‘Burberry’ is a world-wide fashion brand with its roots in Basingstoke.

Born in Betchworth in 1835, Thomas Burberry and his wife Elizabeth came to Basingstoke in 1856. Aged just 21, he opened a draper’s shop.

Burberry noticed that shepherds’ linen smocks repelled water, especially where they had become impregnated with oils from handling sheep. The tight linen weave was also wind-proof.

Burberry set out to invent a fabric both wind and water repellent. He acquired a mill in Bolton, Lancs., where the linen yarn was dipped before being woven and once tightly woven, was treated again. He called his new fabric ‘Gabardine’.

After his triumphal expedition to the south Pole in 1912, Amundsen wrote to Burberry, “Heartiest thanks. Burberry overalls were made extensive use of during the sledge journey to the Pole and proved real good friends indeed”. Both he and Scott had tents made of Gabardine.

The business expanded rapidly – his son and grandson, both called Thomas were part of the business and lived at The Shrubbery in Cliddesden Road.

Hugely popular with the new adventurers before and after the WW1, clothes were designed for all manner of outdoor pursuits. By 1914 the trench coat, an all-weather coat with epaulettes and ‘D’ rings for attaching equipment, was supplied to British Army Officers.

Workshops in Basingstoke (and elsewhere) produced these items and also created a highly skilled workforce. Seamstresses were paid 7s a week for 4 raincoats made from start to finish.

In 1921, Burberry put up the money to buy Goldings and its parkland, now known as War Memorial Park. Next to Deanes Almshouses in London Street was the showroom which fronted the workshop. The Heart Foundation shop in Winchester Street was Burberry’s Emporium, rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1905. His initials can be seen on the building.

Thomas Burberry had homes in Basingstoke and Hook. He died in 1926 and is buried in South View.