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| Joseph Green in a formal jacket with smart buttons. Copy held at V&A. |
Several years ago I wrote about Portugal House, which was a grand house on New Street, built by Joseph Green. Green was a fashionable dandy, referred to as 'Beau Green', and I was recently informed that a suit of his formal clothes are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum, complete with a fine set of metal buttons, which were possibly made in Birmingham (see below). The suit was probably worn in the late 1770s, and looks very similar to the one Green is wearing in a portrait of him (above).
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| Detail of buttons, from Joseph Green's coat. V&A. |
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| Front of Joseph Green's coat. To see more details of the suit on the V&A site, click here. |
Joseph Green had married an heiress, Elizabeth Cotton, in 1776, whose family were of Etwall Hall in Derbyshire (Etwall here).* Green was described as of 'St. Philip's Birmingham' and the couple moved to Birmingham after the marriage, where Green had recently built his fine town house, Portugal House. Green had made his own fortune selling Portugal wine, hence the name of his home, some of the business possibly being inherited from his uncle, another Joseph, who was a victualler (an early name for an alcohol seller).
Joseph and Elizabeth had five children, the eldest inheriting Etwall Hall.** Green went bankrupt in 1799, and he seems to have left Birmingham at this time, and moved to Derbyshire. He died 28 January 1810 and was flamboyant to the end with the unusual description of his funeral procession in his will:
It is my will & desire that my Body may be deposited in Etwall Church yard in a Vault, near to the Comunion [sic] opposite to the Gate that leads to the Village, & that a plain stone be placed within the Church to be engrav’d thereon the arms, as on my Gold Seal, with a few lines to my memory, & that my Body be carried to the Churchyard in a Hears [sic], & only one mourning coach, to be carried to be interd [sic], by six of the Poor men of the Hospital, in their Gounds [sic]
He bequeathed the gold seal mentioned to his eldest son, along with portraits of his parents and 'all the family writings'.* Green was buried in the vault he described, which was discovered by accident this year (2019) at St. Helen's church in Etwall (see BBC news site here).***
Elizabeth later applied so that her children could take the Cotton name, which she achieved in 1820. She died in 1833 and was probably buried in the same vault as her husband.
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| Portrait of Joseph Green, owned by the family. With thanks to Sarah Kimbell. |
You can also find out about some Green's role in Birmingham's Theatre Royal - here.
NOTES
**Elizabeth's older brother, William, was described as a 'lunatic' by Joseph Green in his will, which probably explains why his sister and her children inherited the estate.
***Joseph Green's coffin, discovered by accident in 2019, states that he was born in 1737.
* Joseph Green and Elizabeth Cotton married 12 August 1776 at Mucklestone, Staffordshire; will of Joseph Green, 1767, Dioceses Of Lichfield And Coventry Wills And Probate 1521-1860; will of Joseph Green, 1810, Dioceses Of Lichfield And Coventry Wills And Probate 1521-1860; Rag Castle