The Dallen Family Bakery
Egham Museum’s collection includes a set of bakery items, including bread tins, price tags and a decorative biscuit tin. We have been taking a look at the bakery to learn more about the family who ran it.
The Dallen family (mother Charlotte, father Henry, and daughters Phyllis and Margery) ran Englefield Green’s bakery after the family moved to the town in the late 1890s. Phyllis and Margery continued to run the bakery together until the mid-twentieth century. In the 1911 census, the Dallens recorded that they lived in 88 Harvest Road with Henry working as the master baker while Phillis (13) went to school. Later in the 1939 register, they recorded Phyllis’ occupation as ‘bookkeeper and shop assistant’ and Margery’s as ‘household and shop assistant’.
Price tags 
Photograph of the bakery’s cart 
Biscuit display tin
The bakery was affiliated with Hovis and it used branded bread tins. Other advertisements were printed on scrapers used to clean work surfaces. On Phyllis and Margery’s side of the business, they displayed the baked goods in a decorative biscuit tin and they used special price tags.
Phyllis left her postcard collection with the museum. Over the span of about a year, she collected postcards sent to her and postcards that attracted her interest. She kept birthday, Christmas and Easter messages from friends and other family members. Her collection provides an insight into her personality and interests as well as what it was like to be an Edwardian teenager. We can see her love of animals, the paintings she liked and the actresses she admired.
The Dallen family was very close. Phyllis and Margery lived in the family home their whole lives and kept the family business going. The family took many pictures of them spending time together, including a tennis party with friends. The Dallens went on day trips around the local area and in the 1930s they went on holiday to Brighton. There were other members of the Dallen household who appear in their family photographs – their cat and dog. The family photographs span multiple decades and they give us a glimpse into their home life and what they enjoyed doing together.
