whiteley.record

Design: William Whiteley, a young Yorkshire draper, conceived what at that time was the revolutionary idea of a department store, after being inspired by a visit to the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Starting in 1863 in London’s fashionable Bayswater district with one store and two employees, by 1890 he had 6,000 employees and extensive stores and landholdings, and was proud to call himself “The Universal Provider.”

In 1896 he was given the honour of a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria as a designated supplier to the Royal household, which included the privilege of displaying the royal coat of arms, as here.


	Whitely Record (England) / 1912




	Corporate background: Label scan courtesy of UK music researcher and collector Bill Dean-Myatt, who notes that the label was pressed by the Crystalate conglomerate, using masters from the Grammavox label.				Design: William Whiteley, a young Yorkshire draper, conceived what at that time was the revolutionary idea of a department store, after being inspired by a visit to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Starting in 1863 in London’s fashionable Bayswater district with one store and two employees, by 1890 he had 6,000 employees and extensive stores and landholdings, and was proud to call himself “The Universal Provider.” In 1896 he was given the honour of a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria as a designated supplier to the Royal household, which included the privilege of displaying the royal coat of arms, as here.





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