Port, Peppin and Piggysooo!
In 2019 you may remember that I wrote a few biographical notes about the Jago family of silversmiths and in particular about Mahala Jago. My interest in Mahala Jago was a consequence of buying a label with the mark of Mahala, who after the death of her husband was able to register her own mark at the Goldsmiths Company. The result of that article and of inquiring amongst members, dealers, and collectors is that labels by Mahala are scarce.
Once again, I find myself researching another relatively unknown woman silversmith, Susanna Peppin, who like Mahala Jago registered her mark after the death of her husband Robert. The circumstances of undertaking this research are similar to my previous experience of finding labels on eBay that are sometimes incorrectly catalogued. In this instance the mark was clearly London, but the description was.
‘A Victorian silver PORT label by Susanna Peppin, Oval shape with broad border decorated fruiting vine, Hallmarked for Birmingham 1839, 4.7 x 3.3 cms wide, 22.9 gms’.
(The label had been part of the sale at Woolley & Wallis, 16th April 2019, in the catalogue description there was no mention of Peppin, the label had probably come from the collection of the late Gordon Proctor, past President of the WLC.)
Checking Grimwade, the description of the label correctly identified the makers mark, but perhaps an oversight by the vendor, describing Birmingham as the assay mark. There are two photographs below.
I made an offer of £72 against the fixed price of
£85.00 and was quite pleased by the counter-offer from the dealer of £75.00,
(who trades under the name of piggysoo). The original photograph of the marks was
not sufficiently close and when the label arrived a careful examination with a
loupe indicated the mark of Susanna Peppin was probably an ‘overstamp’.
So, who was Susanna Peppin? First port of call has to be ‘Wine Labels’, the Wine Label Circles own comprehensive book, but this only offered the minimum, i.e. name and date of her mark being registered. I then used the Adobe search facility on the Wine Label Circle website to check back issues of the Journal, starting in 1952 through to 2019. Within a few moments the computer came back with one result from 2004 when Enid Allan had written about women silversmiths. She based her article on a list of women silversmiths provided by Sir Thomas Barlow – of the fifteen names, (and not including Susanna), only the work of six, the two Batemans, Hyde, Barker, Binley, and the lesser-known Anne Harvey were discussed. I thought that the book by Philippa Glanville, ‘Women Silversmiths’ would offer more information but again only a brief reference that I think had been sourced from Grimwade………………………………
So, Grimwade next and three entries, together with an update, see below.
Updated entry from Grimwade.
Culme offered the following entry but this referred to the second husband of Susanna Peppin, Thurston Cook. This entry also repeated the (mistaken) note that Susanna had been married to the older brother, Sydenham William Peppin.
Now the hard work begins, searching Ancestry, the genealogical website. The extensive digital records enable you to search birth, baptism, and death records, Directories, Electoral Records, Apprenticeship Duties, Court Hearings and very usefully some City of London records.
From all of this material I think that the following account is reasonably accurate. However, there may be other members who might undertake further research and who may find additional information. What has become clear is that whilst the label I have is from the Peppin family, their business was primarily making silver flatware, with a particular reputation for knife handles. I am sure the port label was bought in from another specialist (?) maker and marked by Susanna for retailing to a client.
The names of family members and street names mingle with a certain consistency. The Peppin family were primarily in Hatton Garden, firstly Greville Street and then Kirby Street. It is quite probable that these large properties were in multiple occupation, some parts being workshops and other parts residential. I am unsure whether the Peppin family lived at the workshop, sometimes the evidence would seem so but not on other occasions.
It is probably best to start with the Peppin brothers, Sydenham William, (1789-1817) and Robert, (1792-1835) who were 2 of 4(?) children of Samuel Bishop Peppin, (1753 – 1800). Samuel was from the West Country, the son of a surgeon and apprenticed in 1770 as an apothecary in the City of London. Both Sydenham and Robert were able to pursue work as silversmiths on the grounds of patrimony. According to the records kindly provided by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries archivist, Sarah Payne, Sydenham became a Liverymen in 1794.
In 1815 Sydenham entered a joint mark with Moses William Brent in December 1815, however the partnership was dissolved in July 1816.
The mark of this partnership is below.
I wonder if some relationship continued with the Peppin’s? The father of Moses William Brent was a successful haftmaker, (knife-handle), for leading silversmiths and may well have been in a position through his son to pass on work to the Peppin brothers. More of this connection later……………
Sydenham entered his own mark in July 1816, below, but within 18 months he had died.
The register entry for Sydenham below is from St Michaels, Cornhill, the reference to the vault is probably where his father was interred some 17 years earlier.
Within a week of the funeral Robert Peppin registered his mark in 15th December 1817 as a spoonmaker and his work, though not commonly found is considered to be of good quality, and has been found not only on the crests of peers, but also, I am reliably informed, on a service for the Royal Household.
The burial register entry is evidence that Sydenham died a young man – yet if Grimwade is correct why did his brother Robert, sign the fourth entry in 1829? Grimwade also refers to a note about Sydenham moving to 23 Kirby Street in 1829?? I contacted the Librarian at Goldsmiths Hall to see if she could offer an opinion about the entry for Sydenham in 1829. Eleni Bide, the librarian was very helpful about this and kindly offered the following explanation.
‘Thank you for your email. Having looked in the mark books, my suggestion is that the entry under WSP’s name for October 1829 was made in error – and should have been made under Robert Peppin’s name.
As you pointed out, it makes no sense for a person who has died to have moved, and in the index at the front of the registration volume, WS Peppin’s name comes first, with Robert’s considerably down the list. It would be easy for someone not paying attention to just look for Peppin, and not the initials, and record the address change under the wrong name.’
Returning to Robert Peppin, he had married Susanna Warner on the 5th November 1818 at St Andrews, Holborn in the Parish of St Pancras.
St Andrew’s is the church near Greville Street and no’s 22/27 Greville St. occurs quite often in the Peppin family history, his brother also having registered his mark from the same street – see the extracts from Grimwade above.
Now perhaps, is the moment to refer to the modest information that I was able to find about Susanna. She was born in Greenwich in March 1797, her parents were William and Sarah Warner and in the baptism entry 2nd April of St Alfege Church, Susanna’s father, William, is identified as a Coal Merchant.
I presume that Susanna may well have joined her husband in his workshop. What I have not been able to find is whether there were any children from the marriage. There are two entries from Directories below and I presume these are the workshop. The London 1820 Post Office Directory and the Pigott’s 1825 London Directory list Robert at 22 Greville Street.
The most notable aspect of the early years of their marriage must have been coping with financial problems . Bankruptcy proceedings were in the background for Robert since 1823 and they appeared to continue for some 5 years.
‘All the Creditors who have proved their debts under a Commission of Bankrupt awarded and issued forth against Robert Peppin, of Greville Street, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Silversmith, Dealer and Chapman, are requested to meet the Assignees of the said Bankrupt's estate and effects, on Wednesday, the 6th day of April next, at One of the Clock in the Afternoon precisely, at the Court of Commissioners of Bankrupts, in Basinghall Street, in the City of London, to assent to or dissent from the said Assignees selling and disposing by private contract of all or any part, of the estate and effects of the said Bankrupt, and particularly to their selling unto the said Bankrupt the household furniture and utensils of trade, or any part thereof, and also the lease of the said Bankrupt's premises in Greville Street aforesaid, at such price and upon such security, payable at such time and in such manner as the said Assignees shall think proper; and also to assent to or dissent from the said Assignees paying and discharging all wages due to the servants of the said Bankrupt, and to the said Assignees commencing, prosecuting or defending any actions or suits at law or ill equity touching or concerning or in anywise relating to the said Bankrupt's estate and effects, and discontinuing or otherwise terminating the same, and adopting such measures with respect to the said actions and suits as the said Assignees may think proper’.
The notification of bankruptcy was followed by ‘enlargement’ proceedings, there appeared to be 3 days during Feb/March 1826 when there would be a deep examination and an opportunity for all creditors to make their claim. It is too easy to disregard the gravity of what was happening to Robert and Susanna. Premises, tools, furniture could all be taken to be sold to raise money, in London all of the family could be taken to the debtor’s jail at Fleet and hope that members of their family could raise funds. Robert had a younger brother, Thomas, a broker, and wine merchant (who was in partnership with a Mr Burmester), would they be able to find funds? Whether Robert was able to work in some manner is not clear – the librarian, Elina Bide at Goldsmiths Hall told me that she was not aware of any rules in the Goldsmiths Company that would terminate his ability to work during Bankruptcy proceedings. A notice in the Public Advertiser on 26th January 1828 indicated that Robert Peppin was able to pay a dividend, so I presume he continued his business activities.
Curiously, only a few months later Robert was appearing at the Old Bailey, 11th September 1828.
ROBERT PEPPIN. I am a working silversmith and live in Gray's Inn-lane. The prisoner was in my employ. On the 14th of April I gave him a bag of work to take to Goldsmiths'-hall, with 2l.7s. 6d. in it, to pay the duty; he did not return, and was taken on the 17th of July - the work was taken to the hall.
CHARLES FLINT . I am foreman to Mr. Peppin. I put two sovereigns and 7s. 6d. into the prisoner's bag to take to the hall; he never returned.
Prisoner. Q. I did not see the money in the bag - Did you put it in? A. Yes; you know I did.
HENRY DAVIS . I took up the prisoner in Cloth-fair; he said he was very sorry, and asked me to ask his master to forgive him - I said I could not, as I understood it was a second offence; he said if I would intercede for him, he would pay his master so much a week, as he had done in a former case.
The prisoner put in a written defence, denying all knowledge of the money being in the bag; and stating his absenting himself was on account of the lowness of his wages.
GUILTY . Aged 21. Confined Six Months .
(3 years later Robert Folks was found guilty of stealing lead from a roof – sentenced to transportation for life.)
*The information about Charles Flint and Moses Brent was sourced from ‘Silver Flatware’ by Ian Pickford.
Although Charles Flint entered a mark in 1826, (Grimwade 203), he may have found employment preferable to working on his own account and I have not been able to find any example of his work. One other item I noted about Charles Flint is that he witnessed the will of Robert Peppin. The will was dated 25th September 1834, should we assume that Charles Flint was still an employee? Perhaps it is reasonable to assume that perhaps as the foreman Charles Flint played an important role in the Peppin family business, although I have not been able to find any record of how long he worked for the Peppin family.
Robert Peppin died in 1835 and was buried in St
Andrews, Holborn on March 2nd , he was only 43 and his widow 38.
Looking at the burial register I find it interesting to see that there was another burial the same day, a 79-year-old woman from Gray’s Inn Lane Workhouse, Rachael Symonds, who outlived Robert by some 36 years.
One week after Robert’s burial Susanna entered her mark at Goldsmiths Hall on the 9th of March 1835 in the register as a smallworker. Below is an example of the work of Susanna, image kindly provided by Ian Bedford, (Silfren Silver).
Susanna presumably carried on managing the business and I can only presume that in the workshop there must have been skilled employees – Charles Flint perhaps, still working as the foreman?
The next significant event to note is Susanna’s re-marriage in December 1839 to Thurston Cook. Perhaps being aware that the widow Mary Hyde, (a noted maker of wine labels) had married her journeyman, John Reilly, I imagined that Susanna might marry another man in the silver trade, ensuring some artisan skills in the business. Researching this paper, I also came across another silversmith, Sarah Purver, whose silversmith husband Thomas had died in 1817, Sarah entered her mark as a widow and then remarried in 1820 to William Schofield, also a silversmith, (more about the mark of Sarah later).
As you may have noted earlier, Culme refers to Thurston Cook as the new husband of Susanna. So, who was Thurston Cook? He was, according to my research in Ancestry, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Cook, born in March 1815, at Shrewsbury where his father was a factory clerk. Some 18 years younger than Susanna, and as you can see from the marriage certificate, Thurston was a bootmaker.
The marriage was on the 23rd of December 1839 in the Registry Office with the parents of Thurston present. It was only three years earlier in 1836 that the Marriage Act permitted a civil ceremony in a Registry Office. I do not imagine that the term ‘age-hypogamous’ was part of the everyday vocabulary in 1839 but I do wonder if eyebrows were raised at the difference in the age of the two partners, (age-hypogamy defines a relationship where the woman is the older partner). Was it as simple as Susanna fancying a new pair of boots or a Shropshire lad hoping to find a new occupation? Polishing silver instead of leather?
Whatever the reasons Susanna dutifully registered her 2 new marks at Goldsmiths Hall, one on the 25th of Feb 1840 & the other on the 28th of Feb 1840, the first mark with a pellet and the second without a pellet – see below. (This image is reproduced from the Dictionary of Gold and Silversmiths by John Culme, published by Antique CC).
The marriage was very brief, just 13 weeks later Susanna was buried on the 2nd of April 1840 at All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green.
From 1845 the cause of death had to be certified by a doctor before burial and although prior to this period a parish priest might note a cause of death I have not been able to find a record. I can only presume that if you find any silver marked for Susanna Cook that would be very scarce, there was only a window of 3 months when it could have been made?
So, at his point you might conclude this is just about the end of the Peppin story, but not quite, there are several more points that I pursued, and they follow………………….
Culme notes that within a few days of the death of Susanna Thurston Cook entered his mark at Goldsmiths Hall on the 9th of April. I have to admit that whilst I was aware of several women, who as widows took over managing their husband’s business, it surprised me that a widower would have the same status as the widow – why not? Am I discriminating against widowers? This was another question that I raised with Eleni Bide. Her response was that in working practise the Peppin family had established a business and after the death of the principal it would have simply been appropriate for Thurston to register a mark. Susanna had not made a Will; letters of administration were granted to Thurston in July 1840.
The question remains, (and I suspect will not be resolved), as to who was responsible for managing the workshop. Culme noted that in 1973 at Bonhams, a pair of carvers, the blades stamped Garrard and bearing the mark of Thurston Cook, dated 1840, were offered for sale. On the premise they were not the work of a bootmaker I again wonder if Charles Finch was still the foreman? The following year, 1841, saw the introduction for the first National Census and I found two interesting entries…………….
You can see in the entry above that Thurston and his parents are registered as living at 20 Kirby Street and Thurston giving his occupation as ‘Labourer’? Was he working at the workshop as a general hand?
The other entry I found in the 1841 Census was for Charles Finch, see below.
In this entry, living at 12 Charlotte Street, St. Pancras, 65-year-old Charles Finch identifies himself as a Silversmith and is that a ‘J’ following the occupation? If so, is the ‘J’ a qualification for being a journeyman? Whatever his status it is on my part quite speculative as to where he was employed – certainly, his skills would have been needed in the ‘Cook’ workshop.
The final end of the Peppin-founded workshop was in 1844. Thurston Cook described as a ‘Silver Cutler’ was required to appear at the Bankruptcy Court August 23rd, 1844.
(Fiat, not a car but a Latin term for "let it be done". A fiat can be a hand-written and initialled note from a judge directing that some action occurs or even an endorsement of another document.)
Bankruptcy was the end of Thurston Cook working in silver, according to the 1851 Census he had returned to working in the boot trade. He re-married and had 6 children, dying in Battersea in 1872.
Whether Charles Finch had spent his career working for the Peppin family or with other silversmiths I noted that in the 1851 census he was still living at 12 Charles St with his widowed sister and a servant. Charles is listed as an ‘Annuitant’, which indicates whatever his employment, he had accumulated enough earnings to buy an annuity ensuring an income during his retirement.
If you have had the patience to read this far it is worth re-calling that I started the paper by showing the port label by Susanna. A modest enough label, but I do like cast labels and the immediate attraction was the barely known maker’s name. Whilst I am of the view that the label was only marked by Susanna Peppin, I am sure that it was part of a set, perhaps someone has a claret, sherry, or a madeira? A reply to this newsletter would be welcome!
I certainly find pleasure in researching some of the family history and events that occur in the history of silversmithing families. For me it is still hard to imagine how comfortably these families lived. Certainly, some silversmiths were very successful, but I do suspect that on a day-to-day basis the Peppin family business may well have had prosperous clients who were slow to settle their accounts.
During my research I concluded that Rundell Bridge, the ‘Royal Jewellers and Silversmiths’ commissioned knives from the Peppin workshop. However, when recently reading, ‘Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell and Bridge, 1797-1830, (Christopher Hartop), I noted Philip Rundell was described as ’An irascible taskmaster’ and ‘He drove a hard bargain with the firm’s suppliers’. I also noted that Rundell’s offered exceedingly generous terms to their clients – ‘In 1820 the 12th Duke of Norfolk was charged interest of 0.6 per cent per annum on a balance of £12,758 14s for three years, having been given the first year interest free’.
Clearly the money that the Duke of Norfolk expenditure was by any standards a considerable fortune, so it was likely that Robert Peppin’s account was not going to be settled very promptly by Rundell Bridge. It is perhaps not surprising that the Peppin family had financial problems. I am beginning to think that Charles Finch was the most successful, wherever he worked as a journeyman he was able to achieve some longevity compared to the Peppin’s and finance a retirement.Confusion might arise between the marks of Sydenham Peppin, Susanna Peppin, Sarah Purver and Sarah Pritchard.
In each instance although at first glance the makers marks are similar, (with or without pellets) I have found listings that show errors are possible. Bonhams listed a set of eight dessert spoons, Susanna Peppin, 1820; a US auction house listed ‘A Rare Sterling Silver Miniature Grandfather Clock with Fusee Movement by Susanna Peppin, London, ca. 1819’. At the time of writing there are two further items on Ebay that are wrongly catalogued.
The primary basis to distinguish the four makers work is by date.
Sarah Purver, (Grimwade p.634) widow of Thomas Purver, Sarah’s mark would be between 1817 and 1820, (married William Schofield, Silversmith, 30.10.1820).
Susanna Peppin, (Grimwade p.619) widow of Robert Peppin, mark of Susanna would be between 1835 and 1839, (married Thurston Cook 23.12.1839),
Sydenham Peppin, (Grimwade p.619) could be confused with either of the above marks, I think the criteria of date would still apply – although between his death in December 1817 and Sarah Purver entering her mark in September 1817 does present a window when both marks were in use, however the mark of Sarah has a pellet.
Sarah Pritchard, (Grimwade p.633) the widow of a knife-maker, Joseph Pritchard, (1785-1830). After the death of her husband Sarah registered her mark as a knife-haft maker in 1831. She married Charles Thompson in 1832 and I have not found any evidence that she or husband subsequently worked as silversmiths. Whether any work survives from that period (1831-32) would probably be very scarce?
Finally a warning! If you are prurient or perhaps of a fragile disposition take care if you use Google to search for examples of Peppin silver. Maurice Pepin (1890—1940) was a French illustrator known for his mildly erotic postcards, (example below and popular amongst WW1 French soldiers). If you are looking at a computer screen of his postcards you will not sound convincing when you say you are looking for Georgian silver hallmarks……………………..
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