TIREBUCK, Joseph (1808-1886) — London
Engraver, steam printer, lithographer, compositor, wood-engraver and publisher. Produced, with Isaac Tirebuck, Saint Luke Middlesex, divided into five wards, under the Metropolitan Local Management Act 1855.
Joseph Tirebuck was born 4 Apr 1808 and baptised 8 May 1808 at Christ Church, Southwark, the son of a London gunsmith, also Joseph Tirebuck (d.1815), and his wife Grace Drew, who had married in 1806. Apprenticed (Ironmongers) to the printer William Tyler of Bridgewater Square 6 Aug 1822. Free (Ironmongers) 5 Feb 1830. He was in partnership with his younger brother Isaac Tirebuck from 1844. He married (1) Elizabeth (Eliza) Norton (1807-1851), the daughter of a local plumber, at St. Stephen Islington 22 Mar 1848, and (2) Caroline —– (1822?-1870). Relationships with his apprentices seem to have been problematic. He took Charles Batty to court for being unpunctual in 1864, the case revealing that the apprentices, of whom there were eleven, were expected to work from 7.30am until 8pm, with no break for breakfast. Tirebuck was rebuked by the magistrate and told to get on better with his lads and to be more of a father to them (London Evening Standard, 31 Aug 1864). The Paisley Herald headed its report, “A printer’s slave” (10 Sep 1864), while the Islington Gazette 1 Oct 1864 headed its account of a subsequent hearing “Mr Tirebuck and his apprentices again”. In 1866, another dispute with an apprentice, William Henry Dargan, also ended up in the courts and in the newspapers (London City Press, 29 Sep 1866, and elsewhere), as did two further disputes in 1868, in one of which Samuel Ellis was sentenced to twenty-one days hard labour for assaulting his masters in a row over threepence docked from his wages — Isaac Tirebuck received a severe wound to the head and Joseph a spectacular black eye (Reynolds’s Newspaper, 2 Aug 1868). From a subsequent account (London City Press, 5 Sep 1868) it would appear that one of the brothers almost died and was unable to work again. His nephew, another Joseph Tirebuck, son of Isaac, was apprenticed to him (Ironmongers) in 1869. After his brother’s death in 1882, a subsequent partnership with Joseph Salmon was dissolved 30 Aug 1883. Joseph Tirebuck died at his home at Forest Gate 19 Nov 1886. His personal estate was valued at just £659.1s.8d.
2 Castle Court, Budge Row, Watling Street — 1838-1841
24 Queen Street, City of London — 1842-1847
— 20 Great James Street, Shoreditch (home) — 1845
15 Little St. Thomas Apostle — 1847-1849
(3 Windsor Court), 40½ Monkwell Street, Cripplegate — 1851-1886
— 8 Green Terrace, New River Head (home and/or warehouse) — 1855
— 5 Falmouth Terrace, Forest Lane, West Ham (home) — 1861-1878
— 4 Westbury Villas, Westbury Road, Upton (home) — 1881-1882
— 97 Forest Lane, Forest Gate (home) — 1884
BBTI. BNA. Brown. Census 1861-1881. Engen (1985). LG. Todd. Twyman.