Records of F L Ranson, tailor, Lavenham

Records relate to the finance and administration of the tailor's shop and F L Ranson's work as a photographer. Also included are a number of personal papers belonging to Francis and Kitty reflecting their interest in local history and local issues.

<p>HD 2532; K993; HA555</p>

The family firm was established c.1839 by Jerry Ranson at 38/39 Market Place, Lavenham. James Robert Ranson took over the business during the 1870s, and it subsequently passed to his own son, Francis Lingard Ranson (1880-1950) during the early years of the twentieth century. F L Ranson combined his work as a master tailor with photography. He was also a keen historian and used his skill as a photographer to support the preservation of Lavenham. He wrote a number of local guide books and mounted exhibitions to further public interest in and to raise money for the Suffolk Preservation Society. He became the Society's first vice-president and later an Honorary Life Member, he was an Honorary Life Member of the National Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and in 1944 he helped form the Lavenham Preservation Society.

After F L Ranson's death in 1950 the firm was continued by his daughter Kitty and son Lingard. Kitty Ranson was an active member of the community being a founder member of the Lavenham Branch of the Royal British Legion (Women's Section) and a member of the Lavenham detachment of the British Red Cross. She was also a member of Lavenham Parish Council and a chairman and trustee of the Lavenham Charities for the Poor. Miss Ranson inherited a love of local history from her father, and was herself a founder member and secretary of the Lavenham Preservation Society. She published three books, two of which were her late father's photographs of old Lavenham and a guide book to Lavenham. For several years she was the local history recorder for the village. She continued the family business until her death in 1997.