Australian Dictionary of Biography

Alfred Edments (1853-1909), merchant and philanthropist, was born on 17 October 1853 at Whitechapel, London, son of James Edments, labourer, and his wife Ann, née Lyons. After brief schooling he worked for a firm of cork merchants but in his twentieth year sailed for Sydney, arriving virtually penniless. He joined his brother James, a contractor at Cowra, but soon returned to Sydney and was employed by a wholesale drapery firm for four years. To gain further experience he went to Wellington, New Zealand, to manage a dairy-produce store, but though the business thrived under his direction, in 1880 he went back to Sydney and became an auctioneer and commission agent in the firm of James Walker.

In 1888 Edments established himself as an auctioneer in Melbourne but soon founded the Melbourne Supply Stores at 82 Bourke Street. The firm became noted for its watches, clocks, jewellery, cutlery and fancy goods. Edments's hard work and intelligence brought prosperity and he established branch stores in several Melbourne suburbs and at Geelong; later two shops were opened in Hobart.

Edments made the first of three overseas buying trips in 1891-92 and established a buying office in London. In search of novelties he travelled through Europe and the United States of America and, with an ever-increasing trade, he employed English and Continental buyers to assist him. His fancy goods business was the largest in Victoria and became one of the largest of its kind in the Commonwealth. On 15 September 1896 he married Annie Fennell and they made their home at Goodwood, Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills. Edments was a strong-featured, good-looking man, with wide-apart blue eyes, short-cropped hair and a full moustache, a kind-hearted citizen who, though without a family of his own, loved children. He was also fond of animals, especially horses.

Edments established his main Melbourne store at 309-311 Bourke Street in a three-storied spacious building. He believed in the principle of 'spot cash' and conducted a large cash business through the post, inviting country shopkeepers to inspect his wholesale stock in the upper floors. To him, one satisfied customer was worth a page of advertisements. He trained his staff well and was ahead of his time in his consideration of them. He distributed a proportion of profits half-yearly in the form of staff premiums, and he gave full holiday pay; their salaries, and often their medical bills, were paid when they were ill. He made a substantial donation to the (Royal) Melbourne Hospital and his employees were obliged each to contribute one penny weekly towards its support.

Continual hard work caused Edments's health to deteriorate while he was still in his forties and, in the last nine months of his life, he managed his business from his home. There, on 13 July 1909, he died of heart disease, leaving an estate valued for probate at £107,594 and an enlightened will which enabled his trustees to expand his business should they wish to do so. In 1916 a store was set up in Adelaide and in 1928, also in Adelaide, a chain of stores was created where nothing was priced over 2s. 6d. In the early 1930s there were twenty-three Edments stores, many in the Melbourne suburbs. An outstanding provision of his will was that made for charities in the Melbourne and metropolitan area by the establishment of the Alfred Edments Trust, formed in perpetuity. The splendid benefaction is a memorial to a vigorous yet unassuming merchant who, arriving destitute in Australia, built up a notable business and a considerable fortune.