One page of the scrapbook, with two apparently unconnected items relating to the firm. At the left hand side is a papercutting from the Oxford Mail or Oxford Times, headed-up as “Two of City’s oldest picture houses” and “When cinema seats in Oxford cost only 3d” (£3/240 = £0.0125 = 1.25p). The upper picture house was in Jeune Street, off Cowley Road (I think), or anyway in the St Clements/The Plain inner-end of the Cowley Road region, and marked in manuscript “AC&Co warehouse since May 1940”. I can remember from my holiday jobs at AC& Co in the 1950s that I came across occasional references to ‘The Jeune Street store’ as being where certain customers’ stored furniture was to be found. The formal caption in the newspaper says that it is “The former New Picture Palace in Jeune Street”.
The lower photograph is stated by the newspaper to be “The Old Palace Theatre, Cowley Road”, and Grandpa William (WGRA) has marked it: “Bishops’ warehouse, Cowley Road”, and along the side: “Sold to Blackwells booksellers 1955”. Bishops Removals were part of the local Oxford competition for Archer Cowley & Co, and had a logo of a Bishop chess-piece on their vans.
The right-hand paper cutting is marked in manuscript (by WGRA) “Reprint from ‘Removals & Storage’ April 1957”. The illustrations at the top of the page comprise: (top left) an Archer Cowley van with the caption: “Left, one of the firm’s latest vans, compared with that (below) in one of the company’s earliest advertisements.” The article is headed “Archers, Oxford, are 100 years old in 1957”. The photo of WGRA is captioned: “Mr WGR Archer is nephew of founder”. Interestingly, the illustrations also comprise a ‘version’ of the ‘By Road, By Rail, By Sea’ advertisement, but in which part of the original, namely the ‘By Sea’ portion has been omitted, probably for reasons of space-saving. The firm’s address is still shown very obviously amended from ‘New Road’ to ‘Pembroke Street’, as originally, and ‘Jas Archer, Manager’ is likewise clearly shown.
The text of the ‘Removals & Storage’ article reads: “This year marks the centenary of Archer Cowley & Co Ltd, of Oxford. To mark the occasion, a celebration dinner was held recently, at which Mr WGR Archer, head of the firm, announced to employees and their wives, that during the year it was proposed to institute a non-contributory staff pension scheme.
(Aside remark by Phil on 17.5.2017): Mr GR Archer is “head of the firm”. He was age 79 in1957, and his sons were aged 54 (Arthur) and 52 (Fred, my dad). A shame, say I, that no one had apparently ever said to (or anyway convinced) Grandpa William, that part of ‘growing up’ and ‘being mature’ and ‘engaging with the world in a wise way’ is to know when to hand-over the reins to the next generation. Which Grandpa William clearly did not. A shame. His sons never had a chance to ‘shine’ or to ‘be in the limelight’ because their father spent his whole life trying to ‘be the leader of the family’. And while this was fine up to a certain age (say 60 or 65), beyond that it merely showed to the world that this man was a control freak. Such things matter. They can have immense negative effects. Heigh-ho. So it is. Enough said.
So…..to continue with the transcription of the ‘Removals & Storage’ articlce from 1957: " …...to institute a non-contributory staff pension scheme.
The toast of the firm was proposed by Mr W Isard, President of the Associaton. He congratulated Mr Archer on the milestone which had been reached, and also paid tribute to the esteem in which Mr Archer and the business were held by the Association and its members.
In reply, Mr Archer said: “We could not have celebrated this centenary, nor could we have gone on giving good, honest service if it were not for the splendid staff we have.
“We have always been fortunate in the men we have had working for us and the result is that we can go to any parr of the country with confidence. The workis hard, and often very exacting, but it is always done willingly and cheerfully”.
Four employees with well over a century of service between them, received presentations. They were led by Mr Alec Cudd, who has worked for the firm 43 years. The others were his son, Mr Bernard Cudd, and two brothers, Mr Monty Gurden and Mr William Gurden.
The business was started by a young Oxford man, James Archer, member of a family whose history goes back nearly five centuries. He ran a daily carrier’s service to and from Oxford, Abingdon, and Radley in a two-wheeled cart, collecting and delivering parcels. Today, the firm is among the best-known removers and warehousemen in the South of England, with headquarters in Park End Street.
The firm began in Pembroke Street, St Aldates, where it still has extensive repositories. Head Offices were transferred to 36-39 Park End Street in 1947. To the original horse and cart, James Archer added vehicle after vehicle, eventually having 26 horses, and a 180 acre farm for them.
His nephew, Mr William Archer, the present head of the firm, first came to Oxford as a boy of seven, when his father became Revenue Officer in the City in 1886. He joined the firm as partner when his uncle retired in 1919.
Mr Archer now has two sons with him in the business - Mr Fred Archer, who is general manager, and Mr Arthur Archer, the transport manager.
When one of the new warehouses was built in Park End Street, in 1920, it was the first reinforced concrete building to be erected in Oxford. Today, behind the modest front, there is an extensive range of modern buildings. In 1901 the firm was one of the first four firms in the country to have the “new” 15-ton traction engines, which hauled three mamoth vans and a water-cart at a maximum permitted speed of 7 m,p.h - with a stop for water, every 15 miles!
The firm, too, was among the first in the trade to adopt a Foden steam wagon in 1913, and one of the first businesses in Oxford to run a four-ton petrol-driven furniture van in 1921. Now it has a fine fleet of the latest petrol and diesel vans.” (ends).