ABSTRACT
Market-day in Devizes , Wiltshire, in September 1953 . lbe day, as it always should be on such occasions, was a memorable one. Montague Burton, the tailor of taste, was about to open a new branch in the town centre. lbe launch began at the historic Bear Hotel on the market square, where senior executives rubbed shoulders with local civic dignitaries . At eleven o'clock the clutch of notables processed on foot to the new premises. On the pavement a short speech of welcome was delivered by Mr W.J . Fryatt, the south-western area manager. Warming to his task, Fryatt's oration spoke of Burton's as a national institution, through which communities across the land were linked together by the flagship of British retailing. lbe new store, he enthused, formed 'yet one more link in the chain of sartorial palaces which extended throughout the British Isles ' . Where upon Captain C .H. Hargreaves, Burton's public relations officer, stepped smartly forward to invite 'a distinguished gentleman and resident of the area' , Lord Long of Wraxhall, to cut the ribbon and declare the new premises open. lbe Viscount was one type of local dignitary whom Burton's preferred to front their opening events. Resident at Ashton Manor, Trowbridge, he had been the local Conservative MP between 1927 and 1931 . With a distinguished military record in two world wars , his hobbies were listed as hunting, shooting and cricket. lbere is no record of Lord Long's sartorial style, but his social image was certainly that of the complete gentleman.
