This postcard shows the upper High Street premises of Lander Buckland and his son, Lander Stafford Buckland, around 1905.

These cards were used by the firm for advertising and correspondence, and the reverse, signed by L Buckland, reads ‘My traveller will call on Monday afternoon Dec 3rd when your favours will oblige’ and addressed to Mrs Riddle of 22 Collingbourne Ducis.

In those days, an important part of any shop’s trade was reaching out to all the villages in the district. Motor traffic was still in its infancy and the favoured means of transport was by bicycle, often itself carrying advertising beneath the cross-bar.

Today these buildings have long been demolished and replaced by Portland House and Gregg’s the bakers. Older residents will remember in the 1950s and 1960s when, as Nos 55, 57 and 59 High Street they were occupied respectively by A Lewis, the tobacconist, J and M Stone, radio dealers and Achille Serre Ltd, the dyers and cleaners.

Lander Buckland came from Reading where his father John Buckland was a bootmaker with a large shop in London Street. Boot-making was evidently not his style and it was as an assistant draper that the young Lander went to work for Charles Bryant who had a large emporium in Faversham, Kent. Having learned his trade Lander came to Andover in about 1875 and started a business at 55 and 57 High Street, which was called Albion House. Success enabled him to extend to a third shop during the 1880s.

Accommodation on the first floor and in the visible attic rooms of Albion House must have been reasonably extensive as seven assistants and one boy were employed, most of these living in, as well as there being two servants.

But as the Buckland family grew, they moved to Church Cottage, New Street, a building that still exists opposite the museum. Presumably the assistants remained above the shop. Around 1895 the Buckland family moved again to Tyrell’s Croft in London Road. Readers may remember the house with its characteristic turret feature, only demolished in recent years. The old name can still be seen mouldering on the gate pillars.

Buckland’s in their day were high-class retailers and in such larger premises with a number of staff there were tiers of hierarchy which had to be observed by those working there. The senior man was addressed as ‘Mr Lander’ or ‘Mr Buckland’ while his son was ‘Mr Stafford’. Shop hours were long and the shop remained open until late in the evening on a Friday or Saturday night, so as to make the most of the potential custom. As can be seen in the picture, this night-time trade called for effective outside lighting and the glass shades had ‘Buckland’ etched or printed on them.

Lander Buckland died in 1928 but the business carried on under Lander Stafford’s stewardship until 1947. He had bought a house in the newly laid out Croye Close during the 1930s but after the shop closed, he left the town.