Hi Sharon, > it seems highly likely that the family have been quite careless > with their information. Please don't be too hard on the family - for I'm sure that they were doing their best to be as accurate as they could... You're dealing with Family Stories here, passed down verbally, probably through at least 3 generations, so the "Chinese Whispers" effect is likely to be strong. Each person will remember the bits that interested them when they first heard them - so parts will inevitably get lost - and some of the finer details can get distorted when trying to remember them many years later. The other point to remember is that there's usually at least a degree of romanticising or lightly-gentrifying ancestors in general. You're starting from something like a jigsaw puzzle bought at a garage sale - *some* of the pieces will match the picture on the box - some are from elsewhere - but you'll *still* end up with missing ones at the end..... I've only been able to find one Directory for the [vaguely] relevant period of 1851-71 - the 1852 Post Office London Directory (Small Edition) - which although including several commercial undertakings in Tavistock Place none included a likely business that would've employed James. [However, it was indexed using OCR and produced several "hits" that seemed to bear no resemblance to the actual entries highlighted, so it's quite possible that some genuine entries would've been missed... What it *didn't* include were either street directories or classification by trades.] OTOH the alphabetical list of "Commercials" by surname *did* include 2 James WESTs; 1) a sealing wax and soda water fountain maker of 27 Lombard Street; and 2) a brewer and maltster of 213 Poplar High Street [but he was actually a James William] which unfortunately don't add anything :-( Admittedly a single directory producing no results can't be considered 'proof' that James wasn't in business on his own account at *some* stage during the period, although it could be said to support the view that - in 1852, at any rate - he most likely was not. Best wishes for success in the disentangling... Gus From: "Sharon Mathieson" <sharon.mathieson@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 8:33 PM Hi Guy, the information I have is that the address is Tavistock Street, but no documentary support. When I read back through the information it actually states that James lived in Tavistock St and then later moved to Islington. It was after he left Tavistock St that he had his studio in Theobalds Road. Looking at all the information that you have included, it seems highly likely that the family have been quite careless with their information. On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 9:16 PM, Gus Tysoe <gustysoe@tiscali.co.uk> wrote: > Hello Sharon, > > There seems to be a great degree of uncertainty here about the BDF > Connection, which is possibly not helped by the differences in how you > worded it in your 2 introductory questions: > on 13 Feb as Tavistock ROAD, Bedford; and > on 22 Feb as Tavistock STREET, Bedford. > Both cannot be right, but there's no way of telling which is the wrong > one. > > Do you have any documentary source to support either one that you could > share with us? > > > Then come the present-day street names - via Google Maps.... > Tavistock STREET > Nothing in the London area; but one in Bedford [part of the A6] > Tavistock ROAD > Nothing anywhere in BDF, but in London there's one in Notting Hill - > which (probably entirely coincidentally) is joined by a St Lukes Road... > Tavistock SQUARE and Tavistock PLACE [approx ¼ mile North of the British > Museum, and part of the (former?) Duke of Bedford's Estate - and with > their > names unchanged since at least 1851] > Perhaps also coincidentally, Theobalds Road - the site of James WEST's > later > Studio - is within ¾ mile of the latter two... > > > Throw in that James' birth was consistently given as Clerkenwell, MDX in > the > 1851 & 1861; that he married in Islington, MDX in 1842 - giving his > address > as the one he was recorded at in 1851; was also living in Islington in > 1861 - where all his children were shown as being born; and that both > addresses were in reasonably easy reach of the British Museum [which in > all > probability would be a good place for someone with his reported > occupations > to obtain commissions] the chances of his ever having been in the City of > Bedford would seem to be rather small. > > Granted there's the element of Hitchin Church - which was never in BDF, > although not far from it - but if he was involved in stained-glass-window > design there'd be little *need* for him to be doing much on-site, beyond > *very carefully* measuring the apertures before he started, and - > perhaps - > supervising their installation once completed. > > The apparent "disappearance" of the family after 1861 - taken with the > knowledge that Frank and Edward went to New Zealand - tends to the belief > that perhaps all of them emigrated [if not necessarily directly to New > Zealand] during the 1860s. But, unfortunately, the number of WESTs in > circulation makes it a great deal harder to find any individuals :-( > > Another possible problem is that James may well not have worked on his own > account, being instead an employee whose name may not have figured on the > final work. It's possible that the book "Stained Glass Marks and > Monographs" > [published by NADFAS of 8 Guildford St, London, WC1N 1DA] which gives > "short > biographical information on many designers and firms" just *might* give > helpful details. < http://www.nadfas.org.uk/default.asp?section=171 > > > > HTH. > > Gus > > > > > The List Guidelines > > http://bedfordrootsweb.blogspot.com/ > > The Bedfordshire Surnames List > > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/bedf.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEDFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > The List Guidelines http://bedfordrootsweb.blogspot.com/ The Bedfordshire Surnames List http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/bedf.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEDFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message