Potter: unstamped
From the Bristol Mercury - Saturday 27 May 1837 page 2: "ST. MARY REDCLIFF CHURCH LANDS. TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, By Mr. R. P. CLARK, At the TALBOT INN, situate on REDCLIFF.HILL, on TUESDAY, the 30th day of May inst., at 5 o'clock in the Afternoon, on Leases for 99 Years, determinable with Lives, subject to the undenrmentioned chief rents, to be payable from the same respectively, and to the covenants usually inserted in Leases of St. Mary Redcliff' Church Lands, The undermentioned Valuable PROPERTIES:...Lot 5.—All that MESSUAGE, Tenement, Shop, and Premises, No. 45, Redcliff.Street, in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Gellet, Wine and Spirit Merchant, as Tenant; this property will-be Let on.Lease for 99 years determinable with Two lives in reversion of the present Lease, which is determinable with the life of Mr. Robert Rowland, now aged 56 years, Chief Rent £3. Rn Further Particulars may be known on application to Mr. John Lucas and Mr. Thomass Hort, the Churchwardens; or to Messrs. CLARKE and SONS, Vestry-Clerks."
Thomas Gellett was born in Bristol in 1784, baptised at St. James on 19 Dec. 1784, son of William and Mary Gellett. He married Ann (or Nancy) Higgs bt license at St. Philip & Jacob on 5 July 1810. They had children Ann Higgs Gellett, bapt. 18 March 1813 at Penn Street Whitfield Methodist Tabernacle, Bristol; Mary Gellett, b. 1 April, bapt. 13 June 1815 at the same place; Thomas Joseph Gellett, b.28 May 1817, bapt. 5 Aug. at St. Mary Redcliffe and William, bapt. 6 Feb 1826 at the same place. Thomas was an accountant living in St. Philip's at the time of the baptism of his second daughter, but had become a spirit merchant by the time his first son was born in Redcliff Street.. Thomas's first wife, Ann died on 7 August 1829. He later married Emily Stephens at St. Paul's, Portland Square, Bristol, on 19 March 1832. Two more daughters followed: Emily Baker Gellett, b. 11 Nov. 1833, bapt. 16 April 1834, and Catharine Ludlow Gellett, b. 7 April 1835, bapt. 17 March 1836, both bapt. at Penn Street Tabernacle. Thomas Gellett died 19 July 1854.
From the Bristol Mercury - Saturday 26 August 1854 page 1: "ESTABLISHED WINE AND SPIRIT BUSINESS FOR SALE. MESSRS. BARNARD, THOMAS, & CO. are instructed by the Executors to SELL by TENDER, The valuable BUSINESS, with the STOCK-IN-TRADE and FIXTURES, of Mr.Thomas Gellett, Wine and Spirit Merchant, 45, Redlliff-street, Bristol. The Stock in and out of bond is of the best quality, amounting per valuation at the present time to £717 8s. 1d. The Trade has been carried on for many years with considerable success. The Executors will require one-third of the Purchase-money in cash, the remainder by bills, with approved security, at two, four, and six months' date. The Premises are well situated, and may either be rented annually, or a lease will be granted for a term. Tenders will be received until Three o'clock on THURSDAY, the 31st instant, at which hour they will be opened, at the Offices of the Brokers, and the purchaser declared; where, in the meanwhile, every further particular will be given. Dated Albion-Chambers, Small-street, Bristol, August 17, 1854."
From the Bristol Mercury - Saturday 9 September 1854 page 5: "RE MR. THOMAS GELLETT, DECEASED. Messrs. BARNARD, THOMAS, & CO. have received instrictions from the Executors of Mr. THOMAS GELLETT, Wine and Spirit-merchant, late of REDCLIFF-STREET, Bristol, to request that all Persons having any Claims or Demands on the Estate will furnish the same to them for examination. And all Persons Indebted to the said Estate are requested to pay their respective debts without delay at their Office. And all Persons having any Casks, Jars, Bottles, or Hampers belonging to the Estate are required to deliver them at the Premises in REDCLIFF-STREET, on or before the 1st day of November next, or the same will have to be paid for. Albion.Chambers, September 8, 1854." Also from the same page...
"GIN-SHOP to be LET.—To be LET, with Immediate possession, the PREMISES occupied by the late Mr. Thomas Gellett, REDCLIFF-STREET. for the last 40 Years.—Apply to Messrs. CASTLES & CO., Milk-street."
It seems Gellett's business went to Castles & Co. who then let out the
retail premises.
Sydney Grey Bees was born in Keynsham, the son of Francis and Harriet Bees. He was baptised on Christmas Day 1833 at Bitton in South Gloucestershire. Francis was a saddler in Keynsham at the time Sydney was born and by 1851 Sydney was working with his father. Sydney married Eliza Jane Lewis, youngest daughter of Mr. John Lewis of Clifton, at St. John's, Glastonbury on 11 June 1856.
In late 1854 Sydney, whose father, by then, was a sadler and innkeeper at the Crown Inn, West End, Keynsham, started out in the wine and spirit trade by leasing the old gin shop and distillery run by the late Thomas Gellett who had been in the trade for 40 years previously, at 45 Redcliff Street. A year after starting in the trade, Sydney was joined by William Lyne Fear, a gentleman of similar age, and they ran the business at 45 Redcliff Street until 1858, until they moved to the more spacious premises formerly occupied by Wyld & Co. Opposite Portwall Lane and backing onto the waterfront at Redcliff Backs at 83 Redcliff Street. The Bees and Fear partnership continued at No. 83 until the partnership was dissolved in 1876, to be continued by Fear & Co. as a Rectifying Distiller and Wine and Spirit Merchant from 1876 to 1892.
Sydney Bees's wife Eliza Jane died in 1877. He remarried in 1879 in Southampton to Lydia Mabel Margaret Drayson. In 1881 he was living at Marriott House, Long Ashton, still a wholesale wine merchant. By 1901 Sydney had moved to Castle Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, where he was a commision agent for the wine trade. His death was registered in Leicester in 1909. It seems his wife, who was referred to as Mabel, died that year too aged just 50.
Sydney's son Sydney Francis Bees was a bankrupt in 1881, he absconded and was arrested in Calcutta. He had traded for just 18 months as a wine and spirit merchant, had debts of £10,000 and assets of only £300. He had run away that March and travelled to Calcutta via Malta and Alexandria under the name of Captain Hammond and was finally apprehended in Benares. He was escorted back to Bristol by Detective Inspector Short to face trial for forgery. He ended up being sentenced at Bristol Assize to 5 years for fraudulent bankruptcy and forgery. He was just 23 years old at the time. In november 1885 he must have been free because he arrived in New York. He did, however, return to Bristol where he died in 1931.
William Lyne Fear was born in 1832 in St. Augustine's, Bristol, son of James and Maria. James was a master baker from Keynsham who had a flour and bread business in the Horse Fair, St. James, Bristol. William's mother was Maria Filer, a name associated with the glass bottle manufacturers at Avon Street. William was baptised at St. Augustine the Less on 4 March 1832. William continued to trade with his own company after the dissolution of the partnership with Sydney Grey Bees in 1876. The William Lyne Fear & Company partnership dissolved in Jan 1892. William died 23 Feb 1901 at his home. In his later years he lived at 9 South Parade, Clifton with his sister Ann and elderly mother Maria. In 1891 Harriet Bees was cook to the Wainwright household next door.
| 2 Gallon Flagon | |
| Impressed: 2 / S. G. BEES /
Wine & Spirit Merchant / 45 Redcliff Street / BRISTOL Potter: unstamped |
| 2 Gallon Flagon |
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| Impressed:
6360 / BEES & FEAR / 83 REDCLIFF STREET / BRISTOL Potter:Likely F. Melsom, Bristol (unstamped) |
| 4 Gallon Flagon |
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| Impressed:
132 / BEES & FEAR / REDCLIFF STREET / BRISTOL Potter:Likely F. Melsom, Bristol (unstamped) |
| 5 Gallon Flagon |
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| Impressed: 5 / 7131 / BEES
& FEAR / 83 REDCLIFF STREET / BRISTOL Potter: F. Melsom / Potter / Bristol Francis Melsom was a master potter at Temple Street Pottery. Bankrupt in 1867. |
| 2 Gallon Flagon |
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| Impressed: 9440 / W LYNE
FEAR & COMPY / RECTIFIERS / BRISTOL Potter: Price Bristol Thanks to Jeff of the Wilts. & Glos. club for the picture. |
From the Western Daily Press - Friday 1 October 1858 page 4: "A. W. HARRISON, BEGS to inform his Friends and the Public generally that he has commenced Business, as WINE, SPIRIT, ALE, and PORTER MERCHANT, at REDCLIFF STREET (Late Bees & Fear, who have removed their business to 83, in the same Street). All orders will meet with prompt attention, and the quality of the Goods will be unexceptionable. Sole Bristol and District Agent for the celebrated ROMFORD ALES, which are now in very fine condition."
From the Western Daily Press - Wednesday 31 July 1861 page 2: At the Bristol Council House, the transfer of the license for the "Bottle Inn", Redcliff Street, from Abraham Wyke Harrison to Michael William Clarke was recorded.
Michael William Clarke and Isaac Houlson: Houlson & Clarke. From the Western Daily Press - Tuesday 22 October 1861 page 1: "TO THE INHABITANTS BRISTOL, CLIFTON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. HOULSON AND CLARKE, IMPORTERS OF WINES AND SPIRITS, AGENTS FOR AND BOTTLERS OF PORTER, ALE, &c., 45, REDCLIFF STREET, BRISTOL. H. & C, on taking to the above Business, for many years carried on by the late Mr Thomas Gellett, and recently by the style of the Wine and Spirit Company, beg to assure their Friends and the Public generally that every exertion will be used on their part to supply the best and purest articles, and at the very lowest prices consistent with quality. H. & C. have on hand a large and choice selection of Wines and Spirits, Dublin Porter. Burton-upon-Trent Ales, &c., in prime condition, and which they can confidently recommend."
Michael William Clarke was born in Derby in 1838, son of Ambrose Clarke and wife Mary, baptised St. Peter, Derby on 15 July 1838, and again age 15 at Plemonstall, Cheshire on 11 August 1853. He was already a Wine Merchant in Redcliff Street when he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lewis, at St. Luke, Bedminster on 1 December 1861. Elizabeth died in Bedminster early in 1865, and Michael married again to Sarah Houson at S. Alkmund, Derby, on 10 April 1870.
From the Western Daily Press - Monday 28 April 1862 "DISSOLUTION of PARTNERSHIP. NOTICE is Hereby Given that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between the undersigned ISAAC HOULSON, and MICHAEL WILLIAM CLARKE, in the trade or business of Wine and Spirit Merchants, carried on in Redcliff Street, in the City and County of Bristol, under the style or firm of "HOULSON & CLARKE," has been this day dissolved by mutual consent; and that all Debts due from or owing to us, on the said Partnership account, will be paid and received by the said Michael William Clarke, whom the said business will in future be carried on upon his own separate account. Dated this Twenty-fourth day of April, 1862. Witness to the Signatures of the said Isaac Houlson and w Michael William Clarke. J. W. CLIFTON, Solicitor. Bristol." It seems Isaac saw the way things were going and got out while he could.
From the London Gazette - 7 October
1862: "NOTICE is hereby given, that the following is a copy of an entry
made in the book kept by the Chief Registrar of the Court of Bankruptcy
for the Registration of Trust Deeds for the benefit of creditors,
Composition and Inspectorship Deeds executed by a debtor, as required by
the Bankruptcy Act, 1861, secs. 187, 192, 194, 196, and 198 :—
Number:—2582.
Title of Deed, whether Deed of Assignment, Composition,or
Inspectorship:—Conveyance.
Date of Deed:—15th September, 1862.
Date of execution by Debtor:—15th September, 1862.
Name and description of the Debtor, as in the Deed:—Isaac Houlson and
Michael William Clarke, of Redcliffe-street, in the city and county of
Bristol, Wine and Spirit Merchants and Copartners in trade.
The names and descriptions of the Trustees or other parties to the Deed
not including the Creditors:—Robert Hawkins Nicholls, of the said city of
Bristol, Agent for Messieurs Salt and Co., Brewers, and Thomas Forse, of
Maudlin-street, in the said city of Bristol, Painter, on behalf and with
the assent of the creditors of the said Isaac Houlson and Michael William
Clarke.
A short statement of the nature of the Deed:—Conveyance by the said Isaac
Houlson and Michael William Clarke of all their estate and effects to the
said Robert Hawkins Nicholls and Thomas Forse, absolutely to be applied
and administered for the benefit of the creditors of the said Isaac
Houlson and Michael William Clarke as in Bankruptcy.
When left for Registration:—4th October, 1862, at two o'clock, afternoon.
RICHARD BETHELL, Registrar."
By 23 Dec, 1864 Clarke was bankrupt. From the Bristol Times and Mirror - Tuesday 14 February 1865 page 3: "BRISTOL COUNTY COURT, YESTERDAY. (Before Mr. E. J. Lloyd, Q.C., Judge). BANKRUPT. Re—Michael William Clarke, late Small-street, wine and spirit merchant. The bankrupt came up, in forma pauperis, for his last examination and application for discharge, and was opposed Mr. Thick, on behalf of Mr. John Tovey, painter, Redcliff-hill, who objected to bankrupt's passing, on the ground that had contracted debts without any reasonable prospect of payment, and that the accounts filed were not sufficiently explicit. Mr. Thick examined the bankrupt with regard some bill transactions between himself and the opposing creditor, and especially with respect to an accommodation bill, which he said he had bad from Mr. Tovey, and passed over to Mr. Wigens, who had discounted it. He also stated that he had since paid the bill to Mr. Wigens, who said he would return him the same; but, although he had made repeated applications for the bill, he had not succeeded in obtaining it. The bankrupt was also examined as to his transactions in wine and cigars. Mr. Thick said that the accounts showed that the Bankrupt commenced business in June last with £15 in hand, and he had contracted debts amounting between £500 and £600. The bankrupt explained that the debts had been accumulating during a period two years. His Honour ultimately decided that the accounts were not satisfactory, and he adjourned the hearing for a fortnight, to enable Mr. Thick to look over the accounts and books, and order ascertain the position bankrupt was in when he contracted the debts."
The business didn't fail for want of advertising, but it is likely competition with other major spirit merchants in the same street made life difficult.
Henry Mitchell. On the 17 February 1863 the license of "The Bottle Spirit Vaults" was transferred from Michael William Clarke to Henry Mitchell. (Mr. J. A. Hill appeared for the applicant Mitchell).
| Pint Stoneware Porter
Bottle |
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| Impressed: Wilson & Co.
/ Ale & Porter Merchants / Bristol Two-tone Bristol glaze. Potter: Price / Bristol 8 7/8" high, (22.5cm) |
From the London Gazette - 5 February 1864 page 575: "NOTICE is hereby given, that the Co-partnership between James Thomas Wilson and Henry Mitchell, carrying on business as Wine and Spirit Merchants, and Dealers in Spirituous Liquors, at No. 45, Redcliff-street, in the city of Bristol, under the style or firm, of Wilson and Mitchell, has been this day dissolved by mutual consent; and that all debts due and owing to and by the said firm will be received and paid by the said James Thomas Wilson, who will in future carry on the said business on his own account, at No. 45, Redcliff-street aforesaid.—Witness their hands the 30th day of January, in the year of our Lord,1864. James Thomas Wilson. H.Mitchell".
The license for "The Bottle", Redcliff-street was transferred from Henry Mitchell to James Thomas Wilson on 22 March 1864.
James Wilson's tenure in this business was extremely short: from the London Gazette - 31 October 1865 page 5232: "At the Court of Bankruptcy for the Bristol-District, at the Guildhall, Bristol, before the Honourable Montague Wilde, Registrar:... James Thomas Wilson, of Redcliffe-street, in the city and county of Bristol, Wine and Spirit Merchant, Dealer and Chapman, adjudicated bankrupt on the 12th day of October, 1864. A Dividend Meeting will be held on the 30th day of November next, at eleven o'clock in the fore-noon precisely."
From the Western Daily Press - Saturday 29 September 1866 page 1:
"THE LAST ATTRACTION FROM
AUSTRALIA
A MALE AND FEMALE
OPOSSUM,
MAGPIES, RATTERIAS, & OTHER ANIMALS ALIVE,
TO BE SEEN GRATIS,
AT 45, REDCLIFF STREET
WINE AND SPIRIT VAULTS,
A CONVIVIAL TWICE A-WEEK.