Medhurst, Robert

Worthing, Sussex; turner, Tunbridge-ware maker (fl.1851-80)

Robert (aged 23), Edmund (aged 20), and their mother, Sarah (aged 59), were recorded in the 1851 census as Tunbridge-ware turners living at 11 John Street, Worthing. By 1867 Robert Medhurst was established as a fancy turner at 7 Montague Street, Worthing [1867 Sussex Directory]. 

Medhurst made wares from timbers salvaged from the naval sail training ship H.M.S. Eurydice, which sank in a squall off Ventnor on 24 March 1878. Small items of inlaid turnery such as a waxer and pin cushion are recorded with a paper label on the base printed 'FROM MEDHURST’S MANUFACTORY' and 'A PRESENT FROM MALVERN'. There is a surviving pin cushion shaped like a kettle with the same Medhurst identification and 'A PRESENT FROM WESTONSUPERMARE'.

Source: Austen, Tunbridge Ware (3^rd ed., 2001)