Edward Simpson - Gun Maker of Southwell
Edward Simpson was born in Southwell in c.1806 (derived from age subsequently given on Census returns). His name can be traced as a gun-maker on Westgate and King Street in Southwell without interruption for 50 years from 1841to the Census of 1891.
Edward’s father, John, a gun-maker before him (with premises on Westgate), and following John’s death, Edward becomes the sole gun-maker listed in the town.
Family Background
In the 1841 Census Edward is recorded as living on Westgate in Southwell with his father, John (aged 70) also a gun-maker and his mother Hannah (also aged 70). Edward (aged 35), like his father, is listed as a gun-maker.
Three years later in 1844 Edward is listed as gun-maker in his own right with premises on King Street, Southwell – a location and occupation he continued to follow for at least the next 50 years.
Edward and Mary had two daughters, Hannah (b. c.1849) and Frances (b. c.1850).
In the 1851 Census Edward, Mary and daughters Hannah and Frances are all listed as living on King Street with Edwards father, John, (now aged 80 – and still listed as a gun-maker) living with them.
John is not listed on the next census in 1861, and Edward’s wife, Mary’s, disappearance from the census between 1861 and 1871suggests that she also died. This left the widowed Edward with two teenage girls, and the three of them remained living together – the girls unmarried – until at least the 1880s.
By the time of the 1891 Census Hannah had left the family home (married?) whilst Frances – still unmarried – continued to live with her father, having started up her own toy shop business in the King Street premises.
The Gun-Making business
In the 1841 Census Edward is recorded as living on Westgate in Southwell with his father, John (aged 70) also a gun-maker and his mother Hannah (also aged 70). Edward (aged 35), like his father, is listed as a gun-maker.
Three years later in the Trade Directory for 1844 Edward is listed as gun-maker in his own right with premises on King Street, Southwell – an occupation and premises he continued to occupy for at least the next 50 years.
From the Census it is possible to state that the premises were located on the West side of King Street, between the current Wheatsheaf and Rodney public houses.
The Census lists a great number of of households and small businesses in this area, some of which faced onto King Street but the majority of which must have been located in the extensive assortment of yards and tenements behind the street. Unfortunately these are not separately itemised.
Virtually all the buildings which comprised these yards and tenements have been demolished so, unfortunately, it is not now possible to pinpoint exactly where Edward Simpson’s gun-making premises were.
Even so, he continues to be listed as a gun-maker in directories upto (and including) 1885, and, indeed on the Census of 1891, (By then aged 85) Edward’s trade is still listed as gun-maker. Throughout this long period, he is the only gun maker listed in Southwell.
The 1891 Census also tells us that by this time his youngest daughter, Frances (unmarried and still living with her father) had begun running a toy shop in the same King Street premises. This parallel business may have been started as early as 1881 as in the trade directory for that year the shop in King Street is also described as a “fancy repository”.
Edward Simpson would appear to have died sometime between the census’ of 1891 and 1901, as he is not listed on the latter