Benjamin Roebuck (1712-1796)
This Sheffield industrialist, banker and entrepreneur has long been the victim of what is now called "false news". The following monograph, citing reliable documentary sources, confirms that he was never a bankrupt or a failure - a bit of Sheffield history needing to be rewritten.
Benjamin Roebuck, or rather his reputation, has been under a cloud for more than 150 years - accused of being a failure and a bankrupt. The calumny appears to have been committed to print in the first place by Rev Alfred Gatty in his revision of Hunter's Hallamshire (1869). Almost certainly because of Hunter's formidable standing as a historian, Gatty's version has become "fact" and appears, for example, in most portrayals of Sheffield's early bankers (eg RE Leader: Sheffield Banking History 1917 which, of course, others frequently quote).
Benjamin was the son of John Roebuck, a long-established local industrialist with iron, steel and cutlery interests. The family partnership (father and sons Benjamin, Thomas and Ebenezer) formed in 1750, owned a steelhouse in Kimberworth, near Rotherham, and had a "shop", probably a workshop, and warehouse in Church Lane, Sheffield.[1] Thomas, resident in London, provided an outlet for Roebuck-supplied hardware in Sheffield's largest home market. Benjamin, succeeding his father (d. 1752) was the main driver of the business at home.[2] In addition to this responsibility, he was a Town Trustee and a Commissioner for the Little Sheffield to Sparrow Pit Gate turnpike [3]. And by 1758 he was sufficiently wealthy to start building his large new residence at Meersbrook [4] and clearly (from what follows) not built out of bank profits as in Leader op cit.
The bank 1770. It is confirmed by a Fairbank appraisal for painting at Church Lane that Sheffield's first full-time bank was established here in Roebuck property more than a decade after Meersbrook [5]. And it is also clear from a series of Memorials in the West Riding Registry that Benjamin was not alone as a banker as suggested by Gatty et al [6]. This was a partnership - Parker, Roebuck and Shore. John Parker was minor gentry with an estate at Woodthorpe, then just south of Sheffield parish, and John Shore was heir to town centre assets including two steel furnaces near West Bar. Their joint pedigrees and properties ensured the necessary confidence.
Yet in spite of its obvious success - the bank continued for more than 70 years - Benjamin Roebuck withdrew in 1778. Gatty claims bankruptcy - which others repeat, but had that been the case Roebuck could not possibly have continued to engage in property transactions which he clearly did. For example in Redemptions of Mortgage (1779 and 1783) he is named as "late Banker and copartner, now Merchant[7] Nor could he have remained a member of the Town Trust for at least another five years. As a contrast, Thomas Broadbent, a rival banker, bankrupt in 1782, was immediately removed from the Trust, had his properties put into the hands of administrators and was cited in the London Gazette [8]
Why then did Roebuck withdraw from the bank? Ill-health cannot be discounted. He was 66, quite elderly in an 18th century context. On the other hand he did live for another 18 years. A more likely reason, but unproven, as he steadily (and apparently unhurriedly) disposed of assets including Meersbrook House and raised funds via mortgages of real estate in Sheffield and Leeds, was to help mitigate the financial crisis which had overtaken another brother, John, at his Carron ironworks near Stirling[9]. John had been involved in a disastrous mine venture, the fall-out from which also lost him his partner and protégé James Watt to Matthew Boulton in Birmingham [10]. Many secondary sources claim that John was bankrupt, but nothing has been found in the Edinburgh and London Gazettes to confirm this. Perhaps Benjamin managed to keep him out of administrators hands?
In conclusion, even though Benjamin Roebuck's motives for quitting the bank remain unclear, it can be categorically stated that he was never bankrupt. He deserves re-instatement as one of Sheffield's many successful industrialists and entrepreneurs.
References
p170 in Gatty's edition. Hunter's original 1819 entry was "A bank was established," ie no date or name.
- ↑ Sheffield Archives (SA) Wheat Colln WC 2529 & 2530
- ↑ West Riding Registry of Deeds (WRRD)BO 469 678; SA miscellaneous Docs MD 1971
- ↑ SA Tibbits Colln TC350 & 362
- ↑ SA Fairbank Field Book FB 15 f8, FB 17 f30 and Account Book AB 4 f42
- ↑ SA Fairbank Building Book BB 42 f14
- ↑ WRRD BN 141 185 & BO 689 908
- ↑ WRRD CF 222 275 & CN 134 153
- ↑ SA Wheat Colln WC 1314, National Archives RAIL 825-1, London Gazette 17th September 1782 p3
- ↑ Benjamin had already transferred his industrial assets to his two sons in 1771 WRRD BO 469 678 so less reason to go back to industry
- ↑ detail in Falkirk Local History Soc on line
Sheffield Archives (SA) Wheat Collection 2529 & 2530.
Benjamin Roebuck
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