32 High Street

Arthur Price Loveridge - the 1901 census shows that Arthur was living at the property.  He was a fishmonger and fruiterer aged 23 who was born in Tibberton.  He was living with his widowed mother, Harriett aged 59 from Garway, Herefordshire and his sister, Annie M aged 22. 

Arthur was born at Pooles Farm, Tibberton in Gloucestershire on 21st July 1877.  He was the son of John Loveridge, a farmer and his wife, Harriett (nee Price).  In 1904 Arthur married Margaret Alice Brown in Gloucester.  They had a daughter Kathleen Margaret who was baptised in Thornbury on 7th January 1906.  In 1906 Arthur left for Canada sailing from Liverpool to Quebec aboard the SS Tunisian.  His destination was Aylesbury in Saskatchewan where he took up homesteading, five miles south of Aylesbury. He left on his own, but Margaret and the baby must have gone there later.  They had a son, John Reginald (known as 'Jock') born in Regina in 1910.

In 1915 Arthur wrote a letter to the South Gloucestershire Chronicle which was printed on 9th April 1915.  We saw this article in the Collingdale newspaper archive in London but we were not allowed to photograph it.  He referred to the fact that he was an old Thornbury resident.

The photo of Arthur on the right and the one of Harriett, Margaret Alice and baby Kathleen below are taken from a family tree on Ancestry website where other photos of the family are available.

On 31st May 1916 Arthur enlisted in the 77th Battery of Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and served for three years in France as a Gunner in the 15th Battery C. F. A.  After the Armistice, he spent some time in Germany with the army of occupation before returning to resume farming near his homestead.  Arthur except he returned to Bristol in 1925 to visit his brother, Reginald, in Clifton, and he returned later that year to Aylesbury.  In 1939 he retired from farming and moved to live in Aylesbury.

As an Anglican, he served as Vicar's warden and on the school board and was always interested in community affairs. He was Chairman of the Civil Security Recruiting Corps  and President of the Craik branch of the Canadian Legion up to the time of his death.  He died on 30th March 1945 in Aylesbury.  Margaret died in Victoria, British Columbia in 1966 aged 82.

Thomas Exell - by 1905 Thomas had become the owner of the property.  Thomas was the son of George Henry Exell and his wife, Eliza.  He married Maria Vickerstaff in London in 1883, but settled in Thornbury where Thomas ran a grocer and corn dealer shop in the High Street and he acquired several other properties in the Town.  He was still listed as the owner of 32 High Street in the 1926 Rate Book.  He died on 14th January 1930.  In his Will his estate was left to his two daughters, Lilian Mary, the wife of Reginald David Edwards, a brewers surveyor living in Mangotsfield and Bertha Annie, the wife of Wilfred Percy Winter, a bank clerk living in Tyndalls Park, Bristol.  We are not sure what happened to 32 High Street and who became the owner after Thomas Exell.  Click here to read more about Thomas Exell and his family.

The Browns - the Browns had run a printing and stationery business from their home at 34 High Street since about 1870.  Edward Brown was also responsible for setting up and publishing the South Gloucestershire Chronicle from 1899.  The Town Trust records have no entries for the Browns living at 34 High Street after 1916 which may suggest that they then moved and the Food Control committee were known to have taken over at 34 High Street in 1917.  The 1925 Valuation List and 1926 Rate Book show Edward's mother, Jane Frances and his sister, Mary moved next door to 32 High Street so they may have moved there as early as 1916.  The Chronicle dated 20th April 1917 reported on a Parish Meeting in which the Town Trust were criticised for mis-managing their property with specific reference to the  fact that their property previously used as a printer's office and known as 'The Chronicle Office' had been untenanted for two years.

The Browns continued in business.  The 1923 and 1931 Kelly’s directories show 'J. Brown as a printer and stationer' in the High Street.  In 1926 the Misses Brown were advertising as Stationers and Newsagents in the High Street.  Jane Frances Brown died on 21st March 1929 aged 81.  Her sister, Mary, carried on trading as a stationer at 32 High Street until she died on 8th December 1942 aged 89.  One local has described the Browns shop as a 'dark Dickension shop'.  Click here to read more about the Browns

Marcus Mogg - the electoral registers show that Marcus from 1954 onwards show Marcus was living at 32 High Street.  Marcus ran a newsagent and toy and cycle shop there for many years. 

Marcus Vernon Mogg was born in Bristol in 1917.  His parents were Francis Willey S Mogg and his wife, Violet Aileen Butland Head who were married in Nottingham in 1900, but they had moved to Fishponds, Bristol by the 1901 census (although Francis was away from home at the time, possibly fighting in South Africa.

In his younger days he became well known in Bristol as a feather weight and lightweight boxer fighting under the name of 'Kid Mogg'.  He was recognised as one of the leading boxers in the West Country at his weight.

In 1935 Marcus's mother married Oliver J Garrett in Bristol .  The family moved to Thornbury and Oliver died there in 1941.  In 1940 Marcus joined the RAF and served as a wireless operator and air gunner taking part in a number of operational raids including one raid on Berlin.  He was invalided out of the RAF after spending 10 months in hospital.

Marcus opened the newsagent and toy shop in 1945. We know from a Gazette newspaper article about Marcus in 1945 that he opened the toy shop at 32 High Street and that his mother was a Councillor of Sodbury District Council and was living at Stevelands in the Gloucester Road.  The 1946 electoral register shows Marcus was living with his mother and his brother, Ernest Willey Mogg. 

It appears from the marriage records that Marcus married three times.  His first wife was Irene M Collings whom he married in Liskeard in 1943.  We don't know what happened to Irene as she wasn't living with Irene in 1946.  In the 1950 electoral register Marcus is listed as still living with his mother in Stevelands.  In 1951 he married Ena J Needs in Bournemouth.  The 1954 electoral register shows Marcus and Ena living at 32 High Street.  Again we don't know what happened to Ena.  Marcus's third and final marriage was to Laura Winifred Williamson in Bristol in 1957.

As well as running the toy shop Marcus (or 'Moggy' as he was affectionately known in Thornbury) was also involved in leading the Thornbury Troop of Wolf Cubs.

We are not sure how long they traded in the shop at 32 High Street.  They were listed as being there in the 1965 electoral register and we have a photo of the shop in 1970 still called 'Mogg'.  We know from a little account written about the Moggs in the Parish Magazine in 1981 that said:

"Marcus and Winnie Mogg have a toy shop parked in Thornbury for it is a van and travels around the country agricultural shows, from Ayr in Scotland to Havorfordwest in  far west Wales and all stops in between.  It was 15 years ago that Mr Mogg got ‘a bit restless’ to quote Winnie – in the toy and newspaper shop they had run for many years at 32 High Street.  ‘I had a great partner in my wife, and two splendid women staff, so I felt I needed a change from women for a few hours’ he says, adding ‘As it turned out, a travelling shop took me away for days, and of course Winnie became full time partner in the enterprise which replaced the High Street shop.  Together they have travelled between the great shows – Bath & West, Yorkshire, Eastern Counties, Scottish and other shows, Badminton, Three Counties at Malvern, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Monmouth, Peterborough, Bakewell and the great Royal Show to name only some.

Mrs Mogg is ‘retiring’ from the travel and her husband is working out a new method of travelling and setting up which he can cope with on his own.  But even when he eases off they both say they will get the itch to visit their showground pals now and then.  Winters are spent on ‘office business’ like accounts and booking pitches round next years shows.  By Christmas they have often laid out £1000 to book sites and if the don’t turn up on the day, no cash back.  Only once have they failed a date."

Marcus died in May 1989.  We are not sure what happened to Winnie.

In more recent times the property was used as 'Great Western Antiques', an antique shop run by James Liddiard.  When James moved his business to the buildings at the rear of the shop, the property was taken over by the Bristol and West Building Society who were already trading in 30 High Street. Since the demise of the Bristol and West, it was occupied briefly by the Halifax Building Society and more recently by Santander.

This page was last updated: 21/03/2012