With contributions from Cirencester Archaeological & Historical Society, members & friends
In the very heart of Cirencester, the House of Fraser shop signage is still prominent, although in deteriorating condition – not surprising as this large store closed its doors nearly six years ago, in January 2019. It was a sad end to a long tradition of draper’s and department store provision at this town centre focal point and stretching back into the earlier 19th century.
Its history is also a test of personal memory. Who now remembers shopping in Boulton’s, long gone although the name still survives? More likely its successor, Rackhams, followed from 1975 by House of Fraser, the latest (and last?) in what was a process of ‘acquisitions & mergers’ creating larger retail empires throughout that whole period. Each had its own modest origins, which grew with time – Rackham’s heartland was central Birmingham and House of Fraser had proud Scottish traditions, established in Glasgow in 1849.
There is always a price to pay; the 2019 closure cost 37 local people their jobs.
However after a long wait, renewal is in prospect for a different type of use, taking advantage of the large interior spaces within this amalgamated group of three buildings (plus various additions to the rear) to offer a new facility for Cirencester. That’s another story entirely, no doubt worth revisiting once on its feet.
Boulton’s is at the core of this Cirencester shop’s history, over at least three generations of one family. Old letterheads claim ‘business established 1799’ but the key date is 1844 when it is certainly well underway: in contemporary trade directories Thomas Boulton is listed as ‘linen & woollen draper & mercer, Market Place’. He was not alone, with six other rival shops also in the trade in Gosditch Street and Market Place. Thomas ran the business on the south side next to the Kings Head until retiring in 1868.
Thomas’s son Frederick then took over for a long stint until in turn he retired in 1901, bringing his son Sydney into partnership. Frederick took the opportunity
in the Standard ‘of expressing his very sincere thanks for the kind support that has been accorded him during the past 32 years’. It had certainly been a most energetic time. Early on, in March 1872, Frederick acquired the stock and premises of a rival business, T Bowly and Son, and so moved across to the north side. To this period onwards belongs the greatest expansion, still visible in the premises today – three buildings, then nos 123-125 Market Place, plus nos 1-2 Waterloo down the side passage. Hence the signage on so many photographs proclaiming ‘Fredk. Boulton & Sons Ltd.’
A 1905 bill-head advertises nothing less than ‘Drapers, Silk Mercers & Carpet Warehousemen’, offering ‘Millinery, Costumes, Mantles’; plus as Undertakers [‘Family Mourning’]. The postcard view from this time, by W. Dennis Moss and shown here, doubled up as a trade card, announcing the ‘first show of the season in all departments’ with ‘special attention called to the Early Autumn Novelties in coats, dresses, millinery, and furs.’ This was a department store very much of its type and time. Interestingly, Sydney’s younger brother Harry was also in the trade, being listed in the 1911 census as a general draper at 65 High Street, Bromsgrove in Worcestershire.
Continuing to advertise itself as ‘The Oldest Drapery Business in the Town (Established 1799)’, Boulton’s was adept at marketing. In addition to its shows, at every stage in its physical expansion it seems to have promoted bargain sales of surplus stock, as with the ‘clearing out the whole of the present Stock of Drapery Goods’ in 1868. Such habits still feature in the trade today.
Through the 20th century, in wartime and peacetime, in changing economic circumstances and latterly under a sequence of owners and management strategies, the store sought to retain its central Market Place position in the face of changing fashions in just about all its stock and methods, a challenge which faced the majority of similar stores around the country before their final demise. Cavendish House in Cheltenham is another recent example.
David & Linda Viner
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