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Butler & McCulloch

 

The Illustrated London News (August 15, 1857)

Whilst revisiting the brick wall that is Wales & McCulloch, I came across another Victorian London duo in the The Illustrated London News (August 15, 1857): BUTLER and McCULLOCH. 

 The Illustrated London News (September 12, 1857)

This third advert revealed an interesting detail: Established upwards of 100 years. 

 The Illustrated London News (November 14, 1857)

The Times (October 3, 1866)

They had a fire on 7th November 1866 with apparently little impact as mentioned below:

The Times (November 13, 1866)

Grace's Guide To British Industrial History lists the historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain:

  • Butler, McCulloch and Co of South Row, Covent Garden Market, London, W.C.
  • 1735 Established by James Butler.
  • 1898 Incorporated as a Limited Company.

London City Directories described the business variously:

  • 1875 - Butler, McCulloch & co. Seedsmen, Herbalists &C Druggists, South Row, co Vent Garden
  • 1890 - Butler, McCulloch & co. Seedsmen. South Row, Covent Garden W C ; Warehouse, W C
  • 1905 - Butler, McCulloch & Co. Limited, wholesale & export; offices
  • 1910 - Butler, McCulloch & co. Limited, Herbalists & Seedsmen, Wholesale B & Export; Offices, B B

This revealed they also sold medicinal herbs and led me to this wonderful 1922 photo "The old Herb Shop in Covent Garden" in the Wellcome Trust Archive:




The close up revealed a company name of Butler McCulloch & Co. Ltd. The archive also notes: 

"The Herb Shop was founded in the reign of George II (1735), and closed in 1922. The name of the company painted on its window is Butler McCulloch & Co. Ltd. The company continued at 60 Artillery Lane, London E1, until it was dissolved n 1951."

So for nearly 200 years, this shop carried on trade in Covent Garden! Fast forward to today, the shop is "VyTA", an Italian restaurant but look closely and you can still see the engraved stonework above the window and door:


And a close up from the rear of the building reveals the name of one proprietor: Jas[on] Butler, Herbalist.


Sources:

Ancestry.com. Illustrated London News [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Illustrated London News. Gloucestershire, England: Archive CD Books Ltd. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/34572/

The Florist, Fruitist, and Garden Miscellany. (1852). United Kingdom: "Florist" office. https://archive.org/details/floristfruitistg59lond/page/284/mode/2up

"Families Wanting good Servants, male." (1866, October 3). The Times Digital Archive, 3. https://link-gale-com.rp.nla.gov.au/apps/doc/CS50504515/TTDA?u=nla&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=c153b1af

A General Nursing Institute, 5, Henrietta-. (1866, November 13). Times, 1. https://link-gale-com.rp.nla.gov.au/apps/doc/CS17343341/TTDA?u=nla&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=dca31db3

London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London City Directories. Ancestry.com. London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61265/

The old Herb Shop in Covent Garden. Photograph (1922). Wellcome Collection. Retrieved June 18, 2023, from https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ph8nb95v

‌"Covent Garden" via Look Around Apple Maps. (2023). https://www.apple.com/maps/


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