Bancroft Brothers: History
The
Company
The
first time a business with the Bancroft name associated with metal work
appeared in Birmingham city directories was in 1867[1]. That year William Henry Bancroft was listed
as a jeweler located at 54½ Great Hampton Street in the Jewellery
Quarter. Two years later in 1869[2]
he was listed with the same address except his name was now recorded as William
Alfred Bancroft with the occupation of manufacturing jeweler and gold locket
maker. Evidently his name was
incorrectly listed in 1867[3]. Whereas William was listed with the same
name, address and occupation in 1871[4],
another firm named Bancroft & Wood appeared in the commercial section of
the directory that year as watch chain makers at 162 Unett
Street. Presumable this new firm was
owned and operated by William’s younger brother, Walter John Bancroft, and
another man named John Wood. Within a
year, in 1872[5], the two
companies merged and became known as Bancroft Bros. & Wood, jewelers located
at 170 Hockley Hill. In an 1873
directory the firm was listed as “Bancroft Bros. & Wood, machinists, die
sinkers and chain, &c. manufacturers 170 Hockley hill” [6],
whereas the brothers were also listed separately with their home address as
“Bancroft William Alfred & Walter (Bros. & Wood); h Gresham villa, Piers road, Soho park”[7]. On February 28, 1873[8]
the partnership between William Alfred Bancroft, Walter John Bancroft and John
Wood was officially dissolved with John Wood leaving the partnership and the
two brothers carrying on simply as Bancroft Brothers. By 1881[9]
the firm employed 12 hands. They
continued to operate as die-sinkers at 170 Hockley Hill until at least 1911[10],
the last time the firm was listed in city directories. Presumably the two brothers retired around
that time as both were listed as either retired or living on their own means in
1911[11].
This firm registered 15 designs
between 1872 and 1883[12]. Five of these were registered in 1872 under
the name Bancroft Bros. & Wood. Then
in 1873 six items were registered to Bancroft Brothers followed by four
additional items between 1874 and 1883.
Most of these were for cruet frames or stands with a couple for sugar
basins. Only one was for a metal pin and
needle case which was assigned #277991 when it was registered in
1873. Although the drawing on this
item’s registration has a dog on the top, it comes in at least two different
varieties: the Dog on Plinth shown above and the Sewing Beetle on Plinth[13]
on the right, the only difference being the lid. Possibly William Avery contacted Bancroft
Bros. and asked them to create these needle cases for him as both are only
found with either the W. Avery & Son Redditch name or with no name.
The
Owners
The
Bancroft brothers, William Alfred Bancroft and Walter
John Bancroft, were the sons of John and Emma Bancroft. John Bancroft was born in Birmingham in 1811
to Joseph, a builder, and Mary Bancroft.
When John was 29 years old in 1840 he married
Emma Bancroft who was 17. Emma’s father,
also named John Bancroft, was also a builder.
Because their parents were most likely related and Emma was a minor,
their marriage may have been arranged as that was quite common during the time period in which they lived. Within a year of their marriage John and
Emma moved to London where John worked as a joiner. They remained in London for only a short
period of time and their first child, William Alfred, was born there in
1842. However, by 1845 they were back in
the Birmingham area where their second son, Walter John, was born. A third son, Charles Frederick, was born
there in 1847 but died 14 months later.
Six years after that, a daughter Emily Eliza was born in 1853. During their years in the Birmingham area the
family spent some time living in Aston before permanently settling in
Handsworth, first at Factory Lane and later at Gresham Villa on Piers Road in
Soho Park[14]. John worked as a builder and carpenter master
until he retired around 1871. In 1866
he was listed in a local newspaper as one of 48 master builders who were
members of the Birmingham branch of the General Builder’s Association. The newspaper article indicated the group
signed an agreement to abide by new trade rules which were recorded as follows:
“Now WE, the MASTER BUILDERS of BIRMINGHAM, do hereby declare that we are
prepared to conform to the Rules decided as above, and to no other; that we
will take on as “old hands,” and guarantee constant work as such to all Workmen
who will conform to these Rules, and that we Will not employ any other.”[15] This implies John was an employer in the
building trades. By 1883 he achieved the
status of gentleman as that is how he was recorded on his daughter’s marriage
bands that year. During the Victoria Era
a gentleman was someone who “did not need to work in order to earn money or
perform any manual labour in order to live or
survive”.[16] John became a gentleman most likely because
he attained a certain level of business success allowing him to retire by the time he was 59. Emma
died at age 61 in 1884 and John died three years later in 1887 at age 75. John was again listed as a gentleman in his
probate record and left an estate valued at £1,997 to his youngest
surviving son, Walter, with whom he lived and to his daughter Emily
Shotten. In 1883 Emily had married
Joseph Shotton, a maltster and was living in Burton upon Trent, a town about 30
miles northeast of Birmingham, at the time of her father’s death. The Shotton’s later moved to Willesden, an
area in northwest London, where Emily died at age 42 in 1899.
William
Alfred Bancroft was born in Lambeth, South London in 1842. After his parents returned to Birmingham, he
was baptized in 1844 at St. Phillips Cathedral in the city center. By age 18 he was an engraver and continued
living with his parents until at least 1871 when he was 28 years old and
working as a manufacturing jeweler. For
many years he preferred to be addressed by his middle name and was recorded as
Alfred Bancroft from 1851 until at least 1871.
Perhaps it was his nickname.
Around the time he partnered in 1873 with his brother to form the
company known as Bancroft Brothers, he started using his full name and
thereafter was most frequently listed as William Alfred or William A.
Bancroft. In 1875 William married Emma
Mary Griffith and sometime after their marriage moved to The Hawthorns in
Handsworth where they remained for the rest of their lives. William and Emma had seven children between
1876 and 1888: Annie Emily Beatrice, Evelyn Maud, Emma Ettie, Jessie Griffith,
Elsie Gwendoline, Walter Griffith and Alfred Henry
Reginald. William continued to work with
his brother and was recorded as a manufacturing jeweler employer or as a die
sinker, stamper and piercer employer until he retired
sometime before 1911. William died in
1926 at age 83 and left an estate of £1,537 to his wife. Emma died nine years later in 1935 at age 86
and left her estate of £8,550
to their eldest son Walter and their unmarried daughter Evelyn. William and Emma’s eldest son, Walter
Griffith Bancroft, served in the Royal Army Medical Corp during World War 1 and
received a Victory Medal as well as a pension as he incurred a disability
during his service. By 1939 he was
living in Sutton Coldfield, a town seven miles north of Birmingham, where he
worked as commercial traveler with brass and steel
wire. He died there in 1969 at age 83
and left an estate of
£20,221. The youngest son of William and Emma was
Alfred Henry Reginald Bancroft, who was born in 1888. In 1911 when he was 22 years old, he was living
in Cornwall where he was learning how to become a farmer. He returned to Handsworth and married Marian
Denham in 1913. Shortly thereafter they
immigrated to Canada where they had two children: Barbara and Rex. They settled in Chedderville,
Alberta where Alfred died in 1945.
Walter
John Bancroft was born and baptized in Birmingham in 1845. He became an apprentice to a die sinker when
he was 16 years old in 1861 and within 10 years became a tool maker. He lived with his parents at Piers Road in
Handsworth and after their deaths continued to live there as he most likely
inherited the family home. John never
married and spent his entire life as a die sinker, stamper and piercer employer working with his brother William as a partner in
the Bancroft Brothers firm. He retired
sometime around 1911 and died nine years later in 1920 at age 75. Walter left an estate valued at £1,918 to his brother and
business partner William Alfred Bancroft.
