This is the basis of an article I wrote and appeared in the Silver Society Journal No. 6 Winter 1994

PAUL STORR:  His Master and Apprentices

 

THE RECORDS OF THE GOLDSMITHS' COMPANY  reveal that a large number of goldsmiths, who entered their marks at  Goldsmiths' Hall, had not been apprenticed to a member of the Company, nor had been free of that Company.  An inspection of the records of other City Livery Companies, however, revealed evidence of working goldsmiths being free of  those Companies.  An example is Paul Storr, who was a freeman of the Vintners' Company [1]and was formally apprenticed to William Rock.

 

William Rock became free of the Vintners Company by service on 2 July l755[2] and was granted a Victualler's licence at Bridge Street, London in l765-l767[3].  Between l772 and 1806, while at Parliament Street, he took sixteen apprentices including, on 7 July 1784, Paul Storr.  In l784 Rock is shown as a harpsicordemaker, but from l787 he was listed as a gentleman.  From the varying trades practised by his apprentices in later life (appendix 1), it seems likely that many of them were apprentices of convenience only.  Support for this hypothesis is provided by the fact that William Rock received no official payment from his apprentices; in the case of Paul Storr it is assumed that  he worked with Andrew Fogelberg.

 

Paul Storr himself was made free of the Vintners' Company and the City of London by Servitude on 5 October l79l[4] when of Tothill Fields, Westminster[5].  On the Livery Roll dated 9 October l804 he is at No.22 Air Street, Piccadilly, but in a livery list 9 October l804 he is shown as a silversmith of Gray's Inn Lane.  In the quarterage book for l8l0 he appears as Paul Storr Dean Street Soho l804

 

In the Court Minute Books of the Vintners' Company Storr was elected to the Court  of Assistants on the l5 July l837, when at Harrison Street, Gray's Inn Road; he did not attend the Court until the l3 December l838, presumably on his retirement from business.[6]  He attended again ll April l839 and 9 January and l4 May l840.  He died l8 March l844 and was buried at St Georges Tooting[7].

 

During his career, between l794 and l83l,  Storr had at least thirty apprentices.  Some of these became free of the Goldsmiths' Company while others became free of the Vintners' Company.  The apprenticeship registers of the Vintners' Company do not exist after l809.  From that date the entries of binding appear in the Court Minute  Books which only list the names of the apprentice and master, with no other information. If a man later became free of the City of  London it is possible to obtain details from his indenture.

 

 

THE MASTER

 

William Rock, the son of John[8], was apprenticed  6 February 1744  to William Dodd[9],  citizen and Vintner in the sum of £5 paid by the Treasurer of King Charles Royal Hospital Charity. He became free by service of the Vintners Company and City of London on the 2 July l755[10].

 

William Rock appears on the Livery Roll dated l July l762 at Bridge Street, Nr. Westminster Bridge, but his trade was not shown. The following appears in the Court Minutes dated  2  July:

 

"l July l762 Mr.William Rock appeared and paid his quart. £l.8. but declined accepting the Livery which occasioned some debate but the Court being well satisfied that Mr.Rock is in good circumstances offer'd to take his note for the fine payable in 3 months which Mr.Rock at length agreed to so was clothed".

 

The victuallers' licence records[11]  for 1765 show:

 

"Thomas Mabley of St.Margarets Wesminster, Victualler and David Williams of the same parish  witnessed that William Rock is this day licenced to keep a common ale-house, or victualling house in the parish of St.Margaret's in this City.

  

He was licenced again in 1766 and 1767. The 1762 and 1764 rate books for  St.Margaret's, Westminster[12] shows him paying £36 rent and tax of 13s.6d on a property in Bridge Street.  In 1769 he is listed in Parliaments Street, a property which was owned by the Vintners' Company[13].

 

William and Ann Rock's son Michael, was born 10 October and baptised at  St.Margaret's, Westminster 2 November 1766: he became free of the Vintners' Company by Patrimony on l May  and City of  London in June 1793.[14]  He is shown as a musician, of Parliament Street, Westminster, on 3 June l801 and 5 December 1804, when he took John Acton and Richard Griffiths apprentice respectively.

 

It seems likely that having been apprenticed to a vintner in 1744 William Rock practised in this trade for some yeas before becoming associated with the making of harpsichords with Peter Rock[15].  The musical link continued as it was his son's profession by 1793.  The Rocks therefore were in a similar line of business as the Beyer family.  Adam Beyer, Paul Storr's father-in-law, was a pianoforte and organ builder of Compton Street, Soho.

 

 

 

  The Apprentices

 

  2  4. 1794    Moses Cockfield                                                   

  2.  9.1795    William Spratley

  2.  9.1798      John Houle

  4.  5.1803     George Eli Harrison

  3.10.1804     Charles Mogdridge

  4.12.1804     Samuel Amphlett

  3.  4.1805     John Sparkes Tapley

  4.12.1805     Samuel Weaver

  7.  6.1809     Alfred Joseph Stothard

  7.  6.1809     John McChandlish

  6.12.1809     Peter Bogerts

  4.  4.1810     Charles Debegar

  5.  9.1810      Richard Freebairn

  3.10.1810      William Yeaman

  3.10.1810      William Fernell

  3.10.1810       Samuel Hodges

  6.12.1811       Edward Rance

  6.  2.1811       James Penn

  1.  5.1811       Charles Groves

  4.  5.1814       James Littler Barritt

  7.12.1814       Thomas Jenkins

  7.12.1814       George Nash

  6.11.1816       William Shelley

  5.11.1817        George William Carby

  1.  4.1818        Wm.Henry Saunders Fisher

   1. 4.1818        Richard Henry Yeamen

   3. 5.1820        Thomas Meek

   3. 5.1820        William Tapley

   3. 5.1820        Thomas Nash

   2. 5.1827        Richard Hunt

The text which follows has taken several years to compile and it is hoped that it will form the basis for further work on the subject.  Information is given here as notes, which are taken directly from the records.  Thus some names have spelling variants but are those that appear in the records consulted.  The address and trade shown after the dates of apprenticeship is that of Paul Storr as it appears in the apprenticeship register.

 

Samuel Amphlett

 

Apprenticed:  4 December 1804 (Air Street, Piccadilly, silversmith).

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company

Mark: None recorded.

Trade:

Family: Baptised 12 December 1790 at St.Clement Danes, Westminster.  When Samuel was apprenticed his father was a tailor of Mermaid Court, Southwark. His father, Samuel, shown of the parish of St.Martins-in-the Field when he married there 28 December 1787, Ann  (Paul Storr's sister).  She was of the parish of  St. Margaret's Westminster, Middx:, (a minor, by and with the consent of Thomas Storr, the natural  father of the said minor).  The marriage was witnessed by Thomas Storr and  a Lucy Draycott.  Thomas Storr, Paul's father, had rented a property in Little Queen Street North [16]between 1783-6 which was taken over by Samuel and Ann Amphlett from 1788-1791.

 

 

 

James Littler Barritt

 

Apprenticed: 4 May 1814

Freedom: Vintners' Company 3 Oct 1827.    In the quarterage books dated 1828-68 under yeomanry he is shown as a die sinker of  l  St.James Walk, Clerkenwell.

Mark: None recorded.

Trade: Die Sinker/Bookseller/Publisher

Family: Son of Thomas of Pittfield Street, Hoxton.

Apprentices: 7 November 1827 Joseph Hodges Barritt 7 years £29. 7 April 1830 Alfred Flack 7 years £80. Neither apprentice appears free of the Vintners' Company.

            The following extract gives  some details of James Barritt's career.[17]

                "Soon after the expiration of his apprenticeship, Barritt commenced business on his own account, as a sinker and engraver of dies, but, by a series of accidents, after several years found himself largely engaged in bookselling....In the year 1824, or thereabouts .. a German customer wished Mr.Remnant, a rising bookbinder, to bind half a dozen books in some covers which he  had brought over from France; these embossed morocco covers were a novelty, nothing like them had been seen in England, and MrEdmonds, Mr. Remnant's foreman who was ever keenly alive to promote the business of which he is now (1836) head, thought that Bibles and Prayer-books bound in similar covers would have a large sale...Chance led him to inquire of an artist who cut dies for a helmet manufacturer in Westminster, and he undertook to resolve the problem by sinking a die ... The next thing was to produce covers from the die; it so happened that in Lovell's Court, opposite Remant's shop there lived a working silversmith named Eley... he had screw presses to stamp spoons and dish-covers, and Edmonds, by watching the process of stamping the silver, learned how to stamp leather.  In his investigations he heard that a clever young man named Barritt was employed by Eley as a die-sinker; his servies were accordingly engaged to cut a book die, and thus Mr.Remnant was able to bind books in a new style, which became immensely popular (The Bookseller, 31 August 1863,pp494-95).  "After a breach with Remnant, Barritt took up on his own account, and the report continued: 'About the year 1831, Mr.William Eley, the silversmith gave up that business to work out a patent for a new cartrdige invented by himself, but he was before his day, and met with but poor success; he accordingly left that and joined Mr.Barritt, who was established in St.James's Walk, Clerkenwell, and only wanted capital to delvelop his new business...

William Eley left the partnership with Barritt in1835.             

Peter Bogearts

 

Apprenticed: 6 December 1809

Freedom: Not  free of the Vintners' Company

Mark: None recorded

Trade: Upholsterer

Family: Born 26 March 1795, son of Peter Bogaerts, carver and gilder, and his wife Charlotte. Baptised at St.Pancras Old Church l May 1799.  His father was both a neighbour of Paul Storr in Air Street and business partner.  Their liaison as carvers and gilders survived Storr's removal to Dean Street in 1807 and then to Harrison Street in 1819.  Storr left the partnership in 1822[18]. Peter Bogaerts appears as an upholsterer of St.James, Paddington, with his wife Elizabeth, when his son Peter Frederick was baptised there 22 September 1833.  His business address was 43 Duke Street, Grosvenor Square in a 1852 London Directory.  In the 1851 Census he is listed as an upholsterer (aged 52 born St.Pancras, Middlesex) with his wife Elizabeth (aged 54 born Charlebury, Oxon) and  two servants at 43 Duke Street.

 

George William Carby

Apprenticed: 5 December 1817

Freedom: Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London

Mark: None recorded

Trade: Silver and gold polisher

Family: Probably son of George Carby and Elizeat Attlee who were married 16 June 1797 at St.Mary, Marylebone, where their first daughter Eliz. was baptised on 1 March 1799. George William was born 20 March and baptised 25 May 1803 at St.James' Piccadilly.  He married Sarah Carss at the same church 27 July 1833.  They moved subsequently to the parish of St.Andrew Holborn and George William is shown as follows when his children were baptised there:

  silver polisher of Leather Lane: (Sarah, born 4 February, baptised 24 September 1835)

  silver polisher of Mount Pleasant: (Sophia, born 24 June, baptised 30 July 1828)

  gold polisher at 22 Gough Street: (Henry Augustus born 4 July, baptised 5 Aug 1844)

 

Moses Cockfield

 

Apprenticed: 2 April 1794 (Church Street, St.Ann's Soho)

Freedom: Vintners' Company,  1 July 1801, New Road, Marylebone; and the same in the

1802 quarterage book. Not on Livery.

Mark: None recorded.

Trade: Silversmith

Family: Son of Jonathan of Great George Street in the Parish of St.Margaret's Westminster, coachman, who married Margaret Shanks at St.Leonards Shoreditch 4 July 1779.  Mary Ann Sophia daughter of Moses Cockfield, silversmith,  of  Bath Square, his wife Sophia, was  born 15 December 1826  and baptised 1 June 1827 at St.Luke, Old Street, Finsbury.

 

Charles Andrew Debegar

 

Apprenticed:  4 April 1810

Freedom:  Vintners' Company 7 Oct 1818, when a silversmith of 49 Wardour Street, Soho. He appears as such in the quarterage books 1826-49, silversmith, China Man.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade: Silversmtih/China Man/Appraiser

Family:  Charles Andrew De Beuger, son of John De Buegar and Mary, was baptised at St.Mary, Marylebone 28 March 1794.  When Charles Andrew was apprenticed, his father was a gentleman, of Coventry Court, Haymarket.  Charles Andrew married c1818/19 Patience (?nee Crystal[19]) and when their children were baptised at St.Ann's Soho he was shown as follows:

  Silversmith of  King Street: (Charles Crystal, 20 February 1820, William Alexander, 27 May 1821)

 Silversmith of  Wardour Street.  (Susanna Crystal 5 January 1827, George Ross 11 September 1827, George 4 August 1831)

In the 1841 census he is listed aged 40 appraiser, living at 34 Wardour Street, with Priscilla (?enumerator error) 40, Charles 20 Tailor, Susannah 15, George. In the 1851 census the family are at the same address: Charles A 55 Appraiser, Patience 56, Will'm 30 Upholsterer, George 19 PianoForte maker.

His son Charles Crystall Debegar was free by patrimony of the Vintners' Company 4 February 1846 when shown as a tailor.  However in the Court minutes dated 26 May 1879 there is an entry saying he was struck off the list of Freemen of the Vintners' Company having been disenfranchised for lending his name to Messrs.Church, Bailey & Co at The Quinta, 17 London Street.  His address at the time was 5 Cambridge Street.  He gave the following reason for his action 'his tailoring business was not profitable; he lent his name but had made no money from the deal'.

 

 Apprentice: William Henry  Cox, 5 October 1821, for seven years, no consideration, who does not appear free of the Vintners' Company.

 

William Fernell

Apprenticed: 3 October 1810

Freedom: Not free of either Goldsmiths' or Vintners' Company.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family: Born 5 July 1795.  Son of Richard and Martha of Robinhood Court. Baptised with his sister Martha on 29 July 1798 at St Andrew Holborn.  A brother, George, was baptised at the same church 20 April 1800.  William's family are probably related to the family of goldsmithing Fernells, as shown below.

 

William¹

William ²                                Edward³

                                Richard⁴=Martha

    Richard⁵      William6     Martha       Edward⁷

 

William Fernell[2], the younger, son of William[1] of Wokingham in Berkshire, tallow chandler, was free of the Goldsmiths' Company by patrimony 6 December 1769 as a tallow chandler.

Edward[3] was apprenticed 4 August 1762 to William Grundy, goldsmith, and was free of the Goldsmiths Company 6 December 1769.  He entered his first mark with Grundy at 119 Fetter Lane on 23 February 1779.[20]

Richard Fernell[4], son of William[2] was free of the Goldsmiths' Company by patrimony on 6 July 1791 on the testimony of his father and uncle when he was a goldsmith of Fetter Lane, so presumably he was working with his uncle Edward Fernell.  He is shown of 4 New Court, Great Queen Street, in Feter Lane, 12 April 1810, in an insurance policy on a house at 25 Manor Place[21].

Richad[5] born 1789, the son of Richard of New Street, Fetter Lane, was apprenticed to William Ward in 1803 and was free of the Goldsmiths' Company by servitude, 6 February 1811, when he was a silversmith of City Garden Row, City Road.

William[6] Paul Storr's apprentice.

 

William Henry Saunders Fisher

Apprenticed: 1 April 1818

Freedom: Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark: None recorded

Trade: Silversmith/polisher.

Family: Born 11 August and baptised 8 October 1800 at St Botolph without Aldgate when his parents were living at Sheer Minories.  Son of Robert and Lydia (nee Harrod) who married at St.Dunstan, Stepney, 19 January 1794.  William married Mary Ann Foster at Old Church, St.Pancras, on 24 April 1823, when they were both of the parish and appears as follows when his children were baptised at the same church:

  Silversmith of Somers Town; (Mary Ann, 9 June 1824)

 Silversmith of Providence Row: (George, born 22 March 1831 and Sarah, born 8 April 1836 baptised 8 May 1836).

  Polisher at Skinners Place: (Robert, born 20 October 1829 and Charles, born 26 January l838, baptised

12 September 1840).

 

Richard Freebairn

 

Apprenticed:  5 September 1810

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners'  Company or the City of  London

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade: Sculptor

Family: Probably the son of Robert Freebairn, a painter, who first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782, and went to Rome in 1789 returning to 40 Upper John Street, Tottenham Court Road, in 1791/92 and who is shown as a landscape painter of Hampstead in Holden's London Directory of 1802.  Robert Freebairn married Elizabeth Clark 25 January 1792 at St.Pancras Old Church and Richard was born in 1797.

After four years of his apprenticeship Richard attended the Royal Academy schools in 1814 and later studied in Rome, returning to England in 1821.  Between 1818 and 1825 he exhibited several of his works at the Royal Academy.[22]

In the rates books for Lyons Inn[23] he is listed paying rates in the fourth quarter of  1824/25 at no 6, and again 1825/26.  It is likely he died circa 1825.

It seems reasonable to assume that Richard Freebairn, son of Robert the artist, is one and the same as the Storr apprentice.  His brother Alfred Robert (1794-1846) was an engraver, amongst whose most notable works was a series of engravings of Flaxman's Shield of Achilles (produced by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell)[24] which he published himself shortly before his death[25].  The family, like the Storrs, lived in Hampstead.  An additional connection is that another Storr apprentice, Alfred Stodhart, became a modeller, and it is possible Richard was in the workshops for a period  of  four years in order to learn the art of modelling, before going to the Academy to continue his career as a sculptor[26].

 

 

Charles Groves

 

Apprenticed:  1 May 1811

Freedom: Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of  London

Mark: None recorded

Family: Possibly son of Edward and Sarah, baptised St.Mary, Marylebone, 12 July 1797.

 

George Eli Harrison

 

Apprenticed:  4 May 1803 (Air Street, Piccadilly, silversmith).

Freedom:  Vintners' Company, 1 May 1811 when at 6 Orange Street, Leicester Fields.  Shown in the 1826 quarterage book under yeomanry as a working silversmith at Paul Storr's, with a note 'too poor to pay'.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade:  Silversmith.

Family:  Son of William and Jane.  Baptised 2 March 1789 at St.Ann's Soho.  Father shown as a hairdresser of  Leicester Place, Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex, when he was apprenticed.  George Eli Harrison was shown as a silversmith of Gower Street, with his wife Sarah, when their son George Eli was baptised at St.Pancras Old Church 18 February 1822.

 

Samuel Hodges

Apprenticed:  3 October 1810.

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade:  Silversmith/planisher.

Family:  With his wife Sarah, Samuel was shown as a silversmith living at Hertford Street when  their children were baptised at St. Pancras, Old Church:  Francis 25 December 1822 and  Samuel (born 17 October 1823) 19 April 1824.  In the 1851 census he is listed as a silversmith and planisher aged 51 (born Glos Bristol) living at 38 Sekforde Street, Clerkenwell, with his daughters: Sarah aged 29 housekeeper (born Somers Town Middx), Susan aged 24 (born Somers Town Middx), Mary Ann aged 5 (born St.Georges, Bloomsbury Middx), Emma aged 5m (born St.Clements).

 

 

John Houle

Apprenticed:  2 November 1798 (Air Street, Piccadilly, silversmith).

Freedom: Vintners' Company and City of London, 4 February 1807[27], when at Garden Court, St.Giles.  He went on the Livery on the recommendation of William Marriott 14 April 1818 when a silversmith of Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell.  Shown as such in the quarterage books until his death 13 October 1850.

Mark:  10 April 1811 as plateworker[28].

Trade: Silversmith.

Family:  Son of John Houle of New Street Square, London, chaser.  John Houle jnr went into business with two of his sons[29]:

            Daniel John, free by patrimony of the Vintners' Company 3 March 1841 when he was a silversmith of 24 Red Lion Street Clerkenwell, his father's address.  On a list of free Vintners  it gives the date of his freedom as 3 March 1839 and his abode as 26 Stock Orchard Villas, Caledonian Road, Holloway.  He went on the Livery 25 June 1841.

            Charles Houle, free by patrimony of  the Vintners' Company 1 September 1841 when he was also shown as a silversmith of 24 Red Lion Stret, Clerkenwell.

            Another son, Frederick, was free by patrimony 1 October 1851, shown as a grocer.

Apprentices:  See appendix II.

 

Richard Hunt

 

Apprenticed:  2 May 1827

Freedom:  Vintners' Company, 7 December 1836, when a silversmith of 24 Harrison Street, Regent Square.  Livery June 1837.  Shown in the quarterage book up till 1836 as a silversmith of 24 Harrison Street, Regent Square.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade:  Silversmith.

Family:  His grandfather Richard Hunt married Catherine (neé Beyer), who was Paul Storr's sister-in-law.  His father, John Samuel, was baptised 24 July 1785 at Westminster, St.Anne, Soho, and married Elizabeth Gunning on 11 September 1811 at St.Mary, Marylebone.  Their sons John (born 3 August 1811) and Richard (born 5 December 1812) were baptised 7 January 1813 at the same church.  When Richard was apprenticed in 1827 his father was shown as a silver chaser of Somers Place, St.Pancras.

  In the 1841 census Richard appears as a silversmith of Chesterfield Street aged 27 living with his wife Matilda Frances aged 18, and a family servant Sarah Cairly aged 20.  He is shown as a silversmith at the same address when their children were baptised at Old Church, St.Pancras:Frances (born 25 August) baptised 28 December 1841, Richard Samuel(born 29) baptised 29 June 1843.

   Richard's brother John was made free of the Goldsmith' Company by redemption on 5 February 1845, when shown as a silversmith, New Bond Street.  He was free of the City of London by redemption in March 1845[30].

    Richard's father John Samuel worked as a chaser joining Paul Storr at Dean Street as early as 1810,[31] and was a partner with Storr and John Mortimer in the firm Storr and Mortimer[32].  His brother John became a partner in the firm of Hunt & Roskell.

      In his will, drawn 4 February 1848, Richard left his wife a legacy of £20 and made his brothers John and George trustees and executors with instructions to dispose of all his personal effects and assets.  With the monies raised they were empowered, if they  wished, to invest in the company of Messrs Hunt & Roskell for such time as John Hunt remained managing partner.  However any money on loan was to be called in within six months of John Hunt ceasing in that position.  He made John, George and his sister Elizabeth guardians of his children.  His will was witnessed by Joseph Nangle clerk to Messrs.Hunt & Roskell and was proved  7 November 1849.

 

Thomas Jenkins

Apprenticed:  7 December 1814

Freedom: Goldsmiths' Company and City of London[33] by patrimony on 1 March 1837 on the testimony of Charles Debegar, citizen and vintner and Charles Thomas Mogridge, citizen and goldsmith, both former Storr apprentices, when he was a silversmith of Thornhill Street, Pentonville.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family:  Born in 1800 at St.James' Clerkenwell, Middlesex.  Son of Christopher and Isabilla (nee Leball) who marked 13 August 1797 at St.Giles, Cripplegate.  His father, Christopher, was apprenticed 7 February 1787 to Jonathan Bateman of Bunhill Row, Middlesex, £10.10s.  He became free of the Goldsmiths' Company 5 November 1794 when a goldsmith of Peartree Street, St.Lukes.

 

John McChandlish

Apprenticed: 7 June 1809 (Dean Street, Soho, silversmith).

Freedom: Not free of the Vintners' Company,

Mark: None recorded.

Family:  Son of William of Upper Charlotte Street, Marylebone, mason.

 

Thomas Meek

Apprenticed:  3 May 1820.

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family: With his wife Ann he is shown as a silversmith of Marchmont Place when their children were baptised at St.Pancras, Old Church: Sarah Ann 14 January 1829.  Thomas (born 23 August) 28 December l830.  He had moved to Percy Street when Rosanna, (born 23 December 1843) was baptised 3 March 1844.  The family were not listed at Marchmont Place in the 1841 census.

 

Charles Mogdridge

Apprenticed:  3 October 1804 (No.22 Air Street, Piccadilly).

Freedom: Goldsmiths' Company by patrimony on 5 June 1833 on the testimony of  William Clarke, citizen and Goldsmith, and Paul Storr, citizen and Vintner of London, when he was at 12 Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade:  Silversmith

Family:  Born at Vine Street, Hatton Garden in 1790[34]. His father Charles Thomas (son of Anthony late of Imbleton in the County of Worcester) was apprenticed to Stephen Gilbert 3 July 1771.  He was free of the Goldsmiths' Company 3 March 1779 when he is shown as a plateworker at Panton Street.  By 1804 when Charles Thomas jnr was apprenticed to Paul Storr his father was a working silversmith of No.8 Owens Court in the parish of St.Luke's, Old Street, Middlesex.

George Thomas, son of Charles Thomas jnr and Elizabeth was born (2 November) in Islington and baptised 3 December 1815 at Lady Huntingdon, Spar Fields, Clerkenwell.  He was apprenticed 2 February 1829 to Benjamin Smith of Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, silversmith, and was free of the Goldsmiths' Company 6 December 1837 when at White Conduit Terrace, chaser.  Another son Charles was born (7 March) and baptised 4 June 1820 at Lady Huntingdon, when his father was at St.Ann's Soho.  He appears in the 1851 census aged 31 as one of two shopmen employed with thirty-five other persons by John  Hunt of Hunt & Roskell.  A daughter Elizabeth was baptised 26 December 1824 at Lady Huntingdon.

In the 1841 census Charles Mogridge is listed as a silversmith aged 50 living at White Conduit Terrace, Islington Finsbury, with his wife Elizabeth aged 50 and son Charles 21 silver chaser, daughter Elizabeth 16, Charles Walls 25, gold beater, Louisa Walls 25, Walter Davis 25, watch spring maker, Alice Davis 3.

In a female petitioner's book at the Goldsmiths' Company dated 26 October 1855 Charles' wife Eliz.th Mogridge, appears as a pensioner aged 64, widow of a freeman (late pensioner), living at 38 Islington Terrace.  His eldest son Geo.Mogridge appears in a male petitioner's book of the Goldsmiths' Company on 21 February 1860.

 

George Nash

Apprenticed: 7 December 1814

Freedom: Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family:  Possibly son of George and Mary Nash, (born 28 November 1803) and baptised 27 May 1804 at St.James's Piccadilly.

In the 1804 watch rate book for Westminster[35] Nash (Bankrupt) is listed on the line above Paul Storr.  In 1805 against Nash there was a note 'for tenants Paul Storr'.  In 1801 Robert Nash of No.l Richmond Buildings Dean Street was flattening silver for Paul Storr[36], however as yet no connection has been established, or any reason found to explain the annotations.

 

 

Thomas Nash

Apprenticed: 3 May 1820.

Freedom:  The following entry appears 6 March 1822 both in the Vintners' Court minute book and the Goldsmiths' Company apprentices register: late apprentice of Paul Storr turned over to Wm Eley Jnr, cit and Goldsmith, and later to James Brady cit. and Goldsmith. He does not appear free of  the Vintners' or Goldsmiths' Company.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family:  No information found, however a Thomas W.Nash Engraver (of Glover & Nash) of 17 Albemarle Street, Clerkenwell is listed in a 1852 London Directory.

 

James Penn

Apprenticed:  6 February 1811

Freedom: Vintners' Company and City of  London 6 February 1822[37] when a silversmith of St.James Walk, Clerkenwell.  Shown in a list of Court and Livery in the quarterage book dated 1826 as the same, annotated 'cannot find him'.

Trade:  Silversmith.

Family:  Baptised at Shoreditch St.Leonards 28 January 1798.  Son of Samuel and Sarah.  When James was apprenticed in 1811 his father was shown as late of Noble Street, Saint Lukes, gentleman's servant deceased.

James Penn married Harriet Smith at St.Ann, Soho on 13 October 1821 and he was shown as follows when their children were baptised at St.James, Finsbury:

silversmith, North Street: (James William born 3 November 1824, baptised 8 October 1826)

Silversmith Southampton Street: (Anna Louisa born 8 May, baptised 22 June 1834).

When his son James William was apprenticed to William Theobalds[38] 6 November 1839 he was a silversmith of 6 Paradise Street, Tabernacle Walk, and in the 1841 census he is shown as a spoon maker aged 40 living with Harriet 15, Henry 10 and Isabella 4 at the same address.

His son James William was turned over to Henry John Lias 4 January 1843, as his master was retiring from business, and became free of the Goldsmiths' Company 7 July 1847 when a silver spoon maker of 8 Finsbury street.  James William was shown as the same, who had been employed by Messrs.Chawner & Co for eighteen years, living at 100 Shaftesbury Street, when he appears in the Goldsmiths' Company male petitioners book dated June 1871.  James William Penn's  five sons were all free of the Goldsmiths' Company by  Patrimony: 5 May 1875 William Robert Penn, card and mount maker; 7 July 1875 James Penn, silver watchcase maker; 5 April 1882 Robert Penn engineer, died February 1953; 7 November 1883 Henry Penn, watchcase maker, later entered a mark; 7 April 1886 Charles Albert Penn, commercial clerk.

A William Penn entered a mark as a smallworker 5 May 1801 4 Mays Buildings, St.Martin's Lane, but to date no connection has been established.

 

 

 

 

Edward Rance

Apprenticed: 6 February 1811

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of  London

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade: Silver polisher.

Family: Edward Rance married Sarah Carter at St.Martin-in-the Fields 19 April 1824 when they were both of the parish.  He appears as follows when their children were baptised at St.Pancras:

Silver polisher, Southampton Street: (Edward, born 10, baptised 23 October 1827).

Silver polisher, St.Paul's Terrace: (Elizabeth baptised 17 November 1833).

The younger Edward appears in the 1851 census aged 23 as an assistant warehouseman at 136 Cheapside.

 

William Shelley

Apprenticed: 6 November 1816.

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of  London.

Mark: None recorded

Family: Probably the son of William and Sarah Shelley of Benjamin Street, born 20 June and baptised 21 July 1801 at St.Sepulchre.  His father appears as a silversmith of Blue Anchor Court, Great Peter Street, on 18 February 1816 when his brother and sister, Ann and Robert, were baptised at St.John Smith Square, and the same when another sister Mary was baptised 5 April  1818.

 

William Spratley

Apprenticed:  2 September 1795 (Church Street, St.Ann's Soho, silversmith).

Freedom: Vintners' Company, 3 December 1806, at Air Street, Piccadilly.  Livery: 10 February 1807, when a wharfinger at Beaufort Wharf and the same but of Tooley Street in the 1807 quarterage book.

Mark: None recorded.

Trade: Silversmith/wharfinger

Family: Thomas Spratley married Jane Smith 18 September 1744 at St.Giles, Cripplegate and William was baptised there 2 September 1781.  Thomas was shown as late of Cannonbury Lane in the Parish of St.Mary, Islington, broker deceased when William was apprenticed.  William's death was reported in the Court minutes 10 October 1839.

Apprentices:  William is listed as a silversmith, citizen and Vintner of Dean Street, Soho, when he took the following apprentices, although none of them appear to have become working silversmiths:

 James King: 5 May 1809, son of Robert of Coventry Court, St.Martin's in the Fields, coal dealer.  King was free 2 June 1819 when at 13 Rupert Street, Haymarket, plumber.

William Jones: son of James, late of Lambeth in the County of Surrey, silversmith, deceased.  Jones was free 3 December 1817.

Joseph Jenkinson: l February 1809, son of John Jenkinson of Fulham in Middx. tallow chandler.  Jenkinson was not made free.

Richard Holditch:  2 March 1814, free 6 June 1827, 46 Lower Shadwell, iron merchant.

 

Alfred Joseph Stothard

Apprenticed: 7 June 1809 (Dean Street, Soho, Silversmith).

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of  London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade: Medallist/engraver/die engraver/sculptor.

Family:  Born 27 August 1793, son of Thomas Stothard R.A.(1755-1824), and Rebecca his wife, who were living at Newman Street, Marylebone.  Baptised at St.Marylebone 30 April 1812. Died 6 October 1864.

Married Sophia Pinheiro at St.Pancras Old Church on 19 October 1820; and shown as follows when his children were baptised there;

die engraver of 13 Clarendon St: (Susannah, 26 September 1821)

engraver, Clarendon Street: (Rebekah Jane, 15 April 1823).

medallist of Seymour Street North: (Charlotte, 11 May 1825)

sculptor, 69 Upper Seymour Street: (Mary, 12 July 1829 and Sophia Sarah, 17 November 1829).

He appears as a medal engraver in the 1851 census aged 57 (born Marylebone, Middx), living at 34 Upper Park Street, Islington with his wife Sophia (54, born Whitechapel) and children: Maria 19 fancy worker born St.Pancras, Phoebe 17 fancy worker born St.Brides, Arthur 15 born Islington, Thomas 12 born Islington.

As a medallist, he executed medallions of George IV, Byron, Caning and Sir Walter Scott, exhibiting twenty works at the Royal Academy between 1821 and 1845[39].  In 1828 he was contracted to supply four bas-reliefs for Buckingham Palace from designs by his father which were published in book form in 1829[40], and in the same year received £584 for the work[41].  He is listed as a Medallist of 13 Clarendon Street 1821-6, Medal Engraver in Ordinary to His Majesty, 36 Upper Seymour Street, Euston Square, 1827-8, 69 Upper Seymour Street 1831-2; 108 Dorset Street, 1832; 3 Bell's Buildings, Salisbury Square 1833-4, 17 Portland Place, Canonbury Square 1835-6, 34 Upper Park Street, Barnsbury Park 1839-45.

His father, Thomas, entered the schools of the Royal Academy in 1777, was made an Associate in 1785 and Academician in 1794, deputy Librarian in 1810 and Librarian in 1812.  In 1777 he was living at Mr.Somners (or Sumners) near the Blind Beggard at Bethnal Green,  17 August 1784 he married Rebecca Watkins at St.Martins-in-the Fields, and in 1787 he took lodgings in the Strand.  In 1794 he moved from Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, to 28 Newman Street; here he remained until his death.  In 1814 Thomas Stothard successfully competed for the silver shield to be presented by the merchants and bankers of London to the Duke of Wellington in commemoration of his victories.  He executed the models for the silversmiths, Green, Ward and Green, and made etchings and designs.  He produced several designs for table silver for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell,[42] mostly produced by Paul Storr and his successors, including: Bacchanalian, Boar Hunt and Mask and Stag Hunt[43].  He also designed transparencies: these were paintings for a backdrop, perhaps on linen or some other sort of material, which would have been suitable for a window display or exhibition, and he designed one for Rundell & Bridge on  the occasion of the jubilee of  George III (1810) and two in 1814 to celebrate the peace following the Napoleonic Wars.

 

John Sparkes Tapley

Apprenticed:  3 April 1805 (Air Street, Piccadilly, working silversmith).

Freedom:  Vintners' Company and City of London[44] 5 June 1839, when a silversmith of 4 Horseshoe Court, Ludgate Hill and his place of abode was shown as l Bournam Cottages, Rural Vale, Northfleet, Kent.  He appears as the same in the quarterage books 1841-9 and 1850-52 at Roupell Street.

Mark:  Entered his first mark as a silverworker 7 December 1833, 'Manufactory' 24 Lower Edmond Street, King's Cross.[45]  He moved to 23 Winchester Street, Pentonville 24 June 1834 and to 4 Horse Shoe Court, Ludgate Hill 10 September 1835, alongside the newly rebuilt premises of Rundell Bridge & Co, where he was trading with his sons, Sparkes William and George[46].

Trade:  Silversmith.

Family:  His father, William Tapley of St.Sidwell, silversmith, late apprentice of Richard Jenkins, was admitted as an Exeter freeman, 26 September 1795; married Ann Sparkes at St.David's Church, Exeter, on 7 August 1790.  John Sparkes was baptised there 10 July 1791.  William Tapley is listed as a 'Constable' in the 1803 St.David's parish returns of men liable to serve in the Militia[47].

The family had moved to London by 3 February 1805 when another son, William Sparkes, born 30 December 1804, was baptised at St.James's Piccadilly.  When John Sparkes was apprenticed his father was shown as a silversmith of Carnaby Street, Westminster.

John Sparkes and his wife Elizabeth Mary are recorded in the baptisms of their children:

Sparkes William 26 December 1813, George 23 October 1814 and Emma 6 April 1817 at Christchurch, Southwark and Elizabeth Sarah born July 1819 and baptised at St.Ann's Soho, 24 July 1819 where John Sparkes is recorded as a silversmith of St.Pancras.  Elizabeth must have died before 1841 as in the census that year he is listed aged 50 living with his wife Louisa, 40, at 4 Horse Shoe Court.  He moved again to 40 Roupell Street Cornwall Road, Waterloo Road, 30 September 1844, and is listed there in the 1851 census as a widower of 59 silversmith born Exeter St.Davids, employing one man James Garnett, apprentice (born St.Dunstans, Middx).

It appears John Sparkes married for a third time as in his Will, drawn on 23 May 1877 he was married to Mary Ann and living at 5 Beaumont Cottages, Rural Vale, Northfleet.  In the Will he mentions his daughter Emma, wife of John Bentley of 33 Offord Road, Barnsbury, London, his son George, Mrs.Sarah Main (Widow) of 375 Liverpool Road, Islington (who was his wife's sister) and Andrew Main (his wife's  nephew). His wife and her nephew were appointed joint executors.  The Will was proved at London 29 May 2879 to Andrew Main the surviving executor.

Sarah Main aged 50 and a widow of a freeman appears in a Goldsmiths' Company female petitioners book in February 1860 as a mourning flower maker, living at 5 Lower Street, Islington and again in July 1861 when she is living at 3 Henry Street, Pentonville.  She is possibly the wife of Andrew Main, son of John (who was shown as late of Fore Street, Cripplegate baker deceased, on his apprenticeship 6 November 1822 to John Lacey Hawkins £60 seven years).  He was free of the Goldsmiths' Company 6 January 1830 when a spoonmaker of Jewin Crescent.

 

William Tapley

Apprenticed:  3 May 1820

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of  London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family:  Born 30 December 1804.  Baptised 3 February 1805 at St.James's Piccadilly.  Son of William and Ann and bother of John Sparkes.

 

 

 

Samuel Weaver

Apprenticed:  4 December 1805 (Air Street, Piccadilly, in the liberty of Saint James Westminster and County of Middx, working silversmith).

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Trade: Silversmith.

Family:  Baptised at St.Giles in the Fields, 30 January 1791.  His father, Richard Weaver, son of James of Colebrooke, Bucks, Husbandman, was apprenticed 5 February 1766 to Stephen Gilbert of Panton Street, in the parish of St.James, Westminster in Middlesex, plateworker, and became free of the Goldsmiths' Company 8 January 1777, when a Goldsmith of Hemmings Row,  St.Martin's Lane.  He married Ann Blissard at St.Anne Soho 12 September 1791, and is listed in Holden's London directory of 1802 at 1 Crown Street, Soho, Staffordshire Warehouse and in 1805 at the same address, China & Glass Warehouse.  When Samuel was apprenticed Richard is shown as a silversmith of Crown Street, St.Giles in the Fields.

 

 

 Richard Henry Yeman[48]

Apprenticed: 1 April 1818.

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark:  None recorded.

Family: Possibly the son of Alexander and Rose Yeman, baptised at St.Martin in the Fields on 15 February 1804.

 

William Yeaman[49]

Apprenticed:  3 October 1810.

Freedom:  Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

Mark:  None  recorded.

Family:  Possibly William Alexander Yeman son of William and Mary, who was born 7 July and baptised 12 August 1804 at James's Piccadilly.

 

 

APPENDIX I:  Apprentices of  William Rock

Between 1771 and 1806 William Rock took sixteen apprentices:  his first, Thomas Cotton, on 5 February 1772 when he is merely listed as a citizen and vintner of Parliament Street.  There is then a gap of eleven years until 1 October 1783 when he took one Benjamin Aked.  In the apprenticeship o Daniel Douglas, 7 April 1784, he is shown as a harpsichordemaker of Parliament Street.[50]  Henry William Grist, who was apprenticed 2 June 1784, was shown at the Horse and Groom at Lambeth when he was made free 6 July 1791.  Paul Storr was a silversmith. Edward Newcombe, apprenticed 3 October 1787 was a cook at Birch's Cornhill when he was free 7 October 1795.  Mark Daniel, apprenticed 1 November 1797, was a musician of Little College Street, Westminster, when he was free 4 May 1805.

 

 

 

APPENDIX II:  Apprentices of John Houle

30 July 1811, Nathaniel William Somersall, consideration £20, 7 years, stand over not having been a month on Liking. (this is exactly the entry in the minute book).

4 September 1811, William Nathaniel Somersall, son of Frederick Edmond Somersall of Mile End, Middlesex, corn meter, consideration £40, 7 years.  He was free of the Vintners' Company and City of London[51] 7 October 1818 when a working silversmith of 24 Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell.  Listed in the quarterage books as Nath.W.Somersall (Clerical error) at 11 Bridgewater Square, Barbican, working silversmith.  Shown in the quarterage book 1841-3 at 53 Bartholomew Close, silversmith.  1st mark: as plateworker in partnership with R.W.Atkins, 26 July 1824, 11 Bridgwater Square.  2nd mark: 31 March 1825.  3rd Mark: 6 February 1830.  He took Stephen Henry Jones apprentice for 7 years on 6 April 1830, no consideration; Edward Burgs, 7 February 1838, 7 years, 28 guineas; William George Grampton, 4 December 1839, 7 years, £25.  None of  his apprentices appeared free of the Vintners' Company.

1 June 1814, Robert Thirtle Wright, son of Isaac Wright of Bowling Green Lane in the Parish of St.James' Clerkenwell, £40, 7 years. Free of the Vintners' 6 June 1821 and the City of London[52]  September 1821 when a working silversmith of 1 Bowling Green Lane, Clerkenwell (the address until 5 April 1821 of William Smalt Southey).

1 March 1820, Thomas White, son of Thomas White victualler deceased, £49, 7 years. Free of  the Vintners' Company and City of London[53] 5 September 1827, when a silversmith if 9 St.John Street Clerkenwell.

4 March 1818, William Papprill, £40, 7 years. Not free of the Vintners' Company or City of London.

4 October 1826, William Thomas Weatherhead, son of Henry Weatherhead (who was of Newcastle Place, Clerkenwell, when his son was apprenticed) £49.19s, 7 years.  He was free of the Vintners' Company 7 June 1843[54]. when a silversmith of 24 Bridges Street, Covent Garden[55].  Henry Weatherhead his father was one of a number of partners with Paul Storr and Philip Rundell, in the firm Storr & Co (Rundell Bridge & Rundell's manufacturing subsidiary) silversmiths, sculptors and gilders, 75 and 76 Dean Street, Soho, until the dissolution of their partnership 18 February 1819[56].

 

2 September 1840 Charles Harman, son of Charles of 211 Whitecross Street in the County of Middlesex, butcher, £49.19s. 7 years.  Free 5 December 1849 when at 88 Hackney Road.  In the list of free Vintners' he is shown as a butcher in Surbiton.

 

Acknowledgements:

 

My thanks to David Beasley, Librarian Goldsmiths' Hall;  Susan Hare; John Culme; Vanessa Brett; The Archivist, Devon Record Office; staff at the Corporation of London Records Office(now the London Metropolitan Archive), Manuscript Department, Guildhall Library, Victoria Library, my brother Dr.Mike Hinton, my son Alistair for setting up and managing this website.