Thresher & Glenny
Thresher & Glenny, founded in 1683, is one of the world's oldest surviving tailors, shirt makers and outfitters. The company has held Royal Warrants since the late eighteenth century and makes court attire, and bespoke and ready-for-service gentlemen’s garments including suits, jackets, shirts and ties. Today the company trades through a retail outlet at 1 Middle Temple Lane, London.
The Growth of the Firm
The company’s association with the Strand district of London dates back to its foundation. The original firm of bodice makers was established in 1683 near the Inns of Court. In 1724, the hosier Thomas Street began trading next to the newly-built St Mary-le-Strand, “where the maypole once o’erlooked the Strand”. His premisis was part of a small development of three houses and an inn (the Peacock) that had first been leased in May 1703 to Thomas Lee, citizen and merchant tailor, by the ground landlord, the Duke of Dorset.[1] The business was owned by several partners throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; in 1749, John Thresher was advertising as being “at the Peacock next door to Somerset House in the Strand”.
The firm traded as Newham and Binham in 1768, and by 1777 was known as Newham and Thresher, using the new street numbering system and describing itself as of 152 the Strand. By 1784, the business had been taken over by Richard Thresher, and became official hosier to George III in 1790. Richard Thresher remained a partner until 1805 when George Thresher replaced him, and in 1817 the company was taken over by John Thresher. John Thresher traded as a hosier, mercer and masquerade maker in Panton Street, Haymarket between 1822 and 1835, and in 1827 described himself as “hosier, glover and flannel draper to His Majesty”.[2][3]
By the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, the company adverts read, “Thresher Son and Glenny, hosiers to the Queen, Outfitters and Ready-made Linen warehouse, 152, Strand”. Among the firm's customers during this period was the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII).
The Thresher and Glenny partnership was cemented by marriage over several generations, through which the Glenny name became predominant. The last family member involved in the firm, Henry Glenny, died in 1936, by which time the company had extended its operations to Clifford Street, Savile Row, Conduit Street, Mayfair and Gracechurch Street in the City of London.[4]
Customers
Military, naval and colonial officers made up a large part of the company's clientelle at the height of the British Empire, and a number of specialist items were developed for their specific purposes, including ‘Indian Gauze waistcoats’, and luggage for the transport of Thresher & Glenny clothing around the world.[5] Luggage was an important part of the company’s business throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most probably through the acquisition of the business and trade book of Nicholas Ager Hoskins, trunk maker and dealer in brass and portable furniture.[6] Thresher & Glenny designed overland trunks for journeys to India, as well as trunks that were custom made to fit the cabins of P&O’s steamships to Malta, Alexandria and India. P&O’s information leaflets advised that the only regulation trunks for their vessels were supplied by Thresher & Glenny.[7][8] Other inventions included the trenchcoat worn by British army officers during the 1914-1918 war (a claim also made by Aquascutum).[9] The company made over 28,000 trenchcoats over the course of the war, retaining in the 1930s a list of the first 15,000 purchasers, with their regiments.[10]
Nelson is the subject of the most famous anecdote regarding the firm:-
- Nelson in 1797 lost his arm in a fight with a treasure ship off Santa Cruz. On his next visit to London he called upon Mr Thresher at the Sign of the Peacock, from whom he was accustomed to buying large quantities of silk stockings. Mr Thresher naturally hastened to express regret for the loss of the arm, but Nelson cut him short: ‘Tut, tut man; damn lucky for you it wasn’t my leg. I want another dozen pairs of silk stockings.' (Westminster City Archives) [11]
Timeline
- 1683 Bodice maker in the Strand
- 1696 Bodice maker at the house 'next to the Peacock' inn
- 1703 Thomas Lee, merchant tailor, took lease of the premises 'next to the Peacock' inn
- 1724 Business taken over by Thomas Street, hosier
- 1749 Trading 'at the Peacock next door to Somerset House in the Strand'
- 1768 Firm in the hands of Newnham and Binham, 152 Strand
- 1770 Joseph Glenny born
- 1778 Newham & Thresher
- 1782 Lease on 152 Strand renewed
- 1783 First Royal Warrant to the firm
- 1784 Richard Thresher took over the firm
- 1790 Hosier to HM King George III
- 1795 1 Panton Street, Haymarket, bought by Richard Thresher
- 1797 Nelson purchased stockings after losing his arm
- 1798 Thresher & Miller
- 1805 George Thresher took over the business, Thresher & Miller, hosiers to His Majesty. Richard Thresher, hosier, 15 Cheapside. John Thresher, hosier & mercer & masquerade warehouse, 24 Haymarket
- 1813 Emma, daughter of John & Elizabeth Thresher, hosier of 152 Strand, born 13 November
- 1819 John Thresher took over the business
- 1822 Thresher & Miller, hosiers to His Majesty, 152 Strand
- 1827 “Hosier, glover and flannel draper to His Majesty” Joseph Glenny died
- 1832 Thresher, Son and Glenny, hosiers and outfitters
- 1846 First T&G travelling trunk registered and Thresher & Glenny expand 152 and 153 Strand
- 1851 Exhibitor at Great Exhibition, warrant from Pasha of Egypt
- 1853 T&G's newspaper, "The Australian, Indian and Colonial Shipping Circular" published
- 1854 Outpost established at Kadikoi, “between Balaklava and the Camp, for securing safe custody and punctual delivery of parcels to the Army in the Crimea”.[12]
- 1855 Thresher & Glenny fitted out Lord Canning for his new role in India
- 1873 Paul King, Inspector of Customs in China, took three Thresher & Glenny cabin trunks with him that were to see service for four more decades, and the firm equipped Sir Garnet Wolsely for the Ashanti War
- 1877 Equipped officers for the Zulu Wars
- 1878 Canvas shoes dyed with ink for officers embarking for the Afghan War.[13]
- 1882 Equipped officers for the Egyptian Wars
- 1885 H M Stanley equipped by T&G to look for Emin Pasha
- 1901 Henry John Glenny described as Indian and Colonial Outfitter, census; first representative sent to the USA
- 1904 Windows broken by suffragettes
- 1912-1914 Making clothes for the Emperor of Japan
- 1914 Invented the trenchcoat
- 1921 Opened new premises in 19 Clifford Street, Savile Row, and 5 Conduit Street, W.1
- 1931 Kitted out French explorer George-Marie Haardt and 41 team members for the 7,500 mile Citroën Trans-Asiatic Expedition from Beirut to Peking
- 1934 Refitted the shop interior. Paul King's cabin trunks still in use, first Clemdan ready-made shirts made
- 1935 Fred Perry photographed with T&G manager, walking out kits created for semi-official tour, new shop front
- 1936 Henry John Glenny died 18 August, Gracechurch Street branch opened[14]
- 1950 Member, Bespoke Tailors Guild
Royal Warrants
Thresher & Glenny currently holds a Royal Warrant as shirt makers to the Royal Household, and the company has original Royal Warrants dating back to George III in 1783.
On the occasion of King William IV’s coronation in 1833, The Standard noted that the outside of Thresher & Glenny’s was illuminated with ‘a splendid crown’.[15]
References
- ^ Hilton Prue Dirsa, F G, Signs of the Old Houses in the Strand in the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries, The Russell Press (1910)
- ^ Pigot's Directory, "John Thresher, hosier, mercer and masquerade warehouse, 24 Haymarket", (1822)
- ^ Sun Fire Office Policy List, "John Thresher of the corner of Panton Street, Haymarket as a hosier", 1806 & 1829, Guildhall Library ref MS 11936/437/790573 and MS 11936/527/1109091
- ^ The Times, 6 May 1843
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/27/5&6
- ^ Sun Fire Office Policy List, September 1834, Guildhall Library ref. MS 11936/544/1184049
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/27/2
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/37
- ^ The Times, 23 December 1915
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/27/1
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/36
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/27/1
- ^ Westminster City Archives, St Ann’s Street, SW1, ref 301/27/1
- ^ Hughes’ Business Directory, (1921)
- ^ The Standard, 29 May 1833