S F Salmon, cabinet maker
Salmon’s Cabinet Warehouse
Footstools made by Salmon
We had a lot of discussion about the location of this photo taken by Louth photographer, William Plumtree. The warehouse is helpfully identified as “S F Salmon’s cabinet warehouse”, but where was it? An article in a local newspaper in the year 2000 stated that it was in Charles Street. Another speculation was James Street. Thanks to detective work by Stuart Sizer and Richard Gurnham, we found it really was in Northgate. The Salmon warehouse is now the Urban Studio hair salon next to the Post Office.
In the background you can see other buildings along the northern side of Northgate, and towards the left of the photo is The Malt Shovel public house, now The Miller’s Daughter.
If you are a regular reader of our blog posts, you may recall that this warehouse building featured in a blog post in August 2020. It was the printing works of T E Wiggen from 1920 to 1972. The photo showing the Salmon warehouse is much older – it must have been taken in the 1860s or early 1870s.
Stephen Faux Salmon, born in Norfolk in 1809, moved to Louth as a young journeyman cabinet maker. He and his wife Sophia lived in Maiden Row (the area near the bus station) with their six children, who were born between 1831 and 1843. They had heart-breaking times. Mrs Sophia Salmon died in 1845, and one daughter died when she was 12 years old. But Stephen married his second wife Martha in 1847, and his cabinet-making business was thriving.
In the early 1850s, the Salmons moved from Maiden Row to live above their shop on the corner of Vickers Lane and Eastgate, which is now Superdrug. A photo of the shop shows signage “Salmon Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer and Undertaker”. In Louth Museum we have two low circular footstools upholstered with tufted carpet, made and sold by S F Salmon.
Stephen Salmon must have been a competent and hard-working businessman. He was also a prominent respected member of the community, a councillor, and a very active member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. His obituary described him as an ardent teetotaller and a strong Conservative.
Stephen Salmon died in 1886 at the age of 76, and Martha died the following year. Although Stephen’s son John had been involved with the family business, it ceased trading shortly after Stephen’s death.