One follower of the History Hub Facebook page has sent some photos of 6, St John’s Hill, a shop which was run for many years by his great grandfather, George Harry Mullen.

Before Mr Mullen took over the shop, he worked for Frank Rowley, the then owner.

Mullen had featured in the pages of the Chronicle toward the end of the Great War, when his case was heard before a military tribunal to determine whether he should be granted an exemption from war service because of his vital work on the Home Front.

George Mullen appeared before the tribunal in June 1918. The paper reported that he was the manager of a grocery business in St John’s for his employer, Mr Frank Rowley. Aged forty four, he had been classified as grade 2 and his appeal had been supported by the Local Food Control Committee (by casting vote of the Chairman). A solicitor for Mr Rowley stated that he had had bad health for two years and had 700 registered customers for sugar (now rationed, along with many other items).

Mr Mullen had managed the business and been with him for twenty two years. The paper reported that there were two other shops and the other manager was not fully qualified. It was revealed that George Mullen was a member of the International Bible Students’ Association and conducted meetings at Tunbridge Wells. He was questioned on the information that he had a son of eighteen serving in the navy, replying that he allowed his son to hold his own opinions.

Rowley’s solicitor argued that if Mullen were taken, the business would have to close down as he was not fit enough to run it on his own and he could get no one else capable to run it for him.The Tribunal dismissed the appeal but gave 56 days before call up in view of Mr Rowley’s condition. However it seems that the war ended before Mr Mullen was called up.

Frank Rowley died a few years after the war in 1922.

Rowley’s obituary contains some interesting information on the origins of the business, dating from the early 1870s.

Deceased’s career date back to some fifty years ago, when he launched out with his brother at the original shop in Cedar Terrace, St. John’s, which is still being carried on as a branch establishment. Later he removed to London, where for some time he was identified with a bakery business, and on the death of his brother about 35 years ago he assumed sole charge of the shop at the top of St. John’s Hill. Here he effected extensive improvements to the premises, including a fine new frontage, and made his stores among the smartest and best appointed in the whole district. For the last ten years, however, he took no active part in the business, failing health compelling him to give up the reins to younger hands.

More detail can be found in the obituary for Frank Rowley’s brother, Henry. Henry Rowley was a popular tradesman but took his own life in 1891, aged forty nine. The incident was the subject of a long report in the Chronicle which stated that Henry Rowley had been a grocer of long-standing at Gladstone Place, St John’s, with another shop at 6, Cedar Terrace, and premises in the High Street.

Interestingly, one of Henry’s shop assistants, who gave evidence at the inquest into his death (held at the nearby Greyhound Inn) was Joseph Blow, who later had his own shop on Dartford Terrace, which continued to be run by his daughter Kathleen after his own death.

George Mullen took over the business with his wife, Mary in 1922 after his employee’s demise. The couple also had a daughter, Violet (pictured below with her father), and son, Eric.

The photos feature George Mullen outside the shop, with daughter Violet and other staff. Sadly there are no names to identify the delivery boys pictured on their bikes.

Mr Mullen’s wife predeceased him in July 1945. He survived her by 6 years and died in 1951. A short obituary of this popular shopkeeper appeared in the Sevenoaks Chronicle.

When Kathleen Blow finally retired a link with the Rowley brothers, and George Mullen, over a century of shopkeeping, was finally broken, but family photos like those of the Mullen family help piece together our local history.

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