Marchmont St Fishmongers

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The fishmonger's shop at 76 Marchmont street was owned and run by Samuel Gordon from around 1881, but both the business and the shop bore his name until at least 1995. However advertisements list the shop as being established in 1803, well before Samuel Gordon became involved (and many years before his birth).

Originally that location was numbered 84, Marchmont Street, but the houses & shops were renumbered at one point.

Map of Marchmont Street 1895, with locations of shops in 1880


Kenneth & Morgan

Long before Samuel Gordon took over, the shop was run as a partnership between a Robert Morgan (born in 1803 to a Samuel Morgan) and Robert Kenneth.

Receipt heading for Marchmont St. fishmongers

Receipt heading for Morgan's Fishmongers (dated from some time after 1861).

The blank receipt above shows the shop being owned by a Susannah Morgan (I presume Robert's widow), but the original partnership of "Kenneth & Morgan" is still visible on the upper sign.


76, Marchmont Street in 1977


The following details come from David Morgan, descendant of Samuel, as did the 1977 photograph and receipt above:

There is a series of letters from 1854 from Robert Morgan(1803) and Susannah (nee Yolland) to their son, Robert Morgan(1830) who migrated to Australia. They are all written from 36 Marchmont Street up to around 1870. A visit to the Greater London Council in 1977 showed that here have been several re-numberings over the years; #36 in 1854 was the north-east corner of Tavistock Place (now with Cartwright Gardens not Marchmont Street according to Google maps). Robert(1803) was at Edgeware in the 1841 census, but Marchmont Street in 1851. Their youngest child was born at Edgeware in 1846.

Business directories show Kenneth from 1830 to 1848, Kenneth & Morgan from 1849 to 1851, then Robert MORGAN from 1856 to 1861, then Susannah Morgan until 1871 with assistance principally from children Thomas and Ellen. The Kenneths were Robert and Sarah Elizabeth nee Yolland, sister of Susannah. The letters give no reason why the partnership broke up. Robert Kenneth moved to 17 Great Coram St, Finsbury by the 1851 census as a "proprietor of coal and iron mines and houses". In 1872 it is Mordin and Larkin, fishmongers.

Robert died in 1864, and Susannah in 1879, at the home of her eldest daughter Elizabeth Tossell, not Marchmont St. Thomas died in 1882, of the Broadway, Ludgate Hill.

Among the letters was a receipt of unknown date, apparently during Susannah's time, though the sign still shows Kenneth and Morgan (see above).

In 1977 we visited London and found the fish shop, and took the second attached picture, where the business name was still Samuel Gordon. This was still the case in 1995, when we visited with our children, but opening hours were limited. In 1975 we spoke to the proprietor, who produced a parchment giving permission from the Guild to operate a fishmonger on the site. We did not record the name of the original owner! On the back, the permission had been signed over to Robert Kenneth, showing that it was the same business. The building was rebuilt around 1900. There are documents in the London Metropolitan Archives on A2A about this, showing ownership as Mrs J Gordon.

Modern directories show that it is no longer a fish shop, but I have no idea what happened to the parchment.

Samuel Gordon

The owner of the business liked Samuel Gordon, thinking he was smart, and suggested that as he was planning on retiring then Samuel should buy the business (I assume that Samuel worked for the business, but I don't know).

Samuel Gordon borrowed money from Mr. Balfour to buy the business and possibly a lease, but not the property which was owned by the Foundling Hospital. As part of this deal he married Mr. Balfour's niece Janet Balfour, who was brought down to London to be a companion for Mr. Balfour's wife.

Later the lease on the building expired, and it was rebuilt. While this was happening Samuel Gordon and his family retired and moved away to Castelnau (an area around a road in Barnes, London). When the building at 76 Marchmont Street reopened, his sons took over the fishmonger business there with a new shop.

Fishmongers, 76, Marchmont Street in 1983, photo by euronomad
Fishmongers, 76, Marchmont Street in 1983, photo by euronomad


Fishmongers, 76, Marchmont in 1995

Fishmongers in 1995 - the opening hours were now limited.

After Samuel Gordon

Samuel Gordon died in 1925.

His grand-daughter Jean remembered that: On the ground floor was the fishmonger shop which uncle George and uncle Dave inherited. Uncle Dave lived around the corner in another square. On the first floor lived uncle George and auntie Liliam. On the second floor was Auntie Jean Bassom and Tom. On the third floor was auntie Hannah (Jean's twin sister). And the fourth floor was rented by Mr and Mrs Ford (Mrs Ford was an invalid).

In later times Dave's sons Sam and Douglas were in the shop

The 1939 register lists who was living where.

At 76 Marchmont street in 1939:

  • Leo Henshall (b.26 Dec 1893) Civil Servant/ Air ---
  • Olive Henshall (b. 10 Sept 1900) - Unpaid Domestic Duties
  • William C. Ford (b. 14 Dec 1891) - Metropolitan Police Officer
  • George Gordon (b. 6 July 1893) - Fishmonger (Master)
  • Lillian Gordon (b. 7 Aug 1891) - Unpaid Domestic Duties
  • Thomas Bassham (b. 7 May 1877) - Grocer Fully Licenced
  • Jean Bassham (b. 20 Jan 1884) - Assist at shop

At 6, Coburg Haus, Handel Street in 1939:

  • David B Balfour (b. 17 Jan 1881, Widowed) - Fishmonger Shop Keeper
  • Mavis Sanford (b. 11 Apr 1909, Single) - A.F.S.
  • Douglas B. Gordon (b. 29 Oct 1912, Single) - Fishmonger Buyer

Post-Fishmongers

Later the shop became a Snappy Snaps (film developers).

Today (2018) the tiles are no longer there (replaced by a window), and the shop is now the "Moreish Deli".

The basement is occupied by gay nightclub called The New Bloomsbury Set.