F Dawson, Grocer, Stamford.  Unofficial Farthing (W.4820)

Martin R Warburton        

The Token Book 2 (Galata 2013) indicated that no information could be found about this issuer.  Research at Stamford Library and in the British Newspaper Archive has revealed that Frederick Dawson was in business for only two years, from 1854 to 1856, and so avoided being recorded as a Grocer in either the 1851 or the 1861 census.  Being in business for only a short time probably accounts for the scarcity of the token.

During his short time as a shopkeeper he was, however, a frequent advertiser in the local papers.

Examples include the start of his business in the Stamford Mercury of April 28th 1854;

The apparent success of his business by advertising in June 1855 for an ‘...APPRENTICE.  A Dissenter preferred...’;

And the suggestion that perhaps all was not well with the business in his announcement in the Stamford Mercury of January 25th 1856; 

Frederick Dawson was born in 1832/3, a son of William Dawson, Baker and Confectioner of St Mary’s Street, Stamford.  He is probably the same Frederick Dawson who died in Stamford in 1881, aged 48.

Chandos House in the High Street is thought to be the first building on the right leading from Red Lion Square (to the left of St John’s Church) and is currently an outdoor clothing shop.

Frederick Dawson’s short-lived business can possibly be connected with the decline in passing trade experienced by Stamford when the railways arrived from the late 1840s onwards.  Before this his shop was in a prime location next to Red Lion Square on the old Great North Road from London to Edinburgh.  Coaches stopped and horses were changed in Stamford.  The other side of Red Lion Square still boasts The Millstone public house offering ‘good stabling and loose boxes’.  It all changed though with the coming of the railways; progressively east and west from Stamford (Town) from 1846 to 1851, and from Stamford (East) in 1856.

Many thanks for assistance go to Chris Hunt of the Stamford Local History Society and to Dave Smith of the Token Corresponding Society.

A print version can be downloaded HERE