Whetcroft opened his business in West Street near the town gate by 1767.[1] On November 14, 1772, Wallace, Davidson & Johnson in Annapolis sent a letter to Joshua Johnson of the same firm in London. In this letter, Whetcroft placed a large order for jewelry, watches and other materials.[2] Johnson cautioned the firm to enter into dealings with Whetcroft after similar such business with William Knapp, another goldsmith and jeweler doing business in West Street, recommending that they “take security of him before the delivery.”[3] By early February 1773, Johnson was preparing this order, but continued to warn the firm about taking such an order without security, feeling that if Whetcroft were to die, the firm would have no market for the goods which Whetcroft was buying.[4]
The bulk of Whetcroft’s order was shipped on the ship Annapolis, owned and mastered by Captain Thomas Eden on February 15, 1773, the clocks not being ready at that time would be shipped at the next opportunity.[5] With no record of the arrival of the Annapolis in the Port of Entry Books for Annapolis, it may be assumed that the ship landed first at another port in Maryland, perhaps Oxford, before reaching Annapolis.[6] Based on the list of good ordered, it appears that this order is what prompted Whetcroft to place an Advertisement in the Maryland Gazette in July 1773.[7] The remaining clock materials from this order, valued at £40:2:10, were shipped on the ship Caroline, under Captain Joshua Lynch and owned by James Russel on May 15, 1773.[8]
Whetcroft would deal with Wallace, Davidson & Johnson once more before the War for Independence would curtail future commerce with England. He placed an order which was shipped on the ship Brothers, owned by Matthew Craymer & Company and under Captain Matthew Craymer on May 14, 1774, valued at £69:2:6.[9] The Brothers arrived in Annapolis on July 6, 1774.[10]
Maryland Gazette May 13, 1773
Transcriptions of Records
Maryland Gazette
(from Maryland State Archives MSA SC2731)
May 13, 1773
WHETCROFT, WILLIAM, goldsmith and jeweler, at his shop in West Street, has for sale.
A LARGE quantity of silver work ready made, such as silver coffee pots, tea pots, waiters, tankards, quart, pint, and half pint cans, sugar boats chased and plain, pepper castors, salt cashed and plain, soup ladles and spoons, table, desert, marrow and tea spoons, sugar tongs, joint and spring spurs, plated ditto, whistles, punch ladles and strainers, morocco pocket books, silver pencils, nutmeg graters, with a great variety of new fashion silver shoe buckles, set shoe, knee, and stock buckles, paste, marquisite, and garnet combs, hair flowers of all sorts, and beautiful paste necklaces with earrings to match them in cases; new fashion stay hooks, settings for miniature pictures and bracelets set round with garnets, diamonds, topaz, garnet, amethyst, cornelian, and hoop rings, box lockets set round with garnet, ditto set round with marquisites with plain gold ones of different prices; gold and silver thimbles, earrings of different kinds, garnet broaches set in gold and silver, plain gold ditto, cornelian seals set in gold with a great variety of others set in silver and pinchback, set pins of all sorts, mocoa-sleeve buttons set in gold, white and brown crystals in ditto, with almost every kind of locket but one, all which he will sell on very reasonable terms; and as he has the greatest part of them manufactured at his own shop, and can depend on the goodness of the work, he will engage if any person should buy any jewelling work from him, and that any of the stones should drop out, that he will reset it gratis; he likewise carries on the clock and watch making business as usual, and has for sale some extreme eight day and twenty-four hour clocks, with a great variety of watches of different prices, both in gold, silver, and fishskin cases, which he will engage are as good as can be imported for the same price, and for the encouragement of such gentlemen and ladies, as may please to deal with him, he will keep them in repair for three shillings and six pence yearly, provided they don’t get ill usage, and such gentlemen or ladies that choose to commit their watches to his care to be repaired if he do not make them answer their expectations he will return them the money they paid him; he also covers cases with shagreen or fishskin and makes them look as well as they did at first.
N.B. he likewise takes care of clocks in this town, and will keep them in good order, and sends a man once a week to examine and wind them up for 15 shillings yearly; he gives highest prices for old gold, silver, and silver lace.
William Whetcroft order from Wallace, Davidson & Johnson
(from Maryland State Archives, Chancery Court (Chancery Papers, Exhibits) Wallace, Davidson Johnson, Order Books, 1771/4/25-1775/11/16. MSA S 528-27/28)
14 November 1772
Jewelry
4 doz pr silver shoe buckles neat pattern & light in silver
6 pr spring tea tongs very light & neat
6 pair joint tea tongs very light & neat
2 loop ladles large & very light scalloped
4 fluted cream pots very light
2 pr plain salts very light of the size
1 pr plain butter boats light of the size
1 pr chased butter boats light of the size
1 pr pepper boxes plain
3 punch strainers with long handles light
6 pr handsome spurs plated with crooked necks and chains
4 carnelian seals set in gold @ 14/ ea.
2 carnelian seals set in gold 18/
2 carnelian seals set in gold 20/
12 plain gold earrings with stops @ 3/3
6 plain gold broaches 5/
4 pr moco sleeve buttons set in gold 16/
2 pr very dark brown crystals in gold 16/
2 pr set shoe buckles 28/
2 pr set shoe buckles 24/
2 pr set shoe buckles 20/
2 pr set shoe buckles 18/
2 pr set shoe buckles 16/
12 cases for shoe buckes
6 pr large oval knee buckles with small stones @ 10/
6 pr large oval knee buckles with small stones @ 8/
6 sets stock buckles with 4 studs 10/
6 sets stock buckles with 4 studs 8/
6 garnet hoop rings 8/
1 doz single stone garnet rings different sizes 2/3
6 garnet broaches in gold 10/
6 garnet broaches in gold 6/6
6 crystal broaches in silver 4/
6 crystal broaches in silver 3/
2 hair sprigs 15/
6 hair sprigs 10/
1 doz hair sprigs 5/ea
2 doz hair sprigs 3/
2 doz hair sprigs 1/6
4 doz hair sprigs 1/
2 doz stay hooks newest fashion 5/ea
1 doz stay hooks newest fashion 4/
1 doz stay hooks newest fashion 2/6
1 doz stay hooks newest fashion 1/6
4 set combs 8/
4 set combs 6/
8 set combs 4/
1 doz large garnets 1/
1 doz large garnets shape of a heart 9/per doz
2 doz square garnets 6/
2 doz garnets shape of a heart 3/
2 doz square garnets 3/
1 doz square garnets 2/
2 gross small square crystals for side stones for rings of the best kind
1 doz thin crystals for tops and drops of earrings to show red foil @ 1/ set
2 white paste necklaces set in the cheapest way with earrings & drops to match them in cases @ £3
2 sets white paste necklaces set in the cheapest way with earrings & drops to match them in cases 50/
2 sets white paste necklaces set in the cheapest way with earrings & drops to match them in cases 40/
2 sets white paste necklaces set in the cheapest way with earrings & drops to match them in cases 30/
6 gross white paste of different sizes & shapes for jobbing 5/
2 box lockets in gold set round with garnets 15/
4 box lockets in gold set with garnets 10/
4 box lockets in gold set with garnets 8/
6 box lockets in silver set round with garnets 5/6
6 box lockets in silver set round with garnets 5/
Watches
2 silver watches @ 45/
2 silver watches 40/
2 silver watches 35/
2 silver watches 30/
4 alarm clocks to go thirty hours with minutes & short pendulums with good bells, the dial plates to be 6
½ inches square arched & neatly engraved William Whetcroft Annapolis 25/
2 alarm clocks with striking part to go thirty hours with short pendulum engraved as before 40/
3 doz main springs medium size @14/
1 doz enameled dial plates at 1 ½d from no.10 to no.22
½ doz pendant bowes well gilt @ 10d aps.
1 doz pendant bowes in best silver 10d
2 doz pr socket hands 6/ pr doz
½tt brass joint pin wire
6 cast pattances
2 small watch wheel rounding up files @ 6d aps.
1 pr watch plyers 1/6 pr
2 foot of small round steel wire fit for small drills @ 3d p foot
Turkey oil stone slip
1 morrow watch brushes 1/6 ps
3 gross gilt a pins & wire
1 doz black shagram skins for coverings cases
1tt iron wire different sizes
½tt very find binding wire
½tt binding wire common size
Alum etc
20tt Alum
12tt Saltpeter
1/2tt Boraal
William Whetcroft order from Wallace, Davidson & Johnson
(from Maryland State Archives, Chancery Court (Chancery Papers, Exhibits) Wallace, Davidson Johnson, Order Books, 1771/4/25-1775/11/16. MSA S 528-27/28)
No date (next order in book is dated 21 February 1774)
4 doz pr shoe buckles all carved and pierced handsome patterns very light & middle sized
1 doz silver stock buckles carved with 4 studs & very light
1 doz plain silver stock buckles
1 doz stay hooks 5/
1 doz stay hooks 4/
1 doz stay hooks 3/
1 doz stay hooks 2/6
2 doz stay hooks 2/
2 doz silver thimbles different sizes
6 box lockets set round with garnets 16/
6 box lockets with garnet tops 10/
6 box lockets plain 6/
50 nest small crucibles for melting gold
5 bushels of the best prepared moulding sand fit for use
[1] Jane Wilson McWilliams, Annapolis, City on the Severn, (Johns Hopkins University Press: 2011) p. 82.
[2] Jacob M. Price, Joshua Johnson’s Letterbook 1771-1774, (London Record Society: 1979) p. 123.
[3] Ibid., p. 123.
[4] Ibid., p. 134.
[5] Ibid., p. 138.
[6] “Annapolis Port Records 1756-1775,” Maryland State Archives MSA SM227.
[7] “Maryland Gazette May 13, 1773,” Maryland State Archives MSA SC2731; Maryland State Archives, Chancery Court (Chancery Papers, Exhibits) Wallace, Davidson Johnson, Order Books, 1771/4/25-1775/11/16. MSA S 528-27/28.
[8] Price, Op. cit. p. 165.
[9] Ibid., 184.
[10] Annapolis Port Records 1756-1775, Op. cit.
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