Bristol in 1839 is in great want of Eau de Cologne ….

 

 

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I could not resist this short missive boasting a stylish wax seal (unbroken) and stylish handwriting, so stylish that I could not read the last name of the Bristol firm (Score) and resorted to street directories. But had I paid attention to the docketing note added by the recipient I need not have troubled myself:  in handwriting which suggests real familiarity with English the docketing reads “1839 Bristol 31 Aug^t Ferris Brown & Score R [eceived] 5 Septb^r  and R[eplied] 12 Sept^r”

The letter is addressed to the firm of Jean Maria Farina which still exists and still manufactures the Eau de Cologne invented by the Italian-born Giovanni Maria Farina (1685 -1766). He settled in German-speaking Köln but traded in fashionable French. The outside of this letter from Bristol is addressed in French with Jülichs-Platz rendered as the Place de Juliers, something which would not have troubled the Köln/ Cologne mail sorters; the name “Farina” in the top line would have been enough for them.

The moral of this letter, as of others on this site, is that 19^th century European cities – including British ones - were cosmopolitan places where you could expect to hear many languages spoken and find many nationalities represented. And, clearly, there were eager customers for boxes of Continental toiletry in the former slaving port of Bristol. The abolition of the slave trade in 1807 dented the economy of Bristol, the abolition of slavery in 1833 probably less so. Bristol expanded other activities which would keep it rich, including the processing of imported raw materials. The mass production of cigarettes was pioneered in Bristol by W.D. and H.O. Wills. Bristol remained an affluent city resting on accumulated wealth.

But my direct ancestor Thomas Veryard (1798-1843) who worked in the Bedminster suburbs of Bristol as a ropemaker left in the 1820s when business was bad and returned to the Veryard family’s historic base in the village of Hawkchurch just inland from the Dorset port of Bridport. Both village and port retain traces of the long and narrow ropewalks needed for the outdoor work in which many male Veryards engaged; their wives and daughters did the indoor work of making boot laces. Bristol’s Bedminster still has a pub called The Rope Walk and architectural remains of this old labour-intensive spinning industry, eventually made redundant by steel ropes and ships without sails. But an 1825 print of Bristol High Street features the once-successful business in which Thomas Veryard worked for his brother. Ferris, Brown & Score was not located on the High Street and I cannot find an engraving of their premises. But this one does give a sense of the city centre.

 

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Transcription

Addressed to: Mons^r  Jean Marie Farina, Place de Juliers Cologne

Datelined: Bristol August 31^st 1839

Endorsed: Paid [ Postage paid in advance]

Sirs

About two months since we wrote to you for the usual supply of Eau de Cologne which we are in great want of but hearing nothing from you on the subject we fear our Letter must have miscarried – this therefore is to beg the favor of your sending us P[er] the first Vessel to Bristol London Liverpool a Case Containing 50 Boxes without fail & oblige your Ob [edient] Ser[van]ts

Ferris Brown & Score

Mons Jean Marie Farina Cologne

Reference

Wikipedia: Johann Maria Farina