In the last will and testament of my ancestor John Child, Frame Maker and Stamper, dated 1833, he left a number of leasehold "messuages", aka dwellings, to his eight surviving children. At the time such places were often both dwellings and workplaces for cottage industry.
These comprised a number of dwellings located in two court areas on the South side of Cheapside on both sides of the parish boundary. One was Court 8 Cheapside, just West of the boundary, where he had his own business from 1812 to 1834.
The other was a group of 13 messuages located in Deritend, East of the boundary. Some of his family lived and or worked at 24 Court, Cheapside.
If you can find it on the 1:500 map you will find a row of thirteen back-to-backs between 24 and 25 courts on the South side of Cheapside. [Instructions here:
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-i-find-old-street-maps.34337/ ]
John Child described the property in part as occupied by a few named tenants. Among these, he stated that one of the Deritend messuages was
formerly occupied by William Hornblower.
I was able to find the 1830 directory listing for:
William Hornblower 301 Cheapside Printers roller mkr.
So it would appear that he was located at the terraced back-to-backs at 24 or 25 Court at some time before 1830, but after 1812. My guess is that John Child could not buy the leaseholds until his business was on a solid footing, say some time after 1816, or even as late as 1820.
I have no information on the particular dwelling Hornblower occupied, nor any information on the rents charged for the individual dwellings. I have seen only the will, not any property documents. Nor was I able to find any earlier directory listings for William Hornblower
.
