A photograph of the staff of J. Jones Ltd, Ladies Costumiers of Stockton High Street, taken in 1921. Photograph courtesy of Mr Alan Boardman. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A photograph of the staff of J. Jones Ltd, Ladies Costumiers of Stockton High Street, taken in 1921. Photograph courtesy of Mr Alan Boardman.
Until a few days ago I knew only that my great grandmother had been an apprentice dressmaker and worked as an alterations hand at a dressmakers’ shop in Stockton. Then my mother remembered that the shop was Jones…
It’s lovely to find the information and discussion here, though my great-grandmother married in 1902 and so almost certainly left at that point, long before the date of the photo.
Here are a few photos of the shop
1920’s – https://picturestocktonarchive.com/2006/11/09/stockton-high-street-35/
1950’s – https://picturestocktonarchive.com/2002/07/09/stockton-high-street-c1957-6/
I’m sure I’ve seen a better photo of an ornate frontage, but I haven’t been able to find it again. 🙁
Thank you for these. I look forward to showing them to my mother – who doesn’t use computers 🙁
Just bought a beautiful black coat from a charity shop with the label J. Jones. Lovely to read about the people who may have made my coat.
My Great Aunt Norah (nee Mullin) worked for J.Jones, Costumier and Furrier, in Sunderland – starting as a ‘runner/delivery assistant’ & rising through the ranks to become a ‘buyer’ for the firm – leaving the company when she married one Joseph Halbert (a Scot & Shipping Surveyor) in Sunderland on Christmas Eve 1910 (by which time she was 31). She came (as a widow) to live with us in South Yorkshire (in 1863 -when I was 8yrs old) and died there in 1972, aged 93. As I understand it, her great friend at J.Jones (whose name I don’t recall) married the ‘boss’ and emigrated to Canada in the early 1900’s
With regard to the long gone decorative mosaic pavement in the High Street, previously commented upon in threads about this shop or its location. On 23 February 1915 an application from Messrs J. Jones Ltd, ladies costumiers, of 146 and 147 Stockton High Street for permission to lay a strip of marble pavement in front of their premises was approved by the District Fund Committee of Stockton Council, subject to J. Jones Ltd paying an annual acknowledgement of one shilling to the council, and Jones’s agreeing to reinstate the footpath when required to do so. When Jones’s ceased trading in the High Street about 1973 was the mosaic footpath rapidly removed? One wonders whether other branches of Jones’s around the country had mosaic pavements and whether any have survived.
Hello Alan, I know this is an old thread but I hope this message finds its way to you. I’m very interested in learning more information about the J Jones LTD company and any information you may have on it would be great to hear about! If this message finds you, please be sure to contact myself. Until then.
When I last visited the former J. Jones Ltd shop at 147 Stockton High Street it retained some intricate ceiling coving and decorative wall panels on the higher floors, confirming the shop’s once posh status. From memory all were floral patterns. A previous Picture Stockton commentator (13/12/2004) on photo id=935 titled-Shops on Stockton High Street asked whether a decorative mosaic floor outside the shop’s entrance had survived. No trace of it remained when I looked in 2008. J. Jones Ltd had a distinctive name logo often seen above their shops (see id=935) and in newspaper adverts. Jones’s were certainly a Northern chain of up-market ladies costumiers. Some local branches were at Leeds, Sunderland, Hartlepool (two shops), Bishop Auckland and Middlesbrough.
Dressmakers/Staff of John Jones (Manchester)1920 Ltd., ladies costumiers of 147 High Street, Stockton. Part of a Christmas card sent in 1921 from a Miss Mothersdale, probably the supervisor and older woman (top left), to a twenty-four year old Miss Leah Groskop (front centre, in white) of Smithfield. Her aunt, Mrs Leah Worton (nee Groskop, born 1880) with family, can be seen in photograph t6125 submitted by another descendant. Other identities in the above photograph remain uncertain or unknown. Locally the Mothersdale surname was mainly linked with Hartlepool and Stockton at this time. J. Jones Ltd., were trading in 1899 at 33 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, and two locations in West Hartlepool, 90 Lynne Street and 3 Eastbourne Terrace, before acquiring Stockton premises. In 1905 they were operating from 147A High Street, Stockton; with Borrow and Sons (butchers) at 147, and Marshall and Wright (tailors) at 146. By 1918 Jones were listed as high-class ladies costumiers, furriers, gown and blouse specialists, and mantle manufacturers at 146 and 147 High Street, Stockton. They eventually consolidated at 147/147A High Street on becoming J. Jones (Manchester) 1920 Ltd. By 1968 they were titled J. Jones (London and Manchester) Ltd., with local branches at Stockton and Bishop Auckland (3 Newgate Street). Views of the Stockton shop in 1920 and 1957 appear in photographs t8205 and T182 titled “Stockton High Street.” Library sources indicate they ceased trading in Stockton about 1973. The old Stockton shop is currently occupied by Dorothy Perkins/Burtons, close to Debenhams.