TAIL-COATS
DINGLES DEPARTMENT STORE / PLYMOUTH FAMILY / VISION
TAIL-COATS
DIAMOND CLASSICS Published by the Diamond Group Diamond Books Ltd, 100 Stand, London WC2R 0RL, England www.diamond.com First published in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton 2010 This edition published 2010 1 Copyright 2010 by Mario Picariello All rights reserved The moral right of the author has been asserted Set in 9/15 pt Baskerville Typeset by Mario Picariello Printed in England by Roland Levinski Press, Plymouth Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
978-0-141-19315-1
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DINGLES DEPARTMENT STORE / PLYMOUTH
FAMILY / VISION
Edited by Mario Picariello
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Family / Vision / Introduction
INTRODUCTION
E
dward Dingle founded the store Dingles in 1880, and since then has become one of the most well-known department stores in Devon, England. It all began with the Dingle family, so this is where we begin to see how Dingles came from one mans frustration into the success it is. This is the first book of three celebrating the rise and fall of Dingles and the story of the great journey through time. This is the Dingle family book, there is also the Dingle architect and Dingle store books part of the set, Bricks, Brains, Tailcoats. Explore the buildings history and the memorial it is to the city of Plymouth.
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Dingle subsequently handed in his notice and opened his own drapery shop
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Family / Vision / The Dingle Story
THE DINGLE STORY
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n 1880, a 39-year-old Cornishman, Edward Dingle, became dissatisfied with his position as the manager of Spooner & Co’s drapery store Bedford Street, Plymouth. Prompted by his wife, Annie, Dingle asked his employers to reward his contribution to the success of the business by making him partner. The Spooner family refused and Dingle subsequently handed in his notice and opened his own drapery shop nearby at 30 Bedford Street, in premises formerly occupied by a clothier, John Adams. Dingle was aware that the class of customer which he wished to attract would frown upon newspaper advertising,
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The Dingle Story / Family / Vision
Edward Dingle, the store’s founder
but soon hit upon another, highly effective way of drawing the public’s attention to his new shop. He had become a wellknown figure while working at Spooners, where, dressed in his long black tail-coat, he greeted customers and helped them make their purchases. Similarly attired, he now stood outside his new premises, and those who recognised him and stopped to chat were invited inside to view his range of merchandise. Mr Edward Dingle, the founder of the business of Messrs E Dingle & Company, was born in the parish of Linkinhorne, Cornwall, in 1840. It would appear that young Edward got his initial interest in the
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Family / Vision / The Dingle Story
drapery trade from his sister-in-law, Mrs Jane Dingle, the wife of older brother, Mr John Herring Dingle, who in the 1860s was a draper in Wellington Square, Callington, Cornwall. Edward was sent off to London to learn the trade properly. He returned to Plymouth in 1870/71, married, and as a drapery assistant. Within a year of starting out in business, Dingle employed thirteen shop assistants, twelve dressmakers and two boys. Amongst the staff living with him and his wife, Ann, in 1881 were his nephew, Mr Henry Dingle, aged 17, and his niece, Miss Rebecca Dingle, aged 25. These were the children of
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Edward Dingle’s wife, Annie Dingle
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The Dingle Story / Family / Vision
Edward Dingle’s, first store at 30 Bedford Street, Plymouth
Mr John Herring Dingle, the draper turned farmer. There was another young drapery assistant in Plymouth at that time by the name of Mr Thomas Baker. He came from north Devon and was lodging with Mrs Elizabeth Davis at number 7 Bayswater Terrace in Albert Road, Plymouth. Dingle persuaded Baker to leave Perkins Brother’s hosiery shop to take up the position of floor-walker and, when Baker married his new employer’s sister (Rebecca Dingle), he was made a partner in E. Dingle & Co. Baker was ambitious and inventive and the partnership flourished. By 1900 Dingles had an uninterrupted frontage from 29
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Family / Vision / The Dingle Story
Baker was ambitious and inventive and the partnership flourished
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The Dingle Story / Family / Vision
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THE DINGLE FAMILY / BUSINESS TREE
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The Dingle Story / Family / Vision
employed over 500 people and had grandiose plans to rebuild the store along the lines of the Harrods and Selfridges buildings in London
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Family / Vision / The Dingle Story
to 31 Bedford Street, and a shop behind, at 5 Cornwall Street, has also been connected to the Bedford Street premises. At the turn of the Century, Dingle’s second son Frank, and Baker’s sons, John Russell and, until his early death, Harold (1934), began working at the store. Tom Baker became increasingly involved in local politics, as a Justice of the Peace, a Liberal councilor and, from 1913-1916, as Major of Plymouth. In 1919 he was knighted for his services to the town. As Sir Thomas devoted more of his time to politics and to his civic duties, and as Edward Dingle approached his seventies,
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Jack Baker and Frank Dingle took greater responsibilities in the running of the business. When Sir Thomas died in 1926, the store occupied 28-31 and 33, Bedford Street and 4-6 Cornwall Street. When the founder of the business, Mr Edward Dingle, died on Saturday February 25th 1928, at the age of 87 years, it was his second son, Mr Frank Hanscomb Dingle, who took over control of the business. In 1935, seven years after the founder’s death, Dingles was registered as a private limited liability company becoming Messrs E Dingle & Co Ltd. The purchase of the freehold corner site and business of W.J. Vickery & Co Ltd, gentlemen’s
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outfitters, at 26 and 27 Bedford Street and 8 Cornwall Street, was negotiated that year, and the brothers Stanley and Ralph Vickery joined Jack Baker and Frank Dingle as directors of E. Dingle & Co Ltd. Three years later, Dingles acquired the lease of 32 Bedford Street and 4 Cornwall Street, the premises which had been occupied by the grocers, Underwood & Co Ltd. By 1939, Dingles also owned a florist’s shop at 1 Cornwall Street and
Harrod’s Department store, London. Aspirations for Dingle’s
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The Dingle Story / Family / Vision
German air-raids left the city centre in ruins
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Family / Vision / The Dingle Story
a boot shop next door, giving Dingle’s a freehold site of 26,000 sq ft with frontages in Bedford Street, Cornwall Street and Bank Street, comprised eighty departments, employed over 500 people and had grandiose plans to rebuild the store along the lines of the Harrods and Selfridges buildings in London. These plans had, however, to be shelved when war broke out later that year.
Charlton House, inhabited Dingles during the war
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The Dingle Story / Family / Vision
The rubble left from the war leaves Plymouth in pieces
Plymouth suffered badly during the Second World War, and a total of fifty-nine German air-raids left the city centre in ruins. The most destructive attacks were launched on 20 and 21 March, and on five nights at the end of April 1941. Dingles survived the first of these air raids, which resulted in the destructions of Spooners, but on the night of 21 March, a fire started by incendiaries in Yeos department store across the street, spread to Dingles and burned the premises to the ground. The partners were determined to continue trading, and purchased and leased shops and houses throughout Plymouth and
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The Guildhall and St Andrew’s Church standing out of the damage
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Destruction of Plymouth during World War II
the surrounding area, where most of the departments resumed, trading. Fourteen of these forty-eight temporary units were destroyed during air-raids in the 21 and 22 April, but Dingles again found premises in which to relocate the affected departments. By the end of the war, ‘ the store was bombed but not beaten’ employed over 600 people, and had become a symbol of Plymouth’s defiant determination to survive. The Company’s premises were during the Blitz of March 1941 and they moved into some forty different properties around Plymouth, including Tavistock (closed by 1954) and Ivybridge (probably both Underwood’s).
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Family / Vision / The Dingle Story
‘ the store was bombed but not beaten’
With the City Centre obliterated and the closest shops being now at Mutley Plain, they opened a combined grocery, cafe, self-service restaurant in Alexandra Road in 1943.
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Family / Vision / Staying Strong
STAYING STRONG
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nce the Second World War had ended there were several acquisitions and new developments prior to the rebuilding of their main store. The first occurred on March 28th 1948, when they acquired Messrs Bruford & Hardy Ltd, ironmongers. It remained a separate concern until it was merged with Dingle’s on October 31st 1952. The second development occurred on February 1st 1950, when a new company, Messrs St Teresa’s Industries Ltd, started trading. This was in a building on the site of St Teresa’s Orphanage in Beaumont Road. Covering some 45,000 square feet, this building comprised a
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Staying Strong / Family / Vision
bakery, a food and ice cream production plant, and large refrigeration chambers. It produced bread, ice cream, sausages, and other meat products for their own retail use as well as for wholesale sales to other shops and the Royal Navy. On September 1st 1953 the second and third floors of the building were leased to the South Western Electricity Board (SWEB) as offices. Mr Frank Harcomb Dingle, son of the founder and chairman of the Company, passed away on Tuesday July 4th 1950. On October 23rd 1950 Messrs Dingle’s changed from being a private Company to a public one, although shares were not to be traded on the London
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Family / Vision / Staying Strong
St Teresa’s New Building Design for Dingles
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Staying Strong / Family / Vision
Thus, by 1954, when the Company was employing some 757 people
Mr Winston Brimacombe, Executive Chairman
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Family / Vision / Staying Strong
Stock Exchange until Monday June 14th 1954. Two further acquisitions took place during 1953. On Monday March 9th 1953 they took over Messrs Garratt’s, ladies’ outfitters, upon the retirement of Mr W A Garratt; and on June 18th 1953, they took over Messrs Parker & Smith (Plymouth) Ltd, pianoforte makers and retailers. Thus, by 1954, when the Company was employing some 757 people, the Directors were: Mr John Russell Baker, chairman and joint managing director; Mr John Jeffery Baker, vice-chairman and financial director; Mr Winston Brimacombe,
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Staying Strong / Family / Vision
Dingles new store on Royal Parade, Plymouth
joint managing director; Miss Edith Arnott, manageress; Mr Edward Donald Hayman Dingle, manager; Mr John Edmund Gullett, manager; Mr Frank Spencer Scott, secretary; Mr Stanley Albert Vickery, manager. In 1955 Dingle’s acquired the local wine merchants, Messrs Collier & Company, and then on Wednesday December 2nd 1959 took over the restaurant ain New George Street of Messrs Goodbody’s Ltd. In 1962 Dingle’s took over its neighbouring competitor, Messrs Popham’s Ltd. After only sixteen months of operation the Dingle’s branch in Bridgwater, Somerset, was closed down in June 1963, with 14
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or 15 employees being put out of work. Messrs E Dingle and Company Ltd finally lost its local business status in 1971 when it was bought by the House of Fraser for £6,150,000. However, they did retain the Dingle’s name until very recently in 2008.
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South West image Bank Images Used The Dingle Collection Page 16-17 DING 2-11 Dingles Store, Plymouth 1910-1920 Page 28-29 DING 2-13 Dingles, Charlton House, Plymouth Page 30 DING 2-10 Blitz Site, Plymouth, Westwill Street Page 39 DING 3-101 St Teresa’s Bakery, Plymouth Page 40 DING 1-142 Mr W Brimacombe Page 43 DING 3-61 Dingles, Royal Parade, Plymouth 1951
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Sources 1871 Census, RG10/2121/99/43. 1861 Census, RG09/1526/19/34. 1881 Census, RG11/2200/115/24. 1881 Census, RG11/2196/62/48. Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages, 1st quarter 1885. “Mr Edward Dingle: Death of Head of Well-known Plymouth Firm”, Western Evening Herald, Plymouth, February 27th 1928. “Sir T Baker Dead: Life of Service to Town: Greater Plymouth’s First Mayor”, Western Morning News, Plymouth, December 18 1926 “Dealings start next week in Dingle’s shares” and Prospectus, Western Morning News, Plymouth, June 9th 1954. “Died in month of silver wedding: Mr F H Dingle, of Plymouth”, Western Morning News, Plymouth, July 5th 1950. “Plymouth firm: new ownership”, Western Morning News, Plymouth, March 6th 1953. “Dingles 1951-1976: September to Remember”, Messrs E Dingle & Company, Plymouth, 1976. “Restaurant Take-over by Dingles”, Western Evening Herald, Plymouth, December 3rd 1959. Power, W J J, “Business Houses of Plymouth”, unpublished, February 1982, only available at the Plymouth Local Studies Library. “Dingle’s closing at Bridgwater”, Western Morning News, Plymouth, May 3rd 1963. Legend of Retailing: House of Fraser, Selected Stories Histories, E. Dingle & Co Ltd, Plymouth
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In memory of Edward Dingle, Founder of Dingles
Acknowledgments; a big thank you to South West image Bank for their collection of Dingle history, Jeremy Gould, Tanya Griffiths and Graham Hobbins for their wealth of knowledge.
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