Street View: 66
Address: 25 Cranbourn Street
On the 3rd of May, 1818, Henry Andrew Milentz, bachelor, married Suzanna Redman Ames, spinster, at St. John the Evangelist, Westminster. We find Henry in the 1823 edition of Kent’s Directory in Grafton Street, Soho. His occupation is given as furrier. From the 1828 Land Tax records, we learn that Henry has moved to Cranbourn Street. He is still there in 1831, but after that, the Land Tax records for St. Anne, Westminster, seem to be unavailable, so there is a bit of a gap in our knowledge. Although no house numbers are given in the 1828 tax records, we can work out from the neighbours listed that Henry was indeed already at number 25.
The 1841 census tells us that Henry and Suzanna are both 49 years old and were still living at 25 Cranbourne Street. The 1842 Robson’s Directory list Henry at 25 Cranbourne Street and Ryders Court. The entrance to Ryders Court can be seen in the index to the Tallis Street View as between numbers 26 and 27 and Horwood’s map show us that Ryders Court ran right round from there to the back of Milentz’s property and beyond. We know from Henry’s will that he occupied number 9 in Ryders Court, but unfortunately, Horwood did not add any house numbers to the properties in that part of his map, so we have no way of knowing whether Henry had the one right behind his house or one further away.
Furriers at work from Jost Amman and Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568)
Henry died in October 1842 and was buried at Brompton cemetery on the 26th.(1) And here comes the interesting bit. His will(2) suggests a less than cordial relation with his wife and I quote,
“I give and bequeath unto my wife Susanna Milentz the following articles of furniture which are now in the apartments occupied by her on the second floor of the house of no 25 Cranbourn Street … that is to say a bedstead and bedding, window curtains [… etc].” Henry goes on to itemise the things she is to have, but there is a restriction. Suzanna “shall remove all the said articles of furniture from the said house and relinquish the entire and undisturbed possession of the said apartments and of the said two houses to my executors herein after named within ten days from the time of my decease”. Suzanne is to be given fifteen pounds after fourteen days from the decease, but only if “she shall have previously quitted the said apartments and given up quiet and undisturbed possession thereof to my executors”.
Henry seems to expect trouble from Suzanna! With the exception of the 15 pounds outright for Suzanna and an annuity of 32 pounds that the executors are to pay her quarterly, the rest of Henry’s estate, including the two shops, is to go to his nephew Charles Henry William Kannegiesser of 19 Broad Street, Golden Square.
Charles Henry William Kannegiesser was the son of Gottlieb Kannegiessier, also a furrier. Charles first had his furrier business at 19 Broad Street, but in 1861 he lived at 27 Langham Street. How exactly the Kannegiessers and the Milentzes are related is unclear. The families were both of German origin and the marriage that connected them had probably taken place in Germany, at least, I cannot find any evidence in the English records.
Source: Edward Law’s website
In 1861, Thomas Culleton, a seal engraver, originally from Ireland, had his shop at 25 Cranbourn Street, but I do not know if he moved in straight after Milentz’s death, or at a later date. I quote from Edward Law’s webpage, “Thomas Culleton was among the early promoters of the new hobby of crest collecting in the 1860s. He was a seal engraver, the first of the artisans in the chain of production of crested stationery. It was the engravers and die sinkers who were responsible for production of the plates and dies which were used in the production of crests, a term encompassing arms, monograms and addresses, as well as crests”. You can read more about Culleton here. Cullerton died in 1887, but according to his probate record, his son Leo continued the business at Cranbourn Street.(3)
(1) Brompton cemetery SW/11.3/257.5. In the same grave were buried 12 others between 1844 and 1851. all had different surnames, which certainly suggests that Milentz did not end up in a family grave.
(2) The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1971.
(3) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1887.
