When was Pryce Pryce-Jones born and where did he grow up?
Pryce Pryce-Jones was born on the 16th of October 1834 in Llanllwchaiarn. This village sits just outside Newtown in Montgomeryshire.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Pryce Pryce-Jones was born on the 16th of October 1834 in Llanllwchaiarn. This village sits just outside Newtown in Montgomeryshire.
Pryce Pryce-Jones opened his shop named the Royal Welsh Warehouse in 1859. The railway arrived in Newtown that same year to support the new enterprise.
Pryce Pryce-Jones became the first person to sell by mail order on a large scale. He dispatched goods by parcel post and train using the 1861 Pryce Jones catalogue as the world's first mail-order catalogue.
Pryce Pryce-Jones is credited with the invention of the sleeping bag which he patented in 1876. He named it the Euklisia Rug for military use and secured a contract with the Russian Army for 60,000 rugs.
Queen Victoria knighted Pryce Pryce-Jones in 1887 when she acknowledged his success. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Montgomery from 1885 to 1886 and again from 1892 to 1895 before becoming High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1891.
The company was taken over by Lewis's of Liverpool in 1938 after Pryce Pryce-Jones died on the 11th of January 1920 at the age of 85. The tall red brick building constructed in 1879 still stands today in Newtown next to the railway line.