Anthony Harding, who lived in Bell House and built the large extension in the 1840s, is said to be the founder of the world’s first department store. Founded in 1789 on Pall Mall, Harding & Howell’s was a famous and successful store. The wives of the men made rich by the Industrial Revolution went there to shop, meet their friends and examine the latest fabrics to pass on to their dressmakers (no ready-made clothes in those days).
Anthony Harding portrait
Anthony Harding’s shop even had a café and toilets, rare in those days and a useful attraction to keep women in the store. Harding sold silks, muslins, lace and gloves, furs, fans, jewellery and hats. One room had beautiful shawl materials hanging down from the ceiling.
Harding Howell store from Ackerman’s Repository
Some of Harding’s descendants have visited Bell House and told us that he liked to get drunk but lost the use of his legs after six bottles or so. His solution was to have a special chair made at Bell House so his footmen could carry him up to bed. We don’t have an image of the chair but can imagine that it must have been something like a baby’s highchair, with a piece of wood across the arms, like a tray, that would keep Harding from falling out when he was carried upstairs. Martyn, one of our volunteers, is going to convert this doll’s house chair, to show how it might have looked.
Harding’s Chair