Hall marks on gold & silver plate

40
HALL MARKS ON PLATE.
1670. Joseph Horneby, goldsmith, at the "Star," m Lombard
Street. He took a lease of these premises in 1666, which were burned
down shortly after. He lost ;^22,500 by the closing of the Exchequer
in 1672, but still continued his business, being mentioned in
the " Little London Directory " of 1677 as keeping "rurming cashes "
at the same house.
i;76,ooo.
1672. John Portman lost by the same iniquitous proceeding
1672.
Thomas Rowe, of the "
Thomas Rowe and George
George," in Lombard Street, lost
Green were at the same house
;^ 1 7,000.
as bankers in 1677, being included in the list in the "Little London
Directory."
1672. Bernard Turner, of the "Fleece," Lombard Street, lost
i^ 1 6,000. In 1777 the hrm was Turner and Tookie, keeping "run-
ning cashes."
1672. Robert Welsiead lost upwards of ;^i 1,000.
iQy 2. Gilbert Whitehall lost as much as ^^"248,000.
1674. John Saunders, goldsmith, presented to the Goldsmiths'
Company two silver cups and covers. We have not met with any
other notice of him.
iQyQ.Blanehard and Child. After William Wheeler's death,
Robert Blanchard, who was considerably senior to Francis Child,
appears to have carried on the business by himself. Blanchard
having married Child's mother, he took him into partnership a few
years after.
In the "Little London Directory" (1677) the firm is styled
Blanchard and Child, keeping "running cashes," or actually bankers.
Robert Blanchard died June 5, 1681, when the firm was Francis Child
and John Rogers, the latter being manager, a custom which has ex-
a Mr.
isted in that bank, and which is still continued ; subsequently
Jackson was taken in as a junior partner.
At Blanchard's death, Francis Child, the industrious apprentice,
in 1 68 1, became possessed of the whole fortune of the Wheelers and
Blanchards, having married Elizabeth, his cousin, only daughter
and heiress of his uncle, William Wheeler, junior.
Robert Blanchard bequeathed ;"200 to the Goldsmiths' Com-
pany for the poor.
Late in Charles II's reign, Alderman Backwell, who was ruined
by the iniquitous closing of the Exchequer, became bankrupt in 1672,
and his business was transferred to the firm with all the books and
accounts, which are still preserved; but it does not appear, as has
been stated, that he had any further interest as a partner, Backwell
having fled to Holland, where he died in 1679 Among the accounts
thus transferred were those of Nell Gwynne, Prince Rupert, and
many of the nobility.
Alderman Backwell's son, Tyringham, married Elizabeth, eldest
daughter of the first Sir Francis Child, by whom he had two sons,
Barnaby and William, who both went into the bank and subsequently
became partners.