The Life and Times of Benjamin Fawcett
Benjamin Fawcett was born in 1808 in the East Riding coastal town of Bridlington and was baptised on 22nd of December. He was the only child of George and Sarah Fawcett, née Thompson, who were married on 10th March 1808. George (1775-1809) was the son of Richard Fawcett (1735-1804) and Jane Dale (born 1734), daughter of Benjamin Dale, who married in Bridlington on 19th January 1761. Richard was buried at Bridlington St Mary's on 17 May 1804. Richard was a mariner, his service is registered in the Trinity House Records for 1799. Benjamin Fawcett's father, George, was also a seafarer. According to M C F Morris, he was a captain or master of a small ship working out of Bridlington and died at sea in 1809, probably of a fever. He was buried in the Santa Cruz district of Manila in the Philippines. More details here. George never saw his son and Sarah never remarried. It's hard to imagine now but in the early nineteenth century Bridlington was a small inland town and the harbour was within the even smaller fishing settlement of Bridlington Quay. The area to the south of the harbour was open countryside.
At age fourteen, Fawcett was apprenticed to the Bridlington bookseller and printer William Forth. Some sources say that Fawcett was an apprentice with Forth of Pocklington. Several members of the wider Forth family of different generations were in the printing business. William Forth had a son called John who was an apprentice at Bridlington and a friend of Benjamin Fawcett. John subsequently started a printing business in Pocklington. I have no doubt that Fawcett did serve his apprenticeship in his home town of Bridlington. William Forth placed this advertisement in the York Herald on 1st December 1827 when Fawcett would have been nineteen and approaching the end of his apprenticeship.
Fawcett was reportedly one of three Bridlington boys who taught themselves wood engraving and went on to achieve success in different areas. The other two were Thomas Cape (1797-1879), a Bridlington wine merchant and sub-postmaster, and Thomas Holderness (1823-1902) who also set up a printing business in Driffield and went on to become proprietor of the Driffield Observer. I can find no references or evidence to corroborate these reports and, in my opinion, Fawcett was so manifestly in a league of his own, both locally and nationally, that I see no merit in considering these three boys, with almost a generation between them, as a group. The paths of Benjamin Fawcett and Thomas Holderness would cross in a number of ways over many decades.
After he had completed his seven year apprenticeship, on 24th January 1830 Fawcett married Mary Ann Woodmansey of Boynton, just outside Bridlington. A year later in 1831 he set up his own home and business on Middle Street North in Driffield. These modest premises were in the Chapel Yard in front of the Methodist Chapel. It has been reported that they were formerly the premises of Sanderson who had moved to larger premises on Market Place. I think it is more likely that the printer Christopher Laybourne was the previous occupant. Trade Directories of 1834 and 1840 list Fawcett and William Turner, Middle Street, as the only two printers in Driffield. An 1829 Trade Directory lists Turner and Laybourne as the only two Printers in Driffield. Fawcett traded as a bookseller, bookbinder, music seller, printer and stationer. The Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette of 17th February 1832 also describes Mr Fawcett, bookseller of Driffield, as a seller of the "Vegetable Universal Medicine".
Benjamin and Mary had two sons, George and Alfred. Sadly, Mary died in 1834. The 1841 Census shows that Benjamin, 32, Printer, was living with George ten, Alfred eight, three fifteen year old apprentices, John Danby, George Grassam and William Barrow, and two Female Servants, Mary Layton and Elizabeth Allison.
George Grassam's father, John, was a cabinet maker in Driffield. In 1851 he was living on Chapel Lane with his wife, Sarah, and his sons, George, 26, a Printer (Compositor), and Alfred, 17, a Printer's Apprentice. They also had a boarder, one Thomas Holderness, 28, born in Bridlington, a Printer employing one man and two apprentices. It looks like there may have been a bit of rivalry between Fawcett and Holderness, and some poaching of staff.
On 29th January 1848 at Little Driffield, Benjamin Fawcett married Martha Porter, one of his colourists, nearly twenty years his junior and heavily pregnant. The wedding was witnessed by John Woodmansey, one of Fawcett's compositors and Mary Porter (probably Martha's cousin Richard's wife). Martha's father, William Porter of Gristhorpe, formerly Driffield, was the Station Master at Filey. The Fawcett's first child, Sarah Anne, was baptised on 4th May 1848. They went on to have five daughters and six sons. Martha continued to play a significant role in the business, along with her sister and some of their children.
Unreported by MCF Morris, McLean and others, the Fawcetts had a daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth who sadly died on 25th March 1858 aged 10 weeks. Three of their children died in their teens or twenties. Arthur William died on 10th September 1871 aged 15 with Mary Leason, the wife of a local bricklayer, present at his death. Sarah Anne died on 21st June 1877 aged 29. Sophia Christiana died on 13th June 1879 with her brother Frank present at her death. The cause of death for all three, as certified by Doctor J D Eames, was Phthisis. The cause of death recorded in Victorian times has to be viewed with a little scepticism though there is nothing to suggest any inaccuracy in this case. Phthisis, more commonly known as tuberculosis or TB, was also known by other names - consumption, the white death, the great white plague and many more. It was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in Europe in the nineteenth century. The Fawcett's doctor, John Davey Eames, was a vociferous critic of the quality of drinking water and drainage in Driffield. He was a regular speaker at meetings of the Local Board where acrimonious exchanges took place which were widely reported during the 1870s and 80s. The cause of TB was discovered by the microbiologist Robert Koch in Germany in 1882, a single bacterium transmitted from person to person via infected droplets. Following this discovery vaccines and drug treatments became available. Fawcett's granddaughter, Gertrude Elizabeth Fawcett, died aged 2 on 18th February 1876 five days after an accident in the kitchen in which she was scalded with hot water. Gertrude was the daughter of George Fawcett, Benjamin's son and one of his engravers.
Benjamin Fawcett was rarely seen out and about in Driffield apart from a weekly trip to the bank to get cash to pay the wages and an occasional business trip to London. He preferred to divide his time between work, family and garden. Although he became well known in the world of printing and publishing his achievements were virtually unknown in his home town. He was not a self-publicist but he was a perfectionist whose primary concern was the quality of his work. He didn't appear keen to acknowledge the work he produced. Illustrations were rarely signed and books did not routinely acknowledge that they were printed by Fawcett, if they were it was usually on the back page. He was a significant employer in Driffield, and a benevolent one, who looked after, trained and nurtured his workers recognising that they were crucial to the success of his business. If any of his workforce were ill he would send one of his family to see how they were or he would go himself, he knew all too well what it was like to have illness in the family, as we have seen.
Various members of the Fawcett family were involved in local activities - amateur dramatics, the Foresters and cricket with the three Fawcett brothers Walter, Frank and James being particularly successful. On 26th July 1870, a cricket match took place between "the compositors and pressmen under the employ of Mr B Fawcett, publisher, of Driffield" with William Stead's compositors winning by ten wickets and Charles Fawcett being bowled out for one. Benjamin himself was a keen gardener and exhibited in local flower shows winning numerous prizes. George Fawcett was a member of the Art-Union of London.
In Frederick Ross' 1898 Contributions towards a History of Driffield, there is an entry for Fawcett's long term collaborator Rev F O Morris but not for Fawcett himself. Although Fawcett instigated and financed most of their works he was a mere tradesman while Morris was a member of the gentry having read Classics at Worcester College Oxford. This is also despite the fact that Ross and Fawcett had worked together on a significant major work, The Ruined Abbeys of Britain. Ross' Contributions was published in Driffield five years after his death, and the deaths of Fawcett and Morris, by his brother-in-law, a certain Thomas Holderness. Fawcett is briefly mentioned though, in the relatively short section on the Rev F O Morris, describing his works as "...splendidly illustrated, and beautiful as specimens of typography and artistic skill, from the press of Mr. Benjamin Fawcett, of Driffield...".
As a further example of how inconspicuous Fawcett was locally, when A F Lydon, Fawcett's principle engraver, left Driffield for London in 1883, the Driffield branch of the Mechanics' Institute held a special meeting and presentation to mark the occasion. There were numerous speakers but, according to a report in the Driffield Times, there was no mention of Fawcett, Lydon's employer, mentor, colleague and friend for over 30 years. Lydon's departure would certainly have been difficult for Fawcett both personally and for the business and it must have had an effect on their relationship. Perhaps Lydon had seen the writing on the wall and took the difficult decision to look for pastures new. There is no doubt that it marked a turning point in the fortunes of B Fawcett and Co. Six other engravers also left Driffield for London around the same time including two of the next generation - Charles Fawcett and Frank Lydon - plus Maynard and Ridley. Things did not bode well for the future of the Fawcett printing works.
The death of three of his children in the 1870s, the departure of Lydon, the demise of Groombridge the publisher, old age, ill health and failing eyesight must also have taken its toll on Fawcett and the business. On the 19th March 1889, East Lodge was advertised to let though it appears that it never actually was let.
Benjamin Fawcett died on 12th January 1893 having been in failing health for some time. His obituary in the Driffield Times two days later was brief but it did acknowledge his achievements in printing and his longstanding position as a tradesman in the town. A Memorial Card was circulated among relatives and friends which stated that he was "a worthy and excellent master, much esteemed by his employees."
He had not made proper provision for the printing works to continue without him. His son, Frank, was a bank clerk not a printer but it fell upon him to try and carry on with the business. Despite all his efforts the result was inevitable and the company was declared bankrupt in 1894. The nature of colour printing had totally changed and the Fawcett's traditional methods were unable to compete with these new mass production processes of the printing world. After his death, Benjamin Fawcett's assets, valued at £1,292 17s 9d, were passed through probate to Frank. Following legal proceedings, Benjamin Fawcett's current account was declared to be overdrawn by £672 8s 6d at the time of his death.
Another important event that was unreported by MCF Morris, McLean and others, on 19th and 21st September 1894, following instructions from the receiver, there was an auction of the "Contents of Dining Room, Drawing Room, Library and Bedroom Furniture together with about 1,100 Valuable Books, 100 Lots of Pictures, Photos, Plates and Engravings, Birds in Cases, Specimen Birds, Eggs, Insects and Shells." The Fawcetts were in distress. Any items or documents connected with the business or with their life at East Lodge that were not sold or disposed of by the receiver were probably destroyed by the family. The contents of the printing works were auctioned at East Lodge on 22nd January 1895 by Walter Phelps of Birmingham, a specialist in the valuation and disposal of printing plant and machinery. Phelps may have already contacted potential customers for the Fawcett equipment as I cannot find any advertisements for the auction though other printing auctions by Phelps in Britain and Ireland around the same time were advertised both locally and nationally. I am very grateful to Professor Caroline Archer for her help and advice on the Phelps auction. A rather poignant 1938 newspaper article on the History of Driffield said that it "was a day which Driffield has never ceased to regret."
At this point, I assumed that Frank Fawcett had simply drifted into obscurity but a little research revealed a surprising, sad and poignant story.
There were other factors that may have had a significant impact on Fawcett's business. His main publisher, Groombridge, had got into in difficulties in the early 1870s and were finally declared bankrupt almost twenty years later in 1891, possibly due to malpractice. Following the death of the eldest partner, Richard Groombridge, his family tried to take money out of the business. The Groombridge family was badly advised which probably led to its final downfall.
Benjamin Fawcett's solicitor and a signatory to his will was Luke White of Driffield, later Sir Luke. White was a well-respected solicitor for over forty years, county councillor, alderman, Liberal MP, coroner and agricultural expert who was knighted in 1908. White had previously arranged for the disposal of three Assurance Policies on the Life of Benjamin Fawcett to be sold at auction in London on 5th June 1888. White was also Frank Fawcett's solicitor following Benjamin's death and advised him not to sign a crucial document that was part of the bankruptcy proceedings, despite Frank's willingness to do so. This led to a case being heard in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, before the Lord Chief Justice, without a jury - The London and Yorkshire Bank (Limited) versus White. At the time of Benjamin Fawcett's death, Frank was working as a clerk at the Yorkshire Bank in Driffield which was where Benjamin Fawcett banked. Frank had managed to get the overdraft down from £672 8s 6d to £323 14s. At this time, a quantity of Fawcett's books were in the hands of Gibbings, a London bookseller. Frank promised to assign these books, valued at £232, to the bank. White advised Frank not to sign them over which led to the court case. The Yorkshire Bank won the case and were awarded costs. The case involved some complex legal arguments regarding the Bill of Sale Act and the outcome was reported in the Times of 6th August 1895.
In 1919 Sir Luke White was accused of fraud having misappropriated the funds and caused the ruin of dozens of clients over many years. He was too frail to be prosecuted and died shortly afterwards while a resident of the Driffield Workhouse Infirmary. Herbert Brown, solicitor, part time coroner and formerly in the employ of White, was also accused of fraud but was acquitted. Brown stated that the fraud had only started after he had left the practice and after White had fought and won the two elections of 1910. They had both been charged with misappropriating funds for "the personal use of Sir Luke". (The Luke White story is told in From White House to Workhouse by Peter Howorth.)
Frederick Ross, mentioned above, carpet salesman, debt collector, author and historian, born in Beverley, East Yorkshire but long term resident of London, travelled to Driffield in the winter of 1892 and died two days after Fawcett on 14th January 1893. Morris died the following month on 10th February 1893. Lydon had been in London for ten years at this point where he went on to have a further 30 year career in the industry.
Benjamin Fawcett is buried in Driffield Cemetery. The photographs on this page, taken on 3rd November 2017, show that his grave is marked with the most modest of headstones on which the inscription is barely readable - "IN LOVING MEMORY OF BENJAMIN FAWCETT DIED JAN 12TH 1893 AGED 84 YEARS". Perhaps the town should have commemorated the life and work of their most illustrious son with a little more ceremony but he would probably have disapproved. It must have been a difficult time for the family with the business failing and they would have wanted little fuss in any case. Over a hundred years later he has been recognised, though I'm still not sure he would have approved, especially of the form it took. There's a Wetherspoon's pub called the Benjamin Fawcett opposite the site of his old premises in Middle Street, it has reproductions of his work on the walls. Fawcett Gardens is a new development of 18 flats and 20 houses on the site of his East Lodge home and printing works which were demolished in the late 1900s, it includes a plaque with biographical details and minimal vandalism.
From 1901 until his death in 1911, East Lodge was occupied by another illustrious son of Driffield, John Robert Mortimer, a "founding father of modern British archaeology". Mortimer was the uneducated son of a local farmer, James Mortimer, later becoming a successful corn merchant and maltster. He founded James Mortimer Ltd in 1869 which is still in existence today. He went on to do great things in the field of archaeology applying a rigorous scientific approach to the subject. He founded the Driffield Museum of Antiquities and Geological Specimens, one of the first of its kind and said to contain "a collection which can only be matched with that in the British Museum". The building is now the Masonic Hall on Lockwood Street. Fawcett and Mortimer were contemporaries in a small market town and must have had a lot in common. Leaders in their field but outsiders by birth and inspired purely by the nature and subject of their work rather than by any intellectual pretensions. The only tangible connection I can find is that Mortimer's daughter, Agnes, was taught to draw and paint by A F Lydon, Fawcett's principle engraver. Agnes, born in 1873 would have been ten when Lydon left Driffield in 1883. Agnes illustrated much of Mortimer's work, in particular Forty Years' Researches which contained over 1000 illustrations produced over six years while she was still a teenager. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Specimens in the Mortimer Museum of Archaeology and Geology at Driffield 1900 by Thomas Shepperd was required reading for archaeologists of the day. I have a copy which belonged to John E Pritchard of Bristol along with a hand written letter from Mortimer inviting Pritchard to visit Driffield to view the collection. The letter was written while Mortimer was a resident at East Lodge. Pritchard, who was president of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society from 1918 to 1920, paved the way for the practice of modern archaeology in Bristol. Mortimer died at East Lodge on 19th August 1911.
The End of an Era
Benjamin Fawcett was fortunate to be associated with some of the leading amateur specialists of the Victorian period. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the amateurs' role as expert in Science and the Arts was declining. Universities and learned societies were expanding in number and size and a formal education and qualifications were becoming an essential addition to the curriculum vitae of any aspiring scientist, historian, etc. The end of this era was another factor that may have had an effect on the viability of Fawcett's business. Biographical notes on some of Fawcett's collaborators may be found here.
Contemporaries
There were a number of other significant and exceptional printers in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Bewick, Savage, Baxter and Evans being particularly noteworthy. Contrary to what may have been said elsewhere and to categorically dispel any doubt, firstly, Fawcett never used the patented "Baxter Process" nor was he a licensee, secondly, he did not produce chromolithographs. The "Baxter Process" involved an initial print from a steel "key" plate followed by colour prints from copper or zinc plates or wood blocks. Chromolithography was a chemical process using grease-based inks on stone, aluminium or zinc. Fawcett engraved solely on the end grain of the finest Turkish boxwood and used only the finest of inks, all of which were prepared on the premises. Along with the skill of the artist, engraver and colour separator, this method allowed Fawcett to produce prints which have been described as virtually indistinguishable from the original watercolour. Oil-based prints had a tendency to fade, Fawcett's prints did not. W D Ridley, one of Fawcett's earliest and most skilful engravers, said in 1929 "I have proof of the permanence of his conscientious work, having several plates (printed forty-five years ago) framed, and hanging exposed to light since 1884, and showing no loss of colour throughout all the years."
Notes on some of Fawcett's contemporaries may be found here.
At age fourteen, Fawcett was apprenticed to the Bridlington bookseller and printer William Forth. Some sources say that Fawcett was an apprentice with Forth of Pocklington. Several members of the wider Forth family of different generations were in the printing business. William Forth had a son called John who was an apprentice at Bridlington and a friend of Benjamin Fawcett. John subsequently started a printing business in Pocklington. I have no doubt that Fawcett did serve his apprenticeship in his home town of Bridlington. William Forth placed this advertisement in the York Herald on 1st December 1827 when Fawcett would have been nineteen and approaching the end of his apprenticeship.
Fawcett was reportedly one of three Bridlington boys who taught themselves wood engraving and went on to achieve success in different areas. The other two were Thomas Cape (1797-1879), a Bridlington wine merchant and sub-postmaster, and Thomas Holderness (1823-1902) who also set up a printing business in Driffield and went on to become proprietor of the Driffield Observer. I can find no references or evidence to corroborate these reports and, in my opinion, Fawcett was so manifestly in a league of his own, both locally and nationally, that I see no merit in considering these three boys, with almost a generation between them, as a group. The paths of Benjamin Fawcett and Thomas Holderness would cross in a number of ways over many decades.
After he had completed his seven year apprenticeship, on 24th January 1830 Fawcett married Mary Ann Woodmansey of Boynton, just outside Bridlington. A year later in 1831 he set up his own home and business on Middle Street North in Driffield. These modest premises were in the Chapel Yard in front of the Methodist Chapel. It has been reported that they were formerly the premises of Sanderson who had moved to larger premises on Market Place. I think it is more likely that the printer Christopher Laybourne was the previous occupant. Trade Directories of 1834 and 1840 list Fawcett and William Turner, Middle Street, as the only two printers in Driffield. An 1829 Trade Directory lists Turner and Laybourne as the only two Printers in Driffield. Fawcett traded as a bookseller, bookbinder, music seller, printer and stationer. The Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette of 17th February 1832 also describes Mr Fawcett, bookseller of Driffield, as a seller of the "Vegetable Universal Medicine".
Benjamin and Mary had two sons, George and Alfred. Sadly, Mary died in 1834. The 1841 Census shows that Benjamin, 32, Printer, was living with George ten, Alfred eight, three fifteen year old apprentices, John Danby, George Grassam and William Barrow, and two Female Servants, Mary Layton and Elizabeth Allison.
George Grassam's father, John, was a cabinet maker in Driffield. In 1851 he was living on Chapel Lane with his wife, Sarah, and his sons, George, 26, a Printer (Compositor), and Alfred, 17, a Printer's Apprentice. They also had a boarder, one Thomas Holderness, 28, born in Bridlington, a Printer employing one man and two apprentices. It looks like there may have been a bit of rivalry between Fawcett and Holderness, and some poaching of staff.
On 29th January 1848 at Little Driffield, Benjamin Fawcett married Martha Porter, one of his colourists, nearly twenty years his junior and heavily pregnant. The wedding was witnessed by John Woodmansey, one of Fawcett's compositors and Mary Porter (probably Martha's cousin Richard's wife). Martha's father, William Porter of Gristhorpe, formerly Driffield, was the Station Master at Filey. The Fawcett's first child, Sarah Anne, was baptised on 4th May 1848. They went on to have five daughters and six sons. Martha continued to play a significant role in the business, along with her sister and some of their children.
Unreported by MCF Morris, McLean and others, the Fawcetts had a daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth who sadly died on 25th March 1858 aged 10 weeks. Three of their children died in their teens or twenties. Arthur William died on 10th September 1871 aged 15 with Mary Leason, the wife of a local bricklayer, present at his death. Sarah Anne died on 21st June 1877 aged 29. Sophia Christiana died on 13th June 1879 with her brother Frank present at her death. The cause of death for all three, as certified by Doctor J D Eames, was Phthisis. The cause of death recorded in Victorian times has to be viewed with a little scepticism though there is nothing to suggest any inaccuracy in this case. Phthisis, more commonly known as tuberculosis or TB, was also known by other names - consumption, the white death, the great white plague and many more. It was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in Europe in the nineteenth century. The Fawcett's doctor, John Davey Eames, was a vociferous critic of the quality of drinking water and drainage in Driffield. He was a regular speaker at meetings of the Local Board where acrimonious exchanges took place which were widely reported during the 1870s and 80s. The cause of TB was discovered by the microbiologist Robert Koch in Germany in 1882, a single bacterium transmitted from person to person via infected droplets. Following this discovery vaccines and drug treatments became available. Fawcett's granddaughter, Gertrude Elizabeth Fawcett, died aged 2 on 18th February 1876 five days after an accident in the kitchen in which she was scalded with hot water. Gertrude was the daughter of George Fawcett, Benjamin's son and one of his engravers.
Benjamin Fawcett was rarely seen out and about in Driffield apart from a weekly trip to the bank to get cash to pay the wages and an occasional business trip to London. He preferred to divide his time between work, family and garden. Although he became well known in the world of printing and publishing his achievements were virtually unknown in his home town. He was not a self-publicist but he was a perfectionist whose primary concern was the quality of his work. He didn't appear keen to acknowledge the work he produced. Illustrations were rarely signed and books did not routinely acknowledge that they were printed by Fawcett, if they were it was usually on the back page. He was a significant employer in Driffield, and a benevolent one, who looked after, trained and nurtured his workers recognising that they were crucial to the success of his business. If any of his workforce were ill he would send one of his family to see how they were or he would go himself, he knew all too well what it was like to have illness in the family, as we have seen.
Various members of the Fawcett family were involved in local activities - amateur dramatics, the Foresters and cricket with the three Fawcett brothers Walter, Frank and James being particularly successful. On 26th July 1870, a cricket match took place between "the compositors and pressmen under the employ of Mr B Fawcett, publisher, of Driffield" with William Stead's compositors winning by ten wickets and Charles Fawcett being bowled out for one. Benjamin himself was a keen gardener and exhibited in local flower shows winning numerous prizes. George Fawcett was a member of the Art-Union of London.
In Frederick Ross' 1898 Contributions towards a History of Driffield, there is an entry for Fawcett's long term collaborator Rev F O Morris but not for Fawcett himself. Although Fawcett instigated and financed most of their works he was a mere tradesman while Morris was a member of the gentry having read Classics at Worcester College Oxford. This is also despite the fact that Ross and Fawcett had worked together on a significant major work, The Ruined Abbeys of Britain. Ross' Contributions was published in Driffield five years after his death, and the deaths of Fawcett and Morris, by his brother-in-law, a certain Thomas Holderness. Fawcett is briefly mentioned though, in the relatively short section on the Rev F O Morris, describing his works as "...splendidly illustrated, and beautiful as specimens of typography and artistic skill, from the press of Mr. Benjamin Fawcett, of Driffield...".
As a further example of how inconspicuous Fawcett was locally, when A F Lydon, Fawcett's principle engraver, left Driffield for London in 1883, the Driffield branch of the Mechanics' Institute held a special meeting and presentation to mark the occasion. There were numerous speakers but, according to a report in the Driffield Times, there was no mention of Fawcett, Lydon's employer, mentor, colleague and friend for over 30 years. Lydon's departure would certainly have been difficult for Fawcett both personally and for the business and it must have had an effect on their relationship. Perhaps Lydon had seen the writing on the wall and took the difficult decision to look for pastures new. There is no doubt that it marked a turning point in the fortunes of B Fawcett and Co. Six other engravers also left Driffield for London around the same time including two of the next generation - Charles Fawcett and Frank Lydon - plus Maynard and Ridley. Things did not bode well for the future of the Fawcett printing works.
The death of three of his children in the 1870s, the departure of Lydon, the demise of Groombridge the publisher, old age, ill health and failing eyesight must also have taken its toll on Fawcett and the business. On the 19th March 1889, East Lodge was advertised to let though it appears that it never actually was let.
Benjamin Fawcett died on 12th January 1893 having been in failing health for some time. His obituary in the Driffield Times two days later was brief but it did acknowledge his achievements in printing and his longstanding position as a tradesman in the town. A Memorial Card was circulated among relatives and friends which stated that he was "a worthy and excellent master, much esteemed by his employees."
He had not made proper provision for the printing works to continue without him. His son, Frank, was a bank clerk not a printer but it fell upon him to try and carry on with the business. Despite all his efforts the result was inevitable and the company was declared bankrupt in 1894. The nature of colour printing had totally changed and the Fawcett's traditional methods were unable to compete with these new mass production processes of the printing world. After his death, Benjamin Fawcett's assets, valued at £1,292 17s 9d, were passed through probate to Frank. Following legal proceedings, Benjamin Fawcett's current account was declared to be overdrawn by £672 8s 6d at the time of his death.
Another important event that was unreported by MCF Morris, McLean and others, on 19th and 21st September 1894, following instructions from the receiver, there was an auction of the "Contents of Dining Room, Drawing Room, Library and Bedroom Furniture together with about 1,100 Valuable Books, 100 Lots of Pictures, Photos, Plates and Engravings, Birds in Cases, Specimen Birds, Eggs, Insects and Shells." The Fawcetts were in distress. Any items or documents connected with the business or with their life at East Lodge that were not sold or disposed of by the receiver were probably destroyed by the family. The contents of the printing works were auctioned at East Lodge on 22nd January 1895 by Walter Phelps of Birmingham, a specialist in the valuation and disposal of printing plant and machinery. Phelps may have already contacted potential customers for the Fawcett equipment as I cannot find any advertisements for the auction though other printing auctions by Phelps in Britain and Ireland around the same time were advertised both locally and nationally. I am very grateful to Professor Caroline Archer for her help and advice on the Phelps auction. A rather poignant 1938 newspaper article on the History of Driffield said that it "was a day which Driffield has never ceased to regret."
At this point, I assumed that Frank Fawcett had simply drifted into obscurity but a little research revealed a surprising, sad and poignant story.
There were other factors that may have had a significant impact on Fawcett's business. His main publisher, Groombridge, had got into in difficulties in the early 1870s and were finally declared bankrupt almost twenty years later in 1891, possibly due to malpractice. Following the death of the eldest partner, Richard Groombridge, his family tried to take money out of the business. The Groombridge family was badly advised which probably led to its final downfall.
Benjamin Fawcett's solicitor and a signatory to his will was Luke White of Driffield, later Sir Luke. White was a well-respected solicitor for over forty years, county councillor, alderman, Liberal MP, coroner and agricultural expert who was knighted in 1908. White had previously arranged for the disposal of three Assurance Policies on the Life of Benjamin Fawcett to be sold at auction in London on 5th June 1888. White was also Frank Fawcett's solicitor following Benjamin's death and advised him not to sign a crucial document that was part of the bankruptcy proceedings, despite Frank's willingness to do so. This led to a case being heard in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, before the Lord Chief Justice, without a jury - The London and Yorkshire Bank (Limited) versus White. At the time of Benjamin Fawcett's death, Frank was working as a clerk at the Yorkshire Bank in Driffield which was where Benjamin Fawcett banked. Frank had managed to get the overdraft down from £672 8s 6d to £323 14s. At this time, a quantity of Fawcett's books were in the hands of Gibbings, a London bookseller. Frank promised to assign these books, valued at £232, to the bank. White advised Frank not to sign them over which led to the court case. The Yorkshire Bank won the case and were awarded costs. The case involved some complex legal arguments regarding the Bill of Sale Act and the outcome was reported in the Times of 6th August 1895.
In 1919 Sir Luke White was accused of fraud having misappropriated the funds and caused the ruin of dozens of clients over many years. He was too frail to be prosecuted and died shortly afterwards while a resident of the Driffield Workhouse Infirmary. Herbert Brown, solicitor, part time coroner and formerly in the employ of White, was also accused of fraud but was acquitted. Brown stated that the fraud had only started after he had left the practice and after White had fought and won the two elections of 1910. They had both been charged with misappropriating funds for "the personal use of Sir Luke". (The Luke White story is told in From White House to Workhouse by Peter Howorth.)
Frederick Ross, mentioned above, carpet salesman, debt collector, author and historian, born in Beverley, East Yorkshire but long term resident of London, travelled to Driffield in the winter of 1892 and died two days after Fawcett on 14th January 1893. Morris died the following month on 10th February 1893. Lydon had been in London for ten years at this point where he went on to have a further 30 year career in the industry.
Benjamin Fawcett is buried in Driffield Cemetery. The photographs on this page, taken on 3rd November 2017, show that his grave is marked with the most modest of headstones on which the inscription is barely readable - "IN LOVING MEMORY OF BENJAMIN FAWCETT DIED JAN 12TH 1893 AGED 84 YEARS". Perhaps the town should have commemorated the life and work of their most illustrious son with a little more ceremony but he would probably have disapproved. It must have been a difficult time for the family with the business failing and they would have wanted little fuss in any case. Over a hundred years later he has been recognised, though I'm still not sure he would have approved, especially of the form it took. There's a Wetherspoon's pub called the Benjamin Fawcett opposite the site of his old premises in Middle Street, it has reproductions of his work on the walls. Fawcett Gardens is a new development of 18 flats and 20 houses on the site of his East Lodge home and printing works which were demolished in the late 1900s, it includes a plaque with biographical details and minimal vandalism.
From 1901 until his death in 1911, East Lodge was occupied by another illustrious son of Driffield, John Robert Mortimer, a "founding father of modern British archaeology". Mortimer was the uneducated son of a local farmer, James Mortimer, later becoming a successful corn merchant and maltster. He founded James Mortimer Ltd in 1869 which is still in existence today. He went on to do great things in the field of archaeology applying a rigorous scientific approach to the subject. He founded the Driffield Museum of Antiquities and Geological Specimens, one of the first of its kind and said to contain "a collection which can only be matched with that in the British Museum". The building is now the Masonic Hall on Lockwood Street. Fawcett and Mortimer were contemporaries in a small market town and must have had a lot in common. Leaders in their field but outsiders by birth and inspired purely by the nature and subject of their work rather than by any intellectual pretensions. The only tangible connection I can find is that Mortimer's daughter, Agnes, was taught to draw and paint by A F Lydon, Fawcett's principle engraver. Agnes, born in 1873 would have been ten when Lydon left Driffield in 1883. Agnes illustrated much of Mortimer's work, in particular Forty Years' Researches which contained over 1000 illustrations produced over six years while she was still a teenager. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Specimens in the Mortimer Museum of Archaeology and Geology at Driffield 1900 by Thomas Shepperd was required reading for archaeologists of the day. I have a copy which belonged to John E Pritchard of Bristol along with a hand written letter from Mortimer inviting Pritchard to visit Driffield to view the collection. The letter was written while Mortimer was a resident at East Lodge. Pritchard, who was president of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society from 1918 to 1920, paved the way for the practice of modern archaeology in Bristol. Mortimer died at East Lodge on 19th August 1911.
The End of an Era
Benjamin Fawcett was fortunate to be associated with some of the leading amateur specialists of the Victorian period. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the amateurs' role as expert in Science and the Arts was declining. Universities and learned societies were expanding in number and size and a formal education and qualifications were becoming an essential addition to the curriculum vitae of any aspiring scientist, historian, etc. The end of this era was another factor that may have had an effect on the viability of Fawcett's business. Biographical notes on some of Fawcett's collaborators may be found here.
Contemporaries
There were a number of other significant and exceptional printers in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Bewick, Savage, Baxter and Evans being particularly noteworthy. Contrary to what may have been said elsewhere and to categorically dispel any doubt, firstly, Fawcett never used the patented "Baxter Process" nor was he a licensee, secondly, he did not produce chromolithographs. The "Baxter Process" involved an initial print from a steel "key" plate followed by colour prints from copper or zinc plates or wood blocks. Chromolithography was a chemical process using grease-based inks on stone, aluminium or zinc. Fawcett engraved solely on the end grain of the finest Turkish boxwood and used only the finest of inks, all of which were prepared on the premises. Along with the skill of the artist, engraver and colour separator, this method allowed Fawcett to produce prints which have been described as virtually indistinguishable from the original watercolour. Oil-based prints had a tendency to fade, Fawcett's prints did not. W D Ridley, one of Fawcett's earliest and most skilful engravers, said in 1929 "I have proof of the permanence of his conscientious work, having several plates (printed forty-five years ago) framed, and hanging exposed to light since 1884, and showing no loss of colour throughout all the years."
Notes on some of Fawcett's contemporaries may be found here.
