PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Messrs BURNELL, BROWN & NICHOLSON
Messrs Burnell & Company, wholesale grocers, started in 1797 as a co-partnership of Mr William Burnell and his two sons, Mr William Burnell and Mr John Burnell. Mr Burnell senior died in 1834 and the business was left in the hands of the two sons. A decade later, in 1844, it was still at number 4 Bilbury Street. [1] At the time of the census in 1841 Mr William Burnell, merchant, was living ain Norley Street, Plymouth, with wife Ann and a servant by the name of Miss Mary Poole. [2] Younger brother, Mr John Burnell, grocer, was living in Bilbury Street, presumably at number 4, over the business. In addition to the two female domestic servants, Miss Grace Garland and Miss Elizabeth Cawse, also living with him were 30-years-old Mr Eldred Brown, a clerk, and 15-years-old Mr John Brown, grocer's apprentice. [3] In 1846 Mr Eldred Roberts Brown became a partner in the business, along with a newcomer to Plymouth, Mr Thomas Nicholson and the business became Messrs Burnell, Brown & Nichoslon. [4] The 1851 census shows that Miss Mary Poole. now 42 years of age, was still servant at Mr William Burnell's household at number 4 Lipson Terrace and that she had been joined by Miss Honor Fletcher, 40, from Saltash in Cornwall. William is listed as a Merchant rather than a Grocer and he was no longer a partner in the wholesale grocery business but had his had in other local enterprises. [5] Mr John Burnell had retained both his servants, still unmarried. Miss Grace Garland was now 55 years of age. He had moved to number 31 Portland Square so he was certainly well off financially. His 52-years-old sister, Miss Mary Ann Burnell, lived with him as did his 35-years-old niece, Miss Eliza Trout. Both ladies were listed as "House Proprietor" so they, too, were financially well off. [6] John Burnell's two partners lived at the original shop, number 4 Bilbury Street. Unlike their senior partner, they were recorded in the 1851 census as 'Grocers and tea dealers'. Sharing the property were Mrs Martha Nicholson and two shop men, 25-years-old Cornishman Mr Henry Norman and 20-years-old Devonian Mr William Henry Elliott. There were also two servants, a housemaid and a cook. [7] But the Burnell, Brown, Nicholson partnership did not last long. On June 25th 1853 the partnership as wholesale and retail grocers was dissolved by mutual consent and the business was continued solely by Mr Eldred Roberts Brown and Mr Thomas Nicholson. [8] This story will continue under Messrs Brown, Wills & Nicholson, wholesale provision merchants, tea dealers and grocers. Sources:
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