Diversification
It may be that Mr Bellingham had started his business earlier elsewhere, but it certainly prospered at The Pier, and diversified into insurance brokerage, Customs clearance and then passage booking.
The founder was succeeded by his son W G Bellingham in 1896, and by 1903 he had transferred operations to 14a Mulcaster Street, where the picture shows him still in business as a shipbroker, as well as handling 'foreign parcels', insurance, marine surveys and, as an agent for Union Castle and White Star Lines, among others, offering passages to Canada and the United States, the West Indies and South America to the west; and South Africa, India, China, Japan and Australia in the opposite direction.
Along with many other St Helier businesses, Mr Bellingham found an advertisement in the Jersey Times and British Press Almanac indispensable, and in 1905 he was also promoting his business as a receiving office, supervisor of exports and an agent for HM CUstoms and the Board of Trade.
New premises
The business prospered, particularly on the back of the growth in international travel, and moved in 1909 to larger premises further along the street at No 6. On Mr Bellingham's retirement ownership passed to Captain H Benest, and was soon renamed House of Bellingham.
During the German Occupation Capt Benest's travel-related operations had to cease, but the business managed to continue by providing furniture storage for evacuees and offering a horse-drawn bus service.
The business came to life again as the war ended and after periods at 1 Mulcaster Street and in Hill Street, reached its ultimate destination on the corner of Queen Street and Bath Street
