Latest publication August 2021 Lewis & Hyland, the forgotten history of a landmark store. ISBN 979-8507910199 177 pages with b/w photos, & original newspaper advertisements. RRP £9.99 Take a step back into an era when drapery shop assistants lived alongside their bosses above the shop and discover the 150 year forgotten history of Lewis & Hyland, Kent's premier drapery store chain which rivalled the fashion houses of London and Paris and was amongst the earliest department stores before the likes of Charles Harrod and Mr Selfridge. Discover how the staff lived, their relationship with their employers, the long hours and how they enjoyed their leisure time. Using a multitude of sources the author has discovered the phenomenal rise of the premier Kentish drapery chain during its Victorian and Edwardian heydays until the firms demise in the 1980s. The book is a unique insight into the life and times of an early retail empire and how the modern department store orig
When we think of the war horses during the remembrance period we tend to overlook the men who risked their lives to safeguard and care for them , particularly while in action at the front. These men not only witnessed the horrors of their human comrades being killed and mutilated but also their equine comrades. My grandfather Edwin Clark was one of these men . Men were often killed caring for their beloved horses. At about 6 p.m. on the evening of the 30 th . September 1918 my grandfather Edwin Clark and his fellow artillery drivers of the 13 th . Battery Canadian Field Artillery were “feeding-up” and watering their war horses at the wagon and horse line a mile back from the front line near the town of Raillencourt. Suddenly they heard an aircraft approaching. It was a German plane and before they could take cover it dropped some newly invented “Daisy-Clipper” bombs into the middle of the horse lines. They were designed to explode a few inches from the ground throwing