James Shears and Sons

James Shears and Sons were coppersmiths who were in business in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The three partners were James Shears (c.1750-c.1820) and his two sons Daniel Towers Shears (1784-1860) and James Henry Shears (1788-1855).

James Shears senior lived at 67, Fleet Market in London (which was demolished in 1829 and replaced by Farringdon Street) and had a house at The Oval, Kennington. His business was based at both Fleet Market and 27, Bankside, Southwark.

He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers.

The relation between the copper trade and brewing

Coppersmiths were very closely connected to brewers at this period - and in this case they were not only connected professionally but also related by marriage (see below). This was because coppersmiths manufactured, amongst other things, the copper vats used in beer-making process. The Anchor Brewery, Southwark, one of London's largest breweries, was just across the Thames from Fleet Market and close to Shears's Bankside premises and was no doubt one of their best customers.

The Shears family

In 1812 James Shears celebrated fifty years in the copper trade (according to a letter written by his daughter-in-law, Frances Shears (née Spurrell) held at the Norfolk Records Office) and both his sons followed him into this profession.

Three of his daughters married brewers, which demonstrates how close the relationship between coppersmiths and brewers was. Rebecca Shears (1786-?) was married to James Spurrell (1776-1840) and Hannah Shears (1790-1882) to Charles Spurrell - James and Charles were brothers and members of the Spurrell family of Norfolk; they were also senior employees as the Anchor Brewery, Southwark. James Shears's youngest daughter, Lydia (1794-1855), was married to John Gray (1791-1826) of the Gray and Dacre Brewery, West Ham, Essex.

As further evidence of the close relationship between the coppersmiths of the Shears family and the brewers of the Spurrell family, James Shears's eldest son Daniel Towers Shears married Frances Spurrell, the youngest sister of James and Charles Spurrell (so three Shears siblings married three Spurrell siblings). Furthermore, Rebecca, the eldest daughter of James Spurrell and Rebecca Shears, went on to become the wife of another important brewer, James Watney.

Descendants of James Shears

* Reverend Frederick Spurrell, M.A., A.K.C. (1824-1902), grandson.
* Reverend Augustus Shears, M.A. (1827-1911), grandson.
* Flaxman Charles John Spurrell, F.G.S. (1842-1915), great-grandson.
* Reverend Ernest Henry Shears, M.A. (1849-1917), grandson.
* Herbert Wrigley Wilson (1866-1940), great-great-grandson.
* Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell, M.B., M.A., F.Z.S. (1877-1918), great-great-grandson.
* Major-General Philip James Shears, C.B. (1887-1972), great-great-great-grandson.