UK Edition
Why a bag of stolen currants nearly spelled the end for Harrods
As the man behind one of the world’s most famous department stores, Charles Henry Harrod had a reputation as a hard-working family man with a commitment to fair dealing.
But had it not been for the clemency shown by a London judge, the Harrods name might have been lost from the British high street 180 years ago, according to a new book by one of the descendants of the Victorian retailer.
Robin Harrod, the great-great-grandson of the Harrods founder, has unearthed documents showing that his illustrious ancestor narrowly escaped transportation to Australia in 1836 after being found guilty at the Old Bailey of handling 112lb of stolen currants.
Harrod was only saved from his sentence of seven years’ exile in Tasmania after a last-minute petition in which it was said he would "show his grateful sense of the mercy extended to him, by the propriety of his conduct for the remainder of his life”.
Mr Harrod, a 71-year-old retired GP, said that his research suggested that his ancestor had been handling stolen goods for some years, and was the subject of a lengthy police investigation.
A press report from the time shows that Richard Moran, a porter at rival grocers Messrs Booth, Ingledew & Co, stole 112lb of currants and passed them to Harrod.
The report states: "Richard Moran was indicted for stealing, on April 2, 1836, 112lb weight of currants, value £3, 5s [around £200 in today’s money], and one bag, value 6d, the goods of John Healey Booth and others, his masters.
"And Charles Harrod for feloniously receiving the same, well knowing them to be the same, well knowing them to be stolen, against the statute."
While Moran was transported to Tasmania, Harrod was sent to prison for a year, after a last-gasp petition secured a lesser sentence.
The petition read: "He has a wife and two children, the eldest only three years and a half and the youngest a little more than a year old, both, as well as his most unfortunate partner, in delicate health, and threatened with the most unfortunate consequences, should your unhappy petitioner be removed from this country for the term of seven years.
"Your unfortunate petitioner therefore, in the deepest affliction, most humbly implores of His Most Gracious Majesty's Clemency that he may not be removed from this country, but that the punishment be moderated so as to give him some hope of being restored to his family, and enable him to show his grateful sense of the mercy extended to him, by the propriety of his conduct for the remainder of his life."
Mr Harrod’s research also showed that Charles Harrod began trading in 1824, a decade earlier than previously thought, starting out in Southwark, under the name “Charles Henry Harrod - Haberdasher and Draper”.
During his time in prison, his brother William, a jeweler, helped run his business, but Mr Harrod said it would have been impossible for the ailing man to run both companies if Harrod had been deported.
He said: "While Charles was away his brother took over the business but I doubt he would have stuck it out for seven years. He was in ill health anyway and died when Charles would have still been away. There was no one else who could have taken on the business.
"Also, the vast majority of people who went to Tasmania didn't come back. They made their life there as they were made to feel welcome and you had to pay for your own passage back to England.
"With this being the case, I believe, had Charles been deported, it would have been the end of Harrods."
Harrod’s entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography makes no mention of his conviction, noting only that “little else is known about his early life” other than his parents’ names, and date and place of birth.
The entry states that Harrod was known for being “scrupulously fair with his sons”, giving them equal help in life, and an equal share of the business upon his death.
The retailer moved his shop to its present site on Brompton Road, in Knightsbridge, in 1854. His hard work is credited with laying the groundwork for his son, Charles Digby Harrod, to turn the business into a world-renowned store.
Another of Harrod’s sons, Henry Digby Harrod, wrote: “I should like my Father's name … honoured before all other things as he was the person … the principal factor in the making of success, for without his Father's help my brother could have done nothing.”
- The Jewel of Knightsbridge: The Origins of The Harrods Empire by Robin Harrod, published by The History Press, costs £20 and will be released on February 13.