Business records of Thomas and Henry Wilkins, millers, bakers and grocers of Bourton-on-the-Water

A collection of business records and accounts, comprising ledgers, weekly accounts and billheads.

<p>Ref: GPS55/19 and 55/29</p>

Mr. J. W. Burden

Trade directories for Bourton-on-the-Water provide details for the development of the Wilkins' family business from the 1840s, the earliest available directory (for 1842) recording Thomas Wilkins miller. Thomas' household is entered in the 1851 census enumerators' returns, where he is described as aged 47, a miller and farmer of 110 acres, employing 4 labourers; 8 children are recorded, including Thomas (aged 16) and Henry (aged 11). The bakery business appears to have been established in the late 1850s, and by 1868 'Wilkins & Sons' were also trading as grocers. The names 'T. & H. Wilkins' first appear in the mid 1870s when an expansive directory entry lists them as millers, bakers, corn dealers, grocers, cheese factors and makers, agents for W. & A. Gilbey, wine and spirit merchants, and to the London & Lancashire Fire Insurance Co., at Steam Mills and Nethercote.

Photographs of the Wilkins' shop front, c 1896, and the bakery staff, c 1910, are contained in this Office's photographic collection (modern copy prints only)).