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  #11  
Old 03-12-12, 20:46
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Shona Shona is offline
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So it's the same man. Druce & Co - furniture - and Druce & Brock - upholsterers - are both run by Thomas Charles Druce.

Found this:

Tradesmen's vouchers for furnishing and decorating Sherborne House etc.1830-1845

Includes the Baker Street Bazaar; many from T. Boulnoise, 44 South Molton Street, upholsterer; Brock and Company/Druce and Brock, 200 Regent Street, upholsterers...
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  #12  
Old 03-12-12, 20:49
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1835: With her sons, Madame Tussaud establishes a base in London at ‘The Baker Street Bazaar.’
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  #13  
Old 03-12-12, 20:51
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Baker Street Bazaar of Baker Street, Portman Square, London, W:
• 1822 Company established at the former barracks of the Life Guards.
• 1840 to 1861 The Smithfield Club Cattle Show was held at the premises.
• 1914 Carriage and motor repository; depository for storage of furniture etc.; saddlery and harness factory. Specialities: exhibition of carriages and motors for sale; also has a department for the warehousing and removal of furniture.
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  #14  
Old 04-12-12, 01:33
Sunny Kate Sunny Kate is online now
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Julie, maybe BINGO?????

Kite and Shona, thanks for your interest in the elusive Thomas Charles. A warning however - prolonged searching can become addictive!

Shona, yes the court cases and the reports are entertaining but so much is fantasy and little fact. Because of the Australian connection of George Hollamby Druce the papers here faithfully reported what was written in English papers. I haven't come across that snippet about Druce and Brock nor the bit about the Cattle show at the Bazaar.

Over the last five years I think I've read just about everything available on line and had contact with a number of Druce descendants from both of TC's families here and in the UK. Many of the Ancestry trees are copies of copies of copies and from what I've seen not researched. That's one reason I don't keep a tree there.
I saw records of the other Thomas Charles Druce the brewer. No one has evidence of TC's birth and the only reason I suspect Witney/ Oxfordshire is the information on the censuses.
There is one possibility of a family with a Thomas Druce in Eynsham and Ducklington in Oxfordshire but no son Thomas was born in the relevant years.

After I read Herbert Druce's statements at his Old Bailey trial I came to the conclusion that TC was probably the illegitimate son of an Oxfordshire Druce and decided to better himself. When he married Elizabeth Crickmer (not an elopement as speculated in some places as she was of age) she would have come into her inheritance from her father. TC no doubt saw this as the means to his upward mobility which helps explain how a draper's assistant could manage to become a business partner with the Boulnois people and then owner of the Baker Street Bazaar. I think he left Elizabeth about 1832-33 when he moved to London. She spent a number of years at Great Yarmouth where William was an apprentice before moving back to London where she died in 1851. TC married Annie within a month of Elizabeth's death although they had several children by that date.

My ancestor was William Crickmore Druce bn 1827 at Bury St Edmunds, son of Elizabeth Crickmer and TC. He arrived in NSW about the mid 1850s as did brother George. Although George is mentioned in a codicil of TC's will there is no mention of William, Frances or Charles.

If TC wanted to hide his origins he has certainly succeeded!
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Last edited by Sunny Kate; 04-12-12 at 01:36.
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  #15  
Old 04-12-12, 09:25
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Check the link provided by Kite on Post #9. Frances married a butcher named John Izard and lived in London. She's traceable through the census records.
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  #16  
Old 06-12-12, 02:57
Sunny Kate Sunny Kate is online now
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Thanks Shona. I 've seen a copy of Frances's MC from one of her descendants.
I've not seen her on either 1841 0r 1851 censuses and she wasn't with her mother Elizabeth in Norfolk.

I think TC will always be the BIG mystery amongst my direct ancestors.
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Old 07-12-12, 09:28
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In trying to resolve a wee problem in my tree, I turned to the OH and, in exasperation, said: 'I've got the right name, right year of birth, but wrong place for the baptism.' With a withering look, he reminded me that I was baptised several months after my birth and several hundred miles away from my place of birth.

Perhaps...and it's a long shot...Thomas was born in Whitney, but baptised elsewhere.

Do you have any info about him before he married in Suffolk?
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  #18  
Old 08-12-12, 01:28
Sunny Kate Sunny Kate is online now
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To my knowledge nothing has ever come to light about Thomas before his marriage to Elizabeth in October 1816. It's as though he just 'grew' like Topsy!
I must admit I've not thought to look for him further afield perhaps even outside Oxfordshire. The name Druce is not unusual there but then as an upwardly aspiring draper's assistant it might be that Thomas unloaded his baptismal name for one that might carry more influence?

I don't know where he and Elizabeth met. As the marriage record describes Elizabeth as 'of Bungay' it has been assumed that's where she was born. However I have her baptism and family in Ditchingham Norfolk which I noticed isn't far Bungay. Perhaps TC also came from Norfolk?

For some time I've wondered if there is some document, hidden away in the Portland Collection from the time of the various court cases, that might shed some light on the mystery of TC.
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  #19  
Old 16-04-21, 23:00
hothamwater hothamwater is offline
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Hi,
I know this is quite an old thread but this might be the best group of people to help - do any of you know of a Druce & Co furniture catalogue in existence?
I know this one sold a while ago:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ruce-532880543
My interest is that my family designed and made bedroom furniture sold by Druce. At least in the 1890s.
Also, a real long-shot, does anyone know if any Druce & Co records survived?
Any help much appreciated!
Thanks
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  #20  
Old 17-04-21, 09:12
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Welcome to GF, hothamwater.

With regard to any archive material for Druce and Co, if their old records were kept on the premises (if they maintained old records!), then they may not have survived WW2:

http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_...th__0p28p.aspx
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