Francis Newton Ltd of Hitchin, 1784 - 1988

Records

The present catalogue includes only the following classes of records:

D/ENe/B Business Records

D/ENe/C Correspondence files and letter books

D/ENe/F Family papers

D/ENe/Z Miscellaneous items

<p>The following records, donated at the same time, remain uncatalogued: Working files (for which see interim list Acc 2863) Plans and drawings (unlisted)</p>

Donated December 1993

Accession 2863

According to the firm's (undated) history (D/ENeZ5) printed sometime after 1910, the business was founded in 1728 and "had a continuous, unbroken and prosperous existence" through the reigns of George II to George V. However the author, Frank Newton, refers elsewhere in the booklet to the seventeenth century.

In his article, 'Newtons of Tilehouse Street' (Hertfordshire Countryside vol 18, no 69, p15), Harry Lisser makes the assertion that the firm was originally established in 1675 by Thomas Coulson. In the Record Office there is a marriage settlement for Thomas Coulson, a glazier of Hitchin, for the same year [77174 and 77176-7]. Coulson's daughter married John Newton, a gardener of Bancroft, Hitchin, and their son Robert was apprenticed to John Coulson in 1776. The Newton family ran the business from this date until the mid 1930s when T Colman and P Day were taken on as partners and shouldered much of the day to day work of running the business.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the firm concentrated on internal and external decoration and renovation work. On headed notepaper in 1882 they describe themselves as 'Painters, Decorators, Glaziers, Guilders, Plumbers, Paper Hangers, Picture Framers and Horticultural Builders'. The firm gained a prestigious reputation and renovated many of the larger private residences throughout Hertfordshire, as well as obtaining work from public authorities such as the Hitchin Rural District Council. The firm also established branches at Welwyn, Stevenage, Wheathampstead and Whitwell. By 1924 only the branch at Welwyn was still in existence and this kept its own financial records up until 1954.

The Newton family played an active role in Hitchin life and there is a sketch of Isaac Newton in Hine's book on Hitchin personalities. Although few private family records survive, the transfer from one generation to another can be easily ascertained from the trade directories. The firm was resident at 96 Tilehouse Street throughout the period for which the records survive. The financial records for the business provide a comprehensive and integrated insight into how the business managed its affairs, as well as providing a detailed account of the work itself.