A Liverpool Exemplar - Joseph Mayer

Joseph Mayer

Joseph Mayer, the son of Samuel Mayer, was born on the 23rd of February 1803 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Born into a relatively wealthy family he was one of eleven children, ten of whom survived into adulthood. His father, Samuel, was a landowner who had a tanning business, which provided leather goods to the industries and inhabitants of the Potteries area. In 1820, Joseph Mayer's elder sister, Eliza, married James Wordley of Liverpool and two years later, at the age of 20, Joseph also moved to Liverpool where he worked as an apprentice at his brother-in-law James Wordley's jewellery shop. By the mid 1830s Joseph was in partnership with his brother-in-law, with their business premises at 62 Lord Street, Liverpool. As his sister's family grew, he moved out of their home, and lived briefly in Queen Street, Edge Hill, before moving to Clarence Terrace, Everton Road.

He travelled abroad for the first time in 1828, and these business interests would continue to draw him to Europe over the following decades. It was on these trips that his enthusiasm for antiquities was nurtured and he would acquire items for the business as well as for his own collection. By 1844 he had set up his own business at 68 Lord Street, where he was to live above these premises for a number of years. Successful now in business, he was able to indulge his passion for collecting. He acquired many thousands of drawings, engravings, and autograph letters relating to the history of art in England and became the possessor of large portions of the collections of William Upcott and of Thomas Dodd, the print dealer and collector. His status as a collector grew through his purchases both abroad and locally in Britain where he took a particular interest in the finds being made just a few miles from his home, at Meols at the mouth of the River Dee. His vast collection covered a wide range of subjects and eras including Egyptian and Roman artefacts, English paintings and medieval art. In 1848, Joseph Mayer, Henry Pigeon and the Rev. Abraham Hume agreed the final plans for the establishment of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. This led to Joseph Mayer’s involvement with collectors in London, and to his subsequent election as Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1850. In that same year he joined the British Archaeological Association, and over the next few years he was to join many similar bodies across Europe.

He had become captivated by the displays at the British Museum and wished his fellow-citizens of Liverpool to have the same opportunity to view the wonders of the past. In 1852 Joseph opened a museum in Colquitt Street and added to the displays over the following years so that by 1862 it had become known as the 'Museum of Antiquities', and contained a considerable range of relics, artefacts and manuscripts. In 1861 he was deceived into purchasing some spurious papyri of the Gospel of Matthew and other scriptures, concocted by the forger Constantine Simonides who also induced him to publish them. He later bestowed his extensive collection to the Liverpool Museum (now World Museum) in 1867.

Pennant House in Bebington

 

By the late 1850s, Joseph had moved residence to Wirral, living briefly at Dacre Park, Rock Ferry, before moving to the house he had bought in Bebington. He named this house 'Pennant House', after Thomas Pennant, the traveller and naturalist. Here he was instrumental in bringing gas and water services to the village; was involved in founding clubs for various sports and recreational activities; he raised funds for a village hospital and a horticultural society, and allotments were formed on his initiative. In 1860 he devoted himself to the volunteer movement, and was captain of the Liverpool borough guard and raised and clothed, at his own expense, a corps of volunteers at Bebington. In 1869, the farmhouse, barn and associated buildings, together with five acres of land which adjoined Pennant House, came up for sale, so Joseph bought them. He immediately set to work, and within a few months had created public parkland from the farmland and orchard that had previously existed. He proceeded to convert and extend the farmhouse, including the addition of a clock tower, to provide a new and bigger home for the library, which was opened in 1870. It was a facility enjoyed by all, from children to the elderly, from the poorest farm labourers to the wealthiest businessmen. By 1873, the year of his retirement from his jewellers business, he commissioned plans for the extension of Pennant House, to better accommodate his ever-growing collection of manuscripts, papers, pictures and sculptures.

 

In 1878 he decided to establish the Mayer Trust to undertake the upkeep of the library, hall and parkland and continued to provide the necessary funds to the Trust, which comprised of himself and four friends. He chaired the Trust up to his death on the 19th of January 1886 aged 82. He died unmarried at Pennant House where he had lived with his unmarried sister Jane, and niece Mary Wordley and is buried in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in Bebington. His private library, prints and manuscripts were dispersed by auction in 1887.

His gift to Liverpool Museum in 1867 was, and is identified, as the 'Mayer Collection'. However, a more visible reminder of the significance of Joseph Mayer can be found inside St Georges Hall, Liverpool where, following his gift to the Museum, Liverpool Town Council commissioned a marble statue of him, sculpted by Giovanni Fontana, which was unveiled in 1869. This statue is one of twelve statues inside St Georges Hall; of prominent men judged to be of importance to the people of Liverpool, a measure of the esteem in which Joseph Mayer was held during his lifetime.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/09/a-liverpool-exemplar-maud-carpenter.html