INGRAM, George (1818-1899) — London
Printer; publisher; bookseller; crochet pattern printer; valentine & poetry card maker; stationer; publisher of games and puzzles; embroidery stamper. Published ‘Ingram’s Exhibition knitting and crochet book : containing a choice variety of elegant and useful patterns’ 1851. Also published numerous undated booklets for children, e.g. ‘Cinderella’, ‘Puss in Boots’, ‘G. Ingram’s tales for good children’, etc; numerous songsters or song-books, e.g. ‘Good bye sweetheart’; ‘The Christmas log’; ‘Come into the garden Maude’, ‘G. Ingram’s illustrated song book’, etc., also spelling-books and paper toys, e.g. A butcher’s shop — pictures to colour and cut-out to form a model butcher’s shop.
Born in Westminster and baptised at the British Lying-In Hospital, Endell Street, Holborn, 31 Dec 1818, the son of Thomas Ingram, a tailor, and his wife Elizabeth. Married Mary Ann Keating (1815?-1880) from Loughton, Essex, at St. Sepulchre, Holborn, 10 Dec 1838. Registered designs for eight different lace patterns 28 Oct 1852. Originally a printer and pressman, he was referred to as a crochet pattern printer in 1855, and as a “publisher and general fancy dealer” in 1865, on the latter occasion when appearing in court over the theft of material from his premises by an employee (Clerkenwell News, 25 Oct 1865). In 1861, he was granted a patent for the invention of “improvements in trams to be used in connection with the wheels of carriages on common roads” (London Gazette, 20 Sep 1861). He left his wife, Mary Ann Keating (1816?-1886), whom he had married at St. Sepulchre 10 Dec 1838, and bigamously married (2) Rachel Whittaker (1829?-1881) in about 1872, and, two days before her death, he polygamously married (3) Ann Elizabeth Esdaile (1828-1901), née Baggett, his landlady, 24 Mar 1881. When brought to court, his first wife was unable to provide sufficient evidence of their marriage and the case was dismissed. There were other court appearances in 1879 and 1887, with Ingram sued and fined over copyright infringement on a number of comic songs (London Evening Standard, 6 Dec 1879; Cheltenham Chronicle, 5 Nov 1887). His bankruptcy was announced in January 1888. Died 12 Oct 1899 at Great Northern Central Hospital, Holloway. Probate was granted to his second wife 13 Nov 1899, his effects stated at £511.6s, although those of his widow were to amount to nearly £4,000 just over a year later. The business appears to have continued trading under his name for some years after his death.
17 King’s Arms Yard, Cripplegate — 1841
— 105 Britannia Street, Shoreditch (home) — 1851
3 Britannia Street, City Road, Shoreditch — 1851-1860
— & 4 Britannia Street, Shoreditch — 1858-1860
43 Old Street — 1861
41 Old Street — 1861-1878
— 70 St. Paul’s Road, Islington (home)— 1881
124 Old Street — 1879-1898
— 343 Camden Road, Holloway (home) — 1891-1899
120 Old Street — 1899
BNA. Brown. Census 1841-1891. LG. LHD. NA. Information from Adrian Seville.