The Jewel of Knightsbridge (The Origins of the Harrods Empire)

In 1836, Charles Henry Harrod found himself aboard a prison hulk, awaiting transportation to Tasmania for seven years of hard labor.

Convicted at the Old Bailey of receiving stolen goods, this should have marked the end of his fledgling business and his family’s future. Yet, by a stroke of fate, Harrod escaped his sentence and vowed to leave crime behind—ultimately becoming the esteemed founder of the now-legendary Harrods in London’s fashionable Knightsbridge district.

Years later, his son succeeded him, bringing the ambition and drive needed to transform the business from a thriving local grocer’s shop into a remarkable department store patronized by the wealthy and famous.

Robin Harrod’s fascinating family history uncovers the previously unknown origins of the store and traces its extraordinary journey through family scandal, the devastating fire of 1883, and its rise from the ashes to the end of the nineteenth century, when its shares were floated on the stock exchange—completing one of the most remarkable comeback stories in the history of commerce.