Sunday, September 9, 2007

The Cheques of Robert Yelf Jnr (1797 -1882)

Last year my brother was fortunate to spot someone on e-bay selling a cheque issued by Robert Yelf in 1838. After successfully winning the auction he was talking to the previous owner about where they had acquired it and found that it was part of a stash that had been dumped when Kirkpatricks Bank (or rather it's eventual successor) was having a clear out. As it happened they had a few more and would my brother be interested? As a result my brother bought a handful of very well preserved documents, all apparently from around 1838, which show that Robert Yelf was regularly dealing with considerable sums of money. I believe that this particular Yelf was Robert Yelf Jnr (1797-1882) and were in relation to his businesses, notably in the Wine Trade. I have scanned the twelve cheques and include images below with basic information beside them. I'm not to good at deciphering the copper-plate writing so if you are interested I would suggest you CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A CLOSER VIEW. Maybe you'll have better eyesight than I do! I seems that Kirkpatricks were a Newport Bank and would be interested to discover if any of the payees are known, either as local big-wigs in the business world or as tax collectors (at least one mentions payment of tax)
Cheque 1 - August 30th 1838 Mr Gordon Knight £41- 17-6d
Cheque 2 - October 25th 1838 Pay J. Chippes or bearer the sum of £123-11-0
Cheque 3 - December 13th 1838 'A bill at ten days after the date payable to Mr/s? Rogers to the order of Messrs George Hathorn for £60'
Cheque 4 - January 18th 1838 Payments to several individuals - Geo Ridell or Riddett £32-15-6d, Edn Harrington £14-14-6d, J. Dempster £22, Waldo Silthorp £25 and cash £25. Also a bill after that dat to J G Ramsay for £51-0-09d
Cheque 5 - May 5th 1838 Pay Robert Baker for assorted? taxes £46-16-11d
Cheque 6 - 23rd June 1838 Southampton. Mr Robert Yelf Wine Merchant (payee indecipherable by myself, but might be ??? of the exchequer) £2-1-0. Cheque is also crossed but I can't read that either.Cheque 7 - September 13th 1838 Mr J. King or bearer £99-2-0d (interesting note that might say 'West Dean Solicitors' but obviously doesn't. The cheques is also crossed with the name of ' Something Hector'. Any ideas?)
Cheque 8 - August 28th 1838 Mr Robinson or bearer £7-3-6dCheque 9 - November 30th 1838 Gordon Knight £42-6-0d
Cheque 10 - Undated Jos. Prestwich £69-8-0d (check name for spelling)

Cheque 11 - December 13th 1838 Self or Bearer £100


Cheque 12 and 12a - June 30th 1838 Mr Evans £21-15-3d ( the obverse side mentions Mr Evans and Southampton but is very difficult to read.

2 comments:

Rachel Newcombe said...

Hi,

I was really interested to see this as it looks like the third item relates to George Hathorn, an ancestor of mine. He was a prominent merchant in London in the early 1800s and was involved in the wine trade. I believe his company wound up in 1832, so if it was a cheque being written to him, then perhaps it was to buy some of his remaining stock?

Yelfy said...

Thanks for that Rachel, it would certainly fit in with the Yelf business at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if details of any transactions with your ancestor were not recorded in the business archives stored at the Isle of Wight Record Office. One of the earlier articles discusses them. I've never had the opportunity to examine it but it does seem comprehensive and might throw some light on your ancestor's business network.