Notes on Nelson Family Scrapbook

Some Notes clarifying information in the Nelson Scrapbooks and William Nelson of Tomoana.

William Nelson of Tomoana recorded in his diary on 1st January 1860 that he had been to tea at Katesgrove with Mont (his brother Edward Montague Nelson) who went to work at ‘Buckersbury’ on the 2nd. A newspaper entry found on the Internet has enabled the location of Katesgrove to be identified, viz. East Suffolk Gazette and Beccles and Bungay Weekly News 19 January 1869, page 5, column 5:

MARRIAGES

PHILBRICK – WELCH. On the 7th January, at St Mary’s Parish Church, Reading, by the Rev. G. I. TUBBS, assisted by the Rev. G. Gordon SMYTH, George, fourth son of the late Mr John PILBRICK [PHILBRICK], of Katesgrove, Reading, to Catherine Louisa, eldest daughter of Mr Alfred WELCH, of Great Yarmouth.

Two years later, George and Catherine appear on the 1871 Census with several relatives:

St Giles Parish   Reading   Church   Ward   Reading

Sch.   House   Name   Rel.   Cond   Age   Occupation   Birthplace

252   Katesgrove House   George Philbrick   Head   Mar [Married]  29   Tanner’s and Brickmaker’s employing 43 hands   Berks, Reading
Catherine L.   -do- [Philbrick]   Wife   Mar   26   Norfolk, Norwich
George H.   -do-   Son   1   Berks, Reading
Charles   -do-   Brother   Unm [Unmarried]   31   Tanner and Brickmaker   -do- [Berks, Reading]
Elizabeth   -do-   Sister   -do- [Unmarried]   22   -do-
Thomas   -do-   Brother   Mar   27   H.M.S. Indian Marine   -do-
Isabel   -do-   Sis. in Law [Sister-in-law]  Mar   21   India, Lahore
Mary A. Bealey   Servant   Unm   24   Cook   Domestic Servant   Wilts, Calne
Alice Aldridge   Servant   -do-   22   Nurse   Domestic Servant   Berks, Newbury
Mary J. Hampshire   Servant   -do-   16   Housemaid Domestic Servant   Wilts, Cherton

John Philbrick, who died in the first quarter of 1865, (the deceased father of George and hence also of Charles, Elizabeth, and Thomas) is referred to as an ‘uncle’ which suggests he was Sarah Philbrick’s brother. We also know from her will that in 1851 she also had a brother Charles, which seems to have been a popular name in the Philbrick family.

Katesgrove House is now in central Reading but its position alongside the river indicates why it would have been an attractive place for the tannery business. There was a canal system that would enable goods to be transported from Reading to Warwick which incidentally would also pass the Stockton Cement Works.

Buckersbury was in fact Bucklersbury in London where G. Nelson & Co. had an office – there is an original invoice from the company inside a surviving account book in the Warwickshire County Records Office headed Bought of G. Nelson & Co, Emscote Mills & 14 Bucklersbury, London.

The same account book has entries for Mrs. Scruby at Moor End – this has been identified as the farm of William Scruby at Moor End Farm, Broxted, Essex – and E. S. Philbrick at Dunmow. He was Edward Swinborne Philbrick, tanner/currier of Great Dunmow another of Sarah’s relatives. The Swinborne

family also came from Essex and established an Isinglass & Gelatine factory in London which became involved in legal action with Nelson Bros. for infringing Nelson’s 1838 patent on gelatine manufacture. The two companies were still rivals in 1904.

The letter in the scrapbook collection from Sir Edward Montague Nelson to Mollie written 2nd March 1905 refers to him winning a Court Case. This was Smith v. Nelson which was settled in Sir Montague’s favour late in 1904. Charles Nelson, William’s eldest brother, died in 1877 and his eldest daughter Florence Emily was married to Harold Smith. There was a feeling amongst Charles’ children that they had not received all the Preference Shares in George Nelson, Dale & Co. to which they felt they were entitled. As part of the fallout, George Burnside, probably Edward George Burnside who was Charles’ son-in-law, was asked on Wednesday 18th January 1905 to leave the company and be gone by Saturday 21st because of the part he had taken in the legal action. Charles’ son George Herbert was another loser because he ceased to be an auditor to the company when Smith & Nelson were asked to resign on 20th May 1903. They were replaced by Chatteris, Nicholls & Co.

Charles Nelson made a considerable fortune, possibly £30,000, from the Lime & Cement Works at Stockton and elsewhere in Warwickshire. His partners were Thomas Philip Blyth and William Widger Blackstone. Thomas Blyth was married to Blackstone’s sister Margaret. The Blackstone’s main family business was the manufacture of Oil Engines & Agricultural Machinery which presumably supplied equipment to the Stockton factory because Edward Blackstone, William’s elder brother had been resident engineer there before concentrating on his own business.