wedding⁽⁴¹⁾,  and a son Henry⁽⁴⁴⁾.  It was Elizabeth ’s younger brother Henry who was much later to become one of the witnesses to Sampson’s Last Will⁽⁴⁵⁾ and Testament and was most probably the H. Jefford who received £20 half yearly as interest on a loan paid by Sampson in the 1870s⁽⁴⁶⁾.  

A case of butterflies and insects caught near Derby and loaned by Sampson to be exhibited at the Derby Mechanics Institute Exhibition held on the 13th of May, 1839 ⁽⁴⁷⁾, demonstrates that Sampson was still connected with the Derby area.  Other exhibitors at this exhibition included Llewellynn Jewitt, the artists John Haslem,  J. Brassington, and John and James Hancock.  Modellers included Cocker and Robert Blore.  No doubt the contents of the case loaned by Sampson would have been used for reference when decorating china since he frequently painted butterflies and insects.

Fig. 2 Graphite drawing by Sampson Hancock.

The couple’s connection with Derby is  confirmed by their presence in the town for the birth of their first child, John, on the 25th of July, 1839⁽⁴⁸⁾.  John was baptized⁽⁴⁹⁾ five days after his birth on the 30th of July at St. Peter’s in the centre of the town, upon which sitea church has existed since Doomsday Times.  At the time of John’s christening Sampson and Elizabeth were residing in Liversage Street .  The entry in the Parish Register with regard to Sampson’s occupation still revealed “painter” but now had the prefix “china.”  

At some time after this date (July 1839) and most probably due to the lack of work at the Nottingham Road Manufactory, Sampson left the town of Derby .  When the first Census was taken in 1841, his name appeared on an entry for Plot 62, Etruria , Staffordshire⁽⁵⁰⁾.  Sampson had taken up residence with his colourmaker grandfather John Hancock, who at the time was working for Wedgwoods, and his  (John’s) second wife Ann and their son Edwin, aged 17.  No mention is made of Sampson’s wife Elizabeth nor of their young son John, which suggests that his wife and son may have remained with Elizabeth ’s parents in Burton upon Trent whilst Sampson earned a living.  The birth of the couple’s second child Fanny took place in Staffordshire, suggesting that the family remained in the county for some duration⁽⁵¹⁾.  Her baptism is recorded on the 3rd of October 1841 at Holy Trinity Church , Burton , the same parish church where the couple had married in 1839.  No actual address was revealed in the Parish Register, just the general entry “ Burton .” Sampson’s occupation is again recorded as “China Painter.”

 In an interview⁽⁵²⁾ given with Edward Bradbury (Strephon) reprinted from the Yorkshire Weekly Post dated Saturday 12th May, 1894 , Sampson refers to John Mountford and reminsces that Mountford “came” to Copeland and Garrett’s Stoke upon Trent manufactory.  Sampson’s use of the word “came” suggests that he may have already been working there at the time of Mountford’s arrival.   Unfortunately very few records⁽⁵³⁾ have survived from this period at the Spode factory and no positive conclusion can be achieved.  John Mountford and Sampson obviously had a mutual respect for each other which was further cemented when Mountford returned to Derby to work for Sampson at the King Street Manufactory in the 1860s⁽⁵⁴⁾.  

Although I have been unable to verify the family’s whereabouts for the year 1842, Sampson’s name appeared in Glover’s Directory of Derby for 1843⁽⁵⁵⁾,  which  listed his occupation  as a China Painter living in Liversage Street , suggesting that he may have returned to the town by this date. An entry in the Baptism Register⁽⁵⁶⁾ for the Parish church of St. Alkmund’s, Derby, the church which Sampson and Elizabeth most likely attended until their deaths and which had long been  associated with employees of the  earlier  Nottingham Road Manufactory and those of King Street, confirms that the family were residing in Derby in 1844.  On the 24th March, of that year,  the couples third child. a second son named William Henry was baptized.  His burial⁽⁵⁷⁾, one of the last in the graveyard adjoining St. Alkmund’s, was recorded six months later.  The entry shows William Henry to be an infant, indicating he was under 12 months of age.  The Baptism Register again reveals Sampson’s occupation as a “China Painter,” and in both the Baptism and Burial Register the family is recorded as living in Erasmus Street , a location which housed many families associated with the china industry⁽⁵⁸⁾.  

Sampson had obviously returned to the Nottingham Road factory where he was to remain until its closure in 1848.  In the meantime, the last child born to the couple was Eliza Jane, who arrived in 1846, but a search of all the church registers within the area where the family was living failed to reveal a christening for this infant.  She was however married at St. Alkmund’s Church⁽⁵⁹⁾ in 1866 to William Storer.  It can only be assumed that because of William Henry’s death the family had probably decided against a christening.  

THE CLOSURE OF THE NOTTINGHAM ROAD FACTORY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE  KING STREET MANUFACTORY.  

With the closure of the Nottingham Road factory an advertisement⁽⁶⁰⁾ appeared in December 1846 inviting anyone who wished to buy or rent the