Ghosts tiptoe
Needle and tape measure poised
Between the bags of
Cash
This is a little self indulgent. This building, number 2 Thames Street in Windsor, used to belong to my mother's family. Well, strictly speaking, my mother's mother's family, the Cobdens. In the early decades of the 19th century a man called Richard Hayllar Cobden set up his tailors business in these premises, probably with his brother Benjamin, who would open premises in nearby Eton. Another brother, my ancestor Thomas Hayllar Cobden worked as a carpenter in the town. Richard took on Thomas Hayllar Cobden's son, Thomas Richard Cobden as his apprentice. In 1857 he made Thomas Richard a partner in the business, and Thomas went on to run the business. My great, great grandfather, Richard Edward Dawe Cobden, was Thomas' second son, and by all accounts a bit of a rogue. He may have opened a branch in Hammersmith, certainly that's where his family were living in the 1890s. As for Cobdens Ltd. in Thames Street, that eventually passed on to Richard Edward's younger brother Charles Cobden. He died in 1927, and left behind two daughters. They sold the business and the premises to Lloyds Bank, and the building is still a branch of Lloyds bank today.
