Henry Poole & Co. Archives Fascinating Stories

The archives of Henry Poole & Co, 15 Savile Row, London,  tailors to the rich and famous since 1806, show some very interesting bills from well-known personalities.

Winston Churchill for example apparently left the company owing them  £197. According to the website

"His last order had been minor – repairing a Trinity House uniform, April 1937, five guineas; renovating a yachting cap, May 1937, seventeen shillings and sixpence, and preserving a minister’s uniform, five shillings. But his outstanding bill amounted to nearly £197, and a clerk in the company counting house wrote to him so frequently about the arrears that (like the Prince of Wales before him) he took umbrage and quit; but unlike the prince, he did not return’."

There are other fascinating personalities listed in their Ledger Account books including Charles Darwin

Here is a list of the clients you can read about on the Henry Poole website:
Individuals

•     Louisa, Duchess of Manchester
•     Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia
•     Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon
•     Jean Cocteau
•     Prince Felix Youssoupoff
•     Comte Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
•     6th Earl of Harewood
•     Edward Fox OBE
•     Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden
•     6th Earl of Chesterfield
•     HH Prince Aga Khan III
•     General de Gaulle
•     HIM Emperor Pedro II of Brazil
•     William Collins Whitney
•     HIH Prince Takamatsu of Japan
•     5th Earl of Lonsdale
•     HH Prince Francis, Duke of Teck
•     HH Prince Victor Duleep Singh
•     Prince Otto von Bismarck
•     Sir George Sitwell
•     HM Queen Marie of Romania
•     Bram Stoker
•     HIH Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich
•     Cornelius Vanderbilt II
•     5th Marquess of Waterford
•     HM King Alfonso XIII of Spain
•     Sir Francis Knollys
•     Sir Ernest Cassel
•     HM King Ferdinand I of Romania
•     HH The Maharaja of Baroda
•     Calouste Gulbenkian
•     Sir Henry Irving
•     5th Marquess of Lansdowne
•     Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida of Japan
•     5th Earl Spencer
•     HRH Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
•     1st Earl of Dudley
•     HIH Emperor Akihito of Japan
•     HH The Raja of Kapurthala
•     J. P. Morgan
•     HIH Prince Louis Napoleon, Prince Imperial of the French
•     Prince George of Greece and Denmark
•     Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton
•     Sir Winston Churchill
•     Serge Diaghilev
•     The Duchess of Sutherland
•     The Maharaja of Cooch Behar
•     9th Duke of Marlborough
•     Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt
•     Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild
•     HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
•     HM Queen Maria Sophia of the Two Sicilies
•     9th Marquess of Queensberry
•     HIM Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia
•     Baron Meyer Amschel de Rothschild
•     HIH Prince Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia
•     Wilkie Collins
•     HM King Leopold II of the Belgians
•     Rt Hon Benjamin Disraeli
•     Madame Adelina Patti
•     3rd Viscount Astor
•     Colonel W. F. Cody
•     Sir Joseph Joel Duveen
•     HM King Christian IX of Denmark
•     General Right Hon Sir Dighton Probyn
•     12th Duke of Bedford
•     Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur
•     HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
•     7th Earl of Chesterfield
•     Robert Pinkerton
•     9th Duke of Manchester
•     Motilal Nehru
•     Miss Catherine Walters
•     The Hon Anthony Asquith
•     Jiro Shirasu
•     Madame Tussauds
•     HM Queen Alexandra
•     William Henry Vanderbilt III
•     HM King George I of the Hellenes
•     HIH Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico
•     HM King Edward VII
•     Adeline, Countess of Cardigan
•     Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan
•     5th Earl of Rosebery
•     William Randolph Hearst
•     Lillie Langtry
•     5th Earl of Carnarvon
•     HIM Emperor Napoleon III
•     Lord Arthur Somerset
•     Charles Dickens
•     1st Marquess of Anglesey

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Savile_Row-_Tailoring_at_Henry_Poole_and_Co.,_London,_England,_UK,_1944_D21867.jpg