John Lewis Spitfire?

Its good to know my former employers are keeping up their reputation for customer service. Glad you found out the answer to your question 🙂

Well done John Lewis for a rapid response….here’s the answer. The Partners couldn’t get it on an undersale!
Thanks to all who replied, too.

Thank you for your enquiry.
We do have record of JLP Partners donating money to a Spitfire fund from 1939 to 1943.
Unfortunately the amount required from an organisation to have a spitfire named after them was £5000 and JLP didn’t quite raise that amount of money, they raised approximately £2,500. Some Partners had money deducted from their wage and others donated money whilst others held fundraising events.
If you need any more details, I could photocopy some of the pages and send them to you. Please email us with your address if this is the case.

Linda Moroney
Archive Assistant

I looked in Henry Boot’s, ‘Gifts of War’. I could not find any John Lewis reference.

Yes, I was aware of the books on presentation aircraft, and was hoping someone had a copy to refer to!

IIRC there was a book published a few years back on RAF Presentation aircraft – sorry, can’t remember the title/author.

Roger Smith.

Edit – just looked on Amazon and came up with these (It’s theBoot/Sturtivant one I was thinking of)

1. Gifts of War: Presentation Aircraft in Two World Wars by Henry Boot and Ray Sturtivant (Hardcover – 9 Dec 2005)
Buy new: £55.004 Used & new from £51.98
Not in stock; order now and we’ll deliver when available
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery.
2. Presentation Aircraft of the Two World Wars: Pictorial Survey by Godfrey Richard Duval (Hardcover – 12 Feb 1976)
12 Used & new from £4.50

Thanks for the quick reply…..but Lord Woolton is not apparently associated with THE John Lewis’s….see Wiki entry below. Maybe the partners paid for the aircraft, but the name doesn’t fit.

Woolton was born in Salford, Greater Manchester in 1883 to Thomas Robert Marquis (d. 1944) and his wife, Margaret Ormerod). Educated at Manchester Grammar School and the University of Manchester (where he was a Research Fellow), Woolton was an active member of the Unitarian Church.
In the 1930s he built up the department store Lewis’s (not to be confused with the John Lewis department stores), of which he became Managing Director……

Mk Ia R7199. Presentation name Woolton after Lord Woolton ex-managing director. IWM photo HU88732.

Thanks, I’ll try them.

Contact the John Lewis Historical Department as I’m sure this has come up before.

http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/Display.aspx?MasterId=68e3cfac-ac0b-4107-bcad-0cdb84871349&NavigationId=1297

Good luck!