THE JULERS OF NORTH WALSHAM

Clockmakers, Ophthalmologists, Foundrymen and Estate Agents

The first branch started to grow from the trunk of the Barcham Family Tree when, on 20 June 1746, Sarah Barcham (1726–1762) daughter of Mary (née Bacon) and William Barcham, married John Juler, a clock and watchmaker in Market Place, North Walsham. The wedding was at All Saints’ Edingthorpe. Nothing more was known about Sarah and John and their descendants until John Marsden contacted Chris Farrow at the end of last year. Since then Chris has received a tremendous amount of information about them from John Marsden and others in England, Australia and the United States.

Like the Barchams, John Juler’s forebears have been traced back to the 16th century in Norfolk. John’s parents, Hannah (née Long) and Matthew Juler, were members of the Independent [Baptist] Chapel in Bradfield, Norfolk, where their six children were baptised. When they were married at All Saints’ Edingthorpe Sarah was 20 and John 22. They had four children: James (1747–1768) died when he was 21; John (1750–1825) married Hannah Dyball, and followed his father’s craft, which he handed on to his son George (1786–1858) (see below) Matthew (b. 1752, died in infancy); and Matthew (1756–1837), who became an iron founder in Cambridge.

It seems that certain genes determine the occupations we pursue, and that these are passed on from one generation to the next. This is apparent in the crafts, professions and trades that were pursued by this branch of the family. Whereas the descendants of William Barcham of Church Farm, Edingthorpe, were predominantly farmers and mariners, the descendants of William’s younger sister Sarah were clock and watchmakers, pharmacists and surgeons, foundry owners and estate agents.

Clock and Watch Makers

It is not known where John Juler (senior) learnt his craft – from another Juler clock and watchmaker in Norwich or London, perhaps. John’s younger brother, Matthew (b. 1733), was his apprentice, but in April 1853 he ran away to Lincolnshire and, in spite of several notices published in the Norwich Mercury, he was not apprehended and brought back to his master.

In June 2005, a clock made by John Juler was sold at auction in Lincoln, England. The clock, which the auctioneer expected to sell for between £700 and £1200 is described in the catalogue as:

A mahogany long-case clock, the arched moon roller dial painted with globes and gilding to the spandrels, signed Jno. Juler, N. Walsham, the tall mahogany case with domed hood, inlaid with a shell and with gilt vase finials, flanked by fluted columns, the base with a long arched door on a rectangular cross-banded plinth with ogee feet, 251 cm high.

John’s wife, Sarah, died in late 1762. Her death distressed him so much that, on 28 March 1763, John sold his household furniture and stock in trade at an auction. He continued to live in Norfolk for another ten years; and bought several pieces of land in North Walsham, which were inherited by his son, John. In about 1773, John (senior) went to Ponders End, Enfield, Middlesex, where he died in 1797.

John, the eldest surviving son of John Juler (senior), continued the clock and watch business in North Walsham, and bought property in Market Square in 1775. Subsequently, he opened shops in Cromer and Bury St Edmunds. It is possible that John’s cousin, Asher Barcham, learnt his craft as an apprentice under his uncle’s supervision before establishing his own clockmaking business in Tonbridge, Kent.

Two of John’s great-great-great-nephews (descendants of his brother Matthew) own examples of his clocks made in about 1790. Also, at least four other members of the Juler clan in the United States have other items from the Juler clock works in North Walsham. These were all purchased in England and shipped to the United States, not brought in when members of the family emigrated.

At North Walsham, on 24 October 1774, John (junior) married Hannah Dyball. They had seven children. Their third child was George (1786–1858), who inherited the clock and watchmaking business when his father died in 1825. William Juler (1822–1845), son of George’s younger brother William Fox Juler, worked as a watchmaker for his uncle: he drowned while swimming in 1845, aged 23.

George died in 1858 and left his estate valued at about £1000 to his nephew, Henry Cundell Juler, see below. Henry Cundell’s sister Elinor (b. 1823) married a watchmaker, Benjamin W. Walker, at Norwich in 1849. They moved to Bedford, Cambridge and finally to London, where Benjamin was working at this craft in 1881. Since George did not marry, he had no direct descendant to continue the business. However, it appears that the craft was continued by William Juler (1795–1863). The common ancestor of George and William has not been found yet. William started working as a blacksmith with his father in Burnham Westgate, a market town in North Norfolk. Sometime between 1845 and 1851, he became a watchmaker and gunsmith. William may have learnt his craft from George. William married Alice Nailer in 1819, and had eight children, three of whom became watchmakers.

William junior (1820–1879) was working as an engraver in St Ives, Cornwall, when he married Mary Ann Clemence in 1851. Later, William went to Australia, and Mary Ann sailed from Southampton aboard the Grand Trionon, and joined him in Victoria on 20 August 1858. They settled at Creswick, near the gold-rush town of Ballarat, where William advertised his business in the Creswick and Clunes Advertiser:

Wm. Juler

Watchmaker, Jeweller.

Has constantly on hand the following articles:

Clocks – English, French, American, Lever &c;

Watches – a great variety; Jewellry of all kinds;

Musical instruments and strings for ditto; Electric plated goods;

Spectacles & eye glasses; Thermometers, &c, &c.

Miles (1822–1905), second son of William and Alice, became a watchmaker, working for his father in Burnham Westgate until in 1856 he married Sarah Bidwell and they moved to Great Yarmouth where he had premises at 37 King Street.

Alice and William’s third son, George (1830–1900) also became a watchmaker. In 1857, he married Frances Mitchley. They lived in Norfolk until some time in the 1870s, when they moved to Southwold, Suffolk. Frances and George had seven children of whom the eldest Herbert (1858–1911) was a watchmaker. Herbert married Amelia Ladd and had a son Ernest Henry (1878–1909) who was raised by his grandmother and lived most of his life in Southwold, where he was a master jeweller and watchmaker.

The Julers’ clock and watchmaking dynasty lasted through six generations: two as direct descendants of John Juler (senior) of North Walsham; and three generations of William Juler’s descendants. When John Juler became a clock and watchmaker in the 1750s most of the mechanisms and cases were hand-crafted; later parts and mechanisms were factory-made and assembled by craftsmen who signed their work; now clocks and watches are all factory-made, and repairs are the only work requiring skill.

Chemists, Doctors and Surgeons

Following the theme of sons following their fathers’ occupations, one branch of the Juler family went into pharmacy, medicine and surgery. Over a period of about 180 years from 1790, five generations of Julers have been pharmacists, doctors, dental or ophthalmic specialists, during which time they made significant contributions in their professions, and were recognised for their exceptional skills.

William Fox Juler (1794–1843), the youngest of Hannah and John Juler’s seven children, became a pharmaceutical chemist in North Walsham. In 1817 he married Mary Allistone. Mary and William had ten children, who were born between 1819 and 1836. The family lived in Wymondham, Norfolk, until about 1828, when they moved to the Norwich area. After William Fox Juler died in 1843, aged 49, his widow continued to run the chemist’s shop in St James Road, Norwich, with the help of their son, Richard Roan (1829–1792), and daughter Elinor (b. 1823) until 1849, when she married Benjamin Willonspread Walker, a watchmaker, and moved to Bedford (see above). After working with his widowed mother for some time, Richard Roan moved to Woolwich, Kent, where he was a surgeon dentist, living at 110 Powis Street with his wife and two children when enumerated in the 1881 census.

Mary and William Fox Juler’s eldest son, William (1820–1845), was adopted by his uncle Henry Juler, and went to work for Henry’s brother George, the clockmaker in North Walsham. When William drowned in August 1845 Henry adopted William’s younger brother, Henry Cundell Juler (1827–1913). Henry Cundell, then aged 16, had decided to devote his life to medicine and surgery; presumably he had also worked in his father’s shop with his elder brother and sister. On the advice of the executor of his grandfather’s estate, Jedidiah Barcham, Henry Cundell went to London to begin his studies. In 1853, he became a member of the British Medical Association, and Licentiate of Midwifery; and in 1855 he obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Aberdeen, and was appointed surgeon assistant at Aberdeen Infirmary. He was then 28. In 1856, he became a Licentiate of the Apothecaries Hall.

Instead of staying in Aberdeen, Henry Cundell Juler appears to have been a general practitioner in Isleham, Cambridgeshire, where in 1856 he married Caroline Seaber (née Robins) a widow, aged 41. She may have had a son by her previous marriage: Henry Edward (1842–1921) was adopted by Henry and took his stepfather’s surname. Caroline and Henry Juler lived in Isleham from 1856 until about 1862, when they moved to London, where they lived first at 65 Connaught Terrace, Edgware Road, then at 17 Lower Seymour Street, Marylebone and finally at 5 James Street, W2. Henry Cundell Juler was a brilliant doctor and a ‘high flyer’. Unfortunately, he was a homosexual, which was unacceptable in those days, and appeared as a witness at the Central Criminal Court [Old Bailey] in September 1866. His appearance in court may have been the reason why he went to the United States in October 1866, on the eve of being elected house surgeon at Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital. It is not known if Caroline sailed with him or if she came later when Henry Cundell had established himself as a physician and surgeon in Cincinnati, Ohio. Between 1871 and 1874, he published a number of papers on medicine, and became a well-respected physician. Juler Avenue in Cincinnati is named after him. Later, Henry Cundell studied law at Cincinnati Law College, graduated with an LlD degree in 1875, and was admitted to practice at the Bar. Caroline died in 1871, aged 57.

It is known that Henry returned to London several times, including once when he was invited to a conversazione at the Royal College of Surgeons in June 1879, and to a reception given by the Municipalité de Paris at the Hotel de Ville. He was in London again in the summer of 1905, when he was convicted at Marlborough Street Police Court ‘for committing an act in violation of public decency in Hyde Park’; and the following year his name was struck from the Medical Register after a hearing during the winter session of the General Medical Council, which Henry Cundell did not attend. Henry Cundell Juler died in 1913, aged almost 85.

Henry Edward Juler and Frank Anderson Juler: Ophthalmologists

Henry Edward Juler (1842–1921), trained as a medical student at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, where his father Henry Cundell Juler was a Governor. After Henry Cundell Juler and his wife Caroline emigrated to Ohio, Henry Edward remained in the United Kingdom and became a well-known ophthalmologist. By the time he was 40 in 1882 he had written a Handbook of Ophthalmology. Later published worldwide in 1884 as Handbook of Ophthalmic Science and Practice, it went to many editions over subsequent years. Henry Edward became a senior surgeon at the Royal Westminster Eye Hospital in London, and subsequently chief of service there from 1894 to 1911. He maintained his relationship with St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, where he had trained as a young man.

In 1882 Henry Edward Juler developed a small reflecting ophthalmoscope, which had a rotating disc of 21 lenses. In 1886, he modified the design to include an external electric light bulb, powered by a battery. This made it one of the earliest electric ophthalmoscopes. It was very popular in the United Kingdom and was also sold overseas. These instruments were made on his behalf by the well-known (at that time) optical instrument maker, the Hungarian Moritz Pillischer, and his nephew Jacob Pillischer, who took over from Moritz in 1887. Moritz had a retail shop at 88 New Bond Street at that time. Moritz died in Brighton in 1893, aged 74. His nephew Jacob (also born in Hungary) married an English girl (Rose) and became a naturalised British subject in 1911. The photo shows a Juler/Pillischer ophthalmoscope from Buffalo (New York) University [for more information on Henry Edward Juler’s ophthalmoscopes see the article by Norman B Medow, Ophthalmology Times, 15 March 2006].

Henry Edward Juler's son, Frank Anderson Juler (1880-1962), also became an ophthalmologist and developed some ophthalmic equipment himself. These items were manufactured on his behalf by the Keeler Instrument Company. The company still exists and their manufacturing works are just outside Windsor, some 25 miles west of London. Over many years, Frank Anderson Juler built up a substantial collection of historical ophthalmic equipment. Much of the collection was passed on to Richard Keeler of Keeler Ltd, who is the curator of the museum of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, 17 Cornwall Terrace, London, NW1.

In 1879, Henry Edward Juler married Amy Margaret Churchill (née Anderson). They lived at 77 Wimpole Street until 1892, moved to Harcourt House in Cavendish Square, then in 1921 to 17 Alexandra Court, Queen’s Gate, South Kensington. Henry Edward died on 21 April 1921; and Amy Margaret died on 22 September 1922.

Amy and Henry Edward Juler had five children: the eldest, Frank Anderson (1880–1962) followed his father’s profession and became a distinguished ophthalmic surgeon, working at St Mary’s Hospital and at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, as well as being appointed surgeon-occulist to King George VI’s household from 1936 to 1951, and since then extra surgeon-occulist to Queen Elizabeth II’s household. His obituary and account of his funeral were published in the Times on 8 and 13 February 1962:

MR. F.A. JULER

Mr. Frank Anderson Juler, C.V.O., who died yesterday at the age of 81, was, like his father, Henry Juler, a distinguished ophthalmic surgeon . . . He was born on August 22, 1880, and from St. Paul School went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a first in the Natural Science Tripos, Part 1, before going on to ST. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. He served in the First World War in the R.A.M.C., and was consulting ophthalmologist to the B.E.F. [British Expeditionary Force] in France in 1939-40. He was president of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom from 1948 to 1950; president of the ophthalmic section of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1942 to 1944; and in 1946-47 president of the Faculty of Ophthalmologists. He was created C.V.O. in 1947.

FUNERALS

Mr. F.A. Juler

The Queen was represented by Mr Allen Goldsmith at the funeral service for Mr. Frank Anderson Juler yesterday at All Souls’, Langham Place. The Rev. J. R. W. Stott and the Rev. Dr. F Coventry took part in the service. Among those present were:

Mrs. Juler (widow), Dr. Humphrey Juler (son), Dr. and Mrs. [Phyllis] Donald Brooks, Captain and Mrs. [Betty] Edward Hale, Mr. and Mrs. [Pauline] Bernard Richards, and Mr. and Mrs. [Joyce] Julian Hemmingway (sons-in-law and daughters) . . . Mr. Frank Law (president of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom|) . . . Mr. J.R. Hudson (representing the Faculty of Ophthalmologists0, Mr. Keith Lyle (Dean of the Institute of Ophthalmology), Mr. J.P. Heming (house governor, Moorfields Eye Hospital, representing the board of governors), Miss. M.B. McKellar (matron, Moorfields Eye Hospital) with senior representation of the nursing staff, . . .

Frank Anderson Juler had married Mabel Alicia Chamberlayne in 1907. They lived at 24 Cavendish Square until 1924, then at 14 Portland Place [the site is now the BBC’s headquarters], and later at 96 Harley Street, W1. They had five children, two of whom had connections with the medical profession: the eldest, Phyllis Kathleen (b. 1908) married William Donald Wykeham Brooks; and the youngest, Humphrey Desmond Juler (b. 1918) was a doctor in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.

Foundry Owners

Some Barchams and Julers were blacksmiths or practised other trades, but another branch of the Juler family owned an iron foundry.

Matthew (1756–1837), the youngest child of Sarah (née Barcham) and John Juler might have worked at an iron foundry in North Walsham before he moved to Cambridge, probably sometime in the 1780s. According to Cambridge Iron Founders, a booklet published by the Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Society in 1996, there were eight iron foundries in and near Cambridge in the 19th century. One of the foundries was started by Matthew Juler on a piece of land on White Hart Lane in King Street, leased for 40 years from the trustees of the Holy Trinity Estate Charity, paying £15 per year rent. According to the lease, dated 22 March 1821:

. . . on which ground a substantial building of brick and tile is to be erected by and at the expense of Mr. Juler . . . He will not permit, at any time, the said property to be used to carry on the trade of tallow chandler, soap boiler, pipe maker or erect a coke oven, or keep pigs or cows, or to carry on a noisome or offensive trade whatsoever (Save and except the trade or business of an iron founder . . .)

Matthew’s sons John (1801–1894) and Matthew (1793–1827); and his grandsons Charles Juler (1812–1885, illegitimate son of Sarah Juler) and John Barton (1826–1862, son of Eliza (née Barton) and John Juler) were also iron founders. When Matthew (senior) retired, John took over the foundry and ran it in partnership with his brother Matthew until the latter died. From about 1851, John and his wife Julia (née Tooby) lived in Ipswich until they returned to Cambridge in about 1858, during which time his son John Barton may have managed the foundry. John retired in 1861; and between 1861 and 1864 the premises and business were taken over by William C. Shippey, who advertised himself as an ‘iron and brass founder and repairer of agricultural machines’.

Unfortunately, the Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Society has not found any cast iron work that can be definitely attributed to the Julers. However, family evidence has it that the manhole covers to the sewers in Cambridge were stamped ‘John Juler’ until they were replaced in the mid 20th century. A little of William Shippey’s work survives: there are nine bollards in Parker’s Place adjoining the University Arms Hotel, inscribed ‘Shippey Maker, Corporation of Cambridge’.

Real Estate Agents

Mary (1791–1837), the fifth child of Hannah (née Dyball) and John Juler, married William Lound, at Elsing, Norfolk in 1812. William was a linen draper in Bermondsey, London. Mary died in 1837, aged 46, leaving her estate to her two children, in trust until they were 22. William survived her by 14 years until he was run over by an omnibus in City Road and died of his injuries a few days later on 25 January 1851, aged 61.

Mary and Henry had two children. Mary Ann (1826–1902) was baptised at St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, the church where Anne Edwards and William Ayres Barcham were married nine months earlier. She married her second cousin John Lound at St Andrews, Holborn, in 1848. At the time of their marriage, John was an auctioneer and house agent in partnership with William Nedby. John went on to establish his own business and became a wealthy man. In 1871, the family was living at 86 Addison Road, Holland Park, Kensington, and employed a cook, housemaid and coachman. Ten years later, John and two of his unmarried daughters were living at 35 Kensington Park Gardens, Notting Hill.

The boom in property development in Bayswater, Kensington and Earls Court that followed the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, were prosperous times for John Lound’s real estate business. He died in 1884, leaving a personal estate of more than £73,000: Mary Ann was left a sum of only £1000, ‘seeing that I have already made ample provision for her.’ The remainder of his personal estate was left to his eight surviving children, family and friends. His home was sold the following year.

Mary Ann and John Lound’s eldest son John Adams (b. 1851) was working for his father in Chancery Lane on an annual salary of £200 in 1879. Later he became a solicitor, and lived with his wife at 17 Porchester Gardens, Bayswater. Their second son Claude Demetrius Gordon (1853–1927) was a surveyor. In 1884 Claude inherited his father’s business, which became known as Lound and Howitt, Auctioneers and Surveyors. Claude was a hotel valuer and owned the license for the County Arms Hotel on Trinity Road, Wandsworth.

Henry (1730–1909), Mary and Henry Lound’s second child, emigrated to Australia in 1852, aboard the Anglesey, with his unmarried cousin Sophia Lound. Henry followed his father’s trade and became a mercer and later a partner in Lound and Geary, a firm of merchants in Sydney. When this business failed, Henry and his family moved to Singleton NSW, where he advertised as an auctioneer:

Royal Auction Rooms, George Street, Singleton

Henry Lound, Auctioneer,Valuator, House Land and Estate Agent, &c

Good Secure Paddocks, Yards, &C.

Sales of Horses, Merchandise, Furniture, &c Every Tuesday and Saturday,

Land and Property on Thursdays.

There is a parallel with the Barcham branch. In 1809, Captain William Barcham (1771–1859) left the sea and became a farmer, auctioneer and land agent at Mundesley. In 1839, he was one of the commissioners appointed for the tithe assessment of the Parish of Edingthorpe: the assessment for Church Farm was £62-1s. When William died in 1859, the auction business was continued by his son Thomas (b. 1818) and grandson Herbert Samuel (b. 1849). The business was known as Barcham and Son, and had a sales ground in North Walsham. Herbert Samuel lived at Knapton Old Hall, which he leased from the trustees of Peterhouse College, Cambridge.