Scammell - Silversmiths and Weavers

John Scammell – weaver

St Mary the Virgin, Tetbury

John SCAMMELL [1] was the youngest of four sons born to Thomas Scammel and his wife, Mary nee Hodges[23] in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. He was baptized on 20 July 1712 in the parish church at Tetbury but within seven years his mother died leaving John in the care of his father and brothers. There was a large woollen industry in the area and in time John became a weaver and it is likely that his three older brothers, Nathaniel, William and Joseph were also weavers.

John met Mary and in about 1736 they were married. John and Mary had at least nine children all of whom died whilst young children except for Joseph and an older sister Elizabeth. John and Mary must have been distraught at losing so many children and when the youngest child, Rebecca died in 1758 followed by his wife, Mary, sixteen days later we can only imagine how John felt. Joseph was just six years old and Elizabeth seventeen. On 3 November 1763 John married again, this time to Mary Compier[2][23]. Sometime between their mother’s death in 1758 and 1767 Elizabeth and Joseph left Tetbury and went to live in London.

Joseph Scammell – silversmith
1752-1796

Joseph SCAMMELL, the only surviving son of John SCAMMELL and Mary, was born in Tetbury, Gloucestershire where he was baptised on 15 October 1752.[2 ]

Where Joseph served his apprenticeship

On 2 December 1767 four months after his sister, Elizabeth, married John Parfitt at St. James', Westminster, Joseph began his apprenticeship to William Abdy as a silversmith[3]. William Abdy was a silversmith, plater and plate worker with workshops at 5 Oat-lane in the City of London. Joseph was not the only man working for William. In 1770 a man recorded only as ‘W----- E-----’, a journey man who had been working with William for about nine years was found guilty of stealing two ounces of wrought silver, part of a gaderoon candlestick valued at 10 shillings. the property of William Abdy.[4] Five years later on 18th October, 1775 William Abdy was in court again as a victim of theft. This time William Wilson, was accused of breaking and entering William’s house on the 2nd of October. According to William’s testimony he was woken about eleven at night by the noise of the thieves breaking into his room carrying candles. They broke open a large desk and took a quilt and several other things out of his room and he then heard them jump out of a front room window. William Abdy gave the alarm and found there was a broken pane of glass which had enabled the thief to release the sash that was normally kept fastened on a nail. William Wilson hurt his leg climbing out of the window and was easily caught and the chisel he had used to break open the desk was nearby. He was found guilty of stealing a red and white linen quilt, value six shillings; five muslin neckcloths, value eight shillings, four white linen handkerchiefs, value four shillings; a striped silk handkerchief, value four pence; and twenty yards of linen cloth, value twenty-two shillings and sentenced to death.[5] Joseph had finished his apprenticeship by the time of the theft but was possibly still working with William. He was made free on 17 December 1774 but it was not until 11 August 1788 that he registered his own mark as a plate-worker. His mark was "IS"and he was then living at 7 Staining Lane, London, a road adjacent to his old masters place in Oat-lane[3].

Where Joseph had his workshop

On 8 Jun 1778, two months before registering his mark Joseph had married Mary Ellewell at St Alphage, London Wall in the City of London[2] having had their banns read on three consecutive Sundays in May. They had two sons who survived to adulthood, Joseph born in 1786 and William born in 1792. In 1793 the family were living at 38 Noble-street, London where Joseph was still working as a silversmith.[20]

St Anne & St Agnes graveyard is now laid out as a garden with few gravestones still visible

Mary died in May 1794 and was buried on 15 May 1794 in St Anne and St Agnes[6] the church where less than two years earlier she had had her son, William, baptised. Joseph now had the two young boys to look after as well as running his business and so Mary’s sister, Ann Simkins, herself a widow, came to live with the family and look after the children. Ann, the widow of Sam Simkins, a silversmith, had two grown up children who may have come with her - her daughter Mary who was 19 and her 17 year old son, William, who had been apprenticed to Joseph for the last year.

The shock of Mary’s death was evident when, on 14 August 1794, Joseph described himself in his will as “being in good health and of sound and disposing mind memory and understanding but considering the precariousness of human Life”.[7] The same month Joseph's nephew, John Parfitt, the son of his sister Elizabeth, also became an apprentice with the Goldsmith's Company. He was apprenticed to Joseph's friend, William Bawtree.

Joseph died died two years later in March 1796 and was buried on 13 March 1796 in St Anne and St Agnes, London.[6 ] After Joseph's death his three apprentices were turned over to new masters and so his nephew, William Simkins, finished his apprenticeship under William Abdy, possibly Joseph's old master or his son who also became a silversmith. When he had earned his freedom William Simkins went to work as a silversmith in Bunhill Row, London and it was there that his mother, Ann, died in 1809.

Joseph had a short but successful career making intricately carved silverware to grace the best dinning tables of the day.

Joseph Scammell - silversmith
1786-1829

Joseph SCAMMELL, the eldest son of Joseph SCAMMELL and Mary ELLEWELL, was born on 19 September 1786 and he was baptised on 1 October 1786 in St Mary Staining, London.[6] By the age of ten Joseph had lost both parents but his father had provided for him in his will. Joseph senior left money for the maintenance and education of young Joseph and his brother William but also considered their care when instructing his executors to consult with their Aunt, Ann Simkins, on all things affecting the boys and to allow her the care of the children until they began their apprenticeships.[7]

When he was fourteen Joseph started his apprenticeship as a silversmith to William Pitts who at one time was in business with another silversmith, Joseph Preedy.[3]

Joseph married Mary COLSTON on 1 September 1814 in St George Hanover Square, Westminster, London.[21][22]. Both were living in the parish at the time of the wedding which was conducted by I Greville following the reading of the banns. Joseph signed his name but Mary made her mark in front of the witnesses, Amy Brookes and Ann Harbery. Mary was the daughter of Samuel COLSTON (1749- ) and Eleanor WATSON (1755?- ) and was born in about 1780 in Caxton, Cambridgeshire where she was baptised on 20 August 1780.

Golden Lion, Dean Street, in 2006 - built circa 1700

On 12 March 1818 Joseph was a silversmith with Storr and Co in 53 Dean Street, Soho, London.[8]. Joseph was employed in the workshop of Paul Storr who was in Dean Street between 1807 and 1839. Paul Storr (1770 - 1844) built up a very important and successful business supplying the retail trade with special orders and quality goods. In 1807 his reputation enabled him to enter into an exclusive manufacturing arrangement with Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, the crown jewellers. He employed Joseph and other craftsmen in the workshop in Dean Street. It was reported that there were so many orders Storr and Co had to work some 10,000 ounces of silver a month in the shape of dinner services, centrepieces and other ceremonial and domestic plate. When his agreement with Rundells terminated Storr went off to his own independent business. [9]

76 Dean Street, in 2008, one of the two houses which made up the workshops.

Joseph lived in the same brick buildings in Dean Street as the workshops (i.e. numbers 75 and 76 Dean Street) which had internal access between them, most of the rooms in number 76 were workshops or storage rooms and it is most likely that the residential part was in number 75. His household goods, printed books, wearing apparel and plate and the property were insured for £200 in 1818 with an extra £30 insurance for his china and glass.[8] Joseph may have stayed at the workshop for a while after Paul Storr left but by the mid 1820's he was living in Clerkenwell. Joseph did not register a mark of his own so we are unable to identify pieces that he made or engraved but he must have been a talented silversmith to have been working for Storr at this time in the company's history.

Joseph and Mary had seven children between 1815 and 1826, six sons and finally a daughter. The eldest, also Joseph, became a silversmith like his father and grandfather, possibly entering an apprenticeship with his father around 1829 but the younger boys were not so fortunate.

In May 1829 Joseph hanged himself. At the coroner’s inquest held at The Three Johns public house in White Lion Street, Clerkenwell on 29 May 1829 they decided that Joseph was deranged at the time of his death.[10] That may have been the case but it was not unusual at the time for a sympathetic coroner to say that the deceased was deranged in order to enable the family to keep the monies and belongings of the deceased rather than everything going to the state. Mary would certainly need any money to support herself and her young family. In the early 1800s it was usual for suicide victims to buried at cross roads in unconsecrated ground, this was prohibited in 1823 but it was still not possible to be buried in churchyards until the 1880s. Joseph’s final resting place is unknown.

Mary was left to look after and bring up the children without her husband and with the disgrace that a suicide brought in those days. Money was obviously short and by the time the younger boys were of an age to begin their apprenticeships there was insufficient money to pay for them to follow in their father's footsteps. Following Joseph's death Mary did not immediately receive any money from the Goldsmith Company nor is there any evidence of her applying for money or help with the boys apprenticeships but on the 26 April 1837 Mary was elected to one of the 125 Women Pensioners of the Goldsmiths Company. She was granted £12 quarterly as well as the "dividends from the Poor Box from time to time during the pleasure of the court." The first of the dividend payments was made on 26 May 1837 when £31 5s out of the Poor Box was distributed to the 125 widows, each receiving 5s. There is no evidence why Mary had to wait 7 years for her pension - there were only 125 widow pensionners so perhaps there was a long waiting list or maybe Mary did not know she could apply - at her wedding Mary had only made her mark so it was likely that she could not read and write.

On 6 June 1841 Mary was living in Field Terrace, Grays Inn Road, in St Pancras, Middlesex[11] and moved to 9 Chads Place Grays Inn Road, St Pancras before the night of the 1851 census to live with her daughter, Mary Ann, her husband John Armstrong and their children, four-year old Charles and baby John .[12]

At a Court of Assistance of the Goldsmiths Company on 28 December 1952 five new widow pensioners were elected in the room of 5 widows who had died one of who was Mary Scammel. She had died about 6 months earlier.

Joseph Scammell - silversmith
1815-1886

Joseph SCAMMELL, eldest son of Joseph SCAMMELL and Mary COLSTON, was born in 1815 in Soho, London and he was baptised on 5 February 1815 in St Giles Holborn.[13] Joseph married Sarah around 1837. She was born in about 1816 in Windsor, Berkshire.[11] In 1841 they were living in Lower Edmund Street, Camden Town, London[11] and Joseph was a journeyman silversmith.[11] He was still living at 53 Lower Edmund Street, Kings Cross, London in 1844 but by 30 March 1851 he was a Silver Plate Maker living in High Street, St Giles in the Fields, Midldlesex[12]. By 7 April 1861 he had moved to 19 Shorts Gardens, St Giles, Middlesex and both Sarah and Joseph were military tailors.[14] The family moved again and by 1871 they were living at 18 Queen Street, St Giles, and Joseph was working as a shopman at a shoemakers in St Giles and Sarah was a dressmaker.[15] Sarah died in the winter of 1878 in St Giles.[16] Joseph was not such a successful silversmith as his grandfather and by 3 April 1881, whilst still describing himself as a silversmith, he was living in the District St Saviours Union Infirmary St Peter Walworth in Newington, London[17] where he was listed as a pauper.[17] He died in 1886 in the parish of St Saviour, Southwark.[16] Joseph and Sarah had five children between 1838 and 1848.

George Scammell - weaver
1820-

George SCAMMELL, was the fourth son of Joseph SCAMMELL and Mary COLSTON. He was born in about 1820 in Clerkenwell, London. He was only nine years old when his father commited suicide and his life changed dramatically. Where once he might have expected to be apprenticed to a silversmith in the City of London now his future was bleak. The shame of his father’s death and the lack of income would have caused hardships for the young family.

By January 1841 George had taken a job as a rug maker as had his younger brothers Charles and Samuel and he was living in Field Terrace, Grays Inn Road, St Pancras, Middlesex with his mother, brothers Charles and Samuel and sister Mary Ann.[11] He married Mary Ann KEMP on 25 January 1841 in St Giles Cripplegate.[2],[16],[18] The witnesses were Sarah Scammell and Susannah Ross. Mary Ann KEMP, was born in 1824 in London the daughter of Robert KEMP (1790?- ) but at the time of her marriage she was living in Lower White Cross Street, St Giles, London.

Three months later George and Mary Ann were living in Clarence Street, Finsbury, London. On 16 February 1847 George described himself as a Hearth rug weaver.[19] In 1851 the family had moved to 11 Baynes Court, Clerkenwell, London. Mary Ann was a dressmaker and George a mat maker. They had three children, George, John and Elizabeth. Within the next few years the marriage broke up and by the 1861 census night George had moved away from the family home and Mary Ann was earning money as a dealer in clothing. Living at 29 1/2 St Helena Place, Clerkenwell, London with Mary Ann were her daughters Elizabeth, Mary Ann and baby Rachel and sons William and Burton. Also in the house was Edward Knott, a straw hat presser from Hackney. On 2 April 1871 she was living at 34 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell, London. She was a dressmaker and living with her were Mary Ann, her daughter now working as a muff maker and her seven year old son, Edward Knott. Edward Knott senior was not there and Mary Ann did not legally marry Mr Knott as George was still alive and well.

In 1871 George was living at 20 Plough Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk. He was still working as a hearth rug maker[39] but living with Elizabeth Scammell (who he described as his wife), their one year old son, Henry Scammell and his fifteen year old son with Mary Ann, Burton, who was also working in the mat making business as a trimmer. George, Elizabeth and Henry were at 3 Pinder Street Everton, Liverpool by the night of the 1881 census where he was a weaver.

Two of George’s brothers, Charles and Samuel also became weavers like their great grandfather and so the silversmith skills were not passed on.

William SCAMMELL - silver chaser
1792-

William SCAMMELL, son of Joseph SCAMMELL and Mary Ellewell, was born on 21 July 1792 and was baptised on 17 August 1792 in St Anne and St Agnes, London.[6] Like his brother, Joseph, he was brought up by his aunt, Ann Simkins, after the death of his parents. He was only two when his mother died and only four when his father died so he must have had few, if any memories, of his mother and father.

He may have been apprenticed as a silversmith from about 1806 but on 3 November 1813 he gained his freedom with the Goldsmiths Company on the grounds of Patrimony (ie by being the legitimate child of a male freeman, born after his admission to the freedom). Two people testified to William being Joseph's son - William Bawtree, goldsmith and Thomas Swain, Citizen and Framework Knitter.[3] The same two men who were executors to his father's will. After his apprenticeship William worked as a silver chaser. William married Ann SEDGWICK by licence on 27 September 1817 in St Mary Le Bow. On 3 June 1818 William and Ann were living at 26 Smith Street, Northampton Square where William probably lived for the rest of his life. It was a brick dwelling house insured for £200 in 1818 with his household goods, wearing apparel, printed book and plate also insured for £200 and his china and glass insured for £30. Two years later the dwelling house was insured for £100 whilst the insurance for his household goods, wearing apparel, printed book and plate was increased to £300. He probably worked from home and under his insurance was an item for stock and utensils valued at £70.[8] He had three apprentices between 1819 and 1825. He died in 1838 and was buried at St James' Clerkenwell on the 19th July 1838[24].

After William’s death Ann went to live at 1 Southampton Terrace, Islington but by the time of the night of the 1851 census she was living at 11 Southampton Street. She supported herself with an annuity. When Ann died the following September she was buried in the same churchyard as William, St James' Clerkenwell, on 7 September 1851[24].

William and Ann had five children, Mary Ann, Eliza Sarah, Emma, William Sedgwick and Fanny. Eliza Sarah died when she was just three years old and was buried on 23 October 1826 in St James' Clerkenwell[24]. Emma was a straw bonnet maker but in December 1883 Emma she fell on hard times and applied to the Goldsmiths Company for financial help. Her circumstances were considered but she still had an income from her work. She had no references and she did not receive any financial help at that time.

Sources

[1] Tetbury Religious Affiliations Census taken about 1735 recorded by Elizabeth Janson (www.geocities.com/tetbury1737, October 2006)
[2] IGI - Extracts from Parish Registers.
[3] Arthur G Grimwade, "London Goldsmiths 1697-1837 Their marks and lives." (Faber and Faber).
Westminster City Archives, City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann's Street, London SW1P 2DE.
[4] Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 2006), trial of W - E -, theft : simple grand larceny, 30th June, 1770. ( t17700630-44).
[5] Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 2006), trial of William Wilson, theft : burglary, 18th October, 1775.( t17751018-30)
[6] Parish Records held at The Guildhall, City of London.
[7] Will of Joseph Scammell 1794, The National Archives ref: prob/11/1275
[8] Sun Fire Policies, Guildhall Library, MS11936.
[9] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004 (www.oxforddnb.com, October 2006)
[10] London Metropolitan Archives, Coroners report.
[11] "UK Census 1841". Cit. Date: 6 June 1841.
[12] "UK Census 1851". Cit. Date: 30 March 1851.
[13] IGI - Submitted by a member.
[14] "UK Census 1861" Cit. Date: 7 April 1861.
[15] "UK Census 1871" Cit. Date: 2 April 1871
[16 ]"Freebmd" (http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/).
[17] "UK Census 1881" Cit. Date: 3 April 1881.
[18] "Marriage Certificate".
[[19] "Birth Certificate". of daughter Elizabeth.
[20] "British Universal Directory 1793-1798" (Facsimile edition 1993).
Richmond Local Studies, Albert Barkas Room Old Town Hall Whittaker Avenue Richmond TW9 1TP.
[21] "Boyd's marriage index".
[22] "Parish Records - Westminster City Archives".
[23] "Tetbury Parish Registers- Society of Genealogists"
[24] City of London Burial Records,( www.FindmyPast .com.)

Other sources
Goldsmiths Company Records - Apprenticeship records, Court Books and applications for assistance. Thanks to the staff at the Goldsmiths Hall for their help with our research.