Personnel

In 1851 the printing and publishing house of Bradbury and Evans in Whitefriars, London was employing between three hundred and four hundred people. [1] The following is a list of the people that I have identified as having worked there.

William Bradbury

William Bradbury (1799-1869) was one of the founders of the firm of Bradbury and Evans. See William Bradbury.

Frederick Mullett Evans

Frederick Mullet Evans (1804-1870) was one of the founders of the firm of Bradbury and Evans. See Frederick Mullett Evans.

Joseph Aked

Joseph Aked (1810-1880) was Foreman of the Bindery Department during the printing of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers. [2]

William Andrews

William Andrews (b.a. 1821) worked for Bradbury and Evans as an Apprentice Machineman in 1842. At a trial at the Old Bailey in April 1842 he was found guilty of the theft of one hundred printed copies of Chambers' Edinburgh Journal value to 4 1/2 d., the goods of William Bradbury and Frederick Mullett Evans, his masters. He was sentenced to be transported to Van Diemen's Land, (Tasmania) for a period of seven years. His sentence was carried out on 28 March 1845 when he was one of the two hundred and twenty convicts transported from England to Tasmania on the ship Theresa. [3]

George Gifford Beard

George Gifford Beard (c1811-1885) was employed as the Superintendent of Machines. He was also publican of the White Swan public house on Fetter Lane, London until October 1847. [4]

Henry Blunt

Henry Blunt (b.a.1854) was employed as a Warehouse Boy aged twelve in the 1860s. [5]

George Brownjohn

George Brownjohn (b.a.1809-1878) and his son George Albert (1840-1904) were both printers at Bradbury and Evans during the 1860s. George senior, clearly a music lover, entertained his colleagues with two songs which were particularly well received by his fellow workers at a staff dinner held at the Prince of Wales Tavern, East Molesey, London in July 1864. [6]

Charles James Cawte

Charles James Cawte (1832-1907) was employed by Bradbury and Evans as a Compositor. In his recollections of his time spent as a printer there, he spoke about setting the type for work written by William Makepeace Thackeray and Charles Dickens, and had a clear memory of working on the first two chapters of Dickens' Little Dorrit. [7]

Benjamin Davis

Benjamin Davis (c1807-1864) worked as an Engine Driver at Bradbury and Evans in 1864. He sadly was suddenly taken ill whilst at work, fell over backwards and died instantly. At the inquest into his death it was revealed that he had been suffering from kidney disease which had apparently led to a heart attack. [8]

John Deas

John Deas (b.a.1823 in Scotland) was employed by Bradbury and Evans as a Compositor. His son John (b.a.1853) was employed by them as a Warehouse boy, and another son Charles worked for them as a Roller Maker.

George Duerdin

George Duerdin (c1825-1884) was working for Bradbury and Evans as a Warehouse Boy in 1842. [4]

Michael Fitzhenry

Michael Fitzhenry (1810-1871) was a Warehouseman at Bradbury and Evans in 1842. See the section on Robert Rowen.

Joseph Garratt

Joseph Garratt was working as an Apprentice at Bradbury and Evans in 1834. [9]

W J Green

W J Green (b.a.1854) was a Reading Boy aged twelve in the 1860s. [5]

James Berry Greening

James Berry Greening (1812-1872) was Foreman Printer/Superintendent at Bradbury and Evans in the early 1850s. He is mentioned several times in the letters of Charles Dickens between 1850 and 1852. In 1853 he was described as the Superintendent at Messrs Bradbury and Evans during an inquest into a fatal accident on the firm's premises. [10]. By September 1854 he had left Bradbury and Evans [11], and by 1856 was in partnership with Samuel Taylor as Taylor and Greening of Greystoke Place, Fetter Lane, London. [12]

Charles Hall

Charles Hall was working at Bradbury and Evans in the Machine Room in 1842. Part of his responsibilities were to print Chambers' Edinburgh Journal. [4]

Charles Hicks

Charles Hicks (c1799-1870) was Bradbury and Evans' Foreman Printer until he left the business in 1841 to found his own printing establishment in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He was one of the better known of their employees, being mentioned several times in the letters of Charles Dickens. See Charles Hicks

Samuel Milliner Humphreys

Samuel Milliner Humphreys (1806-1882) was Chief Warehouseman at Bradbury and Evans. His son George John Humphreys was a Bookbinder, who was also most probably employed at Bradbury and Evans. [4]

Felix Joyce

Felix Joyce (1800-1865) was Bradbury and Evans' Chief Accountant and is mentioned in the letters of Charles Dickens.

Robert McCauley

Robert McCauley was an apprentice at Bradbury and Evans in 1842. [4]

William Rogers

William Rogers was working for Bradbury and Evans in June 1845 as a Machine Boy. [13]

Robert Rowen

Robert Rowen (1820-1866) was employed by Bradbury and Evans as an Under Warehouseman. See Robert Rowen.

Thomas Selby

Thomas Selby (b.a.1825) was apprenticed to Bradbury and Evans. In 1842 he lived at 10 Zoar Street, Southwark, and had been at Bradbury and Evans establishment for three years. [4]

William Spurrell

William Spurrell (1813-1889) worked as a printer for Bradbury and Evans from 1835 until his return to his native Wales in the summer of 1840. He opened his own highly successful printing and publishing house in Carmarthen [14] and published his Welsh-English Dictionary in 1848, and an English-Welsh Dictionary in 1853.

James Winterbourne

James Winterbourne (b.a.1854) worked as a Machine Boy at Bradbury and Evans aged eleven years seven months in the 1860s. [5]

References

^ see 1851 England Census for Frederick Mullett Evans Class: HO107; Piece: 1630; Folio: 343; Page: 15; GSU roll: 193531
^ Charles Dickens and his Publishers (1978) Robert L Patten page 65
^ http://www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/andrews/william/4814
^^^^^^ Old Bailey Online WILLIAM ANDREWS, CHARLES CARTER, Theft stealing from master, Theft receiving, 4th April 1842.
^^^ Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and Women in Agriculture, Third Report of Commissioners 1870
^ London City Press 23 July 1864
^ Manchester Courier 10 October 1903
^ London City Press 15 October 1864
^ Morning Chronicle 07 November 1834
^ Morning Advertiser 20 January 1853
^ Perry's Bankruptcy Gazette 2 September 1854
^ Morning Advertiser 11 July 1856
^ Old Bailey Online trial of JOHN JONES (t18450616-1332) June 1845
^ http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-SPUR-CAE-1775.html