| Row of shops at the Greengate Street Entrance
to St Chad’s Church, Stafford, about 1860. |
 |
|
In the background, peering above the shop roofs, is
the tower of St Chad’s Church. Photograph from the 1870s of an engraved print made in about 1860 (Staffordshire Archives, Gateway to the Past, Object Number: P87.111.0154). |
The date of 1860 for the scene is given in Will Swales, The Swan Stafford: A Brief History, 2019, p. 21 (accessed online). The description from the Staffordshire Archives, Gateway to the Past online catalogue states:
Shop on left belonged to John Simpson, Fishmonger; in centre, George Scott, tobacconist; on right [partly cut-off] John Corker, Watch and Clock maker.
From census returns, transcribed below, it appears that, in the
nineteenth century, the three shops in the picture were numbers
13, 14 and 15 Greengate Street.
John Simpson, fruiterer, was listed as an occupant in the 1841 census
(old trade directories show businesses advertising as ‘fruiterer and
fishmonger’, so possibly John Simpson also traded as a fishmonger).
George Scott, hair dresser, occupied 14 Greengate Street in the 1861
and 1871 census (old trade directories show ‘hair-dresser and tobacconist’
as a reported occupation).
In the 1841 census, 15 Greengate Street was the watchmaker’s shop
of Thomas Corker. In the 1851 and 1861 census, the business was run
by his widow Sarah and son John Corker. John Corker passed away in 1869 and
the business was closed (see The Corker Family:
Clock & Watch Makers of Staffordshire and London).
A Visit by Charles Dickens
In the 24 April 1852 edition of the weekly journal Household Words
Charles Dickens, then aged 40 and an established author,
wrote about a trip he made to Stafford.
He did not have very kind words to say about the town:
‘I find it to be by no means a lively town. In fact it is as
dull and dead a town as any one could desire not to see.’
He stayed for the night at the Swan Hotel, directly across the street from
the shops shown in the old print.
Dickens observed:
Over the way . . . are a little ironmonger’s shop, a little tailor’s shop . . . a watchmaker’s shop.
The ironmonger’s shop, at 11 Greengate Street, to the left
of the shops illustrated in the print, was run by Philip Dale.
Joseph Deakin was the proprietor of the tailor’s shop,
shown in the center of the print, at 14 Greengate Street.
The watchmaker’s shop was the business of John Corker at
15 Greengate Street.
(Further reading is Will Swales, The Swan Stafford: A Brief History, 2019,
pp. 20–21, accessed online; and Charles Dickens,
Household
Words, 24 April 1852 
,
Dickens Journals Online).