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Samuel Jellicoe’s legacy
Aftermath of business collapse
The collapse
of Cort’s business in 1789 leaves his partner Samuel Jellicoe with a debt
of £9,000 to pay off.
Compared with Cort, he is in a fortunate position.
He has the support of his father's lawyers, Ambrose and James Weston. Adam's superiors at the Navy Office
are reluctant to cause difficulties for him.
There is even a possibility of help from Richard
Crawshay.
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I
hope of placing him in a situation of providing for himself & family in a
trade that he is now experienced in. From letter of Richard Crawshay to Richard Lee about
Samuel Jellicoe, 15 September 1789 |
There is also his brother-in-law, William Carter, Mayor of
Portsmouth.
So it is not so surprising that Samuel overcomes his problems
and takes sole control of the business and the works at Fontley and Gosport. Nor that the Navy's ironmongery order for 2
August 1792 specifies supply by "Jellicoe & Weston".
Soon he re-establishes control of the business, continuing
contracts with the Navy. Judging from
recently unearthed material showing two consignments of iron bars despatched to
him in 1796 by William Reynolds at Ketley, his
capacity for puddling iron at Fontley is sometimes insufficient to meet the
Navy’s demand - or could it be that the Navy’s supply of recycled
iron (charcoal-smelted cast iron ballast) has
dried up?
Mother and siblings
Samuel's mother and some of his siblings appear to be in London
at this time. Thus when Mary Chitty dies in 1791, the execution of her
1762 will, originally allotted to Adam Jellicoe, devolves upon his second
surviving son, Adam James Jellicoe, rather than on Samuel.
Location of Samuel’s home
Some websites claim that the house at Uplands, Fareham, was built
for him around 1780. It would be
interesting to see what evidence they can advance.
On 12 January 1789 he has been proposed as a
Gosport trustee (HRO 123M96/DT1-2).
Thanks to business difficulties, he does not attend a meeting until July
1793.
Meanwhile the register of Portsmouth High Street (Presbyterian)
chapel, where the children of his first marriage (to Catherine Lee) are
baptised (1788-95), records the family as living in Gosport.
An 1801 document in Hampshire Record Office (38M80/E/T29.30)
talks of a house in High Street, Gosport “late of
William Attwick Esq but now of Samuel Jellicoe Esq”; probably occupied by Cort and
his family in an intervening period.
After the death of his first wife (buried 6th September
1799) Samuel marries Mary Ann Curry at Gosport Holy
Trinity (8th December 1800), where children of this marriage are
baptised.
By 1802 he has become a Gosport juror.
Even if he does own a house in Fareham, it is clear that he
doesn’t spend much time there! And 1780
is a most unlikely time for it to be built, as this is when his partnership
with Cort begins. What’s more, an unconfirmed
local legend identifies Samuel’s home in the partnership’s early days as
Fontley House Farm, adjacent to the ironworks.
The only contemporary evidence I have seen linking the name
Samuel Jellicoe with Uplands, Fareham, refers to his son Samuel. I note that Uplands is close to Roche Court,
a property of the Gardiner family. In
1819 the younger Samuel marries one of that family. Has he met her because she lives nearby? Or has he chosen to live at Uplands after
his marriage?
Subsequent career
On 10 November 1804 the elder Samuel Jellicoe is called before
the Commission of Naval Enquiry during the hearings
leading to their Tenth Report. What can
he tell them about his father's financial affairs?
He says that Adam was "Chief Clerk of the Pay Branch in
town" and Deputy Paymaster of the Navy from 1777; that he knew nothing of
his father's debts, but did know that Henry Cort owed Adam "a debt of
considerable magnitude"; that Adam owned houses in Islington and Portsea,
and a wharf and warehouse in Gosport leased to Cort & Jellicoe. He thinks a further house at Shedfield was
mortgaged to a Mr Bennett as security.
This evidence seems to satisfy the commissioners. He is not asked to testify by the Select
Committee or at Melville's trial.
In 1807 we find an order issued by him as Justice of the Peace.
In due course he disposes of the facilities at Fontley and
Gosport.
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Following Cort's
bankruptcy, and a period of tenure by Samuel Jellicoe during the profitable war
period, the works were sold in 1815 to John Bartholomew, Cort's former
finery-man.
From Singer's contribution to Titchfield, a History (1982). |
In 1823 Samuel's confidential clerk and assistant for twenty years,
Samuel Rogers, and son William Jellicoe took over the running of the Gosport
Foundry. This partnership lasted
until 1831 when Rogers became the sole proprietor. He advertised the business as iron founders, anchorsmiths and
smiths in general, producing iron, nails, anchors, cast iron goods, plough
hooks etc.
From Philip Eley, The Gosport Iron Foundry and Henry Cort. |
Descendants
Son Samuel "of Uplands, Fareham", baptised in 1788,
dies in 1861: late enough for him to be around in 1859 for the birth of his
grandson, Admiral (and later first Earl) Jellicoe, commander of the fleet at
the battle of Jutland in 1916. 67 years
after the death of the first earl in 1935, I have correspondence with his
son.
Not many people alive in the 21st century whose
great-grandfather was born in the 18th. A great feat of longevity and lasting reproductive potency!
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Related files Henry
Dundas and Alexander Trotter |
henrycort.net
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