Here's
what some people have already said about the first 76 pages.
"It
gives a marvellous flavour of the place and times -
really atmospheric. Thank you very much for this."
Regards
Elizabeth Gabriel
"Thank
you very much for making this book available. I was delighted
to find that there was an advertisement for West End Watch
Company, a business that my grandfather and father ran from
around 1900 to 1965. There is a family connection to the firm
back to Switzerland through my grandmother, and I'm looking
forward to seeing the remainder of the book to see whether
it can help me to untangle her side of the family."
Thank
you very much.
Andrew
Nopper
Toronto
"I
will eagerly await the publication with great interest--as
indeed all your other ventures and initiatives. I would like
you to know,how much I appreciate the way you (and your team
)bring back the wonderful nostalgia of "old India."
Many
thanks,and best wishes.
Lewis
Hardy.
"Some
of the names in the directory brought back memories very real
to me. At the time I visited these business premises
and saw these business names I did not think much about them,
little thinking that I was witnessing at the time, the
last throes of these businesses that would now only exist
in this directory published by Thacker's. In fact Thacker
Spink were the publishers of my 'uncle's' Shikari books.
His name was Augustus Somerville Brown (Ted Brown) more widely
known as 'Farmer Brown) and one of his most famous books was
"At Midnight Comes the Killer".
I
visited Byrons and Spencers who were manufacturers of Indian
Tonic water and Vimto. The factory was next to the
Government house where my father served as the OC before
being promoted to Assistant Commissioner of the Armed
Police. I was still a young lad when my father would
purchase Soda water in glass bottles with a marble in the
neck and one had to push the marble into the neck to 'open'
the bottle!
The
undertakers listed in the directory Lawrence & Company
was run by a family friend Donald Francis who was married
to a Doris Wallacombe who was a one time fiance of my
real uncle Claude for thirteen years. This is
an amazing piece of history thanks for bringing it back to
life."
Regards
Alan.
