Hays and Dunkin Family Businesses 1800-1840

        An examination of the London Directories reveals the extent of John Dunkin’s influence in establishing many of his relations, particularly Mary Hays's younger brothers, in business, showing once again the importance of the Dissenting tradition of keeping oneself and one’s family within “the household of faith”; in this case, it appears the “household” is not only the culture of Dissent but also his extended family and his particular line of work (cornfactors). As the wealth of the family grew, Mary Hays at various times participated in their success and, at times, in their failures, assisting in the care of many of her nephews and nieces and their children from the 1790s to the early 1840s. 

        In Holden’s 1808 London Directory, both John Dunkins (father and son) were listed as corn and flour factors at 90 Gainsford Street, Shad Thames; John Dunkin was also listed separately as John Dunkin, Jr., and Co., corn factors, also in Gainsford Street, Shad Thames. There was also a John Dunkin, corn dealer, at 8 Charlotte Row, Bermondsey, in connection with Thomas Dunkin, working with coal, next door at 10 Charlotte Row. This might be John Dunkin having set up his son, Thomas (now back from the military) in trade. By 1811, the Post Office Directory lists a new business, Dunkin, Hays, and Wedd, as flour-factors at 89 Shad Thames, which is probably the same location as the 1808 business. It appears that this business was the initial means used by John Dunkin to establish John and Thomas Hays in business as corn factors and wharfingers, as well as George Wedd, whose brother, Peter, had married Dunkin's daughter, Mary, in 1809. Dunkin was also assisting his eldest son, John Hays Dunkin (1775-1858), and his son-in-law, Henry Francis (he married Dunkin’s daughter Elizabeth in 1803; his sister, Sarah Francis, married John Hays Dunkin in 1799), with the second business listed in Gainsford Street in 1808 now listed Dunkin & Francis, corn dealers, at 90 Shad Thames. On 10 October 1812, the firm of John Dunkin, John Hays, John Hays Dunkin, and George Wedd, was dissolved. They had also managed a business as millers at Beeleigh, near Maldon, Essex, under the name John Dunkin and Co., besides being flour-factors at Gainsford Street, under the firm of Dunkin, Hays, and Wedd (see London Gazette, 17-20 October 1812, p. 2105).  All of this coincides with Wedd’s marriage to Dunkin’s daughter, Sarah, in 1812, John Hays’s marriage that same year, and John Dunkin’s retirement from business that year.

        John Dunkin’s brother, Christopher, was listed as cornfactor in Potter’s Fields, Horsleydown, Southwark. Emma Dunkin, another daughter of John Dunkin, married William Hills, son of Sarah Hays Hills, in 1810, and in the 1811 Directory he was listed as partner with his brother-in-law, William Wheeler (he married William’s sister, Sarah Hills, in 1808) at 8 Haydon Square, the Minories, the section of London in which Hills’s parents had moved in the late 1770s and where Mrs. Sarah Hills continued to live after the death of her husband, Thomas, in 1803. After her son moved to Canonbury Lane, Islington, after his marriage in 1810, Mrs. Hills moved into a townhome nearby in Felix Terrace. Dunkin’s eldest daughter, Joanna, had married Nathaniel Palmer in 1798 and he too was well established as a cornfactor, living in Aldermanbury. Thomas Hays appears on his own in the 1811 Post Office Directory as a Corn and Flour Factor at Mill Street, Dockhead, operating directly across the Thames wharves at the end of Gainsford Street and Shad Thames in Dockhead (he was living at Wandsworth Common, near Clapham, at that time, with Mary Hays living with him at that time).  Ambrose Lanfear, stepson of Elizabeth Hays Lanfear, took his father’s place in the firm of Lanfear and Holland, haberdashers, at 101 Fleet Street. Mrs. Hays was still living at 9 St. George’s Place, Camberwell, though she would die in 1812. 

        In the 1814-1816 Post Office Directories, John Dunkin, having lived nearly ten years at Woodham Mortimer, Essex, was no longer listed with a business, but his son’s business, Dunkin & Francis, continued from 90 Shad Thames. Continuing also were Hills & Wheeler at Haydon Square, Hays & Wedd at 89 Shad Thames, next door to Dunkin & Francis, and Thomas Hays at Mill Street, Dockhead.  George Wedd and family are living at this time in Gainsford Street, and Thomas Hays and family in a house on Mill Street (see subscription list to Lanfear’s Fatal Errorsin 1819), so both families were living near their places of business. Ambrose Lanfear does not appear at this time. In the 1815 Directory, no less than five William Bennetts appear, but it is unclear which, if any, would be the future husband of Marianna Dunkin, who married William Bennett on 23 September 1817. The most likely prospects are the William Bennett, 1 Saville Row, Walworth, jeweller and toy dealer (operating in 1825); William Bennett, 3 Dover Place opposite Surrey Square, Kent Road, paper stainer (operating in 1817); and William Bennett and Co., woolen drapers, 171 High Street, Borough, Southwark (1828-29 Pigot’s London Directory). 

By 1818, changes occur in the Post Office Directory. John Hays Dunkin was now partnering with his relation, a Mr. Summerhays. John Dunkin’s father’s second marriage was to Mary Summerhays, and most likely this is one of her children or grandchildren from her first marriage. Henry Francis would form his own business at this time. Continuing again were Hills & Wheeler at Haydon Square, Hays & Wedd at 89 Shad Thames, and Thomas Hays at Mill Street, Dockhead. Ambrose Lanfear reappears this year, now working on his own as a merchant at 8 Warnford Court, Throgmorton Street. In Holden’s London Directory for 1817-1819, Thomas Hays is partnering with a Mr. Clulow as wharfiners and lightermen, still in Mill Street, Dockhead, Bermondsey; Hays and Wedd still located at 89 Shad Thames. 

        In Robinson’s London Directory for 1820, Henry Hays Dunkin is now listed on his own (without Summerhays) at 25 Shad Thames. Hays and Wedd still at 89 Shad Thames, but Thomas Hays is now listed at Shad Thames as well, not Mill Street. Hills and Wheeler are still at Haydon Square, but now Wheeler’s brother has joined with one of the Hayses (which one is not clear) and formed Hays and Wheeler, lightermen and wharfingers, at St. Saviour’s Dock, Dockhead (just across the narrow waterway separating Gainsford Street from Dockhead). Thomas Hills (b. 1786), younger brother of William Hills, had now joined the group and established himself as a flour factor at 34 Mark Lane, Fenchurch Street. In Pigot’s 1823 London Directory, only one H. Francis appears, and he is a grocer operating from 32 Greek Street, in the Soho. In the 1805 Holden’s London Directory, Henry Francis was listed as a Gentleman living in Aldermanbury, the same place his relation, Nathaniel Palmer, had moved to in 1803. 

        In the Post Office Directory for 1823, Henry Hays Dunkin had now joined with his brother-in-law, John Lee (he married John Dunkin’s daughter, Anne, in 1805 and appears in one of Dunkin’s letters to Mary Hays in 1807), still at 90 Shad Thames. Hays and Wedd are still at 89 Shad Thames but also at Lime Street Square. Hays and Wheeler still at Mill Street, Dockhead, and Hills and Wheeler at Haydon Square, with Thomas Hills still at Mark Lane, near Samuel Palmer, also a corn and flour factor in Mark Lane. 

        In the 1824, 1825 and 1826 London Post Office Directories, Hays and Wedd are at 89 Shad Thames and now also at 8 Billiter Square; Hays and Wheeler are at Meriton’s wharf, Mill Street, Dockhead, with Hills and Wheeler at Haydon Square. 

        In Pigot’s 1826-1827 London and Provincial New Commercial Directory, Hays and Wedd are still 89 Shad Thames and now also at 8 Billiter Square; Hays and Wheeler are at Meriton’s wharf, Mill Street, Dockhead; Hills and Wheeler are still at 8 Haydon Square, and Thomas Hills at 34 Mark Lane, all listed as Corn Merchants.

        In the 1827 Post Office Directory, Hays and Wedd  has changed to Hays and Douglass, with the location remaining the same at 89 Shad Thames and 8 Billiter Square; Hays and Wheeler are at Meriton’s wharf, Mill Street, Dockhead; Hills and Wheeler are still at 8 Haydon Square. 

        In Pigot’s 1828-1829 London and Provincial New Commercial Directory, Hays and Wedd are still 89 Shad Thames and now also at 8 Billiter Square; Hills and Wheeler are still at 8 Haydon Square, and Thomas Hills at 34 Mark Lane, all listed as Corn Merchants, but no Hays and Wheeler. InPigot’s Metropolitan Alphabetical Directoryfor 1828-29, Hays and Wheeler are at Scott’s Wharf, Dockhead; Hays and Douglas (not Wedd) are listed at 8 Billiter Square, corn and flour factors.

        In the 1832 Post Office Directory, Hays and Wheeler still at Mill Street; now William Hills & Co, cornfactors, 8 Heydon Square (sic); 

        In the 1838 Post Office Directory, we now see Hays, Irvine, and Anderson, Cornfactors, 2 Riches Court, Lime Street; also John Hays, cornfactor, 2 Riches Court, Lime Street, and John Hays, Cornfactor, 89 Shad Thames, Southwark. Thomas Hays is now listed as Wharfinger without a partner, still in Mill Street, Dockhead. For the first time, Henry Francis and his son, Henry D[unkin]. Francis, Attornies, at 4 Monument Yard, appear. William Hills & Co. still at Haydon Square; Thomas Hills, corndealer, now located in 8 Red Lion Street, Holborn. George Wedd is now listed by himself as Corn and flour factor at 7 London Street, Fenchurch Street. 

        In the 1840 Post Office Directory, Thomas Hays and son are listed as wharfingers at Meriton’s Wharf, Mill Street, Dockhead. John Hays is still listed as cornfactor at 89 Shad Thames. 

        In the 1841 Post Office Directory, George Wedd is listed at 7 London Street, Mark Lane. John Hays is no longer listed, probably retired at this point.