page_title: Holt Renfrew
section_title: Furriers to the British monarchy
hierarchical_section_title: Holt Renfrew / Operations during 19th century / Furriers to the British monarchy
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover of the 1890-91 catalogue of G.R. Renfrew &amp; Co., Canadian retailer/fur merchant and "Furriers in Ordinary" to Queen Victoria. At this time, the company (which later would become Holt Renfrew) has stores in Quebec City and Toronto.
context_page_description: Holt, Renfrew & Co., Limited is a Canadian luxury department store chain founded in 1837 by William S. Henderson. It is currently owned by Selfridges Group, through which it is affiliated with the European department stores Selfridges, Brown Thomas, and de Bijenkorf. The chain is comparable to the American department stores Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
  Once "Furriers in Ordinary" to Queen Victoria, the chain was founded as a fur shop in Quebec City.
context_section_description: By the middle of the 19th century, the company had begun promoting its fur garments beyond Quebec to a larger North American and European market.  An 1890 mail order fur catalogue listed nine different medals and diplomas won at London, Paris, and Philadelphia exhibitions from 1851 to 1888.   During its history, the store served many notable patrons.  Admirers of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, had decided the coat he had worn during an 1883 visit to Quebec City was not befitting his status as first minister and bought him a new fur coat from the company.  Then, in 1886, G.R. Renfrew & Co. received its most prestigious honour, being named "Furriers in Ordinary" by Her Majesty Queen Victoria.   The Queen had purchased a number of fur items from the company’s display at the Indian & Colonial Exhibition held that year at London, England.  The Quebec Daily Telegraph wrote at length about the appointment:
  
  Visitors to the late provincial exhibition in this city will remember that lithographed copies in duplicate were shown of the royal letters patent from the Mistress of the Robes at Windsor Castle, notifying Messrs. G.R. Renfrew & Co. of their appointment as furriers to the Queen.  At the same exhibition this firm exposed a duplicate set in sable to that purchased from them by Her Majesty the Queen in person, at the Indian & Colonial Exhibition in London.  In common with many of our readers, we are not of opinion that a firm, any more than a private individual is the better individually, for rubbing against royalty, but we are speaking of business affairs in a business sense, and there is no doubt that Queen Victoria would not have patronized Messrs. G.R. Renfrew & Co. when she wanted a new muff, nor appointed them as her special furriers, unless she was satisfied that their articles were the very best of the kind manufactured, and that she could not do as well elsewhere.  It is upon the knowledge of these facts that we congratulate Messrs. G.R. Renfrew & Co., and feel a legitimate pride in the success of our fellow citizens abroad.  At home their success is exemplified by the large number of awards made [by] their exhibits, and also by the splendid stock which they always keep on hand in the mammoth establishment.
  It was, in fact, the first of a series of royal warrants issued by members of the British Royal Family. In 1901,  Holt, Renfrew & Co. was appointed furriers to Her Majesty Queen Alexandra and then to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, in 1903.  In 1910, the company was appointed by royal warrant furriers to His Majesty King George V.   The last of the royal warrants was issued by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, in 1921.
  In 1889, the company established its first store outside of Quebec City with a new retail outlet at 71 and 73 King Street East, Toronto.  William Henderson had by this time retired and his nephew, Allen E. Renfrew, had become partner.
caption: Cover of the G.R. Renfrew & Co. fur catalogue from the 1890–91 season.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2013:02:13 09:13:27", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "346", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6309", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "664", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1024"}