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Catalogue description Jaeger and Co Ltd
This record is held by City of Westminster Archives Centre
| Reference: | 1327 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Jaeger and Co Ltd |
| Description: |
Business archives |
| Date: | 1882-1984 |
| Arrangement: |
Many catalogues and leaflets were stored in 'Miscellaneous Historical' folders, arranged by decade. They have been removed and put with related documents elsewhere in the archives, but a list of the former contents of these folders has been included in Appendix II. This collection is arranged as follows: ORIGINS OF THE COMPANY Dr Jaeger and the scientific theory of clothing Company histories CORPORATE RECORDS FINANCIAL RECORDS PUBLICITY UK general catalogues UK ladieswear catalogues UK menswear catalogues UK children's wear catalogues UK footwear catalogues UK animal clothing catalogues UK price and trade lists UK leaflets USA catalogues, price lists, leaflets Canadian catalogues and price lists Records of advertising campaigns Designs and proofs for advertisements Photographs and transparencies Advertising pulls UK advertising press books UK editorial press books UK miscellaneous press books UK miscellaneous press cuttings UK press releases Foreign press cuttings Records of fashion shows, exhibitions and competitions Films JAEGER PATRONS BUILDINGS UK shops and agents Foreign agents Offices and warehouses STAFF Staff magazines Staff magazine photographs Annual dinners and receptions Miscellaneous MISCELLANEOUS ARTEFACTS COMPANY'S LISTS OF ARCHIVES |
| Related material: |
For other records of Jaeger and Co Ltd see Accessions 2188 and 2334 |
| Held by: | City of Westminster Archives Centre, not available at The National Archives |
| Language: | English |
| Creator: |
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| Physical description: | 684 files |
| Immediate source of acquisition: |
Records were deposited on permanent loan by Mr Tear, Jaeger and Co Ltd, 57 Broadwick Street, London, W1 in January 1984. |
| Subjects: |
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| Administrative / biographical background: |
The Jaeger company was founded in 1884 by Lewis RS Tomalin, head of the finance department of a large City grocers' firm. Three years previously, Tomalin had read and translated Health Culture by Dr Gustav Jaeger (1832-1916), Professor of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Stuttgart in West Germany. Jaeger believed that clothing was more healthy if made of animal fibres, mainly wool, rather than of vegetable fibres such as cotton. A notebook dating from the end of 1883, presumably in the hand of Lewis Tomalin (Ref. 1327/36) shows the preparation for establishing the Jaeger business. The first shop was opened in Fore Street near Moorgate on 1st February 1884, trading under the name of 'Dr Jaeger's Sanitary Woollen System'. Tomalin had acquired from Dr Jaeger the sole rights to this trade in Britain. The Jaeger company was awarded a gold medal at the International Health Exhibition in the summer of 1884, following which The Times printed a leading article about it on 4th October 1884. The company soon expanded. The first West End branch opened in 1885 at Prince Street, Oxford Circus. In 1887, the company headquarters were established in Fore Street near Moorgate, where they stayed until the move to City Road in 1945. Year 1886 saw the acquisition of the sole rights trade in the USA (Ref. 1327/37). Further branches were set up in Australia in 1890 and Canada in 1904. By 1900 there were twenty Jaeger shops in Britain. Notable patrons of the company included George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, along with many Arctic and Antarctic explorers. The company received the royal warrant in 1910. Lewis Tomalin's son, Henry Ferdinand Tomalin, joined the company in 1899. He commissioned Charles Dawson to furnish the Art Nouveau designs for the Edinburgh and Plymouth shops in 1902 and 1903 respectively (see 1327/540 and 1327/543). Dawson also designed the publicity material for the Jaeger clothing. Henry F Tomalin took over as Chairman after his father's death in 1915. At the start of the war the company changed its name from Dr Jaeger's Sanitary Woollen System Co Ltd to the Jaeger Co Ltd. HF Tomalin's son, Humphrey R Tomalin, entered the company in 1921, moving round the Canadian, Australian and American branches before returning to England. He was first deputy Chairman and later Chairman. HF Tomalin died in 1950. A new departure for Jaeger came in 1930, when Maurice M Gilbert joined the company from Selfridges. Until then Jaeger clothing had been noted for the healthiness of its fabric rather than the style of its tailoring, but Maurice Gilbert and Ann Terrill, another former Selfridges employee, developed the Jaeger fashion image. A shop was opened in Regent Street in 1935 and Jaeger shops were set up within department stores such as Selfridges to sell all the range of Jaeger coordinates. The multi-line Jaeger logo, still in use today, was developed in 1935. Maurice Gilbert was Managing Director for many years. By the 1950s, Jaeger had departed from its original concerns so far that clothes were even being produced in artificial fibres. In the mid-1950s the Young Jaeger range was launched to widen the firm's fashion appeal. Since 1967 the Jaeger company has been part of the Coats Paton group. The story of Jaeger is related in more detail in the company histories (1327/23-35) and the archive list (1327/694) upon which this introduction is based. The staff magazines provide a good insight into the development of the company. |
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