I am trying to find out more about the THUNDER Boot and Shoe Premises at 15, East Street, Brighton. My grandfather was Percy John THUNDER who started his working life at these premises but left the business to teach organ and piano from his home at 9 Gladston Road. The business was started in 1804 by Carter THUNDER at East Street and was eventually passed down the line to Edwin THUNDER and then Henry THUNDER. When it received its Royal Warrant is unknown to me but it traded heavily on this until some time after 1902 when the male members of the family of Percy’s generation gradually left Brighton. Percy ran away and deserted his wife and three children and his only brother Edwin Qunitin THUNDER his brother emigrated to the Transvaal in South Africa. My guess is the firm closed down but I am interested to know when and how and also anything about the company and the THUNDER family some of whom became Commissioners to the town.
