AN OXFORD policeman became a hero when he saved an elderly man from being crushed by a lorry.

Pc Argyle was on duty in Magdalen Street on March 1, 1946 when he saw a military lorry veer out of control and head towards the man.

He pulled him out of the way as the truck crossed the pavement and crashed into the window of Elliston & Cavell - the department store known as ‘Oxford’s Little Harrods’.

Had he not acted so quickly, there is little doubt the man would have died.

The Oxford Mail reported: “The truck went through the window of one of Elliston & Cavell’s showrooms.

“Driver Jack Ashton, of the Royal Corps of Signals, was stationary at the traffic lights at George Street.

“When it began to move off, it developed a mechanical defect and began to swerve. The driver was unable to get it under control and it swerved over the pathway and went through the window. Glass was strewn in all directions.”

Thankfully, few pedestrians were about at the time and no-one was injured.

The Mail said the driver had a remarkable escape – and, by all accounts, so did the elderly man, thanks to Pc Argyle’s swift intervention.

Elliston & Cavell was one of Oxford’s leading stores, occupying the elegant four-storey building now part of the Debenhams’ empire.

It specialised in the latest fashions and “every branch of furnishing and decoration for the home”.

Its roots can be traced to 1823 when William Delf opened a linen and woollen drapery shop on the site.

He sold out seven years later to his assistants, Jesse Elliston, his brother-in-law, and a Mr Street.

Elliston soon had total control. In 1835, his chief clerk, John Caldecott Cavell, became a partner just before marrying Elliston’s sister, Sarah. When Elliston died in 1853, it was already an “extensive establishment”.

Cavell, who was mayor of Oxford three times, continued to develop the business until he fell to his death from the top floor in 1887, an accident attributed to hallucinations brought on by diabetes.

The Rose family then took over and ran the business successfully for 60 years.

A business review in 1895, when Thomas Harry Rose, known as THR, was managing director, described the firm as “the leading silk mercers, costumiers, carpet and bedstead warehousemen in Oxford”.

THR handed the store to his son Douglas and when Douglas died in 1951, there was no-one in the family to follow him.

Debenhams bought the business in 1957 and the time-honoured name of Elliston & Cavell was consigned to history in 1973 when the group decided all its shops should bear the Debenhams’ name.

l Any memories of working or shopping at Elliston & Cavell or Debenhams to share with readers?