In his book ‘Snapshots of Welsh History without the boring bits’ and on his BBC Wales Blog, Phil Carradice writes about Cardiff entrepreneur, Solomon Andrews. He was a self made man who was, Phil writes, ‘Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in 1835, Solomon Andrews came to Cardiff equipped with just a wooden tray to sling around his neck and a stack of trinkets and sweets to sell in the street’. By 1856 he was able to lease a shop and began a bakery and confectionery business.
Longfield Trowbridge, early 20th century
Having been born in Trowbridge myself I was naturally interested in the early life of this fellow Trowbridgean. I found him on the 1841 census living in Mortimer Street, in a house built for workers in the local cloth factory in the 1820s. His mother, Charlotte, was a woollen weaver and he had 5 brothers and sisters aged between 1 and 13 years. A look in the Parish registers for the Church of St. James showed that four of the children – James ( 6yrs 7m), Caroline (4yrs 3m), Jacob (2 yrs 3m) and Solomon (3 months) were all baptised on 5 June 1835. This could well indicate that they were non-conformists which the majority of people were at that time (I later found they were Methodists), and had decided to have all their children baptised after the birth of Solomon. The parents were listed as John and Charlotte Andrews; John was a hemp and flax dresser. This was a slightly unusual occupation in Trowbridge at this time as much of the industry was the production of woollen cloth.
Had father John died recently or was he somewhere else? Solomon was in Cardiff in 1851 so had the whole family moved there by 1851? The 1851 census throws up more questions. The family, with father John, but without the 16 yr old Solomon are living in King Street, Carmarthen, and John has changed his trade and become a confectioner with his two eldest sons helping in the business. I could find no trace of Solomon on the 1851 census for England or Wales, but as he set up as a baker and confectioner 5 years later it is interesting that his father and brothers had taken that occupation. On the 1851 census John Andrews is said to have been born in Malmesbury (Malmesbury Abbey parish register states that a John Andrews, son of Thomas & Elizabeth, was baptised 24 May 1807, which would be the right age for our John), while his wife Charlotte was born in Stroud. Where was John in 1841?
