This firm was a ‘wholesale factor’, which sold cutlery, plate, silver, fancy goods, jewellery, and clocks. Its address was 34 Hatton Garden, a thoroughfare in central London noted for its jewellery workshops and retailers. It was said that ‘stainless cutlery is a prominent feature of the firm’ (Export World & Commercial Intelligence, vol. 36, 1923). In the previous year, it had exhibited at the London Fair & Market at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. H. B. Bardlay, Sheffield, was mentioned passingly as an exhibitor amongst the displays of fancy goods, hardware, and jewellery (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 4 July 1922).  Bardlay’s moved to 28 Hatton Garden, but by 1928 was in liquidation. The stock was offered (without reserve) at an auction in nearby Fetter Lane (Western Daily Press [Bristol], 20 July 1928).

Who owned Bardlay? It is not an easy question to answer, because the name is so rare. But a clue lies in the report of the bankruptcy meeting, which was chaired by Baron Leapman (London Gazette, 6 March 1928). The Leapman family was Jewish and had been involved in the jewellery trade since the nineteenth century. McDonald Bennett Leapman (1862-1912) had been born in Devon and then settled in London, where he became a self-employed silversmith and jewellery dealer. He died on 5 July 1912, when his business address was 98 Gracechurch Street and his residence was Holmcroft, Highbury New Park. He left £3,915.  McDonald and his wife, Rachel, had six sons and a daughter.  Most of the sons – Harris (1888-1949), Benjamin Peter (1889-1953), Baron Abraham (1891-1945), Alexander (1894-1975), Albert Leon (1896-1926), and Samuel (1899-1980) – entered the jewellery trade.  The elder sons traded as Hopeon Brothers Ltd (‘established 1883’), first at 98 Gloucester Street and then at 34 Hatton Garden. The unusual name may have been a mix of family names (Harris, Benjamin Peter, and Leapman). It was not unusual for Jewish families to trade under a fictitious English-sounding name. In 1922, Harris Leapman (as chairman) wound up Hopeon.  H. B. Bardlay seems to have been its ‘successor’. Perhaps the initials of the first two sons (H. B.) were combined with part of the name of the third (‘Bar’).

Intriguingly, in 1922 a Leapman family member became a director of the Sheffield cutlers Kent Bros Ltd. Unfortunately, he provided no address and the first name is illegible in the British Newspaper Library’s digital archive (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 26 May 1922). Even before Bardlay’s liquidation, Baron and his brothers (Alexander and Samuel) had launched a new chain of jewellery shops at Regent Street, the Strand, and High Street, Kensington.  They used the Leapman name, but then opted to revive Hopeon Bros.  They advertised cabinets of the ‘finest Sheffield stainless cutlery’ (Fulham Chronicle, 3 June 1932). However, in 1936 Hopeon Bros was again bankrupt with debts of about £15,000. According to the official receiver, the Leapmans had ‘contributed to the bankruptcy by a rash and hazardous speculation, and an unjustifiable extravagance in living’ (Hendon & Finchley Times, 27 November 1936). Baron A. Leapman, of Allington Road, Hendon, died on 12 April 1945. He left £3,359.