intimated even to me that I could come into the firm. And so, when I got back for the school holidays, I said to my father, ‘Would there be a place for me in Henry Poole?’ and his face lit up and, and he said, ‘Of course.’ And, so I gave up, or abandoned the Royal Air Force, and became a tailor. And the amusing thing is that, he did in fact send me to Paris as well, but not quite in the same way, in fact he came with me on the ferry, and introduced me to a cloth merchant’s that we deal with in London, and they have branches in Paris. And then I went and worked for Lanvin, the big couture house, for six months, where I learnt to, to hold a needle, and to sew, but, not, not expertly, but, it gave me a very good insight into what goes into making a, a jacket. And then I went on to another tailor, Paul Portes, a famous company then, in the rue de Rivoli, where I spent more time I think in the cutting room than, than sewing. But, I was in Paris for a whole year, and, it kept me in very stead, because, I then did my National Service in, in fact, the Royal Air Force...[laughs]...and, eventually, in about 1963, my father said, ‘We would like to resurrect our business in France,’ because of course the Paris branch died at the outbreak of the Second World War, and it was never started again after the war. And he said, ‘I would like you to go to Paris and see the customers that we had.’ So, my French was very useful, and I...and it was very good experience for me, because I was all on my own, having to measure and fit customers, and of course show them cloth. And I remember they, so many of them were so supportive, they remembered the company before the war, and... And eventually, the business grew so Angus Cundey C1046/03/01 Part 1 Page 4 much that, that I had to take a cutter with me to help me out, and, well probably do the job properly. [laughs] So, that’s how my poor father started, and, and I started but in a much more friendly sort of way. And I’ve loved tailoring ever since.