D - Draper

I always thought a draper worked in a drapery, a store which sold fabric, maybe even curtain material (drapes - right?) and they might have also had a small section of the store given over to haberdashery; ribbons, lace, buttons and the like. I am sure I remember there being one such shop at Five Cross Roads when I was growing up in Hamilton, next to Gailer's who sold the best cakes and pastries (but that is another story). In the centre of town there was Pollock and Milne too in a similar line of business.

Well, how wrong was I ? 

It seems that in my Somerset family located near the Devon border, the Brendon Hills and the Quantocks if you weren't a Yeoman or a Farmer you were most likely a Draper or a Draper's Assistant. I have been doing a spot of research since realising how prevalent this career choice was from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s.

There was a lot of textile industry across Somerset; glovers, sailmakers and the cloth to make these as well as clothing, was also produced there in part. Industrialisation though had an impact on cottage industry. There was also a change beginning in the retail sector too with a demand for ready-made clothing. Tailors were not to sell ready-made clothing although some did appear to begin to trade this way with a small amount of ready to wear garments. Most of their work was made to order.

Drapers, however, may have sold second-hand clothing, taken orders and made new clothing with either staff sewing on site or outworkers sewing in their homes. They also sold ready-made, off the rack attire. It was big business. Upwardly mobile house servants and other working class labourers had wages burning a hole in their pockets and to the dismay of the upper classes spent it frivolously on an extraordinary amount of clothing to wear outside of work. The Clothing Trade in Provincial England 1800-1850 by AlisonToplis.

In Paddington, London William Whitely opened a fancy goods store in 1863. A fledgling department store, by 1867 he had 17 departments including food halls. Dressmaking began in 1868 and he leased a long row of houses where staff lived and worked. In 1872 there were said to be 622 people employed on site and 1000 outside. This expanded to a workforce of 6000 by 1906. In 1927 the business was acquired by George Selfridge.

My Draper relatives weren't running such large emporiums as Whiteley's and were based in Taunton, Bedminster and Wells. Some moved to London for their career, including George Williams in 1842 who went on to establish the YMCA in response to the conditions he witnessed being experienced by many young men who like him had come to London for work. He found employment for many years making gentlemen's clothing in St Paul's Yard near St Paul's, another sizeable establishment Hitchcock & Rogers. George worked his way up the ranks, marrying his employer's daughter, having his name added to the business and eventually, after the death of his father-in-law becoming the sole owner.

My great great grandfather's elder brother Thomas Davys, left the farm he had lived most of his life on and relocated briefly to Bedminster near Bristol where his children were employed in the Drapery business as assistants and apprentices. Whether this was an attempt to explore employment opportunities for his daughters particularly is unclear. But it does seem plausible as he had 6 daughters who would need to be able to support themselves if they were not to marry.

Another Thomas Davys, second cousin to the last Thomas is described on the 1851 census at Trowell where he was living aged 25 with his father, stepmother and some siblings as "Retired Draper and Land Proprietor". Retired at 25 ! He was also recorded as crippled. I have heard stories about a one-armed Draper - was this him ? Thomas died just seven years later.

His nephew John, son of his elder brother John, ran a successful business in Wells for many years. Like most of the other Drapers in this family, John's father, grandfather and great grandfather were Farmers. John was the only son and chose a different career path. His parents would leave the farm in their later life and join him in Wells. He employed one of his sisters and her son and often placed advertisements in the local newspapers looking for young ladies or lads to join his business. His home and business were located on Market Place and later High Street. Another of his sisters lived for a time in Vicar's Close where she was a housekeeper providing lodging to Theological students. How she came to be living in the close claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with original buildings surviving intact in Europe and dating from the 14th century I don't know. But her association with the Vicars and the Cathedral may have played a part in the Cathedral being the final resting place for her parents, her brother and sister.

Back to Drapers though, John ran a successful business regularly advertising the range of fashion available to his customers and often on sale in the local newspapers. Women's clothing, millinery, gentlemen's suits, coats, newspapers, children's clothing, accessories for all seasons.