G.W. Ford in adverts dated 1920 suggest that they were established in 1884. By the late 1960s the business was owned by G.J.G. Thomson and Miss E. Ford.
Ian Thomson, the son of Geoffrey Thomson, former owner of G.W. Ford & Sons, tells us about the history of the business - 'The Story and tradition of G W Ford & Son Ltd starts with the story of George Webber Ford (1853-1916), the founder of the business. The Fords were a business family in Newark in the latter part of the nineteenth Century. George’s father Andrew had moved up from Devon to Newark in around 1853. He was a renowned carriage maker and quickly established the business in Newark. I believe it was 1882 that he founded the Antique Furniture business in Balderton Gate. Later the business moved to larger premises in Appleton Gate. The business supplied new furniture as well as antiques and also offered a removals service. In 1908 James Ford added premises in Sheffield, renting shops in Glossop Rd, Sheffield and Victoria St which they later purchased in 1928. Maud Ford also ran the Sheffield end of the business and became the main manager after Jim died. Both the Newark and Sheffield businesses carried on successfully until the second world war. After the war, for various reasons, there was no-one available to run the Newark concern, and my father, Geoffrey Thomson, closed down the Newark shop.
My father’s mother, Lizzie Ford, had died when he was a small child. He joined the Sheffield branch in 1948, after his time in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards during the war, and afterwards in Palestine. So, then it was just Sheffield, and business there prospered under my father’s stewardship. He gradually took over from Maud and expanded into exhibiting at the Harrogate Northern Antiques Fair and the Solihull Antiques Fair. He was one of the main dealers behind moving the latter to the NEC where, after a few changes of style, it remains to this day. As members of the BADA the company continued its tradition of quality Georgian furniture. There was also a long-standing arrangement with W H Patterson Fine Arts in Albemarle St London, to sell paintings through the Sheffield shops.
In 1981, I joined the company and started to learn the trade. Sheffield as a town was going through many changes with many people moving out of town and the prosperity of Sheffield, founded as it was at this time on the steel industry, starting to wane. Furthermore, unbeknownst to the family, my father was not really all that well and died suddenly of a massive heart attack in November 1983.This came as a massive shock to our family and was a difficult time. After a few years in Sheffield, I decided that a different approach was required and started trading from Antique Centres. The consequent reduction in staff and business costs and the ability to sell without always having to be there in person freed up the operation of the business. It allowed more time for sourcing items and visiting clients in person.
Working from various Antique Centres the company has continued through to the present day. It’s fair to say that after the demands of running a shop it was nice to have more time to spend with a growing family. Now grown up and working in London my two sons have established careers and are unlikely to become Antique Dealers. I have had units in Woburn Abbey Antique Centre, Chappell’s Antiques Centre, Bakewell and currently we have a unit in The Quiet Woman Antiques Centre, Southcombe, Chipping Norton. Continuing to deal in our traditional Antique furniture we now, of course, are adapting to the new online world.
