museum 1
Alnwick, 39 Bondgate Street, Mark Smith, printers shop
The shop of Mark Smith, one of Alnwick's many excellent local printers.
The date is probably c. 1860.
Mark Smith (along with the more famous William Davison) was an apprentice of the famous John Catnach -- a versatile printer who really should have more made of him nowadays in Alnwick.
Whilst William Davison is rather over-emphasised in the town (as witness my own website on local printing, which can be found by websearching for "albion printing press Alnwick"), other printers like Graham and Smith and Catnach and the fore-runner of them all, Alder, appear to be forgotten.
After serving his apprenticeship under Catnach, Mark Smith went to London but returned to Alnwick, setting up shop initially in the Market Place (from 1826). However by 1860 he had moved to the premises shown above.
Due to the renumbering of street addresses prevalent in Britain in the 1860s (1865 seems to have been a popular date for such alterations !) it is often difficult to exactly locate just where such an old shop had been using numbers. Add in the selective demolitions and remodelling in Alnwick town centre and correctly locating addresses nowadays is problematic at the least !
This is number "39", which normally puts it on the southern side of Bondgate. Other evidence (from indentures signed in 1837) also suggested it was "up on the Cobbles".
However, the collective brainpower and skill of other posters (including Elizabeth and Alan) on the "Alnwick Memories" Facebook website directed me to where the new Boots building is now, on the northern side of the street, just before where the old "Four Horseshoes" inn had been.
The decorative stonework below the eaves (above the topmost windows) is plainly visible !
The 1827 town map actually also clearly shows where the property was (although only "clearly" in hindsight ...!)
Smith was a kind man, visiting his ex-employer Catnach after the latter's bankruptcy and ensuing spell in debtor's gaol. Smith provided monies and support to the older man when he came out, but Mark Smith himself was not a rich man. He borrowed money from Matthew Willoughby, the Alnwick Freeman, to assist Catnach's family in their time of terrible need. His assistance merely prolonged Catnach's problems, which ceased after a lingering illness.
Mark Smith maintained a suspicion that parts of Catnach's body were removed for experimentation -- his corpse was not available for the family and friends, and Catnach's grave site is still unknown I believe.
Smith's work in Alnwick was not just as a printer -- in his first shop in the Market Place he had also represented the "Protector" Fire & Life Insurance Offices.
As a printer he was also a major seller of books and maps, as well as providing simple posters for items and events ranging from Soup Kitchens, Town Hall Meetings, election notices, etc.
Mark Smith himself died in 1881.
Alnwick, 39 Bondgate Street, Mark Smith, printers shop
The shop of Mark Smith, one of Alnwick's many excellent local printers.
The date is probably c. 1860.
Mark Smith (along with the more famous William Davison) was an apprentice of the famous John Catnach -- a versatile printer who really should have more made of him nowadays in Alnwick.
Whilst William Davison is rather over-emphasised in the town (as witness my own website on local printing, which can be found by websearching for "albion printing press Alnwick"), other printers like Graham and Smith and Catnach and the fore-runner of them all, Alder, appear to be forgotten.
After serving his apprenticeship under Catnach, Mark Smith went to London but returned to Alnwick, setting up shop initially in the Market Place (from 1826). However by 1860 he had moved to the premises shown above.
Due to the renumbering of street addresses prevalent in Britain in the 1860s (1865 seems to have been a popular date for such alterations !) it is often difficult to exactly locate just where such an old shop had been using numbers. Add in the selective demolitions and remodelling in Alnwick town centre and correctly locating addresses nowadays is problematic at the least !
This is number "39", which normally puts it on the southern side of Bondgate. Other evidence (from indentures signed in 1837) also suggested it was "up on the Cobbles".
However, the collective brainpower and skill of other posters (including Elizabeth and Alan) on the "Alnwick Memories" Facebook website directed me to where the new Boots building is now, on the northern side of the street, just before where the old "Four Horseshoes" inn had been.
The decorative stonework below the eaves (above the topmost windows) is plainly visible !
The 1827 town map actually also clearly shows where the property was (although only "clearly" in hindsight ...!)
Smith was a kind man, visiting his ex-employer Catnach after the latter's bankruptcy and ensuing spell in debtor's gaol. Smith provided monies and support to the older man when he came out, but Mark Smith himself was not a rich man. He borrowed money from Matthew Willoughby, the Alnwick Freeman, to assist Catnach's family in their time of terrible need. His assistance merely prolonged Catnach's problems, which ceased after a lingering illness.
Mark Smith maintained a suspicion that parts of Catnach's body were removed for experimentation -- his corpse was not available for the family and friends, and Catnach's grave site is still unknown I believe.
Smith's work in Alnwick was not just as a printer -- in his first shop in the Market Place he had also represented the "Protector" Fire & Life Insurance Offices.
As a printer he was also a major seller of books and maps, as well as providing simple posters for items and events ranging from Soup Kitchens, Town Hall Meetings, election notices, etc.
Mark Smith himself died in 1881.