1700s to 1911

Here is some information on the Italians living in London from the 1700s to 1911 as described in an informative book, in Italian, on Google Books:  Arrivi by the Italia Comitato Nazionale Italia nel Mondo. 

This is a summary of the paragraph about the London Italians on page 210:

The Italian community in London was based in the area of the north of the city, Clerkenwell, by the mid 1700s. 

In the beginning, they were mainly artisans making mirrors, frames, mosaics, and scientific instruments like barometers, thermometers, microscopes, telescopes and surgical instruments. 

Over time, rural immigrants joined the group, although many of these were seasonal immigrants. 

Other arrivals, later, were republicans fleeing a monarchist Italy, and members of the rare middle class from all over Italy. 

By the beginning of the 1800s, the Little Italy of Clerkenwell already had a Catholic church, and was the most stable community of foreigners living in London at that time.

In the 1600s, Italian craftsmen were making mirrors (a looking-glass, uno specchio) such as this.

On page 346, they talk about Italians in London and Britain at a later period 1830s-early 1900s:

In the years from 1841 to 1881 the residents of the London Italian quarter of Holborn were mainly frame makers, statue makers, ice cream makers, and organists. 

Only in the latter period did builders arrive. (They explain a bit earlier that most of the British needs for manual laborers was filled by Irish immigrants.) 

At the top of the Italian labor pyramid were the artisans made up of makers of optical instruments, silversmiths, makers of frames, bird-cages and fine wood workers.

From 1861 to 1911 in Britain, the major part of Italians worked in food service jobs, restaurants, as cooks and waiters.  The numbers grew rapidly from 1891 to 1911 going from less than 1000 to more than 4000 people. 

The second largest group were the grocery shop workers, followed closely by domestic workers (maids, grooms, etc.).  Other categories were street-vendors, ice cream sellers, roast meat sellers, and organists.

An Anglo-Italian ice-cream barrowman

London Martinellis

London was home to immigrants by the name of Martinelli.  They were not part of the huge wave of immigrants that spread out from Italy during the late 1800s to early 1900s.  They probably left Italy around 1800, from the Lake Como area.

One of the earliest Martinelli immigrants to London was part of the artisan/craftsmen community (wood workers, metal workers, instrument makers, mirror and frame makers) who found it easiest to emigrate from the Italian peninsula to various European capitals.  They took their valuable skills and left for a more secure life abroad.  Today we would call it a 'brain-drain', or a 'skills-drain', I suppose.

From the Arrivi book I learned on page 338: 

From regions around Lake Como, immigrants went to German cities, the Veneto, and to Torino.  

These immigrants were those who had the most common skills of immigrants at that time:  sellers of barometers and thermometers, metal workers and many builders and craftsmen.

An Italian frame from the 1800s, gilded wood

Barometers, Thermometers, Frames, Mirrors and Wood-Working

Louis (or Luigi) Martinelli, born probably circa 1766, in or near Como, Italy, was likely one of those Lake Como barometer, thermometer, mirror and frame makers.  He worked in London in the first half of the 1800s and died in 1845, in London.  He and his family carried on the barometer crafting trade for nearly 100 years in London, under various names, and at various addresses.

Gondolier on Lake Como

Barometers measure air-pressure, which can then be used to predict the weather.  They can also be used to determine altitude:  the height of the mercury in it's tube in the barometer corresponds to a table showing the feet above sea level. 

Barometer Face (Aneroid)

Barometers were the must-have, high-tech item of their day, first in the homes of the wealthy, at at shipping and fishing ports, and then in the homes of the growing middle class. 

From the mid 1800s to 1900, mercury barometers reigned, but then the aneroid barometer made it possible to produce smaller barometers, more cheaply, eventually destroying the market for expensive handcrafted mercury barometers.

At it's height, the barometer was combined in a beautifully tooled wooden case with various other instruments like a clock, a spirit level, a mirror, a thermometer, and a hygrometer, which measures relative humidity.  The early instrument makers called themselves 'makers of philosophical instruments'.

Martinelli Barometers on Leather Lane

The Italian White Pages show that Martinellis still live in the Lake Como area, but because of Italy's massive internal migration, Martinellis live everywhere in Italy, from Lake Como to Sicily!  So it is not definite that all the Martinellis making barometers in London were related.

There are many Martinellis who made barometers in London over the years.  Some may have been itinerant, coming to Britain, then returning to Italy for a while, before returning again to London.  This was a common pattern, it seems, for many immigrants.

I am not going to trace all of them, but I will use some of Lewis Martinelli's London family history, all accessible from public records, to help illuminate the life of Anglo-Italians in London from roughly 1800 to 1900.

Lewis Martinelli was born in or near Como, Lombardy, Italy, in 1766.  Because he was a barometer maker, some of his movements can be traced from the signatures on his barometers. 

For example, from a barometer signature database compiled for scientific instrument collectors, we know that:

Lewis Martinelli made wheel barometers and thermometers, and was also a carver, gilder and print seller at 82 Leather Lane, London from 1803 to 1811.

Leather Lane was at the center of London's Italian community since the 1700s, and would remain so until World War I.  Leather Lane links the main roads of High Holborn and Clerkenwell Road.  Clerkenwell is London's original Little Italy, beginning around 1700, and later Holborn became known for the large number of Italians and Anglo-Italians living there. 

Here is a view of old Leather Lane looking toward High Holborn

Leather Lane, today, is known for the Leather Lane outdoor market where the stalls line the street.  (There is a very short promo for the market on YouTube.)  The market has been a fixture of the area since as long as anyone can remember, 300 years, say the London historians.  Leather Lane is a very old London street, mentioned in a 1538 survey of London. 

In the early 1700s, a large brewery covered the end of Leather Lane.  By the end of the 1700s and the early part of the 1800s, there were several clockmakers on the street.  And there was a renowned coach maker, William Fenton, at 36 Leather Lane during this same period.  But there were also churches, printers, inns, pubs... all sorts of businesses on the street over the years. 

And there were other Anglo-Italian barometer and instrument makers in Leather Lane, including one half of the most famous instrument maker that still exists today, Negretti & Zambra, which I mention, again, below.  Leather Lane ends at High Holborn, which was another street known for its barometer makers, and the site of Negretti & Zambra's most famous shop.

Negretti & Zambra's Holborn Shop

Today, at 82 Leather Lane, Lewis Martinelli's old shop address, is The Clock House Pub.  It was probably constructed in 1869 by a Mr. Thomas Middlemore Marshall.  From the photo below, you can see that Lewis Martinelli had a wonderful location, situated on a corner of the busy street.

Today, 82 Leather Lane

But the address of 82 Leather Lane is interesting because it was also the address of other Martinelli barometer makers. 

The one just before Lewis is M. Martinelli & Co., barometer makers at 82 Leather Lane, Holborn, London c. 1810.  Here is one of M. Martinelli's pieces from that time, that contains a thermometer and a barometer.  The description is from an sales catalog.

"A mahogany wheel barometer with broken arch pediment above a barometer and thermometer, inscribed 'M. Martinelli & Co., 82 Leather Lane, Holborn, London', the case decorated with inlaid shell and flowerhead motifs c.1810, 39in. high. £180-250."

The "inlaid shell" and "flowerhead motif" were just coming into fashion in 1810, and were often called "Sheraton Shell" decoration.  Here's a better look at it, and at the "stringing" wood design often found around the edge of the barometer case.

Beautiful, aren't they?

Before M. Martinelli & Co, there was Martinelli P. L. M. & Co., a group of Martinelli barometer makers working together in 1799 out of 82 Leather Lane, London. 

The L. in the group might have been Lewis, as Lewis was in London at the time.  He married Abigail Marshall on August 8 in 1799, in London.  And they had a son, Lewis (Louis), in 1799, who became a very successful coachmaker.  He was apprenticed at age 16 in 1815 to a coachmaker, and followed that profession - doing very well, and leaving an estate of over £6,000 when he died in 1884 (worth over £500,000 today).  Another son, Alfred Peter Dominico Martinelli (1806-1849) took up the family profession of barometer maker. (My thanks to site visitor EH for this information!)

It was traditional in many Italian families, at the time, to name the first born son after the father, and the first born daughter after the mother.  Later children were often named after the grand-parents.

The P. in the group could well be a P. Martinelli who is known to have worked earlier in Edinburgh, Scotland, and with Ronchetti and Co. in Coventry.  

Italian instrument makers were known to move around between towns like Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Coventry, and on the continent in Amsterdam.  Sometimes the spelling of their name changed with each move!

Just a note on the Ronchetti family:

Ronchetti, sometimes Ronketti, was  another important name among Italian barometer makers, a bit bigger than the Martinelli name, a bit more famous, and working a bit longer at it, into the 1800s.  The Ronchetti Bros. worked in London at 172 The Strand until 1880. 

One Ronketti, John Ronketti, worked in New York around 1850, and another, John George Ronketti, worked in New York around 1852-1853.  A major branch of Ronchettis worked out a Manchester, England and developed special instruments for industry.

John Merry Ronchetti, sometimes written Ronketti, was the most famous Ronketti barometer maker.  He worked as a barometer maker in Italy and then in England, making the earlier-style stick barometers and then, later, the wheel barometers.

This is one of John Merry Ronchetti's very beautiful, early English barometers, from around 1787, signed 180 Holborn, London, his place of work for many years.  He was from the very first generation of Italian barometer makers in London, who started signing their work, made in Britain, around 1780.

Note that the decoration is not the later, standard, shell decor.  He also has a compass at the top, and a spirit level at the bottom, with his signature and address engraved on it.

This beautiful flower motif is from another early Italian barometer, made in 1795, by Charles Chivatti.

There is also a record of a B. Martinelli making barometers.  He could have been part of the Company, too.

And D. Martinelli was a barometer maker working on Grays Inn Road, London. c. 1802, a few streets over from Leather Lane.  And later Martinelli & Ronchetti worked out of 34 Grays Inn Road from 1805 to 1825. 

But there was a D. Martinelli who worked at 19 Leather Lane from roughly 1810 to 1830.  He could also have been a part of the company, or just another relation, even a distant relation, working further up Leather Lane at the same time.  (In 1840, Negretti, of the famous Negretti and Zambra company, was working out of 19 Leather lane.  See the left column for more on Negretti and Zambra.)

D. Martinelli made this piece that houses a thermometer and a barometer, c1810.  The selling price is £2200.  The sales catalog description says: 

"Mahogany cased 8" dial mercury wheel barometer and alcohol thermometer by D. Martinelli, 19 Leather Lane, London.  Case decorated with floral and shell inlay.  Triple strung boxwood and ebony edge lines.  Scale engraved with horizontal weather positions."

The "horizontal weather positions" refers to the text on the barometer face, such as "Rain", "Stormy", "Fair", etc.  Later, they were engraved around the dial face, rather than horizontally.  For collectors, this sort of thing is a sign of when the barometer was made.

Leaving London Behind

I don't know how long Lewis remained at the 82 Leather Lane address, but some records of barometer signatures suggest he left in 1811, and there is a barometer record that he lived and worked in Brighton, England, at 102 London Road, possibly from 1830 to 1838.

The address still exists.  It is 102 on what is now called the Old London Road.  A bypass road sits to one side of it now, and is the new London Road. 

102 Old London Road

The terrace house sits in the middle of a row, and they are not that far from the coast, in a lovely area.

Here you can see the road, looking toward Brighton and the sea beyond, with the bubble over the car in the middle, marking the location of the terrace house, on the left side of the street.  It is a lovely street with shops, charming old houses, pretty gardens here and there, and an old post office.

But there is also the record (a census record) that Lewis's son, William Martinelli, was born in Brighton in 1815, so Lewis could well have been living and working there in 1815 when William was born. 

But why would Lewis have left London?  I don't know his reason, but I can guess why immigrants would think twice about remaining in London in the early 1800s.  Living conditions in London were famously horrible: 

• filth because there was no sewer system,

• cholera because there were only water pumps that became contaminated, or buckets lowered down into the filthy Thames River for water (this was not resolved until the 1860s),

• overcrowding from inadequate building,

• violence from rampant alcohol abuse,

• crime fuelled by a sharp divide between rich and poor, and exacerbated by there being no standing police force for the city (not until 1829).

And from 1800 to 1810, the number of Italians emigrating to the Leather Lane area multiplied rapidly.  But they were no longer just craftsmen.  The Italian poor came in search of work, possessing few skills other than agricultural skills.  The character of the area changed rapidly from an artisans' area, to a raucous Little Italy. 

In 1841, the Italian patriot Mazzini complained that London's Italians spoke a mash of Comasco (the Lake Como dialect) and English, but not a proper Italian.  He set up a free school for them, to learn proper Italian, and to encourage their patriotism for a united Italy.  He firmly believed that once Italy was united into one country, all of Italy's diaspora would return to live in a prosperous Italy.

And Irish immigrants settled in the Clerkenwell area, too, aggravating the already difficult living conditions.  They settled there because it was cheap, and because they preferred to live with fellow Catholics for safety from anti-Catholic bigots.  In the early years of the 1800s, the only Catholic religious services in London  were conducted by Italian priests, in English and Italian, on the embassy land of the Kingdom of Sardenia.  In the early 1800s, 20% of London's population was from Ireland.

Back to London, New Location

Lewis Martinelli eventually moved back to London, perhaps when improvements had been made to the city infrastructure and more city services began to arrive.  This was a time of great growth in London, the population swelling, but as the 1800s progressed, it also became a time of huge public works projects: 

• sewers,

• fresh water supplies,

• mass public transport,

• new neighborhood developments. 

In the 1800s, London grew to become the capital of the western world. 

Lewis Martinelli, in his 60s moved his family back to London and made thermometers and barometers, and was an optician and looking-glass maker, from 1834 to 1846 at 62 King Street, Borough, London. 

The Borough is today called Historic Southwark.  It is the area of London near the south end of the London Bridge.  There is a famous Borough Market that still exists today. 

Over the years, there were records of a barometer maker, or makers, working under the names: 

• Lewis Martinelli,

• L. Martinelli,

• L. Martinelli & Co.,

• L. Martinelli & Son,

• Lewis Martinelli & Son. 

At that time, it was quiet usual that several generations of the same family lived together.  Social nets provided by the government did not exist, so poverty among the elderly was a real problem, unless they had children to take care of them. 

The sometimes dire situations of Italians in London prompted better-off Anglo-Italians to form social organizations to provide assistance to the destitute and needy within the Italian community.  They even established a school and an Italian hospital in London.

During this time, 1835-1845, Lewis's son, William, made barometers under his own name.  W. Martinelli worked out of 2 King Street, down the street from his father.  Also working out of 2 King Street from 1835-1855 was N. Martinelli.  Another brother, perhaps, a relative?

The very beautiful barometer below is a a banjo or wheel type barometer  made by Lewis Martinelli in 1835, and you can see how the art had developed since 1810.  The case includes many more instruments: 

• a hygrometer (humidity),

• a thermometer,

• a clock,

• a barometer, and

• a spirit level.

From a sales catalog:

"A William IV rosewood wheel barometer with timepiece by Lewis Martinelli, London. Circa 1835.

'The case with swan neck pediment and banded with kingwood within ebony and boxwood stringing, with hygrometer above bayonet-fixed mercury thermometer with bow-front glass, with convex brass bezel and glass to 6 in. diameter silvered Roman dial (the clock), with eight day single chain fusee movement with anchor escapement, blued steel moon hands, convex brass bezel and glass to 12 in. diameter silvered dial engraved to the centre with a terrestrial map, signed L. MARTINELLI & CO./62 King Street/BOROUGH, with spirit level below.  50¼in. (127.5cm.) high.  Estimated value 4,000$."

On November 11, 1838, Lewis Martinelli's son, William, married in London.  William would go on to have a large family, and William's sons would follow him into the business, for a while.  After the barometer business declined, the sons found other professions.  There is more on William below.

Alfred and Elizabeth Martinelli

I want to mention here another Martinelli family who was making barometers in London at this same time.  I don't know if they were relations of Lewis or not, but their story has a unique element in it. 

Alfred Martinelli worked at various addresses from 1839 to 1851: 

• 36 Charlotte Street, Blackfriar's Road, London (1825-1835);

• Halesworth, 43 Union Street, Borough, London (1839);

• 96 Vauxhall Street, Lambeth, London (1843-44);

• 18 Vauxhall Street, Lambeth, London (1845-51), and

• with the William Day & Co in 1850 at 70 Union Street, Borough, London.

When Alfred died in 1851, his wife Elizabeth took over the business and made barometers, signed E. Martinelli,18 Vauxhall Street, Lambeth, London, from 1851 to 1853.  Their son, Alfred, later joined her in the business, for a while.

This barometer was made by an Alfred Martinelli.  The text is from a sales catalog.

"A MERCURY WHEEL BAROMETER in a mahogany case with satinwood edging.  A swan neck pediment with central brass finial.  A silvered engraved thermometer scale and main dial. Circa 1830.  Signed on the main dial "A Martinelli, Halesworth".  Height 37 " / 94 cms.  £ 580 (US$ 939) (Euro 638)."

William Martinelli's Barometers

Lewis Martinelli's son, William Martinelli, began making his own barometers around 1835, usually labeled W. Martinelli. 

His earliest addresses were:

• 2 King Street (same address as N. Martinelli, and concurrent with William signing barometers with other addresses, suggesting he worked on various projects as needed) (1835-1845)

• 21 Wells Street, London (1840) and

• Oxford Street, London (1840). 

From 1840 onward, William and his wife's family grew. Census records record the growing family and their addresses, and the professions that William and his family members listed on the census forms.

By 1841, William had moved his business to 5 Friars Street, Blackfriars Road, London (1841), not far from his previous address in the Southwark area of London, south of the Thames River.

William's designs mostly incorporated the 5 elements of his father's last designs: 

• the hygrometer (humidity),

• a thermometer,

• a clock,

• a barometer, and

• a spirit level. 

Some, however, only had 4 elements.  The clock was left out.  The clocks were purchased from clock makers, generally, and inserted into the designs, making it an expensive element.  Perhaps William's early designs were simpler and less pricy than the top of the line barometers, to cater to an emerging market of lower income customers?  I can only guess...

Here is a clock-less W. Martinelli design that shows the simplicity of style that denotes a lower price:

In case you're wondering, the maker's signature was usually placed on the spirit level at the bottom.  You can just make it out here:  W. Martinelli 2 King Str, Bor.

If there was no spirit level, then the signature usually appeared on the face of the barometer, like this:

In 1845, Lewis Martinelli passed away, at the age of 79.  He lived a long life, saw his grandchildren born, and perhaps even his great-grandchildren.  He saw London grow from chaos to the West's major city.  And during his lifetime, Lewis Martinelli created works of art that would be prized possessions in countless families over the years, and that still command hefty prices for anyone wanting to own an L. Martinelli barometer.

In the late 1800s, the artist Frank Lewis Emanuel (1865-1949) tried to document parts of London that were slated for demolition, or were in threat of fast disappearing. 

London's middle-age and Renaissance buildings are nearly all gone.  Artists over the years tried to document the disappearing city, much as the artist Borbottoni documented Florence, Italy's medieval district before it was demolished.

If you wish to know more about what life was like in the 1800s in Britain, visit the Channel 4 History of London site.  And check out the 120 photographs of London from 1875 to 1887, made by the Society for Photographing the Relic of Old London.

He collected his sketches together in a book called Disappearing London.  His illustrations were used for the 1913 book A Londoner's London by Wilfred Whitten.  Here are a few of them showing old Holborn and Old Leather Lane, mixed together with photos and other cool images.

Leather Lane.  I think we are looking at the entrance to Leather Lane, in the right in the drawing, from High Holborn.

This is another view of old Leather Lane looking the other way, from Leather Lane to High Holborn, from a 1857 painting by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd entitled: Old House at the Entrance to Leather Lane.

This is a row of Houses in Holborn.

Here is an image from today of this line of houses built in 1586, known as The Staple Inn, and famous as one of Central London's few remaining Tudor buildings.

Fetter Lane, as seen from High Holborn. 

Fetter Lane runs off one side of High Holborn, while Leather Lane runs off the opposite side of High Holborn.  They looked very similar in architecture and shop-fronts.  The maximum 5-story buildings, often constructed partially with wood, were all torn down and replaced by larger stone and concrete structures that could house more people.

Here are photographs showing Barnard Inn, the three-pointed row of houses in the drawing above.  The Barnard Inn was an old Courtyard Inn.  Stages, people, carriages, etc. could drive into the courtyard and enter the Inn from there.

Here's a photograph of the same building at the same time.  Click through to read more about the building.  It, too, was a Carriage Inn.  In this photo you can clearly see the entrance into the courtyard for the carriages.  The Post carriages stopped at the Old Bell, carrying mail and passengers.

This is an image of old houses on Bermondsey Street in Southwark, houses that were said to date from the time of Elizabeth I.

This fascinating film (4 mins) is from London 1905.  It shows the streets congested with horse-drawn trams and carriages, pedestrians everywhere in the street, and if you look closely, you'll spot some motorcars, too.  It gives a good idea of the chaos of London then (not so different from now!).

This film is only 38 seconds long but it is beautiful.  It shows the world passing by on Blackfriar's Bridge in 1896.

Here are some interesting books on the subjects mentioned on this page, available via Amazon.com (some are VERY pricey, sorry, but they look wonderful.  CM).