I have to say I had never heard of Messrs John Hare & Co of Temple Gate until I saw a news item in the Bristol Evening Post of 30 August which refers to a Penny Black stamp on an envelope addressed to the Bristol firm of linoleum and floor cloth makers. The envelope was posted in Sherborne. Dorset on June 11, 1841 and 170 years later was due to go under the hammer at the Spink Stamps and Postal History sale in London on September 9.

Prior to the reform  of the postal service letters had to be paid for by the recipient and were left at poste restantes awaiting collection and payment. The Penny Black, Britain’s 1st adhesive postage stamp was introduced on May 6 1840. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black

The firm seems to have been an early fan of the new country wide system for on June 15, 1844 when the Bristol Mercury published a subscription list under the heading “Penny Postage – National Testament to Sir Rowland Hill”, the second name in the list of subscribers, after the Dean of Bristol is John Hare & Co. Like the Dean, the firm contributed 2 guineas to the fund.

John Hare & Co had been in the news before on October 30, 1841 when they were publicly thanked by Mr Jasper Westcott, a brass founder,  for the speedy deployment of their engine when fire broke out at his premises in Redcliffe Street. Like the Penny Post, the Fire Service was a Victorian invention http://www.fireservice.co.uk/history/ and along with Hare & Co’s contraption, fire engines were sent out by various insurance companies and the police. Thanks to their combined efforts the fire at Mr Westcott’s was contained and his stock and patterns were undamaged so that he was able to continue work with little interruption.

At the time of the letter John Hare and his brother Sholto Vere Hare along with other members of the Hare family were running the company which had been started by their grandfather, John Hare. The younger John Hare became Mayor of Bristol in 1861 and was in the van at the mourning procession which took place following the death of the Prince Consort that year. His brother Sholto followed him as Mayor in 1862. Sholto took a great interest in the church of St Mary Redcliffe and endowed a stained glass window as well as erecting at his own expense, the statue of the boy poet Chatterton in the churchyard.

A full administrative history of the company together with genealogical and family information 1799-1994 may be found at Bristol Record Office under reference 40785.

In November 1842 at the British Embassy in Naples, John Hare married Jane, the daughter of the late Edward Strachey, esquire, of the Bengal Civil Service. Jane was the niece of Sir Henry Strachey, baronet, of Sutton Court in Somerset. In 1841, Sir Henry lived in London at a rather grand address, St George, Hanover Square. Sadly, John and Jane’s first child, a daughter, was stillborn in October 1843, but by the time of the 1851 census the couple were living at “Rosemont” in Clifton Park with two more children, sons John and Charles aged five and one. There were four servants, a nurse, a cook, a housemaid, and a seventeen year old “page”. John Strachey, aged 27, of the East India Company’s Civil Service was a visitor. Perhaps he was a brother or cousin of Mrs Hare.  Another son, Sholto, named after his uncle, was born in 1852.

Towards the end of their civic year in October 1862, John and Jane Hare attended the wedding of Jane’s niece Miss Olivia Strachey at Clifton Parish Church. Olivia was the daughter of the late Richard Strachey of Ashwick Grove, Shepton Mallet, cousin of Sir Edward Strachey, baronet. The groom, Captain George Law of the Madras service, arrived in the full dress uniform of his regiment. The bride wore a white moiré antique dress, carried orange blossom, clematis and white roses and from her “elegant coiffeur” fell a lace train. The bridesmaids were her four sisters, the Misses Minnie, Charlotte, Kate and Isabel Strachey, friends Miss Kate Doveton, Miss Symonds, Miss Williams, and Misses Charlotte, Ada and Sydney Law, relatives of the groom. All wore dresses of white tarlatan with sashes of scarlet silk, and on their heads wreaths of mountain ash berries and leaves. The outfit of Jane Hare, the Mayoress, was also described:  a gown of moiré antique silk in a shade of lavender with black lace flounces, a white muslin shawl edged with black and the piece de resistance, a bonnet of Terry Velvet trimmed with pink roses. (a little OTT perhaps?)  No fewer than 14 carriages, including the Mayor’s state coach carried the assorted guests to the reception at the residence of the bride in the Mall, Clifton.

The following month Mrs Hare attended the wedding of George Strachey to Miss Kate Doveton, both of whom had attended the previous nuptials, Kate as a bridesmaid. George was a secretary of Her Majesty’s legation at The Hague. “Light tripped the party, gay as gay could be” warbled Bristol Mercury’s scribe, despite the intense November cold. In December 1862, Mr & Mrs Hare were guests when Miss Kate Strachey married Lieut J.F.M Winterscale of the 3rd Battalion Prince of Wales’ Own Rifle Brigade. He and his best man, Willoughby Wallace of the 60th Rifles came in full regalia as did a host of other military gents. The Hares also went to the wedding in August 1863 of Miss Mary Strachey to Charles Elton. And in January 1864, at Farleigh Hungerford, they attended the wedding of Miss Annie Stancomb, daughter of the Lord of the Manor of Trowbridge to Mr George Lawrence Keir, an officer in the Indian Army. Although all these  fashionable events are described in lavish terms which equal the first, Mrs Hare’s ensemble, regrettably, is not.

Strangely enough, when John and Jane’s eldest son John married Annie Bell Ford, the second daughter of H.B. Ford, I could only find a simple announcement. (on August 21, 1869.)

In February 1874, a Mr & Mrs John Hare attended the wedding of Miss Catherine Dorinda Ludlow and Mr Francis Rhode Carbonell of Usk, but it is not clear whether this is the senior or junior couple of this name. In a turn which would put the wind up most people, a long list of the wedding presents given is printed with the names of their donors. Aspiring TV producers of Victorian plays could do worse than consult Bristol Mercury of 14.2.1874 and then furnish their set. It is like stepping into “Cranford”.  Mr & Mrs John Hare, somewhat dull,  gave a drawing room clock. 

Jane Hare died aged 72 in 1886 and John aged 84 in 1897. An obituary of Sholto Vere Hare appeared in Bristol Mercury on 24.3.1900.

When conducting this experiment to see how far a little information on an envelope would take me, I came across the names of the following long serving employees of the company whose obituaries appeared on the dates mentioned. 

Charles Cook, 55, Feb. 1, at East Redcliff Crescent, upwards of 40 years in the employ of John Hare & Co (4.2.1860)

Daniel Thatcher, 67, Apr. 19, at his son’s house, White Hart in Lower Maudlin Street, nearly 40 years in the employ of J.H & Co as engineer (14.4.1860)

Charles Colville Watkins, 71st year, Mar. 1, at Langton Street, for 57 years the confidential servant of J.H & Co of Temple Gate. (4.3.1865)

James Franklin, Dec. 4, at Frogmore Street, after a long illness, upwards of 50 years in the employ of J.H & Co. (9.12.1865)

Joseph Richards, 84th year, Nov. 29 at Hebron Terrace, Bedminster, formerly Bath Parade, upwards of 60 years in the employ of J.H. & Co. (6.12.1873)

John Prowse, 74, Jan. 21, at 5 Guinea Street, 54 years in the employ of J.H. & Co. (23.1.1875)

Crail is a small seaside town in the Kingdom of Fife. We were there principally for the golf but I couldn't resist the churchyard, of course. The first Monumental Inscription (MI) which caught my eye read "Sacred to the memory of George Slate of Caithness, late light keeper on the Island of May who was lost on the night of 28 September 1852 aged 30 years. His remains were found and interred here. He was sincerely regretted by all who knew him." Scottish MIs are a dream for family historians, in most cases far more comprehensive than English ones, often stating the maiden names of the wives: i.e. "In Memory of Bailie William Murray, Betty Logan his wife, Euphemia, Eliza and Catherine, their daughters, James Bowman their son-in-law, husband of Euphemia, died 25 October 1872 aged 86, William Murray Bowman, their grandson died 27 August 1887 aged 37, Mary Georgina Inglis, his wife, died 27 September 1865." Some graves were enclosed by a surrounding wall and could easily accommodate 20 or so relatives and friends. I imagined them sitting on the grass, perhaps with a picnic, discussing the merits or otherwise of the deceased. One of these enclaves held the remains of "John Scott of Crail, died 15 April 1822 aged 84, Marjory Bell, his spouse, died 8 March 1795 aged 30, Robert, their son, died 3 September 1786 aged one, Betsey, their daughter, spouse of David Kirk, died 13 April 1818 aged 28, John, their son died 17 April 1843, aged 51, George Scott Kirk, their grandson, died at sea, 5 August 1839, aged 21." Another held no frippery, but what a tragic story it told: "Erected by John Law and Mary Law, his spouse to the affectionate memory of John William Law, their grandson who was born in New Zealand and died at Crail aged one year and 7 months, 24 June 1865. Also their beloved son who died at Rio de Janeiro, 1852, aged 22 years, much lamented. John Law, my beloved husband who departed this life 10 July 1870 aged 73 years and the said Mary Law, died 9 October 1873, aged 82." The earliest MI I noticed was dated 1683, erected to Bailie Thomas Young, his spouse Isobel and several of their children. Much later, the bereaved of David Ayton Lindsay, died 3 May 1872 had erected a "chapel", now roofless, to accommodate his plaque. It was, as an informant told me gravely (no pun intended!) "built without planning permission". So they were around with their clip boards then as well. I am always pleased by references to British India and Crail did not disappoint. A monument to John William Maillardet, esquire, described him as "late deputy Inspector hospitals, Madras Army". (East India Company, surely?) He "fell asleep in Jesus 19 December 1862 in the 57th year of his age. He was a kind and affectionate husband and father, a sincere friend and a gentle and Christian spirit." Mary Ann his widow survived him for nearly 30 years, until 30 October 1892. John William Maillardet and Mary Ann Foley were married at Madras in 1831. An Elizabeth Maillardet, perhaps their daughter, also married there in 1852. The name is French. Huguenot? Why did they end up in Crail? Who knows?