42-44 St John Street

▪ Grade II listed building

▪ It was built in the 18th century

▪ Occupies an important focal position at bottom of the Market Place

▪ 42 St John St was a chemist’s for at least 175 years:

➢ Whitham’s: 1812?-c1867

➢ Bradley’s: c1867-c1897

➢ Wardle’s: c1897-1949

➢ Boot’s: 1949-96

▪ 44 St John St was family home until Woolworth’s opened 1936-77

▪ 42 & 44 have been occupied by Vision Express & Mind since mid-2000s

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Numbers 42-44 are on the south side of the street at the bottom of the Market Place.

The Building

Grade II listed building constructed of red brick in the 18^th century. It has eaves cornice which is modillioned and a tiled roof. It is three storeys high with seven windows on the first and second floors with sashes and glazing bars. The central window on the second floor is Venetian style while the one above, on the third floor, has a tripartite semi-circular form. The ground floor has modern shop fronts.

The History of its Occupation and Use

The first known occupant of 42-44 St John St was John Whitham (1778-1857) who was achemist and druggist. He appeared as a witness in the trial of a woman accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic in 1812 (see below).

By 1850, the business was known as John Whitham & Sons with John and Charles Whitham also listed in census records as druggists, John jnr living with his family in one half of the building, and Charles living with his father in the other half of the building. John Whitham Snr passed away in 1857 and by 1861 John Whitham jnr appears to have been running the business on his own (at number 42) with half of the building now empty (number 44).

John Whitham jnr was one of six town businessmen and dignitaries who were responsible for the building the Market Hall or Town Hall in 1861 (see below, fifth name down).He passed away in 1867.

The two parts of the property will now be dealt with separately:

42 St John St

By the mid-1860s, the chemist and druggist shop was being run by Edwin Sylvester Bradley, great grandson of Joseph Bradley, the well-known Ashbourne grocer. He had initially been in business with his father Edwin but that partnership was dissolved in 1865 (see below left) perhaps because his father took over the family’s grocer’s business on the Market Place from his uncle Septimus in 1866 (see below right).

Edwin Sylvester Bradley ran his chemist and druggist business probably until his death in 1897. The undated photograph below displays his family name above the entrance doors.

In 1897, another chemist and druggist, Thomas Wardle (1852-1932), was doing business on the premises and he was succeeded by his son Thomas Henry Wardle.

Boot’s acquired Wardle’s chemists in 1949 but it may have been many years before the shop acquired Boot’s branding.

The photograph below taken in the early 1990s show Boot’s with Partner’s next door at 38-40 St John St. Note that to the left of Boot’s, the sign for Ashley’s furnishings can be seen (see text below for 44 St John St).

Boot’s closed its doors in 1996 and remained empty until Mick Gallimore acquired the property in 1999 and conducted renovations. Since around 2007, Vision Express have occupied the premises.

44 St John St:

After the death of John Whitham Snr in 1857, number 44 became vacant but by 1871 Thomas Smith, who was a coal merchant, was living there. It became vacant again before becoming the home of Henry Hustwick who was a Minister forthe Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion’s Congregational church from the mid-1880s to the mid-1890s.

By 1901 it was the home of George Wildsmith, who was a retired Ashbourne Gas Works manager,and his family including his daughter Mary Ellen who later converted the premises into a boarding house after her father’s death in 1907 (see advertisements below). After Mary Ellen passed away in 1923 her sister Phoebe continued to live in the house.

In 1936, 44 St John St ceased being a residential property when Woolworth’s opened their store. A 1949 photograph (see below) shows both Woolworth’s and Boot’s on the left as well as their neighbours Burgon’s and Fredwyn’s at 38-40 St John St to the right.

After Woolworth’s closed in 1977, Dewhurst opened their butcher’s shop and frozen food department Dewfreeze in 1978 (see advertisements below). Ashley’s furnishing also occupied space in the building from the late 1980s. Perhaps because there were three businesses in the building, Dewhurst’s for a time had the address 46 St John St.

By the mid-1990s, 44 St John St was empty and remained so until Mick Gallimore acquired the property in 1999 and conducted renovations. Since around 2007, Mind have occupied the premises.

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