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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Derbyshire => Topic started by: woodviewpark on Monday 29 July 13 07:54 BST (UK)
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John Murphy b 24 May 1819 in Dublin, Ireland, son of George and Mary (to be confirmed) was apprenticed to Mr John Vallance of Derbyshire, at the suggestion of Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde, a family friend and a woman whose patronage caused John to move to England to learn his trade. I have found Johns' obituary listing his father as a soldier and detailing young Johns' apprenticeship to the trade, where he became a marble mason with his own business in Madron / Penzance, Cornwall, after being the foreman of the Penzance Serpentine Co. in 1850s. I am interested in his life in Derbyshire, he married Elizabeth Bryan, daughter of Benjamin Bryan and Mary Bown, (the family had some of the show caverns, Coalpit Rake/Devonshire Cavern, in Matlock Bath in 1841 in Matlock Bath and had 11 children. I am also keen to know more about his family, he had 7 brothers and one sister who eventually came to England also, from Ireland. John was also an inventor who mastered a method to arrest the decay of stone, he and one other rival were selected eventually to conduct further trials about this process, but John died before he found out the results of his discovery. Any information on this family would be most appreciated.
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I take it that this is Derbyshire "Bluejohn" that they're working?
Skoosh.
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John Vallance was a spar and marble manufacturer. At the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace he won a prize medal for his in-laid marble tables, see http://enlightenmentderbyshire.wordpress.com/tag/matlock-bath/
"The Matlock Tourist; and Guide through the Peak, embracing Matlock Bath, Haddon, Chatsworth and C", Henricus (1843) - The Museums. Extract includes description and image of the famous Blue John Vase executed by Mr. Vallance. http://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/guides/index.htm
Stan
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I imagine it was bluejohn, if that is what his employer worked with. I only know he was a marble mason, later when he was asked to move to Cornwall in 1950, he worked with Serpentine. I have a photo of a pair of candlesticks he made in 1860, they are in a museum now and just beautiful. He made the memorial font to Mrs Churchill at All Saints , Landport and did a large amount of serpentine restoration work. I would like to find out more about his employer and the work he did. He was known as a petrofactioner in Derbyshire, which I have read a bit about. I also want to find out if any of 7 brothers or sister went into the trade as well, having come from Ireland to join him. His marriage certificate states his father as John, but the only reference in Dublin in 1819 I can find is John Murphy baptised to George Murphy and Mary (Mulligan) and then no more children. I will keep looking.
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I am a bit late replying, but I think the John Vallance you refer to is an ancestor of mine. There is some information on him here https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vallance-494
Very interesting to find out that he had apprentices, and yes I believe it is the stone Blue John that is only found in Derbyshire, that he would have worked with.
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More likely Black Ashford marble
https://geocollnews.wordpress.com/2021/06/21/a-john-vallance-collection-of-derbyshire-minerals-a-rare-survivor/
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I thought Blue John was only extracted from the caves and mines in the Hope Valley, and not from around Matlock. Happy to be corrected!