The Sutter family of Liverpool.

John Sutter (Snr) 1796 -1849; John Sutter (Jnr) 1825 - 1872.

'Another ‘Rum’ label.'

In my last blog I wrote about a rum label that had been made by Mahala Jago. According to Google there were over 300 ‘hits’ but nobody contacted me to say that they had a label by Mahala. So, is it a “Rare” label?

Now the label that I intend to write about is clearly marked Rum, but as for the marks on the back therein lies a mystery.

 

Most people who are collectors probably have a strong sense of curiosity and when I saw a label on Ebay with the attribution of a Liverpool silversmith, John Sutter, I could not resist leaving a modest bid. I had bought silver from the vendor in the past I and felt that the Liverpool attribution might have some authority. However, before the auction was over, I made some preliminary searches and felt sure that the mark seen above was not that registered at Chester where John Sutter, a silversmith working in Liverpool assayed his work. The mark that Sutter used for his Chester silver is below.

However, I found that John Sutter, (sometimes spelt Soutar), was from Edinburgh, and had silver assayed in Newcastle. Was there a mark from either of these two cities?

The Edinburgh Assay Office have published a short biographical note, written by Henry Fotheringham who is an authority on Edinburgh Silversmiths.

‘John Sutter, born 15 Nov 1796 Edinburgh was son of John Sutter, weather-glass manufacturer in Edinburgh. No siblings were identified for him. John Sutter was apprenticed to Charles Dalgleish and the indentures were booked on 4 Sept. 1815. Sutter was likely to have been Dalgleish’s first apprentice. He had his own shop in Edinburgh from 1826 to 1830 operating as an unfreeman silversmith. During this time Sutter sent flatware for assay. In 1829 he was accused of selling spoons with forged marks. He moved briefly to Newcastle and from there to Liverpool, from whence he sent silver to the Chester Assay Office.’

On the premise that Sutter had sent work to the Edinburgh Assay Office I searched the archive but there is no record of his mark.  One colleague commented that the label does have some characteristics of a Scottish label, (the very modest canted corners?), this prompted me to search Glasgow and Scottish provincial marks – I found one that was similar (James Stewart), but it was oval rather than rectangular. So, something of a question mark about whether the ‘Rum’ label is from Edinburgh?

At this point I should say that surprisingly I won the label!  I was able to clean and examine the label and as you can see in the photograph above there was a deep indentation on the back of the label between the two JS marks. With the aid of WD40 cleaning fluid and a sharp wooden cocktail stick I was able to remove the compacted dirt in the cavity and found another mark, also JS. The mark is so small it has proved difficult to photograph, nevertheless, it is shown below.

So, having found this third mark, where to go next? The obvious choice was Newcastle as there is evidence of work by Sutter being assayed in that city.

Was the comment by Henry Fotheringham correct as to Sutter moving to Newcastle? Maurice Ridgeway in his 1985 ‘Chester Silver 1727-1837), wrote a biographical note about Sutter, particularly his Newcastle period;

“Sutter first registered his mark at Newcastle assay office but used that Office for less than a year between 31 August 1832 and 18 June 1833. Unfortunately, the punch books for that period have not survived and there is no record of his address. The local trade directories of 1830 do not list him as a resident in the Newcastle area, but as none covers the 1832/3 period, we can only assume that his wares were sent from Liverpool. This is supported by the fact that the amount of gold and silver that Sutter submitted for assay at Newcastle was very small, being four pennyweights of plain gold rings, and 85 ounces of silverware including butter knife, lid fora snuffbox, sugar tongs, spoon, egg spoon, salt spoon and tea spoon.”

Digitally researching the National Newspaper archive and various Directories, (not available at the time when Ridgeway wrote his book), I found a John Sutter, Silversmith, firstly in a Carlisle directory, then in a copy of a Sept.1834 Kendal newspaper the following advertisement.

I also digitally searched Directories and Newspapers from Newcastle and could not find any reference to him in that city, confirming Ridgeway’s experience. According to Margaret AV Gill in her book on the Newcastle silver, she identifies some of the towns and cities in the North from where silversmiths sent plate to be assayed in Newcastle.  Durham, Blyth, Carlisle, Whitehaven, Bishop Auckland all had local families engaged in producing silverware and sending their work to Newcastle so perhaps John Sutter thought that Kendal presented a ‘business opportunity.

The three marks registered in Newcastle by John Sutter are illustrated below. The first 2 in 1832 which are quite like one another, and then a third in 1833. This last mark does have some resemblance to the central mark on my Rum label but it is bigger.

(The Newcastle marks reproduced below are from the book by Margaret Gill and I realise that the book is still under copyright. I have made careful enquiries endeavouring to seek permission to reproduce the images. Unfortunately, the publisher, Frank Graham, is no longer in business and I have not been able to find a successor, if there is a person claiming copyright please advise me.) 

The next Assay office to consider is Chester; (curiously Chester is 100 miles from Kendal as is Newcastle, but I am sure that transport to Newcastle must have been relatively easier.)

The Chester mark below is very similar to the first two Newcastle marks;

Maurice Ridgeway in his monumental study of Chester silver marks. (The Compendium of Chester Gold and Silver Marks 1570 to 1962), refers to Sutter entering his mark from 1839, but the mark above is from 1838. On the 925-silver forum I also found a reference to Sutter;

‘A tablespoon has just come to light showing that Sutter was submitting items to the Chester AO in 1835 rather than 1839 as first thought.’

Whether or not my Rum label was made by Sutter I wondered why John Sutter moved with his family to Liverpool?  At first glance one could easily imagine that moving to Liverpool could be prompted simply by the business prospects in a large wealthy port.

Liverpool was very wealthy; a great deal of money was made from the slave trade and that only accounted for some 10% of the shipping industry. Although the slave trade was over by 1807 Liverpool ships had transported half of the 3 million Africans carried across the Atlantic by British slavers. By the 1830’s the port was handling huge amounts of goods destined for Manchester and other towns thriving from the Industrial Revolution.

There were, no doubt, many prosperous Liverpool merchants who could afford silver plate and one Liverpool silversmith who was providing a prolific quantity of silver was John Coakley. However, in May 1834 he was arrested with his father and a Mrs Cumpstey. They were referred to as ‘Three notorious receivers of plate’ after sacks full of silver were found under the floor of Coakley’s house. Nearly all the plate was believed to have been stolen from properties in and around Liverpool by gangs of men, one of whom at his trial identified his ‘fence’ to the police. At the committal proceedings it was stated that, ‘Many of the crests upon the spoons are filed out, and the maker's initials are punched over with JC, the prisoner's mark, (Johns own mark as a spoon-maker).’   Eventually Coakley and his father were tried together with others involved in the operation. John Coakley was sentenced to transportation for life, his 73-year-old father, Patrick, was acquitted as no evidence was offered against him.

Now the reason for referring to this account is that the story was published in the Westmoreland Gazette, a paper that John Sutter probably would have seen in Kendal. I wonder if the story of Coakley’s downfall prompted Sutter to think that Liverpool was another and better business opportunity?

Ridgeway, unaware of the prosecution of Coakley wrote in his book, (Chester Silver: 1837-1962 with special reference to The Chester Duty Books 1784-1840)

“The advent of John Coakley in 1828 seemed to dominate the market. From then until 1833 he produced 6,791 tea spoons, 297 dessert spoons, 634 table spoons and in addition 12 table forks, 52 dessert forks and 64 listed as forks. There were also* 4 fish forks (1830).

Shortly after 1833 John Sutter arrived from Newcastle on Tyne we no longer hear of John Coakley, perhaps they joined forces or John Sutter replaced Coakley. He began in 1834 and was producing a large variety of silver goods in 1840 when the Duty Books record ends. Between 1833 and 1840 he produced over 5,000 tea spoons, 1,600 table and dessert spoons and over 1,000 table and dessert forks, these were all in addition to a variety of ladles, salt spoons, egg spoons and ladles which were common to most silversmiths.”

Ridgeway also commented. “In this short record the production of over 5000 tea spoons and over 1600 table and dessert spoons, 1000 table and dessert forks indicate a considerable output and the large number of staff employed. He appears to have worked until about 1850.

I am sure that Ridgeway could not have been aware of the following information that I found using digitalised genealogical records; There were two John Sutter’s, father and son.

John Sutter (Snr), born 1796, probably married to Ann in 1821(?) and their first child, a daughter, Mary, (b.1822), John (Jnr), (b.1825). After the move to Liverpool in 1834-5 the four other children, Jane, (b.1828,) Thomas, (b.1830), Isaac, (b.1837) and finally Gillies, (b.1841) were all baptised together on February 6^th1837 at St Peters Church, Liverpool. One evident aspect of the 1841 census was that only members of the family were listed, if Sutter was engaged in such a large business, I am surprised there was no servant in the household.

Liverpool Directories, (Gore), identified Sutter both as a ‘Working jeweller’ and ‘Working silversmith’, As to the references by Ridgeway about the large numbers of staff employed, I thought that the Directories might have referred to a ‘Manufactory?’ Could all of this silver been made by John Sutter Snr, (and perhaps members of his family?), his son, John Jnr, was 24 when his father died, he must have been working with his father?

John Sutter, (Snr), died age 53 in 1849 and two years later the 1851 census showing Ann, his widow, living with five children.  John, (Jnr), age 26 giving his occupation, Silversmith. The Gore’s 1853 Liverpool Directory lists John Sutter, ‘Shop, Silversmith’. Later in 1855 John, (Jnr), married Annie Abrahams and gave his occupation as silversmith, he also gave his late father’s occupation as silversmith. On the premise that John continued working with silver I wonder if he worked independently? There is no evidence of hallmarked work after 1850 so perhaps the shop referred to in the Directory was a retail business?  The 1861 census is perhaps the clue, John Sutter occupation is listed as ‘Spirit Dealer’, so perhaps he found more profit in rum than possibly Rum labels?  Seven years later in 1868 his wife Annie has died, she is only 34 leaving John with three boys to look after……………… the 1871 census records John Sutter living with two sons as a boarder, age 46, with an address of Talbot Street, but again he is giving his occupation as silversmith?

The following year in November 1872 47-year-old John Sutter, (Jnr), is dead, the probate notice refers to John Sutter dying at Talbot Street leaving an estate of under £2,000.00.

£2000.00 may not seem a great deal but if you use the website ‘Measuring Worth’. there must have been some profit in Liverpool silver plate. See the table below,

 

I obtained a copy of his will and after modest bequests, (£19/10 shillings), to his two surviving sisters and one brother, he directed his executors to invest the remaining money and provide his mother with 7/6d, (37.5p) each week, his father-in-law with 3/-. (15p) each week and the balance of the income to cover, ‘The support, maintenance and education of my three sons’. The two executors who John Sutter referred to as his friends were an estate agent and a publican. I am unsure as to their success at seeing the three boys received a good education as studying later census information their respective occupations were; House-painter, Coal porter and Gilder and carver. I imagine the last occupation may have been one of the finishing trades in the passenger liner construction industry in Liverpool.

I sometimes think that when looking at the era of fine silver dining we too easily forget the circumstances in which the ‘Silversmiths’ lived. There many who probably made a very modest living, if John Sutter Snr had been successful in his business, I would have thought that on the 1841-51 census returns the family might have employed a servant. In 1861 John Sutter Jnr did have a servant but at that time identified himself as a spirit dealer. When John Sutter died in 1872, some 23 years after his father the family circumstances were such that from his reasonable estate, he nevertheless still had to make provision for his widowed mother, (and his widower father-in-law).

So, where has my long exploration of the Sutter family taken me in finding more about who made my label? I found one intriguing paragraph in Ridgeway’s notes about John Sutter.

“It is of interest to note that two brass forks have been found with fiddle pattern handles which were made from the same mould as a silver fork. The marks on the brass forks have a strange form of lion passant, a type of crown and one of an anchor. There is also a JS within an oval but also the mark used by John Sutter on silver. The presence of such a mark on brass needs some explaining,” (see The Finial, Journal of the Silver Spoon Society, 1993.)

Were those brass forks examples of the Mosaic Gold Spoons and Forks that John Sutter referred to in his Kendal 1834 advertisement? Had the plating worn off  leaving some spurious form of assay mark? But from my personal interest the fact that he used his mark twice in two different styles on the same object does make me wonder if my Rum label is by John Sutter Snr……………

So, my final thought is that the £58.00 I spent on the ‘Rum’ label has been good value. I do wonder if a Sutter made the label, but it has really been worth the time exploring the story of the Sutter family!

Before closing I will suggest to any readers who are looking at this blog and have an interest in wine labels, you should seriously consider joining the Wine Label Circle, it is only a thirty-pound annual subscription. There is a useful website, http://winelabelcircle.org/, here you can access all the *digitized journals of the Wine Label Circle, (these date back to 1952), and perhaps best of all, there are two meetings where you can meet others with similar interests.

Of course, in addition to the above there are regular emailed newsletter and an annual printed copy of the Wine Label Circle Journal.

Happy collecting!