Between 1827 and 1836 Flint, listed as a basket, sieve, white cooper and turner in Pigot’s directory, supplied the parish overseers of Uttoxeter with a range of chandlery goods including baskets (described as wiskets), bowls, a ‘pump basket’ for the workhouse, and scuttles and sieves for the workhouse’s brick kiln. Spoons and large baskets were provided for the workhouse. Repairs were sometimes made to baskets. Like many traders and shopkeepers of the period the submission of most of his bills came in January each year, suggesting that he operated a system of credit. His premises were in the Market Place Uttoxeter, although the 1841 Census gives his address as Spiceal Street where he was living with his son William aged 10 and Mary Moore aged 23. By the time of the 1851 Census he was living in Balance Streetand listed as a ‘proprietor of houses’. This switch into rentier property was a common business strategy.
On occasion the receipts were signed by A. Flint. This could be Abraham or Augustus Flint. Both were attorneys. Abraham is listed in Pigot’s directory for 1828 – 29, whilst Augustus, alongside yeoman William Steeple Flint and jeweller Benjamin Bell was one of the three people who applied for letters of administration following Thomas death in April 1851. The ‘A’ could also be Flint’s wife Ann. Flint’s probated estate amounted to £200.
One bill submitted to the overseers from the attorneys Bedson and Rushton indicates that Flint, or one his many relatives in the Uttoxeter area, became involved in a land dispute. Their bill lists ‘Attending Mr Thos Kynnersley & Mr Wood respecting dispute with Mr Flint in regard to the situation of lands near Uttoxeter Mill occupied by him.’
Thomas and Ann Flint held an insurance policy with Sun Life. It was not for property in Uttoxeter, but for a house and printing office at 6 Nassau Street, Soho, London. Insured for £800, the brick built property was not used for drying paper neither did it contain a stove. Had it done so, the insurance value would have been increased as both represented ‘hazardous’ circumstances. The ownership of property in London may have enabled Flint to move from basket maker to ‘proprietor of houses’.
An auction advert in the Derby Mercury in 1838 provides details of Flint’s premises in Uttoxeter Market Place and an explanation for his move to Spiceal Street.
Flint’s property had ‘two commanding fronts, one opposing the Market Place, having a frontage of 28 feet; and one facing the Sheep Market, with a very handsome Private Entrance and a Frontage of 45 feet’.
The house consisted of a ‘Front shop 21 feet by 16 feet … with a sitting room at the back …together with a handsome parlour, neatly fitted up with cupboards … There is cellaring under the whole; part thereof is now used as a workshop, and a kitchen well supplied with soft water … Over these apartments is an elegantly fitted-up dining room 20 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 6 inches … with marble chimney piece, and two sleeping rooms, one of which is 19 feet by 11 feet 6 inches’ also with a marble chimney piece. The other room was smaller but had a large closet attached. Above these rooms were another six sleeping rooms and above those an attic measuring 43 feet by 21 feet. Outside there was a garden and stabling for four horses.
Towards the end of the advert Flint availed ‘himself of this opportunity of returning thanks to the public at large, for the very liberal support he has received since his commencement in business, and respectfully informs them that he is now declining the same in favour of his journeymen John Wyatt and Simeon Johnson’.
Sources
Derby Mercury, 31 October 1838
London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/553/1245849, Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group, Insured, Thomas Steeple Flint, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, basket maker, and Ann Flint his wife, 15 Mar 1837
Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory [Part 2: Nottinghamshire–Yorkshire and North Wales] for 1828–29 (London and Manchester: J. Pigot and Co., 1828).
Staffordshire Record Office (SRO), B/C/11, Thomas S. Flint of Uttoxeter, Admon, 29 Oct 1851
SRO, D3891/6/33/6/006, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, Aug 1827–May 1828
SRO, D3891/6/34/12/090, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 18 Nov 1829
SRO, D3891/6/35/3/32, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 27 Jan 1831
SRO, D3891/6/37/10/49, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 28 Jan 1832
SRO, D3891/6/39/16/33, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 30 Jan 1833
SRO, D3891/6/40/10/18, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 15 Jan 1834
SRO, D3891/6/41/5/5, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 17 Jan 1835
SRO, D3891/6/41/7/75a, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 26/2/1834–16/12/1834
SRO, D3891/6/42/47, Uttoxeter overseers’ vouchers, 20 Jan 1836
TNA, HO/107/1007, Census 1841
TNA, HO107/2010, Census 1851
This is a work in progress subject to change as new research is conducted.