Exhibition panel from the ‘Pryce Jones Legacy Exhibition’ originally held at Newtown Library in May 2026, on the life and legacy of Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones (1834-1920).

The third panel explains how, in 1859, Pryce Jones married Eleanor Rowley Morris and launched the innovative idea that would define his career: sending free fabric samples by post and receiving orders in return, effectively creating one of the world’s first mail‑order businesses. It describes how the couple lived above their Broad Street draper’s shop, how Newtown was expanding with busy markets and dozens of tradespeople, and how the arrival of the railway that same year transformed the movement of goods. With improved transport and a thriving flannel trade, Pryce Jones’s postal enterprise grew rapidly, marking the beginning of a retail revolution.