FAMOUS BIRMINGHAM GLASSMAKER

BACCHUS, George. Oblong gold mourning brooch (27 x 20 mm) set with a border of seed pearls and central crystal panel with a lock of hair beneath. On the reverse, a pin, and engraved wording: Geo. Bacchus Esqr. obt. 13 Sepr. 1840. At 64. Priscilla Bacchus obt.17 Octr.1825. At.45. The brooch comes with various genealogical information from the International Genealogical Index.

£500

George Bacchus was born in Norwood, Surrey 4 February 1777, and married in 1800 (or possibly 1802) Priscilla Ogden (1781-1825) the daughter of John and Mary Ogden. George became a glass manufacturer and established businesses in London and Birmingham. In 1799 he is recorded (Old Bailey Proceedings, 3rd April 1799) in partnership in London with John Ogden (the father of his future wife), and in 1817 he entered into a partnership with George and Joseph Green, and as Bacchus & Green they established the Union Flint Glassworks in Birmingham. They also opened an office in London at 8 Tokenhouse Yard in 1831 where they traded their fine glassware. In an obituary in Aris's Birmingham Gazette, George Bacchus was described as "one of the most excellent and deservedly esteemed inhabitants of the town". His firm based at the Union Glass Works was renamed George Bacchus& Sons following his death in 1840.

George and Priscilla had at least 7 children born in Surrey between 1803 and 1817. They held nonconformist beliefs, and Priscilla and their children were christened at the Kings Weight House Fish Street Hill Independent chapel in London.

£450

Jean Mary Browne-Powlett was the illegitimate daughter of Charles Powlett, 5th Duke of Bolton (1718-1765) and Mrs Mary Browne Banks. The 5^th Duke, who shot himself in the head with a pistol in his house in Grosvenor Square in 1765, had entailed the greater part of his extensive estates to his daughter in default of male issue of his younger brother Harry Powlett, 6th Duke of Bolton.

In 1778 Jean Mary married Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton (1746-1807), MP for Aylesbury (1780–1784) and Harwich (1784–1796); Secretary to the Treasury (1782–1783); Chief Secretary for Ireland (1784–1787); Governor of the Isle of Wight (1791–1807); and Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire (1800–1807). When the 6th Duke of Bolton died without male heirs in 1794 the Dukedom became extinct and the Bolton estates passed to Thomas Orde-Powlett in right of his wife. The properties included Bolton Castle and Bolton Hall, in Yorkshire and Hackwood Park, Old Basing, Hampshire. (ODNB)

£300

George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (1712-1790), married Mary, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Montagu in 1730, and assumed the name Montagu upon the Duke's death in 1749. He was created Knight of the Garter in 1752, appointed Constable of Windsor Castle, Governor to the Prince of Wales and Master of the Horse.

£50

Sarah Burtt born circa 1780, died 22 February 1837, aged 57.

£150

Caltoft, bearing these arms, was an old Lincolnshire family.

£50

Thomas Cooke born circa 1716, died 11 October 1805, aged 89.

£1,000

James Cranmer (1719-1801) and Esther Maria Cranmer (1761-1819) were brother and sister, the children of James Cranmer (d.1752) of Mitcham, Surrey. The family claimed descent from Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, but genealogical research has not substantiated the connection.

According to the Victoria County History the manor of Mitcham Canon, formerly part of the possessions of the priory of St Mary Overy, was purchased by Robert Cranmer in 1656, and passed on his death in 1665 to his son John. John's son James inherited the property in 1705, and upon his death in 1752 it passed to his son James, and in 1801 to his sister Esther Maria, (wife of Capt Richard Dixon) for life, with remainder to her son the Rev Richard Dixon, who took the name Cranmer in obedience to his uncle's will. Esther Maria Cranmer married Captain Richard Dixon of His Majesty's 85th Regiment of Foot, Richmond, on 20 June 1782 at St Peter and St Paul, Mitcham.

A significant number of Cranmer family papers are preserved in the Surrey History Centre archives (details available on-line).

£60

Thomas Edkins born circa 1779 and died 5th June 1825.

MOLYNEUX, Sir Francis and Ann. Mourning brooch. A large and fine gold brooch (max length 36 mm) consisting of an oblong glazed cover over woven hair, surrounded by 12 flat cut garnets, with a suspension loop to the top centre. On the reverse, a pin, and engraved wording commemorating two people:
             Ann Molyneux Ob 11 March 1811 Aet 76
         Sir Frances Molyneux Ob 9 June 1812 Aet 74
One garnet with a crack, and with scratch marks across the inscriptions, but in all other respects a most beautiful brooch. Click on photo for further views.

£450

Sir Francis and Ann Molyneux were the children of  Sir William Molyneux, 6th Bart of Teversal and of Wellow, and his wife Anne Challand. Ann was born circa 1735, and died unmarried on 11th March 1811. Sir Francis was born circa 1738, and died unmarried on 9th June 1812. He was from 1765 until his death, Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, in the House of Lords, and became 7th baronet of Teversal upon his father's death in 1781. The Molyneux family had acquired land at Teversal, Nottinghamshire in the 16th century, and by 1700 had become engaged in mining there. The baronetcy became extinct upon the death of Sir Francis in 1812.

£120

Robert Ralston born circa 1735, died 19 May 1823, aged 88.

£60

Ann Rooke born circa 1743, died 25 March 1792, aged 49.

£600

John Sharrer (1715-1765) was a successful silk-thrower of Little Ayliffe Street, Goodmans Field, Whitechapel, London. He and his wife Susanna had at least three children – Susanna (b.1745); Esther (b.1749) and Elizabeth (b.1754). This ring establishes his date and year of death as October 8^th 1765 which is lacking in all the sources investigated.

In 1753 Sharrer extended his business by setting up a silk-throwing mill in Sherbourne, Dorset, into which he brought his two nephews George Ward and William Willmott as partners in 1764. In 1765, the year of his death, Sharrer gave evidence to a parliamentary enquiry into silk manufacturing, stating that his silk-throwing trade employed 500 hands in London, 200 in Gloucestershire, 400 in Dorset, and 400 in Cheshire.

£250

Thomas Stiff  lived in New Street, Covent Garden in London, and was an active nonconformist who supported many humanitarian and educational establishments. His name can be found in several subscribers lists for a range of publications allied with his interests. He would appear to have Devon connections judging from a gift of a small plot of land made in 1812 to the Cross Street Chapel in Barnstaple for a burial ground. He died on 27th November 1825 while visiting Poundisford Park, the seat of Thomas Wellman. His obituary was published in the Evangelical Magazine & Missionary Chronicle (unseen, vol 3 1825). His wife had died in 1807 at the age of 54.

£300

Philip Webber (c1709-1799) was a prominent Falmouth attorney. In the 1740s he took into his household William Pryce (1735 -1790), who had been orphaned. Pryce became a well known surgeon, mineralogist, and antiquary. ODNB

£200

Stephen John Winthrop MD, born in London 30 January 1767, died 21 April 1819, aged 52. The son of Benjamin Winthrop and Elizabeth Neale, he married Mary Anne Horton Lloyd in 1799, the daughter of the parliamentary reformer Gamaliel Lloyd (1744-1817).