The History of Charlbury through ..... Mr Horniblow's Emporium
Frederick T Horniblow: Charlbury's Victorian Entrepreneur - a snapshot
Janet Jeffs for Charlbury Museum
Those of you who like to use local shops would have loved Horniblow's shop in Sheep Street, a treasure-trove and cornucopia. Frederick T was born in 1856 and attended the British School on the Playing Close. His grandfather George and father John had been chemists who lived at Gothic House. When he was 21, he already had an office and a shop, because the Oxford Times reported a fire there, probably in Sheep Street. In 1878 there was a display of Christmas and New Year cards in his shop window. By the 1880s he had begun to publish Horniblow's (annual) Almanac, some editions of which are treasured in Charlbury Museum. Each Almanac contained a list of Local Information including parish officers, church services, postal and telegraph services, baptisms, marriages and deaths.
The 1885 Directory lists residents in the 14 streets. In Sheep Street Fred advertised himself as printer, stationer, bookseller, bookbinder, seedsman, wholesale and retail patent medicine vendor, and proprietor of the Charlbury Coal Company (later also selling coke and petroleum). In the same street he ran Horniblow's Furniture Warehouse (Italian Warehouseman) which advertised drawing room suites in green repp, chimney glasses, chests of drawers, washstands, palliasses, etc, etc. There is a catchy advertising jingle:
"A lamp to light me in the dark, To see or read or sew.
Who has got the sort I want? Why - Frederick Horniblow ".
The Sandringham Infants Feeder was "the only bottle free from all corners". The list of patent medicines ran from Alderton's Pedicurine to Zoedone. Historical notes for each month included the death of Galileo in January 1624 and the death of Washington in 1799. Henry Taunt's photographs of Charlbury and the Neighbourhood were available in several sizes.
There is much more to tell. But today just imagine an expedition (with or without face covering) to Horniblow's shop - and patronise Charlbury's remaining shops.
