Edward Sherman (coach proprietor)

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The Bull & Mouth Inn c. 1820 by W.H. Prior from Old and New London, Illustrated, Vol. 2, 1878, by Walter Thornbury.

Edward Sherman (1776 – 14 September 1866) was a stagecoach proprietor from Berkshire who became the second largest operator of stagecoaches in England after William Chaplin.

Early life[edit]

The son of Edward Staniford [sic] Sherman, a farrier and smith,[1] and Mary nee Sawyer,[2] Edward Sherman was born at South Moreton in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) in 1776.[3]

In later life - 1863 - Sherman contributed £1,000 to the South Moreton Consolidated Charity, which still divides proceeds among the villagers at Christmastime.[4]

Reportedly, an uncle he was living with boxed his ears[5] and as a result in 1793 he made his way from Wantage to London where he gained a poor livelihood in Oxford Market. The market and other early work were abandoned for more lucrative employment. For some time prior to him becoming [c1803 onward] an innkeeper (he was granted Freedom of the City [London] as an Innholder 11 October 1803).[6] and coach proprietor - he was closely connected with the Stock Exchange.[7][8]

Career[edit]

He became the second largest operator of stagecoaches in England after William Chaplin, retaining about 17,000 horses [at coaching inns along routes from London] and carrying on a business with an estimated turnover of over £500,000.[8][9][10] Circa 1830 Sherman bought the Bull and Mouth Inn and rebuilt it as the Queens Hotel[11] at a cost of £60,000. Sherman had known Lewis Levy, a financier of the City of London who farmed turnpike tolls with an annual income of half-a-million pounds, and was set up by Levy at The Bull and Mouth, St Martin's Le Grand.[12]

With the coming of the railways, Sherman re-invested in this new industry. In July 1845 he travelled to Antwerp with other investors of the English company undertaking the construction of the Louvain [Leuven] to Jemappe-sur-Sambre new railway line[13] and it was reported that he was to "reside in Belgium as the managing director of the railroad from Louvain [sic] to Jemappe"[14] Authorisation for the concession for the construction of the Louvain and Jemeppe (sur Sambre) Railway was passed by the Chamber of Deputies, in Brussels, 2 May 1845[15]

Sherman was also Chairman of the committee for the Southampton and Salisbury Junction Railway, and a Director of the Direct Northern Line Railway[16] He was also [1845] on the committee for the Manchester and Birmingham Continuation and Welsh Junction Railway[17] and the Remington's Line London and Manchester Direct Independent Railway, with a branch through the Staffordshire Potteries to Crewe[18] Again in 1845, he was also, on the committee - with Lewis Levy - of the Kent and Essex Union Railway [connecting the southern end of Essex with Dover and the Continent, via Sheerness, Faversham and Canterbury, with a junction line to Herne Bay, Margate, Ramsgate and Deal][19]

Personal life[edit]

Sherman is consistently stated to have "married three wealthy widows in quick succession". This is not the case. Sherman married twice and his first marriage lasted over forty years.

On 6 August 1803[20] witnessed by five people including Isabella Hunt, Joseph and Mary Hunt, and sisters Ann and Sobieskia Clementina Freanch, neighbours from Oxford Arms Passage, Sherman aged 27, married into the second generation of innholders at the Oxford Arms, Warwick Lane, Dowgate, City of London; marrying by Licence at St Martin, Ludgate, the widowed Ann Palmer nee Hunt, aged 49, innholder of the Oxford Arms, and daughter of its previous innholder.[21]

Ann Palmer, nee Hunt, had previously married Benjamin Palmer in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Sardinian Chapel, Lincoln Inn, 22 May 1779, witnessed by her father Thomas Hunt and aunt-in-law Margaret Hunt.[22] Benjamin Palmer died in 1803 and was buried 18 May 1803 at Spa Fields, Islington[23]

The Sardinian Chapel was also the location for the baptism of her niece Isabella who subsequently married Sherman.[24]

In 1828 Sherman's widowed sister-in-law Margaret Hunt left her estate in her will, witnessed by Sherman, to her daughter Isabella Hunt.[25]

Back in 1800 Isabella had also received a substantial legacy from her grandmother Ann Hunt Snr, the Oxford Arms innholder since 1769 when her husband took it over.[26]

Sherman's first wife Ann died in 1847 aged 93. In 1849, witnessed by Edward Henry Sanderson, Sherman aged 73, secondly married her niece Isabella Hunt then aged 69.[27]

Isabella survived Sherman by less than a year, dying 13 June 1867, at the Lindens, Effra Road, Brixton, Surrey, England[28] the subsequent home of a son of Edward Henry Sanderson. During the course of him, as Isabella's executor, settling her probate in 1868, the Court of Probate ruled that as Isabella was the niece of Sherman's first wife, their marriage was invalid, and her estate was to be propounded as a single woman.[29]

Death[edit]

Sherman died at Manor Farm Asylum, Chiswick, Middlesex, on 14 September 1866.[30] He had been admitted there on 1 April 1864, by his relatives due to his bouts of ill temper and some eccentricities.[31] He was described as "late of the Oxford Arms Inn in the City of London". He left effects of less than £80,000 and his will was proved by Edward Henry Sanderson, gentleman, one of the executors, of Manor House, Clapham, Surrey.[32] Sanderson was a former apprentice, and manager for Sherman of the Bull and Mouth Inn aka Queens Hotel.[33]

Edward Sherman was buried at West Brompton cemetery Burial 46461 - in the same grave as his first wife Ann [re-interred from Newgate cemetery twenty years after her death in 1847, to be re-interred with Sherman in October 1866, a month after his death], and his second wife Isabella Sherman nee Hunt, who died in 1867. Afterwards Mary Sanderson on 12/11/1875, then her husband Edward Henry Sanderson on 22/Apr/1881, having retired to and died in Brighton, were also interred in the same plot.[34]

References[edit]

  1. ^ London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930 for Edward Sherman 1800-1820 1803 Jul - 1804 Feb - 11 October 1803
  2. ^ http://www.tinstaafl.co.uk/eandwhmi/berkshire/church%20pages/moreton_sth.htm
  3. ^ Edwd Sherman England and Wales Census, 1861. Family Search. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  4. ^ http://www.visitoruk.com/Abingdon/south-moreton-C592-V3291.html
  5. ^ "Parishes: South Moreton | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  6. ^ London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930 for Edward Sherman 1800-1820 1803 Jul - 1804 Feb
  7. ^ 'Sherman and The Bull and Mouth' by Harold W Hart, Journal of Transport History, 1961, referencing 1) [14] Harper, The Manchester and Glasgow Road, i. 29, working as a boy-porter for 8d. a day, but the City Press, 29 Sept 1866, quoted a weekly figure of 12s. 2) [15] Manchester and Glasgow Road, i. 29, and 'Stage Coach and Mail, 226
  8. ^ a b Hanson, Harry (1983). The Coaching Life. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7190-0930-3.
  9. ^ Allen, Louise. (2014) Stagecoach Travel. Oxford: Shire. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7478-1537-2
  10. ^ London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 for Edward Sherman City of London, St Martin, Ludgate 1796-1812
  11. ^ "Aldersgate Street and St Martin-le-Grand". British History Online. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  12. ^ Richardson, Kenneth (1977). "The British Motor Industry 1896–1939". SpringerLink. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-03388-1.
  13. ^ HENRY TUCK (1845). THE RAILWAY SHAREHOLDERS MANUAL. Oxford University.
  14. ^ The Globe Saturday 26 July, Page 2; Brussels Papers. Source: British Newspaper Archives https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001652/18450726/011/0002 subscription required
  15. ^ Announcement to shareholders, The Globe, London, 5 May 1845 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001652/18450505/007/0002 subscription required
  16. ^ Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 7 June 1845, British Newspaper Archives https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000494/18450607/002/0001 subscription required
  17. ^ Morning Post 5 May 1845, British Newspaper Archives https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18450507/002/0001 subscription required
  18. ^ The Sun, London, Wednesday 30 July 1845 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002194/18450730/001/0001 subscription required
  19. ^ The Sun (London) - Monday 6 October 1845 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002194/18451006/160/0012 subscription required
  20. ^ London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 for Edward Sherman City of London, St Martin, Ludgate, 1796-1812
  21. ^ London Metropolitan Archives - ROYAL AND SUN ALLIANCE INSURANCE GROUP: INSURED: ANN PALMER, THE OXFORD ARMS INN, WARWICK LANE, INNHOLDER, 1802 Oct 6, https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=refd%20CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/423/738121
  22. ^ England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973
  23. ^ England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936 - Benjamin Palmer
  24. ^ 11 Jul 1780 • Sardinian Roman Catholic Chapel, Lincolns Inn, Westminster, London, England, Westminster Diocesan Archives 1731-1782, page 650 on Findmypast Later St Anselms and St Cecilia - now demolished.
  25. ^ England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 for Margaret Hunt, PROB 11: Will Registers 1829-1831, Piece 1751: Liverpool, Quire Numbers 51-100, Ancestry, subscription required (1829)
  26. ^ Paid advert by Tho. Hunt from the Angel and Crown, Wood Street, that [6 April 1769] he had that day entered upon [the Oxford Arms], Oxford Journal, Saturday 8 April 1769, British Newspaper Archives https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000073/17690408/005/0003 subscription required
  27. ^ 14 October 1849, Isabella Hunt, spouse Edward Sherman, Christ Church, City of London, London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P69/Ctc/A/01/Ms 8951/4, published by Ancestry - https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1623/images/31281_a100876-00019?pId=1545912 - subscription required
  28. ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Isabella Hunt
  29. ^ Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser - Wednesday 24 June 1868 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001308/18680624/020/0003 subscription required
  30. ^ UK, Lunacy Patients Admission Registers, 1846-1912, The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Lunacy Patients Admission Registers; Class: MH 94; Piece: 4
  31. ^ Sherman and the Bull and Mouth, by Harold W. Hart, The Journal of Transport History, First Published 1 May 1961. Sage Publications https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002252666100500103
  32. ^ "1866 Probate Calendar, p. 133". probatesearch.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  33. ^ London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930 for Edward Henry Sanderson 1820-1840, 1832 Oct-1833 Mar on 25 Jun 1824
  34. ^ Brompton, London, England, Cemetery Registers, 1840-2012 for Edward Sherman - 1866 Aug 16-1867 Jan 26

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