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While looking through a 1912 guide to Tonbridge I discovered the above advertisement for Harris the dairy that was situated next to the George and Dragon Pub on Shipbourne Road. I'm not too sure why the sale of milk for invalids and the nursery could have been different than the normal milk sold, (perhaps someone could enlighten me), but whatever it does mean it illustrates a service that we rarely get now-a-days.
The building today has hardly changed and is still recognisable as the same that traded as a dairy in 1912. I do have vague memories of this being a dairy until the early 1980's, and later a flooring retailer. The building has been empty for years and is awaiting it's fate in connection with the proposed link between London Road and Hadlow Road.
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| Former Dairy taken from Star & Garter Triangle |
“E Harris” was Ernest Harris born in 1847 in Lewes, Sussex. He was a Solicitor’s Clerk in Tonbridge until he married Emma Roser in 1883 at St. Martin in the Field, Strand, London. Emma Roser was a daughter of Thomas Roser who moved from Cowden, Kent to Tonbridge in the 1830’s and by 1841 was a Dairyman and Farmer at Dry Hill, Tonbridge (at the rear of the Shop Front Premises in this advert) until his death in 1871.
ReplyDeleteAnother advert for E Harris can still be seen in a painted wall sign in Meadow Road, Tonbridge as shown by the Tonbridge Daily posting on Wednesday, 14 March 2012.
Sometime in the early 1900’s Ernest Harris reputedly stole a large sum of money and left his wife, Emma, and nine children and went to Australia. Emma then continued to run the Dairy until her death in 1933.