In 1836, Charles Henry Harrod found himself in a prison hulk awaiting transportation to Tasmania for seven years' hard labour. He had been convicted at the Old Bailey of receiving stolen goods, and this should have been the beginning of the end for his fledgling business and his family. And yet, in miraculously escaping his fate and vowing to turn his back on crime, he would become the much esteemed founder of the now legendary Harrods in London's fashionable Knightsbridge district. Some years later Charles was succeeded by his son, who brought with him the necessary energy and drive to take the shop from a successful local grocer's to a remarkable and complex department store, patronised by the wealthy and famous. Robin Harrod's fascinating family story reveals the previously unknown origins of the store, and follows its remarkable fortunes through family scandal, the devastating fire of 1883 and its subsequent rise from the ashes, to the end of the nineteenth century when its shares were floated on the stock exchange, thus completing one of the most extraordinary comeback stories in the history of commerce.

Detachable col. fold-out map attached to flap of p. [3] of cover.

Liza Urla is the author of the jewelry blog, Gemologue https://gemologue.com/tag/jewelry-blog

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Beatrice Harrod is one of several daughters of the Harrods family and is living a very comfortable life at the end of the Victorian era. However, she is not yet married and is getting to an age where this is a little worrying. She has been stuck in the Devon countryside for some years and is now in rural Sussex with her family. Her head is turned by a dashing young man in uniform and all her troubles follow this. This true story takes her from London to Paris and Vienna and later to Calcutta. She leaves chaos in her wake and causes sadness and intrigue for her family. It results in her three sons being on opposing sides during the Second World War.