3. Rivalry and Family Feud
By the mid-1800s,
directory publishing was seen as a lucrative source of income and employment.
Consequently, William did not have the playing field to himself. As a result, and
as early as July 1844,[i]
William was tendering
his thanks for the liberal patronage he had already received in advance of the
second edition of his Nottinghamshire directory but felt it his duly to caution
the public against the tricks and falsehoods of two discarded servants, who
style themselves, "Francis White and Co.," and are now piratically
collecting orders for the above work, with the intention of robbing W. W. of
his former labours in this county.
Pub. online by University of Leicester Special Collections
White added a short note at the end
of his Preface to Leicestershire in 1846, A PIRATED EDITION of Wm White´s
Nottinghamshire Work was published by unprincipled and illiterate men, in a
very blundering manner. This, and the two discarded servants, almost
certainly refers to the authors of History, Directory and Gazetteer of the
County, and of the Town of Nottingham, published by Francis White and John
White in 1844. But others had also produced directories for that county in
1844. Both Stephen Glover had printed and published his History and
Directory of the Town and County of Nottingham and William Dearden had
printed and published his revised History, Topography and Directory of the
Town of Nottingham and the Adjacent Villages (originally 1834) complete
with map of the city. Both were local publishers but Glover had previously
compiled a History of Derbyshire in 4 volumes and a Directory of
Derbyshire.
Nottinghamshire (for 1844) is the
first of several directories published by Francis White: with Newcastle upon
Tyne appearing in 1847. The irony is that Francis was, in fact, William´s brother,
and he attempted to exploit the popularity and reputation of the White name,
built up by William. In 1847 he set up in business on his own account, under
the style and firm of Francis White and Co., and published directories on a
similar plan to those of his brother. The next of these were published in 1849
and 1850, and related to Birmingham and Warwick respectively[ii].
Francis White would prove to be a formidable rival in the following years.
Although, it is not clear what caused
the initial rift between the two brothers, we do know it stretched back at
least to the early 1840s. Francis was employed by his brother for four years as
a canvassing agent, but was discharged in 1848. Considering the fact that
Francis had already published a directory for Newcastle (not known to have been
covered by William as an individual directory) and was planning more
directories of Birmingham and Warwick, William may have found Francis canvassing
on his own behalf. The row would continue for almost a quarter of a century.
William became quite exasperated with
his brother´s use of the White name and in May 1853, for example, this
advertisement appeared under the heading PUBLIC CAUTION:
WILLIAM WHITE RESPECTFULLY informs
the public that he has NO CONNECTION with the men now canvassing for a New
Edition of his History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, …. Many of the
inhabitants of Lincolnshire and some other counties have lately had spurious
and very inaccurate works palmed upon them, under the impression that they were
second editions of Mr. Wm White´s former publications. The good citizens of Norwich and
Norfolk are then advised to reserve their orders until called upon by Wm.
White's Agents. He again stresses W. W. never had any connection with the party
calling themselves "White and Co."[iii]
This coincided with the publication
of a directory of Norfolk (in 1854) by Francis White & Co. William had
published his first edition of this county in 1836, and the second edition was
already out of date, having been published in 1845. In the meantime, perhaps,
William had discovered that Francis had been threatening some sort of rivalry
as early as 1841. When John Garrard, of Mansfield, sued Mr. Francis White, in
1851, the court was told that in August, 1841, arrangements were made between
the two men for the publication of a directory of Warwickshire and Birmingham.
Two years later, in 1856, the enmity
between the two brothers got to such a state that William felt compelled to
address the good people of Sheffield directly. Consequently, the following
announcement appeared in newspapers.
TO THE PUBLIC. PIRACY and FRAUD ought
at all times to be exposed, whether emanating from a relative or a stranger.
For some years, I have often had the painful task of cautioning the Inhabitants
of other Towns and Counties that I have no connexion with the Men who are now
canvassing Sheffield under the name of White and Co. Francis White, the head of
this firm, in his reply to my last week's caution, has resorted to his old song
of "Only Brother," thinking, in that character, he has a right to
pirate with Impunity the Historical and Topographical matter in the
Nottinghamshire, Norfolk, and many other County Histories and Directories,
published by me during the last thirty years.
After haranguing his brother a little
longer, he finishes with a jibe aimed at his brother: “Where ignorance is bliss,
'tis folly to be wise”[iv].
Francis was not the only rival,
however. In 1862 William took a former employee, Edward Shaw Drake, to Warwick
Assizes for publishing a directory of Leicester. Drake had worked for White for
several years before he left in December 1860 after a disagreement over wages. E
S Drake & Co. had then published a directory of Leicester and Rutland in
1861 (and would publish the Borough of Derby and one of Rotherham in 1862 and
Sheffield in 1863). Drake had based much of his directory on White´s directory
of 1846, including many inaccuracies. Drake was accused of using subscription
forms so designed to cause people to believe they were buying a William White
directory. The text heading read: Drake & Co (large writing), formerly
of (very small script) and William White´s (same size as Drake).[v]
William White junior described to the court how the information was collected
and William White described this in his Preface to the directory of that county
for 1864. In a separate case before the county court in October 1862 the
presiding judge considered the conduct of the plaintiff (Drake) and
his men most disgraceful and untradesman like, in making use of [White's]
name to obtain orders.[vi]
Drake advertisememt, Codnor Park and Ironville Telegraph - Saturday 28 June 1862
Not everybody thought Drake´s
directory to be inadequate, however. A reviewer for the Codnor Park and
Ironville Telegraph (Saturday 04 October 1862) was full of praise: it
is really pleasant at last to come across [a directory] which deserves a word
or two of praise and which may be considered reliable. We glanced into Messrs
Drake and Co.’s neat little volume, and referred haphazard, to many of the
entries to test its accuracy, and the result has, in every case, been
satisfactory. … We cordially recommend this little work.
Between 1860 and 1864 two directories
were updated and second editions of both Essex (1863) and Norfolk (1864)
appeared. Some of the advertising began to note that William was an Associate
of the British Archaeological Institute. William White junior took over the
management from 1864, but between 1864 and 1870 only a second edition of
Leicester was published (1868). The emphasis seems to have been on city
directories during this period and updated issues of the Bradford, Leeds and
Sheffield directories appeared as well as new editions covering Grimsby (1866)
and the first Birmingham directory. It is also around this time that the form
of the directory took a distinctive change. The original series had been
somewhat uniform in style: calf covers with stamped decoration on front and
back, approx. 19 x 12 cm. By 1872 the directory was familiar in dark green
pebbled cloth with gilt titles to spine, and gilt emblem to front in octavo
format, now 25 x 18.5 cm appeared.
In September 1868, the Sheffield
Independent reported the sudden death of Mr. Wiliam White. - We
feel great regret in recording the death of Mr. William White, of Collegiate
crescent, the well-known publisher of directories, which took place at his
residence, early on Thursday morning. Mr. White returned only a few days ago
from Blackpool, and up to Wednesday evening appeared to be in his usual health.
Early on Thursday morning he was seized with apoplexy, and died almost
immediately[vii].
He was 70 years old.
William White junior as recorded in
his father´s obituary, had ‘very ably and successfully carried on [the]
business on his own account.’ He maintained the ‘high’ reputation of the
directories in Yorkshire and adjoining counties. While having ‘the benefit of a
careful training under his father’ he added his ‘great natural ability,
untiring assiduity, and a very sound judgment ... [and] greatly improved the
style of the directories’.[viii]
There were two new directories after
William senior´s death, a directory for Grimsby area and one for Birmingham and
the Hardware District (1869). Birmingham had been covered in the directory of
Staffordshire, but the second (and final) White edition of that county had been
published in 1851 and was sorely out of date. This was another town where
Francis White had been active; he had produced volumes on the city in 1849[ix]
and 1855 but his third edition was not published until 1875. William junior
continued to run the company after his father´s death, however, after a short
illness, William White died aged just 37, only two years later.[x]
Immediately there were attempts by
Francis White to acquire the readership (and orders) from William´s
subscribers. Francis does not seem to have been as successful as his brother
and the newspapers of the time are full of court cases where he is attempting
to receive paltry sums from subscribers who had not paid up. Many of these
claimed that they had, in fact, believed themselves to be ordering the
directory from William[xi].
As soon as William junior died Francis was inserting advertisements into
newspapers implying that he had taken over White´s directory business. The
Public are requested to observe the Address - FRANCIS WHITE and CO.,
BROOMHALL-TERRACE, ECCLESALL ROAD. F. W. and Co. beg to inform their numerous
Subscribers and the Public in general that they have no connection with any
other Directory Publisher in Sheffield. Francis White, Brother to the late
William White, of Collegiate Crescent and Uncle to the late William White.
jun., of Fulwood Parsonage, is the only survivor of the White´s, the noted
Directory Publishers, and that he has upwards of 35 years’ experience in
Directory Business. FRANCIS WHITE and CO., Broomhall-terrace, Ecclesall-road,
Sheffield.[xii]
Only a few days later, the Sheffield
Daily Telegraph[xiii] included
an announcement for WHITE'S
DIRECTORIES. The WIDOW and sole Executrix of the late W. WHITE, Directory
Publisher, begs to give Public Notice that the Business will be carried on as
usual at the Office, 10, BANK-STREET, the name of W. WHITE, for the benefit of
herself and Children. The advertisement went on to give a clue as to the
new owners. A New Edition of W. WHITE'S SHEFFIELD DIRECTORY had been
prepared by her late husband previous to his illness, and in accordance with
his arrangements will be immediately Published, under the Editorship of his
elder Brother, Master of Arts, and high Wrangler of Cambridge, who has had
considerable experience in the Directory Publications of his late Father and
Brother. This “high Wrangler[xiv]”
was her brother-in-law Thomas, William´s older brother (he was 4 years older).
We know that William White Snr had
two sons, Thomas was older than William Jun. by four years and studied at St Johns College, Cambridge and
was awarded his M.A. in 1855[xv].
Thomas had been a senior master in Loughborough and in 1858 the Rev. Thomas White, M.A. (son of
Mr. W. White, publisher of directories), was appointed head master of King´s Lynn
School, Norfolk.[xvi]
He was awarded his doctorate from the same college in 1871[xvii],
and in 1874 the Rev. Thomas White, LL.D., would be presented to the Vicarage of
Hambledon, Hampshire[xviii],
by the Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor, upon the recommendation of H.R.H. the
Prince of Wales. He had met the Prince six years earlier, in 1868 when His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales awarded the annual gold medal to Mr. William
Hoff, the best pupil at the school, accompanied by the Rev. Thomas White, M.A.,
head master and W. Movie, Esq., Mayor of Lynn.
The new owners were George Walter Knox, John Daniell Leader and Robert Eadon
Leader, but they must have had the support of Georgiana and Thomas White. The
matter of ownership became public as a result of a court case and the public
announcements of Francis White. The Sheffield
Daily Telegraph of Saturday
24 June 1871, for example, ran a long story concerning a case heard at a
special sitting of the Chapel-en-le-Frith Petty Sessions where Francis White
was accused of attempted fraud. During the hearing, which was rejected on a
technicality, it was stated that in May 1870, the complainants, i.e. Knox and
the Leader brothers, had purchased the business of compiling and publishing
directories, including the copyright, the goodwill, and the right to use the
name of Wm White and Co. from the executrix of Mr Wm White.
In 1872, a case of copyright
infringement concerning the company name was heard before the Vice-Chancellor's
Court. A motion on the
part of John Daniell Leader and Robert Eadon Leader, newspaper proprietors, and
George Walter Knox, accountant, all of Sheffield; and Mrs. Georgiana White, of
Chester, sought an order to restrain Mr. Francis White.[xix]
Once again, the brothers claimed they had acquired the right from Mr. William
White, Senior, and Mr. William White, Junior, to publish directories which were
known as "Whites Directories" the name of "White" simply
appearing on the back of the book. A
gentleman´s agreement was reached between all parties, but Francis did not give
in. He ran special announcements in newspapers: CAUTION. … That Francis
White is the only Person of the Name of WHITE who is now connected with the
Publication of “White´s” Directories. That Francis WHITE is the only Surviving
Brother … the real proprietors and publishers of the Work being George Walter
Knox, John Daniel Leader, and Robert Eadon Leader, signed Sheffield, 1st
Dec., 1871.[xx]
In 1873 Francis was again back in
court. He was suing prospective subscribers who refused to pay for his
directories, claiming they were under the impression that Francis was
representing William´s widow and it was a W White directory they requested[xxi].
John Daniell and Robert Eadon Leader
were the sons of Alderman Robert Leader, proprietor of the Sheffield and
Rotherham Independent from 1842. A newspaper which Robert´s father had
taken on as early as 1830. It was their father who had worked closely together
with William White since the early 1830s.
In 1860, Robert and his older
brother, John Daniel Leader, were admitted into partnership. Four years later,
the father retired in favour of his two sons, though Robert Leader continued to
take an active part in the editorial work until 1875. Although the name Leader
(as printer) disappeared from the title page of the directories from about
1866, the company (Leader & Sons) continued to be the printers for White. Robert
Eadon became editor and John became commercial manager, an arrangement that
lasted until 1892, when Robert became a Liberal Parliamentary candidate[xxii].
He wrote extensively about Sheffield and its history and those works are highly
appreciated to this day. The Leader family sold the paper a few years
later and it was about this time the White directories began to be printed by
Spottiswoode and Co.
William White´s Directories:
Click the entry below to access relevant page.
1. Early Years - William White and Edward Baines
2. William White & Co.
3. Rivalry and Family Feud
4. Francis White
5. Maps
6. William White Co. - Later Years
Appendix I. Description of the maps in the Directory of Yorkshire (Baines)
Appendix II. Description of the maps in the Directory of Lancashire (Baines)
Appendix III. Description of the maps in the Directory of Durham and Northumberland (White & Parson, White 1)
Appendix IV. Lists of White directories - locations, date of issue, reference to maps.
White 2 - Cumberland & Westmorland
White 3 - Nottinghamshire
White 4 - Staffordshire
White 5 - Norfolk
White 6 - Yorkshire (later editions)
White 7 - Lincoln
White 8 - Suffolk
White 9 - Leicestershire with Rutland
White 10 - Essex
White 11 - Devonshire
White 12 - Hampshire with Isle of Wight
White´s city directories
[i]
Nottingham
Review - Friday 26 July 1844.
[ii]
Reported in the trial proceedings of 1872: Sheffield Independent - Friday 19 January 1872.
[iii] Lynn Advertiser - Saturday 28 May
1853.
[iv] Sheffield Independent - Saturday 29 November 1856.
[v] Sheffield Independent - Friday 15
August 1862.
[vi] Leicester Journal - Friday 24 October 1862.
[vii]
Sheffield Independent - Saturday 05 September 1868.
[viii]
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 4 September 1868, p.3. and 24
January, 1870, p.3.
[ix] This was a section of his forthcoming directory for
Warwickshire, which was published the following year.
[x]
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Monday 24 January 1870.
[xi] See, for example, the Leeds Times - Saturday
09 May 1857.
[xii]
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Saturday 29 January 1870.
[xiii]
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 15 February 1870.
[xiv] Winner of a prestigious prize in mathematics.
[xv] Awarded June 30th, 1855, and announced in
the Cambridge Independent Press - Saturday 07 July 1855.
[xvi]
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Saturday 02 October 1858.
[xvii] Bell's Weekly Messenger - Saturday
18 February 1871.
[xviii]
The benefice being valued at £750 per annum,
with a residence, and the population of the parish at 2,000. Essex Standard - Friday
10 July 1874.
[xix] Reported in the Bolton Evening News - Friday
19 January 1872.
[xx] Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 30 January 1872.
[xxi] Sheffield Independent - Friday 07
February 1873.
[xxii]
See, for example, David Poole´s articles (2020) at https://sheffielder.net
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