In pictures: Boswells celebrates 275th anniversary
- Published
Boswells is the oldest department store in Oxford and was opened by Francis Boswell in 1738. When this image was taken in the 1850s it was still going strong, with another Francis Boswell running the shop and employing five men.
The business sold travelling goods and luggage and remained in the Boswell family until its last member died in 1890.
Even in the late 19th Century adverts for the store proudly proclaimed its "old fashioned quality".
Arthur Pearson owned several other stores in the city - including the Oxford Drug Company - when he bought Boswells in the 1890s.
Jonathan Pearson, his great grandson and current managing director, said: "He then decided he wanted to follow an academic career, started doing a degree at the university and left the shop somewhat unlooked after and it had to be picked up by our grandfather and saved from disappearing."
This artist's drawing was made in 1929 when the store extended on to 1-4 Broad Street and became known as a "hardware merchants".
In 1958 the Boswells and Oxford Drug Company buildings were joined together, forming Oxford’s largest independent department store. It was listed as retailing kitchen equipment, cutlery, silverware, "fancy jewellery and household linens”.
By 1975, Boswells was diversifying into selling the groovy fashions of the day and had become a renowned toy seller.
Jonathan Pearson said: "You do feel there’s a history and a responsibility to carry on making the place a success. If these people have managed to go through war, pestilence, doom and depression then we should be able to get through the current economic problems that the country has at the moment."