In our article on nos. 27-39 Westgate, much space has been given to the Shippam grocery business which occupied this site in the 19th century. This was not however the famous Shippam family of the Shippam Pastes. That business was founded by a different member of the family but, confusingly with the same name. This article completes the story of the Shippam family but is not of direct relevance to the history of Westgate.
Shippams Pastes
The business in East Street was set up by another Charles Shippam (1828 – 1897) who was the grandson of Shipston and son of the third brother, George. He had moved to North Street.
His son, Alfred Ernest Cooper Shippam, was an individual who stood out as a shining example of generosity and kindness. For Alfred Shippam looked after his employees, and built an enviable reputation for the company of being a caring and benevolent employer.
He formed a partnership with his four brothers in 1899 to invest in his family business of potted meat who all worked together to grow a flourishing business. With their rather palatial retail outlet in the Edwardian style, near the cross at the top of South Street, the business took off.
Expanding from retailing to the processing and packaging of meats and fish products, the company’s processing plant was built at the bottom of East Street on either side of the city walls in the first half of the 20th Century. That building remains identified to this day by the company clock and the famous wishbone icon still hanging there.
Welfare of employees
Alfred and his brothers were very much concerned about the welfare of their employees. Not only were they innovative for the time – introducing an employee bonus system, a profit-sharing scheme, health insurance and a private pension scheme – Alfred was also making sure that local charities were supported.
But perhaps his most impressive acts were during the First World War. Alfred personally wrote to employees who had been conscripted, and sent them and their families gifts of potted meat and cigarettes for despatch to the front, sending similar packages to the homes of those who had lost a family member. Alfred also promised his employees that upon return from the war, they would be employed at the factory. He was as good as his word and when the surviving fifty servicemen returned to Chichester, they began work at the Eastgate site.
Richard Brownfield 2025