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David Lewis (the former proprietor of London’s oldest ironmongers, specialised in serving the coach-building trade and operating from the same location in the Hackney Rd from 1797-2013) was the proud custodian of this archive of photographs which illustrate the history of the business and some of its key protagonists.
Originally opened as H. M. Presland & Sonsthe business became W. H. Clark Ltd in the eighteen-nineties and traded as Daniel Lewis & Son Ltd – The One Stop Metal Shop from 2002 -2013. In a rare and astonishing survival, the company traded from premises built to suit their purpose in the early nineteenth century, remaining largely unaltered over two hundred years until parking restrictions resulted in the loss of their customers and they left the Hackney Rd forever.
This wheelwright’s shop, c. 1900.
Mayor of Hackney, W.H.Clark’s car parked outside his business in 1920.
Mrs W.H.Clark who managed the business on her husband’s behalf – she was a member of the businesswomen’s league and an active participant in many local social charitable projects.
W.H. Clark vans, 1930
Gwladys Lewis outside her grocer shop and dairy in the Hackney Rd with her son Daniel on the right.
The gasometer at the rear of the premises next to the Regent’s Canal.
Daniel Lewis and his dog in the yard with the bombsite of the Chandler & Wiltshire Brewery, 1945.
Daniel Lewis at his sloped-top desk in 1953.
Daniel & Audrey Lewis.
The staff, 1950.
Daniel Lewis outside the premises, 1963.
Lewis Lewis, dairyman, outside his grocer’s shop and dairy in the Hackney Rd with his grandson David and daughter-in-law Audrey, nineteen sixties.
Lewis Lewis and David in the nineteen sixties.
Daniel Lewis with the Royal Carriage for which he supplied two-hundred-year-old-oak panelling from his stock for restoration, 1975.
Arthur Hinton, shop manager, 1980.
Shop staff, 1980
W.H.Clark van, 1960.
In the twentieth century.
In the nineteenth century
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