J. J. Fuller, Acton

This ghost sign, by the former London & South Western Railway line (now the North London Line) between Gunnersbury and South Acton stations, is becoming less and less visible as the holly and the hedge grow higher and thicker every year.

All the mentions of a builder by the name of J. J. Fuller established in Acton I found date from 1908 and 1909. In 1908, The Electrical Engineer informed its readers J. J. Fuller had built six houses in Brentford and six in Barnes. The houses in Barnes are also mentioned in Electrical Engineering and The Electrical Review but while the former gives Fuller's address as 63, Ivy Crescent, Chiswick, the latter gives it as 14, Temple Road, Acton Green. This was certainly a mistake since 63, Ivy Crescent is the address printed in The Builder in 1909. This time J. J. Fuller had built five houses and three shops in Brentford as well as a billiard room at the rear of the Conservative Club at 264, High Street, Brentford.

J. J. Fuller
Builder
63, Ivy Crescent
Acton Green
Phone 070.. ... [*]

*: the first digit covers part of the 'E.'

The digits of the phone number make it look more recent than it actually is. Nowadays this would be the beginning of a mobile phone number. However it seems there were only five digits painted (possible 07018), followed by some more text. Since this number would have predated the introduction of the Director system in the 1920s, one should not expect to find the three letter code for the telephone exchange followed by digits, a format fairly common on ghost signs.

Location: off Bollo Lane / Picture taken in July 2011

Spratt's dog food, Acton

People who, unlike me, are into dogs may remember the name Spratt's, a brand of dog biscuits that fed generations of animals.

It is said US citizen James Spratt got the idea of producing biscuits for dogs when he noticed stray dogs eating discarded hardtacks in the Liverpool (or London) dockyards. Until then most dogs ate table scraps but Spratt's genius was to convince dog owners they needed to replace leftovers with something more expensive for the sake of their animals' health. In 1861 he established a company in London to manufacture and sell his patented dog biscuits that combined blended wheat meals, vegetables, beetroot and meat. His two main targets were sportsmen, who needed to give something convenient to their hunting dogs while in the open, and wealthy pet lovers.

In 1866, Spratt recruited a fourteen year old boy: Charles Cruft. Over the following decades, Cruft rose from office boy to general manager before moving on to run his own dog show business. The marketing and advertising flair of both Spratt and Cruft ensured the success of Spratt's Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes. The company made full use of its endorsement by royals and other leading public figures and relied on a wide range of supports to promote its products, from full page advertising in the specialized press to cigarette cards and billboards. From 1878 it was also organising dog shows. In the 1870s the company set up a subsidiary in the US, just as the country was embarking on a love affair with dogs.

Spratt died in 1880, a few years after selling his business to Edward Wylan. In 1885 its legal status changed when Spratt's Patent Limited was registered. The company continued to expand, offering food for each stage in the dog's life, plus a whole variety of special foods linked to the activity level of a dog and its health. In 1899 it built in Poplar, East London, what remained for decades the largest pet food factory in the world. Under Cruft's management Spratt's Patent Ltd ventured into the game bird and poultry food markets. It also produced a range of accessories for cats and dogs.

Food		A. H. Payne		& Seed Stores
Spratts Dog, Poultry & Cage Bird Foods

For a few decades the dog food market on both sides of the Atlantic was largely dominated by Spratt's but over time competitors appeared. Still it retained a strong position throughout the first half of the 20th century but in 1950 the US subsidiary was sold to General Mills. Then in 1960 Spratt's Patent Ltd was bought for £3.94 m by Spillers one of its main competitors. In 1968 Spillers reorganized its operations and in the process changed the name of Spratt's to Spratt's Patent (Holdings) Ltd. In 1972 it was changed again, this time to Spillers Food Ltd. In 1979 Spillers was acquired by Australian company Dalgety. However in the 1990s Dalgety was badly affected by the BSE crisis in the UK and disposed of several of its branches, including Spillers, which was bought by Nestlé for £715 m in 1997.
The Spratt's brand, which had survived in spite of these changes, was finally discontinued in 2008.

Unfortunately I haven't found any trace of A. H. Payne's food and seed stores anywhere. This may have provided some information about the age of this ghost sign. Without that, all we can rely on is the style of the lettering. My guess, looking in particular at the Payne's part, is it was painted around the last decade of the 19th century or the first one of the 20th century but I may be wrong. It any case this ghost sign is amazingly well preserved!

Spratt's food for animals wasn't the only ghost sign on this wall. Another name, written diagonally in large letters can also be seen:

Gunn's

Yet I haven't found what kind of business or product that was. If anyone has any information, please leave a comment.

Location: Acton Lane / Pictures taken in July 2011

R. Hewett Limited, Acton

Richard John Hewett started as a builder and builders' merchant in 1900, if the date painted on the façade of this house in Acton is to be believed. The workshop itself was located in Acton Green, a kilometre south of Acton. The company traded under the name "R. J. Hewett" and by the mid-1910 consisted of a partnership between Richard John Hewett and William Spelter Alger. This partnership was dissolved in May 1916. Three years later, Richard J. Hewett was back in business and The Builder could inform its readers that "R. Hewett Ltd" had been "registered on 13th January 1919 to acquire and carry on the business of builder and decorator." Therefore the ghost sign was painted after that date, on what may have been Richard John Hewett's home. Or was it? Richard J. Hewett died on 28th June 1935. At the time of his death, he lived in Creswick Road, a few streets away from the house below. The death of its founder did not mark the end of the company, which continued trading possibly under the leadership of Richard's two sons, Frank Walter and Arthur Cecil. It seems R. Hewett Ltd left the Cleveland Works in Acton Green in the 1950s and moved to Britannia Way, Park Royal. The last time the company's name appeared in a publication currently available online was in 1962, in Country Life.

R. Hewett, Limited. Builders & Decorators Contractors for Renovations, Drainage & Alterations. Cleveland Works, Acton Green, W.4. Phone 37 Chiswick

Estd 1900

Location: Langley Drive / Pictures taken in July 2011

Hosier and outfitter, Acton

Even when this ghost sign was in good condition, I doubt many people passing along Churchfield Road would have noticed it. It is far too high and too small to be spotted easily.

Hosier & Outfitter

According to the 1889-90 edition of Kelly's Directory, hosier Edwin Walker Garthwaite carried out his business at 21 Churchfield Road. Three years later the premises were occupied by A. Van der Vord, hosier and outfitter. Van der Vord traded at least until the outbreak of the First World War as his name appears in successive editions of Kelly's Directory. His business seem to have been successful enough for him to pay for a full page advert in the 1907 edition of the aforementioned directory (right). My guess is that this ghost sign dates from the time of A. Van der Vord.

It was quite clever of the sign writer to insert the ampersand into the roundel.

Location: Churchfield Road / Pictures taken in July 2011

Dining rooms, Acton

A very modest painted sign for one of Acton's former dining rooms.

Dining
Rooms
Location: Horn Lane / Picture taken in July 2011

Brymay, Acton

Construction on the site of the former Acton tram depot is progressing and very soon the Brymay sign below will disappear.


The design of this post-WW2 ghost sign for Bryant & May, the country's leading manufacturer of matches, is virtually similar to the one in New Cross.

Brymay
Safety
Matches
Although the upper part has now faded too much, one can assume the slogan "British Matches For British Homes" stood above the Brymay logo.

Location: Uxbridge Road / Picture taken on: 11/07/2011

Dadds, boot & shoe warehouse, Acton

In earlier posts I mentioned shoemakers Freeman, Hardy & Willis from Leicester, and the True-Form Boot Company from Nottingham. Today we move further north to Kendal in Cumbria, where in 1842 21-year old Robert Somervell started his business as leather merchant. For several years he provided bespoke shoemakers in the area with uppers. Some time before 1851 though, Robert Somervell was joined by his brother and together they founded the company Somervell Brothers, which produced its own shoes. The K brand (chosen after the initial of their hometown Kendal) was adopted in 1865. It seems the name of the company was changed to K Shoes Ltd in 1949.
From the start the company acquired a reputation for good quality footwear and its products became extremely popular. Within a few years Robert Somervell became a reasonably wealthy man and he and his large family moved from the modest family home in Kendal to Hazelthwaite, a large house in Windermere (he had six sons and three daughters. The eldest son, also named Robert, became a master at Harrow. In My Early Life, Winston Churchill pays tribute to him for teaching him how "to write mere English") .
Little information about the company seems to be available beyond these early years. In 1981 K Shoes Ltd was taken over by Clarks. Shoes continued to be manufactured in Kendal but in 2003 Clarks announced it was closing down the factory with a loss of 170 jobs and moving production abroad.

I haven't found anything about Dadds, other than they stocked K Shoes, but that's written on the wall!

Dadds
Boot & Shoe
Warehouse
-------
Depot ...
Noted
For
K
Running Shoes
Location: High Street / Picture taken on: 22/05/2008

The Acton Bakeries

A largely hidden sign but at least the business can still be identified.

The
Acton
Bakeries
I haven't found any information about this business. All I can add is that I wouldn't be too surprised if the day the modern billboard goes we see some Hovis Bread appearing...

Location: York Road / Picture taken on: 17/08/2009

Prices old English lavender soap, Acton

Good news! Yesterday I went to take some more photos of northwest London and, as passed by Acton, I realized that the billboard that covered the upper part of the Lavender Soap sign in Acton was now gone! (Click on the picture for an enlarged version)

Mackie's
Price's [or Prices]
Old
English
Lavender
Soap
...on [hidden by the bin shed]

Just looking at the most legible words, one can see easily that at least two ads were painted on that wall, but a close look shows there are many other letters in a whole range of typefaces.

The previously hidden part. Here one can see a large letter (a D maybe) just to the left of the "r" of "Price's". "Price's" also covers two lines written in blue/green letters (somehow, it looks a little bit like Germolene but I doubt it is. The space between the letters doesn't look quite right)

In the lower part as well several lines have been covered when the Lavender Soap sign was painted. Letters appear here and there, but nothing makes much sense.
I had always associated Old English Lavender Soap with Yardley, the soap manufacturer founded in 1770 (and incidently with my grand-parents' bathroom). Yet I can't see any trace of that particular brand name, not even on the pack of soap bars or the card that goes with is. As for Price, ever since my girlfriend first worked in a company based in Battersea riverside, it has been synonymous with candles. A quick search shows that actually Price began producing soap in 1856, using the same base product -glycerine- its candles were made of. Its soap manufacturing rights, together with the soap factory at Bromborough (near Port Sunlight) were taken by Lever Brothers Ltd in 1936.

The card reads:

Price's
Old English
Lavender Soap
Ba.. S...
P... L... B...

The six pieces of soap in the box are each wrapped in a paper saying "Old English Lavender" (that looks cheapish for Yardley). Could Price have copied Yardley's design, in particular the Gothic typeface of "Old English"?

Quite a palimpsest this wall! If anyone knows what the ads painted over were and what kind of business Mackie's was in, don't hesitate to get in touch via the comments.

Location: Birkbeck Road / All pictures taken on: 17/08/2009