Thomas Hall
Birdstuffer and Animal Preserver
of City Road In the latter part of the 18th century, Thomas Hall was a well established bird stuffer and animal preserver in City Road, Finsbury. The antecedents of Thomas Hall and when the business was established are not clear. Advertising in the mid-nineteenth century claims that the business was established in 1749, but we have been unable to find evidence to support such an early start. The earliest written records that we have been able to trace date only from 1779. However, all the other evidence suggests that. the business was highly successful for many years before that and conducted by at least three generations of Hall with the first name Thomas.
The taxidermist, animal preserver or bird stuffer who established the business carried on in City Road would have been born prior to 1730.
The life span of this Thomas is not clear so can only be deduced as we have not identified birth nor death. As his son Thomas II did not follow the trade of animal preserver implies that the elder Thomas remained active in the business long enough to pass on his knowledge and skills to his grandsons Thomas and Henry.
It would certainly have been the earliest bearer of the name who carried out the mammoth task of preserving the carcass of a rhinoceros in 1793, and it is most likely that it his signature on the Power of attorney issued to C.W. Peale in 1796. He therefore lived to a good age for those times.
This Thomas Hall was born about 1746, the date being calculated from his reported age of 67 when he died in City Road in 1813.
Thomas II appears to have become a watchmaker by trade and would have spent his childhood in the Finsbury area and probably in City Road, He married in about 1777, and he and his wife Elizabeth, went on to have six children, all christened in the parish church of St. Luke, Old Street, between 1778 and 1795. Two of those children, Thomas and William, both went on to become bird stuffers.
This Thomas died in 1813 and was buried in the dissenters burial ground of Bunhill Fields in City Road on the 5th of November in that year. The Burial register records his age as 67. The burial in Bunhill Fields may indicate that at some stage the family had come under the influence of John Wesley , or one of the other dissenting ministers active in the area at that time.
Thomas Hall III
Thomas Hall was born on 16th July 1780, and baptised in St. Luke's Church in August. He followed the occupation of Naturalist and bird and animal stuffer, thus continuing the business presumably established by his grandfather.
Thomas married in about 1805 but his wife Elizabeth left him, and he, of course, claimed that she had no reason for doing so. They may well already have had a housekeeper, but if not Thomas would then have been in need of one. Ann Simons filled that role and after an unknown interval, she and Thomas began to have children together, the first in 1819. They continued to live at the business premises in City Road, and over a period of 18 years, they had nine children.
The business appears to have prospered during this time, as evidenced by the increase in the number of exhibits in the museum and the larger valuation placed on the stock in the insurance policies. Their prosperity is also indicated that of their nine children, seven of them survived into adulthood, well below the average for childhood deaths at that time.
Thomas died on 31st Oct 1838, and the cause of Death was shown on the death certificate as "inflammation of the chest".
In his will, Thomas left the property to Ann for her lifetime and she is shown on the 1841 census as operating the business. This however did not continue until her death as it would appear from the available evidence that the family split up and went their separate ways before this.
The business may well not have been as prosperous as before, and it is possible that they then began to dispose of the large collection of stuffed animals at the house. The eldest son Thomas married in 1842 and set up home with his new wife and subsequent family at 7 Peerless Place a short distance away.
City Road
We have not been able to identify any records which describe the building at ten City Road. The insurance policies refer to brick and timber. We know that it was situated between Featherstone Street and the comer of City Road with Old Street, and was the only house on the block which had its own yard, and there was a workshop at the rear. The house itself would have been three or possibly four storeys and quite substantial, being a dwelling, taxidermy workplace and a repository for the two thousand odd specimens of stuffed birds and animals, that the Halls claimed to have there in the early part of the nineteenth century. The insured value of £500 and the ground rent of £30 payable to the City of London Corporation, also indicate a reasonably large dwelling.
The nature of the business being carried on from the house in City Road has been established from two principal sources, the labels attached to the surviving examples of the work of the Halls, and the trade and street directories issued at various intervals.
Johnsons directory for 1817- reads:
10 City Rd. Hall, T- Museum & antiquarian repository
The next entry we found was in the 1820 edition of Robsons Directory:
Hall, T preserver of birds, beasts 10 City Road
Thereafter, the entries were usually bird stuffer or the like, but the 1831 Robsons added dealer in curiosities- Finsbury Museum.
The labels attached to surviving cases of stuffed birds varied over the years, and perhaps tell a story of a change in the emphasis of the business or perhaps just what is today referred to as diversification.
The Halls then, were not just mere taxidermists, albeit of some renown and skill, but also exhibitors of a variety of items, both at the museum in City Road, but also at other venues.
There were a series of trade tokens issued in connection with the business of T. Hall at City Road. Some are undated, whilst others contain the date of 1795.
The tokens were well known to collectors in the nineteenth century and were described in various magazines dealing with what are known today as collectibles. The "white negress" and "Sir Jeffrey Dunstan" were both connected with the exhibits that Thomas Hall was said to haver had at the Bartholomew Fair in the 1790s. The Fair was an annual event, which had been held at Spitalfields from the Middle Ages.
The Rhinoceros
The rhinoceros which appears on one of the trade tokens, is not just an illustration of an exotic animal, like the toucan, the "kanguroo" and the armadillo, but refers to an animal which had been stuffed by one of the Halls in 1792.
A engraved portrait of T. Hall apparently dating from around the end of the eighteenth century exists, which may well have been used for advertising purposes. There are copies at the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum and the Harvard Library. A copy was also sold at auction in England in 2008, so there could well be other copies held in private collections. The copy at the National Portrait gallery is 10%in. x 7 in. (272 mm x 179 mm) paper size, so is most likely from a book. The engraving may well have been copied from an actual portrait of Thomas Hall.
According to "Tickets and Passes of Great Britain, published in 1822:
There is also an item in William Hone's "Every Day Book" published in 1826, regarding Thomas Halls exibits at the fair between 1779 and 1789.
There exists evidence of correspondence and trade between T. Hall and C. W. Peale of Philadelphia, although unfortunately only copies of the letters from Peale to Hall remain.
There are a number of specimens of the work of the Hall family still surviving around the world. Those we have identified in various places are mainly in good condition and the fact that they have survived to the twenty first century is a tribute to the skill of the taxidermists working in City Road close to three hundred years ago.
A cased Partridge in the ownership of the Norwich Museum has a badly damaged label stating in part:
To the Curious Observer of Natural Phenomena.
T. Hall
Well know to the Vertuosi As the greatest Artist in Europe for Preserving Birds, Beasts and
all sorts of Reptiles to resemble their Attitudes and perfections of Life, employed by his Grace the Duke of Richmond, the British Museum, Dr. Lettsom, and most of the Nobility and Gentry in this Kingdom.
Specimens of his curious Art may be seen at his repository
Opposite the Terrace, City Road Finsbury-Square
At which place is to be sold a Capital collection of preserved Birds, Beasts and Insects in
the highest perfection, and well Adapted for tea gardens and other places of entertainment which will be the means of causing many people to resort to them. The Purchaser of which may make at least 50 per cent.
As there are many Ladies and Gentlemen who are partial to their Birds and favorite
Animals, this is respectfully to assure them that they have their remains preserved in
appearance to near Life as fear .........inguished and warranted beyond
expectation.
Ladies and Gentlemen sixpence, Servants and Children threepence each.
All sorts of curiosities bought and sold.
The rook in the same Museum has a somewhat different label.
Finsbury Museum or Curiosity House
The house at No 10 City Road was described as the Finsbury Museum in one of the Trade Directories, and the labels used on the cases of stuffed birds mentions many of the items exhibited there. Whilst the valuation for insurance purposes of the items in the collection of £700 and the claim that it contained two thousand items, indicates a substantial exhibit, we have not been able to fmd any firm evidence of what the Hall's exhibited at their Finsbury Museum. The claims made in the various labels , and the number of items purchased at the closing down of the Leverian Museum in 1806, indicate a growth in drawing power which justified a doubling of the admission price from six pence to one shilling
The dispersal of the collection is also something of a mystery. The last valuation of £700 quite easily equates with the two thousand items mentioned in the labels. We have found no record of a substantial sale after 1834, so can only assume that there was a gradual dispersal of the stock between the death of Thomas III in 1838 and the death of his common law wife, Ann Simons in 1846.
Thomas Hall took out insurance policies with the The Sun Insurance Office of London, the records of which have survived and are in the Guildhall Library.
The earliest policy we have been able to identify was issued in 1812. The policy entry reads:
"Thomas Hall, opposite Finsbury Terrace, City Road, Dealer in Stuffed Birds, Curiosities and Watchmaker. On his now dwelling house afOresaid, brick and timber £400; Household goods, wearing apparel, printed books and plate therein £100:Stock utensils and goods in trust, glass cases included therein, £200".
The last of the bird stuffing dynasty was born on 12th August 1819 and was baptised Thomas, in St. Luke's in the following month. He was nearly twenty years old when his father died and whilst he continued to work at the City Road address, he obviously branched out on his own not long thereafter. It was probably about the time, of his marriage to Isabella Wright in 1842, as by the time of the birth of the first of their four children, he was living with his family at Peerless Place.
On the death of Ann, his mother in 1846, in accordance with the provisions of his father's will, the business and the property was to have passed to Thomas and his brother George. However it is apparent that the dispersal had taken place before that. George had become a cabinet maker, so was not interested in the business, and this may have been the reason for severing the long association with 10 City Road. After a period at Peerless Place, Thomas moved himself, his family and his business to 6 Mora Place, a short distance along City Road, and there in 1849, dubbed himself "animal and bird preserver, manufacturer of microscopic objects, & dealer in shells & minerals & fossils,( established 1749) "
The 1853 Watkins directory entry described the business at Mora Place as Naturalist and Bookseller.
The last Trade Directory entry for Mora Place was in 1856. The Post Office Directory for 1859 shows the business address as 65 London Wall, in the City. This was business premises only and we have been unable to identify the home address of the family.
So this bird stuffing dynasty came to an end in a most unsatisfactory from the point of view of the family historian. No Will, burial or death notice for the last Thomas Hall has been identified so far.
We have produced a small fully illustrated book about this family which is available from us. Please email edmckie@st.net.au for more details.