BRION, John (1818-1888) — London
Schoolmaster; maker of relief maps. Produced Stanford’s relief map of the Isle of Wight, modelled from nature 1858, engraved by ‘Philip Brannon & Co.’ (see BME 2011). As ‘John Brion & Sons’, produced a relief map for Ernest P. Wilkins, ‘A concise exposition of the geology, antiquities, and topography, of the Isle of Wight’ 1859, published by Edward Stanford (see BME 2011); A relief map of Palestine, Damascus and the Hauran 1859; Elementary map of England & Wales, for the use of the blind … according to the system of M. Braille 1872; Physical map of England & Wales, for the use of the blind 1872, etc. In 1860, as ‘John Brion & Sons’, he advertised “relievo maps and models” of Europe, India, Rome, Athens, Syracuse, Brighton, etc., with one of Cornwall “seven feet square” (Birmingham Journal, 15 Sep 1860). “The material of Brion’s relief maps is papier maché, and the principal novelty in them is in respect to the surface, which is embossed in exact imitation of the undulations of the country, exhibiting the mountains and valleys, the rivers and cliffs of the sea coast, all modelled to nature by the most accurate measurements. The lettering is executed in the highest style of art by copper-plate engraving, and from the absence of hill-shading it shows itself most clearly, and allows, in addition to the names of cities, towns, and rivers, full references to historical incidents, notes on rain fall, fluvial areas, &c., without the confusion which the presence of hill-shading with such copious information would occasion. The durability of the maps is ensured by the embossing being solid, the material, in the process of execution, being compressed with immense power by hydraulic machinery, and they are not liable to warp or fracture. The leading educationists of the kingdom, many of H.M. Inspectors of Schools, and others, have passed high encomiums on these maps. One of the best authorities affirms that ‘more can be learned from these relief maps in an hour than from ordinary maps in a week’” (Dorset County Chronicle, 24 Jul 1862). Some copyrighted drawings are preserved in NA.
Born at Portsmouth Jun 30 1818 and baptised (Bryan) 19 Jul 1818 at Daniel Street Wesleyan Chapel, Portsea, the son of Daniel Brion, a carpenter, and his second wife Charlotte Forsey, who had married at Portsea in 1808. Originally a shoemaker, he married Sarah Simmons (1815-1904), daughter of a fisherman, at All Saints, Hastings, 28 Oct 1839. Her father, Richard Simmons, was said to have served as a pilot to Horatio Nelson. Brion was living with his wife and an infant son in Brighton in 1841. In Guildford by 1851, there were now seven children born variously in Ticehurst, Brighton, Battle, Hastings, and Guildford. Further children were then born in Halstead, Essex, the Isle of Wight, and Hammersmith, London. Declared bankrupt in Birmingham in 1860. A letter to the Sussex Advertiser, published 16 Aug 1864, offered an effective electrical intercom system for use on trains. In later years he gave lectures and exhibited his models. He was still working as a teacher in 1881 and also as a journalist. In 1887 he was taken to court for taking a grand-daughter out of a school where in his view she was being forced illegally into working too onerous hours (London Daily Chronicle, 6 Apr 1887). He died at Wornington Road 14 Apr 1888. Probate on a personal estate of just £20.10s was granted to his widow 23 May 1888. His son, Henry Forsey Brion FRGS (1843-1917), was a prolific producer of similar maps from 1860 onwards, as well as a complete working model of the Thames, exhibited at the Imperial Institute in May 1897, while another son, Richard Forsey Brion (1848-1890), was well known as a musician and composer.
William Street, Brighton — 1841
Brighton — 1844
National School, Guildford — 1848-1852
Halstead, Essex — 1854-1855
Brighstone (Brixton), Isle of Wight — 1857
6 & 7 Devonshire Street, Hammersmith — 1859
49 Litchfield Street, Birmingham — 1860
High Street, Lindfield, Sussex — 1861
West Wrathing, near Linton, Cambridgeshire — 1864
East Cliff, Hastings — 1864
3 Scarsdale Road, Albany Road — 1868
3 Wornington Road, Notting Hill —1871-1872
20 Wornington Road, Notting Hill —1887-1888
BNA. Census 1841-1881. LG. LHD. NA. Tooley.