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The Vault: An Imperial Half Pint Measuring Cup by James Blanch

ByTeaghan Hall

‘An Instrumental Legacy’ by Teaghan Hall published in Antiques to Vintage Magazine, Summer 2024, Issue 93. 

Objects are important as they tell our human history by connecting us to past places and people. Every now and then an item comes along that may not be made from the most precious materials but is significant in the history that it holds and the story which it uncovers. Never has this sentiment rung truer than in the instance of a measuring cup created by James Blanch. This unique instrument offers a direct link to the history of Australia and the colony of New South Wales.

A Convict’s Tale

James Blanch (junior) was born in England on the 17th of November 1784 (Source 1). He was the last of four children born to James Blanch (senior) and Jane Barlow and christened in 1785 at St. Anne’s, Soho (Source 2). At the age of fourteen it is surmised that he was apprenticed in the trade of mathematical instrument making (Source 3). By the end of the 18th century, London had become the world’s leading centre for scientific instrument making with numerous piece-makers and wholesalers specialising in the manufacture of optical, mathematical and philosophical instruments (Source 3). Despite this training, the first recorded occupation of James Blanch was from 1814 as a Customs House Officer working on the London docks.

At the age of 28 Blanch marries Sarah Empson at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney on the 2nd of September 1813 (Source 2). James Blanch is employed as a Custom’s House Officer and stationed on George Hall’s Ship (Source 2). On the 20th of January 1814 James Blanch and a fellow officer, John Brennan, are accused of the charge of grand larceny, for the theft of ten yards of Russia duck, a heavy linen fabric (Source 4). The trial of James Blanch and John Brennan took place on the 16th of February 1814 at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court (Source 5). The record of the trial proceedings from the Old Bailey details the accusations from George Hall, he is noted as saying ‘I am master of the ship the Lord Harlington, from St. Petersburgh to London. I brought a general cargo, among other things Russia linen. My vessel laid in the London Docks for being unladen. The two prisoners were Custom-house officers stationed on board my ship’ (Source 5). The trial proceedings detail an eyewitness account from George North, a ship mate on the George Hall ship, where he describes how Blanch and Brennan fastened the fabric to their bodies with rope yarn (Source 5). John Brennan brings forth 5-character witnesses, James Blanch has no character witnesses but does offer a defence. However, both men receive guilty verdicts and receive ‘transported for seven years’ as their sentences. ‘If found guilty at trial, the prisoner could be sentenced to transportation or death. A death sentence was often commuted to transportation and the prisoner would then be sent to a gaol or hulk to wait to board a convict vessel for the Australian colonies’ (Source 6). James Blanch was held at the Middlesex Gaol until his transportation to the colony of New South Wales.

James Blanch was transported to Australia aboard the Fanny I with 170 other prisoners. The ship was a merchant ship built on the river Thames in 1810 and used as a trade vessel. The Fanny I departed on the 25th of August 1815 under the command of Ship Master John Wallis (Source 1). There was a scheduled stop at Rio de Janeiro to pick up trade items before carrying on to Australia. The ship would dock at Port Jackson on 18th of January 1816 after 146 days of days of travel (Source 7). This was the only voyage transporting convicts to Australia that the Fanny 1 would make.

Whilst serving their sentences the skillsets of the convicts would be used to further progress the infrastructure of the colony. ‘Governor Phillip often employed convicts according to their skills; they may have been carpenters, servants, cooks, farmers or shepherds before they were transported’ (Source 8). It is possible that James Blanch’s former training in mathematical instruments may have been utilised during his sentence. He was eventually awarded a Ticket of Leave in February 1821 (Source 9). ‘Ticket-of-leave holders were allowed to work for themselves, and to acquire property, on the condition that they live within a specified district and report regularly to a magistrate. Any misbehaviour at all could result in the ticket being taken away from them’ (Source 8). It was under these conditions that James Blanch would establish his foundry business in 1821 (Source 10).

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The Measure of a Man

After James Blanch was released, his wife Sarah Blanch, departs England as a free settler aboard the Brixton on the 29th of April 1821, arriving in New South Wales on the 31st of July 1821 (Source 11). ‘The Brixton appears to have mainly carried free passengers however some convicts were transported’ (Source 11). Starting a new life together in Sydney, James Blanch opens the Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works. “Blanch set up business in Pitt Street as a mathematical and philosophical instrument maker, brass founder, brazier, plater and general worker in silver and brass” (Source 3). The following year in 1822 James and Sarah Blanch welcome their first child, Maria Jane, and move the business premises to a new location on George Street. James and Sarah Blanch would continue expanding their family with their second child, James born in 1823 and third child, Sarah in 1824. Their fourth child, William was born in 1827 but died in infancy (Source 12).

By February 1822, Blanch had moved to ‘a more commodious and centrical situation’ at 78 George Street (Source 3). The range of goods and services provided by the foundry are detailed in an article for The Australian Metrologist by Julian Holland, it reads ‘J.B. makes, and has always for sale, brass and plated harness furniture, parlour and chamber candlesticks, copper teakettles, brass cocks of all sorts, locks and hinges of every description, scales, beams, weights and steelyards, wire fenders, hand bells, ivory and wood rules, &c.’ He also advertised ‘sextants, quadrants, compasses, telescopes, and other nautical and optical instruments repaired and accurately adjusted. Umbrellas and parasols made and repaired; musical instruments repaired; and every article in brass, copper, silver or ivory, made to any pattern’ (Source 3). James Blanch was assigned convicts to assist him in producing items and he is also noted as having an apprentice (Source 12). ‘While he could not have made a living at this alone, his skill was unique in the colony, and was on occasion valuable to the government’ (Source 3). During his time in business on George Street James Blanch also acquired adjacent properties numbers 69 and 70 (Source 3).

James Blanch had been successful in beginning his new professional and family life in the colony of New South Wales. However, it would be a ‘Bill for preventing the use of false and deficient Weights and Measures’ passed in August 1832 that would forever weave the work of James Blanch into Australia’s history. It was accountant and mathematician, Patrick Kelly, who first recorded the term of metrology in an 1816 text, in which he proposed universal standards, a central remit of discipline, aimed at the development of agreed standards for weights and measures in science and industry (Source 13). As it stood, “Victorian England and Colonial Australia were awash with interpretations about reliable and agreed standards, and the construction of artefacts to accurately measure them” (Source 13). It was therefore decided, that with the passing of the new bill the infant colony of New South Wales would develop a uniformed approach to measurement and weight based upon the imperial system of England. The provision of these items was awarded to James Blanch with the task of creating seven sets of instruments accurately determining weights, volume measurements and a standard yard. The sets were to include the below;

Series of weights: 1, 2, 4, and 8 drams, 1, 2, 4, and 8 ounces, 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 28, and 56 pounds. 

Series of volume measures: half gill, gill, half pint, pint, quart, half gallon, gallon, peck, half bushel and bushel. 

An instrument the length of one standard yard, better known as a yard stick. 

James Blanch had the required set ready by February 1833 and the seven sets were ‘distributed to police offices in various regional towns – Parramatta, Windsor, Bong-Bong, Goulburn, Bathurst, Maitland – as well as one to the police office in Sydney’ (Source 3). These instrument sets would be the foundations of accurate and cohesive measurement units across the colony of New South Wales. Balances and scales were also required by the government and the provision of these also fell to Blanch (Source 3). Items from these sets have the maker’s mark ‘J.Blanch’ embossed on the items. They are also marked with the broad arrow symbol and the date of manufacture. The broad arrow mark was used across England and colonial Australia. “Every item made or used by government convicts had to be marked or stamped with a broad arrow, the mark of government property, to prevent theft and the selling-on of government goods and tools. The broad arrow was so widely used to mark objects used by convicts, that it became associated with the convict system itself, rather than just a symbol of government property” (Source 14). At the time of this item being commissioned by the government James Blanch was a free member of society. Therefore, a distinction can be made that this mark was associated with the sets belonging to government property as opposed to being included due to Blanch’s prior convict status.

Alongside his foundry business, James Blanch continued to purchase property around the colony.  James Blanch acquired farms at Kissing Point, Brisbane Water and Illawarra, in addition to the George Street properties (Source 3). James Blanch lived with his wife and children on George Street up until his death in 1842 at age 57. His death notice in The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser reads ‘at his residence, George-street, on Wednesday last, about nine o’clock, Mr. James Blanch, ironmonger, aged 57’ (Source 15). His name is listed at number 182 of all time richest Australian list (Source 16).  He left to his wife Sarah, his property portfolio, however, it is noted that many of the properties were auctioned off by his wife in 1844, suggesting the impacts of the 1840’s financial depression in Australia (Source 3).

James Blanch’s foundry business was taken over after his death by Peter Nicol Russell who continued its operation with his two brothers under the company P.N Russell and Company. Peter Nicol Russell would live on to become a pioneering figure of the engineering industry within Australia and was a significant benefactor to the University of Sydney.

sydney foundry

Workers photographed in front of the Sydney Foundry & Engineering Works operated by PN Russell & Co circa 1870-1875

Image source: The State Library of New South Wales Collections

The legacy of James Blanch and his contributions to engineering and instrument making within Australia live on, although they are far less noted than that of his successor, Peter Nicol Russell. Peter Nicol Russell acquired the Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works in 1842 and would later form the site for PN Russell & Co (Source 10). It is through these objects, which bears his name, that the tale of James Blanch endures. Undoubtedly, there are many objects crafted by the hands of Blanch that would remain scattered across the state of New South Wales and afar. An imperial half pint measuring cup made by James Blanch is on permanent display at Kalmar Antiques as part of their private collection. Two other items are part of the collections of the Powerhouse Museum, they include an imperial half bushel measuring vessel and a yard stick.

powerhouse collections

Image source: Powerhouse Museum Collections

 

Reference List:

  1. Bateson, Charles & Library of Australian History (1983), ‘The convict ships, 1787-1868 (Australian ed)’, Library of Australian History, Sydney: pp.340-341, 382
  2. Past Lives (2012), ‘James Blanch (1784 -1841): custom house officer, convict, and mathematical instrument maker’, https://mprobb.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/james-blanch-1754-1841-custom-house-officer-convict-and-mathematical-instrument-maker/
  3. Holland, Julian (2000), ‘James Blanch – Australia’s first meterologist?’; The Australian Metrologist, http://members.optusnet.com.au/jph8524/JHjames_blanch.htm
  4. Elliot, B & Addison, J & Withey, M (2023), ‘James Blanch’, Convict Records; Convict Records: James Blanch
  5. Old Bailey Proceedings Online (2023), ‘James Blanch, John Brennan: theft – grand larceny’, Old Bailey Organisation; Browse – Central Criminal Court (oldbaileyonline.org)
  6. Museum of History NSW (2023), ‘Convict transportation to NSW’, New South Wales Government; Convict transportation to NSW (mhnsw.au)
  7. Willets, J (2023), ‘Convict ship Fanny 1816’, Free Settler or Felon; Convict Ship Fanny 1816 (freesettlerorfelon.com)
  8. State Library of NSW (2023) ‘The convict experience’, New South Wales Government; The convict experience | State Library of NSW
  9. EAS (2023), ‘Encyclopedia of Australian science and innovation’, Swinburne University of Technology; Blanch, James – Person – Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation (eoas.info)
  10. Dunn, M (2012), ‘Sydney foundry and engineering works’, State Library of New South Wales; Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works | The Dictionary of Sydney
  11. Convict Records (2023), ‘Brixton convict ship’, Brixton Convict Ship – Convict Records
  12. East End Lives (2017) ‘William Henry Blanch and Martha Mary Stokes’, East End Lives | The story of one family in nineteenth-century London | Page 3 (wordpress.com)
  13. Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (2022), ‘Imperial half bushel measure’; Powerhouse Museum Collection, https://collection.maas.museum/object/550907
  14. Sydney Living Museums (2022), ‘Branding iron early to mid 19th century’; Objects Records, https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/taxonomy/term/18636#object-107796
  15. Family Notices (1841, November 1). The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser (NSW : 1838 – 1841), p. 3 (MORNING). Retrieved August 2, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32191219.

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