Description:This postcard view shows one of John Liversage’s two offices in Gnosall. The office in this picture was located by the entrance to the former railway sidings which were near Gnosall Station. In later years the site became Swynnerton’s Garden Centre and then housing in Stacey’s Gardens. The other office was nearby on the A518 Newport Road, later it was demolished and currently (January 2021) there is a fish and chip shop on the site.
The sign above the office advertises ‘Liversage, Mineral Merchant and Brereton Coals’. Both offices were close to the village’s canal and railway connections. Coal from mines such as Brereton and Cannock along with other raw materials could be transported via these links to Gnosall in greater quantities than by using the roads with a horse and cart. Large amounts of coal would have been needed to supply the various industries that were in Gnosall which included: Coton Steam Mill, a cement works, a steam sawmill, a brick works, steam traction engines and for the blacksmith’s in the village.
In the window on the left of the door there is a notice referring to The Shops Act 1911. This Act allowed shop workers to be granted a weekly half-day holiday and set the maximum working week for shop workers at 60 hours. A brass plate on the door indicates that Liversage’s were Agents for the Royal Exchange Assurance, London, covering fire, life, accidents and burglary insurance. Liversage’s also ran a domestic coal delivery service supplying houses around the district until the 1950s when the business was taken over by Wheat and Kirby of Newport, Shropshire.
This postcard was franked in Gnosall on 24 October 1922 and sent to an address in Stafford.