Thomas Bowtell, Tottenham Shoe Mart

Tags

footwear

Street View: 49
Address: 152 Tottenham Court Road

In two previous post, here and here, we saw that the Bowtells ran various boot and shoe shops, both in and outside London, and we also found out that it is not always easy to tell which Bowtell ran which shop when. Father and eldest son were both named Thomas and were listed without the handy distinction of ‘senior’, ‘junior’, ‘the elder’, ‘the younger’ or somesuch. Or the shop was just listed for Bowtell & Co., which does not help. Anyway, I have tried to give an overview of all the shops in the post for 49 Skinner Street and that will have to do. This post is about the Tottenham Court Road shop at number 152, which is first listed in March 1837 for Thomas Bowtell in a Sun Fire Office record.

But an earlier Old Bailey case of theft shows that Thomas had a shop in Tottenham Court Road a number of years before he took out the insurance, although it may not have been at number 152. In July 1832, one John Rae is indicted for stealing a pair of boots from Thomas Bowtell “and another”. Rae apparently grabbed the boots through the open door of the shop, but the shopboy saw him do it and ran after him. Rae was caught with the boots in his possession, found guilty and transported for seven years.⁽¹⁾ This was, however, not the first time that Rae had attempted to steel boots from Bowtell. A very short transcription of another Old Bailey case saw Rae accused of stealing boots a few weeks before the other attempt, but this time he was found ‘not guilty’.⁽²⁾ No indication is given what happened exactly, but Thomas Bowtell is recorded as saying “these boots were the property of myself and brother”, so we can deduce that it was Thomas junior who ran the Tottenham Court Road shop. Yet another Old Bailey case helps to identify the brother as William, as in 1837 more boots were allegedly stolen and Thomas testifies that he is “a bootmaker, and in partnership with my brother William, at No. 19, Strand”.⁽³⁾ In Robson’s 1842 Directory and in the 1843 Post Office Directory, the shops in both Strand and Tottenham Court Road are listed for T. & W., which must be Thomas and William.

1886 map showing both nos 117 and 152, by that time neither premises were occupied by the Bowtells. Number 152 had been incorporated into the Shoolbred department store and 117 had been turned into a restaurant

And at some point in time, the brothers ran a third shop at 42 Crawford Street, but on the 7th of January 1851, they dissolved their partnership.⁽⁴⁾. The Tottenham Court Road shop is by then listed at number 117 and no longer at no. 152. The 1851 census shows William living at number 117 with his assistant Martha Wardley. Thomas is then living at Portland Terrace and is described as master bootmaker, employing 6 men. But things did not go as well as the census appears to indicate, as in 1855, Thomas’s name is found in a list of bankrupts in the Debtor’s Prison and he is described as “formerly of no. 19 Strand, boot and shoe maker, having a private residence, first at no. 51, Saint John’s Wood, then at no. 4, Elm Tree-road, Saint John’s Wood, then again of some place, and next and late of no. 117, Tottenham Court Road, assistant to a boot and shoe maker”.⁽⁵⁾ The 1856 Post Office Directory lists both 19 Strand and 117 Tottenham Court Road for William, so he seems to have come to the rescue of Thomas.

But, things were not well at William’s either. In 1860, he appeared to have a debt of 1,600l at Lutwych and George, leather merchants, but what was worse, he had become involved in giving out dodgy bills which also involved his brother John and a John Baker, publican in Hertfordshire. This John Baker was the brother of Thomas Bowtell senior’s second wife Susannah, and a shoe shop had been opened in Baker’s name across the street from William, although Baker had never been in the shoe trade. William ended up in the Queen’s Prison.⁽⁶⁾

The Morning Chronicle, 12 December 1860

But all these bankruptcies did not mean the immediate end of the business in Tottenham Court Road, as in the 1861 census, Thomas could still be found at number 117 as a bootmaker. Also living there as housekeeper is Martha Wardley, sister-in-law. It turns out that Thomas had married Mary Ann Wardley, Martha’s sister, but that was not the end of the family link as sometime between 1861 and 1871, William and Martha marry as well – a double family knot so to speak. Where William is in 1861 is unclear; perhaps still in prison? But by 1871, he could be found as a “shopman in the shoe trade” in Bristol. Living with William and his wife Martha are two daughters of Thomas, Ellen and Alice. Thomas, his wife Mary Ann, and some of their older children are living in Grange Road, Hackney. Fast forward twenty years to 1891 when William is retired, but still in Bristol. Thomas is also retired, but living at Mortlake Surrey at the Bootmaker Institute, also known as the Bootmakers Asylum. These almshouses were founded in 1836 and run by the Master Boot and Shoe Makers’ Association for the Relief of Aged and Decayed members, their Widows and Orphans, which later became the Boot Trade Benevolent Society (see here).

The Bowtell emporium that father Thomas had so carefully built up, did not survive the next generation. John and Thomas went bankrupt in 1855, William in 1860, and Joseph thoroughly disgraced himself in 1857.

shoemaker at work from Tabart’s Book of Trades, vol. 2 (1806)

——————————-

(1) Old Bailey case t18320705-86.
(2) Old Bailey case t18320517-141.
(3) Old Bailey case t18370130-557.
(4) The London Gazette, 10 January 1851.
(5) The London Gazette, 12 June and 10 July 1855.
(6) The London Gazette, 6 November 1860.

Neighbours:

<– 151 Tottenham Court Road

153 Tottenham Court Road –>

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Thomas Rawbone, wine vaults

Street View: 49
Address: 119 Tottenham Court Road

When writing this post, I quickly ran into trouble over a confusion as there are two Northumberland Arms in the Tottenham Court Road area, one in Goodge Street and one in Tottenham Court Road itself. The first one was often referred to as ‘in Goodge Street, Tottenham Court Road’, and just as frequently, neither was given a house number in the records, so it is perhaps understandable that confusion arose, not just with me, but with other researchers as well. Having said all this, this post is solely about the Northumberland Arms at 119 Tottenham Court Road, corner of Grafton Street (now Grafton Way). In 1840, Nathaniel Whittock produced his On the Construction and Decoration of the Shop Fronts of London and plate 10 depicted the wine and spirit warehouse on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Grafton Street. The illustration helpfully displays the house number 119, so no confusion possible in this case.

According to Whittock, the establishment

is distinguished by having two stories converted into one, for the purpose of introducing immense vats, and likewise giving loftiness to the shop, which was formerly much too low to cut a splendid figure among the rival establishments by which it was surrounded: the effect at the present time is grand (if such a term may be applied to an erection of this sort) without being gaudy.

The effect may have been grand, but Whittock made the place look a lot grander than it actually was; compare it with the Google Street View screenshot at the bottom of this post and you will see that the man entering the establishment in Whittock’s picture must have been very short indeed. The name on the front, ‘Astell’, does not match the one in Tallis, nor does Whittock make clear who was responsible for the renovation that made two stories into one, so we will have to do more research. A preliminary trawl through newspapers, old directories and archival records for roughly the years 1830-1860 elicited the following names:

1828-1833 George Humble
1839-1843 Thomas Rawbone
1848-1849 Thomas Loader
1849-1856 Jane Mary Loader, widow of Thomas Loader
1855-1857 James Sidney Griffith Evans
1857-1860 Frederick Butcher
1861-1862 Sarah Butcher, widow of Frederick Butcher

As Whittock published his book in 1840, Astell must have had the pub in or before that year, but unfortunately, I have not been able to find any evidence of him. There is a gap of a few years between what I could find for George Humble and Thomas Rawbone, but alas, no evidence that Astell filled that gap. We will have to leave this mystery as it is for the moment and concentrate on Rawbone who was mentioned by Tallis as managing the wine vaults in 1839 when the Street View was published. Pigot’s Directory of 1839 also lists Rawbone at number 119, so he was certainly there in that year. The 1841 census, however, finds one Hardwick Rawbone on the premises, together with an Ann Rawbone, two barmen, a porter and a female servant. But, the 1843 Post Office Directory has Thomas Rawbone as the proprietor. So what is going on? Well, Harwick and Ann turn out to be two of Thomas’s children. Ann Reeves Rawbone was born in 1816 as the daughter of Thomas Rawbone and his wife Mary. She was baptised at Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, where her father was a schoolmaster. A baptism record for Hardwick John Reeves Rawbone has not been found, but he later became a minister and changed his name to Rathbone.⁽¹⁾ In the will of his sister Elizabeth, then living at Brill, Buckinghamshire, Hardwick is mentioned as “the reverend Hardwick John Reeves Rawbone alias Rathbone”⁽²⁾ and on Hardwick’s own marriage registration it is clear that his name is Rathbone and his father’s is still Rawbone. Whether father Thomas approved of the name change is debatable as in his will, he still calls his son Rawbone.⁽³⁾

From the baptism record of his daughter Ann, we saw that Rawbone started his career in 1816 as a schoolmaster, but by 1829 when daughter Elizabeth is baptised at St. James, Clerkenwell, he is listed as a victualler. On the marriage registration for his daughter Ann in 1846 he is listed as a brewer and a notice in The London Gazette of 13 August 1847 tells us that, in December 1846, Thomas Rawbone and Edward Hawks had dissolved their partnership as brewers at the Hollywood Brewery, Fulham Road, Little Chelsea. In 1851, on the registration form of his son’s marriage, he is listed as a wine merchant. Rawbone retired to Brill, Buckinghamshire, close to the Oxfordshire border, where he died in late 1856. The fact that he came from Buckinghamshire and had property there helps us to narrow the gap in occupation of the Northumberland Arms between Humble and Rawbone as the 1837 poll books for Bierton with Broughton, Buckinghamshire, have his old address of Bath Place, New Road, London, crossed out and Grafton Street, Tottenham Court Road, handwritten above the original entry. The 1838 printed edition duly gives Grafton Street as his abode. This certainly suggests that Rawbone took over the Northumberland Arms somewhere in 1837, if not in 1836. In an 1834 list of members of the Licensed Victuallers Association he was still listed at the Adam and Eve, 20 Bath Place, so the uncertainty for the years 1834-1836 remains. Perhaps Astell was the proprietor of the pub in those years, but perhaps not, and was his name an invention by Nathaniel Whittock. Perhaps we will find out in the future, but for now it has to remain a question, just as the name of person responsible for the renovation of the Northumberland Arms that so impressed Whittock will have to remain a blank for the moment.

© Copyright Mike Quinn, reused under CC-licence. For original photo see here.

Google Street View, June 2016. The name of a former(?) proprietor is still visible on the window sill: G.E. Aldwinkles

For photos of the inside of the pub see their website here.

(1) He can be found in the records of Cambridge University as admitted at Peterhouse in 1842. He became a deacon in 1846, a priest in 1847, and first served at St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, before moving to various other places. He died in 1884.
(2) PROB 11/2218/284.
(3) PROB 11/2250/294.

Neighbours:

<– 118 Tottenham Court Road

120 Tottenham Court Road –>

Todd & Procter, cheesemongers

Tags

food and drink

Street View: 46 (Suppl. 16) and 49
Address: 78, St. Paul’s Churchyard and 94, Tottenham Court Road

Todd & Procter’s cheese shop was situated at no. 78 at the west end of St. Paul’s Churchyard; the elevation can be seen above on the left. At 94 Tottenham Court Road, however, another cheesemonger named Procter could be found; see elevation on the right. Were they related? And if so, what did Todd have to do with them? It is going to be a long story, but bear with me, we’ll get there.

On 15 August 1853, Todd and Procter appeared at the Old Bailey because one of their employees had embezzled some money. From this we learn their first names, John Todd and Robert Procter and that they are partners. When questioned about the number of staff, Todd says that their establishment has “eight or nine; some are employed behind the counter, and some in carrying out” James Crawley had been their porter for twelve years and was supposed to hand in the money to whoever was behind the counter when he came back from a delivery. Procter had his suspicions, as it turned out correctly, that Crawley was withholding money. When taken into custody and searched, he had some 300l. in betting slips in his pocket. Because of his previous good behaviour, he was confined for four months. The whole proceedings can be read here under number 832.

In 1871, the London Gazette published a notice that the partnership between John Todd and Robert Procter had been dissolved and that Robert was to continue the business.

London Gazette 3 Jan. 1871

A look at the census records for 78 St. Paul’s Churchyard elicited the following (servants ignored):
1841: John Todd (40), Robert Procter (30)
1851: Robert Procter (45), Mary, his wife (45), Robert, a son (8) Elizabeth, a daughter (4), and John, another son (2).
1861: not available
1871: Robert Procter (65), sons Robert (28), John (22), daughters Mary (26), and Elizabeth (24), John Todd, ‘annuitant late cheesemonger’ (76)

So, John Todd lived above the shop in 1841, moved out when Robert was raising a family, but came back again as a pensioner. Assumedly, when he retired, the business was put in Procter’s name, hence the announcement in the London Gazette. I have found John Todd, cheesemonger, lodging at 52 Watling Street in the 1851 census. He dies 28 March 1879 and is then listed as “formerly of 78 St. Paul’s-Church-yard […] but late of 25 Landsdowne-road Dalston”. The will is proved by William Bowron of 60 Pimlico Road and William Procter of 94 Tottenham Court Road, nephews.⁽¹⁾ Here is our first proof that the two cheesemonger businesses are related.

The William Procter with the 94 Tottenham Court address can also be found in the probate record of his father, another William, who died 1 September 1870 at 27 Gordon Road, Stoke Newington. The other executor is John Procter of 81 Brecknock Road, brother of the deceased.⁽²⁾ John himself, still at Brecknock Road, dies on 29 November 1888 and his will is proved by his nephew Robert Procter of 78 St. Paul’s Churchyard.⁽³⁾

In 1851, John Procter is already living at 94 Tottenham Court, corner Howland Street, as cheesemonger with his sister Elisabeth and William Bowron, the nephew. Although I cannot find the 1841 entry in the census, I assume he was the Procter of the Tallis’ elevation. In 1861, the other nephew, William Procter, has joined John and Elisabeth, and so has one William Todd, most likely related to John Todd of St. Paul’s Churchyard. In 1871, John is retired and living with his sister and two servants at Brecknock Road. The shop at Tottenham Court Road is now solely in the hands of William Procter. William was born in Southwark and we find him in the 1841 census on the Kent Road with his father, also a cheesemonger and his mother Christian. In 1851, the family has moved to 4 Bentley Terrace, Hackney. His parents married at St. Pancras in 1831 and the register gives her last name as Todd, so no wonder William is the nephew who proved John Todd’s will. John and Christian Todd were the children of John and Elisabeth Todd of St. Gregory by St. Paul’s parish. The records do not give an exact address, but is not unlikely to have been 78 St. Paul’s Churchyard.

Procter monument Tottenham Court Road

The monument shown consists of two parts: a plaque describing that the plot of land was to stay an open space in memory of Robert and Esther Procter, the 3rd generation, and a stretched pyramid commemorating John Procter and Mary Todd, the 1st generation.⁽⁴⁾ The small open space with the monument is situated on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Tottenham Street, just south of Whit(e)field’s Chapel (or Tabernacle), one block away from where the 94 Tottenham Court road shop was on the corner of Howland Street.

And, if all this is not yet complicated enough, there may be another link between the families. On the censuses, John, Elisabeth, William sr. and Robert sr. all give their place of birth as Barnard Castle, Durham. Following that lead, I found the marriage of their parents in an online family tree. John Procter sr. and Mary Todd were married at Barningham, Yorks, on 27 July 1793. I have not been able to find proof that these are indeed the parents of the cheesemongers, but see no reason to doubt it. The names and dates of John and Mary certainly correspond to the ones on the monument that can be found in Tottenham Court Road for some of the family members, incidentally confirming that John Procter senior was already established in 94 Tottenham Court Road at the time of his death in 1834. What is uncertain is whether Mary Todd and John Todd sr. were siblings and so providing a double family link, but what is definitely certain is that the Todds and Procters became one large cheesemongering family with several shops in London.

To make it a bit clearer – I hope – a chart with the main protagonists (just click to enlarge it). I have left out family members who do not figure in the story above. The year of birth given in the chart may be an approximate one.

(1) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1879
(2) Idem 1870
(3) Idem 1888
(4) A transcription of the text on the monument and more information on the site where the monument now stands, can be found on the website of London Remembers.

You may also like to read about the Aldersons, who also came from the Barnard Castle area.

Neighbours:

<– 79 St. Paul’s Churchyard	80 St. Paul’s Churchyard –>
<– 93 Tottenham Court Road	95 Tottenham Court Road –>