Harris & Son, Harris Bros., Harris & Co.—or just Harris? / Messrs. Harris

[Coffee Break]

I read this part, "Harris & Son, Harris Bros., Harris & Co.—or just Harris? / Messrs. Harris", but am finding it difficult to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:

He wrote at length to Mrs. Bullevant, for there were a great many details to arrange with her. A short note was sufficient to Mrs. Haykin and postcards were enough for the tradespeople. He had to leave the address blank on the postcards, for strangely enough he could not precisely call to mind the title of each firm they dealt with: was the milkman Harris & Son, Harris Bros., Harris & Co.—or just Harris? It surprised him to think of the times he had seen the milk cart in the road and never noticed how the firm of Harris was constituted. Still, his wife ought to know. If she didn’t they would just have to put Messrs. Harris.

- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 30

This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. During the holiday, Mr. Stevens is trying to write a letter to the milkman who delivers milk to their house to give some instructions about the milk delivery because of their change of plans.

In this part, I wonder what this underlined part means.
I think they are all about the construction of a company...

So I guess "Harris & Son" implies that the company is run by Mr. Harrison and his son, and "Harris Bros." implies that the company is run by Mr. Harris and his brothers, and just "Harris" means Mr. Harris is the sole owner of the company, (Please correct me if I am wrong. ) but I wonder what "Harris & Co." and "Messrs. Harris" imply.

Would those two expressions mean that the company have many co-owners other than Mr. Harris...? Though again, this is just my guess.

 

[Barque]

Very often, the name of the organisation refers to the structure as it was when it was set up, and it may not necessarily retain the same structure always.

Harris & Son - The business was started by a person with the last name Harris and his son. Even if it's taken over by someone else called, say, Johnson, he might choose to retain the old name so as to take advantage of its goodwill.
Harris Bros. - The business was started by two or more brothers with the last name Harris.
Harris - This could either refer to a single Harris or a family called Harris.
Harris & Co. - The term "& Co" is short for "and company" meaning that Harris started the business along with others. Perhaps he was the one who invested the most and they decided to refer only to him by name. If he was equal partners with someone called Johnson, it might have been called Harris & Johnson.

As I said, these names tell you the original structure but may not always accurately reflect the present structure. So you might have, for example, a private limited company called Harris and Sons Ltd., which might originally have been started as a family concern set up by Harris and his sons, but might now be a company with no one from the Harris family in it any more.

 

[White Hat]

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 'Messrs' is the plural of 'Mr' and is used in the names of companies (e.g., 'The aqueduct was designed by Messrs Scott, Wilson, Kirkpatrick & Partners'). It is to be used before the names of two or more men (e.g., 'Messrs Wood and Laurence, solicitors'). It seems like the protagonist, who isn't sure what its official name is, will be using 'Messrs. Harris' to address a company owned (or originally established) by several people whose surname, or last name, is 'Harris', although not all of its owners might go by that surname.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Barque and @White Hat,

Thank you so much for the detailed explanations!
Wow, I learned so many things regarding the constructions of a company.
So these company names all refer to the company's original structure when it was founded, rather than its current structure.

And the difference between "Harris & Co." and "Messrs. Harris" would be that, the former would refer to one person whose surname is Harris, and other several people whose surname is not Harris, whereas the latter implies that all, or at least many, of the owners of the company have the surname of Harris.

And "Messrs. Harris" is different from "Harris", in that the former refers to many people whose surname is Harris as well as other many people whose surname is not Harris, whereas "Harris" implies that the sole owner has the surname of "Harris" or all of the owners have the surname of Harris.

So of all, "Messrs. Harris" is the most vague and comprehensive term, because implies that the company might have several owners, including owners not necessarily having the surname of Harris!

I sincerely appreciate your help. I learned so many new things all thanks to you!

 

[Barque]

So of all, "Messrs. Harris" is the most vague and comprehensive term, because implies that the company might have several owners, including owners not necessarily having the surname of Harris!

No. It doesn't imply that.
Messrs. Harris can only mean multiple owners with the surname Harris, at least at the time the firm was formed.

It's Harris & Co. that means "Harris and others".

But Mr. Stevens in this case believes that "Messrs. Harris" would be the best choice, possibly because he feels it's not as specific as Harris & Son, or Harris Bros.

Note that the word "company" refers to an entity registered as a company (under the applicable law relating to companies) and that's usually comprised of shares. These firms that supplied milk and other such necessities at that time were much more likely to have been proprietorships or partnerships or family businesses.