Richard, Richard and George Attenborough, jewellers and pawnbrokers

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jeweller, pawnbroker

Street View: 61
Address: 110 Shoreditch High Street

As mentioned in the previous two posts, the Attenboroughs that had a pawnbroker’s or jeweller’s shop in London are manifold and cause many identification problems, especially the ones that are the subject of this post as they seem to be all over the place all at once, not to mention their predilection for the name Richard, but I will do my best to keep their story as simple as possible. Unfortunately, some family members will fall by the wayside, either because I cannot prove a relation between them, or including them would complicate matters unnecessarily. For a break-down of the Attenboroughs from Titchmarch, see the previous post and for the Attenboroughs from Blakesley, see here.

In this post I will attempt to sort out the ones from Titchmarsh that had their business at 110 Shoreditch, but to do so, we must first look at Robert Attenborough (1777-1809) who describes himself in his will as of Crown Street, Finsbury Square, pawnbroker. He mentions his brothers John and Richard who are to be the joint executors.⁽¹⁾ Not long after Robert’s demise, we find brother Richard (1780-1862) running the business in Crown Street. Robert’s sons are then still too young to be working, but in 1825, in an Old Bailey case, we learn that Richard (1809-1886), the son of the Robert who died in 1809 and the nephew of the Richard who took over the Crown Street pawnbroker’s, is working in his uncle’s shop.⁽²⁾ Crown Street, by the way, is sometimes given its later name of Sun Street, but the same property is meant. From at least 1812, one Alexander Innes Burgess (sometimes called plain Alexander and sometimes Alexander James) is working at the pawnbroker’s and is later taken on as a partner. The partnership is dissolved in 1838 and Burgess goes his own way.⁽³⁾ However, when the partnership is dissolved, the address of the business is given as 110 High Street, Shoreditch. When we look back through the Old Bailey cases, we find that at least from 1825 onwards, the 110 High Street shop is used by Richard alongside the Crown Street property. If the uncle and nephew had kept to these two addresses, there would not be a problem, but alas, their expansion drift knew no bounds.

68 Oxford Street

The 1841 census finds nephew Richard with his wife Elizabeth (who is also his cousin), their children (Mary 8 years old, Elizabeth, aged 6 and Richard, aged 2) in Oxford Street. Also living there as apprentices are yet another Richard Attenborough and a James Attenborough (both 15 years old, although that is probably approximate). There is a James Attenborough, silversmith, to be found in Victoria Road in 1851 who was born in 1823 in Titchmarch, and most likely the son of John and Susannah, and therefore nephew Richard’s cousin. Whether the other apprentice, Richard, is also the son of John and Susannah or another relation (perhaps Richard, son of George of Blakesley?) is unclear. But keep an eye on little Richard, the two-year old son of nephew Richard, as he will figure again later on. The 1842 Robson’s London Directory tells us that nephew Richard had his shop at 68 Oxford Street which was empty at the time Tallis brought out his Street View. It is also very badly depicted in the booklet with a gaping hole on the ground floor, so it may have been in the proces of being rebuilt for Richard.

Money Lent. An Accommodating Pawnbroker. Political satire, published by W. Dent, 1793

The 1848 Post Office Directory tells us that Richard senior (the uncle) is still working from 31 Crown Street, but also from 8 Bridge-house Place, Borough; the Shoreditch shop is not mentioned. The Bridge-house property must have been in his possession since at least 1835 as he takes out an insurance with the Sun Fire Office for the shop in that year. In 1848, nephew Richard is working from 68 Oxford Street and 1 Adam & Eve Court, but that latter address quickly disappears and is no longer listed for him in the 1851 Post Office Directory. The 110 Shoreditch address is back in the 1851 directory, but now belonging to George Attenborough (1815-1874) who also has shops at 31 Compton Street and 24 Kenton Street, Brunswick Square. He is the son of uncle Richard’s brother John. George is mentioned as working and living in Crown Street in various Old Bailey cases between 1833 and 1842. In 1850, he marries Harriet Elizabeth Leete, who, judging by her last name, was in some way related to George’s mother who was called Susanna Leete Coales, but I do not know how exactly. George died in 1874 and his probate entry describes him as of “11 Paragon, New-Kent-road and of 93 and 95 Old-Kent-road”.⁽⁴⁾ No more mention is made of the 110 High Street, Shoreditch shop.

In 1851, uncle and nephew Richard are living in the same house again, this time in Green Street House, East Ham. In 1861, Richard junior, the son of nephew Richard, can be found at 68 Oxford Street with his sister Mary. Unfortunately, young Richard dies just two years later.⁽⁵⁾ The business at 68 Oxford Street remains in the family as in 1871, we find nephew Richard living in Acton with the job description “pawnbroker 68 Oxford Street”. Ten years later, we find him at 52 Holland Park, but he is not happy and on 6 December 1886 he commits suicide.

“Dr Diplock held an inquest yesterday at no. 52, Holland-park, concerning the death of Mr Richard Attenborough, who shot himself with a revolver on Monday. –Miss Elizabeth Attenborough, daughter of the deceased, said her father was a pawnbroker, and was 77 years of age. Ever since Mrs Attenborough’s death [in 1884] deceased had been depressed and suffered from sleeplessness, and said he was worn out. On Monday witness heard a report as of firearms, and deceased was afterwards found, with a revolver near him, in a closet. –The Coroner asked if it was true that deceased had had to pay a large sum of money into the High Court of Justice. –Witness replied that she did not know; he had not mentioned any thing of the kind to her. –Dr R.A.Jackson, Ladbroke-grove, Notting-hill, said the bullet had entered the right ear and come out at the left temple. The wound must have been self-inflicted. –A verdict of suicide whilst of unsound mind was returned.”⁽⁶⁾

Richard was buried at Brompton cemetery on the 10th. Probate was granted to his daughters Elizabeth and Annie, spinsters.⁽⁷⁾ Uncle Richard could be found living at the 8 Bridge-house Place, Newington Causeway, property in 1861. He died in 1862 and although his probate entry only mentions Bridge-house Place, a notice about his death in The Observer also mentions Crown Street, so he must have retained that shop till the end of his life.⁽⁸⁾ An 1864 notice in Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper mentions a John Attenborough at 8 Bridge-house Place, but I do not know how he was related to uncle Richard, or to the nephews Richard and George.

A pawnbroker’s shop from G.A. Sala’s Twice Round the Clock (1859)

Despite the use of the word jeweller, most of the pawnbroking business of 110 Shoreditch concerned everyday objects and pieces of clothing, rather than rings and watches. The Old Bailey cases where the Shoreditch or the Crown Street shops are mentioned, relate to items such as a looking glass, shawls, shirts, sheets, handkerchiefs, stockings and bits of carpet. For instance, in October 1831, Henry Horn, shopman to Attenborough’s at Shoreditch gave evidence in a case of a purloined shawl which the accused had pawned for 2s at the shop.⁽⁰⁾ And in another case, nephew Richard produces the sheet, valued at 3s, the accused had stolen from a farrier.⁽¹⁰⁾ Being accused of dealing in stolen items must have been a constant worry for pawnbrokers — it probably still is — and the Attenboroughs seemed to be in court quite often to give evidence on stolen property. In 1872, the Pawnbroker’s Act regulated the trade, making sure that pawnbrokers were of good character before they obtained their licence which could be revoked if the pawnbroker knowingly received stolen goods (see here). In 1907, Charles Leete Attenborough wrote The Law of Pawnbroking. With the Pawnbrokers’ Act, 1872, and the Factors’ Act, 1889, and Notes Thereon. Charles Leete was the son of George of 11 Paragon, New-Kent Road.

Pawnbroking and the jeweller’s trade seems to have run in the blood of any number of Attenboroughs and even today, Attenboroughs can still be found in London plying the same trade. There is a branch in Bethnal Green Road and their website states that they have been in business since 1892, but how they are related to the Attenboroughs that have been discussed in the last three posts is unclear.

(1) The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1491, 7 January 1809.
(2) Old Bailey, t18250113-59.
(3) First mention in 1812 (Old Bailey, t18120219-37); partnership dissolved (London Gazette, 30 January 1838); In 1848 he can be found as a pawnbroker at Clarence Place, Camberwell (Old Bailey, t18480918-2213).
(4) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1874. Probate was granted to Gill and Layman, pawnbrokers and his son John of St. Paul’s Churchyard, a solicitor. The estate was valued at £16,000.
(5) The Observer, 12 June 1864. Richard had died on the 4th of June and was buried at Brompton cemetery on the 10th.
(6) The Standard, 9 December 1886. Thanks go to Nicholas Thompson for sending me his information on the Attenboroughs and for alerting me to the tragic end of nephew Richard’s life.
(7) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1886. The estate was valued at just over £35,000.
(9) The Observer, 26 May 1862; England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1862. Probate was granted to nephews Richard and John (a farmer at Brigstock, Northants). The estate was valued at £120,000. Uncle Richard was also buried at Brompton cemetery.
(9) Old Bailey, t18311020-107.
(10) Old Bailey, t18251027-81.

You may also like to read the posts on Robert Attenborough of Charlotte Street, and on George and Richard Attenborough of Fleet Street and Piccadilly.
More information on the Attenborough family can be found in blog post 243 on the Landed Families of Britain site (here)

Neighbours:

<– 111 Shoreditch

109 Shoreditch –>

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Robert Attenborough, jeweller and pawnbroker

Tags

jeweller, pawnbroker

Street View: 82
Addresses: 93 Charlotte Street

In a previous post, we saw Richard Attenborough of Blakesley married to Elizabeth Coales. Elizabeth was the niece of Susannah Leete Coales who married John Attenborough of Titchmarch. The story of the extended Attenbury family is quite a complicated one and especially the Titchmarch side of the family. To make the story not more complicated than it already is, I will leave out all the family members that do not figure in the pawnbroker’s story.

John Attenborough (1736-1800) of Titchmarsh and his wife Elizabeth Winfield had three sons:
-John (1773-1860), married Susannah Leete Coales (1780-1864); they had a son George (1815-1874) and a daughter Elizabeth (1804-1884) who married her cousin Richard (1809-1886). Susannah’s niece Elizabeth (1829-1914) married Richard (1822-1901) of Blakesley.
–Robert (1777-1809), married Mary; they had three sons: John (1806-1861, a farmer), Robert (1807-1892) and Richard (1809-1886; who married his cousin Elizabeth, the daughter of John)
–Richard (1780-1862), never married

The various family members spread themselves out as jewellers and pawnbrokers at many addresses in London. Only three of which are in the Tallis Street Views, one for the Blakesley lot (see here) and two for the Titchmarsh side of the family; the one you are reading now and this one. There were many more addresses, some of which will be mentioned, but others will unfortunately have to be ignored, either because I cannot quite work out what the family connection is, or because the story will get too complicated and too far removed from the Tallis Street Views, after all the subject of this blog.

Pawnbroker’s shop by Cruikshank to illustrate Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum Collection)

Tallis lists 110 High Street, Shoreditch and 93 Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square for the Titchmarch Attenboroughs and I will start with the latter. Robert (1807-1892), the second son of Robert (1777-1809) was the jeweller / pawnbroker at 93 (later 93-94) Charlotte Street. The numbering in Charlotte Street has changed dramatically since then and the property is now number 10. The earliest mention I found for Robert in Charlotte Street is in an 1834 Old Bailey case where his shopman gave evidence.⁽¹⁾ The 1851 census lists Robert, his wife Mary Ann, two sons, three daughters, one assistant, two shopmen, a warehouseboy, two nurses, a housemaid and a cook. By 1861, he has removed his family to 56 Avenue Road where he remained until he died. Robert's name does figure a few times in Old Bailey cases when dodgy articles have been pawned in his shop, but he seems to have acted honourably on the whole (but do see later in this post) and tried to avoid acting as a fence, for instance in 1836 when he did not trust the chap who brought in some material and went to find the man’s master to see whether the pledge was genuine. It wasn’t.⁽²⁾

Two more addresses are found in Old Bailey cases for a Robert Attenborough: Greek Street (1855 and 1863) and Duke Street (1873 and 1874). In the Old Bailey transcripts, there is no evidence that it concerns the same Robert as the one in Charlotte Street, but a report in the Morning Post of 14 July 1851 on a burglary at Greek Street at least tells us that the owner, Robert Attenbrough, does not live above the shop, so it may certainly be a second shop belonging to the Robert of Charlotte Street. Robert figures several times in newspaper reports of fraudsters, cheats and liars trying to fob off stolen goods to the pawnbroker, either at Charlotte Street or Greek Street, but only in 1864 do we find evidence that it concerns one and the same Robert, incidentally also giving us information about the other Attenboroughs.

Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 10 january 1864

The first time, 39 Duke Street, Manchester Square, is mentioned as the address for Robert Attenborough is in September 1866 when an assistant of Attenborough’s gave evidence against a suspected thief. The business is referred to as “late Neale”.⁽³⁾ In 1872, both the names of Robert and Percy Attenborough are mentioned in the newspapers when they reported on one of their employees who had been stealing from the firm. Percy turned out to be Robert Percy, Robert’s son, born on 10 January 1848.

Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 5 October 1872

Robert was mentioned in Customs’ Administrators and Customs’ Reformers by James O’Dowd (1853) in an 1845 case where bent Custom officers had cheap French watches smuggled into England where they were distributed by a custom-house agent to various pawnbrokers from whom they were subsequently seized by the same customs officers who had hedged the plot. Attenborough was chosen as one of the victim as he dealt in that sort of material, but he got wind of the scheme and dispatched a friend to Calais to gather evidence. The two Customs officers were caught and fired from their office. O’Dowd gives this shortened version of events, but he also gives a longer version in which Attenborough does not act as honourably as he could by not voluntarily giving up all the watches he had in his possession and which had come from the swindlers. According to this version, Attenborough even offered the officers who came for the watches a bribe for which he was fined £50. The pawnbrokers who had been a victim of the smuggle scheme were allowed to retain the watches, but only after paying the import duty.

Robert died on 23 August, 1892 and the estate was valued at over £74,000.⁽⁴⁾ Percy died in 1930 and in his probate entry, there is no reference to the business, so it is unclear what happened to it.⁽⁵⁾ Despite the slur on his integrity in 1845, Robert is called the “prince of pawnbrokers” in a list of people who have died in 1892.⁽⁶⁾

———————
(1) Old Bailey t18341124-141a.
(2) Old Bailey, t18360404-1011.
(3) The Pall Mall Gazette, 24 September 1866.
(4) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1892. The estate was first valued at £66,000 but later revalued at £74,255.
(5) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1930.
(6) The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, 31 December 1892.

You may also like to read the posts on George and Richard Attenborough of Fleet Street and Piccadilly, and on Richard, Richard and George Attenborough of Shoreditch High Street and Crown Street, Finsbury Square, or on John Graham of 10 Ludgate Street whose son married Amy, the daughter of Robert.
More information on the Attenborough family can be found in blog post 243 on the Landed Families of Britain site (here)

Neighbours:

<– 94 Charlotte Street

92 Charlotte Street –>

George and Richard Attenborough, jewellers and pawnbrokers

Tags

jeweller, pawnbroker

Street View: 12 Suppl.
Address: 204 Fleet Street

The story of the extended Attenbury family who worked as pawnbrokers, silversmiths and/or jewellers in London is quite a complicated one and started in two villages in Northamptonshire, Blakesley and Titchmarch. I will come back to the Titchmarsh lot in later posts, but for now I will concentrate on George and Richard, the easier family group to sort out. George Attenborough senior (1791-1829), a farmer of Blakesley, and his wife Elizabeth had two sons who went to London to find a better life for themselves: George (1820-1892), who married Sarah Emma Parsons (1824-1897), and Richard (1822-1901), who married Elizabeth Coales (1829-1914). In 1844, George and Richard obtain their freedom of the City of London via the Company of Spectaclemakers by redemption. They are described as pawnbrokers and silversmiths. 1844 is also the year in which George marries Sarah Emma Parsons at Brighton. The couple’s son, Henry Arthur (1848-1930), receives his freedom of the Spectaclemakers in 1873 and takes over the business. Richard, although listed at number 204 when he obtains his freedom, at some point moves to 19 Piccadilly. We will come back to him later.

The three pawnbrokers’ balls can be seen on the Fleet Street shop on the right-hand side of the picture (Source: Illustrated London News via Wikipedia)

204 Fleet Street was built next to and over a small alleyway leading to Bell Yard, clearly visible on the left-hand side of the elevation at the top of this post and the rounded arch can also be seen just under and to the left of the pawnbroker’s symbol in the Illustrated London News illustration above. The shop was moved east a few houses to 193 Fleet Street, on the corner of Chancery Lane, probably in the early 1880s when Temple Bar was taken down and the Royal Courts of Justice were built. Another address found for the business is 71-72 Strand (photo here), but that may just have been a temporary address while the building work at Fleet Street was going on.

193 Fleet Street (Source: Google Street View)

The new premises on the corner of Chancery Lane were designed by the architects Archer & Green and, according to English Heritage, opened in 1883. Two 1884 photographs can be found here and detailed pictures of the decoration on the building can be seen on the blog post by Ornamental passions here. George lives out his days at Grove Lodge, Muswell Hill, Hornsey where he dies on 22 January 1892. His estate was valued at over £313,000, but later resworn at £321,000.⁽¹⁾ His widow Sarah Emma died in 1897 and his son Henry Arthur in 1930.⁽²⁾ Henry must have handed over the pawnbroker and jeweller’s shop between 1891 and 1901 as the census for 1901 finds him at Catesby Hall, Daventry, Northamptonshire, as a grazier and farmer, while the 1891 census still found him in London as a pawnbroker.

The 1911 census tells us that 193 Fleet Street was occupied by three pawnbroker’s assistants, one warehouse boy, a jeweller’s assistant, a housekeeper and a general servant. The name of the owner is given as George Attenborough. This must be the son of Henry Arthur who was born in 1873 and obtained his freedom of the Company of Spectaclemakers in 1897 by patrimony, probably at the time when his father retired. George was a clever chap and had been to Oxford where, according to the 1901 census, he obtained a BA. He died in December 1949 and is described in the probate entry as of Catesby near Daventry and of 193 Fleet Street.⁽³⁾ Over time, the shop became less of a pawnbroker’s and more a jeweller’s and still occupies the 1883 building. Their website can be found here.

Trade card for Richard (Source: British Museum)

Richard, although listed at number 204 Fleet Street when he takes out his freedom, at some point moves to 19 Piccadilly. He is not yet there when the Tallis Street View for Piccadilly comes out (number 19 is then occupied by Woolley an ironmonger), but when he marries Elizabeth Coales in 1849, he is described in The Observer as of Piccadilly and Portman Street. The Post Office Directories of 1848 and 1851 give, besides 19 Piccadilly, also 8 Portman Street, Portman Square, as his address. Richard and Elizabeth do, however, live above the property in Piccadilly where the 1851 census finds them with two assistants and two house servants. Richard makes quite a name for himself when he enters some of his work in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and his work merits a whole page in the Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue. At the next exhibition, in 1862, some of his jewels are depicted in the catalogue and described as “most refined examples”.

In 1856, the Post Office Directory lists Richard at both numbers 19 and 33. In 1870, he had his shop at 33 Piccadilly (by then encompassing numbers 34 and 35) entirely rebuilt and The Architect (27 August 1870) fills a whole column describing the new building (online here), illustrating it with the drawing of which you see the lower section below.

The Architect, 1870

In the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses, we find Richard living at Whitley Grove, St. Giles, Reading, variously described as landowner, pawnbroker, silversmith and farmer. In 1873, his entire herd is sold at auction.⁽⁴⁾ This had probably all to do with a compulsory purchase order on the farm taken out by Reading Town Council for drainage purposes.⁽⁵⁾ Given the extensive building work at Piccadilly, the exclusive silverwork he produced which received only praise, and his move to the countryside, one might assume that Richard was doing very well, but instead of leaving a similar sum of £300,000 at his death in 1901 as his brother George had done, Richard left a ‘mere’ £5,800 in assets.⁽⁶⁾ Not to be sneezed at of course, but more could have been expected. A possible explanation is a bad investment. According to culturalecology.info, Richard retired from his business in London in 1874 and bought the Lower Resolven colliery in Wales. By 1885, “extravagant living and ignorance of the trade brought their nemesis when he failed, with assets negligible and debts of nearly a quarter of a million”.⁽⁷⁾ Unfortunately, the article does not give any references, so no idea where the information came from, but it would certainly explain the drop in Richard’s financial resources. By 1891, Richard had moved back to his roots and could be found at the Manor House in Horton, Northamptonshire, where he spent the rest of his days.

(1) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1892.
(2) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1897 and BMD Death Index December 1930.
(3) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1950.
(4) Thornton’s Circular. A Record of Shorthorn Transactions, vol. 3, January 1872 to December 1873.
(5) The Builder, 29 March 1873.
(6) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1902. Estae valued at just over £5,800.
(7) ‘Living and Working by Water’ by culturalecology.info (online here).

You may also like to read the posts on Robert Attenborough of Charlotte Street, and on Richard, Richard and George Attenborough of Shoreditch High Street and Crown Street, Finsbury Square.
More information on the Attenborough family can be found in blog post 243 on the Landed Families of Britain site (here)

Neighbours:

<– 205 Fleet Street

205 Fleet Street –>