Edwin Chester was recorded in the 1891 Wright's Directory of Nottingham as coal dealer,carter and cowkeeper of 12 Goodhead street. By 1894, directories show that he had specialised incarting. According to the draft agreement in this collection (MS 275/3), Chester was living inWilford Grove, Nottingham, and was still a furniture remover working from Wilford Grove and BeauvaleRoad in 1922. In that year, a partnership with his two sons, George Edwin Chester and John WilliamChester was formed creating the firm of 'E. Chester and Sons'. The company operated from RylandCrescent and Beauvale Road, Nottingham until the 1940s.
John Field, whose will appears in this collection, was a grazier of Whitwick, Leicestershire. Hisson George of Osgathorpe and his friend John Sketchley of Whitwick, shoe maker, are recorded as histrustees. Two of John Field's daughters, Ellen and Sarah, had the surname Chester but the exactnature of the link with Edwin Chester is not clear.