Frederick Baker and Sons

1911 advert

Frederick Baker and Sons was one of St Helier's main department stores through the first half of the 20th century and again after the German Occupation, along with A de Gruchy and Co, Voisin's and Noel and Porter in King Street.

Family, including Gorton Frederick Baker, and staff at Frederick Baker in 1955

Frederick Baker's came on the scene some time later than the other three, the first mention in censuses being in that of 1891 which showed Frederick Baker, a draper, living with wife Mary (1863- ) and trading as a draper at No 13, Queen Street. He had married Mary Baker in 1888, at St Clement. The The British Press and Jersey Times Almanac (1888) has at that date, at this address, W. Pickett & Co., so it would seem that Frederick Baker moved to the premises later that year or between then and 1890, at the latest. By 1895 the business was known as Amy and Baker, and by 1905, owned by Frederick Baker and advertising itself as British Drapery Stores, it occupied Nos 9, 13 and 15. Eventually it would absorb no 11, which remained in separate ownership for a long time.

Rivals acquired

The Baker family acquired rivals Noel and Porter in 1953, but both businesses were closed in the 1960s and the substantial property holdings sold and the sites redeveloped.