The history of J.E. Whalley, merchant tailor

John Edward Whalley was considered to be a model of the time period, a man of exceptional taste, and an expert cutter and fitter

From its inception as the town of Aqueduct, Welland had attracted all sorts of people and trades from all over the world. One of these trades to arrive at the turn of the 19th century from Europe into this veritable melting pot was the trade of making custom clothing.

However, as times changed, so did the fashion, and so did the need for hand-sewn suits and custom shoes, and businesses like these fell by the wayside. One such representative of this class of merchant tailor was J.E. Whalley, of Whalley & Co., a name once well-known but now forgotten.

John Edward Whalley was born in 1850, in England’s Wosbro, Yorkshire. His father Richard worked in custom furniture, and Whalley came to learn his tailor’s trade in Kirkham, Lancashire.

The family immigrated to America in 1868, and lived in the U.S. before moving to Canada in 1876. After short stays in St. Thomas and Niagara Falls, he arrived in Welland, engaging as a cutter with D. McConachie, another clothier.

A year later in 1877, Whalley established his own shop, M. Whalley & Co. Merchant Tailors, believed to be at what is now 17 East Main St., with a spacious workshop and employed an ample force of skilled workmen.

In addition to his tailor shop, in 1900 Whalley’s wife Mary had bought the old City Hotel at 268 East Main St., updating the old Georgian-style building’s facade with plate glass in Victorian trimwork, and turning it into the Whalley House hotel. Whalley’s shop was one of the buildings that withstood the fire of 1888 that resulted in much damage to the city’s core.

Described as a Churchill-esque gentleman dressed in a cutaway coat, striped trousers, and pearl-grey Christie hat, Whalley was considered to be a model of the time period, a man of exceptional taste, and an expert cutter and fitter.

His shop was always stocked with gentlemen’s furnishings, latest ties, collars, handkerchiefs, braces, as well as imported cloth that he frequently travelled to Europe to select.

Whalley’s chief competitor in trade was Llewelyn Horton Pursel, of L. H. Pursel & Co. Tailors, but one anecdote has it that on an occasion when Whalley had to travel to England to arrange some matters of estate, Pursel offered to do the cutting for him at his shop. As a gesture of gratitude, Whalley rewarded him with a diamond ring on his return.

After years of service to the fashionable gentlemen of Welland, Whalley died in 1913.

Circa 1909, Whalley’s tailor shop was bought and demolished to make room for a threestorey commercial structure called the Temple building. The lower floors came to house the Peoples store, while the upper two were reserved for the Temple Club, a social space for Welland’s prominent citizens. Some years later, the Whalley House was also bought by John (Pop) Grant Sr. and refurbished into the new Temple Club, operating until sometime circa 1998 through Pop’s death and a transfer to a new owner.

From the ’20s all the way to the ’80s, it was considered to be apopular sports club and entertainment venue.

Meanwhile, the Peoples store opened at the old Temple location sometime circa 1945, serving the community as well as carrying the legacy of both the Temple Club and Whalley’s establishment for 44 years. The Temple building can still be seen today, where it is occupied by Welland Downtown Galleria Inc.

Lost to history, Whalley’s legacy lives on only through these associations that had interwoven his tale with the stories of others.