Christian Kramer’s snuff box
[i]Concert Room and orchestra anecdotes Vol 1 by Thomas Busby. London 1825At Brighton July 7th 1824, the gentlemen of His Majesty’s private band presented their leader, Mr Kramer, with an elegant gold snuff box value…
Author: The Brighton Biographer
The Talented Cooke Family
Their family name was originally ‘Guck’ (to rhyme with ‘Cooke’). Johann Bernhardt Guck of Frankfurt am Main, was a high quality confectioner, said to have worked firstly in Russia, and then set up his business…
The Prince Regent’s Band
HAIL GUEST• WE ASK NOT WHAT THOU ART. IF FRIEND. WE GREET THEE. HAND & HEART: IF STRANGER. SUCH NO LONGER BE: IF FOE. OUR LOVE SHALL CONQUER THEE. This inscription on the pylons at…
Christian Kramer: the Economics of Musicianship.
Christian Kramer was leader of the Prince Regent’s Private Band from about 1810, and Master of the King’s Music from 1829 to 1834. He became Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy and a member…
Farewell Mother H
This is my final post in my series about Ann Wilds, previously known as ‘Mother H’, widow of Amon Wilds, whose entire estate she inherited on his death in 1833. Renton Nicholson[i]Renton Nicholson: Rogue’s Progress….
John Hernon – Military tailor
Early career – Business in Covent Garden – Freehold of 13 Brydges Street – Property – Gloucester Place, Brighton – John Hernon junior. John Hernon, a military tailor, had opened his business at 31 King…
George Gilbert – Regency Coachman
George Gilbert – family background – marriage to Sarah Lepine – George Gilbert as coachman and life in Brighton – After the railway. George Augustus Gilbert came from a family of coachmasters and innkeepers. He…
Herman Schweitzer
Family background in Danzig and Berlin – The Royal German Spa – First wife, Rebecca Atkins – Ann Hunter’s will – Success as Brighton Pharmacist – Second marriage and life in London. Carl Adolph Herman…
Isaiah Smart
Proprietor of Mother H’s – Early life – Tragedy at 34, St. James Street – Broom Lane, Fulham – The Golden Cross Brighton – Smithfield Bars – Bankruptcy again – A plea from Whitton –…
Mother H in Doncaster
Askern and the Bathing Society – The New Betting Rooms -The daring robbery – Isaiah Smart – The Murrays Ann King and Thomas Hodgkins lived part of the time in Askern, a spa town near…