Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
William Holme Twentyman
31 October 1802 – 7 May 1884
William Holme Twentyman was born in Liverpool, the son of John Middleton Twentyman (a cooper and trader) and Phoebe Holme. In 1818 he went to the Cape with his elder brother Lawrence Holme Twentyman (a silversmith and watchmaker), after they inherited money from a great uncle. The brothers arrived in Cape Town in 1818. William was apprenticed to Lawrence as a silversmith and watchmaker, and later became a partner in Twentyman & Co, running his own shop next door to that of his brother.
In 1828 he moved to Mauritius, where he ran a business as a watch seller and jeweler in Port Louis. He married Celia Pinch, daughter of John Pinch the elder an architect in Bath, in 1832. That year he was caught up in the slave rebellion on Mauritius with his shop coming under siege. By 1841 William had amassed a considerable fortune and, with his family, had returned to England, residing at 21 Avenue Road, Regents Park, London.
William Twentyman was elected Special Constable in 1848; was admitted to the Freedom of the Spectacle Makers’ Company by redemption in 1861; was Sheriff of the City of London from 1861 to 1862; and Justice of the Peace (JP). He died on Wednesday 7 May 1884, at his residence, Ravensworth, St. John’s Wood Park, London, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. William Twentyman left a personal estate of £28173-15-6d.
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