John Pemberton Turner was born in Birmingham in 1824, one of the seven children (and the only son) of James Turner and his wife Anna Maria, nee Pemberton. He married Helen Ann Hasluck (daughter of the Birmingham button maker Thomas Hinton Hasluck) in 1847 and they had eight children: two of these children died in Colorado and one died in California. John Pemberton Turner died on 16th October 1886 in Edgbaston at the age of 63.
The image above is reproduced with permission of Michael Behm of the Commercial Overprint Society of Great Britain (COSGB). Mark Matlach contributed an article to their blog about the company, presumably after becoming aware of this overprinted stamp. Note that it gives the company’s name as Hammond, Turners and Bate. I believe that it was issued around 1881: any keen philatelists who can pin down the date more accurately are very welcome to get in touch to correct me!
An entry in the London Gazette dated 9th May 1860 says:
Notice is hereby given that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, James Turner [this was probably John Pemberton Turner’s father, who died in 1867], John Pemberton Turner, and Thomas Bate, carrying on business under the style or firm of Hammond, Turners, and Bate, as Button, Silk Trimming Manufacturers, and Merchants, in Moseley-street, in the city of Manchester, and Dawson’s Croft Mills, at Salford, in the county of Lancaster, was and stands dissolved as on and from the 1st day of January last.
An entry in the London Gazette dated 18th December 1863 says (inter alia):
Name and description of the debtor, as in the Deed – Charles Iliffe, of Harborne, in the county of Stafford, Button Manufacturer.
The names and descriptions of the Trustees or other parties to the Deed, not including the Creditors – John Pemberton Turner, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, Button Manufacturer.
A short statement of the nature of the Deed – An absolute assignment by the said Charles Iliffe, of all his estate and effects to the said John Pemberton Turner, to be applied and administered for the benefit of the creditors of the said Charles Iliffe, as if he had been at the date of such deed declared bankrupt.
A mortgage with assignment [sic], dated 23rd November 1865, lodged in the Dudley Archive says (inter alia):
1. Thos. Williams, formerly of Pensnett, corn factor, now of Handsworth, Staffs, commission agent 2. Joseph Ledsam, gent; Thos. Pemberton, gent; and John Pemberton Turner, gent; all of Birmingham, trustees of Birmingham Banking Co. (mortgagees) of piece of land at Shut End, Kinswinford … Consideration: 182, owed by #1 to #2.
Report of the Commissioners appointed in 1868 to…
In the section entitled ‘Rivers Pollution Commission:- Evidence – Answers to Queries – Part II’ section devoted to ‘Series A, B, C, D, Trades and manufacture – (Basin of the Calder, North Bank) – continued the following entry appears:
Name of firm, and trade or manufacture carried on: Hammond, Turner, & Bate, Braid and Smallware and Lastings Weavers
Situation of works: Turvin Mills, Mytholmroyd
Answers to queries on page 79: Our works are situated on the Turvin Brook, a tributary of the river Calder. Employ 120 hands. Rateable value of works, 147l, 7s, 6d. The bed of the stream has not silted up. Our works are not affected by floods. The condition of the water is clear; it is not polluted, as there are no works situate above ours. Obtain supply of water from the stream; but are not able to state the annual consumption at our works. Manufacture yearly 20 tons of goods, of the value of 9,000l. The liquid refuse produced at our works flows into the stream. Use steam and water as power; water 20, and steam 12, nominal horse power. Consume yearly 230 tons of coal, the ashes from which are used to repair roads. The excrement of our workpeople are used for manure. We suggest, as the best means of avoiding pollution in future, that manufacturers should be compelled to keep the whole of the refuse from their works out of rivers and streams.
An entry in the Manchester Commercial list dated 1867, 1869 and 1871 says:
Hammond, Turners and Bate, manuf. of buttons, trimmings, &c. 1 Mosley-street was established 1853 and has branches in London. It notes that the company was already known as Hammond, Turner and Sons before 1832. An entry in the appendix which lists dissolved partnerships suggests that the partnership between James Pemberton Turner and Thomas Bate, “also at Salford, manufacturers and merchants”, was dissolved on 21st November 1862.
An entry in The London Gazette dated 8th October 1869 says:
To John Pemberton Turner, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the invention of “improvements in buckles or fastenings for braces, belts, bands, and other articles.”-A communication to him from abroad by Antione Rollin, of No. 26, Quai, Castellane, Lyons, in the Empire of France.
An entry in The London Gazette dated 2nd September 1873 says:
Notice is hereby given, that the Partnership subsisting between the undersigned, Robert Baker, surviving executor of the late James Turner, Thomas Bates, and William Alfred Bate, carrying on business as Merchants and Manufacturers, at Manchester and Turvin Mills, near Halifax, under the style or firm of Hammond, Turners, and Bate, is dissolved as and from the 31st day of December 1872.-Dated this 23rd day of August 1873.
Robert Baker
Thos. Bate
William Alfred Bate
