A young woman is standing outside the pharmacy on the left; she
is pushing a wicker hand cart. It seems as if a hat is balanced
on the edge of her cart, but this is a trick of the eye as
the hat is on display in the shop window. The sign above the
shop reads: Drug Stores. Edwards. Modern _____. The last word
is hidden by the ornate lamp.
In 1911 Samuel Edwards, originally from Ferryside, Carmarthenshire,
was running the pharmacy at what was then 31 & 32
High Street; the property, with the lovely mid to late seventeenth
century brick work, was described in the census as having 10
rooms[1].
The Edwards family had arrived in Godalming about 1888[2] and
in 1911 Samuel's son, Alfred Samuel, by then 23, was working
for his father as an assistant dispensing chemist.
It is difficult to tell what the shop behind where the group
of young men are standing on the pavement was selling because
the white awning obscures the shop window, but it also seems
to be part of the chemists. The double fronted shop next door,
with bay
windows, sold spirits and ales; in 1911 this was run by Edward
William Chilman and his family[1].
Mr. Chilman was born in Godalming and had run his wine and
spirits business at 30 High Street for over twenty years[2].
In 1891 he was the agent for W. & A. Gilby[3].
If you look carefully at the Stuart
building next door to Chilman's (just right of centre) you should see a suspended
rectangular sign at first floor level which says "Telephone".
Mrs. Caroline Elizabeth Atfield, a widow who was by 1911 aged
82, lived on the premises and acted as Caretaker for the Telephone
Exchange[1].
She been there for at least ten years though she and her husband
had kept the "Rose and Crown" on Mill Lane in the
1880s[2] and early
1890s[3].
On the right hand side we can see 80 High Street, which had
a sign above the shop advertising "Refreshments".
In 1901 Joseph Turner was a Baker and Confectioner here[2],
but by 1911 Frederick
Charles Record was living at and managing the shop[1].
However, Mr. Turner advertised in a 1913 trade directory so
had presumably kept his business[4].
Kate Cheel, a widow who lived on Busbridge Lane[1],
was a Tobacconist with premises at 81 High Street[4].
The Cigars sign on the far side of No.80 must have been her
shop. She continued the business of her late husband Charles;
in the 1891 census Charles described himself as a Wholesale
Wine Spirit
& Beer Merchant And Tobacconist[2].
Godalming was not short of premises selling wines and spirits.
There are minor differences to the Edwards building's upper
floors today. The lamp has gone, the gutters and down pipes
have been replaced, and what looks like a shallow wrought
iron balcony beneath the right hand window on the first floor
has been removed in the intervening years. Boots eventually
took over Edwards[5] before
moving to its present site and today the building is occupied
by W. H. Smith.
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