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| Held at Birmingham Archive. Box 10, No. 637. |
A hand bill for Thos Rooker (Thomas Rooker) selling cocks on Lichfield Street. Rooker doesn't appear in any directories, which survive from 1767, and the rococo design of the bill suggests the late 1750s or very early 1760s, so the pencil-written date of c. 1760 seems right.
The engraver, J. Hornblower, does appear in directories as Joseph Hornblower. In 1770 he was a 'Die Sinker, Engraver, and Glass Stainer' on 26 Cannon Street, and appeared again in 1774.
The first record of Hornblower as an engraver was at his marriage in 1747 when he was described as an 'Ingraver' on the licence.* In 1752 he took John Chinn on as an apprentice for £3, but by 1756 he was able to ask for a more substantial bond as he took John Guest on at £20. His increasing skill as an engraver is seen in the continued rise of the bond price:
1757, Joseph Crown, £21 : 1761, Benjamin Patrick, £21 : 1763, Thomas Morris, £31.7.6d : 1765, Samuel Hale, £35 : 1765, Aron Ostwood, £30.
See all paper remnants from Birmingham's past, here.
NOTES
*Joseph Hornblower was described as 23 when he married Jane Chapman by licence in 1747, making his birth about 1724.