"We appreciate your custom"

The receipt with its 1d stamp dated 23 April 1919 for 12 pounds: 13 shillings: 8 pence caught my eye as I was trawling through documents in the Estate Late file of William Argyle, my mother's maternal grand-father.

This was a significant outstanding account considering the letter from the  Office of the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South African Railways and Harbours confirming Argyle: Carpenter: Deceased with a final wages and sick pay of just over 41 pounds.

The detail on these two statements from T.W. Beckett & Co, Church Street, Pretoria, in William Argyle's file is quite wonderful.

I can get lost in picturing life in the late 1880's and early 1900's at the store. A typing pool to get the statements out, shop assistants at the top of their game able to organise and assist in the specialist departments and always the focus on personalised service.


The sketch in the top lefthand corner shows a tram in Church Street running past this classic corner store which must have been a real destination for Pretoria housewives, like William's wife Fanny.

The sketch shows horse-drawn carriages arriving and parking too and on the pavement one can make out women in their fine long dresses and fancy hats and men standing around talking.

The clock, below the T.W. Beckett & Co flag is just before 9am, and the bustle is already evident.

Monthly accounts were the norm and I assume the goods got delivered too.

William had died on the 10 March 1919 and looking at the April statement Fanny did some stockpiling that March; loads of butter, bacon, cheese, colony, coffee, tea, oats, biscuits, even a bolt of calico and the last items, an underskirt and an umbrella.

Life must have changed dramatically for her, William was only 49 years old when he died and he left her with debt, 3 daughters and her step-daughter, Nellie, my grand-mother.
















The history of the store makes interesting reading too - Five Roses Tea, wow.


Postscript:
Thomas William BECKETT * in 1851 at Merton Abbey in Kent. The family moved to Australia, where Thomas had a few years of schooling, before moving to South Africa.

T.W. Beckett & Co. was founded in 1875. Mr. Beckett bought land and built a
single-storey store in Pretoria. 
In 1885 T.W. Beckett and Co. expanded into a double-storey building. Doors were open early in the morning and, before any business was done, time was made to meet friends and socialise. T.W. himself was always ready to stop work to have a cup of coffee with his customers.

In 1887 T.W. bought land in Johannesburg. Prior to this, T.W. Beckett and Co. became a Limited Liability Company. The directors were T.W. BECKETT and his friends James HILL and John PADDON. All the shareholders were family members.

In the early 1900's, Phillip GAWITH joined the company and introduced the name Five Roses and was registered as a Becketts trademark in 1909.

In 1912, a branch was opened in Durban, which was followed by the establishment of the first tea and coffee factory. Branches were also opened in Cape Town and East London.