Goslings’ Bank Ledgers
Notice of a mid-May blog post by Barclays, the bank which (after an 1896 amalgamation with Goslings & Sharpe and several other banks) today is still doing business at the Fleet Street, London, premises of the family banking firm GOSLINGS & SHARPE. In Mary Gosling’s lifetime the partners included her brothers and father.
I’ve long known of the firm’s archives – quite intact after more than 200 years; Linda Slothouber, in researching her book Jane Austen, Edward Knight & Chawton: Commerce and Community, found that the Goslings’ ledgers included Edward Austen Knight‘s accounts.
It was QUITE heartwarming to learn, since I’ve never visited the bank’s archives myself, that my suggestion to Linda resulted in a good exchange after she contacted Barclays. Their archives is one of the places on my “little list” that I’ll get to some day. But, as the bank isn’t my main concern, books like Linda’s help fill in some blanks.
It’s also WONDERFUL to find a history like this dissertation by Gareth David Turner, “English Banking in the 18th Century: Bankers, Merchants and the Creation of the English Financial System.”
I’ll remind readers of a couple of old “finds” :
- Francis Bennion’s memories of working at Goslings and his reproduction of the small booklet of the firm’s history. [NB: some text is cut off on some pages.]
- the Smith&Gosling post about silhouettes of the Sharpe family (sold at auction)
TODAY’s “find” is an on-going project, concerning the ledgers of Goslings & Sharpe: LEGENDS IN THE LEDGERS is Barclays’ blog post about their project. The post also has the best representation of the old business sign “the 3 Squirrels”:
Which THIS is not – click to their blog to see a full-color close-up.
The emblem exists even on firm checks.
The family diaries and letters seldom mention the firm – although Emma’s great aunt Mrs Thomas Smith had several meetings with William Ellis Gosling (Mary’s eldest brother) over her finances. Banking back then wasn’t just standing behind the counter, greeting customers!
One of the stories mentioned in the Barclays blog is the Great Beer Flood of 1814 (yes, you read that right…). “Millions of pints of beer” flooded the area around the brewery of Meux & Co. Goslings had a “voluntary account” that raised funds for victims of the catastrophe.
The ledgers of Goslings & Sharpe (though there were other partners, in earlier days, I will use the name most associated with the firm) come in at a whopping 654 ledgers! It is said, in a family letter, that Mr. Gosling was very reluctant to give his blessing for his eldest daughter’s marriage to Langham Christie because discussion of Elizabeth’s dowery came at the same time that the bank was paying out its dividends…
So I’m always keeping my eyes and ears open about the family banking concerns.
Mrs. Leigh Perrot’s Scarlets for Sale
You, too, could inhabit the world of Jane Austen: her aunt’s house is For Sale:
This is how the house looks on SAVILLS’ website. Note that the property includes:
- 4 reception rooms
- master bedroom suite
- 5 further bedrooms
- 2 family bathrooms
- 2 reception rooms to second floor
- kitchen/breakfast room
- cellar with bar/games room & wine store
- detached double garage and office
- gardens of about 1.25 acres
Oddly, the property seems to have acquired an extra ‘t’ – Scarletts – over the years. From the website’s “history”:
Scarletts is the major portion of a magnificent Grade II listed Georgian property built, in the 1760s for Mr & Mrs James Leigh Perrot, the maternal uncle and aunt of Jane Austen. They are reported to have formed part of an inner circle of relatives with whom the Austens regularly exchanged letters and visits. …. The house has a wealth of period features including high ceilings, original fireplaces, deep skirtings and ornate cornicing. It is elegant and beautifully presented throughout.
The front door, with fanlight over, opens to a handsome panelled entrance hall, which has a limestone floor and underfloor heating. The oak panelling is dated 1610 and is decorated with coats of arms of cathedral cities. This opens to a magnificent reception hall with an original oak parquet floor and sweeping staircase with oak balustrade, ornate spindles and risers. The main reception rooms are a delight and are light and airy with large sash windows and working shutters, original fireplaces with gas log effect fires, built-in shelves and cupboards, wood flooring, ornate plaster cornices, wall panels and ceiling roses. Double doors from the drawing room open to an orangery which was added in 2007 and has underfloor heating and doors opening to a wide stone terrace and ornamental pond.
The so-called guide price is £3.5 million, for over 7,000 square feet of space.
My interest, though, comes in the 1830s, when Edward and Emma Austen, newly named “Austen Leigh” moved in after Edward’s inheritance from his great-aunt Leigh Perrot. “Talk” of Edward’s inheritance became serious once Mrs. Leigh Perrot met his intended bride, falling in love with dear Emma and the Smiths – perhaps especially her Aunt Northampton (the Marchioness of Northampton).
Lucy Worsley’s Jane Austen
Jane Austen (Gwendolen Chatfield) invites visitors “Behind Closed Doors” in a charming presentation by Lucy Worsley.
Nice to step through the door at places like Godmersham Park or envision vanished places, like Manydown Park:
One even gets a look at the seaside! Beaches and Cobbs are still around, but homes are a bit more transient; houses, like the one Worsley is pointing out in this painting of Southampton, can sometimes only be deduced in other ways.
Very useful to have “visiting” historians and even an archaeologist. The quotes from Austen’s letters spoken on camera by Ms. Chatfield was refreshing. Highly recommended (and you know where to find it online; search worsley austen).
Two Teens in the Time of Austen 