Francis Szarka & Co., furriers

Tags

fur

Street View: 9
Address: 119 New Bond Street

In July 1795, Francis Szarka (or Sarca as the registrar would have it) of the parish of St. Ann Blackfriars, married Sarah Richards at St. Andrew by the Wardrobe. They were married by banns, so no additional information about their parents or their address was recorded in the church records, but two years later Francis insured his furrier business at 10 East Harding Street, Fetter Lane. In 1810 and 1815, the Post Office Directories list him at 15 Gough Square.

Horwood’s 1799 map showing 10 East Harding Street and 15 Gough Square

By 1817, Francis had relocated to 188 Strand, on the corner of Arundel Street.⁽¹⁾ From 1823 onwards the business was called Szarka & Co., and some time later, the business was spread across two properties: 188 Strand and 119 New Bond Street. An 1835 Old Bailey case in which two foreigners were accused of stealing a sable-tail boa tells us more.⁽²⁾ Francis stated that he had his business at 188 Strand and that he also lived there. His daughter helped him in the shop. His son George ran the New Bond Street premises for him, but he, Francis, was in the process of moving his whole business to that address, or so he said: “as I was going to move my business, if they wanted any thing in that line, I would be obliged to them to call in Bond-street, where my son lived—I told them he was my son—I was about moving at the time—”. The first indication that he actually did move is from an 1838 advertisement in which he mentions the expiration of the lease of 188 Strand as the reason for moving and we know that the next occupant, cutler Samuel Fisher, was first mentioned at the Strand address in 1838.

Advertisement in The Catholic Directory and Annual Register, 1838

Google Street View, August 2016

The New Bond Street property is now a Grade II listed building with the following description: “Terrace house. Mid C18 altered early to mid C19. Stuccoed with slate roof. Three storeys and dormered attic. Two windows wide. Ground floor has later C20 shop front. Upper floor windows: revealed sashes with late C19 glazing in architrave surrounds, those on first floor with cornices, those on second floor pedimented. Moulded cornice and blocking course”.⁽³⁾ The cornices and pediments above the windows are probably later than 1840 as they cannot be seen on the Tallis Street View facade.

The 1841 census duly finds the whole Szarka family at New Bond Street: Francis, his daughter Caroline, his son George with his wife and five children, two independent ladies – presumably lodgers -, two female and one male servant. But things were not going as well as could be hoped and in 1843 bankruptcy proceedings were filed against Francis and George Szarka.⁽⁴⁾ Francis was obliged to appeal to the generosity of the general public to supplement the 4s. he received from an unnamed charitable institution.

The Morning Post , 29 July 1844

What happened to George between the folding of the business in 1843 and 1849 is unclear, but he and his family were to set sail on the “Steadfast” as assisted immigrants to Australia where they arrived in April 1849. His wife Helen apparently died at sea after an epileptic fit and George had to provide a new life for his seven children aged between 1 and 16 and himself. He eventually became a public school teacher and died in 1885.

Francis and his daughter Caroline remained in London and were living at the almshouse, Garratt Lane, Streatham at the time of the 1851 census. Caroline married David Phillips that same year, another occupant of the almshouse and at least 20 years older than she was. David died in 1852 and Caroline and Francis remained at Streatham. Francis died in November 1861, well into his nineties, but probate was not granted to Caroline until 1868, possibly because George was in Australia and paper work had to be sent back and forth. Hardly worth the effort, though, as Francis’s wordly goods amounted to less than £20.⁽⁵⁾

furrier’s tools from Diderot’s Encyclopédie (Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

For the top part of Diderot’s plate, showing a furrier’s shop, see the post on Borradaile, Son & Ravenhill.

advertisement in Tallis’s Street View

(1) The Times, 3 January 1817.
(2) Old Bailey case t18350105-389. Online here.
(3) Historic England, Listing NGR: TQ2880480946. Online here.
(4) The London Gazette, 10 March 1843.
(5) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1868. Francis exact age is unclear. The 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses give him as 70, 86 and 95 respectively and the 1844 appeal advertisement as 77.

Neighbours:

<– 120 New Bond Street

118 New Bond Street –>

Henry Andrew Milentz, furrier

Tags

clothing, fur

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.

Neighbours:

<– 26 Cranbourn Street

24 Cranbourn Street –>