Browns and Chester. Portrait of a shop, 1780-1946

Notes:

A history of the shop commissioned from Mass Observation by the firm which had formerly commissioned from them 'a marketing survey, designed primarily to obtain an idea of the status of the shop in the minds of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood'. The history project sought to consider 'the shop in the context of the social history and dress history of the time, with an account of the people associated with the shop in the context of local history'. Covers the development of the business, changing nature of its retailing, retailing practices, consumption aspects notably touching on fashion, the role of the Brown family and their wider involvement in local affairs including politics, etc. No consideration of business performance. Includes Brown family tree. Chapters include: 'Change in the Rows'; William and Henry Brown'; 'Getting about'; 'Beginnings of modern Chester'; 'Eighteenth century hang-over'; 'Crinoline and bustle'; 'Beginning of modern times in the shop'; 'J G Holmes and the Early Closing Movement'; The grand old man of Chester'; 'William Brown and the political tgradition'; 'Charles Brown - local politics'; 'Interwar'; etc