Ubsdell, John Talbot

Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent; Tunbridge ware manufacturer (fl.1828-1834)

Baptised at Newport, Isle of Wight on 22 October 1797, Ubsdell appears to have had connections with South Hampshire and later London, because until 1827 he was a partner in a firm of law stationers. 

Ubsdell married a widow, Jane Butler, at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London in March 1828. By this marriage he became related to Anne Fenner, daughter of William Fenner, who had inherited Fenner’s business and manufactory on Mount Ephraim on his death in 1827. The Tunbridge ware business was then offered to J. T. Usbdell, who operated it until 1834. He printed a revised version of William Fenner’s trade card with his name inserted above Wm. Fenner & Co. 

Image

Copyright (Attribution/Credit)

Furniture History (1997)

Ubsdell's trade label attached to a rosewood and parquetry work table, c.1830 [Private collection]. Published in Furniture History (1997) p. 267. 

Ubsdell soon got into debt and by 1834 owed Richard Butler of Bromsgrove (the father in law of Ann Fenner) more than £3,000 on a bond assigned by his son, Charles Butler, and also 'a considerable sum for arrears of rent and other amounts'. Ubsdell was declared bankrupt in February 1834.  He subsequently moved to Lymington and later Portsmouth where he worked as a bank manager.

He died in 1879 at 81 years of age.

Sources: Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 27 March 1819; Devonshire and Wiltshire Gazette, 6 February 1834; Austen, ‘Tables by Tunbrige Ware Makers’, Furniture History (1997); Austen, Tunbridge ware (3^rd edn 2001); Austen, ‘Tables by Tunbrige Ware Makers’, Furniture History (1997).