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Ince, John jnr (!730-1803)

Ince, John jnr

London; glass grinder (b.1730-d.1803)

Eldest son of John Ince (d.1745), a glass grinder of Hart Street, Covent Garden. When he reached the age of 21 in April 1751 he raised a complaint against the executors of his father’s will in order to obtain his share of the proceeds of his father’s business. He said he was ‘desirous of employing his share of his said father’s efforts in setting him up for his way of trade’. A few years later John was described as a glass grinder of St Giles-in-the-Fields, Westminster. However, by 1756 he was attempting to set up business in Birmingham. The capital for this venture initially came from money borrowed on the expectation of an inheritance from the estate of his uncle, William Ince (d. 1749), a wheelwright of Kidderminster. A life interest in William’s property had been left to his sister Elizabeth, John’s aunt, to be inherited by John in the event of her marriage or death. It is probable that John’s business failed to prosper and he was obliged to raise more capital in 1756, by selling the property left to him in his uncle’s will, even though his aunt, Elizabeth, was still in possession. A legal document of 20 December 1756 concerning the transaction described John as ‘late of Saint Giles in the Fields… Westminster now of… Birmingham Glassgrinder’. The venture must soon have also failed; by June 1761 John was incarcerated in the Marshalsea prison for debt. This suggests his original departure from London had been prompted by a business failure which had now caught up with him. His address in 1761 was given as ‘late of Bedford Bury, Covent Garden and now of Husband Street, Soho’. Nothing further is known of him save for his burial on 19 October 1803, aged 74, in Elmley Lovett, Worcestershire.

Source: Ingle, William Ince Cabinet Maker 1737-1804 (2nd edition, 2020).