GLASS, Henry Alexander (1828-1906) — London
Printer & stationer; author. A partner in ‘Judd & Glass’, with James Judd. For details of output, etc., see the entry for Judd.
Born in London 4 Oct 1828 in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate, his birth registered at the Wesleyan City Road Chapel 9 Feb 1829, the son of Joseph Glass, a machine-maker, and his wife Mary Hutchinson, who had married in 1824. Apprenticed (Stationers) 4 Jul 1843 to William Johnston, printer of Mark Lane, for a fee of £50. Trading with James Judd as ‘Judd & Glass’ from at least 1856, the partners offering ‘Counsels to authors and hints to advertisers’ (with specimens of type and engraving) in 1856. Recorded as a printer & publisher in 1861 when boarding with a language-teacher and his wife. The partnership with Judd was declared bankrupt in 1862 — their liabilities stated at £11,000 as against assets of £8,000 — but it soon recovered and the partners were discharged in November. The partnership was formally dissolved by mutual consent 18 Aug 1866. Glass appears to have become a journalist but had to apply to go into liquidation with debts of some £16,000 in 1870. He was recorded as a journalist living alone in 1871. He seems to have retired completely before he married (1) Emily Woodin (1845-1889), daughter of a wealthy landlord, with whom he had several children, at St. James Piccadilly 2 Sep 1873. Records of court cases brought against Glass in 1873 and 1875 by her family survive in NA. He went bankrupt again in 1879, when in partnership with Joseph Holding, trading as ‘Kent Forage Mills’. He had become a widower by 1891, living with three children and four servants in Greenwich. He married (2) Sarah Eliza Kingsbury (1849-1914), daughter of a banker, 15 Dec 1894 at St. Giles Camberwell and was living with her and a son in Camberwell in 1901. He died after a fall on the steps up to his house and was buried at Greenwich 9 Jun 1906. He was the author of ‘Three lectures on roads and road makers’ 1864; ‘The story of the psalters : a history of the metrical versions of Great Britain and America to 1885’ (inspired by a penny purchase at a book-stall) 1888, and ‘The barbone parliament’ 1899.
19 Burton Crescent, Grays Inn Road (home) — 1861-1862
4 Gray’s Inn Square (home) — 1870-1873
Euston Road (home) — 1873
6 Vanbrugh Park, Greenwich (home) — 1882-1891
175 Underhill Road, Camberwell (home) — 1897-1901
41 Barry Road, East Dulwich — 1906
BNA. Census 1861-1901. LG. NA.