Help
1905
Freemans & Co. starts life in a terraced house in the London suburb of Clapham. Its founders are A.C. and S.C. Rampton, W.E. Jones and H.A. Freeman. It employs just 12 staff, and a 'Celebrated Freemans made-to-measure suit' costs less than 30/- (£1.10 in today's money).
Most goods are sold on credit, with wives needing their husband's signature to buy goods. Freemans uses Agents to sell goods from its 200 page, black-and-white illustrated catalogue; they are mainly men.
1906
Freemans moves to larger premises at 215 Lavender Hill Wandsworth. Company staff are soon nicknamed 'The Lavender Hill Mob'.
1914
Freemans' pre-war expansion stops, and the business focuses on buying blankets and selling them to the Government and the armed forces.
1922
Freemans has more than 200 staff, so moves into a converted cinema on Lavender Hill, formally known as the 'Gem'.
Colour pictures are introduced into the catalogue on a regular basis.
1932
Freemans is now the largest mail order business in Great Britain; larger than all its competitors put together. Some of its 30,000 agents managed to buy cars and houses with their commission money.
1937
Freemans moves into an old printing works at 139 Clapham Road, and becomes a Private Company. Freemans now sells labour-saving devices as vacuum cleaners in its catalogue.
1940
The Clapham Road building is bombed, killing 23 members of staff. Further bombing causes severe damage to the building and almost total destruction of the company's records. Staff and Agent loyalty allows Freemans to survive these setbacks and continue trading.
1943
War shortages meant that no household items were available, only clothing. Coupon rates are introduced for the first time as a way to pay for Freemans clothes.
1945
Clothing coupons become the only way to pay for Freemans clothes. The number of staff working for Freemans drops to less than 300.
1950
Freemans expands rapidly with the post-war consumer boom, with many customers choosing to buy on credit. Freemans is now competing with the leading department stores of the day, selling a wide range of consumer goods in its full-colour, 1,000-plus page catalogue.
1963
Freemans becomes a Public Company, and installs its first computer.
1966
Freemans expands world-wide with its new International Division, which eventually wins the Queen's Award for Export Achievement in 1995.
1969
Freemans opens an automated Distribution Centre at Peterborough, and is the first company to post goods in plastic packaging. It is also the first UK company to generate heat from waste packaging.
1979
Freemans is the first home shopping company in the UK to introduce a telephone ordering service for its agents.
1984
Freemans introduces a telephone system to deal with customer and agent queries.
1988
Freemans is bought by Sears PLC and becomes part of one of the country's largest retail organisations. It now offers Sears' High Street brands (Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Warehouse, Richards, Adams) in its catalogue.
1994
Freemans produces an interactive CD for its customers, which wins several awards.
1997
Freemans launches its shopping website, www.freemans.com. Sears announces the sale of Freemans.
1999
Freemans becomes part of the Otto Versand group. It has upwards of 1 million agents serving 3 million customers, with many more direct customers.
2005
Freemans launches its new-look website and introduces payment by credit and debit card in addition to its credit accounts.