John Hitchcock Ltd
Within just three generations, the extended Hitchcock family had built on the fishmongery established by Charles Hitchcock in Stratford, Essex, and turned it into a thriving business with several locations throughout London.
By 1920, John Silvester Hitchcock had established John Hitchcock Ltd, Fishmongers & Poulterers, which consolidated the various family shops into one company.[1] John's surviving brother, Alfred, was likely a co-director of the company, and the brothers both died wealthy men.
At least one of the properties which became part of John Hitchcock Ltd was previously owned by Benjamin Blayney, who ran the fishmongery at 175 Salmon Lane prior to William Hitchcock.
By 1923, the London Telephone Directory listed 24 addresses for the company, with a head office at King's Head, Billingsgate:
- Minories 1033: Head Office — King's Head at Billingsgate EC3
- Regent 3739: West End Depot — 25 Little Pulteney Street W1
- Streatham 1085: Balham — 5 Hildreth Street SW11
- Latchmere 4306: Battersea — 8 Lavender Hill SW11[2]
- Lee Green 2144: Catford — 92 Rushey Green SE6
- Kensington 7713: Chelsea — 388 Kings Road SW3[3]
- Western 1893: Fulham — 395 North End Road SW6[4]
- Hammersmith 2459: Fulham — 5 Salisbury Pavement SW6
- Hammersmith 1823 — 125 Fulham Palace Road W6
- Hammersmith 2751 — 214 Fulham Palace Road W6
- Hampstead 1013 — 66 Queens Crescent NW5[5]
- North 616: Islington — 36 Chapel Street E8
- Western 2220: Kensington — 212 North End Road W14
- Dalson 677: Kingsland — 84 High Street E8
- Lee Green 1574: Lewisham — 218A High Street SE13
- New Cross 371: Lewisham — 145 Lewisham High Road SE14[6]
- Lee Green 232 — 5 Eltham Road SE12[7]
- Willesden 1735: Maida Hill — 538 Harrow Road W9[8]
- Maryland 1505: Stratford — 49 Angel Lane E15
- Maryland 1499: Stratford — 358 High Street E15[9]
- Central 8385: Tower Bridge — 79 Tower Bridge Road SE1
- Hop 3983 — 239 Old Kent Road SW1
- Victoria 5328 — 9 Warwick Street SW1[10]
- Battersea 537 — 505 Battersea Park Road SW11[11]
Mac Fisheries Ltd
By 1924, the company was part of the Mac Fisheries company. Founded in 1918 by William Lever — who also co-founded Lever Brothers, which became Unilever — Mac Fisheries was a national retail chain of fishmongers which sold produce caught by the company's own fishing fleet. The company became highly profitable during World War Two.
John Silvester Hitchcock died in 1949, but John Hitchcock Ltd continued as a company and carried on trading until 1979, when Mac Fisheries was eventually disbanded.[12]
Although some sources claim that the shops linked to Alfred Hitchcock's father William became part of John Hitchcock Ltd or Mac Fisheries, this is incorrect — the leases on the two properties on Salmon Lane appear to have been relinquished shortly after William's death in December 1914.
The following advertisement, listing John Hitchcock Ltd, appeared in The Times on 9th August 1924:
Links
Notes & References
- ↑ The company name was filed with Companies House in London on 25/Feb/1920.
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by Thomas Cole (b. ~1854) and wife Annie Marie Cole (b. ~1856).
- ↑ 1911 Census — residence of domestic chauffeur Charles Hawthorn (b. ~1882) and wife Mary Jane Hawthorn (b. ~1884).
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by John Silvester Hitchcock.
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by George McNally (b. ~1884) and wife Lilian Alice McNally (b. ~1885).
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by Frederic Quilter (b. ~1875) and wife Anne Quilter (b. ~1876).
- ↑ 1911 Census — residence of gardener & coachman George Henry Lee (b. ~1864) and wife Rosetta Lee (b. ~1864).
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by Thomas Ritchie (b. ~1881) and wife Louisa Barbara Ritchie (b. ~1887).
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by B. Blayney (b. ~1855) and wife A. Blayney (b. ~1858), who previously ran 175 Salmon Lane.
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by William Henry Carter (b. ~1853).
- ↑ 1911 Census — fishmongery run by Woolf Perez (b. ~1867) and wife Bessie Perez (b. ~1873).
- ↑ The London Gazette (08/Jun/1984) reported that Companies House was intending to remove "John Hitchcock Limited" from it's list of registered companies.
