Of Boom and Bust
Each of Richard & Mary Sutton’s four sons married during the decade of the 1880’s: Henry in 1881, Alfred in 1882, Walter in 1887 and Frederick in 1888. The Sutton’s younger daughter, Emilie tragically died young of tuberculosis in 1884.
The early 1880’s was a period of economic boom in Victoria; the Sutton music business was thriving; music was an integral part of most households. Around 1886 the ambitious Alfred decided the time was right to establish a branch of the business in Victoria’s state capital, Melbourne. He also had in mind that this action would make more room for his younger brothers to take roles in the family business. Mary Sutton advanced £250 to each of her 4 sons to finance the establishment of this new Melbourne store, on the condition they formed a new company under the name SUTTON BROTHERS.
Alfred travelled to Melbourne to look for city premises, and decided to purchase an existing music store that was up for sale at 87 Elizabeth Street (seen at extreme right in photo below). This new Sutton store was opened on 24 January 1887, 33 years after the original store in Ballarat opened.
Meanwhile, Walter Sutton had been working as a school teacher for several years. He resigned his post and joined Alfred in Melbourne, leaving mother Mary, brother Frederick and sometimes brother Henry to handle the Ballarat end of the business. In typical Alfred style, the new store opened with a flourish by staying open every evening to allow working people to come in and see the new business, whilst claiming it was “The Most Attractive Exhibition in the City”. These new premises soon proved to be too small – Alfred and Walter had to open new stock on the pavement in front of the store – so larger premises were sought and found at 131 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. This store opened in November 1888; the business name being used now was
SUTTON BROS. MUSIC WAREHOUSE.
By coincidence, the very next day a court case which involved Suttons and affected the liability of any goods purchased under a time payment system, occurred. Alfred Sutton responded by placing large advertisements in Melbourne newspapers.
However, storm clouds were gathering on the horizon…
A severe economic depression hit Australia, particularly the state of Victoria
Between 1890 and 1893 this economic downturn caused the closure and collapse of many Australian banks, leaving the country’s financial system in ruins. Suttons survived “by the strictest economies” although there are mentions in newspapers that Ballarat, in regional Victoria, was not as severely impacted by the effects of the depression as was the state’s capital city of Melbourne.
In 1890 Henry Sutton and his family left Victoria to extend his scientific endeavours overseas, and he was away for the next 4 years.
In May 1891 Mary Sutton purchased, for a record price, the property adjoining their existing store in Sturt Street, Ballarat. Her plan was to erect a grand new building to house the Suttons music business; meanwhile normal trading continued next door. A contract was signed in September that year and building commenced. Interestingly, despite the ongoing recession, the Sutton business must have had sufficient financial resources to continue to proceed with the planned construction of this new store in Ballarat. Seven months later, in April 1892 the new, elaborately-decorated, 3 storey-plus-basement (in which traces of gold were found during the excavation) premises at 33 – 35 Sturt Street, Ballarat were opened, and Mary took up residence on the top floor. This Suttons building in Sturt Street Ballarat was, at the time it opened in 1892, the town’s tallest building. The business stocked 22 different makes of piano, together with many other instruments and sheet music.
Unfortunately, later that year Mary suffered a stroke, after which she could no longer manage the climb upstairs to her residence. Her eldest son Henry was urgently summoned back home from overseas; he arrived back in Ballarat in May 1893 and set about the task of designing and retrofitting a hydraulic lift into the existing building, without affecting the integrity of the structure and it’s many internal architectural features. This lift was completed by September 1893 and was Ballarat’s first. The grand Sutton store in Ballarat’s main street (seen below) became a landmark amongst the residents of the town, some of whom were known to enter the store just for the novelty of a ride in their lift.
In 1893 the Suttons Melbourne store was moved to another location – this time to 284 – 286 Bourke Street, Melbourne. This was a prime retail position in the Victorian state capital.
Early in 1894 Mary Sutton suffered another stroke, but this time she did not recover.
On 10 March 1894 she died at her home in Sturt Street; she was aged 58 years.
Her obituary states Mary Sutton was
“widely-known and esteemed for her many excellent qualities; she had been ill for some years past and though ofttimes suffering great pain, bore her illness with fortitude. Mrs Sutton always took an active interest in the business, and the successful operations of the firm were materially aided by her forethought and ability”.
Below : Advertisement for Suttons store in Sturt Street, Ballarat, dated ~1895
In July 1894 Suttons expanded by opening a branch in the regional city of Bendigo at 109 Pall Mall.
In Melbourne that same month, Henry Sutton noticed the premises almost next door to their current store was up for sale, and the vendor was willing to make “modifications to suit new owner”. The decision was taken to purchase the property and have the building altered to their requirements. These new premises at 290-292 Bourke St Melbourne [seen below] were occupied in October 1895, and the company remained there until 1938. Once again this new music warehouse was lavishly appointed, and included workrooms for the repair of musical instruments. By this time, the city store had become the centre of Suttons’ business, and was proudly claimed by them to be the “largest establishment of its kind in Australia”.
Meanwhile, back in the 1880’s the European craze for bicycling had reached Australia; Walter Sutton had keenly ridden the pennyfarthing when it first arrived. Both he and his brother Alfred became enthusiasts of the new sport, whilst Henry Sutton’s inventive mind was soon busy envisioning the possibilities of mechanising the bicycle.
Late 1895 Suttons began selling bicycles at all their stores, and the sale of these comprised a large portion of the company’s turnover at that time. Large departments within the Suttons stores to handle these goods were established, as can be seen in the below illustration dated 1895. Later that year Suttons appointed a cycle shop manager – the later famous, Carl A. Schwaebsch, and in April 1897 he and Walter Sutton, along with Carl’s wife and 3 other men were the first to cycle through the Victorian Alps. Suttons ceased selling bicycles in 1899, as the craze faded.
Back in Ballarat, Frederick Sutton was capably managing the Sturt Street store. He was prominent in the administrative side of Suttons’ business; he also had considerable creative ability and personal drive which both fitted him and prompted him to take an interest in public relations and publicity in connection with the music business, all of which made him well known in the Ballarat community. Fred was president for a number of years of the famous South Street Musical Society in Ballarat, doing much to promote it’s activities. He was also president of the Ballarat Lyric Orchestra, and he was involved in many other local musical groups.
Early in 1896 it was decided that Fred should make a trip overseas to source new business contacts, and at the end of March he was given a rousing send-off in Ballarat by the town’s businessmen. In early April 1896 Fred and his family left Australia and were away for 6 months, visiting Britain, the Continent and America. Walter Sutton temporarily took over the management of the Ballarat store whilst Fred was away, and he proved to be as well liked by the Ballarat citizens as his brother was.
Above : 1897 Suttons Invoice