Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. (11 January 1858 – 8 May 1947)
was an American retail magnate who founded the
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
Selfridges
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...
. His 20-year leadership of Selfridges led to his becoming one of the most respected and wealthy retail magnates in the United Kingdom. He was known as the 'Earl of Oxford Street'.
Born in
Ripon, Wisconsin, and raised in
Jackson, Michigan, Selfridge delivered newspapers and left school at 14 when he found work at a bank in Jackson. Selfridge eventually obtained a stock boy position at
Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...
department store in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, where over the next 25 years, he rose to become a partner. In 1890, he married the wealthy
Rose Buckingham who was from a prominent Chicago family.
In 1906, following a trip to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, Selfridge invested £400,000 to build a new department store in what was then the unfashionable western end of
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
.
Selfridges, Oxford Street
Selfridges is a Grade II* listed retail premises on Oxford Street in London. It was designed by Daniel Burnham for Harry Gordon Selfridge, and opened in 1909. Still the headquarters of Selfridge & Co. department stores, with of selling space, t ...
, opened to the public on 15 March 1909, and Selfridge remained chairman until 1941. In 1947, he died in London at age 89.
Early life
Selfridge was born to Robert Oliver Selfridge and Lois Frances Selfridge (née Baxter) in
Ripon, Wisconsin,
[The Yankee Who Taught Britishers That 'the Customer Is Always Right']
Milwaukee Journal, 7 September 1932, on 11 January 1858, one of three boys. Within months of his birth, the family moved to
Jackson, Michigan, as his father had acquired the town's
general store. At the outbreak of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, his father joined the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...
. He rose to the rank of major, before being honorably discharged. However, he abandoned his family, not returning home after the war ended.
This left his wife Lois to bring up three young boys. Selfridge's two brothers died at a very young age shortly after the war ended, so Harry became his mother's only child. She found work as a schoolteacher and struggled financially to support both of them. She supplemented her low income by painting greeting cards, and eventually became headmistress of
Jackson High School. Selfridge and his mother enjoyed each other's company and were good friends; she lived with him until her death in 1924.
Career
![Harry Gordon Selfridge circa 1880 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Harry_Gordon_Selfridge_circa_1880_2.jpg)
At the age of 10, Selfridge began to contribute to the family income by delivering newspapers. Aged 12, he started working at the Leonard Field's
dry-goods store. This allowed him to fund the creation of a boys' monthly magazine with schoolfriend Peter Loomis, making money from the advertising carried within.
Selfridge left school at 14 and found work at a bank in Jackson. After failing his entrance examinations to the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
in
Annapolis, Maryland, Selfridge became a bookkeeper at the local furniture factory of Gilbert, Ransom & Knapp. However, the company closed four months later, and Selfridge moved to
Grand Rapids to work in the insurance industry.
In 1876, his ex-employer, Leonard Field, agreed to write Selfridge a letter of introduction to
Marshall Field
Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of quality and customer ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, who was a senior partner in Field, Leiter & Company, one of the most successful stores in the city (which soon became
Marshall Field and Company
Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...
). Initially employed as a stock boy in the wholesale department, over the following 25 years, Selfridge worked his way up. He was eventually appointed a junior partner, married Rosalie Buckingham (of the prominent Chicago Buckinghams) and amassed a considerable personal fortune.
After their marriage, the couple lived for some time with Rose's mother on Rush Street in Chicago. They later moved to their own home on
Lake Shore Drive. The Selfridges also built an imposing mansion called Harrose Hall in mock Tudor style on
Geneva Lake
Geneva Lake (Potawatomi language, Potawatomi: ''Kishwauketoe'' 'Clear Water') is a body of freshwater in Walworth County, Wisconsin, Walworth County in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. On its shores are the city of Lake G ...
in
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, complete with large greenhouses and extensive rose gardens.
[Lindy Woodhead, 2012 "Shopping, Seduction and Mr. Selfridge", Profile Books Ltd., London: 2012, pp. 45 and 61.] Over the next decade, the couple had five children:
[Woodhead 2012, p. 58.]
*Chandler Selfridge (b and d 7 August 1891)
*Rosalie Selfridge (10 September 1893 – October 1977) - she married Serge Vincent de Bolotoff, Prince Wiasemsky on 7 August 1918.
*Violette Selfridge (5 June 1897 – 1996) - she married Jacques Jean de Sibour on 4 May 1921 and they were divorced in February 1949.
*Gordon Selfridge (2 April 1900 – 30 November 1976) - he married Charlotte Elsie Dennis on 10 June 1940.
*Beatrice Selfridge (30 July 1901 – 1990) - she married twice; first to Comte Louis de Sibour and then to Frank L. Lewis
Throughout their married life, Harry's mother, Lois, lived with the family. While at Marshall Field, Selfridge was the first to promote
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
sales with the phrase "Only _____ Shopping Days Until Christmas", a
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
that was quickly picked up by retailers in other markets. Selfridge or Marshall Field are usually cited as the originators of the phrase "
The customer is always right
__NOTOC__
"The customer is always right" is a motto or slogan which exhorts service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction. It was popularised by pioneering and successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamake ...
."
In 1904, Harry opened his own department store called Harry G. Selfridge and Co. in Chicago. However, after only two months he sold the store at a profit to
Carson, Pirie and Co. He then decided to retire, and for the next two years puttered around his properties, mainly Harrose Hall.
He also bought a steam yacht, which he rarely used, and played golf.
London and the Selfridges department store
![Selfridges Oxford Street](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Selfridges_Oxford_Street.jpg)
In 1906, when Selfridge travelled to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on holiday with his wife, he noticed that although the city was a cultural and commercial leader, its stores could not rival Field's in Chicago or the great galleries of Parisian department stores.
Recognizing a gap in the market, Selfridge, who had become bored with retirement, decided to invest £400,000 in a new department store of his own, locating it in what was then the unfashionable western end of London's
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
but which was opposite an entrance to the
Bond Street tube station
Bond Street is a London Underground and Elizabeth line station in Mayfair, in the West End of London. Entrances are on Oxford Street, near its junction with New Bond Street, and on Hanover Square.
The station is on the Central line, between ...
.
[ The new store opened to the public on 15 March 1909, setting new standards for the retailing business.]
Selfridge promoted the radical notion of shopping for pleasure rather than necessity. The store was extensively promoted through advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
. The shop floors were structured so that goods could be made more accessible to customers. There were elegant restaurants with modest prices, a library, reading and writing rooms, special reception rooms for French, German, American and "Colonial" customers, a First Aid Room, and a Silence Room, with soft lights, deep chairs, and double-glazing, all intended to keep customers in the store as long as possible. Staff members were taught to be on hand to ''assist'' customers, but not too aggressively, and to ''sell'' the merchandise. Oliver Lyttelton observed that, when one called on Selfridge, he would have nothing on his desk except one's letter, smoothed and ironed.
Selfridge also managed to obtain from the GPO the privilege of having the number "1" as its own phone number, so anybody had to just ask the operator for Gerrard 1 to be connected to Selfridge's operators. In 1909, Selfridge proposed a subway link to Bond Street station; however, contemporaneous opposition quashed the idea.[
Selfridge's prospered during ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and up to the mid-1930s. The Great Depression was already taking its toll on Selfridge's retail business and his lavish spending had run up a £150,000 debt to his store. He became a British subject in 1937.[ By 1940, he owed £250,000 in taxes and was in debt to the bank. The Selfridges board forced him out in 1941.][ In 1951, the original Oxford Street Selfridges was acquired by the ]Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
-based Lewis's
Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...
chain of department stores, which was in turn taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group owned by Charles Clore
Sir Charles Clore (26 December 1904 – 26 July 1979) was a British financier, retail and property magnate, and philanthropist.
Life and career
Clore was of Lithuanian Jewish background, the son of Israel Clore, a Whitechapel tailor who had em ...
.[subscription required] Expanded under the Sears group to include branches in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, in 2003 the chain was acquired by Canada's Galen Weston
Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Weston and his family, with an esti ...
for £598 million.
Personal life
In 1890, Selfridge married Rosalie "Rose" Buckingham of the prominent Buckingham family of Chicago. Her father was Benjamin Hale Buckingham, who was a member of a very successful family real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
business established by her grandfather, Alvah Buckingham. At 30 years old, Rose was a successful property developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...
, having inherited money and expertise from her family. Rose had purchased land in Harper Ave, Hyde Park, Chicago
Hyde Park is the 41st of the 77 community areas of Chicago. It is located on the South Side, near the shore of Lake Michigan south of the Loop.
Hyde Park's official boundaries are 51st Street/Hyde Park Boulevard on the north, the Midway Pl ...
and built 42 villas and artists cottages within a landscaped environment. The couple had five children: three girls and two boys (though their first son died soon after birth).
At the height of his success, Selfridge leased Highcliffe Castle in Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, from Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley
Major General The Honourable Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley, (31 July 1857 – 19 March 1934) was a senior British Army officer. He saw extensive active service in many parts of world, including Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Ma ...
. In addition, he purchased Hengistbury Head
Hengistbury Head (), formerly also called Christchurch Head, is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Mudeford in the English county of Dorset. It is a site of international importance in terms of its archaeology ...
, a mile-long promontory on England's southern coast, where he planned to build a magnificent castle; these plans never got off the drawing board, however, and in 1930 the Head was put up for sale. Although only a tenant at Highcliffe, he set about fitting modern bathrooms, installing steam central heating and building and equipping a modern kitchen. During World War I, Rose opened a tented retreat called the ''Mrs Gordon Selfridge Convalescent Camp for American Soldiers'' on the castle grounds. Selfridge gave up the lease in 1922.
Selfridge's wife Rose died during the influenza pandemic of 1918
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
; his mother died in 1924. As a widower, Selfridge had numerous liaisons, including those with the celebrated Dolly Sisters
Rosie Dolly (October 24, 1892 – February 1, 1970) and Jenny Dolly (October 24, 1892 – June 1, 1941), known professionally as The Dolly Sisters, were Hungarian-American identical twin dancers, singers and actresses, popular in vaudeville an ...
and the divorcée Syrie Barnardo Wellcome, who would later become better known as the decorator Syrie Maugham
Gwendoline Maud Syrie Maugham (''née'' Barnardo, formerly Wellcome; 10 July 1879 – 25 July 1955) was a leading British interior decorator of the 1920s and 1930s who popularized rooms decorated entirely in white.
Birth
Syrie Maugham was born ...
. He also began and maintained a busy social life and entertained lavishly both at his home in Lansdowne House
Lansdowne House now 9 Fitzmaurice Place is the remaining part of a building to the south of Berkeley Square in central London, England, not to be confused with 57 Berkeley Square – opposite – a much later quadrilateral building which take ...
, located at 9 Fitzmaurice Place, Mayfair, just off Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Ke ...
, and on his private yacht, the SY ''Conqueror'', with VIP guests such as Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
cruising the Mediterranean. Lansdowne House displays a blue plaque noting that Gordon Selfridge lived there from 1921 to 1929.
Later life and death
During the years of the Great Depression, Selfridge's fortune rapidly declined and then disappeared—a situation not helped by his free-spending ways. He gambled frequently and often lost. He also spent money on various showgirls.
On 8 May 1947, Selfridge died of bronchial pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity of ...
at his home in Putney, south-west London, aged 89. His funeral was held on 12 May at St. Mark's Church in Highcliffe, after which he was buried in St Mark's Churchyard next to his wife and his mother.
Selfridge's children were Chandler, who died shortly after birth; Rosalie, who married Serge de Bolotoff, later Wiasemsky; Violette (who wrote the book ''Flying gypsies: the chronicle of a 10,000-mile air vagabondage'' and married first Vicomte Jacques Jean de Sibour and second Frederick T. Bedford); Harry Jr. "Gordon"; and Beatrice.
Selfridge's grandson, Oliver, who died in 2008, became a pioneer in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
. His grandson Ralph, who also died in 2008, was a professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of Florida from 1961 to 2002 and was called by many "the grandfather of digital simulation."[Ralph Selfridge]
. ''The Gainesville Sun'', 3 September 2008.
Writings
Selfridge wrote a book, ''The Romance of Commerce'', published by John Lane—The Bodley Head, in 1918, but actually written several years prior. In it are chapters on ancient commerce, China, Greece, Venice, Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
, the Fugger family, the Hanseatic League, fairs, guilds, early British commerce, trade and the Tudors, the East India Company, north England's merchants, the growth of trade, trade and the aristocracy, Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
, Japan, and representative businesses of the 20th century.
Among the more popular quotations attributed to Selfridge:
* "People will sit up and take notice of you if you will sit up and take notice of what makes them sit up and take notice."
* "The boss drives his men; the leader coaches them."
* "The boss depends upon authority, the leader on goodwill."
* "The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm."
* "The boss says 'I'; the leader, 'we'."
* "The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown."
* "The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how."
* "The boss says 'Go'; the leader says 'Let's go!'"
* "The customer is always right
__NOTOC__
"The customer is always right" is a motto or slogan which exhorts service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction. It was popularised by pioneering and successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamake ...
."
Television
The British period television drama series ''Mr Selfridge
''Mr Selfridge'' is a British period drama television series about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his department store, Selfridge & Co, in London, set from 1908 to 1928. It was co-produced by ITV Studios and Masterpiece/WGBH for broadcast on IT ...
'' began its first season in 2013, starring Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series '' Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the Britis ...
as Harry Gordon Selfridge.[
'' Secrets of Selfridges'', produced by the independent UK company Pioneer Productions in its "Secrets of Britain" series, was an hour-long documentary about the London store and Harry Selfridge.][pioneertv.com]
Notes
:1.Other sources, including the Selfridges company history, place his birthdate in 1856, 1857 or as late as 1864.
References
External links
Online facsimile of ''The Romance of Commerce''
by H. Gordon Selfridge, from the Internet Archive (digitized by Google from the library of the University of California)
Selfridges
Lansdowne House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selfridge, Harry Gordon
1858 births
1947 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century British writers
American businesspeople in retailing
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
British businesspeople in retailing
Burials in Dorset
Deaths from bronchopneumonia
Deaths from pneumonia in England
People from Ripon, Wisconsin
Retail company founders
People in retailing
Selfridges
Writers from Wisconsin