F. J. Mercer, Cabinet Maker & Upholsterer, 24 & 26 Fargate (late A. Jessop)

[Ponytail]

F. J. Mercer, cabinet maker & upholsterer, 24 & 26 Fargate. late A Jessop

Advertisement from Illustrated Guide to Sheffield, Pawson & Brailsford. 1862

Whites Directory 1849

Jessop, Mrs Ann, cabinet maker and furniture broker, 26 Fargate. 

Mercer, Frederick Justice, cabinet maker & etc., 148 Fitzwilliam Street. 

 

Whites Directory 1852. 

Jessop, Mrs. Ann, cabinet maker and upholsterer, 26 Fargate. 

Mercer, Frederick Justice, managing upholsterer, h. 101 Fitzwilliam Street

 

Dissolved partnership, Fredk J Mercer John Moore. London Gazette 1854

 

Whites Directory 1856

Mercer, Frederick Justice, cabinet maker, upholsterer, carver and gilder etc., 26 Fargate. 

 

Whites Directory 1862

Mercer, Frederick Justus, cabinet maker, carver & guilder, 24 & 26 and hatter 28, Fargate. 

 

Whites Directory 1879

Nobody recorded at 24 & 26 or 28 Fargate. 

 

Frederick Justus Mercer married 3rd Q 1845, Manchester either Ellen Howarth or Ann Marsden or Ann Peacock or Mary Yates. 

Frederick Justus Mercer died Sheffield 2nd Q of 1873 aged 50

In the history of his aunt Ann Jessop it reports Frederick committed suicide. 

 

FJ Mercer, successor to A Jessop - cabinet maker, upholsterer, carver, gilder, picture framer and looking glass manufacturer. Fargate, Sheffield. 

English Cabinet Makers A-Z

https://antiquesworld.co.uk

Information from Wick Antiques Ltd

https://wickantiques.co.uk

An unusual Victorian mahogony Ottoman by FJ Mercer, of rectangular form with two bow ends, the hinged deep buttoned top and the sides reupholstered in distressed blue leather. The frame comprising a guilloche carved rail set upon four sturdy supports carved with spiral bands and acanthus leaves with a moulded rail below. The interior lined in the original blue silk with partial label for FJ Mercer, cabinet maker and upholsterer 24 & 26 Fargate Sheffield 1870. 

Footnote. 

Ann Turner (also Wilde, Turner or Bardwell) was born around 1781 and had little formal education. Her 2nd husband Edward Bardwell, was a cabinet maker and when he died in 1821 she became the registered owner of the cabinet making business. By 1841 the business was large enough to be asked to tender to supply hundreds of Mahogany chairs and matching tables. FJ Mercer was her nephew and took over the business when she retired in the late 1850's. 

 

Ann is recorded as Jessop in the Directories. 

 

 

 

Jessop [

née

Wilde], Ann

 (

bap.

1782,

d.

 1864),

cabinet-maker 

 by Julie Banham

 © Oxford University Press 2004–14

 All rights reserved

Jessop [

née

Wilde], Ann

 

(

bap.

1782,

d.

 1864), cabinet-maker, was baptizedat the church of St Peter and St Paul, Sheffield, on 9 May 1782, the daughter of Adam Wilde and his wife, Elizabeth. Nothing is known of her early life except thatshe was twice married: first at Sheffield on 21 June 1805 to Charles Turner;second at Rotherham parish church on 8 November 1818 to a widower, EdwardBardwell, an auctioneer and appraiser. Both marriage certificates were witnessedwith a cross, indicating that she lacked education at that time. Around 1814 Edward Bardwell established a cabinet-making business in thecentre of Sheffield at 92 Fargate where he was listed in local trade directories asoperating from until 1820. Edward appears to have had died shortly after as thetrade directory for 1822 lists Ann Bardwell as trading as a cabinet-maker,upholsterer, and furniture broker from slightly smaller premises at 95 Fargate.The business continued in her name until 14 May 1828 when she married herthird husband, widower James Jessop. Both signed the register with their names, Ann presumably having acquired literacy and numeracy skills in the course ofrunning her business. In the directories of 1828 and 1832 the firm was known asJames Jessop, cabinet-maker, but by1833 Ann appears to have been widowedfor the third time and was again trading alone from 95 Fargate this time as Mrs Ann Jessop, cabinet-maker, upholsterer, china, glass, and earthenware dealer.In the same year Ann Jessop was one of nine local cabinet-makers approachedby the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire to tender designs and prices for themanufacture of 250 mahogany dining chairs and three large mahogany diningtables. Although she was unsuccessful in this commission, the fact that she wasinvited to tender for it indicates that she was one of the foremost cabinet-makersin the town. By 1839 the firm had moved to larger premises at 26 Fargate,consisting of a house, shop, and warehouse. A surviving yew wood Windsorchair sold from there bears a printed label inscribed, ‘From A. Jessop's cabinet,picture frame, and looking glass manufactory’. In the 1851 census Ann Jessopwas described as a widow aged sixty-eight. She gave her occupation as anupholsterer, cabinet-maker, carver and gilder, employing a total of eighteen men.

 

The firm continued under the name of Mrs Jessop until 1854 when, in herseventy-first year and after thirty-four years in business, she announced herretirement in favour of her nephew, Frederick Justus Mercer, who had managedthe firm for fourteen years and had previously traded under his own name. AnnJessop retired with her niece to Springfield Place, 323 Glossop Road in theaffluent western suburbs of Sheffield. The business ceased trading around 1870and three years later Mercer committed suicide. Ann Jessop died from gastroenteritis on 23 September 1864 aged eighty-two ather home, 264 Western Bank, Sheffield. She had the distinction of successfullyrunning one of the leading cabinet-making, upholstery, carving, and gildingbusinesses in Sheffield in the mid-nineteenth century. 

 

 

[Edmund]

I'm not sure Frederick's death was suicide, though that was the finding of the inquest.  On Monday 26th May 1873 about 9:45 pm he was leaning against a wall near the railway tracks at the Strawberry lane Crossing at Heeley.  A goods train from Sheffield was passing at about 12 - 14 mph. The fireman saw someone about five yards from the tracks moving towards the engine as if to cross the lines, but thought he got across safely.  The driver thought "something like a hat" hit against the engine.  Frederick's body was found between the rails twenty yards further on.

The deceased's son, also F.J.Mercer, stated that his father had been in his usual health, and deaf in one ear, but for the last 13 years had been addicted to excessive drinking. He had never threatened suicide and had always expressed great horror at sudden death.  Two acquaintances testified that they had not seen him sober for a number of years.

[Ponytail]

Oh dear, still a sad end. Thanks Edmund.