Laura Ashley

Laura Ashley is famous for being a fashion designer. 

Laura Ashley
  • 1932: She was sent to London to Elmwood School.
  • She was sent back to Wales as an evacuee when she was 13 years old.
  • Early 1940s: At 16, Laura left school and served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.
  • 1950s: Laura Ashley starts a business by making patchwork on the kitchen table.
  • 1954: The business is established under the original name of Ashley Mountney Ltd.
  • 1960s: She moves to Machynlleth and opened a shop there.
  • 1960s: She buys Carno Railway Station to be used as a factory.
  • 1970: The Machynlleth shop closes, a shop in Shrewsbury opens.
  • 1977: The business wins a Queen’s Award for export.
  • 1978: The family had 70 shops across the world.
  • 1982: The 'Laura Ashley: Book of Home Decorating' is published.
  • 1986: The Laura Ashley Foundation is established by Bernard and the family.

Place of Birth: Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough

Date of Birth: 7 September 1925 

Date of Death: 17 September 1985 

‘When she talked of her roots those were Welsh roots that she referred to and she talked of her childhood home more often than not, her grandmother’s house, a coalminer’s cottage in Merthyr Tydfil was what she had in mind.’ – Anne Sebba, ‘Laura Ashley: A Life by Design’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1990), p. 3