tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36054875156739321152025-05-01T13:34:46.149+01:00Notes on people, places and events mentioned in <a href="http://www.vincentbrooks.blogspot.com">the autobiography of Frederick Vincent Brooks</a>.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-25475228140160794982020-03-01T15:26:00.000+00:002020-03-01T15:26:27.680+00:00

On the way back from a great stay at &nbsp;Torre Cider Farm&nbsp;last summer, we stopped off at East Lambrook to visit the gardens of the manor.&nbsp; The manor gardens were the project of Margery Townshend. She had had a career in Fleet Street working for &nbsp;two editors of the Daily Mail,&nbsp;Lord Northcliffe and later Walter Fish. After years of working together, Margery and Walter

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-35560006397995899462016-09-27T21:24:00.000+01:002016-09-29T21:58:16.095+01:00

A summer holiday to Guernsey let us look closer at the life of Thomas Brooks, son of John Brooks and brother to Vincent. Thomas was born in 1818 in Oxford Street, London. By the 1841 census he is a publisher living near Regents Park. In 1844 he marries Letitia Kilpack of 41/42 King Street, Covent Garden. Seven years later his brother Vincent Brooks would move his lithography business next door

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-11285779752294668092016-07-15T20:58:00.003+01:002016-07-15T20:58:38.022+01:00

When researching the history of Vincent Brooks Day and Son you soon find the many stunning posters from the hay-day of the art form during the twenties and thirties. Of the many top graphic designers patronised by the likes of Frank Pick of London Underground and Jack Beddington of Shell was Edward McKnight Kauffer. I recently found a copy of 'E.McKnight Kauffer: a designer and his public' by

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-29065281852755522872016-07-15T20:21:00.000+01:002016-07-15T20:21:03.049+01:00

We came across this beautiful little book while browsing the internet today. Reportedly published by Vincent Brooks Day and Son in the late 1860's, it is Psalm 104 illustrated by Susan Maria Farington of Leyland in Lancashire. Fully extended the book opens up to three and a half meters long. Fully details are on the wonderful Chetham Library site which container many other intriguing items.

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-90554672721019133712015-07-27T20:35:00.004+01:002015-07-27T20:36:56.844+01:00

Long on the to-do list has been a visit to the wonderful&nbsp;Kensal Green Cemetery, it's Dissenters Chapel, monument to Robert Owen and the Reformers Memorial. Driving from Neasden to Hammersmith with a bit of time to spare I took the opportunity.&nbsp; I parked and started walking towards the sign-posted Dissenters Chapel. I guessed that the other monuments wouldn't be too far from there.

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-80680017162575413442015-02-21T08:41:00.000+00:002015-02-21T08:45:02.506+00:00

The beauty of the internet and the accessibility to information it has created was demonstrated last year when we were contacted by a lady from Canada. A friend of hers had acquired a water-colour entitled 'The Curio-Hunters'. It shows two orthodox priests admiring what looks like a holy-water bottle. &nbsp;&nbsp; On the back of the picture is pasted a note: "27&nbsp;Hornsey&nbsp;Rise&

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-16275101818904000402015-02-08T21:42:00.000+00:002015-02-08T21:42:42.913+00:00

Wedding Banns of Robert Taylor and Harriet Robinson Ever since we found the old notes (1940's) copied from a diary (1830-40's) we knew that: "Mrs. Robinson was married to Mr. Taylor Jan 17th, 1834. " We guessed that Mrs. Robinson was a Harriet Robinson who had witnessed John Brooks's marriage to Elizabeth Stagoll in 1808. We also guessed from other mentions in the diary that the Mr. Taylor

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-76390592537569039692015-02-08T13:49:00.002+00:002015-02-08T13:49:34.552+00:00

As detailed in other posts in this blog we know that a Harriet Robinson who witnessed the marriage of John Brooks and Elizabeth Stagoll in 1808 went on to marry the Rev. Robert Taylor (poss. Jan 17th 1834). We also knew that John Brooks had published Taylor's&nbsp;Diegesis; Being a Discovery of the Origin, Evidences, and Early History of Christianity'&nbsp;in 1829. We have recently rediscovered

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-42585198775313046502015-01-30T12:47:00.001+00:002015-01-30T13:01:00.532+00:00

Poems by Charles Hetherington A recent addition to our collection of VBD&amp;S artefacts is this copy of 'Poems By Charles Hetherington'. Published in 1868 it is unusual as Vincent Brooks, Day &amp; Son were lithographers and producers of images. This book contains not one single picture! &nbsp;&nbsp; Why would VBD&amp;S print this? The name Hetherington rang a bell. Henry Hetherington was

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-71257517354556818732014-02-18T22:00:00.000+00:002014-02-18T22:02:17.524+00:00

Wet sponge, dry sponge. Sponge, sponge, sponge. For two days at the end of January myself and Barry (current owner of Vincent Brooks, Day &amp; Son) took part in a wonderful Stone Lithography course&nbsp;at the&nbsp;London Print Studios. No matter how much I read about lithography I always struggled to understand the rather complex processes involved in 'chemical printing'. The course

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-31961353651093227922013-01-28T20:51:00.000+00:002013-01-28T20:51:40.406+00:00

It is obvious from many of the speeches that we have copies of that Vincent Brooks, Day &amp; Son were always very proud of their employees and the way they were treated at the firm. Frederick V Brooks wrote in his autobiography, "As will appear at a later stage of this Chronicle, I am Managing Director of a Company employing about eighty hands, with two exceptions the journeymen have all been

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-59928937244671418352011-08-25T20:15:00.000+01:002011-08-25T20:50:31.807+01:00

The following article was kindly sent to us by Barry Reed, the current owner of Vincent Brooks, Day &amp; Son. With Barry's help we are slowly filling in the gaps in our knowledge- from 1940 right up to the present day. The article is from the in-house journal of International Printers Ltd. INTo PRINT Journal of International Printers Ltd June, 1966 Vol. 2, No. 2 Pages 2 &amp; 3 Spotlight on

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-82484743369035156052009-12-29T19:33:00.000+00:002010-05-02T14:45:43.591+01:00

Wikipedia now hosts a page on the history of Vincent Brooks, Day & Son. The fully referenced article traces the origins of the businesses of Vincent Brooks and William Day. It follows the in-corporations, bankruptcies and mergers that finally lead to Vincent Brooks, Day & Son Ltd. Amongst the notable work mentioned in the article are the Vanity Fair caricatures, the Underground and railway

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-38436472780008422942009-07-01T20:25:00.000+01:002016-09-27T20:51:03.521+01:00

A week's holiday in the delightful Channel Island of Jersey recently allowed us to do some on-site family research. John and Elizabeth Brooks appear to have moved from London to Jersey during the 1830's. The reason for this move are far from clear. Was John's radical printing press getting him into hot water? Was it a commercial decision as John turned more to wholesale stationary? Or was it to

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-90578029471416639252009-06-12T22:09:00.000+01:002010-08-25T15:46:29.647+01:00

In the autobiography, frederick writes:"The records of the Parish Church, St. Ann’s, Soho, bear witness that a little later the label “Frederick Vincent” was attached to me in solemn form, and certain promises were made on my behalf in which Miss Castell, a girl friend of my mother, took part: for a long time I thought that her name had been added to the others.At school I was always known as “

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-57329857405937558942009-06-04T20:47:00.000+01:002009-06-05T19:47:50.043+01:00

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICECHANCERY DIVISIONCOMPANIES COURTNO. 0062 OF 1940MR. JUSTICE SIMONDSIN THE MATTER OF VINCENT BROOKS, DAY & SON, LIMITEDANDIN THE MATTER OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 1229SUMMARY OF THE STATEMENT OF AFFAIRSAs at 25th January, 1940, the date of the appointment of a receiver for the debenture holder Submitted by Wilfred Vincent Brooks, a director on the 4th day of March

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-79099055864501155282009-02-27T18:09:00.000+00:002009-02-27T20:25:22.583+00:00

In the previous post we saw that Elizabeth Stagoll's marriage record was witnessed by Harriet Robinson. To strengthen our theory that this 1808 wedding of John Brooks and Elizabeth Stagoll is the one relating to our family tree we now turn to examine Miss Robinson. Our first reference to Harriet Robinson came from Elizabeth's copied diary entries:"Mrs Robinson was married to Mr Taylor Jan 17 1834

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-82078512421355932462009-02-23T19:52:00.000+00:002009-02-27T20:18:15.540+00:00

Frederick Vincent Brook's autobiography names his paternal grandmother as Elizabeth Steggall. Although we are fortunate enough to have a transcription of some of her diary entries we have always struggled to learn much about her origins or even her marriage to John Brooks. It now seems that the spelling of her surname could well have thrown us off the scent. Our first inkling that something was

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-18065808635844560202008-12-21T10:41:00.000+00:002008-12-21T22:45:57.873+00:00

One of the more notable books published by John Brooks was an edition of Shelley's Queen Mab. The rather unauthorised appearance of this volume, how it was obtained and Shelley's amendments to it have long intrigued scholars of the subject. The text below comes from two sources. The first first-hand account was written by Thomas Medwin and comes from 'The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley' published

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-33809738093071226422008-12-20T21:46:00.000+00:002009-01-04T14:44:11.810+00:00

The following adds a little more to a query made some time ago regarding a menu sporting the image of Wilfred Vincent Brooks. Don Grant of The London Sketch Club was kind enough to give some suggestions as to the identity of the artists and their artwork featured on this curious occasion which may, in time, provide the answer to Wilfred's connection.Don points out that the pictures depicted

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-69624853118959070512008-11-05T18:46:00.000+00:002008-11-12T21:28:09.613+00:00

A few months ago we were contacted by Mic Relf of the New George Baxter Society. He was keen to trace the missing 'George Baxter and his Methods' chapter from My Life's Medley. After some correspondence Mic asked if he could use some of the information on this site for a forthcoming presentation at the Society's AGM. Mic's knowledge of Baxter is superb and his work has filled in many a blank hole

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-67284360012516527312008-11-02T11:33:00.000+00:002010-08-25T20:24:27.429+01:00

"This is a copy of some notes written by my mother [Mary Jane Elizabeth Brooks, wife of F. Vincent Brooks] and found after her death":-27 Hornsey Rise GdnsLondon N.I don’t know if any of my children care about family history, but it has always been a matter of interest to me to know that my father’s people were old country Gentlepeople. The Bormans originally were Reading (Berkshire) people.

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-27874001280813295022008-11-01T22:24:00.000+00:002009-03-04T15:48:25.757+00:00

The following is a transcription of papers which appear to be from the diary of Elizabeth Brooks nee Steggall 1790-:Copy of notes from a diary found at 27 Hornsey Rise Gdns, & lent to us by Edith.I met Madame de Rausman at Mr Morgan’s 1834 Jan 6th. [poss. John Minter Morgan]Mrs. Robinson was married to Mr. Taylor Jan 17th, 1834. [Rev. Robert Taylor 1784-1844]Mr. Julian Hibbert died Jan 22nd,

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-22290902696103261732008-10-20T19:55:00.000+01:002008-10-28T11:32:59.097+00:00

"Coming down Tottenham Court Road I was much struck by the Omnibuses, yellow then as now: they certainly appeared of a size not less than a tram-car would appear to me at the present time and I was amused to hear them described as “mustard pots” a name for these yellow vehicles that has not quite disappeared." Frederick Vincent Brooks' childhood experience of a London Omnibus from the 1850's.The

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3605487515673932115.post-3450496875262841792008-09-17T21:19:00.000+01:002008-09-19T21:53:48.605+01:00

It is always gratifying when a description or name mentioned by our author can be corroborated with the account of another. Such an example is given by Henry Havelock Ellis. In his colourful and controversial adult life he spent time as a sexologist, psychologist, philosopher, critic, author and editor, teacher, a man of medicine, long-time virgin and husband of a lesbian. At least some of his

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01092373974266371652noreply@blogger.com0