Grosvenor Stationers business, London

Date: 1736 [unknown]
Location: London England
Surnames/tags: Grosvenor Chater Welles

Grosvenor Family Stationers

The stationery firm of Grosvenor, Chater & Co. was established by Robert Grosvenor, a wholesale stationer in Leadenhall Street, London. The firm was founded c. 1690 (though evidence for its founding is uncertain) and is believed to be one of the earliest suppliers to the Bank of England, incorporated in 1694. In 1790, Eliezer Chater became a partner. The firm became known as Grosvenor, Chater & Co. in 1804. From 1765 to 1851, the headquarters of the firm was at 11 Cornhill. Later it moved to Cannon Street, where the firm remained until 1974. The firm acquired the Abbey Mill, in the Greenfield Valley, Holywell, Flintshire, in 1854. The mill, which had operated since 1770, produced high-quality writing and ledger paper. At one stage the Abbey Mill became a separate company, Grosvenor Chater (Abbey Mill) Limited. The mill closed in 1982, and in 1992, the Grosvenor Chater group of companies were dissolved. ^[1]

Most entries based on the Exeter Working papers in Book History, ^[2] the following businesses were trading in London.

Grosvenor, Robert & Son, Stationer, Leadenhall Street 1736-1742. Continued as Robert Grosvenor & Sons. Still listed 1744-49. ^[2]

• Owned by Robert Grosvenor

Grosvenor, Robert & Son, Stationers, Leadenhall Street, 1738 ^[3]

Grosvenor, Robert & Sons, Stationer, Leadenhall Street 1745K. Grosvenor engraver, d. 20 Jun 1752. Sources: Musgrave Cont. as Grosvenor & Co.^[2]

• death of Robert Grosvenor

Grosvenor & Co, Stationer, Leadenhall Street 1752C. Previously Robert Grosvenor & Sons.^[2]

• Business taken on by his son Robert Grosvenor

Grosvenor & Webber, Stationer, Leadenhall Street 1753K-1755K. Continued as Grosvenor Webber & Simmons.^[2]

• Robert Grosvenor goes into partnership with Webber

Grosvenor Webber & Co, stationer, Leadenhall Street 1759K-1763K. Grosvenor Webber & Simmons. Continued as Simmons & Co. ^[2]

Grosvenor, Robert/Thomas, stationer, Leadenhall Street 1763. Died 14 Nov 1763. Sources: Musgrave^[2]

• death of Robert Grosvenor

Grosvenor, William, stationer, 11, Cornhill 1769K-1775L. Partner with Richard Welles as Welles & Grosvenor.^[2]

• business founded by William LImbery Grosvenor, son of Robert Grosvenor

In 1779, Eliezer Chater was apprenticed to Richard Welles and he completed his apprenticeship on 10 February 1786 and continued working for the firm, becoming a partner in 1790, the firm becoming Welles, Grosvenor and Chater.

In 1788 William Gordon published History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States and the company was one of the subscribers to the book, listed as Messrs Welles Grosvenor and Co, Twelve copies ^[4].Many of the subscribers were nonconformists from London and East Anglia.

In 1825 the company went into bankruptcy: The commissioners in a commission of a bankrupt, bearing the date 13th December 1825 awarded and issued against William Limbery Grosvenor the elder, Eliezer Chater, William Limbery Grosvenor the younger, and Charles Rutt of Cornhill, in the City of London, Stationers and co partners...intend to meet to audit the accounts... ^[5]

However, the business appears to have recovered, as Wm Limbery Grosvenor senior, Eliezer Chater, Wm Limbery Grosvenor Jun and Charles Rutt , Cornhill, Stationers paid a dividend on 29th May 1827. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ JISC archives https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/73a328b7-7944-3990-814a-c6f08abbcac6 accessed by Trevor Pickup on 13 January 2021
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} Biographical and bibliographical information on the book trades https://bookhistory.blogspot.com/2007/01/london-1735-1775.html accessed by Trevor Pickup
3. ↑ The Intelligencer: Or, Merchants Assistant: Shewing, ... the Names and Places of Abode of All the Merchants and Considerable Traders Throughout the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark. With an Exact Account of All the Stage-coaches ... Which, with Ogilby's Book of the Roads and Fairs, Will Make a Compleat Pocket-companion ... .... (1738). United Kingdom: W. Meadows; and L. Gilliver and J. Clarke, in Fleet-street; also at their shop in Westminster-Hall. Accessed from Google Books https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Intelligencer_Or_Merchants_Assistant/PKVSuCtCVOgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=robert+grosvenor+stationer&pg=PA106&printsec=frontcover Accessed by Trevor Pickup on 24th December 2022
4. ↑ Gordon, William. History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States (New-York, 1801)
5. ↑ The London Gazette. (1827). United Kingdom: T. Neuman. page 1022 accessed from Google books https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_London_Gazette/dBBKAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 accessed by Trevor Pickup on 10 January 2021
6. ↑ Cheltenham Journal and Gloucestershire Fashionable Weekly Gazette. - Monday 14 May 1827 Accessed from the British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002214/18270514/005/0001 Accessed by Trevor Pickup on 26th December 2022