Waithman’s obelisk

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draper, Fleet Street, obelisk, politics

In Salisbury Square, an obelisk can be found as a memorial to Robert Waithman who died in 1833.

obelisk Waithman in Salisbury Court

Waithman was born in Wrexham in 1764 and became apprenticed to a linen draper in London. He became a freeman of the Framework Knitters’ Company in October 1787 and obtained the freedom of the City the following January.⁽¹⁾ On 18 July, 1787, he had married Mary Davies (1761–1827), his cousin, at St. George the Martyr, Queen Square. They had at least 8 children (see here). Robert started trading at Fleet Market, but soon opened a shop at 120 Newgate Street. The British Library has a trade card of his in their collection which they date to 1791.

 

©British Museum

©British Museum

But soon after opening his first shop – how soon is unclear – Waithman entered into a partnership with Charles Bristow and business boomed. In 1797 they were listed for the Sun Fire Office as having insurance for premises at 104 Fleet Street, 120 Newgate Street, 7 Holborn Hill, south end Fleet Market, and Winchmore Hill. Another trade card (dated 1799) shows their shop on the corner of Fleet Street and New Bridge Road. See for a larger picture of the shop with both their names above the shop windows here. As a notice in the London Gazette of 25 December 1802 testifies, Waithman was the partner with the most financial clout, 3/4 as against 1/4 for Bristow. Very soon afterwards, the partnership seems to have been dissolved and Waithman went into a new partnership with Everington at roughly the same addresses. The trade card (dated 1803) again shows the 103-104 Fleet Street property, but now with Everington’s name in stead of Bristow’s.

©British Museum

The Sun Fire Office records for 1803 and 1804 list John Etherington alongside Waithman, but in 1811, a partnership was dissolved between Robert Waithman and his son John on the one hand and William Everington on the other.⁽²⁾ Is there a mistake and are Etherington and Everington the same? And is John related to William? Whatever the exact details of the partnership(s), by 1811, the business was solely in the hands of the Waithman family. After Robert’s death, the shop in Fleet Street was continued by his sons (see here).

Portrait of Robert Waithman by Edward Scriven © National Portrait Gallery, London

But Robert was not just a linen draper, he also went into politics. He frequented a debating society at Founders’ Hall in Lothbury and became a liveryman of the Framework Knitters’ Company. In 1795, he was elected as a common councilman for the ward of Farringdon Without and took a stance against the war with France. He was involved in the founding of the Society of the Independent Livery of London and, in 1800, published a pamphlet War proved to be the real cause of the present scarcity and enormous high price, of every article of consumption, with the only radical remedies, which was directed against the injustice of the income tax and in which he demanded reform for a more equal society. The Independent Livery became a lobbying group to be reckoned with in City politics, working for the people against high prices and taxes, and campaigning against war and for parliamentary reform. Waithman tried several times to get a seat in Parliament for London, but did not at first succeed. His background and lack of education spoke against him. “It was time to teach Mr Waithman that the government is not in the common hall, and that we are not to have a supreme council of war made up of the tradesmen of London”.⁽³⁾

But, in 1818, he was voted as one of the four City representatives, defeating the Tory candidate, Sir William Curtis. Waithman’s speech of 1 July 1819 on parliamentary reform was published in 1823. Soon after his election, in July 1818, he was chosen as alderman for his ward of Farringdon Without, replacing the deceased Sir Charles Price, but failed to hold on to his parliamentary seat in 1820. He attained the post of sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1820–21, during which time he sided with the popular radicals in support of Queen Caroline. He also became Lord Mayor of London in 1823-1824, satirized by his political opponents in Maxims of Robert, Lord Waithman, Somewhile Chief Magistrate of London (1824). Waithman always tried to strive for reform without becoming too radical, which resulted in an unfortunate middle position, where the Whigs thought he was too radical and the Radicals considered him too much of a Whig. And his background led to accusations of trying to use politics for his personal gain which he vehemently denied. His concern was the fairer distribution of power and wealth between the classes.⁽⁴⁾ While some may claim he was just an upstart shopkeeper, he, although not always successful, did much to reform the political landscape in favour of the ordinary man in the street.

Waithman died at his house at 7 Woburn Place on 6 February 1833 and was buried in St. Bride’s on the 14th. His body was brought there from Guildhall in a cortège of twenty-seven carriages. Waithman Street in London was named in his honour and a subscription was raised by the St Bride’s Society to set up an obelisk. The Morning Chronicle of 26 June 1833 reported that the day before “the first stone of the Waithman Obelisk was laid by Alderman Harmer … attended by the architect and the Secretary of the Haytor Granite Company, by whom it was constructed”. A little further on in the report on the occasion, they name the architect as John Elmes⁽⁵⁾ and the secretary of Haytor as Mr. Bigg.

The inscription seen on the pedestal of the obelisk was, according to the paper, also engraved on a sheet of lead which was deposited with a portrait of Waithman and a list of the subscribers in a hermetically sealed bottle which was placed in a cavity in the lower foundation stone. Is it still there? The obelisk was originally erected at the southern end of Farringdon Street, opposite the Fleet Street shop, but it was relocated twice. The first time in 1951 to Bartholomew Close and in 1972 to it’s present position in Salisbury Square. And if negotiations had not broken off – reason unknown – the obelisk might even have ended up in Waithman’s birthplace Wrexham.⁽⁶⁾

Besides the obelisk, a wall tablet was erected in the south wall of the tower of St. Bride’s which now lives in their crypt with other miscellaneous gravestones and memorials. According to The architecture of St Bride’s⁽⁷⁾, the tablet was accompanied by a shield of arms “Or an eagle holding in his beak a crosslet [], on a chief engrailed vert an escallop [] between two molets []”. That, however, is no longer to be seen in the church, but you can see the coat of arms on the bosses above the text on the obelisk.

Biographical information on Waithman from:
– Michael T. Davis, ‘Waithman, Robert (1764–1833)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.
– Lawrence Taylor and R. G. Thorne, ‘Waithman, Robert (c.1764-1833), of 7 Woburn Place, Mdx.’ in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986 (online here).

(1) Freedom admissions papers, 1681 – 1925. London Metropolitan Archives: COL/CHD/FR/02.
(2) London Gazette, 17 Sept. 1811.
(3) William Huskisson on the reception given to Waithman’s petition for an inquiry into the convention of Cintra (Source: www.historyofparliamentonline.org)
(4) J.R. Dinwiddy, Radicalism and Reform in Britain, 1780-1850 (1992), p. 78.
(5) John Elmes (1782-1862), A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, ed. E. Skempton, vol. 1: 1500-1830 (2002), pp. 212-213.
(6) Many thanks to Martyn Partridge to pointing this bit of history out to me (see his comment). A photo of the obelisk in its original position can be found here.
(7) ‘The architecture of St Bride’s: Monuments’, Survey of London Monograph 15: St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street (1944), pp. 55-113 (online here).

You may also like to read the two other posts on Waithman:
– Waithman Street
– Waithman & Co., linen drapers

Serjeants Inn

Tags

coat of arms, Fleet Street, insurance, law

Although the iron gates at 50 Fleet Street clearly show the words ‘Serjants Inn’, the dove and serpent above the wording have nothing to do with the former lawyer’s inn, other than consecutively using the same address. Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street, was originally one of the addresses from which members of the Serjeants-at-law conducted their business, the other was in Chancery Lane. In the 1730s, the Fleet Street lease was not renewed and the serjeants all moved to Chancery Lane. In 1737, the lease was taken over by the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office (the Amicable Society for short) who erected a new building on the site in 1792/3, designed by Robert Adam (1728-1792).

Engraving by Samuel Rawle, 1801 ©British Museum

In The European Magazine, and London Review of 1801, the above engraving of the new building in Fleet Street is given as well as an account of the history and regulations of the insurance corporation:

“Queen Anne, by letters patent, dated 25th July 1706, incorporated William [Talbot], then Bishop of Oxford, Sir Thomas Aleyn, and others named, and the future subscribers, by the name of the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office”.⁽¹⁾

In fact, the society was the brainchild of John Hartley, a bookseller in Fleet Street. The printing press was put to good use in advertising the new assurance society, for instance, in the anonymous Letter from a Member of the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance; giving his Friend an Account of That Society, as it now stands Incorporated by Her Majesty’s Letters Patent of 1706. The author says that the original “design has undergone many material alterations, since the first proposals were publish’d by Mr. Hartley”, but if his friend wanted to know every particular, he must wait for the by-laws that were in the process of getting accepted.⁽²⁾

1792 receipt for payment of contribution (Source: scripophily.com)

In the original plan a maximum of 2,000 members were to pay £7 6s for a policy and £6 4s annually. Members could hold up to three shares on one life. The funds thus collected were divided among those eligible for a payout “at an equal rate per share, with only such reserve as is necessary for defraying the charges of management”. The European Magazine assures the public that “on inspecting the accounts of the dividends for many years past, the average share appears to have amounted to about 200l”. If anyone wanted to have information, they could go the Society’s office which was open every day from 9 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon “where books containing the Charters, Regulations, and Names of the Members, may be had on application”. So much for privacy. But things did not always go as smoothly as suggested in the European Magazine account. In the early years, a clerk embezzled some £1,700; in 1713, the treasurer walked away with £6,500; and in 1830, the manager of the society absconded with the funds.⁽³⁾

The reason for the dove and serpent in the coat of arms of the Amicable Society have been forgotten, but they were already carved above the door of their Hatton Garden office in 1716. The motto is Prudens simplicitas (careful simplicity) which would be a great motto for modern-day bankers to adopt.

Coat of arms (Source: Aviva.com)

The original maximum of 2,000 members, was gradually increased; in 1790 to 4,000, in 1807 to 8,000 and in 1836 to 32,000. The set price per share was also abandoned in the new charter of 1807, premiums now depended on age and circumstances, something other insurance companies had already introduced earlier. In 1866, the Society merged into the Norwich Union Life Insurance Society, now part of Aviva and they moved their London offices to 50 Fleet Street. In 1912, the road was widened and during the rebuilding, the gates were lost. They were rediscovered in a scrapyard in 1937 and taken to the Norwich Union head office in Norwich, which proved to have been a blessing, as in WWII the Fleet Street buildings were destroyed. The gates were reinstalled in London in 1959 and moved to their present location in 1970. The gates now lead to a fancy hotel, but the link with the Serjeant Inn is not entirely lost. A group of solicitors have set up a barrister’s chambers, 3 Serjeants’ Inn, at 50 Fleet Street.⁽⁴⁾ They are in no way related to the original Serjeants-at-law, but it is still a nice thought that the legal origins of the place and the connection with the Amicable Society are not completely forgotten.

(1) Volume 40, July 1801, pp. 7-8.
(2) British Library, shelfmark 8225.e.46.
(3) www.aviva.com
(4) 3serjeantsinn.com. Information on the fate of the gates from their website.

Daily Express

Tags

Aumonier, book trade, Daily Express, Fleet Street, newspapers

In 1932, the brand new art-deco building at 120 Fleet Street was opened to house the printing works and offices of the Daily Express.

William Maxwell (Max) Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (1879-1964), the owner of the paper, had commissioned the architects Ellis and Clarke to extend the existing Daily Express building towards Fleet Street. Complications arose with the original design because the printing room had to become one large space running through the basement of the old and the new building. Sir Evan Owen Williams (1890-1969), originally an aircraft designer who made his name as an architect with the concrete structures for the Wembley Exhibition of 1924, was drafted in to resolve the problems. His engineering skills were especially useful and he came up with the plan to construct a giant concrete box to house the printing room and to stop water from filtering into the building.
The outside of the building, which, in the original plan, was to be clad in Portland stone, was redesigned and is now faced with black glass panels with chromium strips. The western corner of the building was rounded off and in the recent refitting this was matched on the eastern corner. The wide entrance with chrome canopy above leads to the lobby which was designed by Robert Atkinson (1883-1952) and contains two massive plaster reliefs ‘Britain’ and ‘Empire’ designed by the sculptor Eric Aumonier (1899-1974). Aumonier came from an artistic Huguenot family who fled the Poitou region of France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). Eric’s father, William (1869-1943) had also worked as a sculptor and carver, and his grandfather, another William (1839-1914) established a highly successful firm of architectural sculptors and carvers in New Inn Yard, Tottenham Court Road.⁽¹⁾

Daily Express relief detail

Very similar office buildings to the one in London, also clad in black glass, were opened by the Daily Express in Glasgow (1937) and Manchester (1939).
The newspaper vacated the London building in the late 1980s and the building was left empty for several years. Fortunately the present owner had the good sense to restore the lobby to its former glory as “the Byzantine vestibule and Sassanian lounge of Copper House” that so “rudely shocked” William Boot, the hero of Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop. This glamorous lobby, minus the “chrys-elephantine effigy of Lord Copper in coronation robes”⁽²⁾, can now be seen on Open House London days.⁽³⁾

Daily Express relief ‘Britain’

Daily Express relief ‘Empire’

You may also like to read the post on Ashentree Court and Northcliffe House or the one on Magpie Alley.

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(1) J.C. Aumonier, “Aumônier: a Huguenot family from Haut-Poitou” in Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London, vol. 18 (1947-1952), pp. 311-324; ‘William Aumonier Junior’ and ‘William Aumonier Senior’, Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011
(2) Evelyn Waugh, Scoop, 1938, pp. 29-30. Waugh worked for a short time in 1927 at the Daily Express.
(3) Most of the information in this post, except that on the Aumonier family, comes from the information sheet given out by openhouselondon.org.uk.

Magpie Alley

Tags

book trade, Fleet Street, newspapers

Fleet Street is named after the river Fleet that flows from Hampstead Heath down towards the Thames, although for most of its way it is hidden underground as it became so polluted and clogged up over the years that it was no longer navigable. In the eighteenth century it was covered over in sections, except for the first part on Hampstead Heath, so that no water can now be seen for most of its course. Fleet Street and the area around it has been associated with publishing since Wynkyn de Worde, William Caxton’s apprentice, set up business near Shoe Lane at the sign of the Sun in the year 1500 or 1501.

Wynkyn de Worde’s device
Source: www.martinfrost.ws

More printers and booksellers followed and from 1702 so did the newspapers, starting with the Daily Courant, followed by, among others, the Morning Advertiser, the Daily Telegraph, and the Daily Express. Bouverie Street, leading from Fleet Street to the Thames, was the home of the News of the World for a while. The newspapers have all moved out of the City to larger premises on the Isle of Dogs or in Wapping, but a memorial to the hustle and bustle of the publishing days can be seen in Magpie Alley.

You need to go slightly off the beaten track, but it is well worth having a look. From Fleet Street, turn into Bouverie Street (opposite number 160, Bouverie House) and walk down towards the river. Please note the great view of the OXO building across the river you have from here. Keep an eye out for Magpie Alley on your left.

Magpie Alley entrance (from Google Maps)

The alley leads to Whitefriars crypt (see here), but now I just want to draw your attention to the tiled wall of the alley which tells the story of the association of Fleet Street with publishing and printing through the ages.

Alan Brooke has written a booklet: Fleet Street. The Story of a Street (2010) with a wealth of information if you want to know more about the street.

You may also like to read the post on the Daily Express building or the one on Ashentree Court and Northcliffe House.