leaflet - Winchester College

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DoL)k Dullpirch VY l, L, l-, LlJ td c\lirfiorrt'i.!
\\'ells lJookshop at 11 College Stleet has bccornc a citv
landmark 1o those at the collese an.l to tltc citizens of
Wincheste l ancl has rtne trf tht- longe-it uubriiken rircol'Lls o1i
'l'homas
iracling in tht: cor-rntrv. ln l7--s7. and John ili:rdon
bLrsan trading as brxrkscllcls and stationer-s althou-qh thcre is
eviclencc that ttrc business u;as operating bcftirc fhev began.
'l'hornas
rlie rl in l77i and Jolrn bccantc solc plr4rrietor until
180 l. ln u:ithcr I 80 I Lrr l,!()6 tthere are conf'licting sources i
James Robbins bought the l-rusiness ancl in 183-1 bloughr in a
pilrtner an{:l the firrn becanre kuon'u as Roblrins ;incl \\,}.reeler
l{obhins. still at the helni. clied in lfi44 at lhe aee o1'86.
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7'1rc .sltolt .f*tnt irt Josaph llt'lls' titnt
itobbins aplrrcnticecl a )ouuc lacl. the son of a Collegc
m:rnciple ia College stewaLcl. SamLrel Johnson rells Lrsi.
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niured Joseph \\iells. the Ahraharn-like patriarch o1'the stor-v.
the father and firLrndcl ol'the race. Fle *'as destined to rise llrltr
apprentir:e t(} er.rplo\ee to partner io r)wuer of thc birsiness.
In I84-5. a leal atier Robbins cliecl aged 86. Davici Nun of 170
'l'he
Strancl. l.rinrlon tr,xrk or,er lLotrbins & Whceler as a branch
of his i-ondon business anr-l in lll6l trxrk the faithiul Joseplr.
ror.r,.l(1. as his partner. Until Nutt's death in llJ6(r the hnsiness
nas kno*n iis liLrli & Wells auLl frorn tht--n Joseph \riis the soiL-
proprietor until lre clied at the ase of-66 in 1890. Philip Echvaril
t"Old Phil"t-.loseph's el.lest son. had,joinecl the filr.n otr
leavine school in l,S7-1. and t\\'o \eafs later his r:clrrnser brother.
Geortre. canre irr. Nou, P&(l rvere together lnd olr tl.reir tather's
cleath the lirm u'as st1'lect l\,lessls. P. & G. Wclls. Ceilree *'as
ter-r mLrt:h in "'the shop-'. knori'ing anrl kltorrn to rnen in the
school. ivhile ''(-)ld Phil'" ir,as rather tlore 1he porrer behind the
seenes as \\'as his tlaLrshter. \4argnlet (Miss We llsi. atier him.

JrrcLPU uur rrrS
the headmastership of Dr. Fearon. Heretofore a neat little door
with a Georgian triangular pedirnent stood between trvo
modest torvn-house ,uvindou's, and an enormous and rather
less than elegant board carried the names of WELLS in bold
letters. The family had lived over the shop until 189 1 and that
year rnoved next cloor to No. 12 rvhere Miss Wells lvas born:
although the house was sold to the College in 1900 they
continued to live there until 1911.
The sc'hool in procession don'tt College St. ( 1893)
In 1905 George died. "Old Phil" was joined by Miss
Margaret Wells on I st January 1908, having just left
St Swithun's, and a month later his son, Philip ("Young Phil")
came to the {irm having completed his apprenticeship with
Blackwells in Oxfbrd. The business continued to develop - in
1925 the shop at Charterhouse was added and retained until
1978- but in 1929 "Old Phil" died. For 21 years "Old Phil",
"Young Phil" and Miss Wells ran the business and collected a
remarkable staff who werc pil-rt of the firm and the Wiccamical
family fbr many years. Reginald Elkins was already a 25 year
man rvhen Joseph Spicer joined in 1925 and Alexander
Banning joined a year later. These three rvere still there in the
late sixties rvith cornbined memories that were encylopaedic
and their hear-ts unshakeablv Wiccamicoohile.
In the binding department an even more remarkable record
is to be fbr-rnd. C Bloomfield joined the firm in 1869, his son
AEB in ltt9l and his son ECB in 1925. ECB was stillthere
in 1982.
In 1942 Philip Wells died and his sister. Miss Wells carried on
alone thrcu_eh the rvar. ably assisted by Elkins while the others
were away in the services.
joined and continued there unlil his death in l96l. John had
been largely rcsponsible for starting up a shop in Farnham.
which flourished between 1947 and 197 | .
Miss Wells visited her niece. Ivlonique. John's daughter, in
1948. Monique had been involved in the French resistance
and then married a soldier in the Czech army, Jan Fuchs.
Monique joined the firm and a year later her husband came out
of Czechoslovakia and into College Street. Alas Jan died
young but Monique continued to manage the business until
1983. Miss Wells chalked up her 50 years in l9-58, by rvhich
time she had served on the County Council, been President of
the Winchester Chamber of Commerce, served as a Member of
the Council of St Srvithun's, been a Governor of the County
High School for Girls and, for all her staunch Anglicanism,
served as Chairman of the Manaeers of St. Peter's Roman
Catholic School.
Miss Wells retired in 1979 and died on 9th May 1982 in her
92nd year.
The Wells family sold the business in 1983 to a partnership that
included John Saumarez-Smith in London and Al Gordon in
Nerv York. A year later Mattherv Huntley and his cousin bought
a contrclling interest and Matthew has been Managing
Director since then. The core customer is still the College
and the turnover of the firm is now in excess off800.000 a
year. There are l0 stafT. inctuding Mary Hinton and Sarah
Locke. Karen Hutchings runs the superb children's departrnent
and David Simpkin takes care of the King Alfied's College
bookshop. There are now well over 50,000 titles and separate
departments fbr fiction and non-fiction. There is still a
bookbinding business on the premises, run by Tim Wiltshire,
which maintains a very high reputation.
Short Rolls and Du Boulay Notebooks are still listed on the
Wells'Blue Bill. but sadly Tug Copy Books, Godfrey Blocks
and 'John Des' are thrngs of the past.
John Wells qnd his sisten Morgaret,
in the Charterhouse Shop irt the late 1950s
(courtesl M. FucJrs)

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