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Description: | F.W. Cook Ltd, drapers and furnishers of Dudley, 1819-1983. The business was established in 1819 by Samuel Cook. On his death in 1861, the business was taken over by his son, Samuel Quartus Cook, who sold the business in 1884 to his son and partner, Frederick William Cook. F. W. Cook travelled extensively overseas, and brought back new ideas for display etc from these travels. In 1920 he went to the USA and Canada as a representative of the Drapers' Chamber of Trade, accompanied by his daughter Dorothy, in place of his permanent secretary who was unwell. F. W. Cook was responsible for expanding the family business, from 77 and 78 High Street, Dudley (for many years were called 'Gibraltar House'), into 75, 76, 79 and 80. He also launched other branches and opened a factory. He remained head of the firm for 54 years, until his death in 1938, aged 77. He left the business to his sons Sydney and Geoffrey. Sydney died in 1957, and Geoffrey became chairman and managing director. The closure of Cook's Dudley store was announced in October 1982. Geoffrey Cook (chairman, then aged 87) and his daughter Olwen Eldridge (managing director, then aged 57) planned to retire in the following year, and no-one was available amongst the younger generation to take over the running of the business. Attempts to sell failed, and the store closed on 26 February 1983. The building re-opened the following year, with the same name, but as separate units let individually. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Dudley Archives | Rights holder: | Dudley Archives | Subjects: | department stores shops | Temporal: | [c1880]-[c1980] | Source: | Black Country History | Creator: | ; F.W. Cook Ltd, drapers and furnishers, of Dudley | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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