with some further tangential notes which might be of interest.
The Marine Society.
Instituted 1756, by Fowler Walker, Esq., Sir John Fielding, and Jonas Hanway, for the purpose of fitting out beggar-boys and others for service at sea.
This Society places out annually from 500 to 600 boys, principally in the merchant service. A yearly subscription of 2 guineas or of 12 guineas at one time constitutes a governor. The present house was built for the Society in 1774.
Jonas Hanway a founder of the Marine Society, he was governor and
eventually the vice-president of the Foundling Hospital, and helped to
establish the Magdalen Hospital for Penitent Prostitutes. He also supported the
Stepney Society, which apprencticed poor boys to marine trades, and the Troop
Society which provided clothing to British soldiers.
For some 19th century references to the Marine Society see -
https://www.victorianlondon.org/charities/marinesociety.htm
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The Coade Statue of Charity with a Boy.
Indented Coade Lambeth 1793.
Height 130cms - 50 inches.
Probably modelled by John Bacon.
Removed from a property in Hampstead, London.
Sold by Cheffins, Auctioneers, lot 691, 26 March 2026.
purchased by a private collector and currently awaiting restoration.
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54 Bishopsgate Street.
on the east side of the street.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1880-1113-3920
Image below from the London Picture Archive - used with permission.
An anonymous amateur view from Bishopsgate Street of the church of St. Ethelburgh, and adjoining building of the Marine Society on the left with the Coade figure in situ, c.1810.
Just inside the gate on Bishopsgate Street was the church of
St. Ethelburga, which was built in the middle ages. St. Erkenwald, who, as
legend has it, rebuilt the Roman gate, was her brother (Smith 24). The church
in her name on Bishopsgate Street is the only church in England dedicated to
Erkenwald’s sister (Bebbington 48). Two other churches stood on Bishopsgate
Street, St. Helen and St. Botolph, Aldgate.
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Of Tangential Interest.
Trade card of Isaac Smith Graves who occupied the grounf floor in the 1780's - 90's.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-28-81
Graves was initially in partnership with Shipman and
until 1784 traded as Graves & Shipman. After this he traded on his sole
account. The number in Bishopsgate was initially 54 but c. 1790 changed to 56.
The Marine Society Bishopsgate Chimneypiece.
Currently with Wick Antiques.
Detailed minutes of the weekly Committee meetings describe the furnishing of the Society’s new Committee Room, including ‘a carved chimneypiece’, ‘the cost not to exceed £36’. The final sum paid to a Mr Tousey (Mr Touzey) was £30. 15s. 6d.
This was probably the Huguenot carver and gilder John
Tousey, or Touzey, of The Golden Head, Bow Street (1763-1781)
Dimensions: Height: 93 inches (236cm) Width: 92 ½ inches (235cm) Depth: 25 inches (33cm).
see - Bosanquet, Henry T. A., The Marine Society, A Catalogue of the Pictures and other Works of Art, 1905, p. 14.
The following notes from -
John Tousey, The Golden Head, Wardour St, London by
1749-1750 or later, Sarah Touzey, The Golden Head, Bow St, Bloomsbury 1755,
John Tousey, The Golden Head, Bow St by 1763-1781. Carvers and gilders.
John Tousey, or Touzey, was listed as a carver in the 1749
Westminster election poll book. He took out insurance with the Sun Fire Office
at the Golden Head, opposite Broad St in Wardour St in November 1750. John
Tousey’s brother, Jacob, took Gideon Saint as apprentice in September 1743
(DEFM). It is also worth noting that a ‘John Tousey’ became a member of the
Royal Society of Musicians in 1740.
Sarah Touzey, perhaps his wife or widow, took out insurance
from the Golden Head in Bow St in 1755. Together with her son, she took over an
apprentice from a fellow Huguenot, James Lewis Guillet , John Lemaitre, for
a further two years in 1758. She may perhaps be Sarah Le Touzey who died in
1762 leaving a will dated 18 September and proved 8 November 1762 in which her
sons, Jacob and John Le Touzey were mentioned. Jacob Touzey described his
brother John Touzey as a carpenter and gilder, leaving everything to him,
including his prize money in his will, made 8 April and proved 11 July 1764,
made from one of his majesty’s ships in Jamaica.
It may be that the John Touzey who took out insurance from
Sarah Touzey’s address in 1764 and 1765 was her son. John Tousey married
Anchonte Hewer at St George Bloomsbury in May 1762 and had two children, John
and Frances, christened at this church in 1764 and 1768 respectively. He took
apprentices James Wood for a premium of 5s in 1762, James Scott for £30 in
1764, Thomas Gibbons for 5s in 1765 and James Weale for £5 in 1770.
Touzey was listed in Bow St in Kent’s directory in 1780 as a
cabinet maker, upholsterer and dealer in plate glass, and he was recorded as
‘Towsey’ in Bow St in a list of furniture makers compiled by the Duchess of
Northumberland, c.1776 (Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas
Chippendale, 1978, p.154). John Touzey advertised in 1781 that he was retiring
from trade, offering his ‘Remaining Stock and Utensils in Trade, collection of
valuable Pictures, Prints, Drawings, Professional Designs, &c’, describing
himself as ‘Carver, Upholder, Cabinet-maker, and Dealer in Plate Glass’
(Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser 4 April 1781).
‘Touzey’ made frames and a pier glass for Edward Knight,
Kidderminster, 1765-9 (Penny 1986 p.813). He worked on some 36 paintings for
Lord Coventry, 1766-8, at a cost of £43. Descriptions such as 'Touzets bubble'
appear in the account books of John Smith (qv) from 1812, if not referring to
John Tousey, then leaving open the possibility that there was another craftsmen
of this name at work in the early 19th century who was used by Smith for
composition ornaments for his picture frames. There was a Henry Tousey, carver
and gilder at 10 Silver St, Golden Square, who took out insurance in 1781.
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