MUSEUM CONNECTIONS – About McLaughlin’s Bakery

David Sciffer wrote the following to GHM:

This carte-de-visite is of the first premises of McLaughlin’s Bakery in High Street, Maitland. (Handwritten note on reverse says “business near Town Hall, Maitland”).

William McLaughlin established a bakery in Maitland in 1864. He drowned on 21st March, 1870 while delivering bread by boat to South Maitland in one of a number of floods in that year. His wife Susannah took over the business and moved to the premises which were then being built at the corner of High and Victoria Streets (303 High Street) in March 1871. She ran the bakery successfully for a further 31 years.

This dates the image to sometime between William’s death and the move to the new premises (1870-71) – her name is on the cart.

When I was given access, in October of 2017, the carte-de-visite was owned by Harold Mayo, who was Managing Director of the bakery from 1964 until it closed. He thought it may be quite valuable. He also gave me quite a number of other c-d-v which I passed on to the Local History Librarian at the city library.