Digby's ironmongers in West Mersea
An advertisement for Digby’s appeared in a local guide around 1935 and was later reproduced in Mersea Museum’s 2011 exhibition of old shops and businesses. The building eventually lost its original shop front, but the house survived with two small shops in front. A familiar West Mersea saying was, “if you can’t eat it, get it at Digby’s”.
Edgar Digby and the yacht Port Erroll
Digby also owned the auxiliary yacht Port Erroll, a former lifeboat built in 1904. The Colchester shipping register names him as owner in 1932; in December 1950 ownership passed jointly to Digby, William Hugh Ogston Banham and Mabel Grace Lawson Banham. The register records Digby’s death on 21 May 1959.
Arthur Death and the carrier business
Arthur Death worked at Digby's before joining G. W. Rudlin's carrier service. A photograph taken in 1938 shows him driving Rudlin's first motorised carrier vehicle, a Chevrolet fitted with a body made by Maskell of Tollesbury.
See George Rudlin's carrier business for the vehicle and its City Road base.
Digby advertisement in Mersea Museum’s 2011 exhibition ↗
1938 photograph of Arthur Death with Rudlin’s carrier vehicle ↗