The following example shows how using the newspaper databases can be invaluable to research.
When working on a project with the sales catalogues in the Cadbury Research Library store, I came across a catalogue which was a sale at Hawthorn House in Birmingham, 29 March 1865. It attracted my attention because it was in Birmingham and I wanted to find out where Hawthorn House was situated, who had lived there, etc. The title merely said, 'A Catalogue of the Reeves Collection (pictures, coins, books) removed from Hawthorn House, Birmingham'. The title pages and preface revealed items on sale included works by the local painter David Cox and by W. Muller and gave the full name of Richard Gibson Reeve but no further information about Hawthorn House or the man himself.
When I came to research the catalogue some days later, and not having the catalogue in front of me, the first thing I did was google 'Hawthorn House' and 'Birmingham'. After a bit of digging on local history forums and the like I learned that Hawthorn House was (and still is) in Handsworth and had been the private residence of the Bullock family when the house sale took place in 1865. It had passed from private ownership and had variously been a children’s home and a library and is now, once more, a private residence.
I discovered that Edwin Bullock was an iron foundry owner and an art collector of note. He knew David Cox personally and was an associate of Josiah Mason (1) and Joseph Gillott. However, I could find nothing to connect Edwin Bullock with Richard Gibson Reeve and explain why the sale would be at Bullock’s house.
I set about finding more information on Gibson Reeve and Bullock and internet searching sent me down a number of blind alleys, not least because there is a lithographer who also happens to be called Richard Gibson Reeve! (2) To begin with I didn't know whether the lithographer was the Gibson Reeve I was looking for or had any connection to him. Frustratingly, none of the searches I conducted led to a connection with Edwin Bullock and Hawthorn House.
I decided then to use the newspaper databases (available via FindIt@Bham). I selected ‘British Library Newspapers : 1732-1950. Parts I-V’ and conducted a search for “Richard Gibson Reeve” and “Hawthorn House.”
The first main thing that I discovered was that the Hawthorn House connected to Richard Gibson Reeve was an entirely separate residence to that of Edwin Bullock’s residence in Handsworth. Richard Gibson Reeve’s house was, in fact, situated in Bristol Street in Birmingham. It was just a coincidence that they both happened to live in a residence named Hawthorn House and collect art, including works by David Cox.
The newspaper articles also helped me to establish that Richard Gibson Reeve was not the lithographer of the same name, he was, in fact, a merchant, or "factor" with premises in Moor Street, and, according to one newspaper article, one of the oldest of this type of business in the city. He was a church warden at St. Luke's on the Bristol Road and was a regular benefactor of local hospitals throughout his lifetime and left sums of several hundred pounds to numerous local institutions on his death.
In conclusion, it is likely my search would have ended in frustration if I had not had access to the newspaper databases. I would also be completely unaware of the existence of Hawthorn House on Bristol Street. It has also taught me that in future, if I am conducting similar research, it would be far better (and quicker) to start out with a newspaper database search.
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‘Sir Josiah Mason. Birmingham based manufacturer, philanthropist and founder of Mason Science College in 1875, which ultimately became the University of Birmingham
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The lithographer mentioned is Richard Gilson Reeve (1803-1889), but his name often appears as Gibson Reeve when searching the internet
This article by Tina Keevil, Senior Library Assistant - Barber Fine Art Library, appears as ‘Case study: The mystery of Hawthorn House’ in the Finding and using Newspapers Canvas Course.