Samson Rickard Stuttaford born in Helston, Cornwall, July 1833 and died in April 1914 London, England, departmental store pioneer, was the son of humble Cornish parents, Samson Pote Stuttaford and his wife, Anne.

 

After attending school in Plymouth, Samson worked as a retail shop assistant in London before immigrating to the Cape in 1854 and three years later began a retail business in Cape Town. Here he opened his own draper's shop in Harrington Street, moving to Darling Street three years later, where he was joined by his brother, William Foot Stuttaford. In 1867, when Prince Alfred – Queen Victoria's* youngest son – paid an official visit to the Colony, S.R. Stuttaford and Co. were appointed to supply goods to the royal party. In 1872 the firm moved again, this time to a portion of the Adderley Street site which it still occupies, and a Welsh immigrant, William Thorne, was taken in as a partner. At the same time a buying office was opened in London.

Over the next few decades Stuttaford greatly expanded the firm's range of products to include ladies' fashion goods, bicycles, cameras, and optical instruments; mail-order operations also were greatly extended and in 1894 the Stuttaford catalogue ran to over 700 pages. Meanwhile, a year earlier the firm had opened a branch in Pritchard Street, Johannesburg.

In November 1898 Stuttaford's became a public company, with a share capital of £350 100. By that time William Foot had withdrawn from the enterprise; Thorne became chairman and Samson took up permanent residence in England as London director; his eldest son Richard who was born 13th June 1870 was appointed managing director in Cape Town.

After that Samson also became the owner of the well-known English men's clothing business of Isaac Walton (London and Newcastle), and gained a major interest in Charles Baker, men's and boys' ready-to-wear clothiers of London.

In 1909, five years before his death, Stuttaford arranged for 3 000 preference shares in Stuttafords Ltd. to be donated to the South African College for 'library purposes'; this gift was to play a major role in building up the library of what was to become the University of Cape Town. He married Elizabeth Bawden on 16th April 1858 in Cape Town.

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography

Tags: Charles Baker, Cornish, Elizabeth Bawden, Isaac Walton, Pritchard Street, Stuttaford, William Thorne