Master Clock and Watchmaker / Goldsmith

[quiffdo]

Hello all

I have an ancestor by the name of William Pote that was born c1806 in Bristol.
He is in West Hackney London on the 1841 census as a Goldsmith.
On the rest of the census up untill his death in 1883 he is shown as a Master Clock and Watchmaker and Jeweller and Umberella maker.
Now to have all these skills I would assume he must have gone through an apprenticeship somewhere.
I have emailed the Goldsmith library in London and they have no records of William but they did say he may have done his apprenticeship somewhere else.
Can anybody suggest a way that I might locate any apprenticeship records for any of his trades?
Many thanks

Danny

[mike lee]

hi,,just in case youve never come across this address before,,,found a record in the national archive for an insurance firm who i assume were insuring your ancestors business,,,[no title] MS 11936/548/1215497 11 February 1836


Contents:
Insured: William Pote 59 Chart Street Hoxton gent,,,,,,,,,,,,,the insurance firm were called the sun fire office. might add a tiny morsel to your info ............ A Place in the Sun’ was started in 2003 by a team of volunteers. It is an index to a part of the series of Sun Fire Office policy registers held at Guildhall Library (Guildhall Library Ms 11936). The index to 125 volumes (nos. 419-560) of the policy registers, covering the period 1800-1839, is available via the National Archives website. Work is continuing on earlier volumes.

[Colin Moretti]

Perhaps he was a clockmaker and puffed himself up by calling himself a goldsmith (a very common failing). Here's the Clockmakers page.

And here's a clockmaking bibliography

Colin

[quiffdo]

Finbar

Im unsure if its my William Pote but I wouldnt rule out some sort of relation as the name is quite uncommon.

Mike

Thankyou for that Mike, I have just emailed Guildhall library to see what they have.

Colin

Withn that info I have decided to search more towards the Clockmaking trade he did.

Thanks again everyone

Danny