Collection AR40 - Waghorne Miles Arms and Crests Album

The Waghorn(e) wheelwright and carriagebuilding family business probably originated with Samuel Waghorn, in the Limpsfield or Titsey area of Surrey. Samuel Waghorne (1789-1858) moved to Croydon in about 1819. By 1826 he was associated with Richard Jones (an established coachbuilder) on the west side of the High Street; and by 1834 appears to have been running the business alone. His premises (numbered 83 High Street by 1851, renumbered 146 High Street in 1886, and renumbered 252 High Street in c1931) were to remain the firms headquarters for some eighty years. Samuel II died in October 1858, aged 69, but the business continued to be known as Samuel Waghorne, presumably run by his widow, Harriet (c1789-1867), and their son, Thomas (0822-1868). In Warrens Directory for 1865-6, the firm is named Waghorne and Son. A Harriet Waghorne (probably a daughter) also worked as a milliner and dressmaker from the same address.

After the deaths in close succession of Harriet (senior) and Thomas, the business was taken over in 1868 by James T Miles, and renamed Waghome and Miles. The firm prospered in the latter part of the nineteenth century as a builder of superior carriages of various types. Its customers included various prominent members of the establishment, both from Croydon and from further afield. The firm undertook van and cart building on a separate site. From 1902 it also built motor car bodies.

In about 1906 the firm was bought up by Marchant and Sons, a firm of coachbuilders established at 34 Tamworth Road in about 1873. Marchant and Sons took over the High Street premises, and continued to operate from that address until the 1950s.